The material, colour, and condition of a yacht’s deck can dramatically transform its overall look and feel. Over the years, marine decking materials have evolved, moving from natural, traditional hardwoods…
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How to get the best from your sailing boat: Learning how to ‘change gears’
Many of you, like me, probably started their sailing adventures in small dinghies. The purity of just you, the wind and some canvas. It’s where we honed our skills of…
Ella casts off to sail solo 10,000 miles around the Arctic
Ella, a 28-year-old Yachtmaster instructor, is sailing her 1978 38ft Bruce Roberts offshore steel ketch, Yeva, to highlight the dramatic melting of the Arctic ice and to campaign for change.…
How it works: Taking a noon sight
To take a sextant noon sight you first have to figure out when the sun will pass over your meridian. It is good enough to work it out to the…
Zhik Spirit of Adventure: ‘It’s a little bit of heaven – two miles of sand backed by dunes held together by ancient and gnarled juniper trees’
Good luck going round the Peloponnese,’ smiled the seasoned sailor as I told him our plans. He stood at the dock on the Greek Island of Lefkada, looking critically at…
Land and Sea breeze basics: how to make the most of your coastal sailing
No matter where you are in the world, coastal sailing is all about knowing how to read your immediate surroundings to have fun and stay safe while cruising and one…
Corsair 880 review: Fantastic, sporty, trailable trimaran
Some boat tests are more memorable than others. Sometimes it’s the boat, sometimes the weather and sometimes a combination of the two. When I tested the Corsair 880, it was…
‘Our dinghy outboard was being smashed to pieces by the swell’
Our dinghy is the equivalent of everyone’s car at home; it’s how we get from our boat at anchor, to anywhere in the harbour. Used most days, it has to…
Zhik Spirit of Adventure: ‘Wonderful opportunities for whale watching as these gracious creatures head north’
Sailing a yacht down to Antarctica can be an incredible adventure. Get it right and it will earn its ‘voyage of a lifetime’ reputation. Taking a small yacht into the…
Day sailing to the Isles of Scilly: Dodging a 35,000-tonne cargo ship
Quaker Girl is waiting patiently at the end of steep granite steps for her third skipper. Not that she needs three, or even one for that matter. But as I…