Back to front is right for ventilation Ventilation is critical to the life expectancy of a wooden boat, particularly when left on a mooring. No GRP yacht ever sank through…

This photo is a rather exaggerated case of wind-against-tide. The water’s easy to read because you’d expect things to be rough and they were. In lesser situations you can still…

The ideal sea berth is a single settee-style affair wide enough to turn over in. If you’re anything like me and find the deep and dreamless hard to come by…

What’s she like to sail? Having sailed most Legends since their introduction, I have complete confidence in the rig’s integrity. The 36 is reasonably well arranged for shorthanded sailing, with…

Correspondence with two experienced YM readers has reminded me that leather laces on deck shoes aren’t always the success their makers would like to imagine. They seem either to be…

When all else fails… read the instructions! I’ve written before about discrepancies between super-accurate GPS positioning and charted data. Usually I’m talking about making sure you read the survey information…

What’s she like to sail? At 5 knots or less on an even keel, the Elan 360 felt a bit sleepy on the helm, but as soon as she reached…

Dick Durham

Why most cruisers still need a leadline – and how to use it. We’ve had echosounders for decades, but leadlining is still an essential cruising skill.