Les Sables d’Olonne is used to waving off circumnavigators – the Vendée Globe, and most recently the Golden Globe, solo skippers start and return from the French Atlantic town. But…
Round the world
Donald Crowhurst: The fake round-the-world sailing story behind The Mercy
It was while I was researching my book about madness at sea in 2015 that I first heard a movie about Donald Crowhurst was in the works. Several websites published…
Maiden refit: How Tracy Edwards’ sailing legend was brought back to life
Few yachts, and fewer skippers, become truly famous – famous in the sense that the everyman on the street would recognise them by a single name. Maiden did though, as…
How this family made their two-year round the world sailing dream happen
Surreal. Not a breath of wind tonight. The sea’s surface is flat and unbroken. The sky is utterly cloudless and filled with stars. A half moon lights up the entire…
851 miles in a day – solo sailor Gabart sets incredible new sailing record in giant trimaran
An astonishing new solo 24-hour record has been set by French sailor François Gabart. The single-hander covered 851 miles in the South Atlantic in his 98ft trimaran MACIF. This equates…
How Thomas Coville set the solo round the world sailing record
‘A warrior,’ is how Samantha Davies, part of the intelligence team that guided Thomas Coville and his yacht Sodebo to victory, describes the solo skipper. Over a decade Coville returned…
Francis Joyon abandons attempt to break round the world record
French sailor Francis Joyon has abandoned his attempt to break the fully-crewed round the world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. He turned his 100ft trimaran IDEC Sport around after encountering adverse conditions in the…