Jenny and James, who both hold the RYA Yachtmaster Coastal qualification, are en route to St Katharine Docks in London aboard their Westerly Oceanranger 38. They’re motoring up the Thames…
Rachael Sprot
Will this anchorage be safe to stay in overnight?
Louise and Julia are cruising the north east of the UK on their Grand Soleil 43. They seize a brief weather window to visit the Farne Islands off the Northumbrian…
How to pick up fore and aft moorings
Fancy going to Polperro next weekend?’ I asked my partner Chris on New Year’s Day. ‘We’ve finally got some high pressure coming in.’ I needed to visit Polperro as part…
How to rig a preventer and boom brake: Our expert guide
A well-designed preventer system is just as important as any other part of the rigging, but it’s often an afterthought, sometimes little more than an old mooring line tied around…
What can be learned from these 4 major accidents at sea?
There are few incidents on board more destructive than a crash gybe. The power unleashed when the wind catches the wrong side of the mainsail is hard to overstate, and…
How to get your boat home if you experience an engine failure
Yachts engines are like bodies; we only appreciate them when they stop working. On more than one occasion last year, the engine on my Luders 36ft long-keeled sloop, Nimrod, reminded…
How to use radar on a yacht
The life of a radar on board a cruising yacht is an easy one. Aside from a few hours of action when it’s misty or foggy, its younger sibling, AIS,…
Spinnaker handling: an experts full guide to using the kite
‘I have a confession to make,’ said my friend and fellow sailing instructor, Liz Le Mare, ‘I need spinnaker handling training.’ I was confused, since she’s often racing around the…
Westerly Konsort review: a re-purchase 40 years on
When fellow sailing instructor Liz Le Mare invited me aboard her recently acquired boat, I didn’t need much persuading. She’d recently married a fiercely competitive dinghy sailor, Richard, and their…
How to dry out alongside with your yacht
Whenever I launch a boat for the start of the season, I say a solemn goodbye to its bottom. As soon as it’s launched the underside becomes a foreign land,…