Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2016 i Yachting Monthly

It feels great to be back on a mooring after five years in marinas. I’ve traded a view of towering white topsides and tin sheds for a glorious panorama of river, salt marsh and oak forest, and swapped the clatter of halyards on masts for the calls of wading birds and the sound of wind rustling through the trees. I’ve also saved several thousand pounds. There are intangible benefits, too. I no longer fret about manoeuvring my unhandy long-keeler in and out of a maze of pontoons under the critical gaze of neighbouring berthholders, with an awkward cross-tide running, whenever I want to go sailing. It’s so much easier now, especially if I’m alone – I just drop the mooring and go. That said, there’s less compulsion to go anywhere.…

We started the leg from Qingdao, China in February, bound for San Francisco 5,500 miles away. We soon settled into conditions we knew well: spinnaker running in 30 knots, averaging about 12 knots with surfs over 25. The crew was loving it and we soon broke into the top three. Then we received weather files forecasting storm force and hurricane strength winds. A huge low-pressure system was barrelling towards us. I briefed the crew and organised a storm watch system designed to reduce time on deck, as conditions were going to be brutal. Meals were prepared and everything was stowed. I suspect that most of the crew thought it meant more surfing, but I knew we were in for one hell of a ride. Building swells and high cirrus clouds…

‘We were being swept backwards as waves washed over the mast and bits of the boat were breaking off. The sea was very rough, the engine wasn’t making any difference and the boat was totally out of control.’ Scottish Islands Peak Race director Nick Macdonald still vividly remembers his experience in the 1985 edition of the race. He was sailing a 22ft E Boat when they were caught in a tide race off the Isle of Arran in a rising Force 9. Without VHF radio and having used all their flares, they were eventually rescued by the lifeboat. With the crew in safety, Nick suddenly remembered the Icelandic sweater his wife Alison had taken nine months to knit. ‘I couldn’t go home without it,’ Nick said. ‘I went down below…

The north coast of Spain stretches 300 miles from the French border in the east to Galicia and A Coruña in the west. Cabo Ortegal forms the western boundary of the Bay of Biscay and Cabo Estaca de Bares to the east is the northernmost point of Spain. There are nearly 70 harbours and estuaries and hundreds of anchorages on this still largely undeveloped coast, which is lush and green, watered by the many small rivers that rise in the mountains of the Cordillera behind. Harbours and towns Ría de Cedeira, 12 miles south-west of Cabo Ortegal, is the only one of the Rías Altas on the north-west coast of Galicia. The other rias are all east of Cabo Ortegal, and the first marina to the east is Viveiro. Ría…

The neighbouring Sherkin Island encloses Baltimore Harbour, and from Baltimore the passage to Cape Clear can be made either north- or southabout Sherkin. The southern route is the more exposed but also the more straightforward. The entrance to Baltimore Harbour is marked on its eastern side by an unlit rocketshaped white-painted stone tower 27m high with the delightful name of Lot’s Wife, while the diminutive Barrack Point light, opposite, provides – not to over-stretch the analogy, of course – a pillar of fire by night. All the way round to South Harbour, the southern coast of both islands is clean to within a cable of the cliffs, but keep a sharp lookout for shellfish pots. Night navigation is not recommended for a stranger. Lovely inshore route Taking this route to…

‘Look at this!’ I exclaimed, opening my emails. Would I present the Medway Barge Match report, my Mate the silverware... The event was at the lovely Medway Yacht Club, hugging the River Medway below Cockham Wood. I wondered why, but I was brought up on a spritsail barge, as told in The May Flower: A Barging Childhood, and took part in the inaugural match of the current series in 1965. My father was one of the early committee members. Two months after that email arrived in my inbox, we finished antifouling our Finesse 24, Whimbrel, and sailed to Upnor for the pre-match briefing. The committee boat, a swish Rodman 44 power-cruiser, locked out of Chatham Marina for the start line where barges fought the ebb in a fickle westerly. There…

Get stuck in with the Great British Beach Clean The Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean (16-19 Sept 2016), is the UK’s biggest beach clean up and survey. You’ll help to get your local beach clean and the survey provides vital information on sources of marine litter in the UK. Over 6,000 volunteers took part in 2015 and an average of 3,298 items of litter were picked up for every kilometre of beach cleaned, including 100 plastic bottles, 120 cotton bud sticks, 197 food wrappers and 960 pieces of plastic and polystyrene. ■ Other events run throughout the year and around the country. Find a beach clean near you at www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch Plastic: a world-wide problem Only 5 per cent of plastics produced world-wide are ever recycled. 50 per cent…

A carbon fibre yacht has been built of entirely recyclable materials for the first time, a French sailing team has announced. The yacht, a 21ft Mini 6.5 built for singlehanded offshore racing, has been created using a new resin that can be fully reused when the boat reaches the end of its life. This could represent a significant step in tackling the growing problem of end-of-life fibreglass and composite yachts – the European Union Boat Digest Project estimates that between 6,600 and 23,600 yachts are abandoned in Europe every year, in part because there is currently no commercially viable means of recycling them. Chemistry company Arkema has teamed up with French yacht racing and building outfit Lalou Multi and the Mini 6.5, Arkema, is the collabortive’s third boat, but it…

After reading A yachtsman’s guide to shipping (Apr 16), I’d like to add a couple of points. First, ferries often cut corners. We were motorsailing northeast round Ushant at night. Despite being well inshore of the traffic separation scheme, we met a Brittany Ferry heading southwest to Spain on a slow turn at 20+ knots. Attempts to contact the ferry by VHF failed until the French Coastguard intervened. The ferry claimed not to see us until I put our masthead light on. The genoa cloaked our steaming light and our nav lights were too low in the swell. Now I motorsail with only the masthead light on. Later, our Class B AIS failed so I called any ship on a potential collision course, as I do if I am the…

If you know bad weather is on its way, prepare for the worst. Adjust watch systems to minimise crew time on deck; securely stow all equipment, placing heavy items as low as possible; screw down sole boards; prepare quick and easy meals. Keep constant track of the conditions – wind, pressure, sea and swell. React appropriately and as soon as you can to any changes. Running before or heaving to? In the end I had no choice but to heave to – or as close as I could get with no sail up. Not only did it work, the yacht seemed perfectly happy. I would never recommend it, but if you find yourself in a storm, try heaving to (with sails) and see how she responds. Carry enough spares to…

The club is not part of the race organising committee, but has hosted the start since the 1980s. ‘We are proud to be associated with a race that is important in the Scottish sailing calendar,’ said commodore John Peden. He explained that the race originally started on the Oban Town slipway, but ‘with a Le Mans-style start it was total mayhem. As numbers increased, it became chaotic so was moved here.’ The club has moorings for members, an active social programme and visitors are welcome. Although Oban has been a hub for sailing on the West Coast of Scotland, there are currently no mainland visitor pontoons. There is a landing stage pontoon and an anchorage, and mooring is £5 for four hours or £15 a night. There is also a…

A great thing about cruising is that you can go short distances slowly and discover unexpected delights in places that you might otherwise miss on passage. This applies especially to a stretch along the north coast of Ireland between Fair Head and Malin Head, famous for its history, geology and fierce tides. Close inshore, a boat can get within a stone’s throw of two of the most stunning geological wonders in these islands – the forbidding bulk of Fair Head, and the Giant’s Causeway. Nearby, the historic ruins of Dunluce Castle dating from the 16th century, when this part of Ireland was economically and politically linked to Scotland in what was then known as the Kingdom of the Isles. Closing with the coast requires careful pilotage but the hazards are…

After months of preparation and planning we were off. Up went the sock and out came the Parasailor spinnaker. One horrified glance at the red blot outlined against the azure sky and the crew were working to get it down again. We had hoisted it back to front with the wing facing our stern instead of the bow. I wanted help and support to cross Biscay and go beyond, so I signed up for the ARC Portugal Rally. Lucinda and I took sea survival and ocean safety courses. We made long ‘to do’ lists. Equipment was labelled, lifejackets checked, and an EPIRB and liferaft bought. Imagine, our Broadblue 385 catamaran, was as ready as she could be, but I was daunted by the voyage to come and weighed down by…

For those with small yachts or who would like to fit sonar to a tender for checking out anchorages, this portable, battery-powered transducer and Wi-Fi sender is ideal. The suction cup-mounted SP-300 T-Box comes with a carrying case for the 12V, 4Ah rechargeable battery, charger, transducer and cable. It boasts a powerful, dual-beam 20°-40°, 200kHz transducer with a range of 70m that will run for 20 hours from a full charge. Compatible with Navionics’ SonarChart Live, you could also send your soundings off to the UG database for all to share. Price about £175 online Contact Vexilar www.sonarphone.mobi…

J/112e – Performance on test The log was reading between 10.5 and 12.5 knots when a gust hit, taking us to 12.9 and then stabilising at 13.0. ‘Do you have a speed limit in Yachting Monthly?’ joked Paul Heys, owner of Key Yachting, J-Boats’ agent in the UK. Paul’s question was fair, YM is a cruising magazine after all, but then the J/112e is designed to be cruised, even though she has race-boat DNA. Performance J-Boats is synonymous with racing so it’s no surprise that she sailed beautifully. We had a good Force 4-5 for our test and she relished it, making short work of going to windward at 26°-28° off the apparent wind. Pointing higher, above 24°, she would slip out of the groove, the telltales on the headsail…

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) will no longer distinguish between tidal and non-tidal Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper qualifications from January 2017, it has announced. Anyone taking an RYA Day Skipper or Coastal Skipper practical course will be taught tidal sailing and navigation principles, wherever their training centre is based. The subject will be taught practically where possible and covered in theory in non-tidal areas. Cruising training centres will also no longer be identified as either tidal or non-tidal. The RYA said: ‘The new combined syllabi will ensure that all candidates will at the very least have covered the concepts of boat handling, navigating and pilotage in areas with streams, currents and significant tidal range.’ All RYA Yachtmaster qualifications will be unaffected – as before, at least half of the…

Marine tourism expenditure in Scotland amounts to an estimated £3.7 billion, according to the Scottish Marine Recreation and Tourism survey, close behind Scotland’s offshore economy including oil and gas, which was worth £4.5 billion in 2013. Aside from general coastal recreation in Scotland (activities such as walking on the beach) sailing was the most popular, with 381 of the 2170 respondents reporting that sailing cruising was their most important activity. Clyde and Argyll were the most popular areas for cruising, while 70 per cent of sailing respondents were over 45 and male. Direct spending by sailors at marine businesses was around £100 million, but they may spend much more than this on things such as food and transport. Sarah Brown, survey project manager at the Firth of Clyde Forum, said:…

Q I recently received a newsletter from my marina in Holyhead with a reminder that anyone selling their boat in the marina must go through the on-site broker. It said that private sales could not be arranged by owners in the marina, and if any berth holders wanted to use another brokerage, they would have to do so through the on-site broker. Is this legal and could it really be enforced? Peter Haden A Marine surveyor Ben Sutcliffe-Davies replies: This has been a common policy since the 1960s. Many boatyards have a clause in their contracts, which berth-holders sign, that says if a boat is sold on their property, they’re entitled to one per cent of the proceeds of the sale. Most yards don’t enforce it, but some do. Mr Haden…

It was a dark night as I closed the coast and I thought I had passed the Isla de Pancha but ahead, where I had expected to find the estuary, was a string of red lights. I was uncertain where I was and was feeling frightened. This was before Decca and GPS, but I found that my trusty Seafix radio direction finder (RDF) worked surprisingly well and picked up the Morse signals far better than in the Channel where there was more clutter. Dark cliffs, defined by the crashing surf at their base, loomed up to starboard. Passing these, I soon found myself in a small bay. Here the water was smooth and of reasonable depth, so I thought it prudent to anchor and sort out my position in daylight.…

Cape Clear is extremely relaxed but island life is not without its challenges. Many of the islanders maintain a legally roadworthy car at Baltimore, and, well, an island car on Cape. Battle-scarred, with broken lights and roaring exhausts, these vehicles perforce have good brakes to deal with the precipitous road down to North Harbour. There are no policemen, and no crime, on Cape. Seán Rua’s shop incorporates a very good restaurant, and on the floor above is Club Chléire, while Cotter’s Bar, across the road, is the other hostelry. There are frequent music sessions, and an annual Storytelling Festival. Closing time? Don’t ask. The island’s Heritage Centre (open June to August, or by arrangement with the Information Bureau at the pier) is housed in a former school building and has…

The Yokesfleet is part of an intricate network of creeks that surrounds the low-lying islands of Potton, Rushley, Havengore, New England and Foulness. This Essex archipelago lies between the Rivers Crouch and Roach and, to the east, the Maplin Sands. Around the top of the tide the Yokesfleet appears as a wide expanse of water that looks like any other river. Don’t be fooled, there is plenty of mud edged with saltings on either hand and, once the tide’s away, this waterway is definitely a creek. Running in a north-south direction, after just under a mile the creek becomes The Middleway and continues past Rushley Island. In the distance you can see the buildings of Southend-on-Sea and, beyond, the chimney on the Isle of Grain. It is possible to lie…

Readers’ Cruising Stories Yachting Monthly’s founder Herbert Reiach wrote in the first issue in 1906: ‘We shall be glad to receive the best logs and cruising stories offered to us from all parts of the world’ 110 years later, nothing’s changed! We’re still publishing your cruising stories PLEASE SEND YOUR STORIES TO yachtingmonthly@timeinc.com It was late summer when a group of us decided to circumnavigate the island of Jamaica, the home of reggae and rastafarians, small fishermen’s bays and large coastal ports. My school friend Giovanni was skipper and owner of Seaquest, a 1980 Gulfstar 50, with Lucas from Holland, Eva, my girlfriend Frances and me as crew. Having already spent a few months aboard Seaquest visiting the Bahamas and Cuba, we needed some repairs to the mainsail and one…

‘With more people on board we produced more rubbish but had nowhere to store it’ Living afloat makes you more aware of your environmental impact. Quite aside from thinking about the wind that propels us, we have to consider everything we produce, consume and use. Solar panels and wind turbines are fairly commonplace on yachts now, but many still run generators to power their freezer, watermaker and powerhungry electronics. We have a fridge, but no generator and a finite supply of fresh water, more out of a desire to keep things simple and inexpensive than out of ecological zeal. We muddle our way through how best to manage our life in this new environment, but it has been an education in the reality of our impact on the planet. We…

Sadler Yachts is synonymous with the father-and-son team who designed and built hardy British cruisers 40 years ago, so it was perhaps apt that the Sadler 290 should bear their name. However this tough little cruiser is not to be confused with David and Martin Sadler’s range of cruising yachts produced between 1974-88, the Sadler 290 was designed by a different well-known British naval architect, Stephen Jones, and built by Rampart Yachts in Southampton from 2004-8. Some 44 yachts were completed before Rampart ceased trading, leaving the remaining seven to be finished elsewhere. We joined Paul Stone, who mostly sails his 290, Slipstream, singlehanded. He says she’s always looked after him well in all wind and sea conditions he’s experienced during the 10,000 miles he has sailed her, so we…