by Vivian Vuong
December 20, 2021

Nathan picked up our anchor in Roque Harbour in a light breeze, with a plan to sail to nowhere in particular. We were to spend time cruising Maine and discovering the vast cruising grounds tempted us with options in every direction.

Miguel was at the helm, steering out of our idyllic overnight spot while crew Peter, Debbie, and John watched for lobster traps. We settled on making a course towards Portland, and the Maine coast disappeared in our wake as noon approached, promising an overnight sail in moderate breezes.

September was just around the corner and the temperature gradually cooled the further offshore we sailed.

by John Kretschmer
October 1, 2020

People who inspire us are those who find a way to launch dreams, to launch voyages, to sidestep conventional wisdom and sober, well-intentioned advice, and lead lives that are truly their own. They usually don’t set out to inspire others, far from it, it happens because they have the guts and the vision to do what they love, and the fortitude to stay the course when doing what you love is really hard to do. Two sailors that certainly shaped my thinking as a sailor, and more importantly, inspired a floundering young man who had dreams of the ocean but couldn’t see a path to the sea, were Larry Pardey and Marvin Creamer. Both men died recently but this is not an obituary, it’s a celebration of lives well lived and an offer of gratitude, from sailor to sailor.

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by John Kretschmer
August 31, 2020
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I was inelegantly bent over the bow pulpit, struggling to remove the lashings that secure the anchor when we’re offshore. We had just sailed 400 miles from Grenada, and my wife, Tadji, was at the helm, motoring into Christmas Cove off Great St. James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. “This looks good,” she said decisively. “OK, neutral,” I said, but our Kaufman 47, Quetzal, failed to slow down. “Reverse,” I said, with a bit more conviction. “It’s in reverse,” she said. “Something’s wrong, it’s not responding.” I dashed back to the cockpit, where, fortunately, it’s easy to reach the transmission behind the companionway and popped the engine out of gear. Rushing forward again, I dropped the chain all at once, and our reliable Spade anchor brought us to an abrupt stop. A messy arrival fit for uncertain times. We were back in U.S. territory and happy to be there. But how long would we able to stay?

by John Kretschmer
April 17, 2019

My list of some of the best liveaboard sailboats is eclectic and includes a mix of well-known and obscure manufacturers, but all the boats are linked in three ways: All are top-quality vessels capable of crossing oceans. They’re affordable, although in a few cases you have to look for older models in less-than-stellar condition to stay below $100,000. (Indeed, in some ways, this list is a function of age; most of the boats were priced at more than $100,000 when new but have dipped below our self-imposed threshold in middle age.) And finally, they’re all boats that I have encountered in the past few years in far-flung cruising outposts.

by John Kretschmer
April 08, 2019

All sailors are adventurous, but it’s more than that. Everyone who signs up for a sailing expedition knows adventure is a given — a big storm in the Atlantic or challenging winds are always on the horizon. But what most of us seek is an interlude from life. Sailing provides a sense of freedom that seems harder to find these days. And you need patience. Ocean sailing is an activity that reveals its charms slowly. Sometimes it seems like you’re putting in a lot of energy, effort and expense and not getting much back. But like a lot of athletic endeavours, you go over a curve and it starts to pay dividends.

by John Kretschmer
March 1, 2017

The notion of ditching the job and house, buying a boat and sailing away to the tropics, across an ocean, or even around the world, is a fantasy that lurks in the mind of every sailor. Some actually follow their dreams and find a suitable boat and prepare it for serious sailing. Dreams collide with reality when it comes to the daunting task of route planning logistics, literally, “When to sail where?”  Timing the right seasons and prevailing winds for offshore passages with the need to avoid hurricanes and heavy weather requires a bit of forethought. 

by John Kretschmer
July 01, 2017

You can’t escape history when sailing in the Mediterranean, not even your own. We were off the Lycian coast of Turkey. My wife Tadji was at the helm, searching for zephyrs as Quetzal ghosted over a shimmering sea. I was below, rummaging through the nav station looking for a detailed chart for the approach to Kekova Roads. I am a luddite, I still use paper charts and I knew it was in there somewhere. Picking through my well-used Imray Mediterranean charts I couldn’t find it. Then I stumbled upon a few neatly folded old Turkish charts. In the upper left-hand corner I saw my mother’s unmistakable script, “KAS – CAVUS BURNU – TURKEY.” She always wrote in caps. I had forgotten that I had tossed some charts from her around-the-world voyage aboard before my last Atlantic crossing.