Laura Hodgetts

Features editor

Laura Hodgetts

After graduating with a 1st in BA (Hons) Multi-Media Journalism at Bournemouth University, Laura worked for Digital Photographer magazine as a staff writer, before taking voluntary redundancy to go travelling.

Laura then joined the Dorset Echo as a news reporter, completing the NCTJ senior news reporter qualifications. Laura’s love of watersports saw her write the Echo’s Afloat page and become Newsquest Dorset’s only accredited reporter for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sailing events, held in Weymouth and Portland.

She has completed the RYA day skipper, dinghy sailing level 2, powerboat level 2, windsurfing and kitesurfing beginner, and PADI advanced open water diving courses.

Laura joined PBO as news and website editor in December 2012, and has worked on sister title Yachting Monthly as cruising editor.

Follow Laura Hodgetts

Calor’s butane 4.5kg and 7kg gas bottles, and a non-marine regulator bought from a chandlery

"This warning has become even more valid after the Calor Gas U-turn as some owners will be swapping back again and buying yet another regulator."

OLAS Tag man overboard safety devices can be attached to wristbands or buoyancy aids worn by a man and attached to a dog via its buoyancy aid

If your canine crew is selected as our Seadog of the Month star in Practical Boat Owner magazine, your dog will win an OLAS Tag man-overboard device from Exposure Marine…

Boats in a marina underneath a dark sky

On 1st January 2024, the broadcast of the Shipping Forecast turned 100 years old – the forecast itself is much, much older than that with the 150th anniversary of the…

A diver applying a protective marking solution to a bronze cannon on the Klein Hollandia protected wreck site. Credit: MSDS Marine/Martin Davies

For the first time in the UK, artefacts including cannons are being forensically marked underwater on some of the 57 Protected Wreck Sites in English waters which have the highest…

Practical Boat Owner magazine, November 2023 issue cover

The boat owner's ultimate guide to wood, the best coastal cruisers under 40ft, laying up – top tips to beat the bug, sailing around every island in England and Wales...…