For those dreaming of the joys of owning a yacht, Nick Ridley offers encouragement as well as a look at the harsher reality of financing your dreams

Far from being a lightweight trailer sailer, Nic Compton finds the third version of this modern classic to be a serious little cruising boat capable of handling far more than a little creek crawling

Tony Davies’ couldn’t find his dream boat ‘off the shelf’ so he took matters into his own hands with a 1978 Reinell 26-footer

Tony Moss and his wife Marike cross the North Sea to sail around Britain anticlockwise, braving the Scottish summer along the way

Gilbert Park swaps his ageing Mitchell 28 for a soft-riding Seaward 29

DESPITE LOW HEADROOM, SPARTAN ACCOMMODATION AND A POTENTIALLY WET RIDE, THE FOLKBOAT IS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC YACHTS OF THE LAST 100 YEARS. NIC COMPTON FINDS OUT WHY