Sue is cruising around the small ports of north Brittany singlehanded on board a 9m cruising yacht. She is intending to enter a small harbour with a visitor’s buoy for…
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How to winterise a yacht’s engine
When laying up for the winter, it’s important to prepare your diesel engine so it won’t suffer while remaining unused for an extended period. It helps to make a list…
Why Lefkas remains one of Greece’s best islands
Lefkas island in the Ionian Sea is one of my favourite places in Greece. For land travellers it is one of the few islands easily reached by car and represents…
Why sailing the Croatian coastline with the kids was the perfect break
Georgie, my wife and I love chartering, and did so relatively frequently before children. The arrival of our adorable little chaos merchants (Reuben, three, and Lily, one) rather tempered our…
The history of the RYA Yachtmaster scheme as it turns 50
The RYA started examining Yachtmaster candidates in 1973 but in fact the very first Yachtmaster certificates were awarded much earlier. In 1938 at the request of the Admiralty, the Board…
Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 380 review
Age comes to us all, and with it a certain softening of our midships. After almost 40 years of the Sun Odyssey line, you could be forgiven for thinking Jeanneau’s…
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…
How ancient navigation techniques can still help sailors today
Yacht navigation can be defined as knowing which way to go. This sounds simple, but to do it you need to process three complex pieces of information. Firstly, you need…
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…