A sailing miscellany
There’s a certain truth to the notion that owning a boat is like standing fully clothed under a cold shower, tearing up banknotes. These days, the internet has given us more options than ever to edge closer to bankruptcy. There’s no helping it – but is it best to get a damp and empty wallet …
Read more “Captain’s notes: when you’re shopping for boat parts, nothing beats the local chandlery”
To mark St Piran’s Day (March 5), we’ve collected a series of our short films exploring the beauty of Cornwall’s coastline. We invite you to enjoy these stunning landscapes and picturesque seaside towns with us… As with many saints, there’s little in the way of concrete evidence to tell us much about the life of …
Here we go again. It’s not exactly sailing season (in the UK, anyway), but England’s latest lockdown and many others elsewhere have nevertheless forced many sailors to leave what are arguably floating Covid-secure zones and head back onto land. With this in mind, we’ve come up with five ways to keep the sea in your …
She had always suffered from sea-sickness in rough weather, but even today’s moderate swell was turning Mary’s stomach, and Joseph was keen to get her ashore as quickly as possible. They had set out late, but still with thoughts of reaching safety before Mary went into labour. It had not been as easy as they …
Read more “Captain’s notes: the first Christmas, a sailing tale”
It may not be a strong tradition in the UK, but many parts of the world, including Poland, celebrate St Nicholas’ Day on December 6. It’s when Santa, whether you view him from a religious or secular perspective, brings gifts for children (and sometimes for adults too). It’s also a day worth noting for seafaring …
Read more “Captain’s notes: December 6 – a day for St Nicholas, patron of Sailors”
In Poland, unlike the UK, November 11 is not a day of remembrance in the way that Brits would understand it. It’s a celebration marking the anniversary of independence after more than a century of Russian, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian partition and rule. That’s understandable; the British notion of remembrance is rooted in armistice, which came …
Read more “Captain’s notes: November 11 – remembrance, independence, and the Polish sailors of WWII”
It’s not easy being confined to home (and dry land) just as another sailing season begins. So we’ve been exploring the excellent Project Gutenberg website to find books that provide virtual transport to the sea – and which can be downloaded or read online, free and legally, in a variety of formats. Here are 10 …
If Poland isn’t thought of as one of the great sailing nations, it’s understandable. After all, the country has historically had relatively limited access to the sea (at times, it’s had no land either), and for half a century after the Second World War the activities of would-be skippers and crew were severely limited by …
Sixty years ago, in the autumn of 1959, Brit James Wharram and Germans Jutta Schultze-Rohnhof and Ruth Merseburger (pictured below) sailed into the Conwy river on Wharram’s self-designed catamaran Rongo. The trio had just made history, with the first west to east North Atlantic crossing in a multi-hull. Wharram, Schultze-Rohnhof and Merseburger had already caught …
You don’t have to be British to drown, and your boat doesn’t have to be British to sink. For some, though, you do have to be British to benefit from the life-saving expertise of the RNLI… The RNLI is using two per cent of its funds on overseas projects aimed at preventing children from drowning. …
Read more “Captain’s notes: RNLI saving lives? How dare they!”