When ocean sailors are quizzed about their voyages, the most common question they are asked…
Cruising
Cruising South Korea: the oppressive restrictions that scuppered our plans
The sea around us was filled with orange and yellow buoys, causing my imagination to…
Sailing Patagonia: ‘We hadn’t imagined places so distant and so beautiful’
Patagonia isn’t a place you rush through. At least not if you want to experience…
Below the surface: Why every sailor should learn to free dive and how to start
For a sailor, free diving is far more than a sport or a pastime. It’s…
3,000 Miles to Paradise: Our Unexpected Reality in the Marquesas
‘Laaaaaaaaaand ho!’ The first shouts drifted through the companionway at 0545 on 25 April. Hiva…
Final Great Seamanship: Tom Cunliffe bids farewell
It’s 21 years since my old friend Andrew Bray, then editor of Yachting World, asked…
Sailing South America with six children: ‘Days became a blur of sea, sunrises, sunsets and nights’
“Mom, wake up! We’re approaching Cabo Frio.” My daughter’s voice cut through my drowsy thoughts…
The mother and daughter team who took on the longest longitudinal yacht race in the world
Fika rolls in the swell as Sophie clings to the mast. Twenty-four hours since we…
‘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…