Here in Suffolk, on a frosty new year’s morning, a walk across the common always takes me to the river, its fast tides churning and tugging at the row of…
Libby Purves
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Getting away from it all? How the relentless news cycle follows you even when sailing offshore
A new factor in this modern age of cruising is the relationship between the rolling news cycle and crews at sea. Ashore, news is now a relentless, inescapable 24/7 battering…
‘What is the best thing to do when you enter a new marina? Laundry… yes really!’ – Libby Purves
Ever wonder what a person learns from 57 summers yacht cruising, serving as crew aboard boats from 18 to 50ft and then joint-owning a series of sloops and a ketch,…
‘We tied up our wet boat, with wet ropes, to the wet quay’ – Libby Purves
Shuddering our way through the latest cold front, accompanied by dank spring drizzle, it seems fitting to talk of the glory of dryness. A lot of our sailing, down the…
‘Anything can be the beginning of another boating friendship’ – Libby Purves
Thirty years ago this spring I had my first novel published, Casting Off – apprentice-work, a bit chick-lit at times, but at least it was nautical. Inspired by watching couples…
When it comes to yachts, does beauty really matter? – Libby Purves
A seagoing boat is not a toy. It is the most serious of vehicles, built to let humans brave an unpredictable, lethally dangerous element with efficient control and reasonable dispatch.…
‘Sailing your own boat is the last available way to feel that old-fashioned traveller buzz’ – Libby Purves
During a chilly autumn week we had to do a 36-hour round trip to Calais – we were foot passengers on one of the few ferries that still tolerate such…
‘Navigating infancy makes rock pilotage and tidal calculation look like a stroll in the park’ – Libby Purves
I applaud the idea of families with small children trying out what cruising would be like with them as crew. One of the many things never mentioned in National Childbirth…
A grudging feeling of gratitude to our awful water companies
Water management isn’t something we talk about enough on our cruising boats. Blue-water sailors think about it a lot, obviously, and we have, in our time, installed – and mothballed…
‘Being stuck in a lifeboat with a tiger is, to say the least, untypical’ – Libby Purves
I won’t be in theatres with a notebook as much as usual this month – time for some wider, wetter horizons – but may be musing, as I often do,…