Effort Underway to Protect Tangier Island and Its Navigation Channel The National Park Service describes Tangier Island as “little more than a sandbar, barely rising above the raging waters of the Chesapeake Bay.” Despite that stark image, a multimillion-dollar effort is currently moving forward to stabilize part of the island and protect the navigation channel … Read more

It’s basic physics: a moving boat displaces water and creates waves behind it — that wake is the operator’s responsibility. Good wake etiquette is part of safe seamanship. Most boaters aren’t wakeboarders or surfers, so inconsiderate wakes are more than an annoyance: they can be dangerous to people, damaging to vessels and docks, and harmful … Read more

BG-One: Solid-State Bilge Pump Switch and Oil/Fuel Detector The BG-One from Blue Guard Innovations is a compact, solid-state bilge pump switch and oil and fuel detector designed to improve onboard safety and environmental protection. Built to work with common marine electrical systems, the BG-One senses when oil or fuel is present in the bilge and … Read more

When a Registered Boat Becomes a Legal Nightmare: A St. Johns River Story Tracy Lynn Tedesco learned, too late, how costly a single decision can be. As the family’s primary earner and bill payer, she registered a boat in her name that was effectively her husband’s. What could go wrong? For a time the family … Read more

Schooner Sultana Visits Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels On May 7, the replica schooner Sultana will arrive at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. The vessel will spend the week both at the museum and sailing the Chesapeake Bay with student groups, serving as a hands-on classroom for maritime history … Read more

Welcome to the new Soundings. We’ve spent more than a winter’s worth of time chipping ice and shoveling snow — we’ve been reinventing the magazine. From our base in Essex, Conn., we’re excited to introduce a refreshed Soundings that feels right for today and ready for tomorrow. The new format measures 9 by 10-7/8 inches, … Read more

People frequently ask me about survival at sea. After a boating-safety talk, someone almost always wants to discuss life rafts, rationing, or whether I’ve read the famous survival books about being lost on the ocean—most commonly Steve Callahan’s Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea. After I explain the best practices for staying safe and for … Read more

From Miami to Cowes: How Gincanotto Sealed a Long-Awaited Victory The origins of modern offshore powerboat racing trace back to Miami, a city that played a pivotal role in popularizing high-speed offshore competition. In the late 1950s, John William Maxwell Aitken witnessed one of the early Miami–Nassau races. That experience helped shape his vision for … Read more

First Light Boatworks: Preserving Traditional Wooden Boatbuilding in Chatham, Massachusetts At a small waterfront yard in Chatham, Massachusetts, First Light Boatworks carries on the craft of traditional wooden boatbuilding. Under owners Woody Metzger and Jim Donovan, the shop blends time-honored methods with practical modern improvements to produce handcrafted sailboats, lapstrake powerboats and custom commissions, while … Read more

At 71 years old, French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin has taken a strikingly original approach to solo ocean travel: he built a barrel-shaped vessel to cross the Atlantic using only the force of the sea. Rather than relying on engines or sails, Savin’s plan is to drift with the ocean currents, letting the natural movement of … Read more