Postcards from the Edge

I sailed a Catalina 25 in the San Diego bay for a few hours and I liked this little sailboat.  She was fairly agile in the bay and although it did not have a Knotmeter gauge but she move fairly swiftly for a 25 foot sailboat.

Hugh Angelman’s 36 foot auxiliary ketch, the Sea Witch – a boat that not only became a classic, but (in spite of the relatively small number that have been built), went on to win the Trans Pac race and become a “class” in itself – known as the “Sea Witch Class.”

The PY 26 design was first built by Paceship Yachts in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. At the end of 1977, the company was bought by AMF of Connecticut, who built the design between 1978 and 1981. Tanzer Industries bought the mold and rights to the design in 1981 and produced the boat as the Tanzer 27 (with a desk stepped versus the original keel stepped mast) until they went out of business several years later.

I have only visited this marina once and had trouble making it in with my 5.5 ft draft. The entrance a bit shallow, the charts says the approach depth is 7 to 8 ft but I bottomed out just after the entrance had been drudged. Also the approach has a strong cross current so be careful when entering and leaving the marina.

I captained a C&C 36 sailboat from this Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to Port Huron Yacht Club. It took about 3 days to prepare for the long journey so I spent a few days exploring the marina and surrounding area.

I first discovered the PPY Marina when my brother bought his Columbia 8.7 Sailboat which was on the hard in the PYY Marine yard. We worked on the engine, replaced the fuel tank and painted the hull of his boat before the PPY team used the boat lift to put the “Defiant” into the water.  The marina also provided a diesel engine mechanic to help get this old engine started and a mechanic to adjust the stuffing box.

Whitehall Bay, on the west side of Chesapeake Bay and has general depths of 13 to 6 feet. A lighthouse at Sharps Point, on the west side of the entrance to Whitehall Creek Entrance Light 2W, provides a well-marked approach to the channel between North Shoal and Whitehall Flats.

Tilghman Creek is an excellent place to drop the hook if you are looking for solitude. This honey of an anchorage is sheltered from all directions, although houses and docks surround the cove. Normally not too crowded and offers Good holding.

While tidal current tables report the current at the entrance at 2 knots, old hands know that the current across the entrance can be substantially greater. More current is experienced at the far end of the basin where a small stream enters.

I tested two LED Camping Lanterns to find the right mix of quality, price and usability of the Atomic Beam LED Camping Lantern by BulbHead and the Cascade LED Camping Lantern by Mountain Tech.

Round Mountain is a small, rustic campground that sits just 6 miles from Lake George, 11 miles from the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and 15 miles to Eleven Mile Reservoir. It is also within a short drive to hiking and biking trails, fly fishing, wildlife watching and birding.

Boulder Oaks is the only equestrian site on the Descanso district, offering 17 horse stables, 30 camp sites, and local access to the Pacific Crest Trail

Mozzarella chicken is a simple dinner recipe! It’s pan-seared chicken smothered in a tomato sauce and melted mozzarella.  Served on top of cheesy pasta with glazed carrots on the side.

Learn how to make a very scrumptious Dutch oven dessert with Dan Brooks, the Cast Iron Ranger and Brent Bolton from Dutchmasters Catering.

At first, fish tacos might sound a bit unusual but if you like fish you will love this recipe. Use your favorite fish with this lively raspberry-pineapple salsa and a yogurt-lime cream sauce for a spectacular explosion of flavors.

To set sail is to propel a craft on the surface of the water over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation. A course defined with respect to the true wind direction is called a point of sail. Planning an ocean passage starts with knowing when to go and […]

French sailor François Gabart beat the previous solo around-the-world record of Thomas Coville by six days and 10 hours. The 98 foot trimaran crossed the finish line on December 17th, 2017 setting the new solo around-the-world record at 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes and 35 seconds.

The Göbekli Tepe site is believed to be a social or ritual compound dating back to the 10th–8th millennium BCE.  Circles of massive T-shaped stone pillars were erected in what appears to be ritualistic structures and is known as the world’s oldest known megaliths.

Today, July 8th 2018, the Oracle of Argos will deliver 12 readings, one for each house in the Zodiac, written in poetic dactylic hexameters. Well maybe not so poetic and definitely not in dactylic hexameters. Without further adieu, let’s begin.

In the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago, beginning the modern climate era. Most of these previous climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives.

Always popular on Halloween “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a short story written by American author Washington Irving. First published in 1820 along with Irving’s companion piece “Rip Van Winkle”, this story is an example of early American fiction.