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

OWN UP TO YOUR SAILING SINS

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

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

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

A cough. A splutter. A jet of flame for good measure and the Merlin is prised from its slumbers and into rambunctious life. Many of you, perhaps even most, will have heard one of these engines, at Goo