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Schooners of all types and sizes will be docked along Portsmouth's riverside Saturday, October 13, 2012 as part of the 23rd Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. Photo by Joe Elder They're schooners here, there and just about everywhere along our riverside and you won’t want to miss it. That’s right, this Saturday, October 13, 2012, the City of Portsmouth, Virginia hosts the 23rd Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race post race celebration. The world’s largest gathering of schooners will race again from Annapolis, Maryland to Portsmouth, Virginia, with nearly 40 entries in this year's race. They'll be schooners of all types and sizes docked along Portsmouth’s waterfront for you to view, with some open to the public. The 23rd Annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race from Annapolis, MD to Portsmouth, VA. Photo by Joe Elder  We also invite you to stop by (we'll, we're only a few steps away) and see all of the great new inventory here at Skipjack including ...

Cotton signal flags are great for both indoor and outdoor nautical decorating. Dress up your nautical home with a line of three or six colorful cotton nautical signal flags. Each signal flag measures approx. 9" X 17" and the line of three signal flags measures 3 feet in length and six feet for six. The line of signal flags can be hung vertical or horizontal, perfect for decorating the nautical room, dress up your yacht and other coastal home applications. These are even suitable for framing! Set of three retails for $15.95 and a line of six for $29.95. Line of three or six flags- perfect for your nautical interior. You can follow this link for a line of three signal flags  and the link here for a line of six signal flags .  The line of  signal flags is also available in forty feet for your yacht or larger nautical applications. Follow the link here for forty feet of signal flags. Add a splash of color indoors or out with these vintage painted wood buoys. Great to use in...

Brass sloop sailboat bookends is a great nautical gift, perfect for all gift giving needs. The number one question that we are asked here at Skipjack is I'm looking for a gift... something for a birthday, house warming, retirement, Christmas and of course as a token for other numerous occasions. And of course when they're visiting our gallery we know that they are looking for something nautical. So here's our 2011 top ten nautical gift giving ideas for all occasions. Number One:   Our new brass sloop sailboat bookends is a great nautical gift for all occasions- perfect as a house warming gift to help dress up their bookshelf. Featured in November 2011 Coastal Living Magazine! (pictured above). Here's a link to the brass sloop sailboat bookends . Number Two: The Mariner nautical rope bracelet with stainless steel shackle is a great gift for both men and women. Hand-made here in Portsmouth, Virginia, this attractive nautical bracelet featu...

Nautical signal flag pillows Letters "Z" and "K" made from actual vintage signal flags. Skipjack Nautical Wares once again offers nautical flag pillows made from vintage ship's signal flags! We've picked through our vast collection of authentic vintage signal flags and have selected the best to make these colorful signal flag pillows- perfect nautical decor for your yacht, coastal home and nautical living.  Each nautical flag pillow is made of cotton blend with like trim and zippered  for easy removal of dacron filled pillow insert.  Solid colored back in contrasting color. Machine washable- lay flat to dry. Measures 20" X 20."  Includes dacron pillow insert. Nautical signal flag pillow showing the back side in navy blue canvas. *These are made from authentic ship's signal flags  measuring 4' X 6' or larger. This is a limited production item made here in Olde Towne Portsmouth and available pillows for sale can be foun...

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 ...

Let me  get started by saying thank you for sending us these wonderful pictures of your nautical home and allowing us to share them with our readers. These pictures come to us from a great customer (and wonderful friend) that has shopped with us since we opened our first gallery in 2003 in Virginia Beach, VA.  We hope that you will also be inspired to share some of your pictures from your nautical/coastal home. The first picture (shown above) shows a table-top collection of  antique wooden blocks together with a custom made lamp and a green glass float ball.  Notice the vintage hand-made wooden slat lampshade above the three purchase ship's block lamp fitted with line.  I really like the combination of the rich, dark woods and old wrought iron fittings on the blocks together with the natural hemp color of the lines and the dark-green color of the vintage float ball. Th...

At Skipjack, we  like to demonstrate to our customers how to transform and successfuly use authentic ship salvage elements in their nautical/coastal home. As shown in this corner view of  a Florida bathroom, they've incorporated into the design authentic high quality naval brass ship salvage elements instead of the usual decorator furnishings. A vintage 90 degree passageway light illuminates a ship porthole converted into a cabinet and fitted into a wall above a teak wainscoting. The thick frosted glass softens the look and create a semi-opaque view of the cabinet interior.  You can reproduce the look  by covering a standard porthole using a frost window tinting film in a translucent color. The hinged bolts with dog ears locks down the porthole door making it a  perfect choice for use in the finely fitted yacht. *Naval brass, alpha-beta brass is also referred to as Admiralty brass, contains tin (not exceedin...

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – A fascinating array of folk art meant for the great outdoors comprised the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum’s exhibition, “Sidewalks to Rooftops: Outdoor Folk Art,” that recently ended in January of this year. According to an article posted by Joanne Molina, The Curated Object, International Decorative Arts Exhibitions-Williamsburg. Sidewalks to Rooftops: Outdoor Folk Art. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum of Folk Art :  “ 'The objects in this exhibition were made to be installed out of doors, so weather has taken a toll on them,' said Barbara Luck, curator of paintings, drawings and sculpture. 'Guests will see objects in a wide variety of conditions because of their use, exposure and maintenance during their useful life.'  The exhibit celebrates the 19th-century predecessors of modern advertising, including painted signboards featuring eye-catching symbols and three-dimensional trade figures—such as cigar store Indians—that have largely disap...

I particularly like this vignette contrived totally of Skipjack inventory with the bronze sculpture titled "At the Helm" by William Barth Osmundsen, sculpturer, in the foreground and the antique ship's wheel centered on the rustic barn wood wall behind. A pair of custom made nautical lamps made from 1970's vintage brass navigational lights flanks a scratch-built model of a Chesapeake Bay "Deadrise" by Edward R. Payne from Urbanna, Virginia. The lamps retain their original red and green removable lens and we've added ballast that turn the lamp on and controls the intensity of the interior lights and a three way switch that operates independently to control the room lighting. These lamps come with burlap covered lampshades and are mounted on to thick pine wooden bases. Standing 34 inches tall, they are perfect for a lot of applications where you need a matching pair of nautical lights. The lamps sit upon a pedestal table with the top being a large ship...