"SEQUIM, Wash. -- Let us follow a strawberry, flush from the field as it travels on wind and water - but without petroleum - from Sequim to the big, hungry city."

"Crichton said he has a good chance of breaking the 2005 record of 6 days and 16 hours possibly by a full day 'with a bit of luck and a good breeze along the way.'"

"It matters not whether your boat is a mega yacht or a canoe, you will have more fun with it if you join a yacht club. There are more than 100 yacht clubs in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Delta system. You surely can find one to match your interests."

"If you read Part One, then you are aware of the difficulties of bareboat chartering in Hawaii. But you believe you have the experience and skill, and a crew to share the charter with, and you want to go. Now what?"

Those who see sailing as an escape from reality have got their understanding of both sailing and reality completely backwards. Sailing is not an escape, but a return to and a confrontation of a reality from which modern civilization is itself an escape.
For centuries, man suffered from the reality of an earth that was too dark or too hot or too cold for his comfort, and to escape this he invented complex systems of lighting, heating and air conditioning. Sailing rejects these and returns to the old realities of dark and heat and cold.
Modern civilization has found radio, TV, movies, nightclubs and a huge variety of mechanized entertainment to titillate our senses and help us escape from the apparent boredom of the earth and the sun and wind and stars. Sailing returns to these ancient realities.

-Robert Prisig

"The U.S. Small Business Administration will guarantee 90 percent of loans issued by community banks for the purposes of floor planning inventories for sports boat dealerships, Gary Potter, vice president of EZ Loader Trailers Inc., said Wednesday.

Potter said the $35-billion-a-year sport boat industry has been brought to a near standstill by 18 consecutive months of recession, erratic gasoline prices and a credit crisis that has left most boat dealers without an affordable way to finance new boat inventories. The SBA offer may change some of that if the process can move quickly enough, he said."

"Ocean racer Mike Mahoney said he enjoys the sport most when riding down a 15-foot wave as though his 42-foot sailboat were a surfboard. Although he and his twin brother Pat grew up sailing and racing on the Bay, the ocean is another game altogether.

'In the ocean you have to step up your game,' said Mike, a Danville resident. 'The danger heightens outside of the Golden Gate, with waves breaking 15-20 feet.'

The brothers are scheduled to leave at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning on their 42-foot sloop sailboat named the Irish Lady to sail in the Coastal Cup. This is the West Coast's premiere coastal ocean race and goes from the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco to Santa Catalina; they are competing against 25 other boats."

"So, what does $420 Million buy on the open oceans nowadays? The vessel is 550 feet long, has 2 helicopter landing decks, a massive pool with multiple bars, a movie theater, library, restaurant, private garden and a 5000 square foot master suite. When the time comes to get back to land, the owner and his guests can grab one of 20 jet-skis stored inside the ship.

Of course, when you are one of the richest men in the world, you face threats that us commoners don't have to deal with, so Mr Abromovich included a private submarine and a missile detection system."

"Higher gas prices the past few years, coupled with a slow economy, have forced southeast Michigan marinas to rethink the way they do business -- from making capital improvements to providing packaged deals to ramping up customer service -- in a bid to attract boaters."

"Here’s a chance for boaters to step up to the plate. Instead of taking an expensive vacation or burning up gasoline on an automobile or RV vacation, go boating. Visit some of the great spots in the California Delta, or camp out at the Brannon Island State Recreational area. Even if you don’t own a boat, you can rent kayaks for an inland or sea-going excursion. Add patriotism to the ten top reasons to go boating, and open a boating savings account at your bank."