Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i Cruising Helmsman

DURING July the Ronstan company mourned the passing of Ron Allatt, who died peacefully with his wife Jan at his side, on the 19th July, 2019. Ron was 89. Together with Stan LeNepveu, Ron was the “Ron” in Ronstan. The two met in 1946 and raced sailing dinghies together, before teaming up to build boats and make stainless steel yacht fittings. They officially formed Ronstan in 1953 and sold the company in 1977. Ron continued as General Manager until 1981, when he retired to go fishing, bowling, golfing and spending time with his family. The legacy Ron and Stan left was a close knit, collaborative organisation with a household name in international sailing circles. Ronstan manufactures world class products, has offices around the world, has won endless awards for excellence…

THE vast and often tempestuous Indian Ocean covers over 70 million square kilometres, while the remote and idyllic coral atoll that makes up the Cocos Keeling Islands covers just 14 of those. Described as “heavenly and hypnotic” by Sir Charles Darwin in 1836, these low-lying islands and mid-ocean sanctuary are a rare find and appreciated anchorage for global cruisers. As a child, when my mind conjured up an image of a perfect tropical island, this Robinson Crusoe style image was of the 27 tranquil tropical islands that make up the Cocos Keeling group. Unspoiled white sandy beaches, coconut palms swaying under the consistent trade winds and crystal clear warm water. Located just over 1,500 nautical miles north west of Perth or around 700 nautical miles south west of Jakarta, these…

PART of the remodelling of the chart table area on my 45 foot (13.7 metre) schooner Britannia involved making a new section of floorboarding; or to use its proper nautical term: the cabin sole. The floor beneath was just rough plywood unlike the remainder of the boat, which was beautiful teak with white-wood strips. It was perhaps just as well, because in order to reposition the electrical distribution board I had to cut this floor out completely to re-route the wires underneath. I naturally wanted any new floor to match the boat’s existing sole. I scoured the web and other sources to find teak flooring with whitewood strips to match the floor pattern, but I was unable to locate the exact pattern anywhere. Britannia’s strips are 9.5 millimetre (3/8" inch)…

THE Coastal Cruising Club of Australia (CCCA) was formed in 1969 and therefore, is 50 years old this year, 2019. Today the CCCA or Triple C is regarded as one of Australia’s premier yacht clubs solely dedicated to cruising. It has over 200 members with some 120 boats, which steadfastly do not race. Although, if any two boats are roughly going in the same direction, well, enough said… Why it has worked well for the past 50 years may be summed up by its simple ethos: join together a disparate group of like-minded people who enjoy messing around in boats. The watch words are; care, fun, responsible use of the waterways and camaraderie. It is because of this diverse group that it also possesses a vast amount of knowledge, available…

TRAVELOPIA Yachts, the world’s premier yacht charter business and parent company to charter brands The Moorings, Sunsail and Footloose, has announced investment into its charter products in 2020. Following the devastation of Hurricane Irma in the fall of 2017, Travelopia moved quickly to re-establish operations in its Caribbean destinations, reopening in the British Virgin Islands in December of 2017 and in St. Martin in February of 2018, with an ongoing investment of over US$130 million into its charter business. The investment includes fleet additions, including monohulls by long-time partners Jeanneau and Beneteau, into multiple destinations including 25 new Sunsail Match First-40 monohulls in the UK Sailing fleet over the next two years; new sailing and power catamarans built by Robertson & Caine, such as the award-winning Moorings 5000, as well…

JUST imagine this: you are a happy sailor, enjoying your weekend and twilight sailing from your lovely marina. Your 300 member yacht club is a beacon of friendship and love of sailing. During the season, cruisers from all over Australia sail into your marina and bring their cruising tales to your Friday night dinners. The volunteers in your club do everything to make all events go smoothly. Then, suddenly it happens: your marina is cut off from the ocean. Degraded to just a puddle with boats trapped in it prior to the summer of 2017. “Yes, it didn’t happen overnight, but some natural phenomenon caused the area where the Fascine meets the sea to silt up very quickly” says Jim Williams, manager of the Carnarvon Yacht Club. “At first, we…

MUCH is written about about the big issues on boats: engines, sails, a whole range of design and construction issues and each of these subjects will have a major impact on your boat experience. Get a big issue wrong and you may never be happy or have a very expensive adjustment to make. Very much less, however, is said about the little things; but, even on the best of boats, tiny details are often the key to make it or break it. The devil is in the detail. O-RING No, not a new rap artist but the small rubber rings seen in various places on your boat. These little gems are cheap and cheerful, usually. Cheap certainly, reasonably available if you know where to look and are in some place…

HORSESHOE SHENANIGANS Hi, I don’t know if you are aware of the proposed changes to limit anchoring in Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island. I only became aware that water sports operators claim that their highspeed activities bring them into unsafe proximity to anchored vessels and want all anchoring banned in Horseshoe Bay so that they can further their business interests. I only heard about it when my wife picked up a copy of Afloat July 2019, the article was written by Darryl Saunders of Horseshoe Bay and details what’s happening there, bad news for yachties. I’m an avid reader of your editorials and you always include cruiser stories, would it be possible for you to report on this, we have to get the word out, it just seems an infringement of…

GO ANYWHERE GARCIA 60 Garcia Yachts has announced development of its Exploration 60 model. The project is to allow her owners, a Dutch family, to travel the world, explore some of the remotest areas and to cruise long-term. Born from a close collaboration between naval architects Berret Racoupeau Yacht Design and the Garcia Yachts teams, the Exploration 60 has been designed to sail anywhere, with comfort and exceptional safety in all weather conditions. In line with her predecessors in the range designed in partnership with Jimmy Cornell, the Exploration 60 is dedicated to adventure in all latitudes. Generous dimensions make it possible to combine: refined living spaces, technical areas and storage volumes in order to plan to go ever further, even longer, with or without crew. Built of aluminium as…

ECCENTRIC souls we are and a sense of humour is normally a great asset when you are out at sea for long periods of time, especially if it is with your husband/partner. My Capy’s nickname is ‘silent goat running’ while he calls me ‘crazy horse dancing.’ We were getting reading for the big adventure of finally getting our girl Spirit of Sherry up to the Kimberley. My wee brunette head was spinning trying to plan our four month trip with stocking the boat and finalising our land-based home with last minute lockup, see ya later alligator instructions. Sailing had been a dream of mine with our first boat being a 25 foot Sunbird trailer sailer, where we started our sea life back in 2007 in Mangles Bay in Rockingham. After…

WHEN veteran ocean racer Ross Field refitted his 55 foot Joubert Nivelt expedition yacht Rosemary, his approach was based on his 40 years of professional offshore racing experience. It meant he was always willing to embrace new technology and had honed a brutal approach to shedding unnecessary weight and complications. Frostbite on the lungs, sinking by iceberg and being lunch for a polar bear: just a few reasons why I kept saying “no” when former Whitbread Round the World Race winner Ross Field asked me to sail the North West Passage. But then he said he was too old to sail in more than 25 knots or heel over at more than 15 degrees. That sounded like a splendid way to sail, so I said “yes”. Ross has been around…