Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i Yachting World

As we all sit here with the anchor down – and only too well dug in – the next best thing to going sailing is to sit back and enjoy the adventures of others and perhaps hatch a plan for when this whole thing blows over. So this month, do join us on a vicarious global dream cruise from the islands of British Columbia and a high tech wingsail catamaran sprint through the Bahamas (pictured above), via a scientific and wildlife expedition with Skip Novak to the remote archipelago of the South Sandwich islands. Size of boat is no obstacle to these voyages – Nicholas and Jenny Coghlan ventured to Tierra del Fuego in their 27-footer, as you’ll read on page 59. Age is no barrier either – read how…

Although most yards ceased production or were operating at a vastly reduced capacity during March and April, yacht manufacturing continued in some countries. Some European countries had less stringent measures in place, which meant yachts were still getting built and order books fulfilled. Yards in the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia and Finland all reported positive news. All Hanse Yachts’ production sites, including its main facility in Greifswald in Germany, and those in Poland and France, remained in operation. The company says it has taken precautions to safeguard all staff, including isolating work areas, and it has carpentry stock to carry it through to the end of June. “But we can already foresee that we can no longer let today’s very high production speed continue as planned,” warns Hanse Yachts AG’s CEO…

I’m often asked by people more familiar with my ocean racing career how I got started in the high latitude charter business. Chartering for profit if not just for sustenance was never the reason I ‘went south’ and subsequently became recognised (as I’m constantly reminded) as an entrepreneur of the genre. The beginning had to do with what a quorum from the crew of Drum on the 1985/86 Whitbread Race thought was the next move. On the cusp of a path making a decent living out of racing offshore, but certainly before it was evident, a few of us who were getting on in years thought it time to do some sailing on our own agenda. Three of us put money into the DIY building of the 54ft steel Pelagic,…

A couple of decades ago I’d have recommended anyone planning an ocean crossing without a big crew to fit wind vane self-steering. Yet in the past five years I’ve sailed more than 20,000 miles, including multiple trips to the Azores and a transatlantic race, relying solely on electronic pilots whether double-handed or solo. This change is also borne out by the few yachts taking part in the ARC that are still seen with wind vane steering systems. So what has changed in the intervening time? And what can we expect in the next few years? Firstly, electronics have become much more reliable. We also have many more ways of generating the electricity needed to run them. Most yachts set up for sailing longer distances are therefore no longer primarily reliant…

To win the Volvo Ocean Race you need proven, battle-hardened experience on board. However, the youth-focussed, multinational Turn The Tide On Plastic entry had very different goals. While every sailor on Dee Caffari’s crew wanted to win, realistically that wasn’t going to happen. Although she had been part of the all-female Team SCA crew in the previous edition, the last Volvo Ocean Race was Dee’s first time skippering a Volvo crew, 80% of whom were under 30 with little offshore experience compared with most of their rivals. With a team of five men and five women, all of different nationalities, Turn the Tide was a United Nations of sailors with a strong environmental focus. Although winning the race was never on the cards, the team successfully delivered their message about…

As withdrawal symptoms have taken hold from being landlocked and unable to get on the water, virtual competition has seen a surge in popularity. eSailing is not a new phenomenon; Virtual Regatta, the leading eSailing platform, was launched back in 2010, and has become a part of most major sailing events with online versions of the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendée Globe attracting hundreds of thousands of entrants. But during lockdown there has been an explosion in growth, with Virtual Regatta reporting that 38,000 new players joined their inshore competitions during March 2020, and over 330,000 boats were racing in their virtual offshore races at the same time. One of the first lockdown-specific events to be organised was the Great Escape in late March. Almost 130,000 competitors signed up to…

If you’re pining for getting on board a yacht, join us for our walkthroughs, boat tests and sailing techniques series. Approximately one million people are watching our videos online each month, the equivalent of around 200,000 hours of viewing from January to March alone. Yachting World’s YouTube channel has 95,000 subscribers. Our most popular video is about sailing the J Class Endeavour, when we spent a memorable day aboard one of the world’s most iconic yachts. This has now had over a million views. Our walkthrough or first look videos of new launches are always popular, with over 1.3m views of new uploads this year. The most recent examples are the ClubSwan 36 and the Dragonfly 40, and the most popular the new Hallberg-Rassy 40C. Our popular content also includes…

‘Sailing has been an adventure as well as a way to share the skills of seamanship’ At 94 years of age, my father, Donald, still hates sitting in harbour. He lives in La Conner, Washington, on a cliff overlooking the Swinomish Channel, where he can keep an eye on the fishermen, loggers, and eagles that ply the waters of the Pacific Northwest. In a life of sailing around the world, my father has wrung more salt water out of his socks than most of us will ever see. The world is full of “harbour-sitters,” as he calls them, trading horror stories of deadly gales over drinks while waiting for perfect weather conditions to leave the dock. Although over the years he has been called adventurous and even reckless, depending on…

‘We were convinced that if the swell did not increase next day we could get a slimmed down team ashore’ The rule of thumb when doing these tricky inflatable beach landings is to hang in above the surf line for a good ten minutes to watch the sets coming through. Maybe we were a bit premature, but I gave Thomas, the boat handler from Pelagic Australis, the thumbs up to drive the Bombard C5 ashore. We surfed into the cobbled beach and before we could turn the boat around it was flooded by the next breaking wave. Our survival gear in dry bags floated to the surface and, waist deep, we snatched them out and ran them up above the surf, stumbling like drunks and slipping and sliding on the…

There are some too-rare boats that turn every head, and everything about them attracts your attention. The new Tofinou 9.7 is, without question, one of these. You can assume a certain level of classic beauty in the genes of a Tofinou, but there is a defiantly current look to this model too. Although Tofinou has maintained its reputation for more than three decades, many competitor brands have risen to the challenge in recent times (see our pick on page 68). Is this the model that reasserts the status of the Ile de Ré yard? To answer that, we would, of course, need a much, much closer look. Unveiled at the 2019 La Rochelle Show, this boat stood out among the more conventional hulls with their big volumes and clinical white…

‘She logged 270-mile days sailed two-handed’ TOR JOHNSON NOMINATES NICA Hawaii-based photographer Tor Johnson, who wrote the feature on cruising in British Columbia on page 22, has shot many different yachts, but he has a soft spot for this Finot-Conq design. “I have to say that Nica is one of the coolest cruising boats I’ve ever seen. I suggest her because she is an innovative and extreme boat, which is why I shot many photos of her, and why I plan to make an ocean crossing on her.” Nica is an FC3 53, designed by the French Finot-Conq office, internationally famous for its heritage of Open 60 and IMOCA 60 designs. This is a carbon composite, water-ballasted, swing keel offshore fast cruising yacht designed for world cruising. She crossed Atlantic…

While the world was preoccupied with the COVID-19 crisis in April, a string of islands in the South Pacific found themselves in the eye of another disaster as Cyclone Harold swept through the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. The system intensified explosively and moved into Fijian waters on 3 April and became a category 5 cyclone producing winds up to 170mph as it hit the archipelago of Vanuatu on 6 April. Over a third of the island’s population was affected, as roads and communications were hit and flash flooding forced families to flee their homes. Many homes were destroyed by floods, debris and landslides. A storm surge caused severe flooding along the coastline and grounded ships at the largest island of the country, Espiritu Santo. The islands were mercifully…

Who would have thought that the polite way to greet a friend would be to cross to the other side of the road? Who’d have imagined international airports would be closed and the skies free from contrails? Weeks ago when the global warming debate was raging and the consensus that something had to be done was growing faster than ever, no one suggested or believed that it would be possible to shut the world down in a couple of weeks. Few would have anticipated the abrupt halt of the handshake and such a fundamental change in how we interact with each other. And no one could have predicted such a dramatic decline in transport and the emissions related to it. Like many, I have been fascinated to see just how…

It was an experience I’ll never forget: blasting downwind across the Northeast Providence Channel, on a deep water passage from New Providence to Chub Cay. We were sailing inside the Bermuda Triangle, just a few hundred miles off the US coast but in a place that is uniquely wild and sparsely populated, fringed by mile upon mile of shallow turquoise waters. We were not aboard your typical cruising cat. The Eagle Class 53 is a unique carbon catamaran with a hybrid wing and soft sail. It is super light, and super fast, and we took it on an early season northbound sprint from the Caribbean to the USA. The Eagle Class 53 is currently set up with C-foils, but the purpose of our trip was to safely send her on…

We set out to cross Biscay in January. I had a stinking cold, and my crew, Harry and Chloë, were new to bluewater sailing. Over the past year we’d worked harder than ever to prepare Elixir for this journey. Our departure was two months late, but we were doing it. On board there was an air of excitement, mixed with nervousness and fear. I felt alive again. My own introduction to bluewater sailing consisted of 10,000 miles, single-handed in a 22ft sloop. I return home at 23, after two Atlantic crossings and 14 months without standing headroom or a toilet. Arriving back in my home town of Falmouth is anticlimactic. The first days are emotional. Yet, I find that my life in Falmouth doesn’t bring the same excitement as I’d…

TOFINOU RIVALS / MODERN SAFFIER SE 33 UD Saffier Yachts is the greatest challenger to the reign of Tofinou in the daysailing world. The IJmuiden yard now has eight designs between 21ft and 37ft. The investment and knowhow the Hennevanger brothers have put into the production facility really shows too – the vacuuminfused builds and finish quality are top class. Saffier builds seaworthy designs, tests all new models thoroughly in the North Sea and ensures its yachts can be sailed easily single-handedly. Launched in 2014, the Saffier Se 33 is a sporty design but with a practical self-draining cockpit and optional solid sprayhood, which help it handle most weather conditions. It has a fast underwater shape, a generous sailplan and a fixed carbon bowsprit. The extra-large cockpit features 2m benches…

Millions of families around the world have recently found themselves thrust into the world of home-schooling with the closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But for families who cruise long-haul with their kids, boat-schooling has always been a necessity. For many, the opportunity to trade a bricks and mortar school for classes on deck or on the beach is part of the appeal of a cruising lifestyle. Here we take a look at some of the different approaches favoured by liveaboard and cruising families, and discover some tips that temporary home teachers can benefit from. Learning outside of the classroom has been proven to bring benefits including increased selfawareness, confidence, creativity and imagination. However, the endless juggle of fitting in education, boat maintenance, socialisation and online employment can…