Sober Skipper, MADD and the Push to Prevent Boating Under the Influence When television hits like Cheers and L.A. Law dominated the airwaves, the phrase “designated driver” entered everyday conversation. By 1991 it was in Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, and the idea of naming a sober driver became as ordinary as making dinner plans. … Read more

The Charles N. Curtis: A 91-Year-Old Training Vessel Serving Tacoma Youth Slowly, the Charles N. Curtis eased stern-first into the Foss Waterway channel in Tacoma, Washington, preparing for a scheduled outing with local high school students who would perform scientific sampling across Commencement Bay. On the bridge, two veterans steered the vessel: Tom Rogers, 82, … Read more

David Godwin and Carol Buchman have spent decades on the water. Their sailing roots began racing Cal-25s around Annapolis, Maryland, and later they moved into fast cruising with a C&C 37. After buying a house on Cockrell Creek in Reedville, Virginia, in 2002, they purchased their first powerboat, a Mako 26 center console powered by … Read more

Inside Doyle Sails Newport: Reviving Traditional Sailmaking in a Modern Loft Walk along the harbor of any historic East Coast port—from Baltimore, Maryland, to Rockland, Maine—and it’s not hard to imagine a time when sail dominated the seas. Two centuries ago, harbors teemed with vessels at the docks and in the inner harbor, while thousands … Read more

The name Riva has long been synonymous with Italian style, luxury and timeless boatbuilding. Central to that reputation is the Riva Aquarama, the iconic runabout produced from 1962 until 1996, which established Carlo Riva and his yard as creators of some of the most sought-after recreational boats in the world. Riva’s history reaches back to … Read more

Contender 31 Open: A Practical Center-Console Fishing Boat Built for Offshore Work In the early 1990s, boatbuilder and deep-water angler Joe Neber turned his experience into the design of two center-console fishing boats that would become defining models for Contender Boats. Among them, the Contender 31 Open earned a reputation for blending offshore capability with … Read more

Patrick O’Brien’s “Empire City”: A Maritime Portrait of New York’s East River, 1899 In the painting “Empire City,” artist Patrick O’Brien presents a lively morning on New York’s East River in 1899. The composition captures a moment of transition: a battleship moves beneath the Brooklyn Bridge—whose twin towers were then the tallest structures in America—while … Read more

Southport 33 FE: A Refreshed Center Console That Balances Offshore Performance and Comfort “Most people in the market for this type of boat are very happy to be in a position to buy it, but even so, they can feel overwhelmed by all of the options,” says Jonathan Kirby of Southport Yachts, which recently introduced … Read more

HUNGRY FOR INFO I always look forward to reading Soundings. The magazine consistently delivers a wide range of useful and interesting articles about boating, and I particularly enjoyed the recent roundup, “Best Dock & Dines” (July). It was helpful to see several excellent waterfront restaurants compiled in one place. That said, I was hoping the … Read more

Seakeeper Ride: Advanced Vessel Attitude Control for Boats up to 35 Feet Seakeeper, known since 2002 for its gyroscopic stabilizers that dramatically reduce boat roll, has introduced a new vessel attitude control system called Ride. Designed primarily for smaller vessels, Seakeeper says Ride can eliminate up to 70 percent of both pitch and roll on … Read more