Articles

Two Cents

I’ve always loved boats.  When I was just a few years old, my grandfather set me up in a small sailing dinghy and sent me on my way.  I have no recollection of the instruction…More

Ever Wondered About Andy Rooney and Stationery?

When I was about to graduate from Colgate University, in 1980, I knew I wanted to be a journalist. But I also knew that there are no ”normal” career paths in the news business. There…More

Collision Course: Two of the World’s Richest Men Are Preparing for a Duel that Threatens to Leave the America’s Cup in Chaos

The America’s Cup trophy has always been a magnet for powerful men, from J.P. Morgan and various Vanderbilts to Ted Turner—perhaps because there simply is no second place. The race revolves around a defending champion…More

Personal Vendetta: With his latest commuter, Billy Joel gets even with those who doubted him

Billy Joel had two great loves when he was very young, classical music and boats.  The boats came first.  Growing up near the center of Long Island in middle class Hicksville, the highlight of his…More

Sir Robin’s Latest Solo Circumnavigation Has Been Less Than Smooth Sailing

In 1969, the same year Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first nonstop solo circumnavigation of planet Earth. Now, at age 68, he is making another solo lap around the globe…More

Masterpiece: Olin Stephens’s Radical Yacht — Dorade is 75; its maker is 98 — and they both remain (sea)worthy of admiration

OLIN STEPHENS’S obsession with sailboats took hold shortly after World War I during a childhood visit to Cape Cod. He didn’t just admire them. He studied them with what he later described as “great concentration,”…More

…And on Yachts in the Atlantic Ocean

The news that a young Dutchman named Hans Horrevoets died after being washed from a yacht that was crossing the Atlantic as part of the Volvo Ocean Race came as a shock to many readers…More

Our Race to New York Was No Pleasure Cruise

NEW YORK HARBOR — What a ride! As we left Annapolis and headed toward the starting line for the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race early Sunday afternoon, I was looking forward to a…More

A Hard-Won Victory at Sea

NEAR LAND’S END, ENGLAND — We made it! Shortly after 10 a.m. yesterday (U.K. time), Mari-Cha IV crossed a line near the start of the English Channel to break Charlie Barr’s 100-year-old trans-Atlantic racing record…More

Mari-Cha IV Sails Toward the Record Books

LATITUDE 40 30 NORTH, LONGITUDE 58 09 WEST–When we glided down the Hudson River and past the towers of midtown Manhattan two Sunday mornings ago, the start of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge 2005 was still…More