James Stevens answers your questions of seamanship - this month, with increasing headwinds forecast is it best to leave now or wait for a better forecast?
Sailing skills
Video: Trailer sailing made easy
Not even Alex Thompson aboard his Hugo Boss rocket ship can sail to windward at 60 miles an hour. As we all know, getting to your chosen cruising ground can…
To continue on a cross-Channel trip or not?
James Stevens answers your Questions of Seamanship. This issue - should the skipper continue his passage to France with inexperienced, seasick crew or divert to Poole?
‘We hit a lobster pot on a lee shore’
Steve Bowen finds himself in a serious tangle with a lobster pot in UK waters
Windvane steering: why it makes sense for coastal cruising
No electricity needed and built for gale-force conditions; windvane self-steering makes sense for coastal cruisers as much as offshore voyagers.
A tricky mooring
James Stevens answers your Questions of Seamanship. This issue - how to moor between two piles in tricky conditions
‘What I learned from a dismasting in Antarctica’
Veteran polar sailor and mountaineer Bob Shepton reflects on losing his rig while sailing with a crew of school leavers in the Drake Passage
Shall we leave now, later, or not at all?
James Stevens answers your Questions of Seamanship. This issue - when is the best time to leave port when faced with a strong tidal stream and overfalls?
How do we find our way without a plotter?
James Stevens answers your Questions of Seamanship. This issue - when his GPS plotter packs up, Pete has to rely on the time old strategy of aim to miss
A man has gone overboard, what do we do?
James Stevens answers your Questions of Seamanship. This issue - Geoff is sailing at night with an inexperienced crew when he hears the call 'man overboard'









