Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i Yachting World

British sailor and explorer David Cowper has successfully transited one of the most difficult routes of the North West Passage, the Hecla and Fury Straits. On 27 August, accompanied by his son, Fred, Cowper became the first to navigate through this passage since William Parry discovered it in 1822 with the ships HMS Hecla and HMS Fury. Cowper, on whom we reported in our October issue, is one of the world’s most accomplished yet little-known modern adventurers. He has made six circumnavigations of the world, first beating Francis Chichester’s non-stop record in 1980 and, in 1982, bettering Chay Blyth’s record in the other direction, both in Ocean Bound, a 41ft Sparkman & Stephens sloop. This summer, he departed from Maryport in Cumbria at the end of July in his strengthened…

America’s Cup teams, now adept at foiling all the way through gybes, are beginning to perfect the foiling tack. The first to claim the feat was Japanese team SoftBank Japan, which revealed it in August, despite first accomplishing this back in April. The advance is a significant performance increase. During the last America’s Cup, teams could lose over 100m during each tack as they dropped off their foils and regained enough speed to fly again. Foiling all the way through reduces that deficit. The foiling tack itself is not a new manoeuvre and is something that has been done by Moth sailors for some years. Those sailors have found that practicing the techniques needed for foiling tacks can improve performance even if the manoeuvre fails and the boat drops down…

Upgrading to a newer or larger yacht is always an exciting prospect. It’s a gateway to new adventures and the start of a new chapter in life, with the boat invariably becoming a defining factor in family life and how you spend much of your leisure time. Yet so many owners delay unnecessarily, while others suffer buyer’s remorse after the purchase, losing faith in their pre-purchase reasoning and regretting the decisions they made. Identifying the right boat For many, a change in employment, family or financial circumstances is the trigger to upgrade or change boat, but there is nothing wrong with change for its own sake. While it’s possible to modernise an existing boat, it can be an expensive and arduous process with no guarantee that the boat will…

FACTS Where we tested: Haderslev on the Baltic coast of Denmark not far from the German border Wind: X4 tested in 18-25 knots X6 tested in 7–14 knots Models: both hull number 1 with X6 highly customised X Yachts builds dependable cruiserracers, right? Reliably built performance yachts that get regatta results – not glitzy trendsetters? Well, with its dual launch heralding an all-new line this autumn, there appears to be change afoot. The Danish brand certainly likes to keep its Southampton-based design team busy. It designs everything in house and, in the last eight years alone, has brought out new ranges of both Xc cruising yachts and Xp performance yachts. It therefore made for unexpected and exciting news when X-Yachts announced the X6 in 2014, revealing a powerful new raised…

Another sailor who has transited the North West Passage this summer, albeit by a different route to David Cowper (see previous page), is French sailor Guirec Soudée. Soudée is a single-hander – if you don’t count his constant company, his pet red hen, Monique. Soudée, 24, bought Monique in the Canary Islands on his solo voyage from France, spending a season in the Caribbean before heading north. He and Monique live on Yvinec, a 38ft 9in (11.8m) steel cutter. The pair spent last year in Greenland before continuing through the North West Passage, a voyage that took 32 days. They covered 3,400 miles, taking what has become the most popular and accessible route via Cambridge Bay, Barrow and finishing in Nome, Alaska. ‘The crossing was not simple,’ he reported. ‘We…

The Cannes Boatshow, held in early September, once again proved itself to be the premier show for unveiling the year’s largest and most glamorous production yachts. Each year the average length seems to grow and this year’s show was no exception. One yacht that stole the limelight and cast some rather large silhouettes was the eye-opening new Seventy7 from Lagoon. Here is a catamaran that takes yacht production to a whole new level and size. Lagoon had reportedly sold four before the first boat was shown at Cannes. During the show, Groupe Beneteau then went on to fill their order books for the next three years by selling a further seven of these. We estimate that this huge catamaran offers the equivalent space of a 110-115ft monohull yet, at…

1 MARIQUITA 1911, William Fife III Mariquita is a living link between the ‘Big Class’ behemoths, such as Britannia, the J Class and all that went after, including the hugely popular 12 Metres. The 125ft gaff cutter was launched as part of a new 19 Metre class designed to pitch matched yachts against one another. Just four were built. Mariquita performed well, particularly in light airs. She also, uniquely, survived. Having been used as a houseboat for many years, she was discovered in the mud in 1991 and lovingly restored to relaunch in 2003, and she still races today. “IN ALL THE OFFSHORE BOATS that FOLLOWED YOU CAN SEE A BIT OF ‘BLACK BETTY’” ABN AMRO ONE 2005, Juan Kouyoumdjian Two Volvo Ocean Race-winning skippers nominated Juan Kouyoumdjian’s ABN Amro…

A very wise man once told me that there are two kinds of sailors: those who have been aground; and those who lie. One day in December last year anyone on the banks of the Essequibo River in Guyana would have beheld a most unlikely sight. Surrounded by the vibrant green flora of the Amazon rainforest, the former Global Challenge yacht Sea Dragon was gently listing to starboard as she sat haplessly on a sandbar just a few miles from the destination port of Bartica. The 72ft yacht was quite a spectacle and, with an all-female crew of expedition scientists and sailors, it was no surprise to find that our unscheduled stop generated much interest from passing fishermen and ferry boats. Six-legged stowaways The journey that brought us to this…

At first glance, race day aboard George Collins’s sleek new 62ft ChessieRacing is pretty much what you would expect to find aboard any high octane racing boat. His crew is peppered with pedigree pro sailors like North Sails’s Mike Toppa, who has numerous America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Races, and world championship titles to his name, high profile yacht designers like Bill Tripp, whose distinctive, modern designs – including this one – are raising the bar on superyacht and sailing performance across the board; and a whole team of strong and experienced guys that know how to push a fast boat. On deck, twin carbon wheels and powerful winches punctuate the cockpit. Carbon sails and a tall carbon mast provide serious sail power, while the aggressive, all carbon hull is…

A record attendance ensured that September’s Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, Sardinia was nothing short of spectacular. The 52-strong fleet, all measuring over 60ft (18.29m), included the six Mini Maxi 72s competing in their world championship event alongside the best of the current crop of big boat racers and cruiser-racers. The Maxi Worlds were divided into seven classes, including some of the most recent superyacht launches in the burgeoning 33-35m carbon performance sector. Armed with the latest deck gear and sails, and crewed by elite professional sailors, yachts such as WinWin, Inouï, Nikata and Highland Fling all raced off Sardinia’s picturesque rocky coastline. Although two days were lost to strong winds and big seas, the event showcased modern big boat racing at its finest – a demonstration…

Australia marked itself out as the dominant sailing nation in the Rio 2016 Paralympics, taking two Golds and one Silver medal. SKUD 18 sailors Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) won nine races, discarding a 2nd place to take Gold with ease, and becoming the first Paralympic sailors ever to defend their title. It was closer for silver, with John McRoberts and Jackie Gay (CAN) just pipping Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) who take their second Bronze medal. The Australian Sonar team of Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden and Jonathan Harris also won gold with a race to spare, while USA’s Alphonsus Doerr and Canada’s Paul Tingley and crews took Silver and Bronze respectively. There was disappointment for the British Sonar team of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas…

The European Yacht of the Year trials got underway in September. when the 11-strong jury, which includes our own test editor, Toby Hodges, began testing the 25 yachts nominated this year. The winners of the five different classes will be announced at the Düsseldorf Boat Show in January. One Ton Cup Congratulations to Peter Morton and his Carkeek 40+ Girls on Film crew who won the One Ton Cup after nine Fast 40+ Class races on the Solent in mid-September. ‘Morty’ has attempted to win the One Ton Cup, a trophy which he describes as the third biggest cup in sailing, five times now over three decades. This year’s nominees are: Family cruiser: Django 12.70, Ikone 7.50, Jeanneau 51, RM 970 and Sunbeam 22 Performance cruiser: Dehler 34, Grand Soleil…

After solo skipper Sébastien Josse took his boat Groupe Edmond de Rothschild offshore for a photoshoot last year, the video footage went viral. In 25-30 knots of wind, Josse screamed off on a broad reach to show the new foils in action. When his boat rode up on them you could see the whole bow section flying clear of the water then plunging though the tops of waves. However extreme the experience may have looked, this will be the reality of the Vendée Globe solo round the world race. It will be fast, fierce and at times as pummelling as front row rugby. The IMOCA 60s, always at the leading edge of oceangoing monohull design, have taken another leap forward and when the race begins on 6 November, it could…

“SHE JUST WENT OVER AND SAT FOR A FEW SECONDS” Italian photographer Guido Cantini was out in a RIB covering Panerai British Classic Week in the Solent when he spotted this yacht, St David’s Light, being overpowered. “We were sitting out close to the Cowes shoreline, where I knew the westerly wind seems to be gustier and stronger than it normally is in the rest of the Solent, likely influenced by the land,” he remembers. “Boats were broaching all over the place and we were having great fun photographing them.” The yacht, a one-off 40ft Illingworth and Primrose design of cold moulded mahogany construction, was built at Souter’s yard in Cowes and launched in 1963 for Bermudian owners. According to Cantini, “she just went over, sat for a few seconds…