When a Contessa 32 became a little bit too snug for a holiday with his wife and four children, Charles Hill went in search of a bigger boat for adventurous…
Gallery: Les Voiles de St Tropez 2016 wraps up Mediterranean season in stunning style
It’s hard to be a show-stopper at Les Voiles de St Tropez. The entire regatta seems designed to pit some of the world’s most eye-catching yachts against one another in…
Coastal Chile: uncovering the truth behind a mass whale stranding
The Golfo de Penas is a long way from anywhere. It is one of the major barriers to safe navigation along the already formidable coastline of southern Chile. The Taitao…
Night sailing: top tips and expert advice to see you safely through until dawn
Sailing through the night brings its own rewards: a contemplative stillness, phosphorescent trails through a star-lit sea, the soul-warming sunrises. But it also raises challenges – if you cannot see…
Dee Caffari finds out the hard way why Three Peaks Race is one of the world’s greatest endurance races
We were heading into the shore and just past Bear Grylls’s island, Saint Tudwal’s Island West, when the tacking duel commenced, writes Dee Caffari aboard Team Caffari/Sail 4 Cancer. Each…
Biggest ever ‘Big Class’ schooner gathering at Superyacht Cup in Palma
Seldom has there been a more magnificent sight in sailing than on the opening day of the Superyacht Cup in June. Seven classic and replica schooners gathered for a friendly…
X6 video: daring new semi-custom 65-footer from X-Yachts
The new ‘X’ line fills the gap between X-Yachts’ performance (Xp) and cruising (Xc) range and includes the new X4 (see YW X4 video) as well as this semi-custom X6.…
X-Yachts X4 on test video: a sweet-sailing Danish performance cruiser
When X-Yachts announced the X6 in 2014 (see YW X6 test video), revealing a powerful new raised saloon cruising yacht with aggressive lines, wraparound coachroof windows and a mainsheet arch,…
How to execute the perfect spinnaker drop when sailing short-handed
Dropping the kite double-handed may seem a daunting challenge, but provided you take adequate steps to ensure the spinnaker is deflated, a drop can be successfully achieved by any size…
Azuree 41 on test: a polished performer from Sirena Marine of Turkey
What is a gem but a stone yet to be polished? When Sirena Marine produced its first Azuree yacht it was somewhat rough – the potential was there to see,…
Volvo Ocean Race announces return to epic Southern Ocean route
The Volvo Ocean Race today announced the route for the next edition in 2017 and with that a return to the emphasis on long Southern Ocean legs. The route will…
‘Force Unlucky’ mid-Atlantic: surviving a truly ferocious winter gale
Today’s sailing world is well stocked with sponsored heroes, performing remarkable feats in the cause of being fastest on some great endeavour, writes Tom Cunliffe. John Kretschmer is a different…
Off-piste sailing: serene rock-hopping footage from Kragero, Norway
Close encounters of the rocky kind are normally the stuff of sailors’ nightmares, but the unique glacial grooves cut into the coast of Norway have left something of a playground…
Get out of that! What to do when your spinnaker snags a racing mark
It looks a rather pleasant day on the Solent with 15 knots and sun, and crews are enjoying what they probably believe is a decent race. However, as can be…
Skip Novak: Big city venues reduce the America’s Cup World Series to a crapshoot
When I read about Ben Ainslie’s frustration in sailing underneath New York City (literally) in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in May, and knowing that Chicago was coming…
What is a Spanish Plume? Thunderstorms, lightning and downdrafts explained
Earlier this summer we saw considerable thunderstorm activity over the UK and Europe, resulting in flooding and some serious injuries. In the UK and North West Europe the occurrence of…
Hoisting the spinnaker short-handed – offshore sailor Pip Hare offers her tips
Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need to grow another set of arms to perform a good spinnaker hoist double-handed. The key to making it work is to…
How do you escape a traffic jam? Top tips from Olympic Gold-medallist Giles Scott
Anyone who has ever had the delight of taking part in the Round the Island Race will understand how common it is to end up in a situation like this.…
Waszp – the new one-design foiling Moth that could make learning to fly a little less painful
If there is one class of boat that has turned more heads around the world in the last decade than any other, it must surely be the foiling Moth. Having…
Southern Wind: two new performance cruisers around 100ft
One of the conspicuous growth areas of yachting, albeit a specialised niche, is performance cruisers of around 100ft. This is being fanned by the intensifying seriousness and maturity of superyacht…