While many leisure yachtsmen might support the idea of Marine Conservation Zones, there is simultaneous apprehension about them – the echo of a caveat such as ‘as long as they…

Maybe I should explain further in case by any chance readers of these pages think that I have finally been ejected from the confines of my mind. I am not…

Jonty Pearce

The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright– And this was odd, because it…

At this time of year, especially on a rare warm winter fine day, I like to sit in Aurial’s cockpit and let my eye and mind wander over the marina…

Jonty Pearce

The physical aspect of on board romance is a subject rarely covered by the yachting press. We know many sailors do participate in a bit of nookie afloat, but few…

Christmas is coming and the geese are getting fat. The turkeys are looking worried and getting twitchy when cranberry sauce is mentioned. It seems improbable, but in the middle of…

Jonty Pearce

As our experience and sailing skills grow, sailors may become at risk of considering themselves experts. Indeed, those of us foolhardy enough to dare to put pen to paper are…

No, not that one – this Secret Water is our very own. And although Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons never visited, this is the very type of waterway where they…

Carol, known as the Indoor Dragon with her full acquiescence, is an owl. By which I mean that her internal clock mechanisms are set to a different datum from the…