July 2015


Down the Delaware If you’re headed to the Northeast’s cooler-weather grounds like Long Island or Maine, you’ll most likely first head up the Chesapeake, then down the Delaware Bay. Our next door neighbor is quite a different animal in terms of cruising grounds, currents, tides and weather, says editor-at-large Wendy Mitman Clarke. But with a little planning, the trip can be a breeze, and there are places to go and things to see without venturing into the Atlantic. Read this feature Sophisticated Lady At nearly one thousand feet long and twelve stories high, the S.S. United States is a prime example of Yankee ingenuity, engineering and sheer chutzpah. Launched in 1952, she served as both a passenger liner and a surprisingly stealthy Cold War weapon. Now, according to writer Jan Adkins, she sits at a Philadelphia pier awaiting a new mission. The Weather Wise and Otherwise The Chesapeake’s summer weather can be treacherous if you’re caught unaware in a sudden gale or thunderstorm. But, with a little weather know-how, says Ralph Naranjo, you can be a pro at reading weather maps, recognizing cloud formations and understanding the basics of weather patterns in no time. Taking in the Chesapeake World cruisers Linda Lane Thornton and husband Andy visit the Chesapeake for the first time and are welcomed, ahem, no less than three times by our armed forces. Despite their run-ins with the law, they enjoyed our Bay’s great gunkholes and managed to get all the way up the Potomac in time to celebrate the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. Tech Talk: AIS For the Rest of Us Tom Hale gives us the ABCs of AIS—Automatic Identification System—what is it, who needs it and why we should use it on the Bay. On Boats: Four Aces for the Bay With price tags starting at $5,000 a running foot, some boats are simply out of reach for many buyers. No worries. John Page Williams shows us four great Bay boats priced for the rest of us—under $50K. [ Cobalt 200, Boston Whaler 170 Montauk, Key West 186DC, Bennington 22SLX/SPS ] Jody’s Log: Snidley Whiplash and Me Getting to the Mariners’ Museum—the national repository of all things maritime—should be as simple as tying up at its dock, says cruising editor Jody Argo Schroath. Unfortunately, one trip after the next is thwarted by geographical shortcomings. Curses! Weather Eye: Boat Dreams Searching for the perfect boat is never easy, says Wendy Mitman Clarke. Especially when boat shopping is in your genes, you’re armed with the internet and hampered by a decision-making disability. Cover Photo by: John Bildahl

Down the Delaware

If you’re headed to the Northeast’s cooler-weather grounds like Long Island or Maine, you’ll most likely first head up the Chesapeake, then down the Delaware Bay. Our next door neighbor is quite a different animal in terms of cruising grounds, currents, tides and weather, says editor-at-large Wendy Mitman Clarke. But with a little planning, the trip can be a breeze, and there are places to go and things to see without venturing into the Atlantic. Read this feature

Sophisticated Lady

At nearly one thousand feet long and twelve stories high, the S.S. United States is a prime example of Yankee ingenuity, engineering and sheer chutzpah. Launched in 1952, she served as both a passenger liner and a surprisingly stealthy Cold War weapon. Now, according to writer Jan Adkins, she sits at a Philadelphia pier awaiting a new mission.

The Weather Wise and Otherwise

The Chesapeake’s summer weather can be treacherous if you’re caught unaware in a sudden gale or thunderstorm. But, with a little weather know-how, says Ralph Naranjo, you can be a pro at reading weather maps, recognizing cloud formations and understanding the basics of weather patterns in no time.

Taking in the Chesapeake

World cruisers Linda Lane Thornton and husband Andy visit the Chesapeake for the first time and are welcomed, ahem, no less than three times by our armed forces. Despite their run-ins with the law, they enjoyed our Bay’s great gunkholes and managed to get all the way up the Potomac in time to celebrate the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.

Tech Talk: AIS For the Rest of Us

Tom Hale gives us the ABCs of AIS—Automatic Identification System—what is it, who needs it and why we should use it on the Bay.

On Boats: Four Aces for the Bay

With price tags starting at $5,000 a running foot, some boats are simply out of reach for many buyers. No worries. John Page Williams shows us four great Bay boats priced for the rest of us—under $50K.

[ Cobalt 200, Boston Whaler 170 Montauk, Key West 186DC, Bennington 22SLX/SPS ]

Jody’s Log: Snidley Whiplash and Me

Getting to the Mariners’ Museum—the national repository of all things maritime—should be as simple as tying up at its dock, says cruising editor Jody Argo Schroath. Unfortunately, one trip after the next is thwarted by geographical shortcomings. Curses!

Weather Eye: Boat Dreams

Searching for the perfect boat is never easy, says Wendy Mitman Clarke. Especially when boat shopping is in your genes, you’re armed with the internet and hampered by a decision-making disability.

Cover Photo by: John Bildahl