I was invited back crewing in the Solent at the weekend. Another fantastic trip around the Isle of Wight with great weather.

While I was rather proud of my DIY kayak sailing rig, at the end of last year I came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the time, money and effort to try and fix its deficiencies. It sailed, but not very well. The learning and building process had been fun, but having successfully proved the con...

She sails! Having stiffened up the leeboards and frame, I took the sailing kayak out first on the Bealiueu Estuary and then Burnham-on-Crouch. All the effort finally paid off.

After dabbling in a bit of dinghy sailing and being invited to crew for a friend last year, I've been bitten by the sailing bug again. The GF and I decided to charter a skippered yacht for our summer holiday this year.

Since Maldon I've been itching to try the kayak sailing rig again. Quite a hefty load to wrestle onto the bus/underground/train/ferry/train, but eventually I made it.

Finally got to the stage of test assembly and taking her to the water, at Maldon in Essex. Sadly no sailing today as the test revealed a need for reinforcement around the mast step, but still good progress. And who could complain, what a sunset!

Since I got my kayak back in May I've had an ambition to turn her into a sail boat. She's incredibly light, around 8kg, which was one of the selling points. So I'd want to make a rig light to keep her portable. After a lot of reading on the science of sailing (I've sailed since I was a lad, but never really took it too seriously) I decided I could build something out of aluminium profile. The best way to describe this is "Meccano for grown-ups".

I got invited to crew for a friend on a circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight this weekend. I haven't been out on a yacht since I was quite young, but had been thinking of taking it up again so I leapt at the chance.