Phil van der Mespel had always dreamed of a long offshore adventure. When unforeseeable disaster struck, careful preparation for the worst-case scenario saw him rescued within hours
Learning curve
‘We were caught by katabatic winds in Oman’
Barry Grey and crew feel the full force of a downslope wind and end up running aground and being rescued by the Coastguard
‘I saw flames licking out of the companionway’
Rosemary Young recounts fire breaking out on her family cruiser and shares the valuable lessons she learned
From offshore sunset cruising to ocean survival in the Atlantic
A beautiful Atlantic cruise turns into a heavy weather situation for Maarten Zeeuwen
‘I was rescued from death alone in mid-ocean’
Crippled by pain while sailing solo in the Indian Ocean, Andrew Halcrow had to call for rescue
‘We were up the creek without an anchor’
At anchor on a falling tide, at night, and faced with grounding, Kitiara Pascoe finds her CQR irretrievably fouled