All of us sailors have a favourite set of conditions. Early in her career, coming up through the British youth ranks, Daisy Collingridge always leaned towards the windier stuff. “Given…
expert tips
5 expert tips: How to maximise time on and off water
Time is always the most precious commodity for any racing sailor, whether part-time or professional. For Odile Lambriex van Aanholt going for another Olympics, life should get more simple the…
Expert advice on making the most of a delivery passage
A delivery trip, at its most basic, is simply about getting the boat from Point A to Point B. However, according to Michaela Robinson, offshore delivery trips offer the perfect…
Expert tips for leeward gate roundings
The leeward gate, or leeward mark, is the biggest pinch-point on the race course. There’s a huge opportunity to climb up a big ladder if you execute a solid strategy…
5 Expert tips to improve your two-boat tuning
Before he specialised in foiling catamarans, John Gimson was long-time tuning partner to Iain Percy and the late Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson in the Star keelboat, playing a key role in…
How to win at double handed sailing: Expert tips
The team dynamic in double-handed sailing is very different compared with fully crewed boats, says Pam Lee. “In your classic IRC team you really need to have a clear hierarchy,”…
Expert navigator tips: How to master weather models for a winning edge
When he’s working up a weather and routing plan for an offshore race, Will Harris likes to build up the information in layers. The work can start weeks in advance…
Five expert tips for the perfect start: Dylan Fletcher’s guide to time, distance, and risk
Starting has always played a disproportionate part in the outcome of a race. The shorter the duration of the race, the more this is true. Dylan Fletcher knows this very…
How to futureproof your yacht: Essential refit jobs for your time in the boatyard
Time in a boatyard rarely goes exactly to plan. Investigate beyond where you usually look and you’ll almost always uncover work that wasn’t expected. The trick is to turn that…
5 Expert Tips: How to run a succesful offshore campaign on a budget
Lawrence Herbert loves his offshore racing but he and the Corazon crew are campaigning their J/133 on a tight budget. Necessity being the mother of invention, the 28-year-old and the…
Buying a yacht for £100,000-£250,000: Tips and tricks
Visit any of the major boat shows with a view to placing an order and a budget of around £100,000 to £250,000 will put you in the production-built yacht market,…
5 Expert Tips: How to recover from a bad race
You learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. But when you’ve had a bad result, how do you get past the negative emotion and start turning that into…
5 expert tips to help you better understand sailing heel angles
Keelboat sailors obsess about maintaining the optimum angle of heel. According to Chris ‘Twiggy’ Grube, it’s a good obsession to have, and keeping consistently to that ideal heel is a…
5 Expert Tips: Your complete guide to mainsail trimming
Experienced sailor though he may be, Alain Sign has had his hands full getting to grips with the role of mainsheet trimmer in a fleet as competitive as the Cape…
How to use deck chutes for improved spinnaker handling
Paul Larsen was converted to the appeal of deck chutes on a particular day aboard Sir Peter Harrison’s 35m maxi yacht Sojana. “You’d be racing into the leeward mark with…
Expert sailing skills: How to be a great crew boss
Being an effective crew boss relies on good preparation and a great sense of timing, says Annie Lush. “The role basically comes down to organising manoeuvres, so it’s about having…
How sailors plan sleep routines at sea: An expert guide
Dee Caffari knows the importance of sleep to any offshore sailor, whether you’re racing solo, double-handed or fully-crewed. “Most sailors don’t understand how the lack of sleep can affect your…
5 expert tips: Jack Bouttell on repairing your boat mid-ocean
In the 50-year history of The Ocean Race (ex-Whitbread/Volvo), Leg 3 of the 2023 edition from Cape Town, South Africa through the Southern Ocean to Itajaí, Brazil, was the longest…
An expert guide to safe line handling at sea
Boats may have nine lives, but a sailor is not supposed to have nine fingers. Every year, however, we hear of instances of crushed hands, lost fingers, and major damage…
5 expert tips: Shorthanded mainsail reefing
The double-handed team of Deb Fish and Rob Craigie have got mainsail reefing down to a fine art. “Even when we’re really familiar with each other and we know our…