Floris is on the lookout at the bow, as we are sailing in uncharted waters. Some of the coral heads rise almost to the surface but, thanks to the high…
cruising
Island hopping home from France post-pandemic
Jacob, my 15-year-old son and I made it to France in July 2021, still a time of Covid, to start the 400-mile journey from Port Bloc at the southern entrance…
Your tether might not keep you safe – Pete Goss
Hearing a tale from the Rolex Fastnet Race had me contemplating the unglamorous safety strop. Many of these reflections came from bashing our way into the Southern Ocean with hanked…
We sailed this historic yacht to Madeira and back to celebrate a 1923 voyage
During the afternoon of 20 March, 1923, following ‘a good lunch’ in the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Conor OBrien slipped the mooring of his yacht Saoirse (pronounced ‘Seershah’ and meaning…
Sailing in the wake of Odysseus
Arriving in Meganisi, we were greeted by shouting and waving from the jetty. What had been one or two people had grown to five as those docked gathered to watch…
ARC 2023 fleet sets sail across the Atlantic
Days and often years of preparation are over. The ARC 2023 saw 156 yachts cross the start line at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in light 8-10 knot winds, hot sunshine…
Exploring the Pembrokeshire Islands by boat
Setting off from our swinging mooring at Rudders boatyard, Burton, in Pembrokeshire, we have to travel the length of the Cleddau estuary to reach open water. With the wind and…
A disastrous trip saw this sailor shipwrecked for the second time on the same islands… 50 years later
During the afternoon of Christmas Eve 2019, I was steering a tubby old steel ketch called Cristina on a delivery passage slowly westward along the south coast of Isla Las…
Sailing to the Shiant Isles
Sitting at anchor was a pattern we were becoming accustomed to – waiting out one or more low pressure systems before having an all too brief respite in which to…
How this novice couple sailed to the Scilly Isles and back
They say ‘do something that scares you a little bit every day’, and while we weren’t looking for fear, we did seek new challenges. Late to the sailing life, we…