Fika rolls in the swell as Sophie clings to the mast. Twenty-four hours since we…
Cruising
‘What I’ve learned from sailing half way around the world alone’
I was a man obsessed. I longed to see the sea, to sail quietly across…
The heart-stopping tale of one yachtswomen’s encounter with a migrant vessel at sea
Susan Smillie’s book The Half Bird tells the story of a former Guardian journalist who…
The ocean citizen science being carried out on yachts
There is a fierce and surprisingly passionate debate unfolding on the deck of Freeranger, our…
4 options for sailing around the world (from easy to adventurer)
One of the biggest gifts you can give yourself is time. Time to do the…
Sailors share their favourite European secret cruising spots
A European sailing holiday is where many of us first developed a love of discovering…
‘Deafening roars of thunder coincided simultaneously with mammoth bolts of lightning hitting the sea all around us’
I’ve always found local winds fascinating. One year in France, while racing a Q Class…
Great Seamanship: Tales from the Golden Globe Race
Ten years or so ago I was contacted by a Finnish yachtsman, Tapio Lehtinen, who…
‘We paired perfect sailing with colourful evenings ashore’: Exploring unexpected Greece by boat
The wind was dying with the light after a lively passage down the western Peloponnese,…
Great Seamanship: A leisurely Pacific crossing
Christian Williams, now 81, is alive, well and going strong in California. To get a…
‘It quickly becomes clear that things are not good. What follows is a blur of suppressed panic and a mad fumbled search of the boat…’
Friday evening, 21 February, 2025, and we are anchored inside a reef lagoon in a…
Exploring the Tyrrhenian Sea and the hidden islands of Italy
A shirtless sailor in a roughed up inflatable dinghy approached as we sat in the…
Everything you need to know about sailing in Bermuda
The breeze that whistles through the pines that line Bermuda’s shores ranges from a prevailing…
Are you ready to take on an ocean crossing? How to refit and maintain a bluewater yacht
In 2012 I bought a neglected 15-year-old Hallberg-Rassy 46 which had stood ashore unsold for…
Sailing the Pacific: ‘As we sailed away from lush Hanalei Bay, it was so beautiful I actually teared up’
After two recent deliveries sailing the Pacific to Hawaii and back, on two very different…
Great seamanship: unstepping a solid wood mast solo
The late Steve Pickard was the very essence of a cruising sailor. Never a high-aspiration…
‘I knew I needed to do something, take some action, to honour his memory… I knew I had to go to Cambodia.’
Rob Hamill wasn’t supposed to be in the water that day. Although he was tempted…
Exploring remote British Columbia on a 210ft superyacht
The Inside Passage is one of North America’s great cruising grounds – an intricate, fjord-lined…
Great seamanship: The Log of the Molly B
The Log of the Molly B stands out from the crowd of today’s cruising accounts.…
New approach to reduce the chance of whale strikes in yachts
“When a 45-tonnes Sperm Whale is on starboard tack, it has right of way. It…