Editor’s Letter: A Very Good Year
Especially when I look through a boaty lens, a year-end reflection on the past 12 months is a fun exercise. To think about the people, places, boats, and experiences I’ve been able to enjoy… I’m one lucky guy. I’d say that…
Editor’s Letter: Lean into the Season
As boatfolk in the Pacific Northwest, we seldom forget that we can pursue our passion for being on the water year-round. We gear up to enable happier offseason cruising — installing heaters, investing in full-cockpit…
Portland’s 6th Annual ‘Witches on the Willamette’ Rules the River
Taking in the scene at Portland's annual spooky SUP witch paddle. After a week of unrelenting rain, I woke up to a sunny Saturday before Halloween that felt too good to be true: clear blue skies, scarlet and gold leaves…
#TBT: Revisiting a Legend — R.M. “Tolly” Tollefson
In our latest Throwback Thursday, we honor legendary Pacific Northwest boat designer and builder, R.M. “Tolly” Tollefson; written by Deborah Bach for his 100th birthday. He is one of the Northwest’s most enduring and…
Editor’s Letter: It’s All About Perspective
In the past few weeks, I got to enjoy the ever-popular pair of September events: the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival and the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show. Each is a celebration of boats and dreams and life on the water in…
#TBT: Galley Essentials – Recipes from a New Friend’s Galley
In our latest Throwback Thursday, longtime 48° North columnist Amanda Swan checks in with Friday Harbor liveaboard Margot McKirdy to see what secrets her galley holds. I recently met Margot McKirdy here in Friday Harbor, and…
Editor’s Letter: The Night Before
I realize that many boaters may be thinking about wrapping up the summer boating season this month. Still, for the average cruiser, August may just as easily be the month you’ve looked forward to all year, when you’ll untie…
Casting Off: A Beautiful Sail in the Neighborhood
The whole happy crew aboard Ariel.
A surprising…
Editor’s Letter: The Joys of Summer Boating in the PNW
Eleven years ago this month, my wife Jill and I finalized the purchase of our beloved 1984 Grand Soleil 39 on Lake Union and couldn’t have been more excited. Starry-eyed youngsters, we celebrated with beers on the patio of…
Close to the Water: Stitch & Glue
When the need for a new dinghy arises, a reluctant boat builder goes to work "I’m going to start building a wooden boat this weekend,” I told a colleague one Friday last December. It was casual workplace chit-chat, but deep…