All six seagrass beds in Torbay, Devon are now marked out for protection by the Ocean Conservation Trust's Blue Meadows Project
New marker buoys in place to highlight where sensitive seagrass habitats are in Torbay, DevonSailors and motorboaters are being urged to look out for 23 Blue Meadows marker buoys in Torbay, Devon and to avoid anchoring in these areas to protect vital habitats.
More than 65 hectares of sensitive seagrass meadows – all the six seagrass beds in Torbay – are protected under the scheme which is being led by the...
The trailerable Tideway 10 has the benefits of her sister vessel, the Tideway 12, but is lighter and easier to launch and recover by hand
The Tideway 10 leaving no wake on a cold morning in FebruaryFond as I was of my Tideway 12, I let her go while looking for something lighter and easier to launch and recover by hand on steep slipways or through shingle.
Sometimes it’s not possible to use the car as a...
Inspired by a stunning homebuilt yacht, Ali Wood visits the Boat Building Academy to learn how any of us can become boatbuilders
Matt holds an oak jointed stem which will form part of the 14ft glued clinker boat behind himHow to become a boat builder in 40 weeks
Moored in Las Palmas, among dazzling white GRP yachts, Sweet Dreams is a boat I’ll never forget.
An elegant monohull crafted in wood from many different trees, the hull is western yellow cedar with Khaya mahogany veneer and the...
Cruising pioneer Peter Tangvald’s son, Thomas, disappeared after sailing from South America in 2014. Kathy Catton recalls her memories of him
Thomas Tangvald aboard his 22ft traditional Itchen Ferry cutter Melody in 2004Thomas Thor Tangvald was born at sea on his father’s boat, L’Artemis de Pytheas. It was 1976, by which time Thomas’s father Peter Tangvald was already a seasoned, competent sailor, having completed a five-year round-the-world voyage on an earlier boat, Dorothea, a 32ft...
Peter Poland looks at the history of popular rig designs and how the different types affect boat performance
Annie Hill’s FanShi can be easily reefed, a real benefit of the junk rig when sailing solo. Credit: Annie HillHaving once asked yacht designer Andrew Wolstenholme if we could meet to discuss the evolution of modern sail boat rigs – and the continuing popularity of some older designs – we talked about boats in general and...
Zoran Glozinic does a bit of bilge pump troubleshooting to try and work out why the float-activated switch on his automatic pump won't work
Malfunctioning automatic pump ready for another bucket test. Note air escape hole drilled in body. Credit: Zoran GloznicBilge pump troubleshooting: getting the float activation switch to work
Recently I welcomed a classic...
Pat Manley and Oliver Ballam demystify boat electrics, starting with switches and relays
Switches turn on or off the flow of electricity in a circuit' relays provide control over the flow. Credit: FernhurstUnderstanding boat electrics: switches and relays
Switches allow a circuit to be ‘made’ or ‘broken’ so that a light, motor or whatever can be activated or isolated.
A switch has at least one pair of contacts that can be made or broken but it can be much more complicated.
It can make or break several...
John Calton builds his own 10in touchscreen DIY chartplotter with GPS and AIS for a fraction of the cost of an off-the-shelf system
Positioning his chartplotter screen on the deckhead means John can keep watch as well as easily adjust the chart’s features. Credit: John CaltonHow to build a £200 DIY chartplotter
Having had two new knees, my wife decided after 40 years to give up the dubious pleasure of sailing with me.
So, we sold our 10m boat and I bought a little Beneteau Antares 620 to allow me to remain...
Ali Wood’s Sailor radio is given the VIP treatment
ACM Marine’s Adam McMenemy installs the refurbished Sailor radio. Credit: Alison WoodPortsmouth Museum and Art Gallery has our Sailor radio on display.
OK, it’s not actually Maximus’s radio – that was in the workshop at the time of our visit – but it’s a similar set belonging to Sir Alec Rose.
In 1967-68 this impressive radio was his only means of contact as he sailed solo around the world in Lively Lady.
...Winston Collinge uses an easy and attractive way to feed a cable through the length of his mast
The magnet easily dragged a nail and light line through the mast. Credit: Winston CollingeI’m very grateful to a previous PBO correspondent who gave me the idea of using a magnet to install a new wire down an existing mast.
On my Colvic Atlanta we had the forestay come away from the mast due to a bad repair years ago under a previous ownership, so we sourced a Seldén headbox to cure that particular problem.
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