Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i Sailing Today

American Magic suffered a capsize and was close to sinking in a dramatic turn of events in the Prada Cup. The AC75, backed by the New York Yacht Club, was leading Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on day three of racing in Auckland when it was caught by a sudden increase in wind speed. The crew was attempting a tack and bear away manoeuvre and was sailing at an estimated 47 knots at the time. As the leeward foil came out of the water, the boat rocketed into the air and plunged down, turning onto its side. Skipper Terry Hutchinson later told how he was pinned underwater and was cut free by a team mate. After all crew were accounted for uninjured, the boat was righted, but was clearly low in…

Sailors are facing a host of new restrictions post-Brexit, the Cruising Association and RYA warn. Both organisations are trying to get answers from the UK Government but they expect the coming season to throw up many unresolved issues on the water. The Cruising Association’s Brexit spokesman Roger Bickerstaff said anyone sailing to an EU country should be prepared for a more ‘administrative environment’, while RYA Cruising Manager Stuart Carruthers said: “The important point to get across is that we are now a Third Country and there are going to be some very significant changes to the way that people can do their boating. “As an example, the whole idea of taking a sabbatical in the Mediterranean, living on your boat, which you’ve bought with your pension, has just disappeared out…

Don’t worry, we haven’t come to rob the place!” I said to the slightly bemused member of Keyhaven Yacht Club. The wearing of face coverings in shops had been mandatory for some time, but it wasn’t enforced in pubs, restaurants or clubhouses. With our oversized hand-sewn masks we probably looked like pirates – certainly not visiting sailors! We explained that we’d paid our mooring fee over the phone and had come ashore in the dinghy for a mooch around. The Covid lockdown had prevented any form of cruising until early July and having spent more than 12 weeks living apart due to family lockdown commitments in Exeter and Poole, by early September we were itching to get sailing again. We set off with a deeper sense of appreciation of the…

‘SPONSORSHIP FROM A VODKA MANUFACTURER LED TO THE TITLE OF THE BLOODY MARY’ Without question, I can honestly say this has been the least thrilling edition of the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series. As I write, just the Datchet Flyer has taken place, with only the slimmest prospect of any other events taking place this season. At least us dinghy racers can live vicariously through the excitement of the closest ever Vendée Globe along with all the unpredictables twists and turns of the Prada Cup in New Zealand. In the spirit of trying to make something happen on every weekend where we had been due to have a Sailjuice event, our Facebook Live gatherings have unearthed some fascinating facts from the dim and distant past. “The History of the Bloody Mary”…

With spring around the corner, thoughts turn once again to where to keep your boat. This can have a profound effect on the kind of cruising you end up doing. Sometimes the decision is simple as you may well have a favoured marina or mooring you have used for years. Yet cruising intineraries can also change and there is every chance you may wish to strategically place your yacht nearer to some tempting new cruising ground. If this is the case, then it is well worth shopping around. Some marinas do ‘early bird’ offers for those who are quick to make up their mind while discounts are also frequently available for those who are willing to pay in full upfront. It’s also worth bearing in mind that some of the…

When I put in for a test sail of Moody’s latest offering, I mistakenly referred to her as the ‘41DS’. ‘Of course you can test the boat,’ wrote back the contact from Moody owner Hanse Yachts, ‘but please note that the boat’s name is the ‘DS41’. It is a small but crucial distinction. Yes, the boat is 41ft long, but her chief characteristic is her vast deck saloon – a true deck saloon, where it is flush with the cockpit. Naturally, the ‘DS’ should come first. The justice of that minor correction became evident even before I even boarded the boat. As I peered down from the boardwalk above the marina in the placid Flensburger Fjord on Germany’s Baltic coast, I spotted her straightaway. There really is no mistaking her…

Piip Hare sounded tired but happy as she chatted over a Whatsapp call in January. Despite the fact that she was awaiting a 40-knot front, roughly 1,000 miles east of Cape Horn, lying in 17th place in the Vendée Globe, the Poole-based sailor had every reason to be upbeat. Hare had just done something very few others have managed, or even attempted. Having discovered a potentially race-ending crack in her port rudder stock, she had set about replacing the entire rudder at sea, her 60ft IMOCA being thrown around in a confused swell. As anyone who has replaced a rudder knows, this is a mammoth job in a boatyard. Hare had two excellent consultants, Joff Brown of Lighthouse Yacht Services in Portsmouth, who is her boat manager, and Paul Larsen,…

06:00 hours ,1st August 2020 Good time to go, winds will be force 2 or less through the Gibraltar Straits which is good as the Straits are very very busy so being under motor is fine. As we get away from the Straits the wind will gradually fill in at around 160 deg. Whilst under motor I would head to the east of my direct route, this will allow us to sail more westerly later on the passage therefore keeping the wind at around 140-160 deg, however if I am carrying the dual headsail rig with a Code K I would head more easterly to turn and run dead down wind with the Code K and Genoa set Butterfly rigged with no mainsail. 06:00, 2nd August We would now start…

When looking for insurance, remember that the value of the yacht itself is a key component of the premium. In most cases, that means the current value, not the as-new replacement value. As a result, you should be prepared to adjust the insured value down each year to reflect the depreciating value of the yacht. “There is no point in over insuring,” says Greg Hill of Traffords. “If a policy is on an agreed-value basis rather than a market-value basis, the insurers generally have a clause that allows them to replace the craft. If you don’t want the replacement then it brings a negotiation element into play for a cash payment. “The market value basis is left to a surveyor to analyse the market and works exactly like car insurance.…

The first thing we have to say is prevention is definitely better than cure. That is, it is better to be good at avoiding a poor start than being good at recovering from one! That said, every sailor gets a poor start from time to time, so both knowing how to mitigate the chances of a poor start and how to recover from one are very important. You can deliberately practise recovering from a poor start when training by one boat having to start 30 seconds late and try and pull through the fleet. Practice makes perfect and doing a warm up regatta can be an excellent way to practise starting before a major event and at international events coaches are increasingly putting on “Coaches’ regattas” before World Championships, etc…

In a world that at times seems to be teetering on the brink of, well, something quite scary, it’s important to go to a happy place and where better than this tranquil anchorage on Loch Coriusk on the Isle of Skye. This is a freshwater loch that can be accessed from the sea via the Scavaig River. Although all looks tranquil, it can be a foreboding spot. Walter Scott, visiting in 1814 wrote: “Rarely human eye has known/A scene so stern as that dread lake/ With its dark ledge of barren stone...” All good cheerful stuff. Anyway, it provides a welcome spot of escapism for us.…

Cowes Week Limited has been selected by the UK Government to take part in a technology initiative that will see 50 yachts in the regatta fitted with cameras, to enhance spectator viewing. The high definition 360° cameras will enable live pictures to be broadcast on a Cowes Live TV presentation, which will be shown on big screens around the town, as well as being available on the internet. In a virtual reality lounge on the Parade in Cowes, spectators will be able to don headsets and enjoy live action on one of the 50 boats, seeing exactly what’s going on right across the Solent. “Turn your head and the camera will show you what the crew are looking at right that second!” say the organisers. A new Cowes Week spectator…

‘NO SAILOR’S RACE SHOULD BE COMPROMISED FOR GOING TO HELP ANOTHER IN DISTRESS’ And this, I promise, will be the last Vendée Globe epistle, my postcard from locked down, everything- closed Les Sables d’Olonne. And though that has been oppressive, no more so than elsewhere in Europe, you have to give huge credit to the Vendée region for making the race happen. It would have been easier for them to postpone and wait for 2021 but they went for it and have been rewarded with the closest and most engaged race, correspondingly with biggest ever global audience on all channels. So that is the payback in one sense, but the race is not just about flag waving for the Vendée region it is about bringing visitors to the region for…

Hanse’s engineers spent a lot of time and effort developing the sliding door system between the saloon and the cockpit. It has a really pleasing mechanism, where a twist of the handle levers the door an inch or so backwards, so it can slide to one side along a track. The first hulls used a track on the ground, but Hanse quickly realised that this would get gummed up with sand and other detritus. In the future, the door will hang from a track fixed to the glass back wall. Combined with the opening glass hatch by the galley, there is a good sense of connecting the saloon and the cockpit in fine weather.…

You would be forgiven for thinking that yacht insurance premiums should be on the way down after a year of stifled sailing activity. But don’t hold your breath. Broker after broker tells me that the industry is still facing catch-up after years of aggressively low premiums, and warns of further ‘corrections’ ahead. All is not lost, however, and there are ways of trimming premiums, especially where usage has been curtailed by Corona. Rising premiums have been the story of the last few years, especially in the yachting market. Some $215bn of damage inflicted by three hurricanes in 2017 cost the insurance industry around $140bn in cover, and it has been on the back foot ever since. Add to that years of undervaluing risk in order to win prestigious superyacht business,…

Racing Rules of Sailing Mark Rushall’s recent article told you everything you needed to know about the 2021-2024 Rules changes, but if you’re keen to dive further in, three books are available from the RYA online shop, plus there is an app from World Sailing. The Racing Rules of Sailing are updated every four years by World Sailing • RYA Racing Rules of Sailing £10.99 • RYA Handy Guide to the Racing Rules £4.49 • RYA Racing Rules Explained £18.99 • World Sailing rules app, download free on app stores. If you have it already, it should be updated automatically Luna Rossa race in wool Kit used by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team in the Prada and – they hope – the America’s Cup. Challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli…

With over one thousand sailing channels on YouTube, is it still possible to break into the market and fund your sailing adventure? Most people that would like to live the cruising lifestyle would welcome some income as they spend their time swinging on the hook in a beautiful Caribbean anchorage. We have been cruising for three years and we have met many people along the way that have an income while cruising, this includes software developers, Public Relations manager, businesses directors, a fund manager, and yes, YouTube stars, they are all making a living on their boats. Other sailors make additional cash by working on fellow boaters, boats, electricians, canvas work, engine technicians and GRP repair specialists. Many people are funding themselves as they travel slowly westward around the world.…

‘Have you got any drugs with you’. It was 2am and I was crewing on a yacht delivery bound from Gibraltar to Edinburgh when I was rudely awoken by the skipper with this weird request. Initially, I thought this apparently straight laced man was after some, ‘N-no’ I replied groggily. ‘Good, we’re being followed; if you have anything, ANYTHING, say now and we can dispose of it.’ I had nothing. Later that night I took my watch and it was clear that a motor boat was tailing us at a distance of a few miles. We had left Gibraltar and hove to off a bleak section of Finisterre to effect repairs to a leaky portlight. We got battered by storms in Biscay and were later buzzed over by a light aircraft.…

The Vendée Globe was set for an incredible photo finish in late January, with any one of nine boats capable of winning. After 65 days and 23,000 miles sailed, the race effectively restarted off Rio de Janeiro, with the top five yachts separated by just 26 miles and only 127 miles back to ninth-placed Jean Le Cam. Contesting the 4,600-mile sprint to the finish in France was Yannick Betaven (Maître Coq IV), who led the race through much of the Southern Ocean and at one stage was ahead by 435 miles (pictured rounding Cape Horn in first place, below right). Charlie Dalin (Apivia) snuck ahead off South America, but double Paralympic gold medallist Damien Seguin (Groupe APICIL), Thomas Ruyant (LinkedOut), Louis Burton (Bureau Vallée 2) and Boris Herrmann (SeaExplorer –…

Visitors to the virtual RYA Dinghy Show need not leave their own homes to enjoy a fantastic line-up of talks, interactive coaching sessions, kids’ treasure hunt and more, over the weekend of 27-28 February (10am - 5pm both days). Once registered for free, you can visit the show as many times as you like over the weekend. The show, presented by Suzuki and supported by Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting as media partner, will feature big names including Hannah Diamond as host. Ian Walker will be chatting to a few of his sailing heroes including Santiago Lange, Xu Lijia and a surprise special guest. We’ll hear from IlCA sailors Alison Young, Elliot Hanson and Lorenzo Chiavarini, who will be giving their top tips on how to sail faster, plus…

J/45 American manufacturer J/Boats has been around for 45 years now and whether by accident or design, is marking that anniversary with the launch of their new flagship, the J/45. This is their biggest boat to date and, like the majority of their previous designs in this size bracket, the 45 will offer a compelling blend of racing prowess with decent levels of comfort. Interestingly, the accompanying talk around the launch makes much of this cruising comfort stating that: ‘The guiding principle involved maximising the interior volume and comfort whilst retaining an elegant silhouette, a minimal wetted surface area and by far the lowest weight estimate of its category.’ All very interesting. Anyway, the first images suggest that J will be producing a very good looking cruiser/racer. keyyachting.com Dufour 470…

‘I discovered the stove to be a little darling, even down to the brass rail around the top to stop the kettle falling off’ Previously on this page…… Last month I was telling you about my lengthy and ultimately disappointing history when it comes to boat heaters. I’ve had the lot over the years; charcoal, paraffin, diesel, rubbing sticks together, dancing on the deck to get some feeling back into the frozen limbs. In the end, most of them didn’t cut the mustard. The drip feed heater dripped but didn’t heat, the paraffin hissed like an over-stoked steam engine and stank. The charcoal was pleasant but on the feeble side and never managed to cause any flexibility in the brick-like breakfast butter. But that’s all behind me now. I have…

I had an email the other day from an old friend who was getting ready to set off across the Pacific. ‘What do you do for a watch system?’ he asked, ‘when there are only two of you.’ A lot of yachts making ocean passages are crewed by just two people, usually a couple and often not youngsters, to put it delicately. Across the Atlantic and on any overnight passages it all comes down to crew. On one of our earlier yacht, Tetranora which we took across the Indian Ocean we were initially three though illness forced one to fly home from Yemen. Cousin Frank and I fell into a comfortable three on and three off rhythm for the rest of the trip to SE Asia. Another of our yachts,…

I am, at the time of writing, working on an interim edition of The Shell Channel Pilot. Because of the Covid situation, I’ve been unable to research the usual full-blown new publication. Fortunately, the current volume was produced relatively recently after exhaustive efforts, so we’re running through this and making sure the plans, together with any major changes in navigation and marina berthing, are in order. So far, so good, but what about the useful restaurant and pub recommendations on which readers rely for recreation after a stiff beat upwind against the tide? While pondering on how to deal with this, my mind wandered obscurely to the work of George Gershwin whose character Jake offers us this pearl of wisdom in ‘Porgy and Bess’: ‘Woman may born you, love you…

NORDSHIP 40DS Not quite one-level living, but with a table in a raised saloon giving exterior views. Semi customisable, even down to build material. Classic woody interior and high-quality finish by a reputed Danish yard. €413,000 ex-VAT nordshipyachts.co.uk SIRIUS 40DS Award winning German-built true deckhouse yacht with huge storage spaces. Minutely designed for crossing oceans or exploring off the beaten track. Flexible layout with up to three double cabins. €502,521 ex-VAT sirius-yachts.com ALBATROSS 42 Spanish built cruiser with in-mast furling and drop-down bathing platform. Twin helms and a dinghy garage differentiate this design, which offers up to three double cabins. €279,750 ex-VAT albatrossyachts.eu…

A blue water passage is surely one of the reasons many of us go cruising. The idea of a yacht booming along before the balmy trade winds is the dream. Yet a happy pasage can only be achieved by good skippering and a sensible onboard routine PART FOUR On Passage Start your voyage by choosing a weather window that offers at least two days of easy sailing with wind strengths of 10-15kts if at all possible. If a big blow has just gone through, allow a couple of days for the swell to die down. The first consideration should be ensuring the crew to settle into an ‘at sea’ pattern, overcoming seasickness, eschewing the nine-to-five routine and acclimatizing to cooler temperatures, all problems that one should expect with a…

Portishead is a Somerset town that for many fortysomethings will always be linked to the trip hop band hailing from the town which hit the charts with some pretty gloomy recordings in the late 90s. Aside from this though, it has long been a thriving port situated conveniently close to the great maritime hub of Bristol. The town was something of an industrial hub and the large locked dock complex was mainly used to discharge coal for two nearby power stations. In a story familiar across the UK, commercial shipping generally declined at Portishead and ground to a halt in 1992. After a few years of lying derelict, the site was redeveloped and £400m was pumped in to build the marina complex and surrounding residential and retail businesses that have…

BELLIURE 41 | BLACK PEARL A stunning Blue Water cruiser from the drawing board of esteemed designer Peter Ibold, an American naval architect probably best known for his Enduance class of blue water cruisers. His designs have always married comfort with seaworthiness and Black Pearl is no exception. Sleeping four across two double cabins (both with ensuite shower and heads) Black Pearl is beautifully finished throughout in high gloss Burma Teak. Extensively refitted and upgraded by her current owner, she is a go anywhere cruiser designed to take you over the horizon in comfort, safety and style. Year: 1985 LOA: 12.5m (41’) Beam: 4m (13’12” Draft: 1.80m (5’9”) Displacement: 9,400kg Engine: Volvo Penta 62HP Cabins: 2 Lying: Inverkip, Scotland michaelschmidt.co.uk SWAN 44 | PEPPER III Swan…

‘The wind had dropped and the two boats were clearly wanting to do some kind of waltz’ Our boat is a heavy girl. She takes a lot of power to get going and build up her momentum and she hates to go in astern with any wind at all on her beam or her quarter. But, give her a quiet anchorage and a full moon and she suddenly becomes as nifty and adept a mover as someone on Strictly. When we imagine misadventures on a boat it’s often coupled with our minds conjuring up images of wild seas, crashing storms, big and violent conditions. In reality some of our most common mishaps have been when things are completely calm out on the water, which makes these narratives somehow even more…