Thirty years ago last August the maxi Drum capsized in the Fastnet Race with 24 crew aboard. The keel had fallen off near Dodman Point in Cornwall, which was dramatic…
Yachting World
5 tips on how to recover from a wipeout
To keep a boat going on a gusty reach with kite and rudder on the edge and every gram of crew weight on the windward rail can be a nail-biting…
Google Earth navigation: how to sail off the chart with confidence using satellite imagery
Cruising in remote tropical regions can be challenging, especially where there are no charts suitable for pilotage. Often the charts that do exist are old and inaccurate. To make matters…
Take a tour of supermaxi Comanche, a yacht so beamy she’s called ‘the aircraft carrier’
“The design office were told specifically by me that if this boat wasn’t the worst rated boat in history they have failed,” Dr Jim Clark said about his new raceboat.…
Rudder failure – 1,500 miles to sail across the Atlantic without a rudder
Like most dinghy sailors, I used to have fun sailing my boat without a rudder. I learned a lot about the optimum set of the sails, heel and fore and…
21 best upgrades for ocean cruising – make life on board more comfortable
If you’re considering sailing to warmer waters, whether the Mediterranean, Caribbean or further afield, but are worried that life on board will be more akin to camping than the comfort…
January issue
Take a look at what's inside the latest issue of Yachting World magazine
Skip Novak: why I consider someone calling my yacht ‘well-used’ a compliment
When superyachts began coming to Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula in the mid-1990s, I gave some professional advice and provided a pilot to a well-known German owner of…
ARC weather man Chris Tibbs prepares his boat for ocean cruising
When we bought our Wauquiez Centurion 40s, Taistealai, for ocean cruising, starting with the ARC this year, we had a number of criteria in mind, but first and foremost we…
Silver Rudder race – the solo challenge for Danish Ironmen
‘If you want to feel real bliss, you have to experience real pain as well,’ so the saying goes. The thought seemed empty and stupid as I tried one more…
Skip Novak: Should I be contributing to a cruising guide to Antarctica?
There is a plan afoot for a cruising guide to Antarctica. I know this as I was asked to contribute to it. At risk of alienating a large part of…
5 tips: the heavy weather gybe – how to deal with that trickiest of manoeuvres
With your heart rate rising like a jockey heading towards Becher’s Brook in the Grand National, your gaze is fixed on the gybe mark that’s getting ever closer. You may…
Zhik ZMerino Thermals
I wore these Zhik thermals during the 2015 Fastnet Race, in a three-layer combination system with midlayers and outer layers. The top was worn for about 75 per cent of…
To the fair isle of Fair Isle for a Fair Isle sweater!
Fair Isle sweaters have devotees as diverse as the Prince of Wales and the glamour model Carmen Electra. Fashion chains such as Whistles and Zara offer Fair Isle-inspired woollens. But…
5 tips: the float drop, a canny tactic to round a mark under pressure
While a conventional spinnaker drop (kite down and pole away) may seem the safe option at a leeward mark, when a gybe is needed to complete the rounding a float…
December issue
Take a look at what's inside the latest issue of Yachting World magazine
Skip Novak takes a trip down Memory Lane – aka Hamble River
On a summer Sunday a sailing friend of mine suggested we take our families for a spin on the Hamble River on his motor boat (he is a sailing friend…
Cruising Georgia – the wilderness coast of the eastern USA
I felt the urge to roar “Ho, ho, break out the grog boys, this is it!” but it wasn’t 1720 and there was just Nancy and me. Our Mason 44,…
Taking the northerly route across the Atlantic; our meteorologist explains
In the 2012 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers the winning boats, the Class 40 Vaquita and the maxi Rán-Leopard, followed a similar route, which was suggested by routeing programs and made…
How to choose the right asymmetric spinnaker for your kind of racing
What should you be looking for in an A-sail for your boat when the bulk of your season’s racing is a mix of inshore racing round the cans and windward-leeward…