My first real memories — tangible memories that I know to be my own and not false memories born of old photos and stories — were formed as a nine-year-old…
Cruising
How to prepare a boat for the season ahead
Abby Ehler has competed in three Volvo Ocean Races and run top race boats including Farr 40s, TP52s and the 76ft mini-maxi Nokia Enigma. She has also been a key…
Join Toby Hodges for expert advice in ‘Bluewater cockpit conversations’ this May
ARC rally organisers World Cruising Club are running a unique series of events from 25-28 May, which should be essential watching for any aspiring bluewater cruisers looking to buy a…
John John Florence: The surfing sailor
Some folk seem to have it all. At 28, John John Florence has already enjoyed a career as one of the world’s most talented professional surfers. He lives on the…
Cruise Scotland: A couple finds empty anchorages and peace
The warble call from a loon broke the silence as we edged closer to shore, motoring quietly through still water. Astern, mountain peaks glowing purple in the sunset faded into…
The offshore skills you need to be bluewater ready
You might have a departure day circled red in the diary and be furiously working through a to-do list to get there. Or maybe you’re considering a bluewater sailing adventure…
Bluewater cruisers’ 10 tips for sailing during Covid
With so much uncertainty still surrounding travel, should cruisers still be sailing during Covid? There is a moral quandary here. “We advise people to wait another year,” says Janneke Kuysters…
Seychelles anchorage: Idyllic Indian Ocean sailing
It had been a long time coming but after many days of quarantine onboard, finally finding a Seychelles anchorage a possibility as Janneke Kuysters along with Partner, Wietze van der…
South Atlantic ocean: A crossing in mid-winter on Pelagic Australis
There was a crunching sound underfoot as we loaded Pelagic Australis with provisions for the South Atlantic Ocean crossing ahead. Snow flurries had covered the deck with a layer of…
Atlantic crossing in a Pandemic? ARC 2020 crews tell their stories
The Covid-19 pandemic derailed the plans of around two-thirds of the crews planning to take part in the annual ARC Atlantic crossing and ARC+ from Gran Canaria to St Lucia,…
How this family made their two-year round the world sailing dream happen
Surreal. Not a breath of wind tonight. The sea’s surface is flat and unbroken. The sky is utterly cloudless and filled with stars. A half moon lights up the entire…
The perfect boat: what makes an ideal offshore cruising yacht?
Choosing a boat for offshore cruising is not a decision to be taken lightly. I have researched this topic on dozens of rallies, speaking to hundred of skippers. Everyone you…
Ocean cruising experts share their sailing knowledge
The World Cruising Club is hosting a series of forums this autumn, where ocean cruising experts will be trying to inspire sailors to extend their boundaries
Faeroes to Norway in a Wayfarer dinghy – Frank Dye’s extraordinary tale of sea survival
When I was a student in Liverpool in the mid-1960s, sailing the university’s Firefly dinghies when I ought to have been studying, the local hero was a young man called…
Could a floating shipping container sink your yacht? How real is the danger?
It is the stuff of every sailor’s nightmare – the unseen object, lurking beneath a wave, which punctures your hull or smashes your rudder mid-ocean. Never have our oceans seemed…
Chris Tibbs on a dream Atlantic crossing and a heavenly Caribbean winter
There is only one adjective that adequately describes our transatlantic crossing with the ARC last year and the season of Caribbean cruising that followed it: fantastic! The rally was my…
30 expert tips for crossing the Atlantic – from checking the sails to choosing crew
1. Keep the downwind sailplan simple What’s the best sail configuration for a downwind crossing? Actually, the chances are you already have sails that are perfectly suitable: a robust genoa…
10 practical tips for perfect downwind sailing in the Tropics
Between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn lie the tradewind belts, separated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) known to many sailors as the Doldrums. The extent of the tropics…
Disaster relief by yacht – how cruisers around the world are doing their bit
Gusting up to 190mph, Cyclone Winston was the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded reaching land in Fiji and the South Pacific Basin. On 20 February 2016 the Category 5 Severe…
Rio, a cruiser’s perspective – should you drop everything and sail there?
Scarcely ruffled by a lazy late afternoon breeze, the sea was an oily pink and orange lake. Two miles to the north, an endless chain of tall, strangely curvaceous grey…