Radar and AIS help to make navigating in fog safer, but it is still an unnerving experience to sail in visibility of less than 1,000m. Foghorns are hard to pinpoint…
Yachting World
A racer’s life: EF Education in the 1997-98 Whitbread round the world race
It’s hard to believe that almost 20 years have elapsed since the Swedish EF team of two boats took on the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1997-98, writes Tom…
Wolfhound: marine artist Stephen Dews reveals his brand new schooner
Recognised as one of the world’s leading marine artists, whose subjects range from the Battle of Trafalgar to the modern day J Class and America’s Cup, Steven Dews recently launched…
British sailor David Cowper navigates ‘world’s most difficult sea route’ for first time since discovery in 1822
British sailor and explorer David Cowper has successfully transited one of the most difficult routes of the North West Passage, the Hecla and Fury Straits. On 27 August, accompanied by…
Coastal Chile: uncovering the truth behind a mass whale stranding
The Golfo de Penas is a long way from anywhere. It is one of the major barriers to safe navigation along the already formidable coastline of southern Chile. The Taitao…
Dee Caffari finds out the hard way why Three Peaks Race is one of the world’s greatest endurance races
We were heading into the shore and just past Bear Grylls’s island, Saint Tudwal’s Island West, when the tacking duel commenced, writes Dee Caffari aboard Team Caffari/Sail 4 Cancer. Each…
‘Force Unlucky’ mid-Atlantic: surviving a truly ferocious winter gale
Today’s sailing world is well stocked with sponsored heroes, performing remarkable feats in the cause of being fastest on some great endeavour, writes Tom Cunliffe. John Kretschmer is a different…
Get out of that! What to do when your spinnaker snags a racing mark
It looks a rather pleasant day on the Solent with 15 knots and sun, and crews are enjoying what they probably believe is a decent race. However, as can be…
Skip Novak: Big city venues reduce the America’s Cup World Series to a crapshoot
When I read about Ben Ainslie’s frustration in sailing underneath New York City (literally) in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in May, and knowing that Chicago was coming…
What is a Spanish Plume? Thunderstorms, lightning and downdrafts explained
Earlier this summer we saw considerable thunderstorm activity over the UK and Europe, resulting in flooding and some serious injuries. In the UK and North West Europe the occurrence of…
How do you escape a traffic jam? Top tips from Olympic Gold-medallist Giles Scott
Anyone who has ever had the delight of taking part in the Round the Island Race will understand how common it is to end up in a situation like this.…
A winter cruise to Morocco and a rare glimpse into another world
Sandy, straight and with few deep water ports, the Atlantic coast of Morocco stretches for almost 1,000 miles down the coast of Africa from the Strait of Gibraltar to the…
Keeping safe for ocean cruising – it’s an attitude of mind, says Chris Tibbs
Safety is as much a state of mind as it is the equipment we have on board; it does not take us long to identify which is a safely-run yacht…
Skip Novak finds superyacht regattas are not for the faint-hearted
Superyacht regattas are not really my cup of tea. The last time I did one was in 2001 aboard Timoneer during the America’s Cup Jubilee in Cowes, with my former…
Revival of the Q Class – a mini J Class without all the costs and crew hassles
Imagine owning a yacht with all the class, style and history of a J Class, but without the monumental costs and logistical challenges. This dream is well on the way…
Weather briefing: Chris Tibbs explains the formation of a secondary low
Some years ago while racing somewhere south of the Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Ocean, an area well known for cyclogenesis (where lows are born or develop), we went from…
Solo sailor dodges hurricanes and ice on a North Atlantic crossing
An eastward crossing of the Atlantic in June or July should be easy for a well-found gaff cutter like Iron Bark. Wind and current are generally fair, gales few and…
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…
Pollution in Rio spoiling the sailing Olympics? Skip Novak says: ‘This is Brazil; just enjoy the carnival’
I know Rio well enough. We stopped there in the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1978. That was the year many of the competitors – and the security guards,…
White Glacier Arctic 25 immersion suit
This immersion suit is a much more serious product than it perhaps looks with me pictured in it. It will keep an occupant alive for up to 25 hours in…