Electronic navigation comes in all shapes and sizes these days, from an app on your phone to a purpose-made top-end marine chartplotting and instrument system costing multiple thousands, and from…
Cruising guides
Sailing the Shipping Forecast: ‘A distant swell reminded us how lucky we were to have it so good’
Portland The sea area of Portland wraps around the Isle of Portland from just east of the entrance into Poole Harbour, westward across Lyme Bay to Berry Head at Brixham,…
Sailing through the Kiel Canal to the Baltic and beyond
There are not many ways into the Baltic. A yacht travelling from the west has to either go north around the tip of Denmark (Skagen), or through the beautiful Limfjord…
A bold, perilous mission (just across the bridge to the pub)
One of the compelling qualities of lift-keelers such as Hejira, my Southerly 135, is the ability to access shallow, rarely visited locations and dry out upright when the tide recedes.…
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…
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…
Sailing the shipping forecast: Unlocking the secrets of the Thames
The Thames sea area extends from the northeast corner of Norfolk to the Kent coast at Deal and across to the continental coast between Petten in North Holland and Oostende…
Against the tide: A 1,000-mile race against the Great British Summer
According to the news and messages from home, the beginning of July is a scorcher, with the heat almost unbearable. How I wish we were experiencing the same! Here aboard…
Wetter, warmer, sunnier: A forecasters guide to the challenges and opportunities of climate change for sailors
‘Climate change’ is a phrase that can brush past our ears without a thought to its implications. Each day media outlets carry the latest Armageddon-style warnings about the weather of…
Sailing the Shipping Forecast – Cruising the Humber: ‘A big fleet of Darts were racing and we had several enthusiastic waves’
Cruising the Humber The Humber sea area incorporates the interesting but more challenging coastlines of The Wash and North Norfolk, as well as the Humber estuary itself. From the area’s…