With a full moon and following wind, night sailing can be one of the great pleasures to be had when passagemaking; but on a dark night in a gale it…
chris tibbs
Expert tips on understanding shipping forecasts and weather broadcasts
When ashore we get our forecasts from a variety of sources, nowadays largely through the internet. However, unless we have the long-range communications of a bluewater cruiser, once our link…
Chris Tibbs on a dream Atlantic crossing and a heavenly Caribbean winter
There is only one adjective that adequately describes our transatlantic crossing with the ARC last year and the season of Caribbean cruising that followed it: fantastic! The rally was my…
How to get past a cut-off low pressure system – a true weather router’s dilemma
How many times do skippers – racers and cruisers – report that some of the worst Atlantic conditions are to be found between mainland Europe and the Canary Islands? Many…
10 practical tips for perfect downwind sailing in the Tropics
Between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn lie the tradewind belts, separated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) known to many sailors as the Doldrums. The extent of the tropics…
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…
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…
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…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: the dangers of cold fronts or ‘squall lines’
Outside the tropics much of our sailing takes place in the disturbed westerly airflow that generates depressions, and within the depressions (or lows) the most active feature is usually the…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: how air mass affects the wind direction
I have a lovely old instrument at home which belonged to my grandfather; using dials on concentric circles you can set the direction of the wind, barometer reading and trend,…
How to be a good crew member on a long ocean passage
Matching skippers and crew can be a difficult process and while there are characteristics we can identify in a good skipper, there are also some points that need to be…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: how temperature affects wind
As a group of islands the UK has a maritime climate to match our maritime history. Being surrounded by the ocean does mean that our weather is significantly influenced by…
Green flash: fact or fantasy? Weather man Chris Tibbs explains the science
Caribbean cruising is not complete without sundowners on a beach watching the sun slowly dip below the horizon. Invariably the conversation will turn to the ‘green flash’ and the group…
How to be a good skipper: ooze calm and confidence but don’t shout!
We become skippers by a number of different routes; many dinghy sailors will eventually become yacht owners after years of crewing on different yachts. Sea schools are well attended and…
5 tips: why spring weather should be treated differently from summer
The boat is sorted, the sails back on board and the crew lists are taking shape, but how much thought have you put into early season spring weather? Why should…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: what’s the difference between gusts and squalls?
Rarely do we have a day when the wind is steady in both direction and strength; we are even seeing warnings on forecasts that gusts may be 40 per cent,…
ARC weather man Chris Tibbs prepares his boat for ocean cruising
When we bought our Wauquiez Centurion 40s, Taistealai, for ocean cruising, starting with the ARC this year, we had a number of criteria in mind, but first and foremost we…
Taking the northerly route across the Atlantic; our meteorologist explains
In the 2012 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers the winning boats, the Class 40 Vaquita and the maxi Rán-Leopard, followed a similar route, which was suggested by routeing programs and made…
Offshore weather planning: the options for receiving weather data at sea
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…
The best route for an Atlantic crossing? It depends when you go
Weather is a large part of any Atlantic crossing: deciding when to go, which route to follow and the sails to carry. The main consideration is to avoid the hurricane…