Soundings Editors

Plenty of folks who are familiar with celestial navigation know what a sextant is, but have you ever heard of an octant? In this video, chief curator Pete Lesher of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St, Michaels, Maryland, talks about 18th- and 19th-century navigational instruments and the stories of the people who owned them.

The effects of climate change impact not only human beings on land but also animals that swim in our oceans. Warming ocean waters are causing everything from lobsters and crabs to striped bass and bluefin tuna to expand their ranges, sometimes putting them out of reach of the fishermen who depend on the species for a living.

The engaged couple set out to cross an ocean unaware that they’d eventually sail right into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. Now their story is headed for the big screen.

Researchers believe as much as 12.7 million tons of plastic waste is dumped into our oceans each year and that 95 percent of it comes from only 10 rivers, eight of which are in Asia. Find out more about these rivers and what is being done to clean them up by reading here.

Leg 8 of the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race got underway off Itajaí, Brazil, yesterday bound for Newport, Rhode Island. The 5,700-nautical-mile-long run takes sailors around the eastern end of Brazil, through the doldrums and across the Equator and then through the western Atlantic Ocean to Newport.

The Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission is considering opening a limited season via a lottery drawing that would allow 100 fisherman to harvest one goliath grouper per year.

The 2018 Maryland Legislature adjourned yesterday and among the last-minute bills that passed was a resolution to fund the Pride of Baltimore II, the globe-trotting sailing ambassador for Baltimore City and the state of Maryland, to the tune of $500,000 annually. Despite the funding, the tall ship is still facing a yearly $700,000 budget shortfall.

These 10 world adventurers cast off their lines and headed toward the locations of their dreams. You can, too. Read here the uncut answers to the questions we asked these globe-trotting cruisers, who have more than 100,000 cruising miles under their belts.

British sailor John Fisher, a crew member onboard Volvo Ocean Race Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, is presumed lost at sea after being washed overboard March 26 some 1,400 miles west of Cape Horn, Chile. Scallywag was sailing downwind in near-gale conditions when Fisher went over.

Despite the extensive damage inflicted on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten by Hurricane Irma last year, things are getting back to normal. There is perhaps no better sign of the recovery than the successful racing earlier this month of the 38th St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, which drew in close to 4,000 people.

Launched on Oct. 5, 1889 at Tilghman Island, Maryland, the bugeye Edna E. Lockwood is undergoing a complete restoration at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. Among the work completed to date was the total removal and replacement of her nine-log bottom. This video has an update about the wrap-up work being done before Edna is relaunched later this year.

Luke Powell is leading a team of boatbuilders who are crafting a recreation of a 68-foot Falmouth Pilot Cutter named Vincent, which was originally launched in 1852. The goal of the project is to train up aspiring young shipwrights in the traditional methods required to build these graceful wooden sailboats.

When it comes to comfort and seakeeping, larger powerboats are hard to beat. Whether you’re a power cat fan, a hard-core sport fisherman or a trawler lover — or maybe you’re somewhere in between — one of these 10 powerboats over 44 feet should tickle your fancy.

Working Sail is a British organization that is working to keep the art and craftsmanship of traditional wooden boatbuilding alive. Their latest project is Pellew, a recreation of a 68-foot Falmouth Pilot Cutter named Vincent, which was launched in 1852. This video shows some of the methods and materials being used to build her.

A single oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day, making the bivalve a critical puzzle piece in the effort to clean up Chesapeake Bay. Twenty groups, ranging from oyster farmers to research organizations, plan to boost the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population to 10 billion by 2025, improving the Bay’s water quality in the process.

Whether it’s a light switch, the polyester fiber in your comforter or the packaging your fast-food came in, plastic is virtually impossible to avoid in the modern world. And millions of tons of it ends up in our oceans each year. This video from Vice News has more on the crisis and what is being done to combat the problem.

A popular target among anglers, the swordfish is a solitary billfish that can be found as deep as 1,800 feet below the surface. Equipped with huge, softball-size eyes that allow it to see in the darkness of the abyss, swordfish use their broad, sword-like bills to slash and stun prey. This NOAA video shows a swordfish at 1,739 feet doing just that.

The Mayflower II, a 1957 reproduction of the original ship that brought Pilgrims to the New World nearly 400 years ago, is undergoing a complete refit at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. Among the upgrades she is receiving are all-new stays for her three masts. This video from the museum shows how a rigger fabricates a mouse — an elaborate work of marlinspike seamanship — for each stay.

In the golden age of sail, a ship’s sails were attached to the masts with wooden hoops. Today only a few artisans have the tools and know-how to craft sailing tackle for traditionally rigged ships and other vessels. Ralph Johnson is one of them.

Curtis “Fuzzy” Wilson knows a thing or two about oysters — he’s been shucking them professionally for 35 years. The Virginia native spends the Chesapeake Bay oyster season shucking several bushels of the stubborn bivalves each day, reminding rookies to never open an oyster up from the rear, a shucking faux pas known as “butt shucking.”

If you’re a regular reader of Soundings, chances are you’ve seen Chesapeake Bay photographer Jay Fleming’s work. Always willing to go to the extreme to get the best shots, Fleming uses scuba gear, kayaks and a custom fiberglass skiff to get as close as possible to his subjects.

Plenty of people might call friends Stephen Denette and Alix Kreder crazy. The two are building a 38-foot Atkins ketch in their backyard — from the keel up, using trees they felled and milled themselves.

The Coast Guard on January 29 rescued Bahamian national Samuel Moss Jr., 24, from his partially sunken 21-foot walkaround off West Palm Beach, Florida. Moss was found severely dehydrated and partially paralyzed after drifting helplessly for 16 days. It’s not the first time Moss has been rescued.

If you’ve ever had a day on the water held up by a bridge with a complicated opening schedule, you know how frustrating that sort of holdup can be. Florida boaters could soon experience additional closures at two railroad bridges across the St. Lucie and Loxahatchee rivers if a high-speed rail company gets its way.

Built in 1910, Tally Ho is an Albert Strange-designed, gaff-rigged cutter being rebuilt in Sequim, Washington, by Leo Goolden, who recently acquired two massive purple heart timbers to replace Tally Ho’s tired old tea keel. This video shows Goolden using chainsaws, chisels and reciprocal saws to scarf the two long timbers together.

A problem with commercial fishing is that many animals other than the target species often end up in nets — or tangled up in them. Known as bycatch, it’s an issue NOAA is working hard to solve. This video has more on the agency’s efforts.

This video from Yamaha Outboards shows the art and craft of making modern outboard engines and demonstrates the surprisingly ancient techniques used to create cutting-edge propellers.

Watch as a Chesapeake Bay pilot makes a harrowing climb up the side of a bulk carrier ship near the Virginia Capes during a blow.

Lightships were stout and rugged little ships with lighted masts that could be anchored most anywhere a navigational beacon was required.

The ferocious Southern Ocean can bring the best sailors to their knees. Watch as crewmembers aboard a Volvo Ocean 65 struggle to maintain control of their boat as they blast through heavy seas on a reach.

The Mid-Atlantic region is locked in a deep-freeze, and the crew aboard the USCGC Chock is busy keeping mariners out of trouble on the icy Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. This video shows what a cold day’s work aboard the rugged little ship is like. WATCH

Michael Gorman grew up on Lake Ontario in Oswego, New York, and got his first taste of boating at a summer sailing camp that his parents had to persuade him to attend.

Paul Buttrose was born in Adelaide, Australia, and spent the first decade of his working life as a traveling salesman in the garment industry before fighting in Vietnam.

With Hurricane Irma wreaking havoc in the Caribbean and two other named storms wandering around the tropics, now is the time to create a game plan to secure your boat.

We had so many boats in October feature we couldn't fit images of them all in the print magazine. Here is an assortment of new sailboats that you can see in this year's boat show season.

Watch the crew of the stunning and powerful Mariquita, a 106-year-old, gaff-rigged 19 Meter built by William Fife & Sons, race her hard around the marks.

Not only is the Chesapeake Bay a prime spot for boating, it is also one of the best locations for bird watching.

Countless numbers of boats have been built and launched to harvest the bounty contained within Chesapeake Bay.

The captain of the steam-powered ferry Sabino can steer her any course he chooses, but must use bells to signal a remote crew member for speed and direction changes.

If you, personally, are planning a big job on your boat, you’re undoubtedly going to be using a number of tools and other items representing a variety of venues.

Navigating Bermuda can be treacherous; the island is surrounded by coral reefs that have ensnared many unsuspecting vessels over the last 400 years. Bermuda’s original settlers took advantage of the shipwrecks by scavenging whatever could be used to help them survive. They recovered iron, bronze and whatever other materials they could find to help them live on an isolated island with few of its own natural resources.

The nearly 300 members of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Class of 2021 started their Swab Summer, an intense seven weeks of training meant to transition students from civilian life into their new roles as Coast Guard Academy cadets.

Looking out over a Rhode Island field in 1995, Chris Hood spied the shape of what turned out to be the mold for a Wasque 26 — a sturdy, single-engine fishing boat designed and built on Martha’s Vineyard starting in 1969.

Despite facing immense skepticism, 23-year-old Boyan Slat plans on ridding the earth’s oceans of discarded plastics. He is preparing to demonstrate his innovative Ocean Cleanup system in the Pacific Ocean by the end of the year.

Have you considered competing in the Race To Alaska? If you aren’t up for tackling a 750-mile race from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, this video will be the next best thing.

Whales are being closer and closer to shore – here’s how to see them while keeping yourself, and your boat, safe.