If you want to trim your rig correctly you should have some idea of the tension in the shrouds and stays, either by rules of thumb or a more exact…
Yachting Monthly
How to pass your Yachtmaster Practical Exam
The RYA Yachtmaster Offshore has long been the qualification that cruising yacht sailors, both amateur and professional, have aspired to. Quite aside from the fact that it is the gateway…
How to improve power management on a yacht
I confess, I’m not a marine electrician, and my understanding of boat electronics is at best rudimentary, but I’ve now been managing my boat’s power generation and consumption for three…
Scandinavia’s largest regatta: ‘More like a cruising rally than a race’
Cruising yachts in Scandinavia make a beeline for the Danish town of Skagen over every Ascension Day holiday in May. Nearly all of the entrants are production cruisers. This, along…
How to prepare for your Yachtmaster Offshore exam
Many very competent and highly experienced yachtsmen and women don’t have any qualifications at all and are content to keep it that way, but for some reason, not being a…
Sailing across the Irish Sea: ‘We had never seen such evocative scenery’
Bleary eyed, we stumbled out of our sleeping bags as the boat rocked gently on her berth. Fumbling around we clad ourselves with nautical attire, had some breakfast and prepared…
Visiting the D-Day Normandy Beaches by boat
After the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in June 1940, Winston Churchill promised, ‘We will return’. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied landing operation which…
How to avoid this collision in fog while sailing a yacht?
Martin and Barbara, along with their teenage son, Rob, have sailed across to the Channel Islands from the Solent in their 10m yacht. Rob has crewed regularly and already has…
Bavaria 30 Cruiser used boat review: Great little family cruising yacht
When you’re looking for a second-hand boat, it’s often easy to imagine that there’s a pretty broad choice in any given category. After spending a while thinking about your priorities…
‘While we were out consuming the local delicacies, a stowaway was surreptitiously finding their way aboard’
Rat in Mi Kitchen, one of the greats by UB40, proved to have a whole new meaning when sailing in Greece this year. A rodent infestation was far from my…