Category: Europe

Rigging a preventer or using a boom brake is just good seamanship when sailing downwind, but doing so badly is asking for trouble, says Rachael Sprot A well-designed preventer system is just as important as any other part of the rigging, but it’s often an afterthought, sometimes little more than an old mooring line tied…

A sailing newbie moves her hands from the keyboard to the furling line, surfing learning curves. Jenny Jasper dives into a Competent Crew course, surfacing with a love for yachting. When I signed up to improve my sailing knowledge via an RYA Competent Crew course, I didn’t realise it would involve gasping at fins breaking…

Accident reports make sobering reading, but if we want to sail downwind safely, then it pays to learn from gybes gone wrong, says Rachael Sprot There are few incidents on board more destructive than a crash gybe. The power unleashed when the wind catches the wrong side of the mainsail is hard to overstate, and…

It’s common practise for racing sailors, but marking your lines is crucial even if you are an occasional cruising sailor Many cruising yacht skippers mark very little on board their boats. They rely on experience and remembering how the sails should be set in various conditions. But it is an advantage to have a good…

Ken Endean looks back on the boats he has owned over 50 years and explains why the hull lines of older yachts continue to offer first-class handling Most of Britain’s yacht owners, both now and in the future, will be sailing boats built in the 1960s to 1980s, that are highly durable, structurally sound and…

James Stevens considers a problem sent in by a Yachting Monthly reader who asks how to rig a yacht’s mooring lines to avoid chafe Jenny and Ted are cruising with their two teenage children on board their 10m yacht Oyster Catcher. Forecasters have been warning of wet and windy weather for the next few days.…

Sometimes, rather than knowing where you are, it’s easier to know where you aren’t, says Justin Morton in his guide to yacht navigation When you first start to learn about yacht navigation it can seem complex and pretty nuanced, but in reality what you are doing falls into two overarching styles. The first style of…

It seemed odd when container vessels mysteriously started keeping clear of Peter Webb’s yacht, but the AIS-related answer only appeared in harbour. The North Sea at night: I love it. It can turn wild, like any mountain or desert, but that’s not all the time. When it’s calm, fishing lights appear, dodge about, and…

Nick Quirke answered the call for some adventurous hands-on schooner training, with no experience necessary to sail around 3,500 miles from Cape Verde to Rotterdam. I have always wanted to sail on a tall ship; to experience night watches on the high seas, to make sail changes, to helm. Although I’ve done all these things…

James Stevens considers a problem sent in by a Yachting Monthly reader who asks how to recover from a violent gybe at sea? It is the roughest sea Simon has ever experienced. He and his four crew are sailing eastwards on his classic 1960s 12m wooden sloop, Sea Thrift, towards the Azores with about 500…