The latest news from the world of yachting and sailing including yacht & dinghy reviews, cruising and destination information plus the latest boating gear as well as inshore and offshore racing updates and regatta schedules. All things Sailing, Sail Racing, Sailboats and more.
Race direction of the 50th anniversary La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro have made it their clear policy to make each stage as open as possible by minimising the number of marks of each course. They have rewarded avid followers of…
Porto Cervo, Italy. 5 June 2019. The second day of racing at the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, an event organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, was characterised by ideal wind conditions for big boat racing. Winds of 18 to…
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting that a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season is most likely this year. The outlook forecasts a 40 percent chance of a near-normal season and a 30 percent chance of an above-normal season. The hurricane season…
Safety and survival specialist ACR Electronics has launched the ACR OLAS (Overboard Location Alert System) product range. ACR says the addition of the low-cost ACR OLAS platform to its portfolio ensures that they are the only company to provide a…
By Jean-François Ghiglione, CNRS, ecotoxicologist, at Banyuls Oceanography Laboratory and Romain Troublé, executive director of the Tara Ocean Foundation. Powerful images of marine animals choking on plastics; frightening statistics on the amount of trash found at sea; discovering that even the…
Australian Sailing (AS) is currently undertaking a review of the National Trailable Yacht & Sportsboat committee and its Terms of Reference. The review is intended to help inform the future direction AS takes in this space and gain a greater…
By Burnham-On-Sea.com Police are still trying to trace missing yacht skipper David Moore, whose abandoned boat was mysteriously washed up on Berrow Beach on Monday (June 3rd). Police say David used to live and work in Avonmouth near Bristol but…
Among the 300-350 boats in this August's record-sized Rolex Fastnet Race fleet, many of the 3,000 crew members are competing to fulfill a personal challenge or to tick the world's largest offshore race off their 'bucket list', but several crews…
After he eked out a dream 18 nautical mile lead on stage 1 to Kinsale, Ireland, runaway amateur Henri Lemoncier appears to have had his wings clipped to have been overturned by three times La Solitaire winner Yann Eliès this…
Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nicolás Rodriguez got off to a flying start at the Hempel World Cup Series Final in Marseille, France, winning both of their races in the Men’s 470. In a variable 7-12 knot south easterly breeze, the…
Porto Cervo, Italy. 4 June 2019. The first day of racing took place today at the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, an event now in its 12th edition and organised by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, which sees 20 boats ranging…
Denmark is the host country for the 49th Finn World Masters, which starts next week at Skovshoved, just north of Copenhagen. Almost 270 Finn Masters have registered to take part in what will be the first ever Finn World Masters…
A bight is a long, gradual bend or recess in the shoreline that forms a large, open bay. Bights are shallow and may pose hazards to navigation, so their depths, in addition to any submerged features like sand bars and…
The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) is to host the 5.5 Metre Class World Championship 2020 to take place from 9-13 January, with the Scandinavian Gold Cup, Alfreds Gold Cup, the Royal Kaag Classic Cup and Hanko Evolution Cup…
The inaugural edition of Midsummer Match Cup is attracting the best skippers and match racing teams in the world. Lucy MacGregor and Torvar Mirsky, the reigning world champions in women’s and men’s match racing, respectively, are joining the line-up for…
Heading out into a cloudy Plymouth Sound on Sunday 2 June, seventeen boats began their three week adventure sailing to the sunny Algarve with World Cruising Club's annual sailing rally ARC Portugal. ARC Portugal has been taking boats south to…
As stage one of the 50th La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro completed its first 24 hours at sea, racing 553 nautical miles from Pornichet to Kinsale, Ireland, leaders Adrien Hardy (Sans Nature Pas de Future) and Michel Desjoyeaux (Lumibird) were…
Lowell North, founder of North Sails, has passed away. Nicknamed “The Pope” by his peers, Lowell began his sailmaking career at the age of 14 when his father purchased a Star with cotton sails. The father and son team came…
A record 40 entries will take part in the 2019 Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta (AWKR), hosted by Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron (RMYS) over this long weekend; the 40th entry coming from Ocean Respect Racing and to be headed by well-known…
To all who have a love for the environment and in particular our oceans: Save the ocean, protect your passion and make an impact, is the message from all at the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV). Recognising ORCV’s ‘keep…
Recently, the Australian class celebrated twenty years of international sailing and with class stalwarts like Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM, Lang Walker AO, Martin Hill and Richard Perini being bestowed with life memberships and a blazer presentation, the Class is powering ahead…
Sailing the wild side of Tasmania, its west coast, has been a long held goal: remote, rugged, less frequented, all aspects we value. But to cruise there safely, with a chance to see and explore pristine wilderness in all its…
Bilge pumps, we all have them or should have them; they have saved many a vessel and it would be crazy to go to sea without one. The thing about a bilge pump is that you do not give them…
Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron has appointed dual Olympian and triple World Champion, Sarah Ogilvie (nee Blanck) as Head of Sailing. Sarah’s appointment affirms Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron’s commitment to provide engaging and world-class sail training programs and experiences for all it’s members…
“It is better to travel in hope than to arrive” is the often quoted mantra of the philosophical nomad who wishes to distinguish himself from the tourist or business traveller. However, the person who wrote this has clearly never been…
In 1956 a Turkish naval officer gave a copy of an early 16th century Ottoman navigational chart, drawn by Piri Reis, a captain in the Ottoman navy during the sultanate of Suleyman the Magnificent, to the U.S Hydrographic Office in…
That splinter of an idea: Sail to Lord Howe Island, had lodged there in my psyche many years, not festering but absolutely insistent. So, with the best (and worst) laid plans of mice, men and whoever else cares to dare,…
Yes you read it right. It is possible to sail the Greek Isles and actually get paid for the pleasure. We did just that recently and did not even need any form of commercial qualifications. How can this be? It…
When Pittwater local Tony Roberts took off on his Crowther 42 foot catamaran, TacticalDirections on May 1 2006, he had no idea his travels would take him 43,629 nautical miles to 49 countries before completing his circumnavigation just last year….
Seawind have built a reputation on investigating what obstacles monohull sailors have in buying catamarans; then figuring out how to change those ideas to make them more appealing. For this reason I like the way Seawind have looked at the…
Inflatable dinghies are a wonderful invention. It is true they do not have the rowing ability of a well-designed rigid dinghy, or the beauty of a classic timber tender but, for simple utility they are hard to beat. The inflatable…
We sailed into Turkey determined to be bound by no deadlines or obligations to do anything other than go where the wind blew us. The five weeks we were there comprised a long languid procession of hot and sultry days…
For thousands of years, man has heeded the call of the sea: whether for trade or piracy, for exploration and adventure, or to seek to understand more of his environment. Until the advent of aircraft, ships were the links that…
This latest Fountaine Pajot catamaran was so new to the Australian market, indeed the world, that at time of testing just after the Sydney International Boat Show in August, there was still no printed brochure available. Mind you, that has…
Let’s start with what I find as the most interesting addition to this yacht’s features. It is in the master cabin in the bow. An offset cabin door to port leaves the starboard side vanity and shower recess with an…
Over the last few years I have been reporting about boatbuilder Beneteau’s change in direction being driven by its general manager Gianguido Girotti. His development of racing yachts, prior to joining Beneteau, has seen him move the company back towards…
It has been a long time since I reviewed a production yacht this small, other than the Cygnet 20 trailer sailer back in April last year. The forty to fifty foot range is indeed a crowded market with these size…
For over 35 years Australian catamaran manufacturer Seawind Catamarans has made a successful run at producing catamarans up to the forty foot mark suitable for family cruising and predominantly the charter boat market. Ever since its move to the Vietnam…
We tested the original Nautitech Open 40 back in August of 2016; shortly after Bavaria Yachts bought the multihull boatbuilder and shortly before that company went into administration. When a venture capitalist management company took over Bavaria one of the…
In this era of mass production boat build whereas a new yacht rolls out the factory door at least once a week, it is amazing to see bespoke cruising yachts still finding the niche on the water. While Australia has…
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