Peter Forbes Amel 54 Carango Currently undertaking a circumnavigation with World ARC. After a career in aviation, engineering and manufacturing, Forbes examined and tested a series of bluewater yachts from…
Toby Hodges
Raymarine Quantum – a revolutionary new radar using Chirp technology
Raymarine claims its new Quantum Chirp radome is the lightest and most efficient radar in its class. Chirp technology is used increasingly by marine manufacturers in echo sounders to increase…
A marine vacuum cleaner to suck up plastic? Meet the Seabin Project
Dame Ellen MacArthur made headlines recently by quoting memorable statistics that included: “One refuse truck’s worth of plastic is dumped into the sea every minute”, which will result in there…
Meet the radical new BlackCat, a 50m/165ft luxury multihull that can do 30 knots!
Every now and again you see a radical new concept that makes you grin in the knowledge that yacht design has just taken one brave step forward. This new BlackCat…
X-Yachts X4 – a new X to mark the spot between cruising and performance
Two years ago X-Yachts announced a new flagship, the appealing X6. Although later than anticipated, the first of these 63-footers is due to launch this April and three have now…
HUBi Solar Hub 10k
In the face of it this is a great back-up system – a 10ah lithium battery pack/connection hub with ‘intelligent charge electronics’, plus a 20W solar panel and two bright…
Clipper Round the World Race crew dies after man overboard in the Pacific
A crewmember racing in the Clipper Round the World Race has died after being swept overboard in the Pacific. Sarah Young, 40, was one of the crew of the yacht…
Millbrook – home of the British multihull is up a creek in Cornwall
The estuaries and rivers that probe into the green hills of Devon and Cornwall’s south coast feature anchorages with a natural charm that is hard to match. Most of these…
Video: Alex Thomson kitesurfs over the top of his IMOCA 60 race boat
Scroll down for video First came the keel walk in 2012, then came the mast walk in 2014, and now, after much preview hype, Alex Thomson’s Skywalk video was released…
The irreplaceable boats lost in the 2016 Cowes fire – ‘the greatest single loss of classic yachts’
The Medina Village site where the Cowes fire occurred comprises several industrial units off Bridge Road. The main unit affected, originally a machine shop, was used for boat storage by…
Dazcat 1495 boat test – a cutting edge catamaran with a need for speed
Is this the catamaran equivalent of a monohull cruiser-racer like those from J-Boats or X-Yachts? The Dazcat 1495 differs from other modern fast cats in that, as well as being…
Video of how a wooden Spirit Yachts is built – the new 47CR cruiser in construction
[Above: The masterpiece of workmanship within Spirit Yacht’s 100ft superyacht Gaia – pic by Anthony Morris] The CR stands for ‘Cruising Range’ – a new line that takes Spirit Yachts’ renowned…
Discovery 48 – a smaller version of the impressive bluewater Discovery 55
It was the Discovery 55 that launched Discovery Yachts 15 years ago. The Marchwood-based yard specialises in bluewater cruisers for couples and, although this 55 was considered a large yacht…
Hanse 315 boat test – packing a lot into a small space
Winner of the Family Cruiser category of the European Yacht of the Year Awards 2015. Read more here What do Tesco Metro, iPad Mini and a Hanse 315 all have…
The J Class yacht Endeavour is for sale – a rare chance to buy one of the most iconic yachts ever built
Arguably there couldn’t be at a better time to buy one of the most prestigious yachts ever. In recent years the J Class has enjoyed a complete resurgence (see our…
Video: what is it like to sail a Swan superyacht? Onboard footage from the Swan 115
The Swan 115 is very much a Swan of today, a prepreg carbon fibre performance machine that offers supreme comfort and quality, built by the most famous production yard in…
Best 5 new yachts named winners of the European Yacht of the Year 2015/2016
Now in its 12th year, the European Yacht of the Year is judged by journalists from 11 different magazines from 11 different European nations. Each jury member tested every yacht from…
Video: Hanse 315 – we test Hanse’s new baby and find it packs serious punch
The Hanse 315 is an example of a large firm concentrating the best of its products into a more compact, feature-rich yet user-friendly version. We found in our test –…
Raymarine Quantum unveiled – a lightweight solid-state radar with class-leading range and efficiency
Chirp technology is used increasingly by marine manufacturers in echosounders to increase target resolution when fishfinding. The same benefits are applied to marine radar with the launch of the Raymarine…
RM1070 on test: the plywood family cruiser that dares to be different
Everyone stops to look when an RM sails by. I like to put it down to their individuality and character – traits not easily achieved on a typical volume production…