Fast Facts: What is a Bight?
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…
All News
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.
Release: 5.5 Metre World Championship coming to ‘The Alfreds’ in January 2020
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…
Reigning World Champions enter Midsummer Match 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…
Twenty-fifth edition of ARC Portugal sets sail
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…
La Solitaire leaders Hardy and Desjoyeaux under threat after testing first 24 hours
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…
North Sails founder Lowell North passes away aged 89
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…
Ocean Respect Racing makes it a record 40 entries for Australian Women’s Keelboat Regatta
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…
Ocean Racing Club of Victoria gets serious about saving our oceans
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…
Farr 40 Class brings World Championships back to Sydney in 2020
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…
Tassie west coast: sailing on the wild side
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 pump basics for the novice to the expert
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 appoints dual Olympian and triple World Champion Sarah Ogilvie (nee Blanck) as Head of Sailing
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…
Boats of steel
“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…
Charting the heavens and earth
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…
Flights of fancy: sometimes it pays to just go with the flow
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,…
How to get paid to sail the Greek Isles
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…
Boys own adventure: 12 year circumnavigation
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 1190 Sport: adding the 'oh' in performance
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…
Repairing a RIB
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…
Sampling some Turkish delight
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…
The history of the fore and aft rig
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…
Astrea 42: wake up call
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…
Jeanneau 490: take a bow
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…
Beneteau 46.1: tailored to perform
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…
Jeanneau 319: Relax, go to it
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…
Seawind 1600: Looking daggers
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…
Nautitech 40: moving on up
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…
Outbound 46: outward bound
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…
Lagraviere leads early skirmish as La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro leaves France for Kinsale
Under grey skies on the Bay of La Baule, at the mouth of the Loire river in the west of France, Morgan Lagraviere (Voile d’engagement) lead an early breakaway trio at the head of the 47-strong La Solitaire URGO Le…
Aleph Racing: 44Cup winner after nine years of trying
This morning Hugues Lepic's Aleph Racing scored their third bullet out of four races, increasing their five point lead at the day's start to a massive 10. Ultimately a fourth place in today's second and final race handed the French…
Breakaway 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar for Rambler 88 and Vera
One of the biggest ‘door closing on those behind’ moments in offshore sailing occurred on Thursday night and through the next 24 hours for competitors racing in the special 10th anniversary edition of the 151 Miglia-Trofeo Cetilar, between Livorno and…
The Long Blue Line: Ensign Charles Duke and seizure of rum runner Greypoint
Capt. Daniel A. LaliberteU.S. Coast Guard, retired Charles L. Duke, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, joined the Coast Guard on Aug. 26, 1925, amid the service’s dramatic expansion during Prohibition. A previous four-year enlistment in the Navy Reserve near the…
US Coast Guard rescues two from capsized yacht
On Wednesday night, the US Coast Guard answered an EPIRB distress signal and rescued a man and woman from a capsized sailboat about 65 miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard’s Fifth District Command Center in…
Down Under Rally supports 10-year-old shark victim with horrific injuries
I am writing to you to see if you can help a New Caledonia family during what will be a very tough time. Earlier this week Anthony, a perfectly normal 10 year old boy was having fun jumping off the…
Hopes fading for Sydney sailor lost on India's second-highest mountain
Indian authorities have conceded that there is little hope of finding alive a Sydney woman who was part of an eight-person mountaineering party which failed to return to base camp at Nanda Devi, the second-highest mountain in India. Ruth McCance,…
Phuket Raceweek looking for Cruising Catamarans
Are you a cruising catamaran owner? How does four days of warm-weather sailing off Phuket’s beautiful south-east coast plus four nights of beachfront parties with buffet dinners, free flow drinks and perhaps a trophy or two along the way, sound?…
Records set on final day of 2019 Samui Regatta
Samui, Thailand: Coming into the final day, just 0.5 points separated the top two in IRC Zero with THA72 having the edge over Team Hollywood (AUS) – and one mistake, one bad call could decide the Samui Regatta. Looking through…
Marseille poised to host Hempel World Cup Series Final
Marseille, France is poised to host 325 sailors from 40 nations for the 2019 Hempel World Cup Series Final. Sailors will race at the venue for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition across ten Olympic disciplines and an Open Kiteboarding…
Leader change as Aleph Racing goes turbo at the Adris 44Cup Rovinj
While conditions seemed similar to yesterday, with a light north-westerly, results on day three of the Adris 44Cup Rovinj demonstrated how fortunes between the slippery, high performance RC44 one design monohulls and their ultra-competitive crews can change in a heartbeat….
Back to the future for 50th La Solitaire Le Figaro
The introduction of the new foil-assisted Figaro Bénéteau 3 has proven to have had a magnetic attraction to past winners of the famous annual La Solitaire Urgo Le Figaro, so much so that when the 47-strong fleet of solo racers…
