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.
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…
After spending six weeks of day sailing and island-hopping our way through the spectacular cruising grounds of the Krabi Coast, Phang Nga Bay and the western side of Phuket, we were making way for the almost deserted Surin Island group…
Bridgetown, Barbados (5 January 2017): With just 10 days to go before the start of the 2017 Mount Gay Round Barbados Race Series (16-24 January), the festival atmosphere in Barbados is starting to rumble. Overseas entries, including Tony Lawson’s record-breaking MOD70…
Without doubt my favourite flavour profile comes from South East Asia. Colonisation and trade have evolved the foods of the region to a spectacular cacaphony of aromas and tastes. From a typical spice rack, you could not really have done…
I was recently contacted by an acquaintance for advice on having his yacht delivered from North Queensland to Brisbane. This got me thinking that there are probably owners out there who do not know how to choose a good skipper….
Our second visit to Indonesia took Steve and I to a very different and remote part of this vast island nation. We were participating in the Sail Malaysia “Passage to the East” 2015 yacht rally, which, for the first time…
The 31st Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) came to a rousing conclusion last night, 17th December, with the final Prize Giving ceremony held at the Beausejour Indoor Facility in Saint Lucia. Crews, friends and families of more than 200 boats…
Already known worldwide as one of the best harbours to visit, Sydney Harbour offers so much more than just climbing the bridge, swimming its beaches or catching a show and a drink at the Opera House. Whether you own your…
Following years and months of planning, two weeks of preparations and provisioning and final hours of farewells, the yachts taking part in ARC 2016 made their way out of Muelle Deportivo in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria this morning. There…
The CEO of the Boating Industry Association (BIA) is inviting boating industry, yachties, boaters and other stakeholders to complete a survey that will inform the South Australian Boating Strategic Plan to boost boating participation and guide investment in maritime infrastructure…
Picture this: a stunning sunny day, anchored in a sheltered bay, glass of wine in one hand, Cruising Helmsman magazine in the other, kids and their friends fishing off the back of the boat. I am just about to fall…
Crossing one of the roughest pieces of water in the world without any sailing experience? What would you call it: naive, risky, brave? Would this be another crewing horror story? German adventurer, Gesine and her skipper, John Allen share the…
Breakfast for the kids in my life could and would be easy. Just about any kind of commercial breakfast cereal with an obscene amount of sugar would appease them and torture us. Not on my boat! In past columns, I…
There are a number of bureaucratic issues that complicate life for non-EU citizens planning to enjoy extended cruising in the Mediterranean. There is even more so if you are wanting to live-aboard in the winter off-season, rather than go to…
A bimini for a cruising yacht today is so much more than just a sun screen. It can be a base for an electrical power station, dinghy davit, part of a cockpit long sunshade or a very serious asset to…
Californian film-maker Bill Babington and I were intrigued to cruise the 850 kilometre stretch of the Straits of Malacca (Selat Melaka), a passage connecting the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. Our six week journey up the coast of Malaysia…
It was calm and peaceful as we weaved our way through an array of flotilla and mooring lines. “Thar she lies; that’s her,” the old man exclaimed with a measure of impartial authority, as if she were the only vessel…
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