For many, the opportunity to trade a bricks and mortar school for classes on deck or on the beach is part of the appeal of a cruising lifestyle. Here we…
Lagoon Sixty5: Home comforts abound on this new luxury catamaran
Measuring 20.55m length overall, a generous 10m at the beam and spanning three levels with a huge flybridge, the Lagoon Sixty5 is all about volume and offers up to six…
Special delivery: Sailing Dominican Republic to Florida in a foiling catamaran
It was an experience I’ll never forget: blasting downwind across the Northeast Providence Channel, on a deep water passage from New Providence to Chub Cay. We were sailing inside the…
Elan GT6: Slovenian yard to launch first Porsche-designed sailboat
When Elan passed from state ownership to the private sector in July 2017, the development of new models virtually stopped, aside from the GT5, which launched three years ago. Even…
Champagne Hippy: From sunken wreck to luxury charter yacht in 13 months
Champagne Hippy was never expected to sail again. When the keel ripped off the 82ft Polina Star III in July 2015 it sent shockwaves through the marine industry, and left…
Countdown to adventure: 5 skippers explain how to prepare for bluewater sailing
For most sailors, preparing for an Atlantic or round the world voyage typically takes between a year and three years. According to the surveys we carry out annually with ARC…
OSTAR 2017: David Southwood recounts an exceptionally brutal Atlantic storm
Competitors in the 2017 Original Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) experienced the worst conditions since the race was initiated in 1960 in the era of Blondie Hasler and Francis Chichester. This…
Navigation briefing: Mike Broughton explains why you still need radar
In a recent feature in Yachting World, my friend and highly respected yachting journalist Ed Gorman wrote a revealing article about sailing single-handed. There were many good lessons in his…
Solo Pacific sailing: The adventures of Webb Chiles and his Moore 24 Gannet
As soon as I opened the companionway I knew we had up too much sail. Gannet, my ultra-light Moore 24, is a thin and often permeable membrane, but the wind…
5 expert racing tips: How and when to take tactical sailing gambles
Often you don’t actually know if your breakaway move will be a lone bid until later in the race. Libby Greenhalgh recalls her baptism into the Volvo Ocean Race, straight…
Three hulls, one planet: Neel 51 owner explains how he went self-sustainable
Bluewater sailing stories usually start with someone who has been around boats all their life. But not this one. A Swiss man who goes only by the name ‘Wolf’ freely…
Hurricane season: Cruising and mooring options from Maine to Grenada
The hurricane zone extends from Cape Hatteras or the Florida/Georgia border to Grenada, so cruisers who intend to spend the following season in this cruising ground have to make a…
Aegina: The clean, green water purification machine
Access to clean drinking water can be a big issue onboard, particularly for those venturing off the beaten track or heading off bluewater sailing. Now a new, easy-to-fit, purification system…
Sailing to Jan Mayen: An extract from So Far, So Good by Paddy Barry
I first met Paddy Barry in the late 80s at a Breton traditional boat festival. I was on a raft of unrestored pilot cutters. Paddy’s and his friends’ Galway Hookers…
Pip Hare’s sailing masterclass: How to make the most of a water ballast system
No two water ballast systems seem to be the same, but the principles for use and troubleshooting remain the same. Here are some guidelines for success. Filling ballast The ballast…
Marc van Peteghem interview: Up close and personal with the king of cats
With Lagoon catamarans at one end of the spectrum and world-girdling Ultime class trimarans at the other, there’s not much in the multihull world that design studio VPLP has not…
Sailing England’s East Coast: Extract from On and Offhore by Dick Durham
Dick Durham knows the East Coast of England better than most. He has sailed it, both deep water and shoal, since putting to sea in the 1960s as mate aboard…
ArmorKite 650: Kite-surfing yacht pushes the boundaries of sailing
It’s a grey and wet February day on the pontoons at Port la Forêt, the Mecca of French single-handed ocean racing. Olivier de Kersauson, a man never stuck for finding…
How the crew of SV Delos created the ultimate self-sustainable yacht
When Brian Trautman bought a 53ft Amel Super Maramu in 2008 he had little intention of living aboard for ten years. But after putting 70,000 miles under the keel, visiting…
Vendée Globe 2020: Pip Hare on preparing for the world’s toughest race
It would be easy to assume the toughest challenge of the Vendée Globe Race is racing a 60ft IMOCA alone, battling the elements, sleep deprived and exhausted. But for me,…