Boat Chat
Going boating is all about swapping yarns and
telling tall tales, so we recruited some of the finest nautical
storytellers to share some of their stories from the high seas.
Whether it's a cautionary tale on boat handling, practical pointers, or just idle musings, our regular contributors are here for you.
- If you don’t care where you are going...
- Sam Llewellyn is philosophical about a change of plan.
- Towage and Salvage - Five minute briefing
- Learn more about salvage, towage, fees and agreements.
- But in an anchorage like this, who cares?
- A poetic Sam Llewellyn muses on the beauty of sailing in the Hebrides.
- The Quiet Life
- Sam Llewellyn drifts engineless around the Aegean.
- Jupiter hung hot and red in the north western sky
- Sam Llewllyn affectionately remembers a passage through the Mediterranean.
- Equinoctial cruising
- Sam Llewellyn postpones the winter haul out for one last cruise.
- Feeling thirsty
- A faulty fuel gauge can lead you to believe there's more fuel in the tank than you think, as Simon Jinks found out, the hard way
- Heavenly bodies
- Sam Llewellyn on the heavenly bodies that give you a tow.
- Escape route
- Escape routes are a vital part of any plan when manoeuvring or passage planning.
- …but the sun is warm
- Sam Llewellyn goes on a spring cruise
- Taking charge of your charter boat
- It’s always worth checking that everything operates as it should before you leave the marina.
- Sam Llewellyn on Mediterranean cruising.
- Sam Llewellyn reflects on the passage to the Mediterranean for a season of cruising in the sun.
- Views of cruising
- Everyone has a different view of cruising.
- Chain brake
- Simon Jinks talks through flaking the anchor chain and using a chain brake.
- Seize the moment
- How often do you check the shackles on your boat?
- Power to the people!
- Are yachts too power-hungry, generators too popular, and engine alternator systems simply inefficient? By Jake Kavanagh
- Quieter cruising
- As cruising gets busier Sam Llewellyn asks whether we should turn our attention towards some of Britain’s less-travelled cruising grounds.
- Seacocks
- Advice on buying new seacocks and keeping them in good working order.
- How the other half live
- Ever wondered what it’s like to spend a day on a super yacht? Jake Kavanagh gives us a taste of how the other half live.
- Shout! Shout...Let it all out!
- Sam Llewellyn ponders the psychology of shouting on-board.
- Fancy a Brazilian?
- Jake Kavanagh heads south for a taste of boating Latin style
- Smoking in hot Amsterdam
- Belt tension is easy to adjust and can save a multitude of problems
- Taking ground
- In Brittany, big boats sail straight in to the harbour at half-ebb...
- Misfitting out
- James Stevens laments the lack of stowage for liferafts...
- The floating office
- Huge advances in satellite communication and a price crash in airtime are making it easier for your boat to become a floating office.
- Passage pastimes
- Sam Llewellyn appreciates what the best passage pastime is...
- Don't you just love a good chandler?
- The RYA is, of course, the first place that people go to for their training. Or is it?
- Anchor Watch
- It’s a hard call to ask for an anchor watch, but well worth it.
- 'Cruising on Ice'
- Sam Llewellyn concludes that as far as winter cruising is concerned ice belongs firmly in a glass.
- SPLASHERS
- Jake Kavanagh takes a non-textbook view of man overboard recovery
- Crew communication
- The language of boat handling; but does everyone get it?
- Recovery of Man Overboard
- Techniques for man overboard recovery for powerboats and RIBs.
- Fog
- Simon Jinks, RYA Instructor, talks fog; thick fog.
- Your lifejacket...
- ...lifesaver or wreath?
- The glamorous world of Riva...
- Just how much varnish does it take to create ‘that’ look.
- Hurricane Hole
- Sam Llewellyn experiences a bit of trouble in the South of France
- For best results read the instructions
- Jake Kavanagh asks how many of us read the instructions on the tin.
- Improvising with underwear
- As a sailing instructor, when you ask your clients wife for her bra and knickers you know it’s a strange day. By Simon Jinks, Yachtmaster Examiner and Journalist
- Receiving you five-by-five
- Is the humble VHF radio a blessing or a curse?
Jake Kavanagh, yachting journalist.
- Mysteries of the sea
- Yachting journalist Sam Llewellyn on how sad it is if we, as boaters, ignore the natural world.
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- The ingenuity of the cruising yachtsman
- There is no such thing as an ‘ordinary’ yachtsman - you only have to look at the fleet assembling in Plymouth for the 2010 Jester Challenge to know. Jake Kavanagh, yachting journalist.
- GPS - get position support
- The incessant beeping of an alarm is a normal occurrence in today’s boating environment.
- Nova Scotia: Where the schooner is king
- Here you can travel vicariously to some of the far flung corners of the globe in search of little known gems. One such cruising ground is coast of Nova Scotia, more specifically the port of Lunenburg.
- A Baltic sojourn – by accident
- As part of an occasional series, we will be heading to some of the more obscure cruising grounds in search of a good yarn. This month we travel vicariously to the Finnish coastline, where yachting journalist Jake Kavanagh kicks us off with an impromptu bit of exploration...
- Brambles and hooks
- We were ¾ of a mile upwind of the Bramble bank when the overheat alarm went off.
- Failing to stop
- Yachting journalist Jake Kavanagh on budgies and brakes.
- The Straits of Magellan or the Menai Strait?
- Yachting journalist Sam Llewellyn mulls over the promise of heading to far flung shores this summer...
- Bears, buoys and bottoms
- Simon Jinks, RYA Instructor, talks about running aground and the need to look at the whole picture...