Cruising Helmsman

DAY 90 of the Covid-19-enforced isolation for all Australians. Ninety days of separation from basic daily humanity. Where does the cruising sailor sit with all this? For some it is a doddle, I chatted with Lin Pardey and partner David on the yacht Sa

She has been turning heads for 50 years as Australia’s third challenger for the America’s Cup back in 1970, Gretel II now resides in calmer waters of Hobart’s Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania cutting a fine figure out on the Derwent River. Often consider

Yachties took the opportunity to thank hundreds of volunteer firefighters and their families from brigades around Australia and took them sailing for a fantastic day on the water. Families arrived at event hubs for a morning barbecue before they step

ATL Composites is celebrating 40 years of operations, supplying composite products to the marine, automotive, industrial and construction industries in Australia and around the world. Paying tribute to the vision of founder, Arnie Duckworth, who esta

The MyState Bank Australian Wooden Boat Festival took out gold at the national Qantas Australian Tourism Awards for major festivals and events. Festival general manager Paul Stephanus said the festival thanked the 400-strong volunteers for its succes

While being ‘hove-to’ and waiting for the storm that is Covid 19 to pass, Gary Hembrow from the Down Under Rally intends to resume cruising the SW Pacific later in the year, along with all those who also wish to head west to New Caledonia. To maintai

Yachts of all shapes and sizes will start arriving at Shellharbour Marina at The Waterfront, Shell Cove in mid-2021. Work on the boat harbour and tourism precinct is progressing with hotel and tavern operators secured, piling for the inner harbour co

The beautiful, New Zealand built HMAV Bounty of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ movie fame, also popular in Australia’s 1987 First Fleet reenactment, is now rotting away in Bangkok. Built and launched in 1978 at the Whangarei Engineering Company shipyard for

Ronstan has released its range of soft attachment blocks that have the highest ratio of dynamic load to sheave diameter of any block in its keelboat block range. Featuring fully machined aluminium cheeks and sheaves incorporating a full contact, self

Propeller coatings company, Propspeed, will be represented by two known distributors in Australia: Sam Allen Wholesale and All Marine Spares. It is intended these partnerships will increase accessibility to yacht owners for Propspeed’s award-winning

FOR centuries the Malacca Straits have been one of the most important trading routes in the world. Over the centuries Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Chinese, British and Dutch vessels have all sailed in these waters. Todeay vessel types have changed, vari

THIS description is unapologetically multihull-centric, because that is what we sail. Sadly, we cannot afford to simultaneously own a monohull. There are installations on monohulls using the system described here, but the development work, plus this

MOST recreational diesel engines are rated to 250 to 1000 hours of running annually and one hour in 12 at wide open throttle (WOT). But not so the N4.50, which is rated up to 3000 hours. Sure it has the same one hour in 12 at WOT but the additional r

Yachts often feel too small when living aboard, but too big when on the hard or going alongside. Similarly, dinghies are way too small when in use, but too big and heavy when you need to haul them up a beach or on board the mother ship. It’s tempting

SURROUNDED by the clear beautiful waters of Port Stephens, Soldiers Point Marina is mostly hidden from the world, nestled as it is deep in the harbour. But it is no wonder that Soldiers Point Marina is one of the world’s best, one of only seven marin

CHANGES at Beneteau over the past several years continue to roll out through the series of yachts coming off the production line of the world’s largest boatbuilder. We have seen the First range of Beneteau’s resurrected via a combination of buying a