#TBT: Finding Awe in the New Year
In our latest Throwback Thursday, we ring in 2026 with a column by Bruce Bateau from the December 2023 issue of 48° North encouraging fellow boaters to find magic on the water in the new year. As boaters, we get to see the…
Close to the Water: Sailor’s Day Off
As the steward of three wooden craft, I look forward to the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival as a highlight of the boating year. So I feel guilty admitting that I wasn’t there this past September. Instead, my wife, Kate,…
Dan checks his chart to make sure…
The author presses bearings back into…Close to the Water: Opening Day
Opening Day means different things for different sailors. For some, it means practicing maneuvers and parading past judges while steering in formation. For others, it’s a sailboat race that starts the spring series. Since I…
Close to the Water: Boat Ramp Champs
I was on one of my early camp-cruising trips in a 15-foot rowboat when I approached the tiny marina at Blake Island State Marine Park. Two sailors from a 40-foot trawler climbed down from their deck chairs to the dock. “Do…
Close to the Water: Small Boats, Big Influence
A 16-foot Jim Michalak-designed Scram Pram,…
Bill and a friend work on the boat in the…Close to the Water: Capsize!
Are You Ready to Self-Recover?
Fern swims towards the bow…
Bill rolls his boat down the gravel ramp…