Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Sailing Today

PARIS BOAT SHOW 8-16 DECEMBER, PARIS The demise of the London Boat Show appears to have boosted the appeal of other winter boat shows including the Nautic Paris International Boat Show. This nautical gathering includes representatives from most of the world’s industry leaders. salonnautiqueparis.com TITANIC STORIES UNTIL 7 JANUARY – FALMOUTH The Titanic Stories exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall continues until 7 January 2019.Learn more about the Titanic’s and hear personal stories from many survivors. Tickets £13.50, or £6.50 (under 18s). nmmc.co.uk RHYL RNLI FESTIVE DIP 26 DECEMBER, WALES Brave the chill this festive season and help raise funds for the Rhyl RNLI Shannon Class All-Weather Lifeboat appeal by taking part in Rhyl’s annual RNLI Festive Dip on Boxing Day. Register by 1030 for a 1230 start. Entry…

‘Jim and I had the wide, turbulent Sound, stretching 20 miles ahead to the south, completely to ourselves’ Every cruise should have a purpose. As I set out alone from Ardfern on Otter in early April, on a perfectly calm, clear, chilly evening to cruise down the Sound of Jura, my resolve was to recall three warm friends who had departed to the great sailing and fishing grounds in the heavens the previous year. Richard Clifford, Jim Pitts and Simon Fogden, in all my three most consistent correspondents of recent years. I missed them. I would climb the Paps of Jura in their company. Jim has spoken and written at length about the pleasures of sailing in early springtime in Scotland, the principal one being the absence of noisome people…

Do you know how to make the lights go dim across the entire country? It’s dead easy, and I reveal it with the greatest reluctance in case it should fall into the wrong hands, but all you need to throw our energy supply into chaos is a few well-chosen keystrokes. You first need to find an internet forum populated with sailing people. You’ll recognise them by the witty nautical names they give themselves like, ‘bavariakid’ or ‘stormforceterry’. Make up one of your own, but don’t use your real name for you are about to fall in with some characters you might not wish to be associated with for very long. Then log in and type away. For best effect you need to stress the entire internet, and for that you…

Australia’s Whitsunday islands lie a short distance off the coast of tropical Queensland, rising out of the sea like pyramids, tantalisingly close across a shimmering strait of water. There are more than a hundred islands and islets in the archipelago which form both a national park and part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. They are home to the largest bareboat fleet in the South Pacific, which makes it sound as though it might be crowded or busy. It isn’t. When we visit in July it’s a stunning haven of coral reefs, golden beaches, white beaches, rocky coves, wooded hills, whales, dolphins, turtles, and other sea life, sandwiched together by pleasant day sails in warm sunny conditions with regular trade winds of 10-15kt. Airlie departure As we arrive at…

JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 449 Jeanneau, like Beneteau, is slowly overhauling its range of out-and-out cruisers and the 440 and 490 both feature flared forward sections like their French sister. The 449 is, however, of the previous generation designed by Phillipe Briand and features chines at the stern, not the bow. Jeanneau.com BAVARIA C45 Bavaria's development of this ‘C’ line of yachts was part of what led the company into financial strife. Don’t let that put you off though, as this is a very well developed cruising yacht that also feels simply huge. She even boasts a dinghy garage. (Well, sort of.) Bavariayachts.com HANSE 458 New from Hanse this year and a yacht that revisits and refines many of the features developed in their 455. This is another polished performer in…

For most of us, heavy weather isn’t running with trailing warps in hurricane force winds as 50-foot Cape Horn greybeards come thundering up all the way from Australia. It’s about suffering conditions worse than we bargained for a lot nearer home. Modern weather forecasting is so good that we aren’t often called on to face the music, but we all take a hit every now and again. Finding ourselves at sea in near-gale conditions rarely calls for the dire techniques demanded by ultimate ocean storms, but closer to land we have other problems. Different boats have widely varying abilities, and so do crews. A typical scenario is that a skipper goes to sea under pressure from a timetable, hoping the weatherman’s ‘Force 4-6, perhaps 7 later’ will be more four…

Navigating from the Adriatic into the Bay of Kotor is straightforward enough but it can get busy with cruise ships. Enter the massive mountain range-framed Bay of Kotor ›ord between the headlands of Rt Ostra (Croatia) to the west and Rt Mirista (Montenegro) to the east through a 1.6nm strait. You will also notice Fort Mamula, a small island to the east that features a resort in an 18th-century fort that was once a concentration camp. Once through the headland you are in the outermost part of the bay of the Bay of Kotor and you’ll need to navigate your way round to starboard before arriving at Porto Montenegro on the eastern shore of the Bay. There is a chance you’ll be contacted by the coastguard on your approach so…

Like it or not, the electric revolution for boats is on its way. It’s a slow process, sure, but more and more sailing boats are turning to electric. Diesel still dominates, of course, but clear market leader Torqeedo did €25m worth of business in electric boat motors last year and is growing fast. The world’s number three production boatbuilder, Hanse Yachts, has been offering its entry-level 315 with a 10kW electric motor for several years. And though take-up has been disappointing (Hanse accepts that the boat is too cheap for the £20,000 cost of the electric propulsion system), other boatbuilders have followed suit. Rustler is installing a Bell Marine electric motor on one of its 24s, while Spirit Yachts is going electric for everything from its 111-foot superyacht to some…

The recently published report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a challenge to the international community to unite in its efforts to bring climate change under control by limiting the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees. Based on more than 6,000 scientific studies, the report was compiled by the world’s top climate scientists, its irrefutable conclusion is that the astonishing pace of global warming is the ‘greatest challenge of our generation’ and its message is relevant to every human being on our planet. Much has been written about this phenomenon and few sailors would disagree that global weather conditions are undergoing a radical change. The warming of the climate system is unequivocal: the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea…

The chances of being run down and sunk by an errant Isle of Wight Ferry have been reduced for yachts using Cowes, as new orders ban large vessels from navigating in low visibility. The new Cowes Harbour Commission rule has been issued following the sinking of Greylag, a Contessa 32 which was struck by the Red Falcon car ferry operated by Red Funnel. The Red Falcon ran aground during the incident, leaving Cowes Harbour temporarily closed and passengers stranded for several hours. Thankfully there was nobody aboard Greylag at the time, but the Red Falcon’s Master and Mate have been suspended pending a Marine Accident Investigations Branch report. The collision followed another incident in September when the Red Falcon’s sister ship Red Eagle hit a catamaran and channel markers –…

The average age of new yacht buyers has reached 60 and is rising, Groupe Beneteau CEO Hervé Gastinel told an audience at the 2018 Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. . Gastinel shared plans to copy automotive industry ‘platform sharing’ for future models across the group’s 11 brands, as well as offering ownership deals that mimic car industry personal lease (PCP) schemes. “We want to grow output twice as fast as the market, and we want to double margins by 2020,” he said, announcing plans to target new Asian customers, and increasing appeal to a new cohort of younger buyers in Europe and the US. “The age of current buyers is a cause for concern to everyone in the industry,” said Gastinel, "but we can only appeal to millennials through…

Art of the sea Awe-inspiring J-Class realism Modern marine fine art doesn't come more realistic or lovely than the paintings of Shane Couch, who has just completed the first of a series featuring J-Class yachts. – this spectacular oil painting of Valsheda, which measures 15cm x 30cm. Couch is currently working on a commission of J-Class racing in the Solent in 2015, and a small panel depicting Svea – the newest J-Class – racing in Palma. • £2,420 • shanecouch.com Carbon-fibre wallet Smart but simple Make an impression this Christmas with an uber-smart, hand-crafted carbon-fibre wallet from Si-Q Design. These lightweight wallets are, by nature of the material (three layers carbon-fibre), strong and, although compact to look at, they are able to expand to 2.5cm, to give plenty of room…

These days my yacht spends the winter tucked up in a warm shed in Denmark. Because I live aboard up on the Baltic in the summertime, the arrangement works well on the whole, but when I wake on a winter’s morning to see the light sparkling on a frosty lawn, a clear day dawning and a breeze kicking in with the sunrise, I don’t half miss my old berth half an hour away on the Beaulieu River. Sailing in deep winter is a winner for the brave, but the boat absolutely must have proper cabin heating and the wise skipper learns that long trips are a bad idea. Once their fingers are well and truly numb and noses have turned rosy red, people lose interest in the romance of the…

Montenegro is a country in the Balkans on the Adriatic Sea, which lies just over the border from Serbia, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and across the Adriatic from Italy. It is also the home of the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) – a UNESCO world heritage site and Europe’s southernmost fjord – which is an interesting place to explore. This spectacular part of the world with its magical cruising ground around palm-lined shores and lush mountainous backdrops still retains most of its historic architecture. With beautiful mediaeval coastal towns such as Budva, and Sveti Stefan, and a whole host of hidden bays and anchorages, waiting to be ‘discovered’, it is little wonder Montenegro is the new buzz destination for discerning cruising sailors. As a location from which to base…

Montenegro offers a wealth of cruising opportunities with the Boka Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site one of the key attractions. This sunken canyon is the largest natural harbour in the eastern Mediterranean and 100 kilometres of coastline, twisting inland from the open waters of the Adriatic on the southern edge of the Dalmatian coast, make it the ideal cruising playground. With Venice and the Croatian archipelago to the north, Corfu and the Ionian Islands to the south and the eastern coast of Italy to the west, the Bay also offers easy and direct access to some of the best cruising in the Mediterranean basin. Day cruising from Porto Montenegro is popular because there is so much to see close by, and plenty of secluded bays in which to enjoy a…

The sweet irony of modern yachting is that, despite taking advantage of the wonderful natural resource of the wind for propulsion, construction methods mean that this is not the most environmentally friendly of sports. The only realistic way to dispose of a fibreglass yacht is to chop it up and put it in landfill where it will take many centuries to degrade. There are, however, a handful of yachts out there that maximise their environmental credentials. Here is Sailing Today’s top three: Contessa 32 Contessa 32s are something of a timeless classic and they can still be built to order. Their ‘green’ model Calypso was launched in 2010, when its green credentials included a diesel/electric hybrid engine, Hempasil silicone based non toxic antifoul, bilge filters and Kebony decks. Green rating…

Düsseldorf puts out the annual welcome-mat for yachties for the 50th time in January. The massive 2019 boot Düsseldorf looks like being a cracker too, with record numbers of exhibitors. The show caters for all on-water leisure enthusiasts and, in contrast to the London Boat Show, has been going from strength to strength. In 2017, nearly a quarter of a million punters visited the nine-day junket. For 2019 the organisers expect an unusually large influx of British sailors, following the demise of LIBS. Indeed, the success of boot Düsseldorf played a part in LIBS’s downfall, as exhibitors increasingly found it unsustainable to attend two shows in such close proximity on the calendar. For Brits eager for that customary post-Christmas fix of boats, bonhomie and err… the local altbier (don’t go…

J/Boats J/99 The new J/99 promises fun by the bucket-load, with its racy hull-form, J/Boats’ first fixed (non-retractable) bowsprit, bulb keel and responsive tiller steering. Sporty options include water ballast and twin rudders, and there’s a 20hp Volvo Saildrive. Down below there’s standing headroom in an (up to) eight-berth interior, with a proper navigation station, galley and dining table, twin aft-cabins, and head located in the forepeak sail locker. (CR) £91,000 www.jcomposites.eu Oceantec 50 When I was a child I would have drawn up the lines of a yacht like this as a sort of ‘boat of the future’ daydream – particularly if I had just been given a new ruler that I was particularly excited by. It’s sort of what would happen if you gave the designer of the…

‘We are conscious of making sure we remain relevant’ When the Cruising Association launched 110 years ago, with the aim of ‘encouraging cruising in yachts and boats’, little could the first chairman, John Love, have imagined that one day its members would be able to hold live information about ports all around the world in the palms of their hands. Advances in technology have meant that the CA has been able to expand its services way beyond anything its founding members could have dreamed of. The global dominance of the internet and explosion in apps mean it can now get up-to-date – in some cases day-old – cruising information to thousands of members, wherever they are sailing. “The internet has been wonderful for us because it is so much easier…

It seems to be all back to Greece for the Eastern Med these days, since Turkey dropped out of favour during the war in Syria, the refugee crisis and recent political upheavals. Sad, really, as in my opinion there’s very little chance of a problem in the typical sailing grounds around Turkey’s stunning southern coastline. The Turks are still really friendly and helpful, the sailing season is longer than anywhere else in the Med and recently the Turkish Lira exchange rate is better than it’s ever been. Some of the bigger charter companies still operate out of the larger ports – Bodrum, Marmaris and Gocek – the latter being one of my favourites as it offers the whole of the sheltered Fethiye Bay for gentle cruising and hundreds of stunning…

Last year I tested the Beneteau Oceanis 51.1 and I have to say I was mightily impressed with the forward-thinking design and layout of the yacht. The French manufacturing giant had taken quite a radical step by building a ‘step’ into the hull of the yacht. Nothing revolutionary there, I hear you cry, as we’ve all seen chines bunged on the stern of cruising yachts for enhanced ‘performance’ (read interior volume). Yet Beneteau stepped things up a notch by moving the chine to the bow and running it aft, thereby creating an innovative ‘champagne glass’ hull section which provided a great deal more volume forward, while also keeping wetted surface area – and thereby drag – low in light airs. All very clever, and I said as much in the…

When one of the world’s top boat builders announced it was entering administration in April 2018, it sent shockwaves through the yachting world. If Bavaria, underpinned by the quiet efficiency of its German production line and strong global sales, couldn’t compete, what did that say about the rest of the industry? And for those who had put deposits down on their new Bavaria or Nautitech boats, the worry was intense. Would they ever see the boat built, or get their money back? Astonishingly, just six months later, the business was back on its feet and once again churning-out yachts with a full staff of 800 people. The future of its yards at Giebelstadt in Bavaria and Rochefort, France has been secured, and production is ramping up. Dr Ralph Kudla, the…

You’ve read the guide, now it’s your chance to experience the delights of Porto Montenegro first-hand. The marina management is delighted to offer you a prize of a three-day visit. This will include two nights staying at the prestigious Regent Hotel, plus a sailing trip to explore the delights of Boka Bay. The trip can be arranged at a time that is mutually agreeable to both the winner and Porto Montenegro, and will not include flights or transfers. Enter now at sailingtoday.co.uk/competition Full terms and conditions available on the website…

One of the most blindingly practical and useful green bits of kit has to be the solar panel. Bung enough of these on your boat and your battery will stay topped up without the requirement to run the engine. That’s pretty important for sailors who don’t want to shatter the peace of a quiet anchorage by running their engines for hours on end. How much power do I need? Working this out isn’t particularly difficult. Obviously you have to give some thought to where you’re sailing. If it’s in Greece there’s likely to be a good deal more sunlight than there would be in the UK but aside from that, you need to think about what sort of cruising you are likely to be doing, too. If you are running…

OYSTER LIGHTWAVE 395 | BLUE PEARL Partnership Yacht Brokers tell us this Oyster Lightwave 395 is designed to fly, and she does. The owner has taken care to increase the comfort of Blue Pearl without compromising on her racing ability. Standing and running rigging were replaced in 2014, the keel replaced by a larger heavier fitting and the engine replaced with a new Beta. The boat was then ashore for two years with the mast off before being relaunched in 2017. During the two year lay up the hull was resprayed, the forward hatch cover reglazed, the forward bunk mattresses recovered and much interior lighting replaced with LED. Work on plumbing included fitting a new water pump, removing, cleaning and replacing water tanks and fitting a new pump to the…