In a move aimed at reducing illegal migration across the Channel, the UK government is proposing legislation to make it easier to prosecute traffickers, but it could have a knock-on…
Rescue
Vessel transfer: A how to guide from Pip Hare
Whether it’s a medical emergency that requires a single crewmember to be evacuated, or a yacht suffers damage that means it’s impossible to navigate safely to the shore and the…
Surviving the OSTAR’s perfect storm – the full story of the racers rescued in Force 11 summer gale
Solo sailor Mervyn Wheatley set out from Plymouth for Newport, Rhode Island on 29 May this year with stirring tunes belting out from his beloved Tamarind, the Formosa 42 that…
Pip Hare’s choice of EPIRBs, PLBs and other man overboard aids that could just save your life
EPIRBs When activated, an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) transmits its details on 406MHZ and, if GPS-enabled, the vessel’s position to within 100m. This signal is relayed by satellite…
Mid Atlantic rescue after British solo racer Richard Tolkien suffers head injury
British sailor Richard Tolkien has been rescued by a cargo ship after sustaining a head injury during the solo The Transat bakerly race from Plymouth to New York. Tolkien, 61,…
Mayday, we’re sinking – crew rescued from the ARC yacht Magritte as she goes down
Early evening on 3 December Steve Arnold was awoken by his friend and crewmate Andy Mills, who had noticed water in the bilges. The boat, Magritte, a 44ft Moody Grenadier…
Great Seamanship: dramatic account by Mike Golding of rescuing Alex Thomson in the Southern Ocean
Mike Golding OBE, ex-firefighter and twice winner of the IMOCA (Open 60) World Championship against the assembled might of France is so well known in ocean racing circles that to…
Video: amazing footage of desperate puppy rescued by yacht crew
Watch one very lucky labrador puppy lost overboard in the Gulf of Naples nearly a mile from shore being picked up by a yacht crew, dried off and cuddled. She was…
Video: Dramatic rescue of French sailor and his cat in rough seas 400 miles south of Alaska
Scroll down for video If ever a reminder were needed about how desperately dangerous it can be calling for help at sea, this video shows it most graphically. This grainy…
What should you keep in your grab bag or panic bag on a long voyage?
Panic bags, or grab bags if you prefer, are the collection of essentials that we all ardently hope will languish unused in a locker. Nonetheless, they are an essential part…
Ocean Signal’s new AIS alarm for man overboard is the most compact on the market
As smartphones bizarrely continue to get larger, to the point where today’s ‘phablets’ are almost too big to fit in a trouser pocket without attracting attention, the majority of us…
Pip Hare’s choice of EPIRBs, PLBs and other man overboard aids that could just save your life
EPIRBs When activated, an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) transmits its details on 406MHZ and, if GPS-enabled, the vessel’s position to within 100m. This signal is relayed by satellite…
Focus on liferafts: are you ready should the worst happen?
For six days in May last year Britain held its breath as the search went on for Cheeki Rafiki and her crew. Signals had been reported and hopes were kindled…
A day with the Falmouth Coastguard, Britain’s busiest maritime rescue centre
On a headland outside the town Falmouth Coastguard station looks out to sea like a sentinel. Binoculars lie on the window ledge, but the days of watching, at least physically,…
Mayday! What happens in the 12 minutes (tops) it takes an RNLI lifeboat crew to respond to a rescue
How long would it take you to roll out of bed, dress and get out of the front door if you had to leave home in a hurry at night?…
What’s it like going on a rescue with an RNLI lifeboat crew? We go on exercise to find out
Yachting World’s Matthew Sheahan goes out with the crew of the Falmouth RNLI lifeboat and experiences a ‘man overboard’
How a crew saved the lives of four Haitian refugees abandoned at sea and left for dead
Cruising Dominica to Antigua the crew of Nefertiti heard voices in the water. Daniel Calascione describes a troubling rescue of four Haitian refugees