There is a meme that appears on my social media with a Kermit the Frog puppet looking wistfully out of a window into a wintry scene. The caption usually reads…
Yachting Monthly
Sailing in the Caribbean: ‘Turtles grazed on seagrass meadows as we snorkelled around them’
The first night on an unfamiliar boat can be a bit restless. You listen to the creaks and groans of the boat, the waves lapping onto the hull, the temperature…
How to moor your yacht (and how not to)
Sailing itself is not that difficult, with a few basic techniques and rules to keep you and your boat safe, whether you’re on a 50-footer or a dinghy. Since Covid…
How to clean an anti-syphon valve on a yacht’s engine
On sailing boats the exhaust pipe is swept up into a ‘swan neck’ to stop following waves flooding the exhaust when the engine isn’t running. Exhaust gas normally drives water…
Conquering the Northwest Passage
The Atlantic passage had been strange. The crossing from Scotland to the west coast of Greenland, or vice versa, is usually ‘the meanest Atlantic crossing of them all’, fraught with…
Sailing in the Atlantic: ‘Fog, gales, hurricanes and calms in one voyage’
Zen Again, our Japanese designed and built 1980s IOR ¾ tonner, is a well-equipped ‘pocket’ blue-water cruiser. She has over 50,000 miles under her keel with us and about twice…
Sailing a 100 year old Brixham Sailing Trawler from Scotland to the South Coast
Eight days after leaving Oban on the west coast of Scotland, we arrived at the Fowey estuary on the Cornish coast. The guests and crew on board were oblivious to…
How to clean and remove a boat’s propeller
Propeller fouling causes a marked drop in performance, while electrolytic corrosion can cause serious propeller damage. Propellers should, therefore, be cleaned annually – but a quick clean of the prop…
A cross-channel adventure from Suffolk to the Netherlands
With apologies to Shakespeare – our dilemma could hardly be compared to Hamlet’s, but it was real. Once again, though for the first time since Brexit, we were heading for…
How these mainsail modifications revolutionised my yacht’s performance
Our 1980s Yamazaki Yachts 34, Zen Again, is an IOR (International Offshore Rule) 3/4 tonner masthead cutter, with a fin keel and a skeg-hung rudder, displacing 6,000kg loaded for blue-water…