Before using the sextant you must note the index error. All sextants have an index error, especially plastic instruments which have to be checked regularly. When you have achieved an…
Yachting Monthly
‘I spent hours in the water in hurricane conditions’
When we saw the race briefing it was a little bit fuzzy,’ John Quinn told me, recalling events that had happened over three decades earlier, before the start of the…
‘They are all in the memory bank to savour during the winter months at home’ – Lu Heikell
There is a meme that appears on my social media with a Kermit the Frog puppet looking wistfully out of a window into a wintry scene. The caption usually reads…
Sailing in the Caribbean: ‘Turtles grazed on seagrass meadows as we snorkelled around them’
The first night on an unfamiliar boat can be a bit restless. You listen to the creaks and groans of the boat, the waves lapping onto the hull, the temperature…
How to moor your yacht (and how not to)
Sailing itself is not that difficult, with a few basic techniques and rules to keep you and your boat safe, whether you’re on a 50-footer or a dinghy. Since Covid…
How to clean an anti-syphon valve on a yacht’s engine
On sailing boats the exhaust pipe is swept up into a ‘swan neck’ to stop following waves flooding the exhaust when the engine isn’t running. Exhaust gas normally drives water…
Conquering the Northwest Passage
The Atlantic passage had been strange. The crossing from Scotland to the west coast of Greenland, or vice versa, is usually ‘the meanest Atlantic crossing of them all’, fraught with…
Sailing in the Atlantic: ‘Fog, gales, hurricanes and calms in one voyage’
Zen Again, our Japanese designed and built 1980s IOR ¾ tonner, is a well-equipped ‘pocket’ blue-water cruiser. She has over 50,000 miles under her keel with us and about twice…
Sailing a 100 year old Brixham Sailing Trawler from Scotland to the South Coast
Eight days after leaving Oban on the west coast of Scotland, we arrived at the Fowey estuary on the Cornish coast. The guests and crew on board were oblivious to…
How to clean and remove a boat’s propeller
Propeller fouling causes a marked drop in performance, while electrolytic corrosion can cause serious propeller damage. Propellers should, therefore, be cleaned annually – but a quick clean of the prop…