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.
A trip on the Myall Lakes some years back did not quite become a disaster, but our holiday was certainly interrupted when water stopped spurting from the tell-tale on the outboard engine. We were in a remote location and faced…
A new atlas, providing the most thorough audit of marine life in the Southern Ocean, was published this week by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Leading marine biologists and oceanographers from all over the world spent the last…
The Southport Yacht Club (SYC) on Queensland’s Gold Coast has today been accredited as a Level 3 Clean Marina. The International Clean Marinas environmental program is administered by the Marina Industries Association (MIA). Achieving a Level 3 accreditation requires a…
It was the year of the cruisers at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, though the word ‘cruise’ is misleading. A cutthroat finish to the regatta on day six, Saturday August 23, 2014, brought out this division’s competitive edge at the…
Instead of non-skid tape, these treads have been sanded. Sand is more durable than anti-skid tape which tends to wear unevenly and can look scruffy in highly trafficked areas. Unlike anti-skid tape that sometimes lifts at the edges, there’s no…
It’s the people. If I were to end with that sentence alone I would still not have missed the essence of our experience in Vanuatu. Certainly when assessing a nation as a cruising destination, one must include the white sand…
A group of yachties who are big on fun but low on pretence are turning the traditional notion of bricks and mortar yacht club membership on its head with a club motto of ‘exclusively non-exclusive’ and a nick name widely…
A huge range of new products have been confirmed for release at the 2014 Gold Coast International Marine Expo from October 17-19. Details of more new releases would be announced closer to the Expo date. “The exciting range of products…
Jude Binder has more than forty years experience finishing and maintaining vessels and fine timber furniture. She is also an accomplished sailor with 150,000 miles under sail, so she knows what stands the test of time. She learnt how to…
One hundred years ago today, on 15 August 1914, the Panama Canal opened after 23 years of construction work. A century later it is still considered one of the largest and most successful engineering feats ever built. One of the…
Cruising Helmsman contributor Rosemary Jilderts would like to pass on the latest warning from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Summer turtle breeding season is coming the GBRMPA says and with marine turtle numbers rapidly declining we must be…
The 2014/15, B14 national titles will commence on the 27th of December, 2014 at the McCrae Yacht Club. The world titles will follow from the 2nd to the 6th of January, 2015. The B14 is an International Sailing Federation recognised…
Beneteau and its national dealer network will once again host the pre-race Beneteau briefings at Hamilton Island Race Week. Host Michael Spies will be joined by a selection of guest speakers outlining the race courses and some tactical hints and…
Coast Guard Victoria will establish a VHF Marine Distress & Monitoring service for the East Coast of Victoria from Point Hicks to Gabo Island in addition to the Flotilla operations at Mallacoota. Mallacoota will become a very popular boating…
The Race Management Committee of the Royal Geelong Yacht Club has been burning the midnight oil to put together an entire month of sailing on Corio Bay, in January next year, with the Notice of Race released today. The New…
Porto Cervo, Italy. Monday 4th August 2014. While holidaymakers flock to Sardinia to enjoy stunning beaches and sweltering August temperatures, staff at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) are hard at work preparing for two major international regattas in September….
As the fleet size for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2014 climbs towards the impressive mark of 180, it has been confirmed that this year there will again be two trophies on offer that any competing crew can win. These…
By Juliet Astrup – Bournemouth Echo: A 36ft sailing yacht which apparently vanished without trace has been found moored in Poole Harbour. Poole’s RNLI team was called to assist coastguard rescue teams in the hunt for the vessel and its crew of five,…
Vision Surveys Airlie Beach Race Week 2014 has made history after breaking the record number of entries, with more expected to come in this week. In the 25th anniversary year, the event has attracted 124 boats so far with entries…
THE CONVERSATION: On Monday June 30 the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published a scientific paper, led by Andrés Cozar from the University of Cádiz (Spain) and co-authored by one of us, C.D., which resulted from…
Because I spend so much time sailing other people’s boats, I don’t get enough time to enjoy my beautiful 37ft Van de Stadt blue-water cruiser. Boats are not meant to sit idle in the marina, so I’m offering her to…
NZ Herald July 17: An independent review of the search for the missing schooner Nina has found the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand went beyond what many overseas authorities would have done. Nina and its seven crew members left the…
One of the best-known and most successful yachtsmen in the Asia-Pacific region, Karl Kwok, has set his sights on becoming outright champion in the IRC Grand Prix Division at next month’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. The Hong Kong-based businessman…
All visiting yachties and miscellaneous hangers-on are invited to join in the celebrations and festivities at Vanuatu's inaugural Lakona Bay Kastom Festival. To be held on the 23 & 24 August 2014 and hosted by Chief John Star, Father Levy…
Australia’s aquatic playground is gearing up for its annual ‘Sailing Season’, where sails and spinnakers dominate the horizon by day, and champagne corks and good times dominate by night. The Whitsundays Season of Sailing kicks off with Vision Surveys Airlie Beach…
Twenty-five years have passed since HRH the Raja Muda of Selangor and a few Royal Selangor Yacht Club (RSYC) members decided to start a regatta from Port Klang in Malaysia, partly to attract crews heading north to Thailand to participate…
The notice of race for the first annual Croatia First Regatta is available from the organising authorities, the Yacht Club First Sailing and Mariner Boating Events. In 2014, after ten years of operating the annual Croatia Yacht Rally, Mariner Boating…
Twenty-seven yachts from ten different nations have begun an exciting summer of exploring the fascinating Baltic Sea with World Cruising Club's new rally, ARC Baltic. Departing from the Schilksee Marina in Kiel, Germany on 7 July, the six week cruising…
The All Points Rally is a free-to-enter, informal cruising rally to New Zealand, organised annually in conjunction with the Island Cruising Association (ICA). Yachts departing from all major ports in the South West Pacific, including Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New…
Along with the Grand Prix racing yachts and glamour cruising boats, there will be an element of 90-year-old international yachting history taking centre stage at next month’s Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. It will come in the form of the…
Coping with the officialdom of different countries is all part of cruising, writes Jennifer Eurell, who has some useful tips for making the process as simple and stress-free as possible. If you sail from Australia’s shores, there is one thing…
Sharon and Julian Smallwood reflect on Cruise-Aiders, Christmas, material wealth and making a difference. Christmas is-a-coming and the goose is getting fat. Another year is nearly over and while the emphasis is mostly on celebration, many of us now…
Jack and Jude Binder finally cast off on their long-awaited cruise. We're away! Big day for the first one back at work. Slipped out the Richmond River just after dawn with a zephyr from the north. Slippery slide over the…
Roger McMillan demystifies solar panels with this plain-English look at how they work and factors to consider in choosing a suitable panel for your needs. When you reach into the boat fridge for a cold drink, it's very satisfying to…
Practical: The environment John Champion examines just how green most of our boats are, and what we can do to alter the balance in favour of the environment. Try our spot quiz to see how your boat rates. In these…
Destination: Great Barrier Reef Out or in? It's a quandary every cruiser has to face when heading north or south along the Great Barrier Reef. Aideen Henry puts the case for the former. The end of the cyclone season marks…
Destinations: Cuba Don and Agnes Reed encounter an intriguing land not without its challenges when they venture south from Florida to the homeland of Fidel Castro. Cuba lies just 80nm south of the Florida Keys in the US and if…
Practical: Drawing up a cruise plan Drawing up a cruise plan will increase the chances of a trouble-free cruise, writes Bob Couper, who here also gives some tips on river and estuary cruising and berthing. Getting away from it all…
Jack and Jude Binder prepare to set sail again, pausing to admire their latest article in the current issue of Cruising Helmsman magazine as they do so! The December issue of Cruising Helmsman magaine is tops, filled with adventurous and…
Megan Blakie revels in one of New Zealand's most famous destinations – Queen Charlotte Sound. “It'll be busy!” warned a Christchurch yachtie, referring to the Marlborough Sounds at Christmas time. “Whitsunday-busy or Hauraki Gulf-busy?” I asked, having experienced these popular…
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