Celebrating 100 years of the BBC Shipping Forecast, Jane Russell takes us on a series of coastal cruises through the forecast sea areas, exploring some of the special places on offer in each of them

CRUISING STORIES

My last email ended with this: We are both very much looking forward to our Tasman Sea crossing to Nelson, New Zealand. The sea with its infinite cleansing powers should wash away all that earth life

Passage planning may not be of great concern to sailors who do most of their sailing in familiar waters and who follow the main channels to 24 hour-access marinas. With the latest auto-tracking facili

OWN UP TO YOUR SAILING SINS

The River Crouch stretches 10nm further up river from the marina, via Fambridge, Brandy Hole and Hullbridge, to Battlesbridge – the end of the navigable part of the river. This is a lovely, sheltered