skipjack martha lewis

The ship is being refurbished this year but our sail last October was great. Will go again once she is back in the water. Lots of history and lots od fun.

Great old wooden sailboat. I highly recommend getting a group of people together and going on the Martha Lewis. This boat is a classic skipjack. I rented it for my husbands 50th birthday and we had a great time. Highly recommend making an appointment, we had a group of 30 and could not have had a better time !

Took relatives out on the skipjack before we went to dinner. They loved it. It was about 1 & 1/2 hour trip and very pleasant. Just wish they would have given some information about skipjacks. The men enjoyed hoisting the sail.

Spent a recent evening on the historic Skipjack Martha Lewis sailing the Susquehanna Flats where the top of the Chesapeake Bay meets the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace, MD. A wonderful evening - perfect weather, tasty Margaritas, and knowledgeable crew. If you are looking for a fun evening and want to do something different this is for you! They have a calendar of events with special sailings.

While visiting friends in the area, my children and I went out for a sunset cruise on the Martha Lewis. I had always wanted to go sailing, and the experience was amazing. The passengers helped to raise the sail, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The crew is very friendly. One of my favorite pictures from the trip shows my son, who was eleven at the time, in the back of the boat talking to the captain. Each time I have visited the area since I have checked the schedule to see if the boat is going out while I'm there. I would sail on her again in a heartbeat, and I've even considered the day-long trip where the passengers learn to harvest oysters the old-fashioned way, even though it's winter, cold, and likely hard work. The Martha Lewis is a beautiful boat, and a "don't miss" for the area.

The Martha Lewis is a v-bottom, two sail bateau built in MD in 1955 (so says the brochure). She is one of the few remaining working dredge boats that make up the Chesapeake Bay oyster fleet, and the last to fish commercially under sail in the US. The deck is 49' long and the beam 16.5' - so she is pretty impressive under sail. The crew members say that they enter her in sailing races a couple of times per year. She is housed in the City Yacht Basin of Havre de Grace, MD (it's pretty easy to find since she is the only large boat docked next to the restaurant). The Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy offers several programs on the Martha Lewis. You can see the current programs on their website listed above. They have programs for children, lighthouse and sunset cruises (during May through October) and actual oystering trips (when in-season - Nov.). Several times per week, they also offer general public cruises for $20 per person for about 1.5 hours. These meet at either 1:30 or 3:00 (I would call ahead to check availability). We went on one of these afternoon cruises and really enjoyed it. The skipper gave us a brief introduction to the boat and oystering. The boat motored out into the bay where one of the crew members enticed the visitors to help raise the sails. We then tacked back and forth around the bay and were shown some of the local sites (the gravel barges, the VA hospital, the local lighthouse). It's a relaxed tour of the bay for all ages. (If you have a hard time sitting still, you should probably go for the parasailing instead.) You can sit on the center section of the boat under the sail, but there is no protection from the sun or rain. The day that we went, the temperature was perfect, but we did get sunburned. They do have a small bathroom below the deck. The children were allowed to help take the wheel to steer the boat if they wished.