Dedicated to Cruising the world under sail including destinations, navigation, sailing tips, safety ideas, yacht & multihull reviews along with stories and insights for the sail cruising life in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
“Remember, if you are passing through the ships at anchor or coming into Gladstone go to Gladstone Harbour control monitoring on channel 13”. It is the usual practice of volunteer marine radio Gladstone to inform sailors of the need to…
Whenever I think of Pangkor marina, Rupert Brooke’s World War I poem, The Soldier, comes to mind. I paraphrase it to read: “if in some corner of a foreign field, that is forever Australia.” This is because there are always…
March 5, 2017: Almost under water – timing is everything Throughout last night the winds continued to fill in and by 10 am there was a consistent 20 knots of wind from the North gusting up to 25 knots giving…
Port City Daily (Wilmington, North Carolina). By Benjamin Schachtman on March 5, 2017: WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH – It was a quiet Monday evening, about one hour after sunset, when a fireball erupted from the cabin of a sailboat moored in Banks…
Over the years I have tried several methods to create a watertight mast boot. As a temporary fix I once used duct tape. It was inexpensive and actually lasted about 10 months before it started to leak again. I tried…
Port Macquarie, on the NSW north coast, is a convenient overnight port of call of yachts and catamarans heading north to winter cruising grounds or the Whitsunday race weeks. It is ideally located on the edge of town and has…
Cruising Club of America (CCA) has announced the recipients of its 2016 awards that recognize special and exemplary achievements. This year the roster of awards has been expanded to recognize particular accomplishments by more youthful sailors. 2016 Blue Water Medal…
Media outlets and social media has reported that the German cruising yachtsmanJurgen Kantner was decapitated by the Philippines bandit group Abu Sayyef. Jurgen and his partner, Sabine Merz, were attacked last November resulting in Sabine being killed and Jurgen taken…
The Caribbean 'ring' saw a worrying increase of 17 per cent in reported crimes during 2016. The two previous years had recorded no increases. The Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) has published its full report and for anyone thinking…
Lisa Blair is attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, non-stop and unassisted. Just over a month into her journey, she is approaching Cape Horn. To check on her progress, click on the tracker. March 1, 2017…
I am on the ocean as I type. By the time you read I should be tied to a mooring Jamestown, British island of Saint Helena, South Atlantic. Since last writing it has been mild. Wind behind pushing me. My…
Lisa Blair is now 35% of the way into her journey around Antarctica. Check her progress here. She continues to send interesting and informative blogs on a daily basis: February 26, 2017 – Reefing lines chafing Evening All, Well after…
Lisa Blair's Antarctic Adventure February 20, 2017 – one eco power source down – bummer! Evening all. Last night I was sailing a course of 020 trying to get north and sail around the worst of the large swells that…
February 20 – four weeks into the around Antarctica challenge. Evening all. Once again I haven’t managed to break this cycle of going to sleep late and waking late… I keep aiming to get to bed earlier like around 10pm…
Abell Point Marina has seen significant infrastructure and service upgrades since it came under new ownership in 2013. Achieving the first global 5 Gold Anchor accreditation in the world in 2016 cemented Abell Point’s position in the marina industry and…
Small Craft Advisor Howard Rice is attempting to sail around Cape Horn in an 11ft 3in pram dinghy. Recently he found the boat had dragged her anchor and been washed ashore. This is the dramatic story of his attempts to…
Evening All, Winds throughout the night have maintained a healthy 15 knots from the WNW making my course of 080 a comfortable downwind run. When I eventually surfaced from my pipe cot of a bunk to greet the day I…
Hi all. I am back on the high seas. (Not all that high). Bit flat in fact. Unusual. Not so flat the other side of Africa. Cyclone in the Mozambique Channel. (With all that current too). Anyway there was not…
Lisa Blair is attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo. She is currently south-west of New Zealand, in the Southern Ocean. Afternoon all. Well to follow on from my last blog where I was expecting a storm…
Yesterday we checked Lisa Blair's tracker to see how her attempted circumnavigation of Antarctica was faring. We were surprised and alarmed to see her sailing 355deg – almost due north. Below she explains why, but first her thoughts on sleep…
Lisa Blair's Blog, February 7, 2017 Afternoon All. Yesterday afternoon after I just finishing my blog I was slammed out of nowhere with 40 knots of wind. I'd spent the day “umming” and “arring” about shaking out to reef 2…
Kevin Curran, an experienced American cruiser, writes blogs on his experiences to help other cruisers. He asked us if we'd like to share his recent experience where he looked at the pros and cons of varnish v Cetol: There comes…
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The crew of a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod rescued an Austrian boater Sunday from a life raft in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of San Juan,…
In February 2016, Fiji suffered the devastating effects of Tropical Cyclone Winston. The cyclone caused significant damage to the infrastructure of Fiji, including to a number of maritime aids to navigation and lighthouse sites. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has…
When I retired from work my wife and I thought we would be able to settle into the grey nomads’ life of chucking it all in and sailing off into the sunset. That was the plan, but then along came…
February 2, 2017: Slammed by a Two-story Wave Afternoon All. Well the day started out eventfully and didn’t really stop. Lying in bed looking at the B&G Zeus Multi-Function Display I was trying to figure out if I needed to…
Whenever the MyState Wooden Boat Festival is on in Hobart, the Cruising Yacht Club in Sydney organise a cruise to Tasmania to get its members down there in style. This year a group of twelve boats departed Sydney at various…
While sailing north after a pleasant stop at Cape Bowling Green, Magnetic Island’s rugged natural beauty revealed itself in all its splendour on a sunny summer morning. Huge and smooth granite boulders perfect for free climbing, tall hoop pines dominating…
When Rob and Karen Oberg bought their Whitby 42 Dreamtime, she came with a 3.1 metre rigid inflatable that showed clear signs of her twelve years of service. It needed a serious injection of air immediately before every use and…
Abel Tasman may have sailed right past it in 1642, the chart he produced showed only a smooth coastline keeping beautiful, unique Port Davey hidden for another one hundred and sixty years. Until in 1798, along came Matthew Flinders with…
Every year sailors gather at a night where various awards are presented to racing sailors who have excelled in their chosen sport for that year. It was at the Australian Sailing Awards night in 2015 that Cruising Helmsman realised there…
Following the successful first edition ARC Channel Islands last summer, World Cruising Club are pleased to announce that entries are now open for ARC Channel Islands 2017. The first edition of the rally, run in association with RYA Active Marina…
Well I still can't believe I am here sailing south… This is three years in the making with so many hurdles and set backs to overcome. There was also so much to get done in Albany that I never really…
ARC Pacific – new rally route from Los Angeles to Hiva Oa, via Mexico from rally specialists World Cruising Club, has been announced for Spring 2018 Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Bora Bora, to name just a few of the…
The Bay of Islands Sailing Week regatta is the biggest event of its kind in New Zealand, and was described by yachting commentator Peter Montgomery last year as “the best big boat regatta” in the country. As one of the…
In 2015 Port Douglas Yacht Club rebranded its Clipper Cup Regatta to what is now becoming a major event on northern sailing calendars. Rebranding the event as Port Douglas Race Week was a key development in elevating the regatta. This…
A new rally open to amateur sailors is now proposed by Grand Pavois Organisation with a route from Lanzarote (Canary Islands) to Marie-Galante (Islands of Guadeloupe). Called Rallye des Iles du Solei, it is promoted as a secure and supervised…
Eventually all yachties have to tackle problems with the layup material of their freedom machines, whether it be rot, rust or osmosis. It is just the nature of boats, the bottomless hole in the ocean that we so willingly fill….
Where to next? Jim and I had sailed across the South Pacific, spent two seasons in New Zealand and Vanuatu and were in Australia. From this point, most crews head north to Darwin, join a rally to sail through the…
It is reasonable to assume that the small crew of a private pleasure vessel travelling through remote areas of Australia or an overseas country may at some time encounter a stranger wanting to board their boat with nefarious intentions. Most…
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