I will admit that I am not a lover of wooden vessels. An admirer from afar, perhaps. The truth is that I am afraid of rot. I don’t understand it, and, as is often the case, I fear what I don’t understand. And, I doubt that I would like rot, even if I did understand it. Frankly, I like fiberglass. There I said it. And I am not ashamed.
Two months ago, I bought a Herreshoff America 18 catboat, an example of what I consider to be “classic plastic,” a timeless design, built to last. Built in 1973, at forty years old, her hull is still solid and sound. She is on at least her second sail (she only has one, a 250 square foot gaff rigged main.) Her aluminum mast is original as are her boom and gaff. I am only her third owner, or so the last owner told me. The first owner is said to have owned her for close to 39 years. In this case, the sailor wore out before the boat. He is said to have sold the catboat when he was in his 80s and couldn’t sail anymore. The next owner found that he was too busy to sail, kept her for a season, and then passed the boat along to me (in exchange for a cashier’s check.)
How much would sea levels fall if all ships were removed all at once from the oceans of the world? Far less than you might think.
The title of the paper published in the journal 
This year the 4th of July fireworks in New York, sponsored by Macys, will be set off over the Hudson River. The 
In 1955, Ted Hood founded Hood Sailmakers at the back of Maddie’s Bar in Marblehead. Hood Sailmakers would grow to be a premier sail maker in the 1960s and 1970s. Hood was also a boatbuilder, designer and sailor. In 1974 he built the 12-meter yacht Courageous and sailed it to victory in the America’s Cup. Ted Hood was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Ted Hood died last Friday at the age of 86.
The 
Mitsui O.S.K. Line has announced