Keep it simple! “One of my cruising ideals, often preached but sadly, rarely practised... How do you define simple?” Last year I was invited to judge a cruising log competition. This is not as simple as it sounds because the forty or so cruises submitted ranged from an ambitious Arctic voyage and a cruise in [...]
In which Trevor Clifton describes some of the skills needed to sail out of harbour We sailed everywhere. No engines was the rule. That was when you could tie up on harbour walls. It’d be a bit more difficult these days when everyone parks in marinas. We ran the courses on Contessa 28s, usually with [...]
Guy Venables discovers the sanctuary of the sailing club involves more than low bar prices I have just joined a very nice little sailing club. There are many reasons to join one, the camaraderie, the exclusivity, the banter, the bar. Some people even sail. But in this column it is the sailing club bar to [...]
In early May, at the start of what was to be one of our coldest summers, the newly appointed President of the Pontoon Camping Association decided to encourage new membership and extend the BBQ experience of existing members, beyond the confines of the Harbour by announcing that the first ‘President’s BBQ’ would be taking place [...]
In which John Clarke recalls a battery top-up tip from an old soldier he’d prefer his charterers not to follow Having run a sailing school for 18 years I can honestly say that the instructors I have worked with have all been larger than life characters. And none more so than Sticky Stapylton. Sticky is [...]
In which Steve Crook recalls the inevitable degeneration of a couple’s weekend refresher course It started out much like any other teaching assignment. A married couple wanted to spend a May weekend brushing up their sailing skills before their Mediterranean holiday that Summer. “We want to start early and finish late,” they asserted, “and we [...]
In which Neil Payter obtains some canine assistance in creating a true shaggy dog story Living on my boat (a Yamaha 34) at Haslar Marina with my partner Maria, who runs the Lightship bar & restaurant there, I have plenty of opportunities to witness the difficulties many boat owners experience parking a boat. As a [...]
By Lucy L Ford For Christmas, the skipper gave me a voluminous pair of bright yellow, waterproof dungarees. A perfect match for the bright yellow, ill-fitting wellingtons purchased the year before. Whilst I might admit to domestic proportions that are more ample than are convenient for the skipper’s middle-aged fantasies – these would have fitted [...]
By Andrew Bray. Illustration: Guy Venables If you’re fortunate enough to sail a gaff-rigger, she should really come with a dictionary of terminology to differentiate the bobstay from the snotter, the bowsprit from the bumkin The non-sailor might reasonably assume that surrounding all things nautical with language that is as obscure as it is archaic [...]
