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
News
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
She Sailed Around the World — Alone — in Under 72 Days
Sailing around the world is the nautical equivalent of climbing Everest. Making the circumnavigation alone and without stopping for supplies or rest is a bit like making the ascent without oxygen or sherpas. To undertake…More
Vietnam’s ‘Dust Children’ in Limbo — U.S. Law Grants Visas to Those With American Features, But Some Are Still Denied
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Any Vietnamese resident who has “American facial features” and was born between 1962 and 1976 is entitled to an American immigrant visa. So why are two young men who…More
Rich Men Sail Big Boats Down Under
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — The America’s Cup is just getting underway, but another contest, one with billionaire skippers and much bigger boats, concluded here last week. Yachts owned by Netscape founder Jim Clark, duty-free-stores billionaire…More
