Mad Mariner is shaking things up in the New Year: We want you to tell us a story.

We are sponsoring the first Mad Mariner Essay Contest, an opportunity to tell some tales and win some gear as we wait for the weather to let us get back on the boat.

The Napa River opens onto hundreds of narrow channels like this.

This lovely design came to my attention courtesy of Leslie Lallande, a principal with Custom Yachts International.

We've seen knife bows on megayachts, but how about on tenders?

There were about 100 of them.

It's one thing to have some vintage post cards, or race boat posters framed. But it's a whole new level to have nicely framed paintings.