-
You Need More Than Money
24 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: You Need More Than MoneySome thoughts from Colin on vital training for voyaging sailors. Taking the steps he suggests could save your cruise.
-
Far From The Maddening Crowd*
13 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Far From The Maddening Crowd*Colin’s clear and insightful summary of their season cruising the Windward Islands of the Caribbean. This is the real story on this popular cruising destination from a deeply experienced voyager.
-
The Long Ocean Road To South Georgia—Part II
9 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesFree
Read more: The Long Ocean Road To South Georgia—Part IIPart 2 of Colin’s story about a man who designed and built his own boat and then sailed her to one of the toughest voyaging destinations in the world. Don’t miss this inspiring read.
-
The Long Ocean Road To South Georgia—Part I
33 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesFree
Read more: The Long Ocean Road To South Georgia—Part IColin’s story about a man that dreamt of building a great boat…and did.
-
Us And Them
19 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesFree
Read more: Us And ThemBoat Boys in the Eastern Caribbean. Now there’s a subject to rouse passionate debate in any group of cruisers. Colin does his usual insightful and sensitive job of exploring the issue, along with some great tips for dealing with the practitioners of that trade.
-
Paradise Found—or Lost?
13 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFree
Read more: Paradise Found—or Lost?Sad to leave Grenada, Lou and Colin carry on up the island chain, with stops at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Tobago Cays.
-
Keeping The Water Out—Deck
8 CommentsReading Time: 9 minutesFree
Read more: Keeping The Water Out—DeckColin continues in his pursuit of watertight integrity by looking at ways to waterproof deck fittings.
-
Lights Out!
20 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Lights Out!After a stressful passage from Trinidad, Colin and Lou reach Grenada and a warm Caribbean welcome.
-
Keeping The Water Out—Topsides
37 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFree
Read more: Keeping The Water Out—TopsidesThere are few things more miserable on a boat at sea than salt water below from deck leaks. And if said leaks get bad enough, they can sink you.
-
Don’t Leave It Too Late
25 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFreeRead more: Don’t Leave It Too LateIt’s a time of year when all of us, hopefully, are focused on the things that really matter, family, friends and life direction, and Colin has the perfect post to fit into that. Don’t miss it. I promise it will make you think and it might just change your life.
-
Watertight Bulkheads
24 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Watertight BulkheadsThough watertight bulkheads are arguably not imperative on a cruising boat they could give you some extra time when it really counts.
-
Life In The Bus Lane*
13 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Life In The Bus Lane*Pélerin serves her time in a boatyard in Trinidad in preparation for heading to the Caribbean.
-
What We Did On Our Summer Holidays
4 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: What We Did On Our Summer HolidaysSo how do you unwind from a long and challenging voyage across the Atlantic to Brazil by sailboat? Well, if you are Colin, you do a long and challenging science project by…you guessed it, sailboat.
-
What’s New In Alternative Energy?
47 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: What’s New In Alternative Energy?Developments in alternative energy systems are coming thick and fast these days, so Colin visited the Southampton Boat Show and has filed this report on the latest in fuel cells, solar panels, and hydro-generators.
-
Brazil As A Cruising Destination
21 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Brazil As A Cruising DestinationColin provides a clear-eyed analysis of the benefits and challenges of cruising Brazil. Not only is this chapter of use to those with that country in their cruising plans, Colin does a masterful job of discussing the issues that a voyager visiting any country with a very different language and culture from their own should consider.
-
Crash Testing a Relationship
22 CommentsReading Time: 12 minutesFree
Read more: Crash Testing a RelationshipGoing cruising with your partner may sound romantic, and it is. But there are also few activities that are more stressful on a relationship. Colin tells the story of his first tough passage with Lou. One that they took on intentionally to see how they would manage as a team at sea. It’s an example that all couples considering the voyaging life should emulate—Crash Test the Relationship before committing everything to a new life on the ocean.
-
Our Changing Oceans
19 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Our Changing OceansJimmy Cornell is undoubtedly one of the most important people to offshore voyaging of his generation. Colin caught up to him for a wide ranging interview on what this consummate entrepreneur is planning next as well as his latest publication.
-
Spade Rudders—Ready for Sea?
28 CommentsReading Time: 8 minutesFree
Read more: Spade Rudders—Ready for Sea?Some time ago I posted here with my views on the suitability of spade rudders for offshore cruising. Having lost a spade rudder that looked to be in A1 condition, naturally my thoughts at the time were coloured by that disaster. Despite the fact that I had up until that time owned three yachts that had […]
-
Forward Into The Past
33 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFreeRead more: Forward Into The PastMost of our regular readers will know well that I am a dedicated fan of metal boats, so the following post may come as something of a surprise. For although Lou and I chose aluminium for our own voyaging boat, I still retain a love of wooden boats—aesthetically at least—particularly the honest, robust gaff-rigged wooden […]
-
Coming To a Remote Spot Near You…
28 CommentsReading Time: 4 minutesFreeRead more: Coming To a Remote Spot Near You…In my experience long distance cruisers are great lovers of the marine environment, whether it be clean seas, marine wildlife or their favourite wild places. If that is indeed true, we’d be the last people to want to cause harm to pristine places, either deliberately or unwittingly. And yet, as I recently learned, the latter […]
-
Éric Tabarly
37 CommentsReading Time: 6 minutesFree
Read more: Éric TabarlyThe red trimaran alongside us crashes through another short steep sea and a jet of water with the ferocity of a fire hose blasts her from stem to stern as she claws her way upwind into a steady 35 knots at the start of the 1986 Route du Rhum race off the French port of […]
-
Brazil’s Green Heart
5 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: Brazil’s Green HeartAfter a few days in Rio, Colin and Lou are ready for peace and quiet, which they seek in Mata Atlantica, a little known natural area of rainforests and savannahs that runs from Brazil down to Argentina, followed by a visit to the charming old city of Paraty.
-
The Stars May Be Out…
14 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesFree
Read more: The Stars May Be Out…Sometimes cruising in foreign lands in a foreign language can be exhausting and overwhelming. That’s when the kindness of strangers can make all the difference. Colin describes just such an experience during their approach to Rio de Janeiro.
-
Two Anchors Done Right
29 CommentsReading Time: 7 minutesMembers
Read more: Two Anchors Done RightColin discusses how to set two anchors when there is no other way to anchor safely.
-
Keeping The Water Flowing
91 CommentsReading Time: 5 minutesMembers
Read more: Keeping The Water FlowingColin has some great tips that will help you maintain your engine’s raw water system.
