Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Yachting Monthly

Progress is inevitable. Technology marches ever onwards, and what went before is swept aside. Whether that is for good or ill is another matter entirely, and is the subject of debate in Andy Du Port’s article this month (p42). The way boats are built, navigated, handled, crewed, and that crew clothed, connected and coddled has clearly moved on significantly from the days of compass and paper navigation, paraffin stoves and glorious isolation. This has made sailing safer, more accessible, more comfortable and more enjoyable, while allowing us to venture further and faster with more confidence. Or perhaps it has robbed us of the independence, challenge, and satisfaction of pitting ourselves against the elements. I’d love to hear what you think. While the causes of and solution to climate change may…

€8.6bn The Italian boating industry has reported an all-time high turnover of €8.6bn in 2024, figures from La Nautica in Cifre presented at the Genoa boat show, confirming Italy’s global leadership in boatbuilding. £60m The Canal & River Trust said more than £60 million was invested in winter maintenance across more than 200 projects last year with a further £21m spent upgrading reservoirs. 1.6m Epifauna are thriving living on some 1.6 million tons of World War Two’s munitions, estimated to be dumped around Germany’s coastlines, a study in Nature showed, with examples including mussels, barnacles and sponges.…

Brian Black Memorial Award MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM YACHTING MONTHLY Stunning images and compelling storytelling about the sailing and marine environment came to the fore in two awards this year: the Brian Black Memorial Award, run for a fifth year, and the second Zhik Spirit of Adventure Award. For the first time, the BBMA, sponsored by Coppercoat, included two photography competitions for adults and juniors, the latter run in conjunction with The Week Junior magazine. The Zhik Spirit of Adventure award was won by Nick Leather for his feature describing how he sailed around Cape Wrath and the north coast of Scotland as part of a circumnavigation of Britain. He was presented with a full set of Zhik sailing gear at the Southampton Boat Show. In the BBMA, the main cash…

RACHAEL SPROT is a Yachtmaster Examiner with an impressive number of sea miles logged, from Lofoten to St Lucia and beyond How would you try to avoid this tidal marina collision? Q Roscoff Marina is one of the few all-tide ports in North Brittany. However, whilst it doesn’t have any depth restrictions, it does have a strong current which sets south through the marina on the flood, and north on the ebb. Ben has chartered a Beneteau First 40.7 for a sailing holiday along the Granite Rose Coast, just east of Roscoff, but has sought shelter from a gale in Roscoff. Ben is a qualified Yachtmaster Offshore. He has three friends on board, all of whom are Day Skipper level. They’ve set up lines port-side-to and entered the marina on…

REAL LIFE 1 KEEP PAPERS ORGANISED Keep all your boat papers together in the same folder for when you check in: yacht registration, insurance certificate, yacht certificates of conformity, radio licences, and ownership documents for yacht and dinghy. You never know when you’ll be required to present them. 2 KEEP A RECORD OF DETAILS We printed off a table detailing all the current crew names and passport information, plus all the vessel details. We used this, either as an aide memoire, or as an attachment when allowed to. Skippers will get very used to parroting, excuse the pun, the boat’s SSR (UK registration) number and its tonnage and dimensions. A copy of the UK SSR form was required at all ports, but it only has yacht length, not beam, draught…

PASSAGE FROM GOODBYE £22 Adrienne Howley, Random Boats Widowed Australian nurse, Adrienne Howley, was recovering from a serious operation when she fell in love with Kelasa, ‘a beautiful pea-green boat’. Believing she might not have long to live, she said goodbye to her two sons and signed on as crew to irascible skipper Harry Gilbert. In 1968 they sailed from Sydney and she remained on board for four-and-a-half years, sailing many thousands of miles in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans before living with Harry finally became intolerable and she left the boat in Honolulu. Adrienne is a wonderful writer as well as a remarkable person. This book has been compiled from her Journals by her son David Matzenik and friend Graham Cox. It’s gripping in both human and sailing…

BEN SUTCLIFFE-DAVIES, Marine Surveyor and full member of the Yacht Brokers Designers & Surveyors Association (YDSA) www.bensutcliffemarine.co.uk This is a perfect entry yacht in many ways but caution should be flagged in a number of areas. While many second-hand yachts don’t depreciate too quickly, the couple of Arion’s I’ve been aware of have dropped quicker that some of the comparative craft. Build quality is an issue in many areas as they are more assembled than built. Items such as those Nic has commented on, like the centre plate arrangement, is a classic example. Ideally a boatbuilder should recognise something like a sloppy keel and sort it before sale. Wiring is also on the agricultural side. Structure is paramount; I have found some cheaply-built Polish boats that used lower quality glass…

OWN UP TO YOUR SAILING SINS Email yachtingmonthly@futurenet.com Post Confessions, Yachting Monthly, Future PLC, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR Send us your stories in less than 200 words TELL US YOUR SINS + WIN A MUSTANG SURVIVAL CALLAN JACKET UK residents only The confession of the month wins a lightweight Callan waterproof jacket worth £275. High-performance stretch fabric provides movement and comfort for all your marine activities. www.mustang-survival.co.uk WORTH £275 Pan Pan Pan Andrew Robinson I bought my boat, Crusoe Too, in order to sail round Britain. This coincided with the sale of my beloved grandma’s caravan, and I equipped the galley with her old camping cutlery, crockery and saucepans – it was a real circle of life moment. Fast forward to June and we were enduring a…

Call to report unmarked pots and fishing gear entanglements In a new drive to make coastal sailing safer, the RYA and the Cruising Association are calling on sailors navigating around Britain’s coasts to report any entanglements with discarded fishing gear or unmarked lobster pots and other fishing creels. Poorly marked lobster pots and static fishing gear remain an often invisible hazard faced by sailors. With a fouled rudder and propeller, a yacht is quickly disabled, becoming a potential hazard to other craft, as well as creating safety issues and potentially endangering the lives of those onboard. The issue was highlighted by Kirstin Jones, this year’s winner of the Brian Black Memorial Award, with a striking image of discarded fishing gear thoroughly entangling her yacht Wandering Albatross. Sailing in Barbuda in…

Do you need a radar reflector? I was very interested to read the article on radar reflectors (YM, Sep 25, ‘Do I really need a radar reflector?’). Some years ago we had an interesting experience. We had an old Mottle 33 high cabin yacht and went out to our favourite anchorage in Moreton Bay, Queensland. To our surprise there was an identical Mottle 33 around 500m from us. They had a passive radar reflector, we had none. Our friends arrived later that afternoon and we went over to their boat – a Jeanneau 43 that was sporting a new radar installation with the unit mounted at the first spreaders. My friend had recently completed the RYA radar course and wanted to demonstrate it. Although the Jeanneau was an identical distance…

ANDY DU PORT is a former RN navigating officer and RYA cruising instructor. He also edited Reeds Nautical Almanac for five years. Bob Dylan’s ageless song was released at about the same time as I started sailing yachts. Its aim was to influence people’s views about society, so it seems to be an appropriate title for an article about how we have been influenced by developments in yacht design and equipment over the last 60 years or so. The views, however, are entirely mine! I would have sailed anywhere, in any conditions, with Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey (of course he’s real!) in the early 1800s. He was the consummate mathematician and seaman, but his only knowledge of electricity was thunder storms; electronics would have totally bewildered him; and he would…

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IC-M25 EVO MARINE VHF RADIO £179.99 www.icomuk.co.uk This latest launch from marine radio specialist Icom is a compact, lightweight and buoyant handheld VHF that features a comfortable textured grip, large buttons for simple intuitive operation, and a powersaving Eco Mode that provides around 14 hours of operating time. Power charging is also straightforward, using a USB Type-C port that allows it to become fully charged in approximately three hours. Built with an IPX7 waterproof rating (1m depth for 30 minutes). But if it should ever take an unexpected dip, it floats, flashes, and sounds an alarm to minimise the chances of losing it. Available in two colour options of black or blue. WIP COOL CAP BUMP SHELL £57 www.forward-wip.com Good head protection is a sensible but overlooked precaution. Gecko helmets worn…

ANDREW AND GWYNNETH PAGE sail their Bavaria 38 from Hamble, and have been exploring Greece since 2014 The Saronic Gulf is part of the Aegean Sea, extending from the Peloponnese in the west, Athens in the north and the island of Hydra to the south. The geography has high hills and deep seas and is the home of one of Greece’s six active volcanoes. As with many Greek waters, the wind is dictated predominantly by breeze from the north west in the morning and south east in the afternoon. The interaction between the land and the wind does cause dead spots and acceleration zones; however, these are usually seen as changes on the water surface long before you reach them. Temperatures in the summer are usually 30°C, although heatwaves that…

Yachting Monthly is excited to be launching its new podcast, imaginatively named The Sailing Podcast, in partnership with PBO and Yachting World. Theo Stocker will be hosting conversations with sailors as they share their inspiring stories, as well as digging into everything about boats, gear, maintenance and more with regular guests. Head to www.yachtingmonthly.com/the-sailing-podcast to listen. Many thanks to all of you who took part in our 2025 readers’ survey and told us what you think of YM. Well done to Dylan Emmett who won the prize draw for an Ocean Signal RescueMe PLB3 worth £540.…

The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) Small Craft Group has published an updated edition of its popular booklet Electronic Navigation Systems – Guidance for Safe Use on Leisure Vessels. The new version reflects the latest developments in navigation technology, user feedback from across the leisure marine sector, and introduces a new section on astronavigation as a vital back-up to electronic methods. Since the original booklet was released in 2020, significant changes have reshaped the navigation landscape for leisure sailors and motorboaters. Evolving satellite navigation services, the global rollout of new regional satellite systems, coupled with the closure of some Differential GNSS (DGNSS) services, has placed renewed emphasis on Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) resilience. Leisure sailors must now navigate with greater awareness of both the strengths and vulnerabilities of GNSS.…

If you would like to recommend a marine charity doing great work (including care for the environment) contact julia@golden-duck.co.uk Chichester Harbour has the largest concentration of recreational craft in Europe, with 8,000 yachts and 4,000 sailing dinghies. Located within a ‘National Landscape’ (formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) the Harbour has 30 square miles of broad channels, creeks, woodlands and villages. The Harbour has six marinas, 14 sailing clubs and over 4,000 boats on moorings. The reason for its appeal to so many sailors – apart from its location, size, and facilities – is that unspoilt beauty. Now that pristine environment is being threatened by climate change and man-made pressures. Chichester Harbour Conservancy (CHC) – the statutory body that manages the harbour and maintains the navigational infrastructure –…

THIS MONTH’S EXPERTS HARRY DEKKERS is an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. He was Commanding Officer of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s sail training vessel JACK GORE started sailing dinghies when he was four. He now balances boating with school, sailing his Jeanneau Sun 2000 as often as possible JAMES KENNING is an RYA Yachtmaster. He has crossed Biscay and the Atlantic, and is now in the Med aboard Arkyla, his 2008 Regina 43 JOHN MARLEY started sailing at school and is the former race navigator on an Albin Vega. He lives in Australia and sails the Pacific Snoop around during winter layup To stay on the safe side, many of us lay up our yachts during the winter. If done correctly, by an experienced shipyard, and with adequate preparation (such as taking…

REAL LIFE There are great pilot guides written by the likes of Doyle and constantly updated online resources like Noonsite, noforeignland and Navily to help yacht skippers visiting the Caribbean to navigate their way through the customs and immigration process. What you’ll actually find in each customs and immigration office is a bit of a lottery, which this article will hopefully prepare you for. Most of the islands are relatively small; you could cruise around each of them in a day or two if you really wanted to. If you aim to see as much and as many of them as possible during what might be a single season, you’ll end up sailing between islands every few days and frequently treading the sometimes tortuous and ambiguous path through border control.…

WITH HENRI LLOYD TYNE The anchorage at Lindisfarne (Holy Island) lies right at the top of the Tyne sea area. Fewer than 10 miles to the south-east are the Farne Islands. But then, with the exception of Coquet Island off Amble, there are no more islands and few prominent and protective headlands. At first glance and on a small scale you could be forgiven for assuming that there is little shelter on this coast. In fact, there are several river entrances that have long been protected within breakwaters to create a chain of historic ports, including the Tyne itself. Each harbour is only a short daysail from the next. Between them are numerous small drying harbours or more open anchorages, perfect for smaller boats during settled, easier days. The Tyne…

www.yachtingmonthly.com/books The first chapter of Tom Cunliffe’s new novel opens with a bang as the hero’s boat, Dream of Olwen, smashes into a semi-submerged container. She is badly holed. Will a temporary sleeping-bag repair and the engine-driven pump be enough to save her? The night seemed never-ending. Every so often I fell into a tortured catnap to wake with a start when the nightmares got the better of me. Out in the real world, the trade wind was still thrumming in the rigging, the familiar stars wheeled overhead and Dream was dipping and reeling to the even swell. Finally, the sun rose out of the wind’s eye and I was congratulating myself on having won through to a new day when things started to go badly wrong. I was sipping…

If you want to tell us why you love your boat, get in touch by email yachtingmonthly@futurenet.com NIC COMPTON grew up on boats in the Med. He has owned six yachts, half made of wood and half GRP. He now owns a Freedom 33 cat ketch OWNER’S PROFILE MIKE HORNSEY, an engineer by profession, dreamed of taking a shallow draught yacht down through the French canals and into the Mediterranean. So, after gaining his Competent Crew qualification he took the plunge and bought Pelagia, attracted by her generous interior, lifting keel and built-in mast-lowering system. Back in October 2019, my wife Anna and I decided to sell our Victoria 26. We loved the boat and had experienced some fun times with her, but she was just a bit too small…

■ PSA sticky back fabric ■ Adhesive fabric discs ■ Sailmaker’s palm ■ Scissors (cloth shears and splicer’s scissors for cutting Dyneema) ■ Wax hand-sewing thread and needles ■ Webbing reels in widths of 12mm and 25mm ■ Leech line cleats ■ Spare sail slides and shackles ■ Fid and bradawl – hammer through the sail to make holes for any heavy stitching ■ A good pair of pliers to help pull the needle through ■ Cigarette lighter for sealing threads ■ Double-sided sticky tape to hold pieces in place rather than pinning ■ Batten pocket ends ■ M4 stainless nuts and bolts for sail fittings ■ Vertical battens for furling sails, and batten joining kits ■ Velcro webbing ■ Dyneema line for lashings…