Ray Lein tries to outrun Storm Babette in his Atlanta 25, before taking shelter behind Worm’s Head in the Bristol Channel
Learning from experience
First offshore passage in a pocket cruiser – Essex to Belgium
George Stanton battles mal de mer as he crosses the North Sea from Suffolk to Oostende in a 17ft Hurley Silhouette
“I saved two other sailors on my boat’s maiden voyage”
Gilbert Park’s maiden voyage in his Mitchell Classique 28 culminates in the rescue of two men from the water after their yacht sank
Getting that sinking feeling in the Pacific doldrums
People think of the doldrums as an area of light or no wind (it can, indeed, be like this), but it is violently stormy, equally often, with wind from any…
Snap, shackle and drop: coping with a dismasted sailing yacht
Steve Hodges and his fiancée Sam McClements’ second attempt at the RYA Yachtmaster Ocean passage is scuppered by a dismasted yacht
‘By mid-morning the pontoon linking us ashore was listing… and sinking’
Following a two-year pause from cruising habits in our Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349, Scoundrel, we were ready to set sail again. The hiatus was partly due to me being overseas…
Lessons learned from a disastrous start to the sailing season
Fairey Atalanta A142 Sugar Plum, being a mature lady, needs a lot of maintenance. Living in the north of Scotland, she’s stored over winter in a building for her protection…
“We appeared to be travelling sideways, the adrenaline had now peaked”
Crossing dangerous coastal bars asleep and sideways is certainly not a habit of mine, but strange things can happen on the water, and like many incidents they often happen slowly…
Squatter onboard: ‘Rather than heading out on a perfect sunny day we set about sanitising the boat’
Rory Church’s much anticipated visit to his beloved boat doesn’t go quite as planned when he discovers evidence of a squatter onboard
‘Towing the Drascombe, a racing fleet appeared and like a swarm of locusts gathered around us’
Following a white knuckle marina rescue of three boats during Storm Eunice, Gilbert Park experiences two fairer weather towing adventures
Are we sinking? My worst day as a pregnant sailor
Fraser and I have almost sunk several times in all the years we’ve sailed together. Once was when we unknowingly towed a lobster pot on our prop shaft from Coleraine…
Boat towing: lessons learned from assisting a dismasted yacht in the Atlantic
Ali Wood meets the ARC+ crew who battled squalls and rough seas to tow a dismasted yacht to safety
Boat engine failure in the path of a bulk carrier – lessons learned
Perhaps I should have known better. My sailing companion for the trip from Chichester Marina to Gosport, in my 19ft Mk1 Shrimper, was Scaf, a bearded friend from Belgium. I’d…
Lessons learned from sailing home in a Force 5 after engine failure
Philip, my husband, needed the car so I decided to take my Offshore 8m Karima S from Aith to Brae, where I teach sailing. Last time had been a bit…
“I had a banana for a mast” 300 miles offshore: Lessons learned from a mid-Atlantic knockdown
Golden Globe Race entrant and former Clipper Race skipper Guy Waites suffers mast failure 300 miles from the Azores
“Sir, your boat is on fire” – one PBO reader’s charter trip drama
Prolific Learning from Experience author Chris Mardon recalls a suspicious yacht fire in the Caribbean
Dismasted on a delivery trip: How we fixed it and lessons learned
Rob Crabbe recalls the rig of a new yacht breaking on a delivery trip from Dartmouth to the Southampton Boat Show
260 miles of North Sea sailing in 2.5 days for Lowestoft fish and chips
Sailing across the North Sea from the Netherlands to the UK in two and a half days just for Lowestoft fish and chips. Was it worth it?
Learning to sail in a Mirror dinghy built from a kit – the hard way
Having built a Mirror dinghy and taken it to the Isles of Scilly on a ferry, Peter Baylis and friends realise they may have overlooked a few details...
Learning from experience: Chasing the leak on a sinking boat in Lyme Bay
Dr Brian Johnson became quickly and intimately acquainted with his engine’s silencer when it threatened to sink his Westerly Pageant