Privateer Days Selling Cookies for the first time Parrot and Jolly Roger Cookies

I'm selling my cookies for the first time this weekend at Privateer Days in Fells Point.

I'm selling both Parrot cookies and Jolly Roger cookies at my friend the Sausage Barons' stand. Sausage Barons is selling two fantastic sausages one is a Caribbean sausage topped with pineapple rum chutney and the other is a Baltimore bratwurst topped with pickled onions. Both are amazing but the Latitude 18 Caribbean sausage is my favorite.

So come on down to Privateer Days have a sausage and a cookie and tell us a great pirate joke.

Back from the land of not blogging/ Fawcett's talk on Newport Bermuda Prep

Sorry for my hiatus from blogging. I missed you too.
Last night, I went to a seminar at Fawcett's on "Gearing up for Offshore" which had a focus on the Newport Bermuda Race.  For those of you who are not local Fawcett Boat Supplies is a Annapolis based awesome sailing store pyacht is their online world. They have everything you could ever need for your boat and even better the sales staff are all very knowledgeable.
Some bits and pieces of the things I learned last night as they apply to the Newport Bermuda Race are :
1. Lifejackets- officially need leg straps and mod kits are available for mustang and other lifejackets however if you use a mod kit to make it correct for the Newport Bermuda Race then that pfd no longer counts as far as the coast guard is concerned.
2.Tethers. Tethers need a quick release at the point closest to the body. This did not always exist if you have an old tether then you need an upgraded one like this.

3.Primary and backup VHF need DSC. What is DSC you ask? Basically it is a button on your VHF that send out a distress signal and makes your distress signal show up on everyone's VHF with DSC in the area. It allows the boats around you to know you are in distress faster then if they had to wait for the coast guard alert. In the case of a man overboard it makes it easier for someone to come help you or for you to come help others. In an ocean race this makes a lot of sense as most likely those in the best position to help with be the boat just behind you in the race. Example 

4.  Satellite phones are now being required
5.Radar reflectors that you have on your boat now are almost certainly not big enough for the rules for Newport Bermuda. They are looking for huge ones so large that they currently do not exist in the store and only one company makes them.
6. Backup navigation lights ( your red green white tricolor) need to have a 2 miles distance and a separate power source which is different then the old shorter requirement and many boats had them hooked into power source not separate. You know want something like this tri color as your backup that uses batteries.

Well this is what I learned and I hope it is helpful to some of the rest of you. I'm trying to find a ride for Newport Bermuda if anyone is looking for crew.

Baltimore Parade of Lighted Boats December 7 , 2013 Annapolis Parade of Lighted Boats December 14, 2013

As you are trying to get into your festive mood for this holiday season one of the best things in my mind is to go watch a parade of lighted boats. What is awesome is there are two locally in the next two weekends. Baltimore is on December 7 and  Annapolis on December 14.
Lighted boat parades combine nautical and maritime with Griswald like holiday cheer. The hours and number of lights used to create these displays is amazing.
Baltimore Parade of lighted boats is put on Fells Point Yacht Club and supports Toys for Tots. The best viewing area is the fells point pier and near the pier 6 area.  Baltimore's is much more spread out then Annapolis.

Annapolis( well the Maritime Republic of Eastport) puts on their lighted boat  on December 14. Eastport Yacht Club sponsors in Annapolis. The best viewing spot is at Pussers and the hotel right behind Pussers however the whole of ego alley is usually packed with people. People will line the bridge and boats will go on both sides of the bridge in about 30 minute groups.

How to watch a parade of lighted boats

1. Dress warmly for the weather. Layers and hats and gloves are key 

2. Bring hot chocolate ( spiked if adults is a delicious option) but hot beverages make this much more fun

3. Bring candy canes for some reason this adds to the fun and they take a while to eat so plenty of time to eat a candy cane while watching 

4. Bring friends and family. This is a great outing for the whole family or a group of friends more people exclaiming over angelic sailboats and trans out of sailboats and how in the world did they get that tug to look like a crab is much more fun. 

5. For Annapolis get there early as parking and finding a spot can take longer then you expect. Baltimore the parade is much more spread out so this is not an issue. 

6. Bring your Camera!! you want to snap some pictures. 

7.Have a pandora Christmas mix on your phone or some other way of playing a little Christmas music because you will have times where you feel like caroling or at least listening to Bong Crosby sing.

8. Make sure kids and clumsy adults stay back from waters edge you do not want anyone going in the water in December.

9. Merry Christmas

Sailing with an old friend

Yesterday, I went sailing with an old friend.  He is old enough to be my grandfather but is a friend from when we used to both race in the same fleet in days gone by.  We went out in his boat in order to watch the schooners from the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race leave Baltimore and get ready to start the race. Somehow what struck me about this great day on the water is how intergenerational bond building sailing can be. I spent a day in light air chatting about schooners and boats and back when stars were new and dacron were the high tech sails. It was a great time and absolutely wonderful. Somewhere along this light air day I got book recommendations and knowledge about cannons. This is the sort of lovely thing that sailing produces, a common bond.

J22 Cookies

It is the end of season party tonight for one of my weekday races on J22's. We came in third overall. Because of this I decided to make some J22 cookies. Ok they are kinda general sailboat cookies but for this purpose they are J22's.

All of the spinnakers are based on the ones in the fleet.

A Few Good Sailing Movies

Ok so you have been watching the Americas Cup and after a comeback of epic proportions Oracle has won. Now what to watch to continue that fall sailing bug.

Wind
The best racing movie of all time and it is about the quest for the Americas cup. Not to mention female sailors will find a sailing hero. You must watch this if you love racing.

Morning Light
It is a Disney Film but do not hold that against it. This is the story of a team of young sailors from being recruited up to finishing the Transpac race. It has moments of greatness that are so real to any racer. When I was at the premiere years ago with a friend and the trim trim trim trim scene came on she doubted that was real and every racer knows that is real. Overall a great movie that has the character and warm fussy of Disney with the reality of sailing. ( Disclaimer I am friends with one of the sailors in real life)

Ring my Bell

I bought a ships bell for outside my back door to function as a combo back doorbell and a dinner bell. Ok, in reality just because I love the idea. Now ships bells need a rope(line) handle attached to them. So I tied my own following the instructions in The Marlinspike Sailor. Then also following the standard instructions I painted it white but in ordder to stand out I mixed a tiny bit of blue into the paint. Doesn't it look great!!

Ever since I put it up everyone who has stepped onto my back deck has wanted to ring the bell.

Solomons Screwpile 2013

I sailed the race to Solomon's on Friday into Saturday.  Lovely long starboard tack all the way down the bay. Winds around 15-20knots the whole time except the start. The start all of the sudden winds died and went every which way. Add in wind shadows from boats and it was wonky at the start.  However great run down bay finished about 3:30. 

Screwpile day one
No air postponed til 1pm and then wind picked up first to 8kt and then for second race to 15 knots.  I was on a different boat then race down and we had a shorthanded crew and a bunch of kinks to work out so did not do great but a fun day. The race committee had a contest for which boat had the most of several things during postponement and that provided some odd entertainment.  

Screwpile day two
We had an on the dock postponement till ten then they announced races would stsrt on water at 11:30. We got three races in which was really great winds were about 12knots.  So dang hot however.  The pool back at zanhisers marina was so wonderful. 

Screwpile day 3

Lovely lovely wind n the 15 knot range. 

2 races were gotten in ob the south course then back to fuel dock and main dock to drop off crew and then delivery back to annapolis. The wind and day was great getting back to annapolis

Review Musto Evolution Womens Sailing Shorts

Sailing shorts for women are hard to find good ones.

First lets define what makes good sailing shorts. 

1. Good fit. ( This is a major issue for most sailing shorts)

2. Pockets- they need to be of useful sizes and easy to open with gloved hands

3. Belt loops - I at least like to mini carabeener my multitool via a long line to a belt loop so I do not drop it overboard

4. Reinforced or padded and reinforced rear end.

5. Fast drying

6. Long enough to protect the back of your thighs when on the rail without being so long as to be ugly.

7. Movement you need to be able to have full movement for climbing around on the boat without the shorts pulling against your legs

8. Durable- Non skid can do a number on your clothes and given the amount of sailing I do has ruined several pairs of shorts. Sailing shorts are not cheap and for these prices should hold up. 

9. Style/Price

I have been searching for the best pair for years. I've tried on or owned almost all of the major contenders from Camet, Underarmour, Gil, Zhik, Atlantis,Henry Loyd ect. 

Finally I found a pair I actually love. Musto Evolution Performance Women's Shorts

So how do they do on the criteria we established above

1. Fit- Seems to be true to size. Waist to hip area is comfortable(which is rare usually sailing shorts either have a really tiny waist and huge hip area or no assumption of hips at all) and I wear the same size I do in most normal shorts. 

2.Nice deep pockets. The big thigh pocket I wish was on the right leg not the left but that is just me. It is plenty of space for your cell and money at the after party or during the race I often put the gloves in that pocket before the race. The thigh pocket is really two pockets the velcro one on top and the zipper one underneath. I mainly use the velcro one. It is nice for a roll of tape or a pair of gloves which getting things rigged up on the way to the race course. The hip pockets are also good I use the one on the right for my multitool and they are deep enough for that and that is a rare thing. After races it is big enough to hold a beer can. 

3. They smartly put the belt loops right at the top of the pockets so carabeenering stuff with an idiot line( a bit of light line connecting a tool to a carabeener so that you do not drop overboard like an idiot) to your belt loops and putting it in the pockets works great. 

4. These shorts do not have padding or the option for padding but that is ok. They do have a reinforced rear end which is nice and great protection against abrasion of nonskid. The texture also helps prevent slipping on boats with insufficient non skid when on the rail.  A comment from one of my guy friends was that the placement and grey color of the reinforced rear tends to emphasize attractive rear ends of female sailors due to the curve. I am not sure if this is true or my friend is just a typical horny sailor. 

5. Well last night I was wearing these and got splashed with bay water and soaked at one point on the rail and they were entirely dry by the end of the next leg. So they pass that. Not sweat wicking but they do dry fast. 

6.I'm 5'10''  with  lot of that extra height being legs so sometimes shorts are too short on me. These fall about five inches above my knee cap. This is long enough that they protect my thighs on the rail and help prevent those obnoxious rail line bruises. 

7. They have a nice oval in the crotch gusset and such so I can fully do the splits or get one leg entirely up and the other entirely down without issue. Total full range of movement in them without pulling on the crotch or back of legs. Perfect in this criteria. 

8.Durable. Since I bought these I have done probably 20 races in them things from ocean races Annapolis to Newport to Wednesday and Thursday night races on boats from 22- 80 feet and they still look brand new after washing. No rips, tears, pilling, or worn down spots. Rare are the shorts that can withstand all that with no damage. 

9.Style/Price- They are totally attractive enough to wear to the post race party but not so cute that you would wear them out in a non sailing crowd.  At $110 they are in the range but at the high end of the range for price of women's tech sailing shorts.

Overall I think these shorts are a 9 out of 10.  They are the best female racing shorts I have found go get yourself a pair.

What would I change?

They only come in Black or Stone. ( I own black) but my ideal color would be a dark tan. Stone is too light and shows dirt black is too dark and gets warm. 

I would put the thigh pocket on the right side not the left.

If they could get the price below 100 that would be much better.

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with Musto or any sailing gear manufacture. I just wear their stuff. I am also not affiliated in any way with APS which is where the link goes to buy these shorts. I just know they stock them. Neither company knows I exist and this review is unbiased in that regard. 

Back to Blogging and spin catching a mark

Sorry I have been away for a while between some family issues and summer sailing season I have been away from it.
Delicious recipes forthcoming but just for giggles and to know that there are other minor mishaps out there watch this video at about 35 seconds they catch the mark with their spin.

Lobster on a Race boat and why memorable meals are not always the fancy ones

Sorry for my blog absence, but I have been off racing the Annapolis to Newport Race and then hanging out in Newport. However , I did have what I am certain will go down in my personal great meals of all time while in Newport. It was not the hardest preparation but the environment that made it great.

While at the dock in Newport we decided to have a lobster boil on the boat. Corn on the cob, lobsters, butter, wine or beer. One pier over was where the lobstermen sold their lobsters.

So we got 1 1/4 lb lobsters for everyone who was staying on the boat at the dock and I boiled them along with corn and melted some butter. Served alongside cold beer and wine and sunset on a fast raceboat it was the perfect dinner.

Now I should stop showing you pictures of the live lobsters posed all over the boat and instead tell you how to make this happen for yourself. Ok first you sail from Annapolis to Newport in the tropical depression Andrea. Humm you say that is a little to hard. Ok then how easy are these instructions

Boiled lobster dinner

Ingredients

1 lobster per person 

1-2 ears of corn per person 

butter 

1. Obtain live lobsters you want them about 1 1/4 lbs per person. 

2. In largest pot bring water to a rolling boil

3. Put lobsters in head first one at a time prepared to put the lid on top of them so they do not snap out and boil for 18 minutes. 

4. During this 18 minutes at some point stick the husked corn on cob into the boiling water for 5-8 minutes

5. In separate pot melt the butter.

6. Using tongs remove the corn and then the lobsters from the water allowing as much as possible water to drain off. 

7. Serve with melted butter. 

8.Ideally with lobster tools but should you be on a boat not stocked with such items you may find your sailors eating it with the help on a good clean multitool 

Running Aground:What happened and what to do

So I was sailing on a friends boat today. She just bought into a boat share which is nice but she does not have much experience running this boat nor in the area that her new marina is. She is good crew but normally does not skipper. She made a mistake which was novice and ran aground. Her novice mistake was failing to keep the green channel marker on her right while leaving the channel and thus going into a shallow area. Remember the saying is
"Green when going
Red right return"
That means you need the green markers on your right when going out and red markers on the right when returning back to the dock. This rule applies in North America but not Europe.

So what to do when you run aground? Well it is a lot better when you ground on muck like we did.
If you ground
1. Assess to make sure no crew hurt themselves and that no water is coming in the hull. If good then:
2. Figure out where the deeper water is.
3. If lightly aground you may be able to slowly go in reverse and unground. Be careful to not overheat your engine and gun it reversing can bring muck into the engine and cause overheating.
4. You can in a sailboat move the boat weight  to heeling on one side to allow the keel to raise up and not drag and thus get off the ground as in sailboats the keel is usually the lowest part.
5. You can kedge ie throw the anchor off in direction of deep water and use it to pull yourself in that direction and then do this again and again until you are in deep water.
6. You can wait for the tide to rise.
7. If you have a dingy you can use the dingy to pull or to get the anchor out further for kedging.
8. Hail a friendly boat to help you tow out or call SeaTow or Towboat US.

We used a combo of 1-4 to get off this time and then continued on for a nice remaining sail.
But the best thing is to avoid running aground all together as you are much safer. I know friends who have been in  serious accidents and done major boat damage when their vessels ran aground.

I found a great deal on Sperry Boat Shoes and Sandals I'm sharing

Ok I admit it I have a massive weakness for Sperry. I own more Sperry shoes then all other shoes combined not just for racing or sailing ( although that too) but for general casual shoes. I own so many different colors and almost always buy on sale. Normally Sperry shoes start at expensive and go to really expensive. So I am sharing with you the great deal I saw at Defender. In case you do not know Defender is a great online store for boat stuff.
Blue and Tan Bahama Boat Shoes
$9 Now $4.50 For size 9.5 and 5.5 normally these run $60

Seriously $9 Now $4.50 each that is insane if you have the right shoe size this is awesome

Sandals They had a ton of different women's sandals also $9 each with list prices normally about $50!!!!

White with floral Sizes 5.5 and 9.5

Then there are the silver and yellow sizes 6,7.5,8.5,10,11

These are also super cute Navy and Plaid but they sadly are only size 6 sold out

Plus how about these White and Ocean Blue for size 6,6.5, 7, 8.5, 9.5, 10. 11sold out

Then my favorite but not in my size are brown and leopard these are so great  seriously one of you readers who wears size 6 needs to get these and wear then just because I can not with my big size 10 feet. clearly purchased them as they are now sold out

I am in no way affiliated with Defender or with Sperry I just wear lots of Sperry shoes and sometimes shop at Defender. I ordered myself several of these pairs and wanted to share the great deal with you ladies. So cheap boat shoes and sandals and thus more money for spending on food and sailing.

I am very happy with shipping as well as they have already arrived. Here is a picture of the three I ordered.

My cheap new Sperry shoes and sandals

The blue and white sandals are my favorite as the texture of the blue part is amazingly comfortable I am going to go order the yellow and white pair which has that same texture now.

Edited to add :
Looks like they dropped the price to $9 for a few other pairs. I do know they have a minimum order of $25 but just buy a few pairs.
Other pairs at $9
Navy Starboard Boat Sneakers 
Size 6

White Starboard Boat Sneakers
Size 6

And for $19 

Linen and coral and leather Bluefish 

Size 12 sold out

Privateer Day Fells Point

This weekend was Privateer Day in Fells Point Baltimore. Privateer Day is the local celebration of the nautical history that Fells Point Maryland was actually a harbor for Privateers and Pirates in the late 1700 early 1800's. It has a great fake battle with Pride of Baltimore and  other vessels shooting cannons at each other in front of Fells Point. There were also all sorts of great people dressed up as pirates and 1812. sea shanties were being sung by musicians. Plus then all the cheesy Pirate hoopla. A great people watching time. I did not grab too many pictures as I was mainly chatting with friends as we walked around but a quick few.

My father recommended Drag Queen to me. (Anchoring app not what you were thinking)

Sailing with my family last week I had the weirdest conversation with my father. He asked me if I liked Drag Queen.  I immediately gave him an odd look and asked him to explain.  Only then did he clarify that Drag Queen is an android phone app that alarms if your anchor is dragging.  Totally useful for sailors like my dad who worry about anchor dragging.  Thankfully we did not drag anchor but one night he had forgotten he set it and had his phone with him and it alarmed as we drove away from the boat in the dingy. So I am convinced it works. Plus it is just that weird to have my dad talking about drag queen. 

Sail Caribe and the Spanish Virgin Islands

Well i have not posted much in the last week because I have been on vacation. My family rented a boat from Sail Caribe in Puerto Rico and sailed the Spanish virgin islands. We were aboard a Jeanneau 409 which is a nice boat with three cabins and two heads. The best things about this boat were that it sailed very well and the fridge and freezer were fantastic. I know gushing about a fridge sounds weird but a good fridge makes a much nicer trip.
First night in Puerto del Ray.
   We did the thing where we slept aboard the night before the charter. This was nice as we got to go grocery shopping and get everything ready the night before. I recommend Thrifty car rental if you are getting a car at the airport as they have a drop off literally two doors away from Sail Caribe. Maria at Sail Caribe checked us in and got us to the boat. It is a lovely and humongous marina. Truly walking around the docks and just looking at all the boats is a pleasure in itself. Among thousands of other boats one of the ships from Pirates of the Caribbean was located there.
Checkout
  Ziggy did our checkout. The thing where they go over the boat and operation and make sure they can trust you with the boat. Ziggy was very thorough and great but took a very long time. However it was much more focused on boat then nitpicking and thus much better then most other checkouts. A quick docking at the fuel dock later and then we are in business sailing over to Culebra.
Culebra
 It was a nice sail about 10 knots breeze and easy navigation. We anchored at

ensenada honda( no relationship to the cars). Anchoring was easy. I love it when anchors hold right away. We ended up staying there two nights due to concerns over the wind being out of non typical directions and not wanting my mom to get seasick. We swam and beached and had a fantastic time. We rented a golfcart to go over to the flamenco beach. I would not do this again as it meant spending more time messing with renting the golf cart then at the beach. I would just cab over. Cheaper and less hassle. Flamenco beach was lovely and I found a great sand dollar however later in the trip my mother smashed it accidentally so it did not make it home. If you go look for a new one for me.
Culebrita
The next anchorage was Culebrita. This was a very pretty anchorage you could dingy in and walk a path up to a admittedly run down lighthouse but it was a nice walk and the cacti and views were fantastic. As we were grilling dinner that night aboard we saw several sea turtles swim by our boat. After dinner when it got dark we saw some glow in the dark something floating by. This was a bit of a rolling anchorage and a tougher place to anchor as the shore line goes from very deep to very shallow very quickly and you want to anchor where there is room to swing when you have enough scope out but not in too deep water.
Vieques
We moored at a private mooring owned by a nice woman named Christina in Esperanza. She charges 25 dollars a day and the mooring was recommended by the Sail Caribe folks. Truly one of the easiest moorings to pick up ever as she made it very obvious by tying pool noodles to her painters and very easy by having two painters not one. For those of you who do not moor typically a mooring is a concrete block  or other large secure heavy thing at the bottom with then lines that go up to a main ball from there one or rarely two painters these are lines that you pull from the mooring ball to the boat to attach your boat to the mooring. Having two makes it easy to attach it to both sides post and starboard of the bow of the boat. We had had a long sail from Culebrita to Vieques and spent two nights at this mooring. The thing I disliked the most about Esperanza is the dingy dock. Although I had no difficulty my parents and aunt had a ton of difficulty getting from the dingy to the dock at the dingy dock to the point that we ended up beaching the dingy letting them off and then  my going to the dingy dock. If Esperanza would simply add a place to step up from their dingy dock it would be much much improved as a location for boaters. During the first night we went to a place called Tradewinds for dinner. It was all the way to the left on the main street from the dingy dock. The conch  salad was fantastic and they have a rum drink that was triple rum triple juice that was on the happy hour menu that was dangerously tasty. The next day we went to sun beach via dingy and swam and relaxed. Then after dinner we went to the bio luminescent bay called mosquito bay for a kayak tour which was fantastic. See my other special post. But totally worth it do that.
Palomino

The next day we sailed to Palomino Island. The majority belonged to some fancy resort but there were several great free mooring balls and it was a lovely location. Perfect for trying to be back early the next day due to flights. The surf was up but the mooring balls were a lot more protected then you might have expected and it made a last stop of just tropical lovely.

Bioluminescent bay on Vieques

Sadly I can not show you pictures as it doesn't photograph well but let me tell you about the bioluminescent bay. We took a tour with Abes kayak tours. From our boat moored in Esperanza we dingyed in and then were picked up by Abes right by the short dingy dock. They took us to a parking lot where we signed paperwork then we got back in vans and taken over the most pothole strewn road I have ever seen.  Once finally in the kayaks it was so neat every time you disturbed the  water it glowed green from the plankton. Seriously you would paddle and the area would glow green. Then if you tapped on your kayak with the paddle the noise would disturb the fish and they would dart away in green trails. It looked like something out of a alien movie. Totally fantastic. I loved it. Sorry no pictures as the need for a fancy waterproof camera in order to get good photos prohibited me. But just trust me totally excellent.

Boat Provisioning Trick

Next week, I am going with my family on a week long trip where we are chartering a sailboat in the islands.( I promise I will show pictures) We have done this several times before and it is always a great time. I am starting to pack and as such I wanted to show you this trick I  learned over the years. So when you bareboat charter a boat you do not have a chef. Thus you either cook aboard yourself for the week or eat out every meal. My family typically cooks breakfast and lunch and goes ashore for dinner most nights. This is interesting in terms of spices. You do not want to travel with a spice rack nor do you want to buy at inflated island prices a bunch of seasoning you will use only for a meal. The solution is recycling. During the year when you use up one of those little containers that hold a bunch of different sugar sprinkles wash it out and keep it. Use a paper funnel to funnel in spices and then close again and put inside a ziploc and place in your luggage.

Now contains Pepper, Old Bay, Salt, Italian spices,  Red Pepper, and  Taco seasoning

You can see on the jar that it is still embossed with the words Holly Leaves and Red Crystals left over from some Christmas sugar sprinkles. Bonus, you can also just leave it there when you are done and not have to worry about it. You can buy prepackaged combo spice dispensers they are similar however you can not control the spice combo. What I like about this is that only those spices I expect to use are contained in the mini canister.

Websites I love

We all have our favorite websites and blogs and I for one am always looking for more. In case you are wondering these are the ones that are tops on my to read list.

Sailing
APS Stern scoop- Rare but great gear reviews.
gCaptain - all the maritime news
Sailing Anarchy - Sailing news with a hint of snark
Spinsheet - Everything that is anything in the world of Chesapeake Bay sailing

Food
Bakerella- Cakepops and other cute food
CakeWrecks- A reminder that no matter how bad the dessert turned out it could be worse
Smitten Kitchen- A very pretty food blog with delicious inspiration
Sweetopia- She makes the most impressive cookies ever
The Kitchn- A major food website recipes products everything.
Tide and Thyme- An eastern shore of MD food blog with great ideas

Boats and Presidents

It is Presidents day weekend. Since this is a sailing and food blog I want to mention the boats that our presidents are famous for.
George Washington
He is most famous for crossing the icy Delaware river on Christmas night 1776. This raid was a bold move of the revolutionary war. The boats were a mishmash cobbled together with the assistance of the Pennsylvania navy however the majority of boats were either ferry boats or Durham boats (flat bottomed with keels steered with sweeps primarily used at the local iron works)

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Leutze

Thomas Jefferson

USS Constelation

Urged and then started the US Navy. He is responsible for the first ships to be commissioned to be built for the US Navy. This bill was the Naval Act of 1794. The ships commissioned that made it to completion were in order of launch the USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution.  Of these USS United States was sunk during the civil war. The USS Constellation you may still and I highly recommend you do visit in Baltimore. The USS Constitution still belongs to the US Navy and may be visited in Boston for great tours as well.

USS United States

USS Constitution

John Kennedy

On August 2, 1943 Kennedy was serving in the US Navy as a lieutenant junior grade aboard the patrol torpedo boat 109(PT-109) when it was sunk by the Japanese. He then led his men to swim first to one abandoned island and then to a second one where they lived for six days off of coconuts.

President Kennedy in his younger days had been a sailor of star class boats. Of all our presidents he is probably the best sailor. As an adult he had two sailboats. The Manitou a 62 foot racing yacht  sometimes called the floating white house and the 26 ft Victura which was given to him for his 15th birthday by his father and remained his favorite boat throughout his life. 

JFK aboard the Manitou

For a nice video of JFK sailing his Victura go here. He was president so we can forgive him his bad sail trim around 1:20 and 4:55.