Author: Chris Szepessy

With several friends in the WindCheck Community doing very exciting things in the sport, we’ve got a feeling Twenty-Twenty’s going to be a good year! New Hand on the Helm at Alerion Peter Eastman, owner of Eastman Boats and Howard Boats, has purchased Alerion Yachts from Peter Johnstone. Eastman plans to extend the Alerion brand across new models and a broader size range, and further grow sales and production beyond Alerion’s recent business turnaround. “I have loved…

Our friends at the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s Wooden Boat School in Kingston, NY are hosting the annual Riverport Women’s Sailing Conference on Saturday, March 28. This one-day event runs from 9 am to 5 pm. The conference allows participants to choose four options from a dozen hands-on and classroom workshops. Women sailors of all ability levels are invited to learn about safety around large vessels, navigation, maritime communications, outboard engine troubleshooting, marine electrical systems, sail care, race…

Our friends at Rhode Island Billiard Bar & Bistro in North Providence, RI are hosting a free sailors’ billiards party on Friday, February 28 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. If you love sailing and reside anywhere between Boston and Block Island, you are cordially invited. “This is a FREE event,” said Anthony “Tony” Costanzo, Jr., a fourth generation proprietor whose family has operated a pool hall in greater Providence since 1909. “Rhode Island Billiard, Bar & Bistro…

Entrepreneur and circumnavigator Meg Reilly left a lucrative Madison Avenue career to race around the world aboard the Clipper 70 Henri Lloyd, and co-founded an international team and network that offers a gateway into offshore sailing and adventure. “I grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, but didn’t start sailing until after I quit my job in advertising to race around the world,” says Meg. “I’d always dreamed of retiring and sailing around the world, but when…

By Heather Hild Atwater Editor’s note: Flotilla cruising is an excellent way to enjoy an unforgettable charter vacation, particularly if your sailing experience is limited. And you won’t find nicer or more capable flotilla leaders than Heather & Nate Atwater, who lead Offshore Sailing School’s Colgate Sailing Adventures® Flotilla Cruises to exotic destinations around the world. Heather recounts a visit to the lovely Adriatic Sea.     The Meet and Greet dinner at La Barca restaurant at…

By Nate Bayreuther (#1922 Orion) Maybe it was because Orion had such a late launching last spring due to school and work commitments. Maybe it was because I’d recently been reading a number of sailing narratives. Or maybe it was simply the excitement of returning to a familiar yet exciting destination…an because so many new people were coming. Whatever the reason, I was itching to get to the Niantic River launch ramp on Thursday, August 1 to…

By Hailey Simpson, Coastal Engineer Living shorelines are starting to become the talk of the town for many coastal communities that want to increase the resiliency of their shoreline. By using a naturalistic approach, living shorelines create a more durable and sustainable coast for both people and coastal resources. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a living shoreline as a “protected, stabilized coastal edge made of natural materials such as plants, sand or rock. Unlike…

By Cynthia Barrett Published by Lyons Press, an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Inc. 180 pages paperback $16.95 A remarkable number of words and phrases in the English language have origins in the terminology used by sailors of the empire that, for better or worse, made our world what it is today. Our conversations, from boardroom to coffee room, are so chock-full of these nautical idioms that we don’t notice…and often don’t know the…

By Anthony Bailey Published by Lyons Press, an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Inc. 357 pages paperback $18.95 The southern shoreline of New England comprises some very fine cruising grounds, and in The Coast of Summer, author Anthony Bailey invites the reader to join he and his wife Margot for a leisurely warm weather cruise aboard their Tartan 27 Lochinvar. A staff writer for The New Yorker for thirty-five years, Bailey is both a…

By Laura McMillan Director of Communications, Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound     The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is an initiative that was launched more than 30 years ago by the Ocean Conservancy. Save the Sound (a program of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment) has been the Connecticut coordinator since 2002. Since then, ICC weekend has grown from 18 to 42 cleanup events, and volunteers tirelessly cleaned over 500 beaches! In 2019, Save the…