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.
Guillaume Verdier is working on plans for the next generation Volvo Ocean Race One Design – and the final decision on monohull vs. multihull is now just weeks away… Verdier and his team of designers will be working alongside a…
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has today – Thursday 13 April 2017 – published its final report into two fatal accidents in the 2015-16 edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the first in the event’s…
Sorry everybody. This idiot somehow mucked up the Wi-Fi on this yacht. I am now on a restaurant ashore. You get that. 32 days back I departed the British Island of Saint Helena. Clearing port, customs, immigration simple. Easy for…
A clean-up campaign is underway in Airlie Beach in the wake of Cyclone Debbie, as Whitsunday Sailing Club officials announce Airlie Beach Race Week 2017 is definitely on, “so keep the entries coming in,” is the clear message from event…
The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) has opened entries and the Notice of Race for the Land Rover Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race, which starts at 1300 hours on Saturday 29 July, 2017. Last year’s fleet of 75 was…
A magic final day at the 10th anniversary Sail Port Stephens in gentle east to nor’east winds belies the approaching cold front and low pressure system soon to deliver rain and strong winds to the New South Wales Hunter coastline….
Senior Hobart yachtsman Don Calvert, now in his early 80s, yesterday added another pennant to a long and successful local and international career with his Castro 40, Intrigue. Intrigue won the IRC rating category of the 30 nautical mile Betsey…
The Oatley family, owners of Australia’s internationally acclaimed tropical destination, Hamilton Island, have confirmed that despite the Whitsunday Islands region being devastated by Cyclone Debbie two weeks ago, Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2017 will proceed in August as scheduled….
Emirates Team New Zealand is now official on its way to Bermuda for the 35th America’s Cup. New Zealand Aotearoa, the team race boat, has been packed and loaded on the Emirates SkyCargo 747 departing from Auckland’s International Airport today….
As part of the 10th anniversary Sail Port Stephens regatta, 21 sports boat crews are in town contesting their national title. Four more races into the Australian championship and Andrew York’s Reo Speedwagon easily scored boat of the day, thanks…
Whether refreshed or broken from Thursday’s layday, crews racing a record Sail Port Stephens fleet of 112 boats lined up for the second half of the 10th anniversary regatta in sunny benign conditions on Friday April 7, 2017. A whole…
While final preparations and team announcements continue for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the event’s leadership team are working in parallel to map out the race’s future. The edition after this one, the 14th, will be contested in brand new…
After the grinding and screeching stopped I just stood there for several more seconds in doubt and disbelief that this has happened. I was only 4 weeks away from the end of my record. So close, however the need to…
Zhik has been selected by Volvo Ocean Racing team Akzo Nobel as its official technical clothing partner for the upcoming edition of the VOR. The crew will race across four oceans and encounter some of the most extreme weather conditions…
Mark Hillis’s trailable Fareast 28 Chicken Lips hails from the NSW Riverina region where a lack of wide deep-water lakes means the crew has to travel from Wagga Wagga for their racing fix. “If we tipped that boat over in…
If you want to be a crazy adventurer it probably helps to have the name Thor! Much like his namesake Thor Heyerdahl, Thor F. Jensen is a Danish adventurer and illustrator, he set off on the 30th of August 2016…
Peter and Drew van Ryn’s 25 year-old Sea Hawk took out the Commodore’s Cup division one pointscore by four points in their first regatta since 2011 and division two went to the wire, Dave Griffin’s Alfresco the victor on a…
Unicef, a leading children’s charity organisation, will once again have a team entry in the 40,000-nautical mile Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which starts this August. The cost of the team entry has been donated by the race organisers…
Great Walks, a sister magazine and web site to mysailing, is working in conjunction with Tourism Noosa and giving away a three-day trip to Noosa including return flights for two from any Australian capital city and a full day guided…
The Sydney Sailmakers crew of Nick Press and Andrew ‘Noddy’ Hay will start as firm favourites when The Kitchen Maker 12ft Sailing Skiff Australian Championship is sailed over the Easter period from 14-17 April from Lane Cove 12ft Sailing Skiff…
Kim Andersen, World Sailing President, welcomed IOC President Thomas Bach and Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) President Francesco Ricci Bitti to Aarhus – the Sailing Capital of Denmark – at the ASOIF annual dinner for the International Federations…
Day two of the Commodore’s Cup at Sail Port Stephens yielded a new division one winner and though the Archambault 32 Esprit’s handicap slug after day one made a second victory much tougher, sailing couple Jane Bartels and Greg Wilkins…
Amid the gleaming white fibreglass boats racing en masse at the Commodores Cup, stage one of the two-part 10th anniversary Sai Port Stephens, is the classic timber boat Vittoria cutting a wide path through the gentle Nelson Bay chop. Built…
Morning All, Well what a testing 24 hours I have had. Yesterday after I finished writing the blog I heated up my hot water bottle and crawled into bed as the boat was sailing nicely with 20 knots. I had…
At approximately 0300 (AET) Australian sailor Lisa Blair issued a PAN PAN 895nm south of Cape Town when in 40 knot winds and seven (7) metre swell her boat Climate Action Now was dismasted after the port shroud broke in…
The GC32 Racing Tour will break new ground when it visits southern Sardinia at the end of June: This will be the first time that a major international sailing event has been held at Villasimius, on the Italian island’s southeasternmost…
A huge fleet enjoyed a cracking start to the 10th anniversary Sail Port Stephens sailed on Nelson Bay in warm 15-20 knot SSE winds. Pantaenius Commodore’s Cup race one was a 15 nautical miler on a course better known as…
A 20-knot sou’easter propelled a record fleet in record time from Newcastle to Port Stephens today, as the feeder race for – you guessed it – a record 2017 Sail Port Stephens regatta in Nelson Bay NSW. More than 40…
“Choices are the hinges of destiny,” goes the famous quote by Edwin Markham, and today’s Congressional Cup racing proved that making good choices can make, or break, you. As the frontrunner after two days of Qualifying, Johnie Berntsson (SWE) elected…
The last time Chris Brain sailed competitively was 34 years ago on a Minnow, the same Minnow that brought him out of retirement for the Aero Australian Championship he won off Black Rock on the shores of Port Phillip in…
A Boating Industry Association support crew departed today for Far North Queensland, to help members coping with damage to boats and marinas from Cyclone Debbie. Led by BIA Queensland Manager Aaron McKenna, a team of nine people met up today…
After a three year cruise from the east coast of USA, Ian and I arrived on Outsider in Fiji in April 2015, our original plan was New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour. But after a month or so in Fiji…
In May 2012 I wrote an article in Cruising Helmsman about my experiences of removing craze from acrylic windows on my catamaran. I was prompted to write about this subject as I could not easily find if such a technique…
We have been lucky enough to spend some time around the southern Great Barrier Reef over two cruises, one in winter the other in summer. We stopped at five different spots: Lady Elliott, Lady Musgrave, Masthead Island, Fitzroy Reef and…
You have invited friends or family on a cruise. They have never done it before. They have put their trust in you as their hosts and sailing guides. How do you maximise your chances of a memorable and successful cruise?…
Not far from the Heads, at the southern end of Victoria’s Port Phillip, lies what must be one of the world’s most unique yacht clubs. Queenscliff Cruising Yacht Club is unique in many ways. Not just because it sits on…
Everyone who reads Cruising Helmsman has an interest in boats. There is probably a voice in the deep recesses of your mind saying “one day I’ll just sail away…..”. So how do people actually do it? In this article I…
There are few things that set off a classic yacht as beautifully as a well laid teak deck. It is relatively non-slip, provides insulation for the cabin and, equally importantly, adds to the traditional appeal. But mine had another undesirable…
Affordable Gemini catamarans are designed by British boat builder Tony Smith, who established his company Performance Cruising in the USA and went on to build more than 1000 of this production boat. They have become one of the most popular…
In a series of matches that were as mercurial as the weather, Ian Williams (GBR) and his team GAC Pindar triumphed in the 53rd Congressional Cup, beating Johnie Berntsson (SWE) in a fifth and final winner-take-all match. Not since 2012…
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