Skipper’s tips: moon tides. Yachtmaster examiner Tom Cunliffe with practical advice for all sailors
Sailing skills
Skipper’s tips: Funny smells
What a pong! Funny smells on board your boat can be dangerous. Two seasons ago I thought my holding tank was leaking. Up forward, where it lives, a distinct pong…
Skipper’s tips: Boat ventilation
Back to front is right for ventilation Ventilation is critical to the life expectancy of a wooden boat, particularly when left on a mooring. No GRP yacht ever sank through…
Skipper’s tips: Sea shape
This photo is a rather exaggerated case of wind-against-tide. The water’s easy to read because you’d expect things to be rough and they were. In lesser situations you can still…
Skipper’s tips: Sea berth
The ideal sea berth is a single settee-style affair wide enough to turn over in. If you’re anything like me and find the deep and dreamless hard to come by…
Skipper’s tips: Save your laces from chafe
Correspondence with two experienced YM readers has reminded me that leather laces on deck shoes aren’t always the success their makers would like to imagine. They seem either to be…
Skipper’s tips: When all else fails
When all else fails… read the instructions! I’ve written before about discrepancies between super-accurate GPS positioning and charted data. Usually I’m talking about making sure you read the survey information…
Practical seamanship: Leadlines
Why most cruisers still need a leadline – and how to use it. We’ve had echosounders for decades, but leadlining is still an essential cruising skill.
Skipper’s tips: Changing times, changing tides
Practical advice for all sailors. Tom Cunliffe has sailed tens of thousands of miles all over the world and has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978
Skipper’s tips: Keep up the skills
Practical advice for all sailors. Tom Cunliffe has sailed tens of thousands of miles all over the world and has been a Yachtmaster Examiner since 1978