English BLoG

August 18, 1941 - February 14, 2012 Captain J.C. Waters teaching a maritime course aboard his schooner Spirit of Independence.  Photo by Joe Elder. We first met J.C. Waters in the spring of 2006 when he and his daughter Joy visited our store (then at 629 High Street) while on a voyage up the Atlantic coast aboard the"Spirit of Independence". J.C. had recently completed and launched the schooner in his hometown of Independence, Missouri, and was in search of a new location to relocate the schooner. We talked extensively during his first visit about the "Spirit of Independence" and told J.C. all about our quaint historic seaport, Olde Towne Portsmouth. He invited Alison and me to visit his schooner moored at Tidewater Yacht, so we met him after closing for a tour of the Spirit. What a magnificent vessel it was.  We stayed in contact via e-mail and J.C. kept us abreast of his travel and search for a new place to call home. A year passed by when we received correspo...

  Learn how to navigate with a sextant using today's advanced technology with Captain J. C. Waters aboard the Schooner   SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE. October 26, 2010   Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE sailing on the Elizabeth River. The very technology that seemed to question  the viability of the practical use of the Sextant is now the tool that makes the Sextant once again an important navigation tool for the small boat cruiser as well as the professional navigator.   Traditional companion tools for the Sextant were the chronometer, almanac, sight reduction tables, worksheets, and plotting board.  All of these tools were required and were tedious and time consuming to work with and maintain.  Now enter the i-phone app “Star Pilot”, hand held computer with dedicated sight reduction program and the inexpensive digital watch.   Now the procedure to get a fix becomes:  Take the shot with the sextant, observe the time with the digital...

First Friday events: FREE . The Olde Towne Antiques to Flea Market: Admission FREE.   The  Olde Towne Farmers Market: Admission FREE. Portsmouth, VA. Museums: Admission FREE . Patriot Days Celebration at the Portsmouth Shipyard Museum: Admission FREE. Watching the Fourth of July fireworks aboard the schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE: SPECTACULAR . Celebrating the Fouth of July weekend at Virginia's quaint historic seaport: PRICELESS! Be a patriot! Visit Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA.

The stone fireplace mantle displays a Chelsea clock and a Bendix Friez barometer saved from salvage below Robert Lyn Nelson's "Extinction is forever." A Royal Copenhagen bowl, an Inuit soapstone fish carving,  part of an Alaskan Oosic and an old coin-dot lamp. A n unplanned excursion is certainly a great way to discover new horizons as well as promising prospects for upcoming blogs. So it was when our recent trip to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountain of Virginia took us to visit with long-time friend and photographer Allen Graves. Allen, while visiting us a few months back to photograph 360 degree panoramic views of the interior and exterior of Skipjack’s showroom and the interior of the Schooner “Spirit of Independence,” told us about a friend's farm house that we should view and include in a Nautical Living blog. So off we went to meet with Jacqualin Davies and preview her wonderful farmhouse -- her home is nothing like you might expect in the mountains ...

Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE Participants sight the sun using a sextant Most of us are enthralled with the sea and are drawn to stories and movies that have a sea theme. We can all relate to the human experience of these stories and movies accept when we consider how they found their way across the featureless expanse of ocean. That to many of us is a mystery. Peter Youngblood demonstrates the use of a sextant. Recently, area sailors and crewmembers had a workup on celestial navigation in preparation for our cruise aboard Schooner SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE to Bermuda. The workup session was held on board at her berth, which is docked at Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth, VA. Sun sights were taken throughout the day, with emphases on sextant technique used to bring an object to the horizon. Between shooting sessions the group discussed the geometry behind finding ones position with a sextant. Additionally each person used his or her sight data for sight reduction using a celestia...