This year’s pre-Olympics in Enoshima, Japan, starkly illustrated for me the reality of being on…
Weather
Sailing Biscay: Top tips for a safe and smooth crossing of the notorious bay
Biscay has a fearsome reputation and for many sailors, it is their first taste of…
Tradewinds explained: Everything you need to know before sailing across the Atlantic
A transatlantic tradewind crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean is on many a…
Southern hemisphere cyclones: Everything you need to know
Although New Zealand is not in the tropical cyclone (hurricane) belt, the remains of Tropical…
Volvo Ocean Race: How Vestas used supercomputer forecasting to gain an advantage
Vestas 11th Hour Racing is unique in that our sponsor Vestas shared the race team’s…
Agulhas Current explained: What it is and how it affects Indian Ocean sailors
On any round-the-world cruise by the sunny route, there is the dilemma of how to…
Jet stream: Everything you need to know about its effect on sailing
What is the jet stream? The jet stream is a ‘river’ of strong wind high…
Expert sailing advice: How to handle a lightning strike on board
Lightning is the thing that scares me the most at sea. Having never experienced a…
Surviving the OSTAR’s perfect storm – the full story of the racers rescued in Force 11 summer gale
Solo sailor Mervyn Wheatley set out from Plymouth for Newport, Rhode Island on 29 May…
Wind chill explained – how exactly does the wind make you feel colder?
Meteorologically spring is an interesting time of year as the weather can be quite volatile,…
How the North Atlantic Oscillation affects European and Atlantic weather
Although we often hear about the expected changes to the weather from the El Niño/La…
Expert tips on understanding shipping forecasts and weather broadcasts
When ashore we get our forecasts from a variety of sources, nowadays largely through the…
Weather expert Chris Tibbs on how to predict and cope with fog at sea
Radar and AIS help to make navigating in fog safer, but it is still an…
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…
Weather briefing: Chris Tibbs explains the formation of a secondary low
Some years ago while racing somewhere south of the Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Ocean,…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: the dangers of cold fronts or ‘squall lines’
Outside the tropics much of our sailing takes place in the disturbed westerly airflow that…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: how air mass affects the wind direction
I have a lovely old instrument at home which belonged to my grandfather; using dials…
Chris Tibbs weather briefing: how temperature affects wind
As a group of islands the UK has a maritime climate to match our maritime…
Green flash: fact or fantasy? Weather man Chris Tibbs explains the science
Caribbean cruising is not complete without sundowners on a beach watching the sun slowly dip…
Tested: Pip Hare tries out five of the latest weather routeing packages
Every discerning sailor will carry out some sort of weather routeing before going out on…