Dick Durham

Dick Durham: Why is it that most of our sailing heroes, from Chay Blyth to Ellen Mac Arthur, seem to come from landlocked places?

Dick Durham

Not noted as a performance yacht, my 1936 gaffer still managed second place in the last regatta of the season, says Dick Durham

Dick Durham

Dick Durham: Yachties like us may be glad to leave the Atlantic behind, but just how welcome would British sailors be in Gibraltar?

Dick Durham

Most people don’t ‘get’ Roger D Taylor. At one time, blinded by sunny photographs of exotic ports in over-written pilot books, nor did I. Roger sails round in ever-increasing circles…

Dick Durham

I went to Mike Peyton’s wake recently. Not surprisingly, because he’s still world- renowned for his wry humour, it was not a gloomy affair. There were about 60 of us…

Dick Durham

The first thing I noticed, while leafing through the tourist board bumpf in the room of my Tallinn hotel, was barely a mention of what I’d been invited to Estonia…

Dick Durham

From my bedroom window I can see a small stone memorial in the corner of an ancient churchyard overlooking the Thames Estuary; on it are the names of four fisherman…

Dick Durham

My mother died recently and I now know why ships are called shes. I suddenly feel as though I’ve been left to swim for it, even though I’ve been old enough…

Dick Durham

Each wave hit the boat broadside with a loud slap and bashed her hull against the rocky sea wall. Her starboard bilge keel was smashed off, just a row of…