VOLUME 32 - NUMBER 10 - February 2003

Inn Excess 
Putting a maritime twist on the idea of inn-hopping, Paul Clancy and his wife Barb go in search of hospitality on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Cruising from Cape Charles to Onancock, the Clancys sample bed-and-breakfasts, from old waterfront farmhouses to gentrified town homes. John Smith never had it so good.



New Day Dawning 
The U.S. Coast Guard will never be the same now that President Bush has rolled it into the new Department of Homeland Security. And, says writer Kate Yeomans, that may be just the ticket to bring the all-important agency the credit, respect and funding it deserves.



Peas, Mr. President? 
Lingering in the shallows off Tilghman, tiny Jefferson Island hardly seems big enough to have held a colony of ants, much less a picnicking throng of New Deal Democrats. Yet it wasn’t so long ago, according to Marty LeGrand, that some of the most powerful people in our government, including presidents Roosevelt and Truman, came to this private Eastern Shore refuge for cards, kicks and crabcakes.

To Make a Cup of Coffee
 Managing editor Jane Meneely remembers one of her first outings aboard the trawler Escort. The boat is no Starbucks, but still, you wouldn’t think a simple cup of java would be such a production.

Departments • WeatherEye Mail Call Channel 9 New Boat News Gear & Gadgets • Cruisers Calendar Galleys Ashore In the Galley Boat Club News Bay Business Tide Tables Advertising Sections Boat Review • Albin 36 Express Trawler • Meridian 411 Advertisers’ Index • Classifieds

Nautical Know-How  Winning the Warranty War—Reading the fine print is just step one in the age-old chess game between man and manufacturer, says Janet Groene.

Time Tested Epic Saga—The Saga 43 is all boat, says Tom Dove, and one that can carry you happily into a retirement under sail.

Marina Hopping Right Here in River City—Chestertown Marina lies at the end of a long river, and at the beginning of a fun layover in Chestertown, Md., for Jane Meneely and her loyal crew.

Cruise of the Month The Once and Future Port—Richard Rose launches Gypsy Rose in Delaware City, once the C&D Canal’s north terminus. From nearby Fort Delaware to the canal itself, he finds plenty to see and do.

Reader Rendezvous Travels with Strangers—Battle-Axe, a dapper little yacht, recounts the time foreigners took her tiller for a cruise on the Choptank. By Steven Pilkington

Trading Places Master Mechanic—John Page Williams introduces us to outboard motor maven Richard Jerns, who has spent a lifetime keeping engines in tip-top shape, first for Baltimore Chris-Craft, now for Chesapeake Whalertowne.

Angler’s Almanac M is for Meticulous—And N is for Neaten Up.
John Page Williams says that now is the time to organize your tackle, before the fish come back this spring.

Stern Lines Living Large—Nothing makes a small office seem big than an even smaller living space, says Constance Bond, who discovered the phenomenon for herself when she lived aboard her boat.


On the cover: In the stillness of a sunset. Photograph by John Bildahl..