Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer-2019 15.07.2019 i Yachting Monthly

40 Hallberg-Rassy has unveiled plans for its new 40C yacht, which has the same cockpit measurements as its 44 model. It will be launched at the 2020 Boot Düsseldorf show. 25 A record number of IMOCAs will be taking part in this August’s Fastnet Race, with 25 doublehanded crew competing over the 608-mile route. 49 A 49-metre radar tower to guide ships up and down the tidal River Thames has been built at Northfleet, near Gravesend in Kent. Investigation Yacht transporters Peters and May has launched an investigation after the loss of the Baltic 130 My Song, which fell from the deck of the transporter MV Brattinsborg on 25 May in the Mediterranean.…

We’ve all heard about the whirlpool of plastic in the Southern Ocean; we’ve all seen the pictures of seals with six-pack rings worn as slow-garrot necklaces and we’ve all read about the albatross feeding its chicks bottle tops. As a rule, most yachtsmen I know are very considerate of their marine environment and do not dump plastics over the side. But despite our collective good behaviour it seems there’s no escape. A new report now reveals it’s raining plastic and that nowhere is exempt from the polymer precipitation. Sailors generally are much closer to the environment than metro-dwellers It is no longer just animals that are consuming plastic, we are too. Microplastic particles exist in food and water sources, so we are eating it, drinking it and now even breathing…

THE TEST VERDICT If you like the concept of the Kraken, you will probably approve of the design and attention to detail, both external and internal. If you don’t subscribe to the idea of the integral keel, raked stem, full-length skeg and Solent rig, everything else becomes irrelevant. The Kraken way of doing things involves compromises, as does any other. What the Kraken 50 does, however, is to give traditional, tried-and-tested features a modern twist. With the help of 21st-century design, technology and styling the boat is faster, sleeker, more fun to sail, more manoeuvrable and easier to manage than older boats that would-be Kraken buyers might otherwise be drawn to. She also poses a serious challenge to modern yachts aimed at those planning blue-water voyages, not least because she’s…

BRIAN BLACK Brian has survived nine Arctic seasons since the mid-1990s. Using his expert seamanship and hands-on skills, he often finds himself getting out of tricky situations at sea. BEN SUTCLIFFEDAVIES Ben Sutcliffe Davies is a yacht surveyor with over 35 years experience, including boat building in timber, GRP, steel and aluminium. Ben is an accredited member of the Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association (YDSA) and an associate member of the International Institute of Marine Surveying. HARRY DEKKERS Harry Dekkers has been sailing for many years. He is a RYA Yachtmaster Offshore and has sailed around the UK singlehanded. As an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy he served as commanding officer of HNLMS Urania, the Navy’s sail training vessel.…

Christopher Smith has had a series of shared ownerships in Greece. He has now retired from an academic bioscience career Anchoring is a key part of the cruising sailor’s arsenal – at least for those who don’t intend to take refuge in a marina every time they wish to stop sailing. For such a vital aspect of our pastime, however, it can be difficult to get solid information on many aspects of the process. This is due, in no small part, to the complexities in working out issues such as chain length. What is needed in most circumstances is a handy rule of thumb, which can be used to ensure you are anchoring safely in most circumstances. By its very nature, a rule of thumb calculation cannot take into account…

GORDON DAVIES and his partner have sailed their Sirius 31 DS for the last eight summers from Essex to the Baltic In many marinas in northern Europe, boats are moored by securing their bows to the pontoon and their sterns to two posts. These ‘box moorings’ are disliked by many British sailors, which is a pity as they are much safer than the usual British system of mooring to finger pontoons. They are also especially easy to use by solo sailors once you’ve got the knack. For those not familiar with boxes, let’s begin by looking briefly at how they are used. CHOOSING YOUR BOX In most marinas in the Baltic, there are very few designated visitors’ berths, but berth holders are often away. You don’t need to ask the…

Dag Pike has spent over 65 years at sea on ships, yachts and motor boats, including a number of transatlantic record attempts These days there are many ways to go cruising. The actual sea passage part of a cruise will remain much the same whatever you do, but it’s where you plan to spend the night that can make a significant difference. Marina hopping, sailing from one marina to the next and tying up for the night, makes for a safe and secure night alongside the pontoons from where you can walk ashore to the pub, restaurant or yacht club. There are still harbours that do not have a marina and where visiting yachts need to pick up a mooring and use their tender or the water taxi to go…

How do you measure sailing experience? For most of us it will be harbours visited and miles logged. But there’s more to it than just numbers; certain stretches of water pose unique challenges and their reputations hold a strange power in the minds of all who set sail. Completing one of these passages is an initiation, a rite of passage, that engenders the respect of others and a new self-confidence. With a nod to the 1980s YM book, Classic Passages, the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation and Imray have collated some of the milestone passages through and around British waters that should be on every cruising sailor’s to-do list. So how many have you done? This article is from the series Rites of Passage, commissioned by Yachting Monthly, the Royal…

SUPERDOCIOUS! £20 Rodney Pattisson with Barry Pickthall, Bloomsbury ‘Yachting as a sport […] is never boring’. Rodney Pattisson reflects on a career that has taken him from a home-built Cadet dinghy to record-breaking multihulls. The Cadet remains a family possession: Superdocious, the Flying Dutchman with which he gained his first Olympic gold, is a museum exhibit; most of the other waterbased speed machines in which Pattisson has displayed his legendary gifts as a helmsman have passed in their bewildering variety. His dedicated competitiveness and attention to detail makes gripping reading and his wife Jane brings him to life with her account of their annual, wind-blown trip to the Yachting Journalists’ Association dinner in Cowes, which Pattisson sees ‘as an opportunity to exercise his beloved F-27 trimaran.’ COASTAL BRITAIN: ENGLAND AND…

SENTINEL POINT £349 The Sentinel Point 2 is the ‘lite’ version of the YS6. Using cellular data and the Yacht Sentinel app you can see the vessel’s position, speed and course, plus battery voltage and temperature. It does not, however, accept additional sensors. www.yacht-sentinel.com MAXMON £695 The Maxmon is a wired security system that uses an Android phone at its heart (which would need to be kept charged). Reports are sent via email or text and a subscription for the mobile phone is required. It can also be configured to take and send photographs to give a visual reassurance onboard. www.maxmon.co.uk DOKENSIP £899 Dokensip is a similar security system that uses Bluetooth sensors. The standard package has four sensors: bilge water, battery, shore power and a passive infrared sensor that…

British sailor Tony Curphey has claimed the record for the oldest person to sail around the world non-stop and unassisted. The 74-year-old took the title from 73-year-old French skipper Jean-Luc Van den Heede, who came first in the 2018 Golden Globe Race. Curphey achieved the record while taking part in the Longue Route, sailing from Emsworth to Emsworth in his Nicholson 32, Nicola Deux. It took him 308 days and was his fourth singlehanded circumnavigation around the world. Speaking to YM, Curphey said he had just finished a solo circumnavigation via the three capes on Nicola Deux when he read about the Golden Globe Race. Initially interested, he was put off from entering by the amount of rules and the entrance fee. His son sent him details about the Longue…

Appropriate AIS use Your article on AIS and radar, ‘AIS vs radar: Do you really need both?’ (YM, April 2019) and Tim Colquhoun’s letter, ‘AIS checks with NCI’ (YM, April 2019), has prompted me to write to you about AIS use. My chartplotter/AIS only tracks the nearest 99 vessels (other products may be different). In fog when passing through the Solent recently, I could hear ship fog horns but couldn’t see them on my AIS until they got quite close. The reason for this was because of the number of nearby moored or anchored vessels showing up on the screen. It seems that many boat owners just leave their AIS system on permanently, either using it as a security device when anchored or moored or to indicate where their friends…

I can’t quite believe, as I take my dawn walk to the marina shower, that we left the Bahamas 10 days ago. It’s been a sail to remember, a 1,080-mile kaleidoscope of memories. Tracey would rather forget Nassau to West Palm Beach as she was overwhelmed by a stomach bug and, as we entered the washing machine of the Gulf Stream, seasickness. The combination a tsunami of misery, I sail as fast as I can… The next morning, we’re first in line at border control. Passport stamped, anchor up and away we fly with 25 knots up the chuff. Tracey remains wiped out and sleeps like a baby, now lulled by the motion. We are pushing north, driven by an overwhelming urge for all things family. Our daughter is to…

1 SIMPLE EQUATION The most basic equation is: wind speed + boat length = chain length. This works for anchorages up to around 10m. Beyond that depth, calculate 1.5 times wind speed instead. 2 CALCULATING TIDE Tide can also be taken into consideration, by converting the tidal force asserted to your boat into a relative wind speed. Motoring into varying headwinds and noting the engine rpm and then seeing what boat speed the same revs provide in calm conditions can provide a surprisingly accurate wind speed to tidal flow conversion. 3 ADDING SOME MORE It is wise to add roughly one additional boat length to our calculations to ensure there is enough slack to counter the yawing at anchor without a direct upward pull on the anchor. 4 PLAN AHEAD…

1. Oslo Fjord A beautiful cruising area but crowded in the summer months. 2. Wadden Sea Cruising amongst the shallows inside the line of off-lying islands off the Dutch coast, but many areas are restricted by nature reserves and marine farms. 3. The Channel Islands Strong tides and a big tidal range make this a challenging area, but it is a beautiful wild-cruising spot. 4. Quiberon and Belle Isle An area of contrasts for cruising but can be busy during the summer. 5. Île de Ré and Île d’Oléron The historic port of La Rochelle makes a great base for cruising this popular area.…

The Golden Globe Race is like no other yacht race. It has been held only twice – in 1968-69 and in 2018-19. In the first edition, nine skippers crossed the start line, with only Sir Robin Knox-Johnston finishing the race. Fifty years later, just 18 skippers were willing to circumnavigate the world in long-keeled boats of 36ft or less and without the use of modern technology and equipment. Southern Ocean storms left four of the entrants dismasted, with three needing rescue. Others experienced multiple knockdowns or pitch-poling in heavy weather, while some were forced to end their race due to injury or equipment failure, including a dismasting. All lived to tell their stories. As cruising sailors, we may never sail the Southern Ocean, but what these skippers learned from the…

A piece of YM history up for sale Geoff Pack’s Apache 40 catamaran, Foreigner is on the market. The multihull, which is based in Trinidad, was used by the former editor of Yachting Monthly as a platform to develop many of his ideas, which he wrote about in the magazine. One of the most significant was hydraulic drive, which saw Geoff replace the boat’s twin Mercedes engines with a single engine in the cockpit. Geoff sold Foreigner to Alan Armstrong in 1993 after he returned from Trinidad to take over the editorship of YM. Alan, who spent years sailing Foreigner up and down the Caribbean chain with his wife, said he is reluctantly selling the catamaran, and believes her ‘classic lines and her provenance’ are her strongest assets. ‘She has…

HELLY HANSEN SKAGEN OFFSHORE JACKET £300 Helly Hansen’s Skagen is a new jacket for offshore and coastal sailing which offers full protection against wind and waves. It has been developed alongside professional sailors and features Helly’s proprietary Tech® Performance two-ply fabric. It also has a protective collar with a facemask, double cuffs, and hand-warmer and storage pockets. For colder cruising such as the route from Norway to Denmark, where the jacket gets its name, this should keep you cosy. www.hellyhansen.com SWI-TEC RAT GUARD £47.99 The Swi-Tec rat guard is a solid rotatable plastic disc, designed to prevent small animals climbing aboard via your mooring lines. As soon as an animal tries to climb the disc, their weight turns it round and the animal will fall into the water, keeping your…

Taz, Jack and Esme all work together and live within 10 miles of each other, five miles from the coast. Jack and Esme first met at their parents’ sailing club, where they sailed dinghies and raced. Taz’s parents also sailed, but cruised on their Heavenly Twins catamaran, taking Taz with them as far as Southern Brittany. Now the three of them want to buy their own boat together to share the costs and have decided they want a fast but cruise-able multihull big enough to sleep four. They see no point in going slowly when, due to work, they have limited free time, so something capable of 10 knots under sail is preferred. Initially they were thinking about a catamaran, but since Esme spent a fun weekend with friends on…

Designed by New Zealander, Ian Farrier, and hand built by Corsair Marine in California, the F31 followed the ground-breaking F27, with more deck space and accommodation. The hull is low (0.7m/27in) and sleek with a fine entry and sweet lines. Below, the living quarters are somewhat limited when compared to a modern, beamy monohull or a catamaran with a huge bridgedeck, but it’s comfortable and has adequate (1.85m/6ft 1in) headroom. Its 2.4m/7ft 10in wide interior makes her feel somewhat like a canal narrowboat but living aboard for extended periods with four is okay — six would be a struggle though. It does have the benefit of being road-towable, however, unlike the beamier Dragonfly 32. There’s a slim (1.4m/4ft 7in wide) double berth in the forepeak, a compact heads and a…

Record breaking solo skipper Jeanne Socrates has passed her last cape in the Southern Ocean. The 76-year-old, who is attempting to become the oldest person to sail solo around the world non-stop and unassisted, has rounded South Cape on Stewart Island, New Zealand. As YM went to press, Socrates was heading to Oamaru Harbour to pick up a buoy to continue repairs after her Najad 380, Nereida, was knocked down, leaving her without solar and wind charging capability. Socrates was 70 when she became the oldest woman to circumnavigate the world solo, non-stop and unassisted. Her latest record attempt began in October 2018 from Victoria, British Columbia.…

After years of delays the Greek Cruising Tax, known as the TEPAI, has now been launched. Some cruisers, however, are reporting problems with registering or paying the tax online. Pilot book author Lu Heikell, who has been based at Levkas since 2005, said she had paid for the tax via the post office without any problems, although her online eTEPAI form only showed she had paid once she had viewed the PDF print out. Cruisers are now being advised to print this out and carry it onboard for inspection. She said other boat owners who had paid online have had difficulty in getting confirmation of payment, or had their payment returned. Others have had problems confirming their registration online. ‘It would seem that the system is overloaded with applications, payments…

I go to sea’ said the singlehander, ‘because it’s so much simpler out there.’ He was an old friend, many oceans under his belt. Listening to his reminiscences about storms and narrow shaves in his past, you might think that a bewildering statement. Simpler out there? Sailing-boats are complicated, all the way from leaky bilges to fraying halyards, frying electrics to blocked galley sinks. There is no moment at which nothing needs fixing, updating or replacing. Navigation is an art, even more so when those electrics fry, and in his first 30 years at sea it was all sextants, dead reckoning, triangulation and doubling-the-angle-on-thebow. Tides, winds and currents are hardly straightforward either. What did he mean, ‘simpler out there’? One little squall would have had us all back in the…

Running out of fuel up a narrow tidal river James Stevens, author of the Yachtmaster Handbook, spent 10 of his 23 years at the RYA as chief examiner Q Annie is skipper of Ghoster, a Sigma 33 which she races regularly from her home port on the south coast. Annie is a competent sailor and the crew are three friends who have sailed with her for years. They are on their annual holiday in Brittany. Ghoster has a roller furling jib and cruising main. They have had very light winds on the trip across from England, with lots of motoring. On arrival at Bénodet, a pretty port and river in France, the fuel dock is shut but they reckon they have just enough diesel to motor up the river and…

1 FISHERMAN Traditional fisherman anchors can be folded flat for easy strowage and hold well on rock and weed, but tiny flukes are likely to drag on any other bottom, ruling it out as a main anchor. 2 PLOUGH CQR, Delta and Kobra II anchors may drag if pulled hard enough, tilling the seabed if it is soft sand or mud. Designes have evolved to increase their maximum holding power. 3 CLAW The genuine Bruce has not been made for very many years and many copies have been produced, often in low-grade, brittle and weak materials. The genuine item sets and holds well in soft-to-medium bottoms, is said to hold on rock, but its long leading edge struggles to cut through weed. 4 FLAT ANCHORS Danforth, Britany, FOB, Fortress and…

1 CHECK THE FORECAST Always, always check the forecast thoroughly, and beware the time of year. Is the weather likely to change? Are we well equipped to deal with it if it does? 2 SAFETY KIT STOWAGE To an extent, in a storm some items are going to break free below, but important safety equipment should be stowed in a spot where it can be easily reached and will not move. 3 DRILL PRACTICE Learn and practice your safety and rescue protocols. It is no good having flares or a radio onboard if you do not know how to use them. 4 DROP AND STOW A furled sail is not the same as a dropped and stowed sail. Even furled it provides significantly more area for the wind to catch…

VYV COX has sailed for more than 50 years and in cruising yachts for the past 25. He is a Chartered Engineer, qualified in metallurgy and mechanical engineering Though the phrase ‘wild cruising’ conjures up images of sailing in places undiscovered, in truth wherever you sail in the world somebody will almost certainly have been there before, and fortunately some of them will have passed on information that ultimately becomes incorporated in a pilot book describing some features of the area. The depth of detail in pilot books varies enormously, from descriptions of almost every rock and tiny bay in the area, such as in the superb Glazebrook pilot of Anglesey and North Wales, compiled and written in the 1950s and now only available as battered photocopies, to guides to…

MATTHEW DIGGLE started sailing after signing up for the 2011-12 Clipper Race. Since then he’s cruised in UK waters and off the Italian and Croatian coasts The west coast of Scotland is one of the top-10 places to see a whale anywhere in the world. It was the opportunity to encounter these majestic creatures that led me to be standing on a pontoon in Ardfern in late May, looking at Ruby Too, a pleasant and spacious Jeanneau 44; our home for the next week. Having filled out the customary paperwork from Argyll Yacht Charters, I joined the rest of the crew – my wife, Clare and fellow sailors Jon, Sandi, Nick, Anna and Bubs. We ranged in experience from novice up to coastal skipper and while we had sailed as…

Tracy Edwards MBE First published as Living Every Second by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001. The current Kindle edition was published in 2016, £3.99 Tracy Edwards is sailing the 92ft catamaran Royal and Sun Alliance with an all-female crew in the Jules Verne Trophy, 1998. They are in the Southern Ocean and have survived 50ft waves. Tracy, however, is crippled by a back injury and navigator Adrienne Cahalan must take responsibility. The wall of water lifted the catamaran like a child’s bath toy Adrienne woke after two hours and checked the messages. I watched her silently and realised how much weight she’d lost. Just after noon GMT, Lee advised us that we could turn back onto our favoured gybe. We had to wait another two hours between squalls before we…

£1,138 A yacht is never far from her owner’s mind: will she still be there, are the batteries flat, have the bilges filled with water, has anything been stolen? The list is endless. So, Yacht Sentinel’s YS6 remote monitoring system sounds like the perfect solution. The YS6 uses a number of 868/915 MHz band wireless sensors that feed back to a central unit. This in turn is connected to the 3G/4G network (first two years are free, around £50 thereafter) and offers the option of satellite monitoring too. A handy, and intuitive, phone app enables owners or their friends and family to monitor the boat’s position, course and speed, battery voltage, boat movement, bilge level, shore power, temperature, equipment, hatches and more. YS6 is also available with a 107db siren…

The Gemini 105 was conceived by Englishman, Tony Smith, who first produced the successful Telstar trimaran in the 1970s. In 1980 he moved to the USA and launched the Gemini range of catamarans. Over a thousand 105s have since been sold, including the updated 105M and 105Mc models introduced after the company built a brand new, high-tech factory and entirely new hull moulds to make it lighter, faster and stronger. The hull is solid GRP, handlaminated using polyester resin. The decks and cockpit sole are a GRP/balsa sandwich and it has a moulded interior lining that provides a superior finish and improved headroom over its predecessor. Compared to modern cats she is narrow, allowing her to occupy a standard marina berth and be hauled ashore by a Travelhoist. Her slim,…