Features

• Sailing Secret Water
  His imagination fired by reading Arthur Ransome stories to his children, Simon Crofts sets sail with them for the Walton Backwaters in his Contessa 32

• Cross country cruising
  Taking a short-cut from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coast, Andrew Smyth brings his Moody Eclipse 43 home through the Canal du Midi in the first instalment of a two-part article
  
  
• Great Wight hopes
  Carol O?Shea and family go ?head-to-head? with Ellen MacArthur and Tracy Edwards in the Round the Island Race

• A tale of two skippers
  Mike Richey (85) and Seb Clover (15) hold the records for being the oldest and youngest to sail solo across the Atlantic. They compare logbooks

• Westcoasting part 5
  Ken Endean sees Anglesey from all angles as he cruises his Sabre 27 through the Menai Strait and visits the bays on the west side of the island

• Destinations: Cherbourg
  David Jefferson visits the French port that has more visiting yachts than any other port in Europe ? and 70% of them are British

• Seven go sailing
  Kay Sutton takes six girlfriends cruising in the Caribbean while her husband bites his nails having left his beloved boat, Nearchos, in the hands of six novice sailors

• Spooked!
  Roger Cooke finds out how badly fatigue can affect a skipper?s judgement on a Channel crossing in this month?s Landfall article

• New dawn for the RYA
  A brand new £2.6m HQ in Hamble for the RYA has caused some tongue-wagging. Dick Durham talks to Chief Executive Rod Carr about what the RYA does for yachtsmen
  

Sailing Skills

• A Question of Seamanship
  Electron-free navigation on a Channel crossing

• Learning Curve
  Fire down below! Phaon Reid suffers anengine fire off the Coast of Death in Spain

• Yachtmaster Class
  Tom Cunliffe talks about the difference between good and bad-mannered boats

• Better Boat Handling
  How to cope with steering failure

• Sailing quiz
  Win one of five Scrap fleeces

• Knots
  The one-way sheet bend with Geoffrey Budworth

• Sea Sense
  Des Sleightholme onpreserving precious night vision
  

On Test

• Mystery 35
  British Hunter?s Mystery 35 has stunning looks and, as James Jermain discovered, rewarding performance

• Midget 31
  Mike Kopman heads to Holland and discovers a capable boat with a big heart

• Westerly Corsair
  This Ed Dubois-designed cruiser from the 1980s offers space and reliable performance

Every Month

• Editorial

• On Watch
  The best sailing news pages
  
  
• Readers? letters

• YM Books

• YM subscriptions

• Any Questions?

• Next month

• Libby Purves
  The call of the sea

• Blue Water Letter
  Rod Heikell contemplates the cost of insurance cover

• New Gear

• A-Z of second-hand boats
  All the Ps, from Parker to Prout via Pionier
  
• Around the coast

• Property

• The Confessional