You might not appreciate it at first glance, but this could well be the best performance production yacht we’ll see for some time. This realisation creeps up on you slowly,…
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The Ocean Race: is racing under autopilot ‘cheating’?
That’s not racing. It’s cheating. If you’re going to use the autopilot to sail around the world you might as well simply control the boat by remote control from home.”…
Double handed sailing skills: Spinnaker drops
Taking a spinnaker down without the aid of the snuffer or furler is when double handed sailing is a challenging manoeuvre. This will be your biggest sail; it is slippery…
Vendée Globe: Meet the British skippers due to compete in 2024
As the 2024 Vendée Globe draws ever closer it looks like British fans will have plenty to shout about in the next edition as a bumper number of British skippers…
Caribbean sailing: BVIs are back and as beautiful as ever
As the 30-seater inter-Caribbean turboprop aircraft banked to starboard, through my small window I caught a first glimpse of Tortola and the Sir Francis Drake Channel. I felt my pulse…
Catamaran sailing: can you fast track multihull skills?
Can one week change your life? That’s a whole lot of pressure to put on a holiday. But for a surprising number of graduates of the Nautilus Sailing catamaran sailing…
Jessica Watson: the true story of True Spirit star’s voyage
In the late Noughties and early 2010s, sailing garnered astonishing levels of attention due to a series of teenagers bidding to become the youngest sailor to sail around the world.…
‘Demolition Derby’ begins in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race
Leg 3 of The Ocean Race was always expected to be an punishing test for the five IMOCAs and their crews, but it’s been a particularly tough start for the teams…
Why have Orcas been attacking yachts? A puzzling mystery
Late in November last year, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Farr 65 pilothouse cutter, Sanjula, was being sailed 10 miles west of Cape Finisterre in Spain when it was surrounded by orca…
Everything you need to know about Southern Ocean storms
Any colour you want as long as it’s grey! That’s my overriding memory of life in the Southern Ocean – we tend to forget the sun reflecting off icebergs and…
Sailing a junk rigged schooner in Greenland
Dave Leet’s Nomad is a junk-rigged schooner which he sails mostly single-handed. He certainly puts the miles in, because although this article is about his experiences in West Greenland, when…
Wild start to leg 3 of The Ocean Race
It was an extraordinary ‘stop-go’ type of start to Leg 3 of The Ocean Race in Table Bay as the five-boat IMOCA 60 fleet set out on their 12,750 nautical…
How to follow The Ocean Race Leg 3 (and why you should)
This weekend five crewed IMOCA 60s will take to the startline for the third leg of The Ocean Race, on a month-long epic which is likely to be the toughest…
Pyewacket 70 and Zoulou take line honours in Caribbean 600
Roy P. Disney’s Pyewacket 70 (USA) has taken Monohull Line Honours in the 2023 RORC Caribbean 600 in an elapsed time of 42 hours 45 mins 06 secs. Two generations…
From the ocean to the plate: The art of foraging and fishing in the South Pacific Islands
Can you imagine not going to a supermarket or farmer’s market for a month or more? Could you make nourishing, appetising meals out of only what you have in stores?…
5 expert tips: How to improve your offshore racing skills
French Figaro sailors, whether they’re currently on the circuit or former Figaro skippers who cut their teeth in the class years ago, seem to do very well in the fully-crewed…
Excess 14 review: competitively priced performance catamaran
We’re sailing the Excess 14 upwind in 12-14 knots of true wind, with boat speed hovering between 7.4 and 8.0 knots. The helm feels positive and responsive, the boat tacks…
Caribbean 600 underway in thrilling conditions
The 14th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 has set off at 11:00 AST on Monday 20th February. Seventy boats racing under IRC, Class40 and MOCRA Rules, with crew from 30 different…
Banque Populaire drops out of the 2024 Vendée Globe
In early February Clarisse Cremer broke the news she had been dropped as skipper for the 2024 Vendée Globe by her sponsor Banque Populaire. Now, following a month of terrible…
How to be a valuable first mate
Our image of the lone sailor as the hero of the high seas, battling the elements in isolation, does all the second-in-commands of the world a disservice. Every skipper needs…