When I skippered a yacht in the first Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) 30 years ago the weather planning information we had after we left Las Palmas was just about…
Cowes Week: Everything you need to know about this historic regatta
What is Cowes Week? Cowes Week is one of the best know sailing regattas in the world. It is certainly one of the longest running, having first taken place in…
Lady in Red: Baltic Yachts launches Doryan, a sizzling, scarlet 116ft carbon bluewater superyacht
Doryan is the arresting new scarlet Baltic, 116ft of pure performance in comfort, designed by Nauta and judel / vrolijk & co The design brief was for “a timeless and…
Fancy a US$1m bonus? Just win the World Match Racing Tour and it’s yours
It’s been a busy and expensive few weeks for the organisers of the World Match Racing Tour. First came the news that the tour had been bought by Swedish boatbuilding…
Breathing on the Dragon class – how the long-lived keelboat gets a makeover in Dubai
Receiving Olympic status is not always the blessing you might expect. The rate at which some of the world’s best sailors and teams refine and develop Olympic class boats and…
The best Volvo Ocean Race video yet? A gripping movie showing how heroic yacht racing can be
Using voiceovers from each of the skippers and stylish photography throughout, the Volvo Ocean Race team has done a great job at both distilling its nine month race into a…
Tested: boom brakes and preventers, including Walder boom brake and Wichard Gyb’Easy
A shout, the mainsheet whips through the cockpit and the boom crashes onto the other side of the boat – everyone has had a bad gybing experience at some point.…
Fancy some foiling? How you learn to fly flying in minutes on the new White Formula Whisper catamaran
“If you can sail, you can foil this boat,” said Rob White of White Formula, a company that has a long list of internationally successful production catamarans to its name…
Transatlantic Race 2015 gets underway with 38 yachts racing from Rhode Island to Cornwall
The Transatlantic Race 2015 got underway on Sunday 28th June as the first 13 of the 38 competitiors headed out of Narragansett Bay’s East Passage, Rhode Island to cool but…
From foils to Folkboats, key performances in the Round the Island Race
As famous for its wide variety of boats as it is for the number of entries, this year’s Round the Island Race also saw foiling come into play. So who…
Cruising the Aland islands: small Finnish islands with a big history
Our yacht, Arcturus, was moored snugly in a picturesque cove off a friend’s cottage when my wife, Mia, and I met Claes. Like many Åland islanders, Claes was a retired…
Spice up your Caribbean season with our insider’s guide to where to go
Saint Lucia Most transatlantic rally sailors end their voyage at the excellent new Rodney Bay Marina before heading somewhere quieter for Christmas. The temptation is to move on from Saint…
Nautor announces a new Swan 54, a purebred bluewater quality cruiser
One of yachting’s most prestigious and long-running brands, Nautor’s Swan, has announced a new yacht and the new Swan 54 is significant in being at the smaller end of the…
5 tips: surfing. How to use the waves to improve your downwind performance
Gone are the days of sitting back on the downwind legs to enjoy the view. Powerful modern cruiser-racers respond much more like dinghies and need the constant application of subtle…
When a partnership is different from sponsorship – Ben Ainslie Racing announce Land Rover deal
At the first press conference to be held in Ben Ainslie Racing’s new purpose built base in the heart of old Portsmouth, Land Rover was announced as the BAR’s new…
Video – the timeless elegance of the J Class. Velsheda, Ranger and Lionheart dance on Falmouth waters
We will put more photos and video up as the regatta draws to a close this Saturday. Here is the official report from today’s racing (Thursday June 25): The dream…
Kite vs Cat – Which would you favour in a windward leeward race?
The very fact that I’ve posed the question provides the biggest hint that the result is going to be the opposite of what you might think. And if you swayed…
A Velsheda masterclass – pictures and highlights from the second day of J Class racing in Falmouth
Velsheda proved how age is by no means restrictive on a racecourse, with a demonstration of near perfect sailing during today’s two-hour coastal race. Their start was spot on, the…
Connect on board by wi-fi with Red Box from Mailasail
Wherever we go now we expect to be able to get online – indeed many even depend on it. Being afloat is no exception. The proportion of skippers, crew and…
Wearing a lifejacket or not is a judgement call. We are being brainwashed, argues Skip Novak
I first realised there was something amiss when several years ago on a visit to the Hamble River during a dead calm weekend afternoon. I noticed that everyone on every…