Hammerhead marina berths can seem as rare as oaks growing in mid-Channel, especially if you’ve a larger-than-average yacht. A special place is reserved in a nasty corner of Davy Jones’ Locker for …
No Pinching!
Trying to sail too close to the wind almost never does any good and it’s a common mistake. The boat slows down, especially in waves. This increases her leeway dramatically, so although she might seem …
Private depth gauges
Tide tables are all very well, but they are only predictions. On the day, you can’t beat something you personally have observed to be the truth. If the stick to the right of the beacon is showing at …
Nothing lasts for ever
Here’s a shiny new syphon breaker in the engine cooling line before the water is injected into the exhaust system. Most yachts have them, and they don’t last for ever. It’s there for a good reason, …
Compensating for leeway
Unless you’re a professor of mathematics who can think in pure numbers, the easiest way to plot a course compensating for leeway is visually. Whack in the course you really want, then literally sketch …
Button up the ‘moby’
Anecdotal evidence suggests that more reading glasses and mobile phones have been lost by sailors leaning down to attend to a docklines than by any other group of humanity. The only answer is to make …
