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

The 1901 America’s Cup Trials: Herreshoff, Lawson, Constitution and Columbia In 1901 the satirical magazine Puck ran a memorable Sept. 25 cover depicting “The Wizard of Bristol,” Nathanael Herreshoff, alongside Boston yachtsman Thomas W. Lawson. The cartoon captured their frustration as both men watched their prospective defenders falter in the run-up to the America’s Cup. … Read more

Chesapeake Summer Storm — Photography by Jay Fleming Photographer: Jay Fleming Camera: Nikon D850 Shutter speed: 0.8 second Lens focal length: 34mm Aperture: f/5 ISO: 100 This article originally appeared in the July 2018 issue. Capturing the Power and Calm of a Chesapeake Summer Storm Jay Fleming’s image captures the dramatic mood of a Chesapeake … Read more

Circumnavigating the Globe Aboard the Picton Castle: A Square-Rigged Sail Training Odyssey A circumnavigation is the stuff of dreams—the ultimate test for sailors. Even rarer and more romantic is completing a world voyage aboard a square-rigged vessel. For decades the double-topsail barque Picton Castle, led by visionary skipper Captain Daniel Moreland, has made that dream … Read more