Well what can I say… I LOVE my new boots!! After enviously eyeing up my friends Aaron and Juliet sporting these sexy boots at the club during a recent regatta, I started doing some research. Dubarry boots are made in Ireland and they do all sorts of outdoor clothing and footwear. From what I can…
From what I have read about dis-masting, it sounds like retrieving the mast from the water to use as a jury rig would be almost impossible for a cruising couple to do. The conditions aren’t likely to be particularly favorable either! Try and keep the mainsail and boom to use as a jury rig. But…
If you own a New Zealand registered yacht and are planning on sailing it offshore, you need to comply with the Yachting NZ Category 1 safety regulations. As NZ is many hundreds of miles from any other countries, these safety regulations mean that boats are seaworthy and equipped with all the gear needed to make an…
Heaving to is a strategy for riding out a storm. Thrashing to windward while going nowhere can be hard on the boat, gear and crew. The trick is to get the yacht to lay around 45 degrees in to the wind and sea. Be aware however that you will make leeway downwind so you will…
Fires on boats are really bad. Poor Wildy nearly caught fire once ages ago just as we were about to start a race. Some wiring issue in the engine bay, and there was smoke, which thankfully one of my fabulous crew sniffed out and managed to extinguish before anything drastic happened. You really want to…
I am currently studying for my Ocean Yachtmaster Certificate. The syllabus requires that we learn about all sorts of different aspects of navigation, safety, boat handling, and much more. So this post is about all I need to know about Radar! For the Ocean Yachtmaster certification, you need to have a general understanding of the…
Astrolabe Sailing 