A wide open harbor that offers little shelter in a storm, Mattapoisett looks out across Buzzards Bay, to the Elizabeth Islands. Read Full Story

The Nobska was a handsome vessel, with a great deal of age and history long before I stepped on board her in the spring of 1971. The Islander was practical, inside and out. The Islander's last year was 2006. This double ended steamship sailed between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven for many many years before I arrived for duty in May of 1971. Just out of high school, I set to work at a summer of service as messman aboard the Islander and Nobska. Read Full Story

Fishing in Norway Back in 1973 I spent some time in Bronnoysund, Norway. While there I learned a great deal about fishing, while living with the Berg family. Julian owned a pretty little Nordic wooden boat, probably @ 22 feet long. She was small and slow by today's standards, but at the time she was one of the few private recreational boats to be found on that past of the coast. I learned a great deal from Julian, who fished in a tradition that dated far back in time.  We jigged for Cod... Read Full Story

This Past Saturday, July 29th, Cheryl and I sailed Yuletide off to our new mooring in Lake Tashmoo!We left the mooring in Fairhaven at 11:30, and I was worried about too little wind to make good time.That was not a problem. By the time we cleared West Island we were in 15 knots of wind, and abnormally steep seas. We were clipping along at 6.5 knots, and were projected to get to Woods Hole way too early for a favorable passage, so I dropped the main and we sailed under genny alone. We were sti... Read Full Story

 Photos  Cuttyhunk  Hadleys Harbor  Fairhaven  Yuletide and Mistletoe  Buzzards Bay  Middleground  Middleground2  NorthEast Maritime  Squibnocket  Black Magic  Menemsha  Nantucket Sound  Labor Day 2005: Tashmoo  Lake Tashmoo  Yuletide 2006  Dark Cloud over West Island  catboat, marshall 22, cape cod cat  Catboats of Cape Cod Read Full Story

Many years ago I lived along the coast of Norway. It was a wonderful time in my life, where I learned a great deal about the ocean and fishing. Jorn was a friend from high school, an exchange student. I visited with him in Norway and stayed the summer. We were out with his Dad, Julian quite often. I learned to longline with him on board their varnished wooden powerboat. Longlining entailed hundreds of yards of line, with hooks attached every foot or so. As we let this line out, to sink the hu... Read Full Story

We took Friday, Oct. 23rd off, to get away to Hadleys for a long weekend. Out on Buzzards Bay by noon, we had the whole bay to ourselves. Only one other boat on the horizen. Imagine my surprise to enter Hadleys to find one mooring left, and a trail of boats arriving for the rest of the afternoon. It was wonderful weather, and many people took advantage of one last cruise. By mid-day Saturday it looked like any July weekend. The wind was a bit brisk, but we went for a couple of swims, and had ... Read Full Story

Labor Day 2005 on Lake Tashmoo   We had planned to spend the entire week on the Vineyard, but heavy rains washed out a Monday departure. It did not dry out until Thursday, when we made our way through Woods Hole, and on to the Vineyard. We ran across Buzzards Bay under main and jib, doused both for the passage through the hole, and entered Vineyard sound to find a surprisingly lumpy sea, strong current and steady wind. We sailed under jib, which stabilized the boat, and gave us a good 4+... Read Full Story

Today I went sailing aboard Haven, a Cape Dory 31 out of Mattapoisett. It is owned by friends Larry and Carrie Van Etten. They have had the boat for a few years, so it really was time for me to go for a sail. This was the first time on a 31 since I videotaped the very first one was launched in Marion back in the 80's. I used to shoot all the Cape Dory videos. It was really odd to see what in my minds eye was hull number one, fresh from the factory, and what I saw today was a twenty year old b... Read Full Story

I went to dinner tonight at the New Bedford Yacht Club. Loring and Joanna are members, so they invited me along. Loring stood near the table, in anticipation. He had explained before we arrived how Earl the bartender had served him his first drink way back when he was that age, some 30 years ago. He greeted Earl when we came in. Well, there was a bit of a commotion, Earl called something out from behind the bar, and everyone stood and faced the flag, as the colors were lowered and a cannon we... Read Full Story