I could spend my life sailing towards the horizon. To save my soul, as solo sailor Bernard Moitessier famously said when he turned the boat around to keep sailing instead…
cruising
Sailing to The Monastic Republic of Mount Athos
The Monastic Republic of Mount Athos, roughly the size of Malta, dates back to at least 800 AD. This sovereign region within Greece has a policy of extreme isolation, which…
‘What remains of this glorious seafaring age is one of the most beautiful seascapes in the country’
The two attractive and historically relevant towns of Haarlem and Hoorn, both close to Amsterdam, are easy to visit by boat and have so much to offer. Just for a…
Crossing the Channel to explore Brittany
Like many British sailors, I had been put off going to our close neighbour Cherbourg by the thought of crossing the Channel with its shipping lanes, fast tides and bad…
Holidaying in Europe on a yacht: What you need to know
Things have changed considerably over the last few years when it comes to freedom of movement to sail and travel within the European Union, and many of the freedoms British…
Ella casts off to sail solo 10,000 miles around the Arctic
Ella, a 28-year-old Yachtmaster instructor, is sailing her 1978 38ft Bruce Roberts offshore steel ketch, Yeva, to highlight the dramatic melting of the Arctic ice and to campaign for change.…
Day sailing to the Isles of Scilly: Dodging a 35,000-tonne cargo ship
Quaker Girl is waiting patiently at the end of steep granite steps for her third skipper. Not that she needs three, or even one for that matter. But as I…
‘Every time you turn on your engine, the exhaust water makes the sea more acidic’
The sun shines bright in the sky and the gentle wind moves a lock of hair on my cheek. I turn the wheel, tack and pull the sheet towards me.…
Zhik Spirit of Adventure: ‘Steep cliffs rose into immense mountains [and] ice fields shone high above’
Sullen clouds pressed down upon a pewter sea. To port, the mountains vanished into swirling mist; to starboard, Bird Island jutted from the restless ocean. I stood in the cockpit…
‘The engine coughed, then spluttered, then died, and I had a brief moment to reflect on chaos theory’: A leaf caused problems aboard my yacht
The engine coughed, then spluttered, then died, and I had a brief moment to reflect on chaos theory, which notes that ‘the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial…