Thursday Island to Tual
The starter’s gun fired and we were off and racing from Thursday Island with the next stop Tual in the Kai Islands, Indonesia. Well, really, there was no starter’s gun or a race for that matter but, get a group…
Cruising
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.
Head into history: Inaugural Andaman Islands Yacht Rally
The coral and fishing might not have quite lived up to the expectations of some crew, but all 27 participants from 13 yachts that participated in the inaugural Andaman Islands Yacht carnival, 20th February to 21st March, agreed the whole…
Put a lid on it: the humble esky lifesaver
Boat owners are aware of the need to carry regulation safety gear on their vessels. Authorities have strict regulations as to what is required when going cruising. So, what do the powers-that-be want? In Queensland, where I live: an emergency…
Fire on board: content warning of burn injury images
Over sundowners one evening a topic of discussion debated the safety of gas stoves versus kerosene stoves on board. Of course, one could argue the negatives and positives of both. Helmet and Cornelius, aboard Panta Rai, had a kerosene stove…
Notice to Mariners – Mooloolah River Bar
Latest Mooloolaba Entrance Information Department of Transport and Main Roads – Maritime Safety Queensland NOTICE TO MARINERS 065 (T) of 2019 Issued by Brisbane Maritime Region on 13 February 2019 Area: Brisbane pilotage area Locality: Mooloolah River Bar Activity: Shoaling…
Weddell Sea Expedition calls off search for Shackleton's Endurance
The Weddell Sea Expedition 2019 and the icebreaker S.A. Agulhas II have reached the last known location of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated ship, the Endurance, which was crushed by the ice and sunk in 1915. According to the director of the…
Magnetic north gets unexpected update
Scientists at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) have updated the World Magnetic Model (WMM) ahead of schedule due to unexpected shifts in the Earth's magnetic fields in the Arctic. Typically a new WMM is released every five years…
Three destinations collaborate to promote sailing
Bernews Three destinations are joining forces this summer to introduce discerning travellers to a new ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of sailing, luxury and lifestyle. The Bermuda Tourism Authority, NYC & Company and Discover Newport announced a joint destination marketing collaboration during a…
Sunsail Whitsundays launches Coral Coast and Great Barrier Reef Bareboat Flotillas
In an Australian bareboat industry first, Sunsail Whitsundays will commence professionally led bareboat flotilla sailing adventures exploring the outer Great Barrier Reef and Queensland coast as far north as Magnetic and Dunk Island. According to Sunsail Whitsundays General Manager, Sedron…
Wooden it be nice: Last day of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival
The last day of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2019 will see the Admiral’s Sail. The large fleet of tall ships will sail out in company to salute Her Excellency, the Governor of Tasmania aboard the motor launch Egeria, positioned off Regatta Point….
Wooden it be nice: Parade of Sail
For those people turning up today to Hobart it would be a bit disconcerting to see the famous Constitution Dock empty of wooden yachts. On the day prior to the Wooden Boat Festival the idea is that all boats due…
Batemans Bay entrance to be dredged this year
The NSW state government has confirmed that work on dredging the entrance to Batemans Bay will undertaken “in the coming months”, starting with a hydrographic survey which is expected to be completed in February, weather permitting, to help determine the…
Ocean Cruising Club announces award winners for 2018
The Awards Sub-committee received an outstanding range of suggestions, resulting in very worthy winners in all categories. They are: THE BARTON CUP – Bill Hatfield, L'Eau CommotionFor his recently-completed westabout circumnavigation south of the three Great Capes, which included a…
Thousands of cases of whisky liberated from shipwreck – and they made a movie about it
The Scotsman. By Alison Campsie. The boat was en-route to Jamaica and New Orleans when it crashed off a tiny Scottish island, unleashing 28,000 cases of whisky, several barrels of bank notes – and a story that has endured to…
All quiet on the wooden front
It was the night before the start of Hobart's 2019 Wooden Boat festival and all, currently, appears quiet. The Parade of Sail will be held tomorrow (Friday) and the famed Constitution Dock and surrounding areas will be filled with a…
British yachtsman, 67, found safe after six days missing in Channel
The Sun, by Jon Rogers A BRITISH sailor who was missing at sea for six days has been found “safe and well.” Robin Davie, 67, was due to return home to Falmouth, Cornwall on Tuesday after a 300 mile solo…
Hobart Wooden boat show is a definite show
Excitement is mounting on Hobart’s picturesque waterfront as the necessary infrastructure building commences and boats from as far away as the USA begin to arrive for the 2019 MyState Bank Australian Wooden Boat Festival which opens on Friday 8 February….
Volvo installs 3D printed Living Seawall tiles in Sydney Harbour to combat ocean plastic pollution
Volvo recently installed its 3D printed Living Seawall in the Sydney Harbour to promote marine biodiversity. Approximately half of Sydney’s coast has been converted to manmade seawall over the last 200 years due to increased urbanization, a process that has…
Hunt on to find Ernest Shackleton's ship missing since 1915
Radio NZ A scientific expedition in the Antarctic has set out on a quest to find Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost ship. The team has spent the past two weeks investigating the Larsen C Ice Shelf and the continent's biggest iceberg,…
NSW to double marine rescue budget
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a funding boost for marine rescue services in the state with an extra $37.6 million pledged for Marine Rescue NSW (MRNSW) over the next four years. The additional funding will more than double MRNSW’s…
Workers find grave of Matthew Flinders in railway dig
Maritime Executive Workers building the new London-Birmingham high-speed railway line have unearthed the grave of the Royal Navy sailor who gave Australia its name. For 180 years the last resting place of explorer and navigator Captain Matthew Flinders has been…
Down Under Rally: How many crew is too many on a cruising yacht?
I am often asked this question and it is very hard to give advice, as we are all different, have different levels of experience and ability and our vessels too are different. With the above in mind, I can only…
World of adventure awaits latest World ARC ralliers
On Saturday 12 January the World ARC 2019-20 fleet set off from Saint Lucia at 12 noon beginning their adventure of a lifetime following years of dreaming, thinking, planning and preparations. Departing were a fleet of 26 yachts from 12…
When opportunity knocks: diary of a bluewater virgin #1
The last few days have been a blur. Sitting on the tarmac in Sydney I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Yesterday, later than planned due to weather, I sailed back into Mooloolaba after three months cruising the…
Head start: make your own headliner
Sometimes we are forced into DIY, even when we are prepared to pay a professional. Last year I tried to obtain quotes to replace the headliner in the forward cabin. It was the original early 1980s perforated vinyl, sewn into…
Time to go: a first crossing of the Tasman
I had been toying with the idea of giving up work for some time when we got the phone call. A close friend in her late fifties, fit and healthy, non-smoker and moderate drinker, had died suddenly and unexpectedly. That…
Taking life too easy: living at the Breakwater
Where else can you live that boasts an annual average of 320 days sunshine, warm tropical waters and is the gateway to spectacular Magnetic Island, the Palm Island group and Great Barrier Reef? Townsville North Queensland, home to Townsville’s Breakwater…
Ocean Cleanup's $20 million plastic-catcher breaks
Click Lancashire. By James Marshall. Ocean Cleanup's $20 million boom – designed to clean up the Pacific Garbage Patch in five years and dubbed Wilson after the volleyball in the movie Castaway – will be towed back to port along…
Escape from Macquarie Harbour
After nearly two years of peace and security inside Macquarie Harbour, the word daunting came to mind when we considered leaving that safe haven to sail the wild Southern Ocean. For such a long time our ship had been a…
Abby Sunderland's 'Wild Eyes' found floating near Kangaroo Island
South Australia Police report that an overturned vessel found off the coast of Kangaroo Island on New Year's Eve has been identified as 'Wild Eyes', which had been abandoned eight years ago in the middle of the Indian Ocean during a…
Canaipa Passage dredging program provides 2.5m depth between Moreton Bay and Gold Coast
The Gold Coast Waterways Authority (GCWA) has invested $500,000 in maintaining safe navigational access in the Canaipa Passage, the important link between Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast. The dredging aims to provide a depth of -2.5m LAT (Lowest Astronomical…
Curtain call for a classic ARC
ARC 2018 came to a rousing conclusion last night in Saint Lucia with the prizegiving ceremony marking the end of the world's most popular sailing rally for another year. Crews, friends and families were joined by numerous supporters at the…
British sailor feared drowned after night of drinking
St Lucia Star. By Keryn Nelson. What happened to Roy Broughton? Hardly anyone seems able to provide details other than that the British yachtsman was last seen around ten at night on Thursday, November 15, 2018. Boughton, who frequented the…
Lisa Blair completes circumnavigation of Australia
On Monday, December 17,2018, 33-year-old Lisa Blair became the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo, non-stop and unassisted. Lisa crossed the finish line at Sydney Heads just after 2pm, giving a total elapsed time of 58 days and 3 hours….
A superb piece of navigation – the incredible story of the SS Warrimoo
The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought the master, Captain John Phillips,…
Transatlantic crossing – the Golden Globe for amateurs
In March 2019 ten amateur sailors will meet up on the east coast of the USA for a once ina lifetime challenge. Can they learn how to navigate at sea using just the sun, moon,stars and planets and then sail…
Queensland's “war on wrecks” gathers pace
271 unseaworthy vessels currently lie in an advanced state of decay in Queensland’s bays, rivers and creeks. That’s the latest count of vessels for which Maritime Safety Queensland needs to instigate removal action as part of the state government’s “War on…
Lisa Blair – just a Sydney Hobart left to go
Lisa Blair is attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo, non-stop and unassisted. On Tuesday morning (December 11, 2018) she had passed the entrance to the River Derwent and was heading up the east coast towards her…
Solo sailor's cat quarantined in New Zealand
AAP reports that a French yachtsman who is circumnavigating the globe single-handed has been separated from his feline first mate after running into New Zealand authorities. Navy, the cat, has accompanied sailor Francis Tolan since he set sail from France…
Lisa Blair heading north towards Sydney on circumnavigation
Lisa Blair is attempting to become the first woman to circumnavigate Australia solo, non-stp and unassisted. Having left Sydney and sailed across the top end, down the Western Australian coast and across the Bight she is now heading north towards…
