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.
For many cruisers (your author included) one of the most appealing images of the cruising lifestyle is sitting at anchor in some very beautiful and secluded spot, surrounded by nothing but sea and scenery. For those cruisers (again including your…
During autumn and spring in southeast Australia, cruisers head north for the winter and head south again for summer. At the same time, humpback whales are also beginning their annual migration between their summer/winter feeding grounds. With increasing numbers of…
Commercial fish food or chum sold by dive shops may break the equilibrium of the food chain but it is not the worst thing. The true wonder of underwater encounters with rays, sharks, whales and dolphins makes their popularity understandable….
I lay in my bunk gripping the sides with white knuckles, feeling the painful legacy of this rough passage on my upper left arm. The bruise, now looking very impressive, happened last night when I was in the cockpit having…
Some members of the European Union joined together in an agreement to facilitate the movement without passports of people across the borders of the member states, thereby applying restrictions on the movement of people from non-member states. Citizens from some…
Lounge in the late afternoon with your yacht moored stern to a quay in a tiny port on a Greek Island. The world wanders by and, after a cool gin and tonic, you decide it is dinner time. Across the…
Whether you sail a one man Laser or a 90 foot catamaran, the chances are you’ll be benefiting from modern technology, from glass reinforced plastic hulls to the latest carbon fibre sails. Strip this tech away however and how would…
This year was the 32ndDarwin to Ambon Yacht Race, hosted by Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Club. A fleet of 16 yachts with more than 100 crew from nine countries set sail from North Australia bound for Indonesia on 13thAugust 2016….
While we all dream of deep water cruising, the shallower waters and bays are cruising grounds in their own right. A trailer sailer offers a great way to explore and enjoy these places. Trailer sailing can also be a great…
Whenever two yachties meet in Western Australia it takes only minutes for their conversation to turn to bridges. Those bloody bridges that separate the river yacht clubs from the ocean. Those bridges that require river folk to lower and raise…
Bievinedos Cuba! Talk about the best welcome to a country we have ever had to date. After rolling around in a beam swell and dodging a few commercial ships who were oblivious of our sailing vessel, we safely passed through…
The warm sun on your skin, the gentle rustling sounds of water flowing along the hull and the cool ocean breeze on your face. These are some of the thoughts that come to my mind when thinking about sailing. For…
Every Christmas my dear old Mum would scour the shops for anything with an anchor on it. She cornered the market on paperweights, letter openers, pencil boxes and bon bon dishes. The really sad thing is, they all went in…
So the long awaited boating trip to Port Stephens has been and gone. We, being Caitlin and Ella (15 and 12 years old respectively), believe that everyone who came with us is all a bit wiser for it. Our family…
What are needs? Food, shelter, air and fresh water. That is all very well until your husband wants both of you to live on a yacht for many a long year. Who wants long years unless they are enjoyable? In…
It is almost a generation since 1994, when GPS finally relegated celestial navigation to being just an intermittent, time consuming and relatively inaccurate backup method of position fixing. It is true GPS was preceded by the Transit satellite system from…
The South Gippsland Yacht Club working with local businesses, the yachting industry, Bass Coast Shire Council, Inverloch Historical Society and Rotary and Lions Clubs has now conducted three very successful Inverloch Classic Wooden Dinghy Regattas. Since commencing on Australia Day…
When sitting around a cruisers’ campfire the mere mention of grab bags can certainly be one way to start a conversation. My grab bag was inherited from the previous yacht owner. Before moving my boat to its new home port…
Our boat was sailing on a piece of silk, the water so calm it looked like one massive piece of glistening cloth. The boat rose and fell as though the ocean was breathing. No faster than a walking pace we…
Greece has not had good press lately and the Ionian Islands, as one of the more traditional cruising destinations, might seem a bit unexciting in our fast world of newer, further, better. But, they are not Greece’s favorite cruising ground…
I had been looking for a crew spot for an ocean crossing for a few weeks. An off-chance reading of the notice board in the Whangarei marina office started a conversation with the crew of an American ketch that was…
The human eye is exposed daily to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) with the main source our sun. Despite information campaigns, the general understanding of sun-related damage remains minimal at best. The aim of this short review is to highlight some of…
It was late in May and we found Pearl quietly floating in her pen awaiting her next charter adventure. It was terrific to be on a boat again and looking forward to a few days afloat. She was very clean…
Back in 2015 Cruising Helmsman attended the weekend-long Shagger's Rendezvous as part of its continued support for the ‘exclusively, non-exclusive’ yacht club originally formed in 2009. While attendance numbers were down that year, countering its normal trend of rising each…
ARC Europe 2016 ended with a packed final prizegiving dinner at Marina de Lagos on Sunday 19 June where close to a hundred crew from twenty-three yachts enjoyed a celebratory end to what has been a memorable rally. Being a…
The Citizen. By CNS reporter/Shiraz Habbib. A new study has shown that more than one trillion pieces of rubbish are floating around the Indian Ocean. The combined weight of plastic in the ocean amounts to more than 38 000 elephants, North…
WILSONVILLE, OR – May 26th, 2016 – FLIR Systems have announced that the latest Raymarine LightHouse OS now includes a graphical weather forecast (GRIB) viewer app, which enables boaters to access Theyr global weather data on-demand directly on a Raymarine…
The Turkcell Platinum Bosphorus Cup is as much about a location and people as it is about yacht racing. Three days of competition centred on Istanbul, a city steeped in history and that celebrates diverse cultures; a centre-piece race on…
The Derwent Sailing Squadron today officially opened Tasmania’s largest and most technically advanced floating marina, built on the western shores of the River Derwent at Sandy Bay. The Governor of Tasmania, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AM, named…
SAMUI, Thailand – Samui is ready to host a week of top sailing competition and tropical fun in the sun as hundreds of sailors from across Asia and beyond converge on Samui Island for the 15th Samui Regatta. To be…
Newcastle Herald. By Matt Carr. A SEARCH for a missing sailor off Port Stephens has officially moved from rescue to recovery, police say. Authorities on Wednesday night called off a search that combed the water from Nelson Bay to Stockton…
Montego Bay, Jamaica (May 16, 2016) – The Montego Bay Yacht Club, the Storm Trysail Club and the Hemingway Yacht Club announced today the 2017 Western Caribbean Series. The Western Caribbean Series will include the 33rd edition of the Pineapple…
Fort Erie Post. By James Culic. FORT ERIE – Port Colborne Marine Auxiliary Rescue (POCOMAR) members faced two metre waves and 15 knot winds on Lake Erie as they headed to assist a sailboat off of Point Abino Monday morning….
By Rafferty Baker, CBC News The City of Vancouver could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in salvage fees if the owners of a submerged sailboat in Vancouver's False Creek can't remove or fix their vessel. According to an emailed…
Cruising around the Philippines has been a fabulous experience – it really is a cruising paradise with 7,107 islands to explore. The country offers a huge diversity of amazing landscapes, from ancient rice terraces and formidable rugged rainforest mountains to…
Larchmont, NY – The Storm Trysail Club is pleased to announce dates for the next edition of Quantum Key West Race Week: January 15-20, 2017. The event will feature the same successful format as in past years: one day…
Yachts sailing under the flags of sixteen different nations set sail on Saturday 7 May for their offshore adventures as part of two World Cruising Club Spring rallies; ARC Europe and ARC USA. Venturing west to east across the Atlantic,…
When your boat goes up on a reef in a remote atoll the last thing you expect is your VHF call to be answered at four o’clock in the morning. Off Ile Boddam there is no beautiful soft sand to…
We secretly dreamt of the prestigious Nordic brands when we first sold up and left Sydney for Europe in search for a safe and comfortable blue water cruiser. Our hopes were set on our budget miraculously tripling or a Hallberg-Rassy…
For those of us who live on a cruising yacht you can be away from shore for extended periods. You will probably have a small and restricted fridge and you may enjoy yogurt, but ensuring you can have a constant…
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