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Leader
There are a lot of people out there in the Southern Ocean this winter. Let’s hope there are no disasters

On the wind
Hopes rising of a British America’s Cup bid, five yachts rescued in November storm; Ellen MacArthur and Josh Hall describe their first weeks of Vendée sailing and our man prepares for Cape Horn

Letters to the Editor
Collisions with power vessels – do yachtsmen know their COLREG?, why the JST did not use stainless steel bolts on Tenacious and joining the Horn club

Dogwatch
Out of sight, out of mind? – in these days of instant communication, it’s worrying to be beyond radio range

Counting the cost
After an exhausting leg from Boston to Buenos Aires on what was supposed to be the gin and tonic run, the BT Global Challenge crews are wondering if the race is matching up to their expectations

Crunch time for The Race
After the well-publicised breakages, modifications and financial difficulties, will any of the competitors be truly ready for the start of the no-holds-barred round the world race on 31 December? James Boyd and Andrew Bray discuss the issues and Nick Maloney describes the sheer terror of sailing a boat like PlayStation at speed

Cruising Log from the ARC
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers shows no sign of peaking. This year’s event attracted over 200 entrants and all have a story to tell. Elaine Bunting spoke to some of them before the start in Las Palmas

Letter from the Caribbean
Chris Doyle falls in love with Dominica and goes in search of a mast for his new boat

Snapshots of a photographer’s life
One of Britain’s best-known marine photographers Rick Tomlinson made his name by taking evocative shots of the Whitbread race. We publish extracts from his book Shooting H2O, along with some of his most famous pictures 92 Fishtales In the Little America’s Cup in 1965, the British C Class catamaran was up against an innovative Aussie

Waves of destruction
Meteorologist David Houghton, with the help of wave scientist Judi Wolf, believes he has unearthed some fascinating new evidence that explains the severity of the waves during the storm that lashed the Sydney-Hobart race in 1998

Firefly
Assessing Firefly’s sailplan and reefing systems

Racing Round-up
Italians race to victory in the Mumm 30 Worlds, Coutts the unbeatable dominates the Colorcraft Gold Cup. Plus Andrew Preece’s Comment on the axing of the Soling from the Olympics

Leading Edge
You too can sail like Ben Ainslie – and without even getting wet. A new Australian simulator recreates truly realistic Laser sailing

Offshore Essentials
Far from the comfortable authority of the Shipping Forecast, where can you find good weather information for long distance cruising?

What’s new
Some of the new kit you can see at the London Boat Show, including an award-winning Raytheon radar and the latest stretchy Musto foulweather gear

Multi-tools and other widgets
Just the sort of handy thing a serious yachtsman might want in his Christmas stocking . . .

Hatching plans
What have the world’s biggest production boatbuilders got in store for us over the next few years? Matthew Sheahan quizzes architects and builders about the designs on their drawing boards

SuperSail – Back to the future
It’s extraordinary the number of replicas, restorations and retro-style designs in the pipeline among designers and builders of large yachts. Among them are famous names like Reliance, Ranger, Britannia and Westward

Yachts for sale
Yachts galore in our brokerage pages

Classified ads
Winter bargains and summer charters

Robin Knox-Johnston

 
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