Special report

Paul Dale recounts the lessons he learned rebuilding his Dufour 41 Alexa on the devastated Caribbean island of Grenada in 2004

John Willis explains the consequences of cresting a bigger-than-expected wave while helming his 25ft motorboat

Richard Ayres makes his first Mayday call when his yacht is dismasted and prop fouled close to the Manacle rocks

HOW TO SAIL BETTER

Letters to Yachting World may be edited yachtingworld@futurenet.com ...

Like all good things that happen to us, it was an accident I started writing pilots for the Mediterranean. It all began when I was skippering a flotilla around the Saronic and eastern Peloponnese in G