Passagemaker

3 weeks ago | passagemaker.com | Bob Arrington

The forecast was perfect. A high-pressure system was going to remain stationary just north of the Greater Antilles for the next 48 hours, giving us ample time to make the 500-mile run from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. My friends Josh and Caitlin had looked forward to this trip for months. After purchasing their 45-foot Symbol trawler in St. Thomas, they were finally ready to bring it back to their home in North Carolina.

1 month ago | passagemaker.com | Chris Caswell

There has been a rash of cruising yachts being abandoned not because they had lost their steerage, were actively sinking or were on fire, but because the crew just wasn’t happy. Most had been dealing with weather conditions for which they were totally unprepared. Take the 53-footer that was CE Category A Ocean-rated, which is the toughest category for yachts, capable of seas up to 23 feet and winds of 41 to 47 knots. The inexperienced crew had been dealing with winds of 40 knots and 10-foot seas.

1 month ago | passagemaker.com | Daniel Harding

For Tim and Lisa Armand, building their dream yacht—a Fleming 85—is all about creating memories with family and friends. Tim Armand made one thing crystal clear as we cruised aboard his new Fleming 85 Enclosed Bridge off Greenport, New York: St. Somewhere is his ultimate boat, but not necessarily his last. “Never say final,” he says with a chuckle. His boating background makes that much evident.

1 month ago | passagemaker.com | Kim Kavin

Lauren Tolla was having trouble processing what she was seeing. And feeling. And smelling. It was October 2021, and her husband, Tom, had persuaded her to go check out a boat that he had seen advertised for sale on Facebook Marketplace. They’d driven from their home in Guilford, Connecticut, up to New London, where it had rained the day before. The name of the 1984 Nauset 35 Downeast was Seahorse. Clearly, it had been ridden hard and put away wet.

2 months ago | passagemaker.com | Kim Kavin

Inside StoryLady Di is Hull No. 3 of the Nordhavn 80, and the first one with a highly personalized interior by Vripack. Mike Kugler stood outside the headquarters of the Vripack design firm in the Netherlands, looking up at the American flag. It was flying in honor of the visit he was making that day alongside his mother, who was nearly 90 years old at the time. They had sure come a long way from the town of 8,000 people in southwest Nebraska.