Sailors and seabirds share the same weather. They ride the same winds, are hit by the same storms, feel the same calms. And, now, we all – birds and seafarers…
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Why sailing solo is a skill everyone should master
When asked why he always sails alone, a well-known character of YouTube fame who notoriously sails in the far north, often in severe weather, once replied: ‘Whenever the sailing got…
Solving yacht engine trouble: ‘Water had got in through the filler cap’
A year or so ago I was helping a friend, Monty Halls, bring his boat Sobek, around from Plymouth to Dartmouth. As we were leaving Plymouth breakwater, the engine died.…
Sailing the Shipping Forecast in Wight: ‘There are so many options in the Solent’
Coastal cruises in Wight Wight must be the most familiar sea areas for a huge number of sailors, whether cruising or racing, staying coastal or crossing the Channel. On the…
Zen again: A 65,000-mile love story on a 1980s IOR classic
Zen Again is our Yamazaki Yachts Stinger 34 1980s IOR ¾ tonner. She’s gorgeous. She has a deep fin keel, strong skeg-hung rudder and tall masthead cutter rig. She displaces…
Sailing the Shipping Forecast in the Dover sea area: ‘Dover marina is a good place to pause’
Sailing the Shipping Forecast: Dover Dover sea area is a relatively small but significant wedge of water between Deal and Beachy Head on the English coast and across to the…
How we relocated our floating family home down the North Sea
When you’re asked to take any boat from A to B, it’s always easier if you can do it with your own trusted people on board. This wasn’t an option…
Rogue waves! What can they teach us about managing risk at sea
If there is a single point on the planet that figures in the imagination of every sailor, it’s Cape Horn. It lies at the southern end of the South American…
How to work out the strength of a piece of rope
Rope strength is measured in a variety of ways but it is important that the end user understands what that strength is in order to decide whether the rope is…
Sailing a 5,000 mile loop on the Atlantic: ‘Six months in a leaky boat’
Finally we had arrived in the Azores from Newfoundland, a passage described in YM February 2025. En route we had discovered water leaking into the forepeak and the heads compartment…