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In my last blog I wrote about Bahamian sloops as Regatta race boats. The Regatta, initiated in the mid-1950s, did wonders for preserving the sloops—but it also transformed them from humble, pragmatic work boats into hotrod racing machines.

Around thirty-five years ago, I was at sea on a sailboat with conventional stainless steel stanchions and plastic-coated stainless steel wire-rope lifelines.

A jackyard topsail is rarely seen today, and there are good reasons. The jackyard topsail is a sail with murder on its mind, swinging long spars along the deck, intent on sweeping the crew overboard. If you see a jackyard topsail set today, such as on the P-boat JOYANT or on the NY50 SPARTAN, you should take notice, because under a jackyard topsail lies a brave captain and braver crew, whose full attention will be on that large sparred piece of canvas hoisted high into the sky.

The missing link in the well-known evolution of Chesapeake Bay oyster fishermen is the Brogan. First came sailing log canoes, which are still extant on the Bay, and are raced very competitively to this day.