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

My motives for this trip were varied. I was on the committee that vetted applications for the Ocean Cruising Club’s Challenge Grant when Project Manaia had applied for a grant to support their environ

Marsali Taylor swaps skippering her Offshore 8m for being crew on a converted herring drifter, with comfy berths in the former fish hold

Jane Archer samples an island-hopping Caribbean cruise with a difference on board a sailing ship

Per Harrtoft shows how much fun you can have on a fast open day boat

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