The Volvo Penta engine on our Maxi 84 Maximus is a re-badged version of the Perkins 103-06, itself originally imported from a Japanese company called Ishikawajima Shibaura Machinery. Perkins marketed…
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How an intercooled engine works
With an inter-cooled engine, the role of the seawater is to take away the heat from the freshwater. The seawater, or ‘raw water’, is a separate flow to the fresh…
Stuck up a 75ft mast in the middle of the Atlantic
Karen Parker had been sailing onboard their Oyster 56, Mistral of Portsmouth, with husband Chris and two crew, when their Code Zero headsail, designed for light winds, became jammed. With…
ARC+ yachts arrive in Grenada and injured crew transferred to superyacht
Alika, the largest yacht in the fleet, experienced sudden loss of steering on 21 November, throwing two crew off balance, one of whom suffered concussion and the other a serious…
Conquering the cold – from sea dipping to aquatic yoga and Wim Hof
“My grandfather taught me to enjoy cold water dips,” says Helena, shouting over the noise of the surf. “I used to do yoga with him at dawn, he was like…
Channel Hopping: Sailing La Vagabonde in Svalbard
Our resident YouTube aficionado catches up with Sailing La Vagabond to see why they’ve managed to maintain their seemingly unassailable position at the top of the sailing vlog pyramid
Choppy start for ARC 22 as yachts set sail across Atlantic
The fleet departed Las Palmas, Gran Canaria yesterday for Saint Lucia on the 37th edition of the ARC, with over 800 crew taking part, in monohulls, multihulls and one motorboat.…
Passing planning for a shakedown voyage
With Maximus, our PBO Project boat ready for her shakedown voyage from Chichester to Poole, I turned my attention to passage planning. I dug out my old logbook and realised…
New electronics on the PBO Project Boat
The day was approaching for Maximus’s shakedown cruise, a two-day voyage from Chichester to her new home at Cobbs Quay Marina, Poole. Before then, however, we needed to understand our…
Launching the PBO Project Boat
Chichester’s Dell Quay boatyard had been Maximus’s home for two years – and felt like our second home too, since we’d acquired the Maxi 84 project boat. We’d spent long…
Upgrading electronics on the PBO Project Boat
Upgrading electronics on Maximus seemed like a huge leap in the first weeks of ownership. We were still discovering new leaks and lockers, choosing antifouling and scraping the bottom. I…
What is NMEA 2000, SeaTalk 2, STng, Simnet and other systems?
NMEA 2000 uses the CAN (control area network) designed originally for the automotive market, but adapted for the marine industry. The older version, NMEA 0183, allowed a GPS or chartplotter…
‘Orcas are playing with the yachts’ – experts’ theories after sinking
Marine biologists say evidence suggests that orca interactions with yachts are ‘playful’ rather than aggressive, but at risk of becoming ‘learned behaviour
Two pilots rescued from liferaft after plane crashes into the sea
Pilots Paul Clifford and Duncan Laisney were rescued from a liferaft after engine failure caused caused them to ditch their light aircraft in waters off Jersey’s south-east coast. All three…
Video footage of shipwreck identified as steamship Virago
Six divers from Guernsey are celebrating ‘the discovery of a lifetime’ after identifying a wreck as steamship Virago that disappeared 140 years ago.
Channel Hopping: Outer Passage – formerly known as Sailing Panda
Our resident YouTube aficionado Kass Schmitt ponders if “as seen on YouTube” charters could be a new trend.
90 boats, 400 crew and a cat set sail across the Atlantic
PBO was at the start of the transatlantic rally to wave off the boats in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria as they set sail for Mindelo, Cape Verde. “It’s the perfect…
Transatlantic joy as Sweet Dreams sails again after tragedy
“John’s death was very sudden and unexpected,” says Roz Preston, a former special advisor to Tony Blair. “The first time someone asked me what I’d do with the boat, I…
Zeasar: the sailing cat
Cats have long enjoyed a relationship with sailors; living on trading, exploration and naval ships to control vermin, but it’s not often you see them on a 47ft yacht. Weighing…
Best boat varnish: 7 top options for gleaming woodwork
Few things are as quintessential to the archetypal sailboat as gleaming, iridescent woodwork that is indicative of a recent coat with one of the best boat varnish products on the…