A seagoing boat is not a toy. It is the most serious of vehicles, built to let humans brave an unpredictable, lethally dangerous element with efficient control and reasonable dispatch.…
Libby Purves
‘Sailing your own boat is the last available way to feel that old-fashioned traveller buzz’ – Libby Purves
During a chilly autumn week we had to do a 36-hour round trip to Calais – we were foot passengers on one of the few ferries that still tolerate such…
A grudging feeling of gratitude to our awful water companies
Water management isn’t something we talk about enough on our cruising boats. Blue-water sailors think about it a lot, obviously, and we have, in our time, installed – and mothballed…
‘Being stuck in a lifeboat with a tiger is, to say the least, untypical’ – Libby Purves
I won’t be in theatres with a notebook as much as usual this month – time for some wider, wetter horizons – but may be musing, as I often do,…
Libby Purves calls time on the ship’s bell
Giles Coren, the mischievous Times columnist, wrote recently about objects which gradually vanish from familiar use, either because they are outdated in the modern world, or because they were always…
‘Why we’ll all miss the shipping forecast’ – Libby Purves
The long-wave shipping forecast reaches its centenary in 2024, though it’s not much of a celebration given that LW itself, ‘at the end of its life as a technology’, will…
Libby Purves on child-friendly cruising skills
Wisely, a recent issue of Yachting Monthly addressed the practicalities of making your boat child-friendly: indeed many sensible adjustments are good for all, since adult humans too get clumsy and…
Libby Purves Podcast March 2017
It’s easy to keep sailing in familiar waters, but a longer passage will connect you to the true spirit of seafaring, says Libby Purves
Libby Purves Podcast February 2017
Now’s the time to traipse around boatyards and shows, dreaming of a new boat, if only the money would stretch, says Libby Purves
Libby Purves December 2016 Podcast
We may think we understand the sea, but it’s not until you get in it that you realise how volatile an element water is, says Libby Purves