How do you measure sailing experience? For most of us it will be harbours visited and miles logged. But there’s more to it than just numbers; certain stretches of water pose unique challenges and their reputations hold a strange power in the minds of all who set sail.
Completing one of these passages is an initiation, a rite of passage, that engenders the respect of others and a new self-confidence. With a nod to the 1980s YM book, Classic Passages, the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation and Imray have collated some of the milestone passages through and around British waters that should be on every cruising sailor’s to-do list. So how many have you done? This article is from the series Rites of Passage, commissioned by Yachting Monthly, the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation and Imray, which will be available as a book in 2020.
St Kilda has often been described as the edge of the world and it is easy to see why. The small archipelago of rocks and islands really does feel like a dot in the ocean. Miss St Kilda and the next stop is America!
It was early July and we had gathered at Loch Ewe to take over Sai See from my sister. Sai See is my parents’ 40ft teak Sparkman and Stephens centreboard yawl. A lovely boat, both to look at and to sail, it has been part of our family for nearly 40 years. I had recently passed my Yachtmaster, but it was only my third time as skipper. On board with me were my husband-to-be, Daniel, and two friends from university.
We had arrived in a small hire car packed with luggage and provisions, with packets of crisps and Cup-a-Soup slotted into every available shelf and door pocket. It soon transpired that my sister and crew had almost run out of food and they somehow retained most of ours as they relieved us of the car and waved farewell.
この記事は Yachting Monthly の November 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Yachting Monthly の November 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Midsummer on Hanö
This wonderful little island in the south-east of Sweden is a real gem off the beaten track
ADVENTURE SAILING TO HAITI
After spending two months in the Dominican Republic, Andy Brown sails west to Haïti bringing medical and school supplies to the town of Mole Saint Nicholas
In celebration of bad sailing
New owner Monty Halls tests his sailing skills with his family aboard their Colvic 34 ketch, Sobek. A recently qualified Day Skipper, Monty faces a few unexpected challenges...
Winter brings excitement and opportunity
Oddity’s double glazing, insulation and heating create a warm, homely environment as I bash out this column.
ADVENTURE MAISIE GOES TO GOES
To depart or not to depart? That is the question. Is it safer to stay, or suffer the wind and weather of a rough North Sea?
'MAYDAY, GRANDAD OVERBOARD!'
When David Richards and his grandson Henry went out racing from lowey, they didn't expect their sail to end with a lifeboat rescue
VERTUE
For a 25-footer, the Vertue has a huge reputation and has conquered every ocean. So what makes this little boat quite such an enduring success? Nic Compton finds out
Sailing siblings
Mabel Stock, her brother Ralph, a friend Steve and an unnamed paying passenger passed through the Panama Canal in December 1919 on the sturdy Norwegian cutter Ogre. They were towed to a quiet anchorage in Balboa away from the boat traffic but within rowing distance of the shore.
TECHNICAL MAINSAIL MODIFICATIONS
Safety and performance improved hugely when Mike Reynolds reduced the size of his mainsail and re-configured the systems controlling it
PILOTAGE DONE PROPERLY
Chartplotters are an amazing aid, but can detract from your real-world pilotage if not used with caution, says Justin Morton