Ben Lowings shares how to tie the most useful sailing knots
seamanship
Trysail trimming: a guide for sailors
Ben Meakins explains how to set and deploy trysails to improve boat control in high-wind conditions
Hoisting and lowering the mainsail: troubleshooting problems
What can you do if your mainsail is hard to hoist or reluctant to drop? David Harding offers some advice
Lessons learned from the sinking of Morning Cloud 3
50 years on, Rupert Holmes looks at what the Morning Cloud 3 tragedy taught us about heavy weather sailing
What I learned during a boat knockdown while sailing alone
Freya Terry gets an early lesson in the perils of single-handed sailing when she embarks on a round-UK and Ireland circumnavigation in her distinctive She 31
Heavy weather sailing techniques: how to protect your boat in storm conditions
Øyvind Bordal and Magne Klann explain the steps you need to take to protect your rig and sails when the weather turns
The Juggens manoeuvre to get you off a lee shore
Peter Kersey draws on the wisdom of an old smack sailor to get his engineless Drascombe Lugger out of trouble off a lee shore
Sail trim: Sailing downwind without a spinnaker
Sailing efficiently when the wind comes astern doesn’t mean you have to fly a spinnaker or cruising chute. David Harding shows how to make the most of your upwind sails…
Solo sailing tips – anchoring and berthing
Andrew Blyth, who regularly sails his 9m Maurice Griffiths cutter single-handed, describes a selection of methods for dealing with tricky berthing and anchoring situations when single- or short-handed
Why you should still make a passage plan
Cruising guide author Robert Bailey explains the importance of not being completely dependent on electronic chartplotters and why it is still vital to make a passage plan
Basic survival celestial navigation
Making a ‘mer pass’ observation is one of the simplest, yet most useful navigation tools for sailors to possess, explains Jay Renton
Heaving to: a question of balance
How tricky is heaving to, and how much does it vary from boat to boat? We tried four different hull designs to find out. David Pugh reports
Arcona yacht sinking: Couple share how they tried to save their boat after the rudder stock broke
Ingmar and Katarina Ravudd tell PBO about the steps they took to save their Arcona yacht after a broken rudder stock punched a hole in the hull, causing the boat…
First-time boat skipper: tips for your first voyage in charge
Skippering a yacht for the first time is a pivotal experience; one that's rewarding if done right. Rupert Holmes explains how to ensure everything runs smoothly on your first voyage…
Sailing without an engine: tips to get home when it fails
Faced with an engine that won’t work, do we necessarily have to reach for the radio to summon help? Depending on circumstances, we may be able to help ourselves
“It was like doing a MOB recovery wearing a neck brace” – says Round the Island Race 2024 man overboard skipper
As if this year’s Round the Island Race wasn’t tough enough for competitors with winds gusting 45mph and a rough seastate with 3-4m waves, one boat had the additional challenge…
Broaching on a boat and how to prevent it
When the breeze picks up, how do you stop your boat taking charge and going where it wants? David Harding offers some suggestions for staying in control
Sailing to windward: how to tweak your sails to improve performance
Some boats need persuasion to make to windward, so tweaking the sails to best advantage can make all the difference. David Harding offers a few tips
Berthing a boat using wind and tide
Manoeuvring a boat into and out of a berth is one of the most frequent handling challenges facing boat owners – so don’t make life hard for yourself, says David…
The changes I made to my boat to get it to tack properly
Following a second visit to a Kelt 550 suffering from upwind reluctance, David Harding outlines the changes made to the boat so it can now tack properly