The Golden Globe Race leaves Les Sables on Sunday
The retro single-handed circumnavigation starts 6 September at 14:30 — no satellites, no GPS, paper charts — with the farewell fortnight already drawing the crowds to Port Olona.
Vessel Mag — DESTINATIONS · CHARTER · LIFE AT SEA
Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, for people who don't sail
Every autumn the town fills with a century of sailing history — gaff rigs and grand-prix machines racing the same gulf — and the spectator programme is simply: be there, walk the quay, watch the light.
The galley: cooking in a seaway, and why the chef starts at five
Gimballed stove, one-pot logic, and a fridge that holds exactly what the week needs — the kitchen that feeds the boat runs on physics the guests never see.
Christmas in the Caribbean or summer in the Med: the honest calendar
Two seasons, two winds, two price curves — and a third option in the shoulder months that the smart money quietly books instead.
The Hardangerfjord: Norway at walking pace
A hundred and eighty kilometres of orchard-covered cliffs, waterfalls you can walk behind, and water deep enough to make anchoring a navigation exercise — the fjord cruise is the anti-Mediterranean, and it is magnificent.
Copa del Rey closes tonight: the Bay of Palma's August verdicts
The 44th edition's final races and prize-giving conclude today, 8 August — a week later than the recent pattern, and against the fullest fortnight of the Mallorcan summer.
How to fold a regatta into your charter week
Watch the fleet from a bay, berth in the racing port for the night it matters, and be somewhere empty when everyone else is somewhere full — the spectator's art, chartered.
Charter
Chartering with children: the week that works
The right boat, the honest swim rules, and the invention of the anchor-day siesta — a crewed week with kids is the best family holiday going, planned on four decisions.
Motor or sail: matching the boat to the week you actually want
The choice isn't romance versus speed — it's how many miles, how much fuel, and what the weather is allowed to decide.
The preference sheet: the form that writes your week
Two pages of questions sent a month before boarding — and the single highest-leverage half hour of the entire charter.
A gulet week in Turkey: how the blue cruise works
A wooden motorsailer, a crew of three to five, full board, and pine-covered bays an hour apart — the Turkish blue cruise is the Mediterranean's best-value week afloat, if you know what you're booking.
Life Aboard
Your first night passage: what to expect as a guest
Why the boat leaves at ten to arrive at eight, what the red lights mean, and how to be the passenger crews are glad to have on a midnight watch.
Marina etiquette: lines, noise and dock shoes, briefly
The rules of the wall are short, physical and mostly unwritten — and following them is the difference between being the yacht people wave at and the one they WhatsApp about.
A day at anchor: the unofficial timetable
Coffee by eight, swimming before it's hot, lunch long, the afternoon's quiet hours observed by everyone including the boat — how a good anchorage day actually runs.
Regattas & Shows
Which boat show fits your plans: a short taxonomy
January indoors in Düsseldorf, February sprawl in Miami, March docks in Palm Beach, autumn's Monaco finale — the calendar's five big stops, matched to what each visitor is actually shopping for.
The Monaco Yacht Show: a first-timer's plan
Four days in late September, Port Hercule filled with the year's superyacht output — the show that rewards the visitor who arrives with appointments, insoles and a hotel booked months ago.
Cowes Week: how to watch the Solent's oldest argument
Nine days, several hundred boats, one narrow strait with tide enough to float a grudge — the world's longest-running regatta is also its most watchable from dry land.
Yachting News
Copa del Rey builds toward its August start in Palma
The 44th edition of the Bay of Palma's summer classic runs 1-8 August, per the published notice of race — a hundred-plus boats and the season's biggest shore operation.
The Giraglia fleet is at sea: the offshore race runs to Genoa
The 17 June start sent the fleet east from Saint-Tropez around the Giraglia rock toward Genoa — with prize-giving Saturday closing the organisers' published programme.
The June regatta calendar firms: Saint-Tropez's week, Palma's 30th
The Mediterranean season's opening fortnight is now set in published programmes: the Giraglia's inshore week and offshore race mid-June, Palma's anniversary cup at the month's end.