Fast and Furious

Narrow, swift and graceful, Ruweida V is a restored 38-foot RClass sloop designed by Burgess, Swasey & Paine in 1926. A top to-bottom, year-long restoration began in 2011 under the skilled hands at the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island, where she was replanked, redecked and rerigged. Since her return, Ruweida’s owner has raced her in competitions hosted by the New York Yacht Club, the Museum of Yachting and at Panerai events around Narragansett Bay, where she always finished on the podium. Ruweida is double-planked with mahogany on cedar over white oak frames and is equipped with asymmetric and symmetric spinnakers, with the necessary rigging and hardware to fly them. She is listed at $137,500 with Sparkman & Stephens in Newport. sparkmanstephens.com

Couch-Based Sailing  

The American Sailing Association has released an updated version of its Sailing Challenge game, where players can take a virtual keelboat through its paces — without leaving the living room. An ideal tool for students practicing for the ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing certification, the game works on both iOS and Android devices. The latest update improves the quality and realism of the game, and also introduces features that include a night-sailing navigation challenge, tiller versus wheel options and a tacking master course. Other modules include training on sail trim, points of sail, right-of-way rules and docking. $4. asa.com/sailing-challenge-app  The 

Moorings Named National Regatta Sponsor 

The Leukemia Cup Regatta has raised more than $62 million for cancer research since 1993. This year and next, it will host more than 45 races around the country,including regattas in Annapolis, Maryland, Newport, Rhode Island, and St. Petersburg, Florida. A sponsor since the first regatta, this year The Moorings will be the national sponsor for the event. Leukemia Cup Regatta participants at select locations will be eligible to win a number of prizes, including a private sailing experience with Gary Jobson and a weeklong yacht charter with The Moorings in the British Virgin Islands. Any participant who raises at least $500 will be entered in a drawing for the grand prize giveaway: a BVI charter vacation aboard the company’s flagship Moorings 4800 sailing catamaran. leukemiacup.org  

“Changing headsails in more than 40 knots is probably the most difficult and dangerous change we have. Six guys hooked on with safety lines on the bow, trying to pull down the old jib. The boat is still logging up to 20 knots and suddenly a wave washes the bow, pushing the six big guys back at high speed.” — Djuice Dragons skipper Knut Frostad, during the 2001-02 Volvo Ocean Race. The 2017-18 race kicks off from Alicante, Spain, Oct. 22. volvooceanrace.com 

Slurp Suds, Save the Chesapeake 

Few things are more satisfying than kicking back and relaxing with a cold one on a boat. And while you could certainly pick up any ordinary six-pack before your next outing, we’ve discovered a few new brews you might want to try, especially if you’d like to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay. 

Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, and Devils Backbone Brewing Company in Lexington, Virginia, are producing some tasty beverages and donating the proceeds to good Bay causes. Whether you fancy a pale ale, a crisp summer ale or a thick stout, purchasing one of these beers will help restore oyster habitat, advocate for watermen involved with the blue crab harvest or clean up the Chesapeake. You need only decide which one to enjoy, and who the designated skipper will be. The brewery will do the rest.

Pearl Necklace Chesapeake Stout

Flying Dog Brewery

This stout is steeped with fresh oysters from the Rappahannock River Oyster Co., and proceeds benefit the Oyster Recovery Partnership, an organization that is restoring oysters around Chesapeake Bay, one reef at a time. flyingdogbrewery.com

Dead Rise Old Bay Summer Ale

Flying Dog Brewery

Spiked with Old Bay Seasoning, Dead Rise benefits the Maryland True Blue Program, an organization that advocates for watermen who harvest the iconic Chesapeake Bay blue crab. flyingdogbrewery.com

Striped Bass Pale Ale

Devils Backbone Brewing Company

Drinking this amber-colored pale ale benefits the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an organization committed to restoring water quality throughout the watershed. dbbrewingcompany.com

Fetch, Fido

“Throw it, tug it; your dog will love it.” That’s what Mystic Knotwork says about its monkey fist rope dog toy. Essentially a tennis ball covered in marlinspike work, the 4-inch toy is available in navy blue or gray. A long rope handle keeps hands free from Fido’s enthusiastic slobbering. And, of course, it floats. $18. Mystic Knotwork, Mystic, Connecticut, (860) 525-5722. mysticknotwork.com 

 The Leaning Tower Of Sharps Island 

Pushed sideways by an ice floe during the winter of 1977, Sharps Island Lighthouse resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Sitting atop what was once a 600-acre island, the cast-iron and concrete lighthouse lies rusting and abandoned in about 10 to 11 feet of water near the mouth of the Choptank River in Chesapeake Bay. The existing lighthouse is not the first to sit here; the original had to be moved because of erosion, and the second was ratcheted off its foundation by ice. This caused the entire screwpile lighthouse to float five miles down the Bay, with its keepers still inside. All “aboard” survived. The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.  

This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue.