Welcome to the latest issue of Yachting Monthly, full to the gunwales with great features, including:

SAILING SKILLS

Pilotage at night
James Stevens looks at how best to enter unfamiliar harbours in the dark

Skippers’ tips
Heading off odours • A mobile mast hotspot • Cheap materials

A question of seamanship
How would you anchor in a tight river?

HF Radio or sat comms?
Options for communications at sea, old and new

Isolation survival
Solo yachtsman Conrad Humphreys shares tips learned during the Vendée Globe race

CRUISING

Secret Ireland
Norman Kean explores lesser-known cruising grounds during a circumnavigation

A week afloat
Lu Heikell’s guide to the best cruising in the Greek Ionian

St Kilda Bay sail
Ben Kemp shares the delights of exploring Northern Ireland, the Hebrides and the isolated archipelago with his young family in a Nicholson 32

Cruising log
A memorable cross-Channel trip with two young offenders

GEAR & BOATS

Don’t flood your engine
Water in the cylinders can destroy it

New gear
Budget water meters • Teak-style solar panels • Masthead lighting

Me and my boat
‘Why we love our Moody S38’, plus what the experts say

First test: X49
A stylish performance cruiser that is both manageable short-handed and engaging to sail

Running rigging
Time to upgrade ropes, rigging and deck gear… or not?

REGULARS

Editor’s letter Splendid isolation

News CoVID-19 lockdown • Hatch recall • Scotland’s sailing centre closure

Letters No to cotton • Antifouling concern • Brummel Lock Splice alternative

New boats The Spirit 44E and more

Pete Goss Predator’s dinner table

Dick Durham Unsolvable mystery?

Books The Snow Goose