Mick and Bee have cruised for 15 years and over 70,000 miles on less than US$250,000 all told, including the purchase price of their gaffer, Hannah. And they have numerous northern high latitude cruises under their belt. Mick writes about what it takes to make live-aboard cruising possible on a tight budget.
There’s a whole genre of books and articles on how to buy a boat and go cruising on very little money. But really, how often do you meet people who have actually made it work for any length of time?
We got our hands on a real live professional meteorologist, who is also an offshore sailor, and wrung 4 great tips out of him that will make your voyages both safer and more comfortable.
Some of the most fun we can have while cruising is while exploring ashore, but what if there is no dinghy dock? How do you make sure your dinghy is safe while you’re gone? Here’s an easy-to-deploy mooring you can build that solves the problem…and it will save your back too.
Colin continues his tale of a fall voyage to Scotland, complete with snug loch anchorages, a gale in confined tidal waters, and a fast canal transit, wrapping up with a summary of the Boréal 55 based on a good real-world test—lots more to learn and enjoy.
There are few trickier places to sail than the waters surrounding the British Isles and when you throw in fall weather that goes double. Colin puts his decades of experience in the area to work to make it look easy—we can all learn a lot about coastal passagemaking from this article on the maiden voyage of the first Boréal 55.
There’s a lot of great weather information out there these days…and a lot of hype too. Here are some tips that will help you tell the difference and decide what’s worth spending your money on.
For cold weather sailing we figure we have foul weather gear, the clothes to go under it, as well as boots and hats, pretty much sorted out, but gloves have remained a challenge…until now.
After seven years of building great expedition sailboats, Boréal have put everything they have learned into the new 55. And no one is better qualified to tell you about this new boat, that we can all learn from, than Colin, who supervised her build.
The skills required to become a competent skipper of an ocean crossing yacht are not that difficult to learn, but there are a couple of things we must do to attain that goal.
The Golden Globe Race 2018 is on and AAC will be there. This post is one of the most exciting we have ever published, with news that will make a real difference to you, the readers of AAC…don’t even think about missing this.
John answers an interesting question on the relative benefits of installing a watermaker…or not.
A little tip that can make a big positive change to your quality of life when voyaging in cold climates.
Christopher looks at the gear choices he and Molly made when they fitted out their Boreal 47, in light of their just completed 30,000 mile voyage to some of the world’s most challenging cruising destinations.
Though we’ve visited Grand Bank before and we’ve spent numerous nights tied up in Port-aux-Basques, that doesn’t mean we’ve experienced all these places have to offer!
If you are looking to buy a new or used boat, you need to read this book, because it will save you a lot of heart ache.
Sure, listen to local knowledge, and cruising guides can help choose a destination, but sometimes it’s better to go your own way and make up your own mind.
There are so many skills required to be a competent seaman. The trick to getting out there cruising is prioritizing the ones that really matter.
Colin is one of the best sailing travel writers in the business, but he has truly outdone even his own high standard with this lovely tale of tropical islands, drug smugglers, and folk musicians.
An outport in Placentia Bay? Who knew!
No matter how long you have been around boats, there’s always something new to learn.
We sailors love to talk about anchor tests, and yes, they are useful, but never forget that they are all fundamentally flawed.