Some sites seem to pad themselves with a list of sites that hold little interest for the visitor or are more easily accessed from other sources. I have listed those that satisfy at least one of the criteria: they are useful, interesting or built by friends.  Some satisfy all three.

“Never go to sea without an onion,” a famous sailor is reputed to have said. I prefer a good weather forecast.  None of them get it correct all the time but if they stop me taking Liz to sea in a blow then they have earnt their crust.  In one article I blamed weatheronline for a poor forecast but in retrospect I may have used it incorrectly. This site gives a good look at the weather up to 7 days ahead and combined with local sources of information should keep you out of trouble. www.weatheronline.co.uk/sail.htm

Colin and Anne are great crusing companions. Colin is the sailor, Anne is more into mountains and both have a sense of fun and love cooking. Colin set up Snettisham Beach Sailng Club’s website and he readily agreed to come over for the weekend to give me a hand.  Liz and Anne went shopping for the day and we all went out to dinner on Saturday night. Snettisham beach on the Wash is a magnet for bird watchers and the Sailing Club has the best Dart fleet in the land.                             www.snetbeach.co.uk

Jo and I taught together but since then I have retired and she is carving out a new career for herself.  While most men no longer wear waistcoats as part of their everyday attire, come a wedding or the New Year the peacock part of their nature comes to the fore. Jo is there to make waistcoats in any style and colour.  Jo set up the website for her business and would you believe agreed to give me a morning of her time to help me get started.  Be a dandy and visit her site.                          www.designstosuit.co.uk

Haven Ports Yacht Club is where it all started for me. When I was eight years old, four of us paddled a one man RAF survival dinghy down the River Slea in Sleaford. Later we graduated to a raft made with steel drums on the local ballast pits. At college, friends taught me to sail dinghies on Langstone Harbour. Northumberland County Council had a sailing base at Newton by the Sea where I sailed Enterprises and taught some of my pupils to sail but it was at the Haven Ports Yacht Club that I started sailing offshore. Tim got me an invitation to go sailing on Brandy Bottle and like Toad I was smitten. The yacht club and the River Orwell will always have a special place in my heart and I can keep in touch via the website.                                                                             www.hpyc.freeuk.com

When I started on Brandy Bottle the name “Jerry Freeman” kept coming up in conversations.  Jerry has done...., Jerry has said.......  and as I got to know him it became obvious why.  In those days he was preparing for a mini Transat and later I had a week in Plymouth helping to get Abacus ready for the Ostar. Sitting at the back of the church at the christening of Tim’s daughter Jerry asked me to sail a boat back from America with his wife Jane. He would be somewhere in Svalbard. Jerry, Jane and myself sailed Brandy Bottle to Copenhagen and back via the Kiel Canal.  Just listening to him and watching him work on a boat has taught me so much about sailing and the need for meticulous preparation before going to sea.  Now he is “Charlie big potatoes” in a group of dedicated short-handed sailors.  Visit the site.                                                                                           www.petitbateau.org.uk

In Fiji this year we met a young couple, John and Sam, who had sold up and were taking 18 months out to see the world.  John is a photographer and their site has a detailed photographic record of their travels so far.                                                                                                www.justnippedout.com

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