17 April 2012
As an island nation, we in the UK are used to seeing lighthouses around our coasts, but have you ever stopped to consider when they were first bu...
Read More
26 March 2012
Fire must be one of the most dangerous and feared accidents that could happen on a boat. It is perilous enough when it occurs on dry land, but wh...
Read More
26 March 2012
Are you confused about the value of flares? I am.
All the articles I read put forward such compelling arguments, some for, some against. As ...
Read More
14 March 2012
The Solent Forts
Approaching Portsmouth from the sea, early in my sailing career, I was most surprised to come across four large, round stru...
Read More
24 February 2012
Whether you are an experienced sailor or a novice, it’s likely that the time will come when you have to make the decision – do you ta...
Read More
30 January 2012
For centuries people whose lives depended on the weather have relied on Folklore to tell them what to expect. Farmers and sailors in particular d...
Read More
18 January 2012
2012 is the year the Olympic Games comes to London, but the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing competitions will be held in Weymouth Bay and Portland...
Read More
15 December 2011
The beginnings
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded in 1824, but went under the name of The National Institution for the Pres...
Read More
02 November 2011
The coastguard services are national organisations responsible for various services at sea. However, they have widely different responsibilities in di...
Read More
25 October 2011
No matter what sort of voyage a vessel is undertaking, it is likely that it will come across the phenomenon of the Tidal Race. This is a natural occur...
Read More
17 October 2011
Right – you’re on your way to your mooring, on the 2 nd Monday in August, to spend a relaxing weekend on the water, away from the tr...
Read More
11 October 2011
In 1978 the MS Munchen sent a garbled Mayday message from the mid-Atlantic. The ship was never found but an exhaustive search found just a few bi...
Read More
29 September 2011
Crossing sea areas, which a large volume of traffic is regularly using, is a totally different ball game to meeting a lone ship in open water. Vo...
Read More
11 September 2011
Films and books, with characters such as Long John Silver and more recently, Jack Sparrow, have romanticised the idea of pirates. But in reality ...
Read More
11 September 2011
Whether your preferred mode of transport is a small dinghy or a luxury yacht or cruiser, there is a chance that you might be unfortunate enough t...
Read More