Mirabella V goes back to VT for repairs after grounding in the South of France...

  • From the Editor
    Are we seeing a second wave of development in autopilots for the average yachtsman?

  • On the wind
    Mirabella V goes back to VT for repairs after grounding in the South of France; big bucks and big plans in the America?s Cup; the Global Challenge fleet heads off with some unusual articles aboard; the first Volvo boats in build. Plus great pictures of Alex Thomson screaming downwind for the Vendée start

  • Diary of a Yachtmistress
    We follow our guinea pig through the last stages of her Fast-Track course up to the Yachtmaster exam

  • Mongoose
    The Caribbean is always called ?Paradise?, but would you want to share Paradise with a boat called Nobar Toofar, or We B Miss B Haven?

  • Letters to the Editor
    ?Weekend sailors? in Fastnet ?79, using Visa on the move; Mirabella on a lee shore

  • Robin Knox-Johnston
    It seems the Nanny State is trying to wrap its woolly cardigan around the yachtsman, but will proposed rules designed to make us ?safer? actually do so?

  • Gear
    A selection of ideas for Christmas for the serious ? or not so serious ? yachtsman, from wickedly warm wellies to five-star folding bikes, waterproof phones to a James Bond-style indestructible briefcase

  • Cruise control
    A new generation of sophisticated gyro-stablised autopilots is finding its way into cruising boats, breaking new ground in steering accuracy and reliability. Mike Kopman investigates with the help of some top players in the market

  • Leading Edge
    A new type of rigging, run through with fibre optics, which could measure the stress in your rig

  • Yachts
    Daysailers from America and the Med; latest Volvo 70 design from Frers; a canting-keeled performance 60-footer from Stimson; and a long-legged fast 79-footer from Baltic

  • US ladies of leisure
    At the Annapolis Sailboat Show this year there was a definite trend towards a new type of comfortable daysailer aimed at those in the ?third age of sailing?

  • Swedish match ? 37-footers tested
    Three Swedish yards, three bluewater cruisers almost identical to the untrained eye, all robust, high quality and mahogany-finished. How do you decide between them? Matthew Sheahan attempts to assess the Najad 380, Malö 36 and Hallberg-Rassy 37

  • Modern Classics: the Dragon
    Designed as a small, low-cost weekend cruiser for a design competition in 1927, the Dragon is still going strong as a one-design racing class 75 years on. Sue Pelling sailed a beautifully restored classic version

  • Here be Dragons
    And to celebrate its 75th anniversary, the International Dragon class held a hugely successful regatta in St Tropez, to which 267 boats and a number of royal sailors flocked. Sue Pelling was there too

  • 2004 ? a year of record
    It was a glorious golden year for the British Olympic team, a disaster of Biblical proportions for the Caribbean in the wake of Ivan, a record-breaking year for the speedsters of the sport and a very busy year for Yachting World?s staff ? here it all is in pictures . . .

  • Jim Clark?s Athena
    Move over Mirabella V, Athena is the biggest private sailing yacht in the world and her owner can now be revealed as Jim Clark, the Netscape and Silicon Valley multi-billionaire. David Glenn reports

  • Cruising
    Light dues are shelved for yachtsmen ? for the time being; a diabetic plans to be the first to sail round the world; the OCC is 50 years old. Plus: cruising in the Canary Islands after the transatlantic rush

  • Great seamanship
    Fastnet ?79 ? of the many dramatic stories of that fateful race, the rescue of RORC training boat Griffin by the French Lorelei is one of the most memorable

  • Racing
    A hard Act to follow? Matthew Sheahan reports on the second and third Acts of this season?s America?s Cup competition and finds out who were the leading lights and who the chorus girls

  • Inside track
    How true a measure of potential were the first Acts of the America?s Cup? Was it just ?dancing with your sister?, or something more exciting?

  • SuperSail
    A new rally for superyachts in the Pacific; Huisman?s 32m super-cruiser Gliss. Plus, the Big Class sail again in St Tropez

  • Yachts for sale
    1000s of yachts for sale in our brokerage pages

  • Classified ads
    Festive bargains in our classified pages

  • Last word
    Andrew Preece interviews Skip Novak