Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2019 i Sailing Today

Almost a year had passed before stepping back on the deck of Bella Rose, our year old Oyster 545. Berthed at Palma, Majorca for the winter, we couldn’t wait to throw off the bowlines, once again crisscrossing the Mediterranean. The crew comprised of Captain Barry, and myself, Nicola Beykirch. The year before we sailed Bella Rose from Gibraltar to Morocco to Ibiza and then to Palma in 22 days, which had been my first adventure at sea. We were both thrilled by our latest voyage from Palma, Majorca to Valetta, Malta along the north coast of Sicily to Djerba, Tunisia, which would take around five weeks. While Barry checked the yacht over, I, the photographer, unpacked a week’s supplies. Our first leg from Palma to Sicily would be the longest…

Have you ever had the feeling that you’re being followed when you’re at sea? Have you had the sense that if you happened to glance over your shoulder, there would be someone or something watching your every move? And sometimes, out of the corner of your eye, might it be waving at you? Not to warn you, or frighten you, but just to remind you it is still there and a bit of recognition might not be out of place? ‘Was there ever a better bargain on any boat than wind vane self-steering?’ In my case, this sense of companionship is not a dream or hallucination born of fatigue. My faithful self steering does all these things. Its vane rocks to and fro with the wind, wafting back and forth…

Scoresby Sound is the longest fjord in the world and lies on the east coast of Greenland just over 200 miles north of the Arctic circle. It’s named after William Scoresby, a whaling Captain from Yorkshire with a penchant for science, who surveyed the area in the 1822. Access to the ›ord has not been possible by yachts until quite recently as even if the ice is cleared within the ›ord due to tidal movements, ice along the coastline has remained a dangerous barrier. Changes in climate have recently improved the situation, but the window of opportunity is small. The ice will usually clear by July but most of the ›ord freezes over by November. This really limits a visit to August, as from September onwards gales and storms begin…

I’m not going to say this too many more times, but it wasn’t so very long ago that 38’ was considered pretty damn huge for a cruising yacht. Well, those days are gone; bigger, it appears, is better. All the big manufacturers have unveiled 60’ plus yachts in the last couple of years and – with the notable exception of Bavaria – all these flagship models have been massive hits. Jeanneau’s 64 was the trailblazer and the concept was a ‘mini superyacht’ that could still be handled by a couple. It went down a storm. What is driving this trend? Well, a certain demographic of the population – not me - must have a good deal more money for starters but, beyond that, simple refinement of deck hardware combined with…

Garmin GPSMAP 8410 Serious cruisers, sailors and sail racers demand serious equipment, say Garmin. The easy-to-use, easy-to-install GPSMAP® 8410 chartplotter delivers MFD performance in a combo-size package. It features a 10” full HD IPS touchscreen display for wider viewing angles, superior clarity and sunlight readability, even with polarised sunglasses. Multiple displays can be flat mounted edge-to-edge to create a sleek glass helm look, or can be mounted flush. It also provides standard USB touch output for use as a touchscreen monitor for Windows®and Mac® operating systems. NMEA 2000 networking and the Garmin Marine Network allow you to easily build your full marine electronics suite — from radar and autopilots to cameras, instruments and forward-looking sonar — controlled from your chartplotter and shared across multiple screens. ● £2,429 ● garmin.com Gill…

The rock on the line’s all mine Sailing from Serifos to Folegandros, we planned to stop for lunch and a swim at the Archipelago of Milos in the Cyclades. The south side of the island is sheltered from the prevailing summer ‘Meltemi’, but this time as there wasn’t any wind, I opened google earth and found a deep inlet on the north-west corner. The chart plotter showed only the outline of the bay, with no further detail at all. Carefully entering the bay, the colour of the water showed the place was shallow and full of rocks, while the further we went, the narrower it became. There was not enough space to swing on the anchor, and nothing to fasten a stern line to on the shore. At that point,…

MAKE ST LUCIA GREAT AGAIN! A combination of yacht-related crime and noise pollution is driving the liveaboard yachting community away from St Lucia, say locals. The situation has become so bad that St Lucia based yacht surveyor Christopher Kessell has appealed to St Lucia prime minister Allen Chastenet for action. “Yachtsmen and women contribute significantly to the local economy as they spend money on groceries, fuel, water, and marine supplies, as well as going to restaurants and bars. They probably contribute significantly more than tourists staying at all-inclusive hotels,” he says. “Due to break-ins and theft of dinghies, yachtsmen do not feel safe in St. Lucia. In addition, in places like Rodney Bay which is a very popular anchorage, loud music being broadcast towards the bay from Gros Islet has…

Bente 39 Cutting a dash with its highly contemporary lines and radical panoramic coachroof, the new Bente 39 attracted plenty of attention at the show. It’s based on the French Open Class concept and designed for long blue water cruising, unlike the smaller Bente models which are coastal designs. The 39’s hull has a negative double-bend bow and double chines, by Judel/Vrolijk & co, and the borrowings of modern ocean-going regatta yachts, such as the wide stern with double rudder and two steering positions. €166,000 benteyachts.com Jenneau Sun Odyssey 410 The new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 adopts the award-winning walkaround cockpit concept of its big sister the Sun Odyssey 440. The entire deck layout of the Sun Odyssey 410 is functional and tidy and keeps the entire running decks…

Few cruising grounds can offer the sort of diversity and beauty that seems a simple fact of life in so many parts of the Mediterranean; this is the sea where three different continents meet, with 24 countries having a Mediterranean coast. This makes for a truly fascinating blend of cultures and cuisines. It also means that you can cruise relatively short distances and find yourself in an entirely new and often strikingly different country with different architecture, language, culture, you name it. This is one of the great beauties of the Med. It is, after all, the cradle of civilisation and is so steeped in history that it makes most other cruising grounds look perhaps a little spartan by comparison. Destination options: Med Spain Not up there with the iconic…

Given the circumstances of my test (a beautiful day in the Bay of Cannes) it was very hard to dislike the CNB 66. She performed her purpose beautifully. She has to be a cut above the flagships of Hanse, Bavaria, Beneteau, etc. and she is certainly that. She has an air of class to her. Money talks, and more has been put into the CNB than those marques – she essentially works for a different market which was the aim. That said, a Hanse 675 has a base price of £1.1m and the CNB starts at £1.3m. I’m not a multi millionaire so I don’t know if £200,000 seems significant when you are THAT rich. CNB must know its market and – despite her size and undoubted ocean crossing ability…

It had been six days since we had left Ponape, in the Federated States of Micronesia. After a slow start we were now rolling along downwind at five knots, with 800 miles on the log. It had been an ideal passage, enlivened by many dolphin sightings and successive night visits from the same large brown booby. In another day or so, we should be off the US Territory of Guam. But there was something I wanted to check now, and reading from the GPS, Jenny called out our position to me: “12 degrees 46.9 North, 145 degrees 38 East…I’d say we’re about there.” “What depth is the chart plotter showing?” “It’s just dark blue… but the paper chart has us in about 9,600 meters.” We were over the Marianas Trench,…

Approaching Ramsgate can cause qualms, not least due to the proximity of the Goodwin Sands about four miles outside the harbour. If approaching from the south east, keep going all the way up to the S cardinal named Goodwin RA east of the ship channel. Turning north west towards the harbour entrance too early brings sailors to grief every year as the tide sweeps vessels onto the sands. From the south, follow the Gull Stream NE from Deal Pier, or if you’re confident take the inshore Ramsgate Channel. The latter is a tricky bit of pilotage with marks that are hard to pinpoint, and shouldn’t be attempted at all in darkness. Northerly approaches should be made at least half a mile offshore as you follow the coast down from North…

CORNISH CRABBER 26 | KITTIWAKE The gaff-rigged Cornish Crabber may be small by contemporary cruising standards, but owners love them for their combination of solid sea-keeping with sprightly performance, traditional look and feel, and their cosy comforting cabins. With a lifting keel they’re great for coastal and estuary cruising, and thanks to its high coachroof the Crabber 26 has a Tardis-like interior with four berths and 6’1” headroom. Perfect for the family who want to sail within a fairly limited cruising ground, and don’t want the hassle – and cost – of a bigger boat. There are two single berths in the saloon, and a double in the forecabin, and the Crabber 26 squeezes in a separate compartment for heads and a shower. Power comes from a 20hp Yanmar inboard.…

SALON DU MULTICOQUE 24-28 APRIL – LA GRANDE MOTTE The Multihull Show celebrates its 10th birthday this year, and goes from strength to strength as interest in twin-hull cruising – and chartering increases. This year promises more new boats than ever. multicoque-online.com DAMES OF ST TROPEZ 3-5 MAY – FRANCE The early season ‘ladies event’ of classic yachting is now in its 8th year, with a roster of historic racing vessels providing a feast for the eyes in St Tropez harbour. societe-nautique-saint-tropez.fr WINTER TALK AT PREMIER MARINA, GOSPORT 20 MARCH – GOSPORT Raconteur and Sailing Today regular Tom Cunliffe joins round the world adventurer Paul Pearson to entertain diners with recollections of voyages past. £20 per head. premiermarinas.com NORFOLK BOAT JUMBLE 14 April – Norwich Unearth treasures and hunt for…

Dusseldorf’s boat show set new records this year, with almost 2,000 exhibitors from 73 countries showing off their wares to nearly a quarter of a million visitors. ‘boot Dusseldorf’ seems to cover every form of water-based sporting pursuit, but there was a lavish selection of new boats of all kinds to enjoy. The display of new and exciting yachts easily justified the commitment of British boaters to the show, of whom there were many following the demise of our own season-opener at the London Boat Show. “I have experienced numerous events here in Düsseldorf, but this boot was unique,” reports Messe Düsseldorf CEO Werner Matthias Dornscheidt. “A tremendous atmosphere in the halls, people in holiday mood on the stands and highly satisfied exhibitors.” Bigger boats typically steal the limelight at…

All my life, I’ve wrestled with fore-and-aft rigged yachts on the run. They just aren’t designed for it, and many’s the nasty night in a rolling sea with boom end dipping and preventer straining when I’ve hankered for an honest square-rigger. These might be rubbish to windward, but on the trading passages of the world where fair winds can be expected, they show most of us up. Back in the 1850s, Captain ‘Bully’ Forbes was taking the clipper ship Marco Polo to Melbourne and back fully loaded with passage times of around 75 days. That’s an average of over 200 miles per day, rain or shine, fair wind and foul, which stacks up to a remarkable mean of 8½ knots. No preventers, no gybes, no booming-out poles, no worries. Admittedly…

I can’t remember you how many times I’ve sailed from England to Ireland; how often I’ve rounded Lands End bound for Ireland’s vivid landscape, the heart leaping at the thought of being close enough to the Emerald Isle to actually smell its cows grazing those rich, green fields. But I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t also admit there have been many times when I’ve suffered a testing thrash to windward every inch of the way, those sneaky Atlantic rollers slopping into the cockpit, while peering through the clammy fog that clings to the shore, and to you. Learning to take the rough with the smooth is the secret of Irish cruising. It’s only 150 miles to Cork from Cornwall but it has all the joys and perils of an…

CONTEST 67CS A tried and tested Judel/Vrolijk design from a Dutch yard with a strong reputation for quality and attention to detail. Like the CNB, the Contest treads the line between performance and blue water ability. contestyachts.com X YACHTS X6 X Yachts flagship is the Danish manufacturer’s take on as ‘mini superyacht’ and is a blend of performance and luxury. Sleek and purposeful, she’s still probably more cruiser than racer and therefore occupies similar territory to the CNB. x-yachts.com SOLARIS 64 Part of Italian manufacturer Solaris’ ‘custom’ range of yachts, this beast was unveiled at Boot Dusseldorf this year and she is a big yacht with all of Solaris classic ‘med cruiser’ features on show. Being a Solaris she will be very dramatic on the water with her Dreadnought bow…

The port of Ramsgate has been close to the heart of the country’s international cultural and trading links for centuries, although it was first recorded as a fishing settlement in 1245. St Augustine landed nearby in 597AD when Pope Gregory sent him to ‘Christianise’ the Anglo-Saxons, but sadly Ramsgate didn’t warrant a mention in the record back then. The geography was formed 5,000-odd years BC, when the North Sea breached the downs to form the English Channel, leaving the Isle of Thanet high and dry. It’s not an ‘isle’ any more, being connected to the mainland by marshy farmland instead of the ancient Wantsum Channel, but the name persists appended to the triangle of land that juts into the southern extremity of the North Sea at the top right hand…

Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour is a natural point of departure for yachts headed to northern European destinations such as Oostende, the Baltic or Scandinavia. It’s just 35 miles to the nearest point in France, and the profusion of commercial shipping racing up and down the traffic separation lanes generally ensures there’ll be one or two memorable moments in any crossing. But Ramsgate is equally relevant for sailors rounding the corner of the UK for destinations on either the south coast or east coast, depending on their direction of travel. From Ramsgate you can launch explorations of the River Medway, or travel up the Thames to take a closer look at the Thames Barrier, and even venture right into the heart of the capital itself. There’s also a great opportunity to discover…

Not so long ago a reasonably prominent politician said that we, the British public, had ‘had enough of experts’. Well, I don’t know about that, but when it comes to Med mooring I thought I would put myself forward as a useful idiot when it comes to dealing with this crucial manoeuvre. Put simply, it involves backing toward the quayside while dropping your anchor, securing the stern to the quay, and then tightening up on the anchor. Simple enough? Yet I have witnessed so many boats balls it up, that it definitely merits further advice – even from an idiot like me. Back when I was a callow youth, I used to view this method of mooring with particular dread. I mean, it’s not rocket science, but there are a…