When I was a nipper, the footwear favoured by fashionable British sailors was blue canvas pumps. Upmarket versions had non-slip rubber soles for grip. The rest of us made do…
Tom Cunliffe
Tom Cunliffe November 2015 Podcast
‘The rain it raineth every day.’ So sang Feste, Shakespeare’s wise old clown, probably describing the state of affairs in Illyria some time around 1600. I suspect, though, that he…
Tom Cunliffe September 2015 Podcast
I’m curious about the way my attitude to weather and forecasting has changed over the years. I’ll never forget being trapped in Cherbourg in a 32-foot wooden gaff cutter with…
Tom Cunliffe podcast – Summer 2015
Have you noticed the way the world seems to spin a lot faster in the first few hours after returning from a cruise? It struck me hard when I came…
Tom Cunliffe podcast – July 2015
“The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from the nearest land” One of my favourite quotes is from Joseph Conrad. ‘The true peace of God…
Tom Cunliffe podcast: June 2015
‘Every time I sail under a bridge, I worry that I’m about to wallop it’ I once caught an innocent bystander’s VHF antenna with my topping lift when heeled…
Skipper’s tips – steer into the seas
SKIPPER’S TIPS 1. Steer into the seas In these days of autopilots and electronic routes, the natural mindset is always to make the shortest distance between two points. In heavy…
Tom Cunliffe podcast: May 2015
‘Having to brass up to lie in what have always been free anchorages is another burden on our creaking cruising budgets’ My first experience of Internet-based weather forecasting for sailors…
Tom Cunliffe podcast: April 2015
“Like an sailor brought up with the assumption of self-help, I decided to look into doing the job myself” My liferaft comes due for servicing this spring. One of the…
Springing on and off
A length of rope and a fender can turn tricky manoeuvres into a piece of cake. Tom Cunliffe explains springing on and off a dock