On any round-the-world cruise by the sunny route, there is the dilemma of how to cross the Indian Ocean. For me the Red Sea Route has no appeal whatsoever and…
Yachting World
Man overboard: How to react and safely recover your crewmate
Turning a yacht around after a person goes overboard (MOB) and heading back in the right direction to retrieve them isn’t always easy when you’re taken by surprise, particularly at…
French canals offer a scenic route to the Med for sailing yachts
For many skippers wishing to sail between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, it’s necessary to go via the Strait of Gibraltar. However, for shallow draught yachts, an attractive alternative awaits:…
Amokura: The classic yacht celebrating her 80th anniversary on the racing circuit
There’s no shortage of stunning boats moored at Port Pendennis in Falmouth when I visit the marina in June, not least a couple of enormous, shiny superyachts being polished to…
Sailing Morocco: Unforgettable experiences all along the Atlas Coast
Air is chopped in the distance. Our ears swell as an ill-defined dot appears, growing larger in diameter. The helicopter flies hastily in our direction as if ready to fire.…
Melges 40: Onboard the unique lightweight racer taking the Med by storm
Each year the curtain rises on the Mediterranean grand prix regatta season at the PalmaVela. The increasingly popular event is not just a chance to shake the rust off race…
Light winds and strong currents: How to keep moving in strong tides
When the wind is light and the current is strong, the two components can be equally important as each other. But for those not used to racing in tidal conditions…
Contest 85CS: This Dutch superyacht is a seriously efficient sailing machine
Cruising the world in a large, fast, comfortable yacht is everyone’s dream. Even if your finances allow the dream to become a reality, however, you’re still faced with the practicalities…
Lofoten Islands: Is this Arctic paradise the world’s most beautiful place?
I could already feel the wind pick up while I was sitting at the navstation of the Bowman 57 Oriole as she dug in and started to heel assertively. A…
Racing multihulls: 5 tips for making the switch from monohulls
For a keelboat sailor, switching to a multihull, especially a performance type multihull, for the first time requires a significant shift in thinking about some of the fundamentals in sailing.…
Road to the America’s Cup podcast episode 2: How the AC75 will fly
America’s Cup teams first flew in San Francisco in 2013. The use of hydrofoils to lift the AC72 catamarans out of the water was a Team New Zealand innovation, despite…
November 2019
In the November issue of Yachting World, we jump on board Alex Thomson’s new Hugo Boss for a test sail, and reveal the secrets of the skippers who have sailed…
Sailing Tasmania: Bucket list cruising across the Bass Strait
“No pizza today.” When this announcement is made at Port Cygnet Sailing Club, all conversations among members in the clubhouse stop. “The pizza guy says it’s too hot. He won’t…
LA 28: The modern trailable boat that’s cold-molded from mahogany
Appropriately, it’s a long train ride through thick, thick forest before I reach the LA Yachts yard on the banks of Lake Müritz in central Germany. This seems apposite because…
Jet stream: Everything you need to know about its effect on sailing
What is the jet stream? The jet stream is a ‘river’ of strong wind high in the atmosphere which is caused by the unequal heating of the spinning earth. It…
Donald Crowhurst: The fake round-the-world sailing story behind The Mercy
It was while I was researching my book about madness at sea in 2015 that I first heard a movie about Donald Crowhurst was in the works. Several websites published…
Dismasted at sea: What to do during and after a dismasting
During the 2017 Rolex Fastnet Race, my yacht Olympia’s Tigress, a Beneteau First 40, lost her rig through a simple split pin failure. We were 40 miles offshore at the…
Sailing Antarctica: Record-breaking voyage around the southern continent
Many believe number seven to be lucky. The seventh day of February proved to be just that. It’s seven weeks since we dropped the lines in Cape Town; the Amundsen…
Revolver: Bruce Ritchie’s gentleman’s racer blends traditional and modern craftsmanship
“I wasn’t expecting this,” said Michael Ritchie when his 83-year-old father Bruce showed him the lines he had drawn up for his ‘gentleman’s racer’. “It was a nice surprise,” concedes…
Race countdown: How to time the starting sequence perfectly
Starting a yacht at the right end of the line at target speed is very much a team game. On boats longer than 40ft, vital input comes from the bow…