From a distance the Skellig Islands look like two shards of rock sticking out of the Atlantic. Skellig or Sceilg means ‘splinter of stone’. It was a calm, hot and…
Cruising life
Two sailors go coral gardening in French Polynesia
Floris is on the lookout at the bow, as we are sailing in uncharted waters. Some of the coral heads rise almost to the surface but, thanks to the high…
Why Lefkas remains one of Greece’s best islands
Lefkas island in the Ionian Sea is one of my favourite places in Greece. For land travellers it is one of the few islands easily reached by car and represents…
Why sailing the Croatian coastline with the kids was the perfect break
Georgie, my wife and I love chartering, and did so relatively frequently before children. The arrival of our adorable little chaos merchants (Reuben, three, and Lily, one) rather tempered our…
Island hopping home from France post-pandemic
Jacob, my 15-year-old son and I made it to France in July 2021, still a time of Covid, to start the 400-mile journey from Port Bloc at the southern entrance…
Your tether might not keep you safe – Pete Goss
Hearing a tale from the Rolex Fastnet Race had me contemplating the unglamorous safety strop. Many of these reflections came from bashing our way into the Southern Ocean with hanked…
We sailed this historic yacht to Madeira and back to celebrate a 1923 voyage
During the afternoon of 20 March, 1923, following ‘a good lunch’ in the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Conor OBrien slipped the mooring of his yacht Saoirse (pronounced ‘Seershah’ and meaning…
I sailed across the pacific with one hand
Having reached Bora Bora, I was about to set off on the next leg of my circumnavigation, covering the 1,850 miles to Fiji on my own. There followed a series…
Sailing the Ionian: idyllic islands
Being hit by the boom is not unusual, but headbutting it is. It was the second morning of our Ionian cruise and we were about to manoeuvre out of Episcopi,…
Old Man Sailing heads to France to sell his new book by hand
Sailing alone brings out a certain mastery of life which no other activity can provide. All sailors plan to eradicate obstacles, but out on the ocean they still arise and…