On the evening of December 19, 1981, the ship Union Star suffered engine failure off the south coast of Cornwall. With a storm building, the Coastguard attempted a helicopter rescue. But the weather forced them to stand off and the RNLI launched the Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne to help instead. Nobody from the Union Star …
Sea-sickness is a common malaise, experienced by most sailors at one time or another. But setting sail alone for even short periods can also have effects on mental health. Most sailors know the story of Donald Crowhurst. When he slipped his lines in Teignmouth to take part in the first Golden Globe race neither he …
When Vice-admiral Horatio Nelson sent the rallying cry “England expects that every man will do his duty” from HMS Victory ahead of the Battle of Trafalgar, he signalled his message using flags. In these days of electronic communication it might seem that such signalling methods are old hat – but flags, the phonetic alphabet and …
Read more “Sail training theory tutorial 2: flags, morse code and the phonetic alphabet”
The Shipping Forecast is practically a British Institution. It’s listened to by sailors and landlubbers alike for the poetry of its sounds. It’s also complete gibberish unless you know the special code, which is also used in many other forecasts. So what does it all mean? Before reading on, we recommend that you download your …
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 …
For most sailors, it is second nature to pull on a life jacket before slipping the lines. Modern designs are lightweight and comfortable to wear, and can last many years if serviced regularly and professionally. Early life jackets, though, were a different matter altogether. They were bulky and inconvenient, yet did the same job that …
Sail power is making a comeback, as shown by the recent example of the cargo ship that docked in Torquay bringing wine, coffee and olive oil from Portugal. Nordlys (pictured) was built on the Isle of Wight in 1873, which could make her the oldest vessel of her kind still operating. But that’s not all …
Tides rise, and tides fall. Sometimes we sail by deep water, and six hours later the same place can be dry. You are going to need to know how much water is in a given place at a specific time in order to navigate safely – and the latest episode of Sail Ho! explains just …
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Captain Krystyna Chojnowska-Liskiewicz, the Polish sailor and marine engineer who became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe solo, has died at her home at the age of 84. Born in 1936 in Warsaw, Captain Chojnowska-Liskiewicz began sailing in childhood. She moved to Gdańsk to study shipbuilding at Gdańsk University of Technology, where she met …
Continued from part I (go back). Cardinal marks These show sailors where they can expect safe water. A north cardinal mark means there is safe water to the north of the buoy (maybe also the east and west, but don’t be certain), an east cardinal mark means there is safe water to the east of …
Read more “Sail training theory tutorial 8: buoys and buoyage part II”