Class A Dominates Great Chesapeake Schooner Race – Woodwind Wins on Elapsed and Corrected Time

In our previous post about the Great Chesapeake Schooner Race we focused on the Class AA schooners, the big boats over 50′. Big boats sail faster, right? Not necessarily.  (Thanks to Paul Caroll for pointing out our oversight.) This year, the Class … Continue reading

Sailor Drowns After Being Knocked Overboard Following Great Chesapeake Schooner Race

On one schooner, the 2012 Great Chesapeake Schooner Race ended in tragedy.  Shortly after the 43-foot Cuchulain crossed the finish line at Windmill Point, at just after 4 p.m. on Friday, Paul Stephen Case, 68, of Racine Wisconsin was knocked overboard and drowned, while … Continue reading

Kings Point’s Summerwind Wins Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race Followed by Pride II and Virginia

In the 22nd Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race, thirty nine schooner raced from 127 nautical miles down the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore, Maryland to Portsmouth, Virginia.  Summerwind, the 100′ 1929 John Alden designed schooner owned by the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, … Continue reading

Aegis Cruiser USS San Jacinto Collides with Nuclear Sub USS Montpelier in Atlantic off Florida

This has not been a good few months for Aegis missile cruisers.  In August, USS Porter collided with a VLCC (a large tanker) near the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday at around 3:30 PM, during routine operations, the Aegis cruiser USS … Continue reading

Windjammer Peking Needs a New Home – South Street Deal with Hamburg Falls Through

The Peking, a steel-hulled four-masted barque built in 1911, which has been a largely neglected fixture at New York’s South Street Seaport for almost the last 40 years, is now in desperate need of a new home. The South Street Seaport Museum thought that … Continue reading

Hell Around the Horn – the History (and Fiction) Behind the Novel

In writing historical fiction, researching the history can be challenging. When researching my novel, Hell Around the Horn, I discovered that the three primary sources for the history behind the novel, two memoirs and the Official Ship’s Log, disagreed with each other in significant details and … Continue reading

What is Italian for “Chutzpah”? Schettino Sues to Get His Job Back

Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, who steered his ship into a reef off the island of Giglio and then delayed the order to evacuate the sinking ship, resulting in or contributing to the deaths of 32 passengers and crew, was … Continue reading

Congratulations to Richard Bailey – Official Captain of SSV Oliver Hazard Perry

Congratulations to Richard Bailey who has been appointed captain of the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry, which, when commissioned next summer, will be among the largest and most sophisticated school ships built in America in recent decades.  The Oliver Hazard Perry Rhode Island organization … Continue reading

Sea Songs in New York – Sailing to Staten Island: The Immigrant Experience, and Other Events

This will be a great couple of weeks around New York harbor for lovers of the music of the sea.  “Sailing to Staten Island: The Immigrant Experience” is a free concert Saturday night at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug … Continue reading

Schooner Silva Takes Unexpected Cruise in Halifax Harbor

Video surveillance footage on the dock shows a group of people boarding the 130′ three masted schooner Silva in Halifax harbor at about 1:30 am, early Monday morning. They raised one sail and untied all but one mooring line.  Around 5am, the remaining line parted and the … Continue reading