Rod Heikell

Rod has been writing about sailing for thirty years or so – his pilot books for the Mediterranean are prolific and highly regarded. He is also a regular columnist for Yachting Monthly magazine’s Blue Water Letter. He spends half the year sailing in the Mediterranean, gathering material for his pilot books, and the other half updating them at his South London home. He is the acknowledged ‘Med guru’.

Rod started out with a 22 footer called Roulette and then became a flotilla lead skipper, so began his Mediterranean sailing at the basic end of things. Since then he has owned three or four boats, including Seven Tenths, a Cheoy Lee Pedrick 36 (which was wrecked in Hurricane Ivan in Grenada and has since been rebuilt) and Skylax, a Warwick Cardinal 46. He and his wife Lu are currently mid-way through a circumnavigation, having left Skylax in New Zealand so that Rod can catch up on his writing in the UK.

Rod has undoubtedly helped many yachtsmen and women through his writing, his enthusiasm and his willingness to engage with people and give sound advice. He was recently elected a Vice President of the Cruising Association in recognition of all his work.