Features

• Wandering star
  Eric Hiscock?s Wanderer III is a cruising legend, with 270,000 miles in her wake. Current owner Thies Matzen celebrates her
  50th birthday, describing the bond between man and boat
  
  
• Plane sailing
  Dick Durham?s yacht needed a refit, so he shipped a carpenter aboard for a cruise to the Solent and paid him in wine and curry

• Which fixed GPS?
  The YM team compares seven leading units, costing from £239 to £903. All the sets have superb accuracy, but which wins for clarity and ease of use?

• A writer?s retreat
  Living on America?s east coast, the author Bernard Cornwell maintains his English sailing roots with a Cornish Crabber 24

• Yachtmaster wars
  The RYA?s supremacy as the training body for sailing is being challenged by an American company. YM investigates
  
  
• Island rendezvous
  Andrew Mack sails from Sydney to Lord Howe Island to keep a date
  
  
• Destinations: Padstow
  Peter Cumberlidge visited this north Cornish fishing village, which boasts a benevolent summer climate, a beautiful estuary and superb seafood

• Black Velvet, white ice
  Ewen Southby-Tailyour takes a party of climbers to Iceland on his gaffer, Black Velvet, then explores the island?s west coast

• Menai miles to home:
  Gallant Knight part 2 On its delivery trip from Brighton to Conwy, Alison Panes?s Westerly GK24 gets a lifeboat tow and faces the perilous Menai Strait

• London Boat Show preview ? plus free pull-out map!
  The YM team reports on new boats and new gear on show at the final Earls Court Boat Show
  
  
• Final showdown
  On the eve of Earls Court?s last boat show, Dick Durham looks back on 49 years of show history
  

Sailing Skills

• A Question of Seamanship
  Laying out a second anchor

• Learning Curve
  Delivering his father?s yacht back home from the Caribbean proves
  a true adventure for Dan Snow ? it?s his first long-haul passage as skipper
  
  
• Better Boat Handling
  Simon Jinks unravels the complexities of spinnaker handling
  
  
• Yachtmaster Class
  Hanging halyards

• Sailing quiz
  Win Commander V binoculars
  
  
• Knots
  Geoffrey Budworth demonstrates the Simple Simon bend

• Sea Sense with Des Sleightholme
  The art of skowing an anchor
  

On Test

• Dufour 40
  James Jermain heads to La Rochelle to discover a new-generation, fast French cruiser with style and performance.

• Hanse 411
  This young German company has made an ambitious foray into the highly competitive 12m (40ft) production-boat market. Will its new flagship confirm its place in the mainstream? James Jermain finds out

Every Month

• Editorial

• On Watch
  The best sailing news pages

• Readers? letters

• YM subscriptions
  
  
• Any Questions?
  Navigating the Alderney Race

• Libby Purves
  Hove-to on the home front
  
  
• Next month and YM books

• Blue Water Letter
  Rod Heikell sails through the deserted Dodecanese in Greece
  
  
• Blue Water Postscript
  
  
• A-Z of second-hand boats
  The series continues with Maxis, MGs, Minstrels and Mirages

• Around the Coast

• Property

• The Confessional