A flotilla of well-wishers, including Britain’s largest working steamship, Shieldhall, waved and clapped the Ocean Globe Race fleet to the starting line opposite the Royal Yacht Squadron on the Isle…
Heather Prentice
Caro wins Fastnet, yacht sinks and four dismasted in treacherous race
Caro, a Botin 52 owned and skippered by Max Klink, is the overall winner of the 50th Rolex Fastnet in a punishing race that saw one yacht sink and four…
Orca ‘rams yacht’ off Shetland as close encounters spread to North Sea
Dr Wim Rutten, a 72-year-old retired Dutch physicist was sailing alone from Lerwick to Bergen when an orca appeared and hit the back of the aluminium hulled, seven tonne boat,…
Juvenile orcas imitate White Gladis, attacking yachts off the Iberian peninsula
Juvenile orcas attacking sailing yachts could be imitating the behaviour of one individual adult orca named White Gladis, scientists believe. Orcas have now sunk three yachts off the Iberian coast…
EIA report points finger at US ‘blood teak’ importers breaking sanctions
Thousands of tonnes of ‘blood teak’ have been imported from Myanmar into the United States in the past two years in defiance of US sanctions, the watchdog Environmental Investigation Agency…
£1.6bn investment to clean up rivers and coastlines
More than £1.6bn is to be invested by water companies in improving the industry’s infrastructure in England in the next two years, the water industry regulator Ofwat announced recently, in…
Jet skis finally bound by ‘Rules of the Road’
The new Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order will apply existing ship operator rules to personal watercraft and will enable watercraft users to be prosecuted for dangerous and negligent use. The order…
Flare death in Pacific reignites pyrotechnic debate
The tragic death of a Dutch sailor on New Year’s Day after setting off a flare has reignited criticism about the use of pyrotechnic flares on yachts. The RYA is…