Tom Cunliffe

Southampton

Contributor at Sail Magazine

Sailor, writer, TV presenter, speaker. Also on https://t.co/jOZoSpVn8Q and https://t.co/RI1TFzaxN2… #sailing ⛵️

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Articles

Should We Rig Tripping Lines? How to Protect Your Anchor

2 weeks ago | sailingtoday.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

Learning the lesson the hard way is the risk you take for not going ‘by the book’ when it comes to rigging a tripping line, Tom Cunliffe warns us. I don’t know about you, but when the chart tells me I ought to consider rigging a tripping line to protect my anchor I always think at least twice. Unless the evidence for taking this step is overwhelming, with direct promises from the cartographer of ‘foul ground’ or some such horror, the line-up of downsides can be hard to ignore.
Can a Chart be Trusted? Tom Cunliffe's Battle with Wind & Tide

2 weeks ago | classicboat.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

On my way for a lunchtime pint in the Jolly Sailor I paddled up to the doorstep of the waterfront house of an old friend between the boatyard and the pub. He invited me in for a coffee, remarking that despite all he’d read in the papers and the southwesterly that had been blowing up the Solent all week, today’s spring tide wasn’t going to be any higher than the other big ones he’d seen since the 1950s.
Tom Cunliffe's Praise of the Honest Boatbuilder

4 weeks ago | classicboat.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

One of the surprising things about traditional boat building is the variation in levels of sophistication. I have deep admiration for those who create a curved deck beam out of a single piece of oak, cut dovetails into the ends, then lower it into the cutouts in the beam shelf. It fits to the millimetre first time. How do they do that? And what about shaping the close-seamed planks for a Tumlare yacht or a Mevagissey Tosher?
Mice on a Boat: How To Get Rid of Pests

1 month ago | sailingtoday.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

Truly, the sea is full of surprises. For the tropical sailor these may come as flying fish peppering the watch on deck on a dark night. My wife Roz was once enjoying a few minutes snooze while tending the helm in mid-Atlantic when a substantial specimen smacked into her at chest height. This brought her naughty slumbers up with a round turn.
Why Isn't Everyone Using Swifter Shrouds?

2 months ago | classicboat.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe questions why swifter shrouds aren’t more popular…As I rowed out to the 35-ton pilot cutter I had just paid for, things were looking up. On my previous visit I had fallen into colourful company and been thrown out of the local pub in a snowstorm. My B&B man must also have enjoyed a large evening because he didn’t hear me knocking, so I spent an uneasy watch below huddled in a handy red phone box.
Great Seamanship: Last Days of the Slocum Era

2 months ago | yachtingworld.com | Tom Cunliffe

Knocked down, becalmed, grounded, and lost, Graham Cox’s attempt to sail from Australia to New Zealand in a 24-footer ends in near disaster TAGS: Great SeamanshipTop stories From childhood, Graham Cox had dreamed of the ocean. Growing up in Durban, he’d spent his time hanging out near what was then called the International Jetty, where far-ranging yachts of all nations berthed to break their epic passages.
The Importance of Safety Gear: Tom Cunliffe's Word of Warning

2 months ago | sailingtoday.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

Dating as I do from a different era, I have to say that I’ve never been deeply interested in safety gear. Of course I applaud the ultimate in safety, the RNLI and the SAR heroes who are always there for us when things go wrong, but my philosophy has always been one of taking every precaution to keep Old Man Danger at bay in the first place rather than assuming it’s my right to be saved if my efforts fail. My first priority lies in maintaining the boat as well as I can.
Ginny Jones: The Late Great Madam of Newport

Jan 24, 2025 | classicboat.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe tells us of the wonderful life of Ginny Jones, the late, great Madam of Newport. When my crew and I fetched up in Mystic Connecticut in the late summer of 1983 aboard the 35-ton pilot cutter Hirta, we passed through the bascule bridge in the centre of the little wooden town into the wonderland of ships, boats, artefacts and workshops that is the working Seaport Museum.
Great Seamanship: Becoming Coastal - A small boat in big seas

Jan 21, 2025 | yachtingworld.com | Tom Cunliffe

Sailing a small boat alone in a rising wind and growing seas, Alex Zimmerman battles to reach shelter. Tom Cunliffe introduces this extract from Becoming Coastal TAGS: Great SeamanshipTop stories Alex Zimmerman gives us a new perspective on small boat seafaring.
Baltic Sailing: Cunliffe's Northern Adventures

Dec 19, 2024 | classicboat.co.uk | Tom Cunliffe

I started this summer’s Baltic Sea cruise with what was intended as a trip down Memory Lane. My boat Constance, an American Mason 44, lives in a heated shed on an island near the bottom end of Jutland and after the usual scrape round the local hardware stores to get her going after the winter we headed straight out for Fåborg on the bigger land mass of Fyn.