First Published in “Currents”, Official magazine of the Bluewater Cruising Association Feb 22, 2021 Insert Title Photo – Caption; Oh! sailing south from Beaufort NC, headed for the Bahamas. As I say good bye to 2020, I find myself looking at the options for the winter of 2021 with a whole new perspective and experiences […]

Title Photo – Waiting out lockdowns in the warm clear waters of the Bahamas.   The worldwide coronavirus pandemic had a huge impact on the sailing and cruising community for almost everyone that was cruising in 2020. My intent is to write several articles that document my experiences, the choices I made and reasoning behind […]

Rod Morris – Leopard 40 Catamaran Oh! First published in Bluewater Currents Magazine Dec. 6, 2019 https://currents.bluewatercruising.org/articles/postcards-from-oh-caribbean-and-atlantic-circuits-ii/ Every journey begins with a single step – and so does another adventure for Oh!. After spending the summer back in Canada, I returned to Annapolis on Oct 4th, to prepare Oh! for another 18 month circuit of […]

The land was stark. As Oh! approached the anchorage at the south end of Graciosa Island, the only colours we could see were earth tones of sandy beige, brown rocks and steep sandstone cliffs. Other than the blue of the sea and sky, the yachts quietly sitting at anchor provided the only colourful hi-lights. As […]

  The arrival was dramatic. The evening sunlight was rapidly being occluded by an approaching squall that was overtaking us. The sunlit cliffs of Santos Island created a forbidding back drop to the rolling swell, white caps and slowly increasing speed of the wind  as we raced ahead of the squall to our destination. The […]

The winds of time are ever changing – and so does the weather in the Azores as fall approaches. It was September 14, 2018 and as the saying goes “every cloud has a silver lining”. In our case, the looming late season weather patterns meant most cruising yachts had left the Azores. That meant we […]

Cruising in the Azores archipelago just seems to get better with each passing day. Every island is unique and yet they share so many basic traits that make exploring these islands a delight. The common threads are the people – who I found to be genuinely warm and welcoming throughout the islands; excellent infrastructure that […]

It was late in the afternoon on July 23rd and there was only a few hours of sunlight left. Ahead, rising steeply out of the sea was the first land seen in 13 days. The northwestern cliffs of the Azores Islands of Corvo and Flores towered above the foaming waves breaking at their bases. The […]

    Caption: All smiles, blue skies and great sailing from Bermuda to the Azores.   One of the best feelings at sea is the slowly building warmth of the morning sun. It just feels good. It is also the time I check my IridiumGo! for new messages and get a weather update. I am […]

Postcards from a Caribbean Winter – Part 3, The Bahamas For the past 3 winters we have been sailing Oh!, a 40’ Leopard catamaran throughout the eastern Caribbean. The cruising area we get to enjoy on each of these voyages has ranged from Grenada all the way to Beaufort, North Carolina. During those voyages I […]