Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Cruising Helmsman

SINCE its inception the ‘Sailors with disabilities’ charity has improved the lives of many young people. David Pescud founded his non-profit charity organisation back in 1994 after deciding to help a wheelchairbound sailor complete the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Since that time the charity has annually run a disabled crew in the famous yachting event. Pescud also expanded its focus in the late 1990s to begin helping disadvantaged children turn around their lives. “It was all about giving people who’d fallen by the wayside an opportunity and a pathway for their future and to develop their skills,” Pescud explains. “We’ve taken kids that were having a tough time and now they’re getting jobs or they’re going on to secondary training or university.” In February 2018, SWD received a boost…

WE’RE BACK Our monthly report on what has taken the most interest of our readers over the previous months in the world of sailing is back after a summer off. But now it is back to reality. Unfortunately our readers have not changed much in what takes their interest. It is still carnage on the water that garners the most clicks and views. Top ten news items for the previous months include: a millionaire’s wife who solo sails her yacht but disappears; a German sailor who uses his jeans as a float when he falls overboard; a catastrophe avoided on Fraser Island; one person was injured when a yacht allided with a bridge; a video of sailing catastrophes; two people missing after a French yacht sank off the Falkland Islands;…

WHAT could be more idyllic than cruising around the world on your own private yacht while documenting your lifestyle? Creating a record not only for yourself but for family and friends. Satisfying your creative outlet. Compiling footage of your life during a time when you are living it to the fullest. Visiting unspoiled islands and exotic lands. Crossing oceans abundant with life and meeting people as diverse as the scenery. Travelling by the power of the wind, frivolous and free. Now imagine if the footage you were capturing was so exciting and inspiring, you were able to earn a living, simply by sharing it. Sounds like the dream does it not? What is that old saying: ‘if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life?’…

HOW can the average sailor cut through the sales spin and assess the relative performance of so many different catamaran designs now on offer? In this article a set of just five numbers are proposed for assessing the relative performance of cruising sailing catamarans, obtained from six measurements usually published in marketing material. It is intended that the Cruising Helmsman editor will use these metrics when conducting catamaran boat tests for the magazine. The five performance numbers and its nomenclature are: The six design characteristics usually found in sales brochures that will be used for the performance numbers are: weight sail area length overall beam overall hull draft if the boat has retractable boards, the area of a board. There are some example results given at the end, but before…

A GENTLE breeze blows in from the Pacific Ocean as I sit in the treehouse office, suspended above the substantial white expanse of the lofting floor. I can see intricate lines stretching long into azure waters, rippling in spaces between bright green mangroves. These enclose a gap through which Ceiba’s bow will soon traverse to begin her first voyage in just a few years time. I remember being at the far end of the lofting floor once it had been completed and seeing someone standing at the ‘helm’ on the opposite side and, for the first time, experiencing the true size of the vessel. Walking the line along the keel blocks takes you on a journey that is longer than expected; you really begin to feel the length and sheer…

REGISTRATIONS are open for the 2020 Mediterranean Escapade, which is set to become one of Multihull Solutions most popular international rallies. Staged from 7-12 May, the event is run by Mariner Boating and Multihull Solutions and is expected to draw a strong contingent of participants who can either participate on their own boat, charter a Fountaine Pajot catamaran, or even just book a berth or cabin for the rally. The 2020 Mediterranean Escapade takes participants from Kusadasi to Marmaris, sailing the spectacular Greek Islands of the Aegean Sea and the Carian coast of Turkey. The rally will be held over the two best weeks of the Mediterranean summer taking in some unforgettable destinations, including Kusadasi and its ancient city of Ephesus plus the rugged beauty on the islands of Samos…

THE Ocean Protect podcast series has gone live on Spotify, Apple and Google. The current podcast features an interview with Darrell Blatchley, the marine biologist who garnered worldwide media attention recently after sharing images of a whale found with 40 kilograms of plastic inside its stomach. In the interview, Blatchley explains his shock at discovering the amount of plastic inside the whale but says it is only a matter of time before another is found with even more plastic digested. Blatchley explains the autopsy in detail including the moment his wife thought the whale was pregnant due to excessive bloating caused by the plastic. The entire process was watched by his eight and nine year old sons who are “the next generation” that will have to live with the consequences…

The short answer is: yes and no. The long answer can be traced back quite a long time and I would suggest there have been quite more than a few revolutions over the intervening years. Being a former submarine engineer, I always smile to myself when electric propulsion is ‘discovered’ as a new technology, the ‘future’ of propulsion and that a revolution is underway. Conventional submarines have been using electric motors for some time: over 130 years to be precise, since the Spanish submersible Peral was launched amidst great pomp and splendour in the year 1888 after over three years of active researching undertaken by Isaac Peral. In 1888 the French also launched a small 30 ton electrically driven submarine, Gymnote, designed by Gustave Zédé. Electric propulsion is great and…

YACHT clubs live in many different shapes and forms. Some are exclusive with a certain amount of prestige for their members, which is fine; many have bars, restaurants and dress rules. Yet there are other clubs which live outside such parameters. One such club was born and resides on an isolated Queensland island called Middle Percy. Percy itself has the most amazing history: aboriginal visitors; murdered botanists; escaped convicts from Tassie and New Caledonia; a hermit with buried gold; early pioneers who tried timber and coffee; and a tough as teak family who ran sheep and built their own yacht from pit sawn timber on top of the hill. Until fate, one day, fetched up on these shores in the form of a former British pentathlon champion: Andy Martin. Martin…

MARINE DIRECTORY ASIA NOW AN APP Cruising in Asia and need a rigger, mechanic or haul-out yard? For many boat owners unfamiliar with Asia, it is difficult to know where to find the specific parts or services required. But now cruising yachties in Asia can make informed decisions based on location and required service, thanks to Marine Directory Asia (MDA) now available as a smartphone app. Using the MDA Android and Iphone apps, finding the local marine service provider has never been easier; connecting with the marine service provider needed is only a tap away. Download the Marine Directory Asia app to a device, or visit the website, to find the marine business, haul-out yard or marina that will provide the service you require, in your location. Encompassing all of…

WIDE Bay’s newest marina has launched an introductory offer guaranteeing yacht owners a range of benefits, including discounted berthing rates. Located at the mouth of the Burnett River and a short walk from the recently upgraded Burnett Heads town centre, Gateway Marina Burnett Heads is finalising harbour dredging and expected to be completed in time for the marina to be opened between August and December this year. With an initial release of 56 private berths, the marina is offering a founding members package including a ten per cent rental discount, a guarantee of first rights to buy berths if released for sale and first viewing of completed apartments. Gateway Marina developer Simon Harvey said the coastal marina would offer sailors a safe, sheltered harbour with great navigable depths only 16…

THE International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS) has launched a new free smart device app for IOS and Android devices that makes it simple to find a commercial, or yacht and small craft, marine surveyor by area, or specialisation. Not only a key benefit for members of IIMS, it will make the search for a surveyor easier for the boating and yachting public, brokers, clubs, marine insurers: anyone in fact needing the services of a marine surveyor on an occasional or ongoing basis. The content is drawn from the current IIMS practicing surveyor membership, which has been loaded in its entirety into the app, some 700+ surveyors in over 100 countries worldwide. Key features of the app include a simple search function by name, by skill set and by location,…

AIS is a modern marvel, it provides automatic information on nearby vessels. It can also provide, via the internet, a track on vessels, which can be used by SAR and security authorities to locate vessels. However, to provide this remote information a vessel needs to be in range of a base station and these, in remote Australia including Tasmania’s west coast, are rare. A full explanation of AIS was contained in CH January 2018: 'AIS deconstructed'. Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) allows organisations to submit applications for grants for small projects to improve boating in Tasmania. Derwent Sailing Squadron (DSS), in its capacity as a race organiser for several offshore yacht races and with an ever-increasing number of members visiting the south west wilderness, realised there was a need for…

IF you find yourself on the south east coast of Malaysia and need a marina, other than entering Singapore waters you really only have two choices: Senibong Cove Marina and Sebana Cove Marina. Both marinas are located on the southern end of Malaysia, beside Singapore. Puteri Harbour Marina is very popular but, due to the low height of the Johor Causeway which was opened in 1923, yachts have little air draft. Yachts are then forced to make passage under Singapore via the shipping lanes, then up the Johor Strait to Puteri, adding another day to one’s journey and totally out of the way if you are not wanting to be on the western side of Malaysia. If you need to haul out on the eastern side your only choice is…

IN this era of mass production boat build whereas a new yacht rolls out the factory door at least once a week, it is amazing to see bespoke cruising yachts still finding the niche on the water. While Australia has its own Bluewater Cruising Yachts out of Sydney, I must admit I had not heard of Outbound Yachts from the US, until being contacted earlier this year. So it was a welcome sail one April day with Australian owner Chris Daly on board his beloved Outbound 46. There is something remarkably comforting about purpose-built yachts and the 46, as in all the Outbound range, is a perfect example. Phil Lambert has been building Outbound 46 for over 20 years, its sole purpose is to take a couple offshore cruising. Designed…