There are few incidents on board more destructive than a crash gybe. The power unleashed when the wind catches the wrong side of the mainsail is hard to overstate, and…
Rachael Sprot
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How to get your boat home if you experience an engine failure
Yachts engines are like bodies; we only appreciate them when they stop working. On more than one occasion last year, the engine on my Luders 36ft long-keeled sloop, Nimrod, reminded…
How to use radar on a yacht
The life of a radar on board a cruising yacht is an easy one. Aside from a few hours of action when it’s misty or foggy, its younger sibling, AIS,…
Spinnaker handling: an experts full guide to using the kite
‘I have a confession to make,’ said my friend and fellow sailing instructor, Liz Le Mare, ‘I need spinnaker handling training.’ I was confused, since she’s often racing around the…
Westerly Konsort review: a re-purchase 40 years on
When fellow sailing instructor Liz Le Mare invited me aboard her recently acquired boat, I didn’t need much persuading. She’d recently married a fiercely competitive dinghy sailor, Richard, and their…
How to dry out alongside with your yacht
Whenever I launch a boat for the start of the season, I say a solemn goodbye to its bottom. As soon as it’s launched the underside becomes a foreign land,…
The 10 golden rules of boat handling updated for modern times
Mind your bows,’ said my mother in an increasingly high-pitched voice, ‘bit more to port…don’t clip the stern!’ I was 17 and we were in Tesco’s car park in our…
Sigma 38 review: a sheep in wolf’s clothing?
The Sigma 38 plays tricks on me. No matter how long I look, I can’t decide whether it’s a sharp-nosed racer or a gently curved cruiser. Seen from the bow…
Taking your friends and family sailing
They say that relationships formed at sea can founder on shore, but sit back with a glass of wine in a busy marina and you’ll find evidence of the reverse…
Catamaran sailing skills: recover a multihull man overboard
Finding yourself in a man overboard (MOB) situation probably ranks near the top of every sailor’s list of biggest fears whether it’s a monohull MOB of a multihull man overboard.…