Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Yachting World

Some may argue that to sail round the world as a couple you need years of deep experience and equal levels of competence as skipper. But the evidence says otherwise. It is quite possible for a dedicated and motivated pair to learn the skills needed for such a voyage in a timeframe of a few years, as Helen Fretter found when she met crews who have just completed a circumnavigation with the World ARC. See her fascinating feature on page 34. The experience and knowledge needed for a transatlantic or a circumnavigation is still very considerable, and if navigation and sailhandling advances have made some aspects easier, the maintenance demands have introduced other challenges. But overall, the barriers to long-distance cruising have been lowered by the availability of in-depth, quality…

Retro class for Cowes Week A new racing class is to feature at Lendy Cowes Week in August. The GRP Classic Class is open to unmodified production boats designed and first built before 31 December 1974. Regatta director Laurence Mead explains: “Boats that would ideally fit are designs from Swan, S&S, Van de Stadt, Bowman, Nicholson… the list goes on.” London Yacht Show is off The London Yacht Show, rebranded from the London On Water Show and due to take place in mid-May, has been cancelled after a low take-up from the luxury brand segment. The show is now postponed until next year. World rally completes loop The latest World ARC round the world rally ended in St Lucia in April when 16 yachts finished the 26,000-mile circumnavigation they began…

A charitable trust has been set up to rescue one of the last remaining Bristol Channel pilot cutters. Frolic was launched in 1905, and designed to race rivals out to meet ships incoming to Bristol to drop off pilots. They were legendary for their pace and manoeuvrability. The campaign hopes to rescue Frolic from where she presently lies – a jetty on an island near Bergen in Norway – and return her to Cardiff, where she can be restored as part of a public project. The photo (top) shows Charles Crosthwaite, grandson of the 1930s owner of Frolic, in Cardiff sharing family photo albums and the treasured Cock of the Channel winners’ cup from the pilot cutters’ inaugural race in 1936. “It was not quite the done thing to have…

Which way up? Skip Novak’s article on seasickness resonated with me, and I found Mark Chisnell’s report on it in the February 2019 issue fascinating. However, there is one important correction which needs to be made to Skip’s article. He writes: ‘Being prone and staying in that position is sometimes the best cure.’ Lying prone means lying face down. Surely as the picture on the later pages illustrates, lying supine – on your back – is what Skip intended. PS. I am Pip Hare’s mum, and I can vouch that she was never seasick, even as a small child! Mary Hare Trailer sailer I have just read your reports on the European Yacht of the Year in the March issue of Yachting World. I would just like to make a…

I confess I was a little disappointed to find the first event of 2019’s Figaro race circuit, the Sardinha Cup, was not actually in the Mediterranean but in St Gilles de Vie, just a few miles north of Les Sable d’Olonne. However, it’s always a pleasure to return to the Vendée region of France, and feel the warmth of the locals, who stop sailors in the street just to wish us well. My first encounter with this amazing circuit and the new Figaro 3 one-design started on 25 March when I joined upcoming Irish sailor Joan Mulloy on Atlantic Youth Trust. Like most young Figaristes, Joan has been balancing her time finding sponsorship and funding alongside the full-on demands of race-prepping a newly launched boat. Joan and I had not…

Hugo EX: Oceanis 41.1 Owner: Emir Rudzic (AUS) “I’m not sure we bought anything that was [solely] for the ARC,” says Rudzic. “Safety gear was probably the most costly, but since our boat was new we were spending that money anyway.” In total he reckons around €5,000 went on safety gear, but adds: “There were very few things on the ARC safety gear list we would not have bought anyway.” His best value items were a professional subscription to PredictWind and an Iridium GO! “which we consider the most important piece of safety gear we have onboard”. He also rated radar very highly: “Almost a must for a doublehanded crew.” But there was nothing on the requirements list or installed for the crossing that he regretted buying and says: “If…

Rum Truffle: Moody 49 Owner: Mark Thurlow (GBR) “We were pretty well set up for the ARC but in the spirit of your questions, here’s what we had for the transatlantic,” says Mark Thurlow. His extra items totalled over £18,000. • Hydrovane: £8,000• Additional radar reflector: £300•Additions to make our liferaft a 24 hour version: £250•Additional electronic flares: £200•Solar panels and arch: £2,000•Parasailor: £8,000 To Thurlow’s mind, the best value items were the Hydrovane self steering and solar panels. “Despite an issue with bolts, the Hydrovane was effective in steering without using power,” he comments. He was not so convinced of the necessity of the Parasailor, however. “It was great, but in strong winds with effectively a single crew on watch, wing on wing was an excellent and manageable downwind…

Do you know this man? Some will barely recognise Andrew Bishop, though his name may ring a bell. Yet others know not only who he is, but clamour to stop him on the street or the dock, usually to ask him a question or glean some vital piece of information. Andrew Bishop is ‘Mr ARC’, the man behind the world’s most popular cruising rallies and seminars. He has quietly shaped modern cruising, and made ocean voyaging accessible to sailors from around the world, providing a runway to launch people’s most ambitious dreams. Building on the vision he inherited from ARC founder Jimmy Cornell, he has maintained the ethos, but styled it in his own way. His upbringing and early career explain a good deal about his reserve and self-discipline, and…

Dick Durham knows the East Coast of England better than most. He has sailed it, both deep water and shoal, since putting to sea in the 1960s as mate aboard the last Thames barge trading under sail. When he writes we can see straight away that his knowledge goes far beyond that of the casual yachtsman plying between Harwich and the Crouch. As a sometime Fleet Street journalist, he has a sharp ear for a story and an encyclopedic memory bank whose offerings flash from scholarly historical anecdotes to comments made by ancient fishermen caught between a rock and a hard place. Dick has written a number of books. The following extract is taken from On and Offshore, published in 1989. In it, he describes a bread-and-butter passage up the…

Some of my worst sail handling nightmares have been with furlers. When they go wrong they can leave you with no option but to drop a full size flogging sail – precisely what you were trying to avoid by using a furler in the first place. However, most common problems can be avoided by good technique and recognising issues before they escalate. Roller reefing headsails Don’t be fooled into thinking your roller-furled genoa is entirely free of effort. Just like any other sail, to gain full benefit it will need to be properly trimmed, adjusting luff, leech and foot tensions to suit conditions and the size of the sail when reefed. Adjust the luff when the sail is fully unrolled to move the draught forwards and aft – tighter to…

An ice-cool new yacht from the ‘money no object’ files, the Eagle Class 53 has been out on sea trials in the Caribbean. This head-turner is a foiling cat with a hybrid wingsail/soft sail, and designed as a flying weekender. Invite please! The most photographed boat of the year wasn’t even on the water. This bright pink yacht brought Oxford Circus in London to a standstill in April as part of Extinction Rebellion climate change protest. But what type of boat is it? Do any readers know? Here’s a great idea for highlighting the problem of marine litter. Scottish Coastal Rubbish Aerial Photography has used photos from volunteer pilots to record debris logging it on an interactive map. See the map at scrapbook.org.uk Become a Yachting World reader with benefits:…

The Ultime Class of giant trimarans has announced its new calendar of races following the cancellation of this year’s scheduled Brest Oceans round the world race, beginning with an all-new ‘Atlantic loop’ race this November. The Brest Atlantiques race will see double-handed crews set off from the Breton city of Brest, home to the start and finish of so many sailing world records, on 4 November. They will race across the North Atlantic to Rio, Brazil, leaving the Cagarras Islands off Ipanema to port, and then eastwards across the South Atlantic to Cape Town. There they round Robben Island before sailing north back to Brest It is expected that the course, which totals some 14,000 miles, will take around 28-30 days for the Ultimes to complete. Macif skipper François Gabart…

A British sailor has set out on an ambitious two-year circumnavigation with a difference. Mark Ashley-Miller, a 56-year-old retired businessman, is not sailing round the world or even crossing oceans, though – his 2,000-odd mile voyage will take him round Britain with the aim of visiting every harbourmaster. The idea behind the voyage is to gather information on each harbour and how it works, to create a record of harbourmasters’ work across the country. Ashley-Miller is sailing his 34ft ketch Good Dog clockwise round the coast, and started out from Dartmouth on 29 March. He is also raising money for Seafarers UK, a charity that raises awareness of mental health in the maritime industry. See his Instragam profile at www.instagram.com/harbourmastersailingchallenge…

Since I returned to club where I sailed when I grew up in the Seventies, my long-suffering RS400 crew has had to endure endless stories of days gone by. Fortunately for her, after three consecutive winter series at Queen Mary Sailing Club, most of the stories have been told. In fact, many of them are recited back as a means of stopping me before I even finish my first sentence. But there was a topic that came bouncing back recently that I refuse to shut up about, as it is one of my soap box subjects: sailing for fun. Be it in a 1,000-strong fleet of Optimists on Lake Garda, or several hundred RS Fevas at their Nationals in Weymouth, it’s great to see kids out on the water. But…

Degree of Latitude: Oyster 45 Owner: John Rutherford (GBR) Rutherford calculates that he spent over £46,000 on equipment and upgrades specifically for crossing the Atlantic with the rally. He bought a watermaker (£9,600), generator (£8,100), Fleet One satcom system (£4,800), twin headsails (£3,000) and upgraded in various areas. For example, he replaced the headsail furler (£4,600), the battery and power management system (£5,800), upgraded the autopilot drive (£3,400) and applied Coppercoat antifouling (£6,500). “There were also a host of small items and spares for everything in sight.” Not all turned out to be necessary, or even good value, however. The diesel generator was “not worth the money,” he believes. “A generator is needed but I believe a wind turbine would have fulfilled our needs with only a little engine time…

■ Know your boat system – and by that I mean understand the user manuals, the plumbing and wiring runs and how the boat is put together. That is time well banked for when you go. ■ Fit extra equipment in good time so it’s been used and you are not operating it for the first time on your trip. ■ Seek compatible crew, which means sailing with them before you set off and knowing that you can live on board together in a small space. You should ensure that your skills complement each other and you’re not too heavy in one area. ■ Give some thought to how you are going to enjoy your time at sea. For example, what food are you going to feed your crew? Listen…

At the moment Inmarsat’s Fleet One is unique in being an ‘easy’ step up from a basic Iridium 2.4kbps connection, but following a long period in which there appeared to be little development in satellite services for yachts under 60ft the landscape is now changing on a number of additional fronts: 1. Iridium The much-delayed Next generation of Iridium Certus satellites is now in orbit. These already offer significantly faster speeds of up to 352kbps for marine installations, but the hardware is heavier and more expensive than Fleet One systems and flexible monthly contracts don’t appear to be available. 2. Globalstar This American company has 24 low earth orbit satellites for voice and data at 9.6kbps, although speeds are expected to rise. Airtime plans are relatively inexpensive, but with the…

FUJIN is a PAUL BIEKER-designed custom 53ft catamaran, which capsized in the 2018 RORC Caribbean 600 race but was rebuilt for the 2019 race After Fujin capsized during the 2018 RORC Caribbean 600 race it would have been understandable if owner Greg Slyngstad had thrown in the towel and walked away. But Slyngstad resolved to refit his boat and race her again. Not only is this all-carbon, high performance, cruising catamaran an extraordinary boat, but is has an extraordinary story to match it. In 2014, Seattle-based Slyngstad was looking to replace his J/125 with something he could cruise quickly and comfortably around the Caribbean with his family. He had previous experience of sailing only monohulls but could see the advantages of a multihull and so turned to designer Paul Bieker,…

This month, we’ve relaunched the free Yachting World newsletter. From now on, a more in-depth report, ‘The Forecast’ will report on the most discussed topics of the moment – in April we talked to those in the know (or not!) about the repercussions of Brexit for boat owners. Our newsletter will provide a deep dive on the biggest news and trends, and you can get analysis and expert views on the hot topics of the day. You can sign up for the free email on the home page of the Yachting World website, www.yachtingworld.com…

I often wax lyrical to my two teenage children about how the ease of communication has changed the entire fabric of our lives, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. You would have thought that my stories of how exciting it was anticipating and then receiving letters and postcards from a variety of lovers via poste restante (those under 40, Google it) in all those exotic port cities would really get them going – but no, their eyes glaze over and stay glazed over as I go through the evolution, from airmail letters to how a telex machine works. But it was that telex system by which the owner of the Swan 65 Independent Endeavour found me stranded in the tropical hellhole of Manila in 1979 and offered me…

Pitanga: Oyster 745 Owner: Henrik Nyman (GBR) Pitanga was already fully specced for offshore passagemaking before the ARC, but her owner says: “We bought a proper medical kit (£2,000), a Garmin inReach (£500), fishing equipment (£1,000), offshore sail repair kits (£2,000) and water filtering equipment (£100). We also got some extra spares for the engine, watermaker, etc, but [I consider them] a saving as they are expensive in the Caribbean, and we need them for normal maintenance.” Which gear represented the best value for money? “Without doubt the water filter. I like it so much that we use it full-time and the environment benefits make me feel good,” says Nyman. Equipment he rated highly (not least for the feelgood factor) was the fishing gear bought for the ARC. “We arrived…

Fryd: Ovni 445 Owner: Svein Lien (NOR) “We didn’t buy any equipment only for the ARC but the safety advice list helped us to equip the boat to a good standard,” says Lien. “Most of this would have come on board anyway.” Bluewater gear that he chose specifically for transoceanic sailing were a generator, watermaker, self-steering and a spinnaker, all of which he praises as “joyful equipment.” There was nothing he felt he could well have done without. Like others in the rally he victualled before leaving the Canaries. “The best advice I got was to stock up the boat with everything you possibly can find room for [in terms of] food, drinks and spares, as everything is much more expensive and difficult to get while in Caribbean.”…

■ Downwind sails. Many boats ordered new sails in Darwin, Australia, or South Africa – several of which did not clear customs in time to reach the yachts before they set off on the stage they were ordered for. The most popular were furling downwind sails. ■ Instruments and electrical systems. Multiple boats had issues with faults on one system triggering an issue on the other – an update to the MFD, for example, causing a fault on the SSB radio. Bones Black, who runs the Bowman 57 charter yacht Emily Morgan (yachtemilymorgan.com) with his wife, Anna, was widely praised across the fleet for helping troubleshoot and fix problems on almost every yacht. He suggests splitting systems to avoid interference. “On Emily Morgan, all the comms runs down one side…

What is it? Leisure version of the lifejacket worn by pro racers Who is it for? Sailors who need to wear a lifejacket for long periods at a time £250 For those of us who wear lifejackets for days on end, the Spinlock Deckvest VITO will come as a welcome revelation. This is without a doubt the most comfortable lifejacket I have ever worn over a long period of time and addresses many of the niggling issues that may disincline us from wearing our lifejackets. The jacket is a leisure version of those worn by the Volvo Ocean Race teams and I tested it during last year’s RORC Transatlantic race. The most notable design development is the relocation of the sprayhood from a collar at the neck into a back…

Unlike wind, sea state is not as influential in terms of a winning strategy on a race course, but planning for sea state can be the difference between starting and finishing a race with minimal equipment damage – or not finishing at all. For both cruising and racing, planning for the correct sea state is a safety issue and knowing the worst case scenario will ensure you’re not caught unaware with fuel shortage, stores or stowage of equipment. Access to quality information to predict sea state forecasts has never been easier. However, being spoilt for choice can be confusing and getting back to basics can be beneficial to interpret and efficiently use the large amount of data available. Familiarising yourself with a resource and using the same one regularly helps…