One of the things I like most about the sailing life is that silly American holidays no longer dictate what we should celebrate when. Sorry folks, but I don't give a rat's ass about New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, or…

Question: How do Michael and I sail both Gerty’s from Antigua to Rhode Island?  Answer: We don’t. We expected to be the unfortunate owners of two boats for a short time, and that time is now. So we made a…

I had forgotten what it's like to soar above the clouds like this. Sitting in a temperature-controlled cabin, relying entirely on a stranger to captain this ship in the sky, I'm free to look out the porthole and peer at…

Gerty girl is for sale It hurts to say good-bye Remember our first gale, the blue whale Low tied and highest high We ran aground in softest sand The kids jumped off your lofty bow Remember the first time we…

What a view! A bottle of 3M marine wax sits on the table in the foreground while a blue quick-dry towel, wet suit, and mesh vinyl backing to the nav station desk chair hang on the port side lifeline. A…

On the first night of our Atlantic Crossing my true love gave to me a LUMPY, BUMBY, ROLLY SEA. On the second night of our Atlantic Crossing my true love gave to me TWO HOURS OF DRAGGING A BUOY, and…

Chapter 1 Off our starboard side, there's something there, silhouetted against the sun. Slender, and wooden, it comes into view. Three dark-as-night fishermen are on board, two standing and one sitting at the outboard. They stare at us, and we…

A year and a half ago we met a young German doctor in the Azores who told us tales about a foreign land where the children are so friendly that they paddle into the river to your sailboat just to…

Milky sail drive oil is bad. If it's not clear, then there's water in it. Gerty's looks like the overpriced coconut water that sits next to the sports drinks in the health food aisle. You know, the blue bottle that…

Morocco to Canaries Passage Day 3 15:22 POS 32 33.30 N 9 55.46 W, TWS 10.4, SOG 5.0, AWA 178 The best wind-dance song on The Beatles Blue album is Hey Jude. The last 4 minutes or so have repeating…

Some days are good. It's crisp and sunny outside, and I'm feeling smug because I know how to say whip cream in four languages. The obvious, whip cream, plus chantilly, panna, and nata.  Some days are shitty, like the one…

Leaving Formentera this morning in the dark, against a lee shore, in twenty knots, was our best situation in days. All we had to do was dodge the lightning bolts. At least we could squeeze in five hours of sleep…