We have lost a titan of marine journalism. Chris Caswell, who penned the Dash of Salt column in this publication for the past several years in addition to writing sea trials, destination features and more, died May 13 after a battle with cancer. He was 80 years old.

Chris was a marine journalist for half a century. Once the editor at Sea magazine, he held a few staff roles, but for decades he hung out a shingle as a reliable and knowledgeable freelancer for just about every marine title in existence. He completed Transpac races, covered the America’s Cup, and probably sailed more seas and rowed through more exotic anchorages than any other nautical writer.

I met Chris at the Miami International Boat Show in the early 2000s. The event we both attended was more of a glitzy gala than an early evening press conference. I was smartly dressed like the rest of the press corps: a starchy button-down shirt with our magazine’s name emblazoned on the chest, tucked into pressed trousers with loafers on my feet. I was also sweating like a coal stoker.

Chris stood out among the stodgy. He looked like a cross between David Crosby and a pirate, with a ponytail and handlebar mustache that billowed in the breeze. Sporting a Hawaiian shirt, baggy shorts and Teva sandals, he was a lot more comfortable than the rest of us. The pièce de résistance for me was a knife-marlinspike combo tool attached to his belt. Chris looked like he knew how to use it—he had the typical middle-age dude paunch, but also the ropey forearms of someone who hoisted sheets, coiled lines and cranked winches.

I pulled my fellow marine journalist Bill Pike over to the side of the crowd. “Who is that dude?” I asked. Pike shook his head knowingly and said, “Oh that’s ol’ Chris Caswell.”

There was a semicircle of people around Chris, listening to some yarn and laughing. Pike graciously introduced us. Chris’ big smile and warm personality quashed my newbie nervousness. He was the antithesis of a gatekeeper, knowing that the small fraternity of yachting journalists should be welcoming to all.

As Dan Harding, editor-in-chief of our sister publication Power & Motoryacht, pointed out after Chris died, readers revered him because his writing was often at the intersection of humor and authority. I can tell you from experience that our email exchanges and phone calls were exactly that. Often, I would send him photos of vintage cars, since he was a gearhead like I am. I learned later that he had raced with Carroll Shelby, and that he still kicked himself about not buying a Ferrari 250 GTO many years back for a song because it needed a pricey engine overhaul.

As he got older and didn’t travel as much, he’d offer spot-on suggestions for local, off-the-main-drag watering holes from Anacortes, Washington, to Antibes, France. In our last conversation, he praised his wife, Rhea (“She Who Must Be Obeyed,” as he cheekily called her), for doting on him all these years. The team at Passagemaker extends our thoughts and condolences to her.

Fair winds and following seas, Chris.

This article originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of Passagemaker magazine.