Sail Far Live Free

"A designer must study the essentials of what is beautiful in yachts, and work these ideals into any design he draws whether blonde or brunette, transom stern or pointed, power or sail." - Chuck Paine This post is the first in a series I'm putting together to help give myself some new perspectives on cruising sailboats from the design pros. In the series, I'll be asking well-known yacht designers to answer 4 questions. Follow along with the series and learn a bit about what makes these designers tick and the intricacies of such things as the tradeoffs for sailboats between form and function. Here are my questions for the designers: 1) Sum up your sailboat design philosophy in a few sentences. 2) What's one of your personal favorite sailboats that you designed and why? 3) Is there a sailboat design and/or designer that inspired your own work or career? 4) Is it more difficult to design a sailboat that looks good or sails good? For this particular post,

Autumn Rolling In (Muskegon, MI)

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society." - Mark Twain I'm mostly a t-shirt sailor, which is to say I'm not picky about what attire I wear when I'm sailing (and I have little influence on society). But I find that the older I get the more sensitive my skin seems to be to UV and wind rash, which is exactly why I was excited to try out a shirt from Snikwah that offers sun protection (UPF 50+) and an extendable/convertible collar to keep my neck, ears and even face protected on the water if I so choose. No, I'm not robbing a bank - I'm outfitted for sun/wind/bug/spray protection on the water! Snikwah's claim to fame is their proprietary blend of Dri-Release fabric that adds excellent moisture wicking ability to the UV protection. I don't know exactly what the material is made of, but it's been comfortable and airy during the last two weekends of sailing.  I'm also happy to report that Lake Michiga

"The half minute which we daily devote to the winding up of our watches is an exertion of labour almost insensible; yet, by the aid of a few wheels, its effect is spread over the whole of twenty-four hours." - Charles Babbage Sailing is sometimes that way too. The raising and trimming of sails is like the half minute exertion of watch winding labor whose effects can carry us hundreds or even thousands of miles through the wind and waves. If the wind is right, you get a lot for a little. With today's battery powered smart watches and quartz movement self-winding watches, the exertion of labor that Babbage describes is not only insensible, but in many cases actually non-existent. Take for example the subject of this review, the wooden Dover watch from Jord . The Dover requires an initial winding, but then daily activity keeps it ticking if it's worn for 8 hours a day or so. What I really like is that the wood feels light and comfortable on my wrist and adds a

"It was a poetic recreation to watch those distant sails steering for half-fabulous ports, whose very names are a mysterious music to our ears. It is remarkable that men do not sail the sea with more expectation. Nothing was ever accomplished in a prosaic mood." -Henry David Thoreau I know, I know. Citing a Thoreau quote to open a simple sailor's blog post is going to alienate some of you. But still, I think he sets the stage well for my kind of summer cruise. There's nothing unimagined or lacking poetry when I leave the dock in the summer, even if only for 9 days. When I cast off the lines headed for the other end of Muskegon Lake or the northern basin of Lake Michigan I might as well be sailing to the far side of the world. My mind and spirit run free like a child's on the first day of summer break. I'm James Cook and Bernard Moitessier in a common skin. And oh how those half-fabulous ports of Leland, Northport, Suttons Bay and Traverse City were indee