Good Tidings  
Great food, great golf, great docking amenities—what’s not to like about the Tides Inn on Carter Creek off the Rappahannock River? Managing editor Jane Meneely spent a few days at the newly refurbished resort, where she poked around the small town of Irvington, Va., and perfected her golf swing (or so she says).

Boatbuilding from the Hull Up  
Contributing writer Nancy Taylor Robson headed to the Eastern Shore to see what local boatbuilders are up to. She found most of the boatyards still giving their clients the boat of their dreams—so long as it will fit a ready-made fiberglass hull.




Buoy, Oh Buoy!  
Joel McCord braved winter weather
to board the U.S.S. Rankin and watch
her seasoned crew winterize Bay buoys,
while photographer Charles Bethman
chronicled the activity. Baby, it’s cold outside!

Nautical Know-How 
Back on the Chain Gang—When he decided to rig his anchor with an all-chain rode, contributing writer Frank Lanier thought his choice of chain would be simple. Not so fast. . . .

Time Tested 
Look at Little Sister—The Bertram 28 may not have the cachet of her big sister, the 31, but John Page Williams says you’d be foolish to overlook this little cruising sportfisher.

Marina Hopping 
Calm Under the Pines—Dave and Saundra Schiller retreated into quiet Herring Creek, just north of Piney Point on the Potomac River, to ride out a storm. There they found Cedar Cove Marina, one of the Bay’s special gems.

Cruise of the Month 
Another Time, Another Pace—Writer Diana Prentice dropped the hook in St. Leonard Creek and found herself envisioning Joshua Barney and his famous flotilla. She notes that the creek is much quieter now, and little remains of what Barney saw back in 1814.

Reader Rendezvous 
Shark Attack!—She jumped in the water for a cooling swim, and leaped out with a scream. Linda Kalb talks about a too-close encounter with one of God’s critters.

Angler’s Almanac 
The Case for Gadgets—John Page Williams angles in on new electronics gear for fishing boats.

Stern Lines 
And the Teak Goes On—And on and on and on, says Diana Prentice, who used to find a certain serenity in the act of maintaining her teak. Nowadays, not so much.

On the cover:
A pair of skipjacks, the Virginia W. and the Claud W. Somers, wake to a misty morning at Yankee Point Marina on Virginia’s Corrotoman River. Photograph by Starke Jett