A retired businessman is halfway through an odyssey to circumnavigate Britain and meet every Harbour Master along the way. In 2020, Mark Ashley-Miller sailed his 34ft Nauticat 331 Good Dog from Oban to Skye via Mull; the length of the Outer Hebrides

Choosing the right antifouling is one of the most crucial sailing decisions you’ll make all year. New sails, carefully tensioned rigging and vigilant balance and trim are worthless if beneath your boat resides a malevolent hybrid between a coral reef

“You’ve got to be joking!” muttered Susie from deep under the duvet, ‘This is meant to be a holiday!’ She had a point. Four in the morning is not the sort of time you expect to be getting up in the middle of a holiday, and I have to say that I wasn’t

Late last summer we bought an Eagle 525, a lovely pocket sailing cruiser, for our retirement. It was our first foray into keelboat ownership. We’re by no means inexperienced, having sailed on and off for over 50 years, but most of our sailing has bee

My best friend, Will Heslop, and I were both students attending good universities, both lining ourselves up for internships in our last summer before adulthood. But when the pandemic led to the cancellation of Will’s internship and ended my search fo

Like many people, we have found the winter COVID restrictions particularly trying, and are pinning our hopes on a safe summer to come. The memory of the weeks we did manage to spend on the water last year has certainly lifted our spirits. There was a

Got a question? Email pbo@futurenet.com Here’s just a selection of the latest questions from PBO readers. Email or write to the address on page 5 and our experts will answer your queries Q I attach a photo of damage done recently to the prow on my Om

or write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. I read with interest the recent article by Peter Poland about modern gaffers and the advantages of the gaff rig design were well described. However, I was disappo

Price: £4,000-£8,000 In the 1960s there were many designs that attempted to capitalise on the success of the Folkboat, while offering more space and the economies of building in fibreglass. The 27ft Albin Vega was the most commercially successful of

Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team has been knocked out of the Prada Cup final by their Italian rivals in light-wind conditions. Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli won the Series 7-1 over Ainslie’s INEOS Team UK. At the time of going to press, the Italian te

Size D batteries are used in most lifebuoy lights and in some bigger torches. However AA is the size you’re most likely to find ‘lying around’ in an emergency. What many people don’t realise is that an AA is the same length as a size D, so it will wo

Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at pbo@futurenet.com, tel: 0330 390 6467, or write to the address on page 5 Redevelopment of Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour is to be completed in time for the marina’s 50th anniversa

Following on from the Crabber 24 MkI, the Shrimper 19 put designer Roger Dongray and builder Cornish Crabbers even more firmly on the map. It remains the company’s most popular boat. This year the owners association, possibly one of the largest anywh

Price: £160,000-£190,000 The sea keeping qualities of this Judel/Vrolijk design from 2007 have been proven beyond doubt by Jean Socrates, whose Naiad 380 Nereida has now completed three circumnavigations via the Great Capes. The last one, completed w

The first phases of the Thomas Telford Corpach Marina – a community enterprise run through the Caol Regeneration Company – are on track to open this summer. When fully complete the marina will provide a Scottish west coast sanctuary for visitors to t

Price: £25,000-£33,000 When the first two all-mahogany boats were built in the mid 1960s, no one would have predicted this sturdy long keel 35-footer would became the blueprint for success of what would become one of Europe’s best known boatbuilders.

Price: £90,000-£120,000 This two cabin aft cockpit design, built from 1996 to 2006, blends good sea keeping abilities with a high degree of comfort. It also packs in a lot of accommodation for a 36-footer of this era. There’s top quality woodwork thr

Price: £35,000-£55,000 This well-known yard grew out of the project to build Sweden’s Pelle Petterson-designed challenger for the 1977 America’s Cup and quickly gained a reputation for its high quality performance cruisers. However it’s Peter Norlin

There are plenty of ways that a mast or its rigging can fail, but there are often key telltale signs that a problem is about to develop. Fatigue is one of the biggest factors when it comes to the issues that lead to problems and lack of articulation

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Despite the pandemic, the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) Awards subcommittee found many cruising achievements to recognise in 2020. The OCC Barton Cup, which salutes an exceptional voyage, goes to Bert ter Hart whose non-stop, unsponsored, solo circumnavi