Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Yachting World

In a radical change to one of the oldest offshore races, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has confirmed that the next two editions of the Rolex Fastnet Race will finish in the French port of Cherbourg instead of Plymouth. This is the first time since its inception in 1925 that the course of the biennial 608-mile offshore from Cowes to Plymouth has changed. The new route adds around 90 miles to the distance. A statement from RORC says the new format will offer: ‘increased berthing, enhanced shoreside facilities, competitor functions and events in an exciting development for the race.’ ‘We’ve thought very carefully about how we do this, and agonised about taking the race away from Plymouth’ The move has attracted vociferous objections: a Facebook group called ‘Save the…

Adventurer Skip Novak’s latest and largest Pelagic design is under construction at aluminium yacht building specialist KM Yachtbuilders in Makkum, the Netherlands. The hull was turned in November (pictured below) and work continues this winter on Pelagic 77, a 23.5m schooner which is a design collaboration between Novak and Tony Castro. It is being built for Chilean businessman Nicolás Ibáñez Scott for use privately in Chile and offers a step-up in comfort levels for high latitudes and remote cruising. “The expedition vessel is an evolution from Pelagic Australis [Novak’s current 74ft charter and exploration yacht], and was conceived and designed for expedition sailing, mainly in high latitudes,” Novak explains. “This implies enhanced autonomy, ease of handling with respect to sail areas and, of course, given our Pelagic philosophy, simple systems…

email yachting.world@ti-media.com Letters may be edited as appropriate Nova Scotia magic Reading through Tom Zydler’s article on the Bras d’Or Lakes on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia (see www.yachtingworld.com) I have to agree they are a sailor’s paradise. You can stay for two months and not visit the same cove or harbour twice. The scenery is magnificent, there are friendly people and great sailing. What else could you want? Also a tour around the island’s coastline is breathtaking. Gordon MacDougall Curse or gift? What bad luck Alex Thomson has. But people who speak of a curse are just wrong. It’s just more experience. Alex Thomson is a talented sailor with the gift of one amazing boat on the cutting edge. We’ve already seen great things from both of them…

We know that an army marches on its stomach. This is also true of any yacht crew. All is possible at the dock, but in rough weather you should be able to carry on in the galley and not have to default to cheese, biscuits and Mars Bars. When I peruse galley layouts in the medium range (50ft-80ft) of bluewater cruisers I am often perplexed as to how it was all conceived, taking into consideration 15° of heel and the occasional roll to 30°. Many, if not most, of these interior features in the competitive yacht market are style-driven. Of course they are, otherwise there is a risk of not selling these vessels when deals are closed at boat shows on the hard or in the water at the marina.…

If Kate or Russell Hall wanted to know where their eight-year-old and six-year-old boys had got to, all they would have to do was look along the pontoon for their shoes. Two little pairs of sandals cast aside showed where the two boys had leapt aboard another yacht to play with kids they’d never met until a few days before. I met the Halls on the ‘family pontoon’ of the ARC transatlantic rally, where the organisers gather the boats with children on board. Here crews were quickly making friends, and kids hopping on and off each others’ boats while the adults worked through long jobs lists in preparation for their imminent ocean crossing. Across the marina from the Halls, Ann Graydon and Richard Gauthier had befriended their cruising doppelgängers, another…

The ‘Yachting Journal of a Hebridean Sailor’ by Cully Pettigrew offers an unusual insight into the mind of a deep-thinking man. His relationship with a small yacht over 30 years and 28,000 miles gives his readers access to a fund of knowledge about the Scottish islands while the sea teases out his more abstract thoughts and ideas. Among the charming, informative and challenging accounts that make up much of this book, I came across the following description of something which every male reader dreads: the fall over the toerail into cold water while making an after-dark visit to the deck in search of simple relief. Cully’s description of what happened and his inner transformation from accepting fate to finding a refusal to quit is something to which those of us…

The headstay and backstay chainplates are fabricated from titanium alloy ANNA is a custom 65ft Spirit of Tradition yacht with some very high-tech features concealed beneath her classic exterior When approaching Anna moored at the dock, it’s hard to immediately tell whether she is a restored classic or a recently built replica. In fact, neither is true; Anna is a new build designed to include both the virtues of a classic yacht and the technical achievements of a modern cruiser. Anna’s story began two decades ago when owner Tony Merck began thinking about stepping up from small classic daysailers, like the Herreshoff 12½ and the Bjarne Aas-designed International One-Design, into a larger cruiser that could maintain a classic aesthetic. Merck had watched the birth of the Spirit of Tradition genre…

French co-skippers Charlie Dalin and Yann Eliès surprised many pundits by winning the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandie Le Havre in October with a new Verdier-designed IMOCA 60, Apivia. Apivia was one of five new generation foiling IMOCAs in the fleet. The double-handed transatlantic race was highly anticipated as a predictor for next year’s Vendée Globe as well as being a key qualifier for many skippers. Having only launched in August, however, Apivia was not predicted to be as fast as Jérémie Beyou’s new Charal, which has had more than a year of preparation. Dalin and Eliès seemed to be the faster of the new boats upwind, but the pair also shared a video of Charal sailing over the top of them under gennaker, apparently some 2-3 knots faster in light…

Some 75 years after Royal Navy captain John Illingworth challenged a group of eight friends planning a post-war Christmas cruise from Sydney to Hobart with the question “Why don’t we make a race of it?”, some 170 yachts entered the 2019 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, writes Crosbie Lorimer. The fleet is expected to be led out of Sydney Heads on Boxing Day by up to five Australian-owned supermaxis. However, as we went to press, uncertainty surrounded several of the five. The Oatley family’s Wild Oats XI was in a race against time to make the start after a major mast compression and resultant deck failure during an early season offshore race. Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag was listed for sale in mid-November and rumours circulated that Jim…

Multihull special Catamarans are on the up and up, and with the latest new launches it’s not hard to understand why. Toby Hodges and Sam Fortescue look at some new yachts and find out what there is to learn from monohull sailors who have converted to two hulls 3,000 miles to the sun Elaine Bunting reports from the finish of the annual ARC transatlantic rally and finds out how people coped with breakages and made the crossing more enjoyable Adventure in Alaska Jessie Rogers recounts a cruise among the pristine scenery and abundant sea life of the Alaskan coast Shipping home Shipping yachts back to home waters after an ocean crossing or to reach distant cruising grounds is an increasingly popular option. What are the costs and practicalities? On test:…

On Tuesday 5 November four giant trimarans – Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Macif, Sodebo and Actual Leader, and their double-handed crews – left a grey and sodden Brest on Brittany’s most westerly tip. They were two days later than planned after a North Atlantic storm created monstrous 8m seas in Biscay, and hurtled out under triple-reefed mainsails and bare forestays. But still the leaders passed Madeira by Thursday morning and the Canaries by teatime that same day. The Cape Verdes whistled past their port bow late on Friday night. Then, after crossing the breadth of the Atlantic in less than a weekend, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild was first to arrive at Recife, Brazil, in time for breakfast on Monday. And so it went on: Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier on…

‘We want to give people the ability to get on the water without the hassle’ Traditional boat ownership is broken and outdated. At least, that’s the bold message coming from a shrewd and hardy collection of entrepreneurs who say there is no longer any reason to simply buy a boat and keep it waiting in the marina for the occasional foray. They are trying to drag boating into the modern digital economy with fractional ownership, sailing time-shares and peer-to-peer charter – all of which can reduce the cost of sailing dramatically. It’s a brave new world of apps, bundled services and sharing. “I think this is part of a societal shift we are seeing in multiple industry sectors away from longer term asset ownership, and towards quicker consumption of experiences,…

It was just before midnight in the eastern fringes of the Atlantic Ocean, about 130 miles south-west of Cape Finisterre. To my right I could see an ominous wall of dense black cloud, switching off the stars as it advanced at sea level towards me. The waiting game was filling me with dread. “What’s in that thing?” I thought as I furled the genoa, set the Solent staysail and put two reefs in the main. I was on the wind in 20 knots of true wind, but expecting the breeze to veer as a front came through. First, the breeze clocked up to 23, then 25 knots and the sea state turned surprisingly violent. A few minutes later the cockpit display was showing 27 knots and Albertine was charging ahead…

INFINITI 52R AND 52RC LOA 16.0m/52ft 6in BEAM 4.5m/14ft 9in DISPLACEMENT 7,400kg/16,314lb (52R) 8,000kg/17,637lb (52RC) DRAUGHT 3.6m/11ft 10in PRICE FROM €975,000 ex VAT www.infinitiyachts.com It’s unusual for a new design to offer a genuinely revolutionary difference to existing models. However, the Infiniti Yachts 52R (Racer) and 52RC (Racer-Cruiser) present a rare opportunity for those who race offshore on existing production yachts to step up into a high-performance foiling design. Hugh Welbourn’s Dynamic Stability System (DSS), launched in 2007 after 10 years of development, has been a critical driving force behind the foiling monohull revolution from the outset. Infiniti Yachts’ first boats, a 36ft daysailer and 46ft offshore racer, were launched in 2011 and 2015. The latter went on to establish an enviable record, including class wins in successive editions of…

The two currencies throughout the eastern Caribbean are the Eastern Caribbean dollar (ECD) and euro, the latter used on all French Islands The Facebook group page ‘doyleguides’ gives cruisers a forum to share their views and updates. Chris Doyle’s cruising guides have been in publication since 1980. For up to date information on all the islands covered visit www.doyleguides.com Chris Doyle’s is a name familiar to all Caribbean cruisers, as the author of best-selling cruising guides of the region. Having explored the Caribbean for more than 40 years, there is barely an anchorage he hasn’t visited or a harbour he hasn’t surveyed. His knowledge of the eastern Caribbean is second to none, and his cruising guides can be found on the shelves and chart tables of thousands of boats. Now…

Alex Thomson was forced to cut away the keel of his brand new Hugo Boss in the middle of the Atlantic in November following a collision with an unidentified submerged object during the Transat Jacques Vabre Race. Thomson, who was competing in the double-handed transatlantic with highly experienced ocean racer Neal McDonald, reported that Hugo Boss hit a solid object while they were travelling at 25 knots. “We came to a complete standstill. It was a pretty terrifying experience,” he explained on a video sent from the boat. “At those kinds of speeds it’s like being in a car crash or hitting a brick wall at 30mph.” Neither Thomson nor McDonald was injured in the incident, although the keel was so critically damaged that it was hanging from the hydraulic…

Viracocha III, a 60ft three-masted primitive reed boat built to cross the Pacific from Chile to Australia to voyage in the wake of the rafts used by ancient South American seafarers, got as far as Tahiti before being abandoned. The boat, which took four years to construct using traditional Bolivian reeds and techniques, sailed to Hao in the Tuamotu islands before attempting to stop for supplies and a crew change. During the stopover Viracocha was damaged during bad weather. The crew set off for Tahiti, but as the boat deteriorated were forced to take down the main mast and remove a large section of damaged bow. After drifting to Tahiti, the crew abandoned ship.…

The use of autopilots offshore is not new but the current level of development has meant that modern pilots can now steer high-performance boats faster and more safely than humans. In some fleets hull shapes, sail plans and deck layouts are being designed around new levels of performance that have been made possible through the use of advanced pilots. Modern technology is starting to take the tiller out of our hands. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Both military and civilian aircraft rely on a computer somewhere in the chain of command to either fly the plane entirely or make decisions on whether the human input is appropriate. Some boats in the IMOCA 60 fleet are already in similar territory where sustained speeds in excess of 30 knots are forcing designers…

For the sake of this iconic British brand, the new Oyster 565 can’t just be good, it has to be exceptional. Nothing less will do. When the Oyster 825 Polina Star III lost her keel and sank off the coast of Spain in July 2015, the fortune it subsequently cost Oyster directly contributed to the company going into receivership. Its backers, Dutch firm HTP Investments, ceased to provide financial support in February 2018 and the company went into administration. When gaming software entrepreneur Richard Hadida bought Oyster six weeks later, many wondered how he could rebuild the credibility of the brand and turn the business around. So all eyes were on the 565 when it launched at the Southampton Boat Show in September. This is the first completely new design…

Plan your arrival times so you don’t have to pay overtime. In general, customs and immigration charge overtime if vessels arrive after hours or on weekends. Depending on the country, some overtime fees can cost more than actually checking into the country. The French islands are the cheapest countries to check into. Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Maarten and St Barts cost no more than a euro or two to enter the country and the process can be carried out by the cruiser on a computer, generally found in a café or shop. Martinique is the best island for provisions. With a vast range or French cheeses, wines and other delicacies, cruisers can stock their boat for months, saving money when travelling to more expensive islands such as Antigua, St Barts and…

‘It paved the way for future one-designs’ MATTHEW SHEAHAN NOMINATES THE LASER 5000 Originally, the Laser 5000 was designed as an Olympic boat for the 1996 Games but missed it and eventually lost the skiff place to the lighter 49er. But while the Phil Morrison-designed two-person trapeze skiff didn’t make it into the Olympic elite, it did influence a generation of design and sailors. Two key features paved the way for the future: weight equalisation using adjustable racks and a range of corrector weights meant differences in crew righting moments could be evened out and allowed mixed gender crews to be competitive. Secondly, it boasted simplicity. The rig, sailplan and the deck layout was so well designed that crew could change gear using kicker and cunningham alone. Each was attached…