Yachting Journal of a Hebridean Sailor by Cully Pettigrew offers an unusual insight into the mind of a deep-thinking man. His relationship with a small yacht over 30 years and…
Yachting World
New Fastnet course: How the changes will affect this offshore classic
Discovering that the Rolex Fastnet Race will finish in Cherbourg for 2021 and 2023, I was initially very open minded about the change, although it always seems a risky move…
Pip Hare’s top tips for preventing chafe on lines, sails and hardware
Chafe on sails and ropes is something we should expect as part of the general wear and tear on passage, but equally it is something we can protect against. Here…
When is the best time to sail away? The 9 key X factors to consider
I spend much of my time chatting with aspiring bluewater cruisers at boat shows and the seminars we organise, about all aspects of ‘living the dream’. Some have a well…
Sailing Alaska: A family adventure around the blissfully remote Admiralty Island
Standing on the bow of our borrowed 36ft steel cutter, I watched as my four children paddled the inflatable kayak through the iceberg-laden water. The sea had been busy with…
Tidal streams: How to predict them and use them to your advantage
Whether racing or cruising, our first thoughts are always: ‘What is the tide doing?’ When I grew up sailing in Scotland, leaving anchorages before dawn to catch a tide was…
Yacht shipping: How to prepare your boat for a trip on a transporter ship
Bypassing seasonal weather restrictions and being able to relocate quickly are among the factors making yacht shipping more popular than ever. Cargo ships cruise well in excess of the speeds…
Boom preventers: How to use one and why they’re worth the hassle to rig
Rigging a boom preventer will allow you to sail a true downwind course without a constant worry about crew safety. I also use it to pin the boom in its…
ClubSwan 36 review: This one-design foiler from Nautor really shakes things up
It’s easy to be seduced by modern high performance, especially downwind. As the wake flattens out astern and the foils start to sing, the helm takes on a more direct…
Francis Joyon sets new Hong Kong-London record on IDEC Sport
IDEC Sport sailed under the QE2 bridge at 0737 GMT to set a new Hong Kong to London record of 31 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes and 46 seconds, shaving…
Battle of the giants: The inside story of the Brest Atlantiques Race
On Tuesday 5 November four giant trimarans – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Macif, Sodebo and Actual Leader, and their double-handed crews – left a grey and sodden Brest on Brittany’s…
Ester: The classic Swedish racing yacht that came back from the dead
The phrase ‘ahead of its time’ is over-used, but in the case of Ester, a remarkable 50ft racing yacht built in 1901, it couldn’t be more apt. For a yacht…
Solo overboard: An extract from Miles Hordern’s Sailing The Pacific
Back in the early 1990s, a young man called Miles Hordern sailed his 28ft Kim Holman-designed Twister single-handed from the UK to New Zealand. He lived aboard in Auckland for…
March 2020
This month’s issue features a full test of Amel Yachts’ new flagship, the Amel 60, plus the European Yacht of the Year judges crown the best new models for 2020.…
The inside story of Greta Thunberg’s upwind Atlantic crossing on La Vagabonde
The sky flashed a blinding white light and a spark came down just a few hundred metres to port. We were going fast, and getting faster: that kind of fast…
Road to the America’s Cup podcast: What can sailing simulators teach us?
The reason is simple: every other means of performance evaluation has been neutered – or, at the very least, significantly hampered – by the Protocol, which bans tow-tank and wind…
Sailing Hawaii: A leisurely cruise around these picture-perfect volcanic islands
We started our Pacific voyage on board Distant Drummer, our 45ft Liberty cutter-rigged sloop, from Wellington, New Zealand, in June, 2015, bound ultimately for North America and the Pacific Northwest.…
ResQlink View PLB review: Visual display provides welcome reassurance
As far as we know this is the first Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) to incorporate an LCD screen to improve the interface, which fundamentally changes the user experience. In particular…
Staysails: 5 tips on using them to turbocharge your boat speed
As Mike Sanderson points out, staysails are hardly a new idea. The old clipper ships used to use multiple staysails. However, the past five years have seen staysails become a…
5 expert sailing tips: How to win a yacht racing protest
You spend so much time and money honing your craft as a sailor, making the boat go faster… and then it can all blow up with a protest. In the…