Sailing Today

SURELY THE MOST SURREAL SAILING SEASON recorded for many a year has just closed and in quite extraordinary style. I'm not prone to ranting in this column but I have to say that the handling of the cancellation of both British Marine's Boats2020 and M

The 2020 Wetsuit Outlet Moth Nationals saw 70 International Moths compete at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, in a pared down version of the event that had originally been been scheduled as a world championship. An early call by organi

British Marine is “considering all options available” after the Secretaries of State for Public Health and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport rejected its appeal against the forced cancellation of Boats2020. A directive imposed by Southampton City Cou

Planning for Cowes Week 2021 is “well advanced” and regatta director Laurence Mead said “it is our intention to run boat racing if we possibly can, even if we are living in a Covid-affected world at the time”. The exact format of the regatta, which h

It’s been a busy summer for SailGP, which despite no racing has seen several major developments, including the announcement of Plymouth as the new UK venue. It was held in Cowes last year. Following the season opener in San Francisco in April 2021 an

MDL Marinas has launched a loyalty programme, called Otium, allowing customers to collect points when they purchase products such as fuel, yard services and berthing. They can redeem points against additional services, or against their berthing costs

Oulton Week was hosted by the Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club. With Covid restrictions, the week was re-organised to four days of racing, although this was hampered by Storm Francis. River Cruiser entries were down to seven, but the keelboat fleet

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust invited supporters to take part in the Round Britain Your Way challenge, encouraging people to sail, run, swim, walk, cycle or create their own challenge to collectively travel 4,800 miles around the British coastline

Yarning with the editor about suitable material for columns, he said folks might be interested if I were to dig deep into my memory banks for some early experience under sail that, despite everything, I’d never forgotten. Looking back on a varied car

After a comparatively long pause in new launches, French manufacturer Jeanneau is back with a bang, following the unveiling of plans for an all-new 60ft yacht. The new boat will replace the Jeanneau 57 and sits between the 64 and 54 in their luxury J

How was it for you? I mean the season just past, the season that very nearly wasn’t which turned out to be the blink-and-you’ll-miss it season? Having got the boat ready and launched by mid-March and overflowing with ambition, it goes without saying

When the only thing that changes about your home is the location you anchor it in you cannot help but draw comparisons. And the single thing that tends to occupy our minds in such appraisals is the food. We eat well on board - better than we ever did

It’s funny how, when you haven’t raced for so long, that the next club race takes on all the importance of a world championship. With the cancellation of our formal open meeting circuit in the Musto Skiff class, Peter Greenhalgh took it upon himself

If for some reason you need a reminder how cruel offshore racing can be, rewind to Leg 3 of the recent La Solitaire du Figaro and relive the fate of Sam Goodchild, skipper of Leyton Sailing Team. His unfortunate demise - from being a definite overall

For those of you who haven’t followed our progress in Sailing Today over the last few years, back in 2017 we started in the UK and sailed up through Norway. We gave our good friend and renowned adventurer, Bob Shepton a lift to Norway since he was go

Q: Did I really need to deploy the JSD? A: The seas were bigger and breaking more than I’ve experienced in a Force 8 before, but the wind had a huge fetch for the sea to build, originating from Galicia as the Portuguese trades often do. My windex sh

Belfast was the decision point in our voyage. Return north up the Antrim coast and then west round the whole of Ireland? Or play safe and sail south down the Irish Sea? I love remote places, and the west coast was my dream. We had tasted the southwes

Dublin wasn’t always a dominant capital city and major port. Its bay was shallow, exposed and prone to silting up. Shipwrecks were common. Cue the skill of the lighthouse-builders, and the ingenuity of inventors and civil engineers. It was controvers

In his article for the 12 Ports project, journalist and local author Iolo Griffiths charts the course of Holyhead’s history, from import of stone axes in 2000BC to the present day. Why did the Romans build a coastguard station here? Who was Prince Ca

Everyone has a different idea of what makes the perfect blue water cruising yacht but there are a few basic premises that are absolutely necessary. First up, a blue water cruising yacht needs to sail well and it needs to make you feel safe in heavy w

A while back the blend between sportiness and cruising practicality was weighted much more toward the latter with Hallberg Rassy. Now though the 57 steps firmly on Contest’s toes with this surprisingly sprightly German Frers design. hallberg-rassy.co

It’s been not-so-smooth sailing for Alex Thomson since he was forced to retire from the Transat Jacques Vabre last November – one year out from the start of the upcoming Vendée Globe. Back then, the 4,350nm doublehanded race from France to Brazil saw

EAST SUSSEX 50° 46’.20N., 00° 03’.70E Only the boldest of estate agents would describe Newhaven as one of the more desirable residential towns in East Sussex, in spite of its location at the mouth of the River Ouse which meanders out to sea from the

Lockdown trends of self-organised races, small fleets, and unusual starts look set to continue a while longer. As I have found from sailing at my own club this summer, one of the most common adaptations is a reaching start line. Let’s see how last mo

Newhaven Marina is situated close to the mouth of the River Ouse, on the opposite river bank to the Dieppe ferry terminal. That means the sight, sound and sometimes the surge of these leviathans manoeuvring close to the pontoon berths is one of the f

As a working channel port used by ‘ro-ro’ ferries and capable of accommodating vessels up to 145m with 8m draft in almost any weather, leisure yachts should have little difficulty coping with Newhaven unless the wind is strong and blowing onshore. Th

Lea Heather and his partner Bing keep a 40ft steel ketch Papillon at Newhaven, having been based there for around six years. “I went to see Eastbourne first, and it was very nice but not really what I was looking for,” he says. “I like it here becaus

For sailors with a love of channel-hopping, Newhaven is as good a place to start as any. It’s roughly 75 miles to Dieppe, with the Channel Islands and Brittany beckoning further to the west, or you can head up through the Dover Straits towards Hollan

This image by the Detroit Photographic Company shows the gaff schooner Emerald from 1894. It is part of a series of four similar images offered by Mind the Gap, printed on lithographic paper and available framed. ● £198 ● mindtheg.com “Navigation

Sometimes I have been asked, ‘Which was your best adventure?’ Apart from a flippant reply, ‘The day I married my wife’, it is almost impossible to select one as the best; I have been privileged to enjoy so many, both climbing and sailing. As I said a

Coronavirus has played havoc with every aspect of our lives this year, including our ability to get out on the water. Though we had access to our boats from mid-June, it wasn’t until the first weeks of July that cruising could start again as restrict

Due to a combination of great weather, and an increase in people who might otherwise have travelled overseas instead enjoying boating in the UK, this summer has proved to be one of the busiest ever for the UK’s coastguard and rescue services. In resp

“The key behind me getting a multihull was that I needed a boat that could maintain sufficient speed to efficiently charge the batteries on an ocean crossing,” says Jimmy. “A multihull also had the added advantage of being able to present a large sur

Serious blue water cruising has very little to do with logic. A rational human being would look at the pros and cons and stay at home. Yet adventure cruising is about far more than common sense, as anyone with the vaguest yearning for liberty underst

In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor, set out from Seville in Spain with the intention of finding a new westerly passage to the East Indies. He had initially sought sponsorship for the voyage from the king of Portugal but was rejected and

Tried, tested and proven, Mecanorem trailers are designed with ease of use in mind. All trailers feature quality galvanised axles to give a smooth ride for excellent towing and optimum safety. They provide yacht trailers up to a weight of 2,700kg. •

The Contest 46 is one of those highly regarded blue water cruisers from the skilled shipwrights of Holland. This Dick Zaal designed yacht commands respect from those who know. Bouzy is being offered for sale by her second owner, an experienced yachts