Reflections on Sailing
Published 8:26pm on 12 Nov 2026
by Kate Gillespie
Most of our members feel a strong urge to get out on the water. For many of us, it is a basic need. Our preferred crafts range from paddleboards and windsurfing boards to kayaks, canoes, and sailboats with one or more sails. Even the meaning of “setting sail” varies: the cruise industry calls its voyages sailings, though typically its ships have neither masts nor sails!
Last month, Paul and I set off to experience a two-week river cruise on the Danube. Except that the Danube river levels were really low. Too low for us to dock in Vienna (Austria), Budapest and Mohacs (Hungary), Vucovar (Croatia), Novi Sad (Serbia), Vidin or Pleven (Bulgaria), or Constanta (Romania). In more than a century of recorded river levels, this has never happened before! Rather than following river routes, we were transported by bus to some intended locations, while other sites were dropped from the forecast itinerary. We had occasional views of missed portions of the Danube yet observed low water levels and remnants of long-covered debris. We had five nights on a sister ship docked in Bratislava (Slovakia). From there we made daily visits to Vienna or Gyor (Hungary), by motor coach or train, while our loaner boat was tied to the shore. Then we were bussed to Belgrade (Serbia) to finally board the ship we had booked, and it could leave the dock! Imagine our excitement when we woke up to hear water moving beneath our ship! Most astounding to me though was that during the six days we were able to navigate the Danube I never saw a single sailboat—of any size!
Marooned again in Bucharest at a hotel, Paul and I were determined to sail on the Black Sea. Although sick of long bus rides, we endured a three-hour bus ride to the Constanta Port. We were elated to meet Constantine, our skipper of a 28-foot sailboat named Velierul Prince (“The Racing Prince” in English). Constantine (a software engineer) had equipped his boat’s tiller with the coolest auto pilot I’ve ever seen. He programmed the duties of steering through an app on his phone.
When I lamented about the lack of sailboats on the Danube, Constantine said that there were not many sailboats in these former communist countries—he only counted 15 at the Port of Constanta and reported that only three are actively used for sailing. The others are more frequently used for parties at the dock. English is often in common use and did not hinder our ability to sail.
For those of you who may want to sail while abroad or in other cities in the US, it’s easy to search online for sailboats with captains for hire. Resources you can explore include “Get Your Guide,” “Viator” and “Trip Advisor.” (Earlier this year, my daughter and I sailed on a trimaran on a river in Savannah, Georgia.)
