If taking on an Atlantic crossing in your own boat is high on your list of sailing dreams, I can thoroughly recommend the experience. However, a dream will stay a…
Cruising guides
Planning a cruise: Secrets of successful skippering
When planning a cruise more than a few days out it is rare that the navigation and weather stars align, allowing you to choose your destination, the time to leave…
How to plan a cruising route to the north: Sailing to Shetland and Norway
The wind is cold, the air clean and the light majestic. While sailing north might not be everyone’s idea of a relaxing holiday in the sun, for the adventurous of…
Isles of Scilly Storm Dodging: ‘We had to gain steerage way from a standing start while neighbouring boats were dancing around wildly’
Mary and I are very fond of the Isles of Scilly. In fact, we regard the archipelago as the most delightful cruising destination to be found anywhere around the British…
‘Boat builders seem to take pride in making stuff tricky to get to’
They say that the definition of cruising is ‘fixing your boat in exotic locations’. Well, crouched, sweating, in the aft heads using a head torch and a mirror to extract…
Sailing the Faroes: ‘It’s a challenging but very rewarding cruising area, with endless hills and fantastic views’
Our way of life on board is best described as “Vi tar det lugnt,” Swedish for “we take it easy.” We travel without a specific plan or target; the voyage…
Visiting the D-Day Normandy Beaches by boat
After the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in June 1940, Winston Churchill promised, ‘We will return’. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Allied landing operation which…
‘We passed no living creature apart from three cows and a lone sheep’
There aren’t many places where you can anchor so close to a mountain it breathes on you. In heavy weather the draughts of exhaled tempest that rush down the sheer…
10 hidden must-see destinations on the West Coast of Scotland
The sheer beauty of the Western Isles and the West Coast of Scotland draws many yachtsmen. Cruising on the west coast of Scotland may have a reputation for being for…
‘The outcrops of rounded pink granite and sandy beaches reminded me of the Scillies’ – exploring the Aegean
Arriving in late March at my partner’s home in Greece, I was expecting a few days at the house before sailing. But with a period of southerly winds forecast –…