Sam Fortescue

Sam Fortescue

Sam Fortescue is a wide-ranging marine writer whose byline appears on everything from fiction to gear tests; boat tests to regatta reports.

Assignments run from 14ft dinghies to 350ft superyachts, but he is most at home on his reliable Sadler 34.

She has carried him and his family to the Caribbean and back, around the Baltic and soon to the Norwegian fjords.

Follow Sam Fortescue

There is a wide range of tidal apps available, but choose carefully, as not all provide the same coverage

  • January 25, 2023

Tidal data is getting easier and cheaper to download. Sam Fortescue reviews the latest options in an increasingly crowded market and choses the best tidal apps for sailors

Best weather apps. A man holding a smart phone with a weather app open on it

  • January 19, 2023

Weather data is getting easier and cheaper to download. Sam Fortescue reviews the latest options and chooses the best weather apps for sailors

A woman with blonde hair in a pony tail and wearing a white tshirt at the helm of an Oyster 495

  • January 2, 2023

Oyster have long set the standard for luxurious blue-water cruisers, and the Oyster 495 is the new baby in the range. Even if you’re not in the market for one,…

Boat cameras

  • September 14, 2022

The latest boat camera tech uses machine learning to help protect, manoeuvre and navigate our vessels. Sam Fortescue investigates

There are plenty of sailing apps to choose from, covering charting, cruising guides and charters. Credit: Cruising Association

  • May 24, 2022

With the high cost of marine electronics, phone apps offer a plethora of affordable navigation data at your fingertips, says Sam Fortescue

  • May 11, 2022

Batteries are in many ways anathema to sailors. They are heavy, finicky things, whose performance wanes with time, requiring an elaborate system to keep them in good shape. They are…