Jenny and Ted are cruising with their two teenage children on board their 10m yacht Oyster Catcher. Forecasters have been warning of wet and windy weather for the next few…
Sailing skills
A beginners guide to easy yacht navigation
When you first start to learn about yacht navigation it can seem complex and pretty nuanced, but in reality what you are doing falls into two overarching styles. The first…
‘Dodging ships can feel like being a chicken crossing a very busy motorway’
The North Sea at night: I love it. It can turn wild, like any mountain or desert, but that’s not all the time. When it’s calm, fishing lights appear, dodge…
Sailing around 3,500 miles on the 1917 schooner Oosterschelde: Training in a time warp
I have always wanted to sail on a tall ship; to experience night watches on the high seas, to make sail changes, to helm. Although I’ve done all these things…
How to recover from a violent gybe at sea?
It is the roughest sea Simon has ever experienced. He and his four crew are sailing eastwards on his classic 1960s 12m wooden sloop, Sea Thrift, towards the Azores with…
Expert guide: how to tune the rig of a yacht
It is important to have a correctly tuned rig. Boats that have poorly tuned rigs are slower, point lower, heel more, make more leeway and may be more difficult to…
How to get your boat home if you experience an engine failure
Yachts engines are like bodies; we only appreciate them when they stop working. On more than one occasion last year, the engine on my Luders 36ft long-keeled sloop, Nimrod, reminded…
How to squeeze a yacht into a tight marina berth
Jane is on a cruising holiday on board Storm Petrel, her 10m yacht. The boat has a long fin keel and skeg. When engaging astern there is a strong prop…
How to optimise sail trim
It is difficult to describe ‘correct’ sail shape, but the three most important things to consider are: sail draft (the fullness of the sail), draft position, and twist (controlled by…
The sailing rules you can ignore… and those you can’t: an expert guide
Saying ‘International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea’ is something of a mouthful, let alone learning all of them verbatim. Commonly called the ‘Colregs’, they are a fine…