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Category: Sailing

Gunkholin’

Gunkholin’

A bucket list item of mine for decades has been gunkholin’ the Chesapeake Bay. I’m glad you asked, according to Wikipedia: Gunkholing is a boating term referring to a type of cruising in shallow or shoal water, meandering from place to place, spending the nights in coves. The term refers to the gunk, or mud, typical of the creeks, coves, marshes, sloughs, and rivers that are referred to as gunkholes. While not necessary, gunkholers typically seek out the serenity of isolated anchorages over the crowds of…

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Sailboat or Trawler?

Sailboat or Trawler?

  Cruiser’s University is a boating education program for sailors and power boaters held at the US Naval Academy twice a year during the Annapolis Spring and Fall Sailboat Shows. This past Thursday, April 19th through Sunday, April 22nd, I spent four days attending four 90 minutes classes each day, selected from over 50 classes taught by very knowledgeable, experienced sailors.  America’s Great Loop? What? Two years ago, I met a physician at a cocktail party and we started discussing…

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Impeller!

Impeller!

Sunday, April 2, 2018, I spent the day with John Kalinowski, the skipper of Sleigh Ride, the 32 foot Sabre sailboat down in Deltaville VA that I raced on the past two years. We “bent” on the sails (a nautical term for attaching the sails), tuned the rig (equally tightened the stays that hold the mast up using a metal gauge), replaced the fuel filter, disassembled a recalcitrant winch, and replaced an impeller, the rotating rubber piece inside the seawater coolant pump….

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