Don and Marilyn Mitchell stand aboard their 42-foot Grand Banks yacht Coral Caye. Photo by Stuart Villanueva
In October, Don Mitchell and his wife Marilyn brought Coral Caye, their Grand Banks Classic 42, down the coast to Port Aransas to organize berthing arrangements for the 29th annual Harvest Moon Regatta. [Read more…]
Christen Walcher, from left, her husband, Ben, and their friends Joe Cerdas and Travis Dhonau enjoying taking out the outrigger canoes they built in the Walchers’ garage. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds
Capt. James Cook, voyaging to the islands of the South Pacific in the 1770s, was amazed at the performance of the outrigger canoes he observed in the surf and the open ocean. [Read more…]
Starship Capt. David Gaston prepares to trim the sails aboard the 55-foot sailboat. Photo by Stuart Villanueva
A delivery trip in deepwater, when a boat is transported to its new owner by a pickup crew that is just learning how she behaves at sea, can be exciting and sometimes scary. Sudden storms, unexpected gear failures, quirky shipmates — all have provided the sea stories that sailors love to tell. [Read more…]
Coxswain Jake Morrison, right, coaches members of the Texas A&M University at Galveston’s varsity rowing team Dylan Andrews, from right, Taylor Furman, Daniel Pustejovsky, Robert Miller, Melisa Pacheco, Stephanie Collins, Ashleigh Buck and Taylor Johnson during a predawn practice on Offatts Bayou in Galveston. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds
In the dim pre-dawn moonlight, the eight-oared rowing shell evokes ancient scenes of Phoenician seafaring as it speeds almost silently across the glassy waters of Offatts Bayou. With eight strong bodies — four men and four women — working in perfect synchrony under the guidance of a coxswain at the stern, it’s a powerful machine. [Read more…]
Xavien Allen works as a deckhand on the Galveston-Bolivar Ferry fleet. Allen said he loves being on the water and each day is a different experience. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds
Until the unlikely day, far in the future, when a new bridge arches over the big ships and maritime traffic in the Galveston Ship Channel, state Highway 87 will link Galveston Island and Port Bolivar with a fleet of ferry boats. [Read more…]
With her twin Caterpillar diesel engines, Point Glass has a range of more than 1,000 sea miles, sleeps 10, and has a fully equipped galley and heads. Photo by Jacob Strimple
Point Glass is an 82-foot patrol boat built by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1962 as one of 79 “Point-class” cutters launched between 1960 and 1970. [Read more…]
Johnny Walker had Blackwell Boatworks in North Carolina custom build his 57-foot center-console boat, which he docks at the Galveston Yacht Basin. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds
Johnny Walker has made a living fishing and guiding anglers for 27 years. The politics and economics of fishing have become more and more complex over those years, but he’s committed to fishing. And when the time came to order a new boat, he knew just how it should look. [Read more…]
Jim and Janet Guidry are preserving, rather than restoring, their Donzi built in 1970. Photo by Jennifer Reynolds
If Jim Guidry’s bright yellow, 18-foot Donzi brings to mind the infamous “cigarette” boats favored by Miami drug smugglers of the 1980s and made famous by the “Miami Vice” TV series, it’s no accident. She represents a stage in a development of those boats. [Read more…]
Mary Jo and Leroy Naschke sit aboard their 52-foot schooner at the Galveston Island Yacht Basin. Photo by Stuart Villanueva
Seen across the water in Galveston Bay, the 52-foot schooner Marigo presents an unusual sight. First of all, she’s a schooner — a two-mast, gaff-headed schooner, to be exact. With its four-cornered fore and main sails and two triangular headsails, it’s a rig once common in Galveston, but one not often seen today in these waters. [Read more…]
Paul and Amy Dunphey and their sons, Benjamin, Nicholas and Sammy, live aboard their yacht, Liberty Belle, which is moored at the Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook. Photo by Stuart Villanueva
At her covered berth at Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook, no one would take Liberty Belle to be a houseboat. Sleek and seaworthy at 67 feet, her lines bear the stamp of renowned yacht designer Jack Hargrave. Her all-aluminum hull is a 1968 product of Miami’s Lantana Boatyard, her gleaming paint and varnish work are a credit to the club. [Read more…]