When I was a sophomore in college, I was thrilled to see a letter I wrote published in SAIL Magazine. Four decades later, I’ve reached another milestone: 3 bylines in 3 years, thanks to Sailing Lessons from a Small Boat.
It’s been a record-setting year for magazine work, but this story still stands out: a unique opportunity to transform childhood memories into lessons for grownups. Want to learn how to sail your cruising boat better? Hop onboard a smaller vessel, where mistakes can happen without too much damage. And that, I point out, “is maybe the fastest and definitely the most memorable way to learn.”
The piece is nicely illustrated with onboard photos taken by the editor, but there was still room for one gem from my own archives (captured moments before the far less magazine-worthy one I’ve included here). Both bring me right back to the lessons I absorbed before I was old enough to even understand the concept of learning. And you’re forgiven if you thought my Mom was a younger version of me; I’m the wee one in stripes!
Read the full article on SAIL’s website.
Previous Articles
Last year’s Making Your Sailing Crew a Team was a completely different challenge: finding commonalities between three very different examples of our wide-ranging sport. It was great to have my own teammate in editor Wendy Clarke; read more about that article and the creative process here.
In 2022, Wendy invited me to write about the 100th Star Worlds—a surprisingly timeless piece that brings back all the rich history I tried to cram into 100 Years of Gold Stars. (There are still a few books available; to order your copy, drop me an email.)
Clicking through to read these stories on the SAIL website will help this iconic magazine “sail” into its sixth decade, perhaps even inspiring another generation of sophomoric letter writers. If you prefer a PDF, click on the link below. Either way thanks for being here, and let me know which of these three stories you like best!
That picture of your mom, you, and Jim is a treasure.
Agreed! Thanks to Dad for capturing so many great memories.
Wendy has been a great editor and very encouraging to women sailing writers! Great job, Carol!
Thanks Laurie, though I’m guessing she’s encouraging to ALL sailing writers! (There aren’t so many of us, are there?)