Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i Cruising Helmsman

DURING this time of coronavirus every boat owner would have in the back of their mind, an ‘escape module’. Moored in the marina, ready to go. But is it ready to go? Let’s look at some aspects of preparing to escape a serious pandemic threat on your own yacht. BULK UP First is it ready? At the very basic level, you need food, water and charts. Plus full diesel tanks and LPG bottles. What kind of food? For seasoned cruisers stocking up for six months of independence is not a great challenge but, I would say we still spend at least two or three days making lists, buying the food and transport and stow everything aboard. What’s on the list? Well let’s not start a long exclusive boring list now,…

Nine Beneteau motorboats and sailing yachts plus Lagoon 42 and Excess 12 sailing catamarans were exhibited. Flagstaff Marine: Swift Trawler 47, First Yacht 53, First 27, Oceanis 40.1, Oceanis 30.1, Excess 12. www.flagstaffmarine.com.au Chapman Marine Group: Gran Turismo 32 OB, Antares 11, Flyer 10, Flyer 8. www.chapmanmarinegroup.com.au The Multihull Group: Lagoon 42. www.themultihullgroup.com…

STORMS are brutal, storms toss boats around as if they are made of foam. The noise is horrendous. Vortexing winds clutch you in a vicious fist, backing and clocking in a gut-wrenching horrifying lurch from one direction to another. The cruel gusts pin you down then pick you up and hurl you forward, the great barrelling wall of wind smacks the boat, the walls of water crash into the hull, leaving you wondering how it has not smashed it into a thousand pieces. Nature puts on a performance of ear-splitting music, the beating halyards and howling winds clashing together, reaching a cliff-hanger crescendo. It is black, the rigging screeches a death howl. Things break, the boat is out of control, there is water inside, there is mess, you are sick.…

HAVE you completed your sailing voyage around Australia before? John Rich, from Planet Multihull wants to create a timeline record about those who have achieved the lofty goal of sailing around Australia. John is interested in finding the sailors and publishing their time logs for everyone to see, experience and hopefully learn from. He is looking for a media collaborator to make these logs available. There are unsung heroes of around-Australia cruising and also racing, “the more I talk to people, the more fascinating the subject becomes,” says John. “It doesn't matter how long was the trip, what counts is who made it. “It is my hope that this log will become a catalyst for a future around Australia yacht race/rally where winners are all who accomplish the circumnavigation for…

BOATING Industry Association President Darren Vaux welcomed the NSW Government announcement of $205 million in maritime infrastructure works over the next three years. Minister for Transport Andrew Constance made the announcement saying the funding would create nearly 1300 jobs in NSW. Darren Vaux said new and improved infrastructure was essential to ensure safe and convenient access for people of all ages and abilities to experience the waterways. “It is good to see the NSW Government recognising the value of investment in maritime as part of its COVID-19 economic recovery plan,” Vaux said. “Improving wharves that allow recreational vessels to pick up and set down passengers, dredging regional waterways that are clogged with silted channels and improving regional maritime infrastructure are good for our maritime community across the state. Mr Vaux…

AS Australasia’s large provider of pleasure craft insurance, Club Marine has announced it will be exiting the New Zealand market. The exit follows the withdrawal of a number of Allianz businesses from New Zealand earlier this year, with Allianz being the NZ financial services licence holder for the group. According to Club Marine CEO, Karen Te Maipi, “this has been a difficult decision for us to make. Club Marine has been part of the New Zealand boating landscape for a long time and not only do we have loyal members and passionate and dedicated staff, but we have also built valuable relationships with partners, suppliers and the broader boating community.” From 1 December, 2020, Club Marine ceased offering business policies and will not renew existing policies. Members can expect to…

IN early February 2020, after spending a couple of years cruising around South East Asia, Frank and I sailed from Phuket in Thailand to Kochi in India on board our Freedom 39ft schooner Stars End 2. We hoped to spend at least a year in the country, soaking up the culture and enjoying some land travel, with the idea of later continuing on to Africa. Kochi is a bustling city where the sights and sounds pervade your senses. The disorganised chaos on the roads is mind boggling. It is total pandemonium as trucks, buses, cars, bikes and local tuk-tuks, all with horns blaring, compete in a death-defying total disregard for personal safety to gain mere inches of headway in the never-ending traffic jams. Nevertheless, we loved our first few weeks…

I’M in awe. Quiet pride, as she shoulders aside,The great swell in her ride through the dark night.The wind is strong and it’s rising.The masthead light sweeps an arc through the stars andthe message is clear,The wind is rising.The foredeck dips down, awash and a’sway,And the nav-light glows brief on the whip of the spray.Both tell the same story – wind is rising.The strain in the ropes, as they hum with the force,Keeps them singing the song of wind risingAnd I want … how I want, this moment to last.The song of the rigging, the pitch of the blast,The dance through the stars of the top of the mast.But it can’t last. The wind is strong and rising.So I turn to the task with halyard and winchAnd fight flapping mainsail,…

THE Fountaine Pajot Group has announced a new agency, The Yacht Sales Company as a Dufour dealer network in Australia. Nicolas Bérenger, Dufour sales manager, stated, "Australian sailors are known as some of the very best in the world, they are real experts. Sailing along that coast is a dream for any European with the Great Barrier Reef, the Tasman and Hobart Island and all around the vast Australian coastline. “Our monohulls are designed to offer the right balance between comfort and performance, helming a Dufour is a great feeling while the life on board is always safe and quiet even upwind in a strong ‘Fremantle Doctor’ off the Western Australian coast. I think that meets the Australian sailing lifestyle: pleasure and performance. “This is the right time for Dufour…

THE Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) recently simulated a full-scale tsunami in the Indian Ocean as part of UNESCO's Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 2020 (IOWave20) involving 23 countries, to test the tsunami warning and response chain. The JATWC uses the combined resources of the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia to detect and assess tsunami threat in our region. In this exercise it was dealing with the effects of a tsunami impacting much of Australia's west coast following a massive faux magnitude 9.1 earthquake south of Java, Indonesia. The National Earthquake Alerts Centre (NEAC), operated by Geoscience Australia, monitors earthquakes globally and alerts the Bureau of earthquakes that could generate a tsunami. The Bureau then assesses the tsunami threat and issues warnings to Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology's co-director…

FIRST thing is, the wet season is usually between December and April, but it can be earlier or later. Do not be there then. The rest of the year is the dry season with the south east trade winds and great sailing weather. From the perspective of a big ship transiting through the Great Barrier Reef, the first thing to appreciate is that you are virtually invisible. Normally, sailors pick up other boats or ships visually by seeing the masts or upper works outlined against the horizon. This does not happen on the bridge of a big ship, which will be something like twelve stories high and looking down on you. For comparison, think about losing your hat/cap overboard. Because you do not see it against the horizon you soon…

PEOPLE OF THE SEA Long before Western man ‘discovered’ them, the ‘people of the sea’, as many inhabitants of the South Pacific islands called themselves, had a vibrant, socially sophisticated culture in which travel on water played an essential part. For sixty-five years James Wharram designed, built and sailed craft of Polynesian double canoe form, demonstrating with them that the sea, far from being a barrier between the islands, is their highway. The ocean voyages of James and his team culminated in a circumnavigation in the stunning 63 foot Spirit of Gaia, during which they explored the lands and cultures of the craft’s spiritual home: the Polynesian islands. Inspired by the lifetime of creativity and discovery James describes in this book, many modern people of the sea are sailing the…

I must go down to the heads again, to the broken seat and ask why Does the lid not fit and the pump not work, however hard I try? The valve is stuck and the vacuum's gone, while my guts are crying For a peaceful sh*t, with a detailed book on lunar alts rising. I must go down to the heads again, I can no longer be denied, It's a wild call and a clear-cut call, though I still retain my pride. So all I need is one small container, perhaps a black rubber bucket, A dash below and then on deck, to leeward I will chuck it. I must go down to the heads again, for the seal has been mended, The pipes are all cleared and the outlet…