SPECIAL FEATURES

Fit for offshore
Make sure your boat is prepared for offshore cruising

Catching the Millennium bug
Paul Gelder steps aboard Spirit of Diana, and meets the paying crew taking part in the latest round the world yacht race

Secret water
Our new series on hidden anchorages opens with Les Ecrehou, nestling between Jersey and Brittany

What! No paddle?
Nobby Clark finds himself lost in the fog off Newtown Creek

Lifesavers or damp squib?
Our test of the flares you might be buying for your boat produces some interesting and surprising results

Destinations – Ramsgate
Our pull-out chart series visits this East Coast stopover

Mainsail reefing
The latest in the Sail power series, Peter Nielsen looks at options for shortening sail quickly and easily

Just do it!
Two couples and their young children set sail from Hamble bound for Istanbul on the adventure of a lifetime

Top cat?
The American built catamaran Gemini 105M is put through her paces by Yachting Monthly’s testers. Is she the cat’s whiskers?

The Full Mountie
David Owen embarks on a bareboat charter in eastern Canada with just the barest essentials

Destinations – Ostend
The Belgian resort scooped out of the Flanders dunes

Marking time
Best ways to calibrate your yacht’s instruments

Channel vision
A pre-season cruise reveals the English Channel in all its moods as witnessed by Peter Nielsen

Sailing Skills
– Question of seamanship

– Learning curve

– Des Sleightholme

– Tom Cunliffe’s Yachtmaster class

– Crew class: step-by-step guide to crewing skills

– Win a hand-held Magellan GPS in this month’s Pilotage quiz

– Skippers’ tips: finding warm water