Two Right Whales Found Severely Entangled: One Calf Likely Fatally Injured Two separate entanglement incidents involving North Atlantic right whales have raised urgent conservation concerns. On October 11, a whale-watching vessel reported a four-year-old male right whale entangled and visibly injured off Sea Bright, New Jersey. Researchers later confirmed that the whale was identified as … Read more

Saving Thomas Point Lighthouse: A Chesapeake Landmark in Need of Repair Anyone who has navigated the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay just south of Annapolis, Maryland, will recognize the distinctive red-and-white, hexagonal silhouette of Thomas Point Lighthouse. First lit in 1875, this screwpile lighthouse stands as both a navigational aid and an enduring symbol … Read more

Cruising Cuba’s North Coast: Practical Experiences and Tips for Visiting Sailors After making a slow passage along Cuba’s northwestern coast, one correspondent reconsidered plans to continue across the South Pacific. If the short hop a few hundred miles from U.S. shores felt too isolated and demanding, the thought of many more remote islands after a … Read more

Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy on the High Seas — Book Review While fictional pirates in adventure stories are often romanticized as daring and heroic, modern piracy is a serious and dangerous reality. John C. Payne’s book Piracy Today: Fighting Villainy on the High Seas (Sheridan House, Inc., 2010; $29.95) offers a hard-hitting, firsthand look at … Read more

When Soundings first appeared fifty years ago, I was paying less than 50 cents a gallon to fill the six-gallon tanks that slid across the floor of my Glasspar Seafair Sedan. Now fuel seems to rise by about fifty cents a gallon every month. Back then, even that small amount felt like a luxury, but … Read more

Northwest Sails and Canvas — Sailmaking Craft in Port Hadlock Step into the busy Westrem Building at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, Washington, and you’ll find students planing planks, sawing frames, shaping pieces on routers and vacuum-bagging composite parts. Climb the stairs to the second floor at the rear and the … Read more

Bert ter Hart’s Solo Five-Capes Circumnavigation Using Only Celestial Navigation When Bert ter Hart sailed into Rarotonga after four months alone at sea following his departure from the Falkland Islands, relief and elation washed over him. He had feared running out of food and had arranged for emergency provisions. He had survived the gales of … Read more

Plastic Found in the Mariana Trench: The Deepest Evidence of Ocean Pollution The Mariana Trench, an immense chasm in the Earth’s crust reaching nearly seven miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, is the deepest known part of the world’s oceans. It is one of the planet’s most remote and extreme environments, yet recent … Read more

How to Evaluate a Boat Before You Buy: Practical Tips for Confident Cruising Few purchases create the same excitement and anticipation as buying a boat. You read magazines, scan websites and picture summers of cruising and weekend getaways. That enthusiasm, however, can make objective evaluation difficult. When you finally step aboard, it’s easy to let … Read more

Dee Caffari Becomes First Woman to Sail Solo Around the World Both Ways Dee Caffari, a former British physical education teacher turned professional sailor, has made history by becoming the first woman to complete solo, nonstop circumnavigations of the globe in both directions. Having already achieved a westabout, against-the-grain voyage in 2006, Caffari recently finished … Read more