“Adventure is just bad planning”

“Adventure is just bad planning.” – Roald Amundsen           “When you spend enough time on boats, there are going to be moments when you wish you were just about anywhere else.”       – Dave Mallach                   That’s been true for me here and there, […]

The Ghosts in the Machine

Welcome to Chapter #3 in Zeelander University’s Master Degree program – The latest course in your 12-part series in advanced Zeelander ownership. Today we’re going to explore together one of yachting’s high water marks in innovation, one where Northern European builders and engineers jumped far ahead of the rest of the industry: The ins, the […]

Love Me Tender

Welcome back for chapter two of your continuing twelve-part series in advanced Zeelander ownership. In the end you’ll be awarded your well-deserved Masters in Zeelander Yachts degree. This week we try to answer that age-old question of yachting, reportedly first asked by H.M.S. Bounty’s Captain Bligh himself: Where is the best place to store my […]

The Survey from Hell

I’ll get it to it, I’ll get to it. But first, a word from our sponsor… We are eight weeks out from the delivery of our (or even better, your) Zeelander 55! It takes about ten months to build a Z55, depending upon the level of customization. But with yachts this size just about everything […]

If it ain’t Dutch… [Continued]

I. Portuguese for “peaceful, or gentle…” I’ve heard it said over the years that “Northern European’s don’t do sexy.” Yachts, that is. I don’t know if that’s ever been true – after all, these are the people who brought us Zeelanders, as sexy a yacht as any I’ve seen come out of Italy:   But it […]

If it ain’t Dutch, it ain’t much!

I’ve been traveling the breadth of Holland for most of September.  Having bounced around between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and that booming metropolis of Urk (no, that’s not a typo) for weeks on end,  I return with fascinating tales and stunning boats for you. So grab a Heineken or two and settle down for the story. I […]

Solutions

I. A Christening I was shocked to learn that long after his heroic WWI exploits in the Middle East, Lawrence of Arabia swapped his camels for boats and became a successful boat designer. By all accounts, Sir Lawrence was pretty good at it. Here is a wonderful video of the 1938 christening of his record-breaking hydroplane, Empire Day: Now I’m […]

You Snooze, You Lose (again)!

I. More Mayday My last posting, Mayday – A Cautionary Tale, was the most widely read (and shared) post in the ten years I’ve been doing this. I am thrilled to report that readership of The Fog Warning has now climbed past 10,000 readers. For what this can mean to you and your yachts, please see below. […]

Mayday! A Cautionary Tale

Mayday!   Last summer I did a solo delivery of a friend’s 45’ boat from Sag Harbor to Newport. A few miles off Fisher Island she caught fire, and I sent out the first (and, I hope, the last) Mayday call of my life. It all ended well enough (meaning no one was hurt) but […]

*** Privet, i dobro požalovat’ ***

I. Privet, i dobro požalovat’ v tumane predupreždenie …… WAIT! Sorry about that. Part of my new Russian language blog snuck in while I wasn’t  watching. What I meant to write was Hello, and welcome back to The Fog Warning. Why a Russian blog? Because Google Analytics tells me that readership of your favorite blog (and mine)  increased 40% […]