Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Yachting World

‘Hello? It’s Kevin!’ Of all the sailors I have interviewed in bizarre circumstances, this conversation was by far the most extraordinary. Just a couple of days after being plucked from a liferaft in the South Atlantic, Kevin Escoffier rang from his rescuer Jean Le Cam’s IMOCA 60 as it raced east at 17 knots. He sounded as relaxed as if he’d just got back from the shops. The details of what happened to Escoffier before and during his rescue are fascinating (see page 26). Above all, his safe recovery was down to superb seamanship by both skippers, who consistently made smart decisions in a situation that could have seemed hopeless. Their professionalism and cool-headedness are the result of decades of experience. There is no-one more experienced in this year’s race…

A new round the world race is being set up by top sailor and navigator Andrew Cape, who hopes to get a fleet to the start line this October. The Great Cape Race harks back to some of the purist principles of the early Whitbread Races. It will start from the UK and stop only in South Africa, Australia and South America before returning to the UK. The ambitious plan is to start this autumn with at least eight yachts on the line and a maximum of 14. The race is open to monohulls over 60ft racing under IRC, but they must be fast enough to finish leg one to Cape Town within 30 days. An early confirmed entry is the 100ft maxi Scallywag. Andrew Cape, who has raced seven…

Rising from a charter schedule reduced to tatters by the pandemic, sailing company Rubicon 3 has decided to launch a challenge closer to home. The Great British Sailing Tour will start from Glasgow in April and go clockwise round the coast to Stornoway, Inverness, Edinburgh, London, Portsmouth, Bristol and back to Glasgow. It will be raced between all three of the company’s identical Clipper 60 yachts for medals and fun prizes. They will also be raising money for the Michaela School Sailing Project, which is helping inner city children get on the water. See www.rubicon3adventure.com…

However you travel, New Zealand is a long way from Europe, but when I left in November last year it took just over two weeks from the day I left London Heathrow to get to my destination. And while I’ve visited the Land of the Long White Cloud many times before, this trip down under was unlike any other. For starters, it was the most comfortable long-haul flight I’ve ever done, thanks to there being no more than 60 people on a Boeing 777 that would more usually have a payload of 350; I used to dream of trips like this. But of course, like pretty much every other country in the world, the global health pandemic turned travel in 2020 into a nightmare for New Zealand. Famous for, and…

The lockdown of spring 2020 prompted all kinds of unusual purchases. People bought puppies, bikes, hot-tubs… Not many opted to buy a 23-ton, 112-year-old wooden cutter, yet that is exactly what Southampton-based charter operator Charlie Tulloch did. “Everyone’s got a lockdown story,” he says. “Mine was trying to keep the business running and home-schooling the kids. It was incredibly stressful. I realised that, although we have three boats of our own, we were reliant on other people’s boats to supplement the fleet. We needed another boat to take more control. When I heard that Golden Vanity was for sale, I thought about it – not for very long – and bought her. “Lockdown madness? I don’t know. We’ll see!” There is some logic to it. Golden Vanity offers First Class…

■ There is safety derived from not living on such a lean. You’re just less fatigued and you’re making better decisions more often. There are less slips, trips and falls because it’s a more stable platform. ■ One of the biggest safety things overlooked in a more performance-orientated vessel is the ability to maintain a certain speed. So you can still maintain your 7 or 8 knots with two reefs in the main. Then, when that bad weather hits you don’t have to do anything. Just ride it out – you’re already reefed for that. ■ When viewing a boat just place yourself in the middle of the Atlantic with a storm approaching and imagine the things that will be important to you then when you walk around the boat.…

Our extraordinary 2020 finished with no METS equipment show and the unsurprising announcement that the world’s largest indoor boat show in Düsseldorf was postponed until April. However, the lack of organised exhibitions to showcase new products failed to slow the yards and gear manufacturers in their efforts to bring out a profusion of appealing new designs. Here’s our pick of the bunch… TEMO 450 DAME overall winner Sometimes when you see new products, however clever, you wonder what problem they were designed to solve. Not so with the TEMO. The DAME jury was unanimous in voting this new electric outboard engine product the outright winner. The French company behind this well thought-out, cleverly designed product has come up with an ingenious solution-based idea It is also great to see that…

Blown Away is a Nautitech 46 Open modified to be sailed across the Atlantic and beyond by quadriplegic sailor Natasha Lambert On 12 December Natasha Lambert realised an ambition six years in the making. Back in 2014, Natasha, then 17, met her hero, Ellen MacArthur, and set her heart on ocean sailing. As a young woman with quadriplegic cerebral palsy the difficulties she faced were colossal, but she and her family and crew sailed into St Lucia in their Nautitech 46 Open cat, Blown Away, after 18 days at sea. On arriving in St Lucia Natasha said that it was: “An amazing trip, loved it – didn’t want to stop but it’s great to be here!” The Lamberts had taken part in the ARC transatlantic rally from Gran Canaria to…

Your Local Broker on the Cote d’Azur Berthon has been selling yachts on the Cote d’Azur since 2001, and the Berthon France office can be found in the captivatingly pretty port of Mandelieu in La Napoule, near Cannes. Located at the very heart of the French Riveria, its cruising grounds are spectacular. With fantastic transport links, it is the playground for international yachtsmen within easy reach of Monaco, Sardinia, Sicily and the wonderful Île de Porquerolles, and so much more. Berthon France is the distributor for Windy Boats of Norway and Pearl Yachts from the UK as well as offering masses of local knowledge on how to enjoy this incredible area to the max. Experienced in yacht brokerage and berth sales, by working with the rest of the Sales Group…

Your Local Broker and Refit Facility in Palma de Mallorca Berthon Spain, based in Palma de Mallorca incorporates both international brokerage sales and refit / service / guardiennage. Run by Andrew Fairbrass, the company includes some 17 technical staff and 2 experienced yacht brokers. YACHT SALES The brokerage office overlooks Club de Mar in the heart of the port of Palma. Managing Broker Simon Turner, who joined us from N&J Spain has been selling yachts for around 40 years and is the go to person for the sale and purchase of both large sail and motor yachts. Joining him in the office is Ben Toogood who joined Berthon Spain from Berthon UK in 2020, having been a successful brand manager for Windy Boats and Pearl Yachts for 11 years. Ben’s…

The most radical America’s Cup class ever conceived, the AC75 foiling monohulls, raced for the first time over 17-21 December, 2020 with the Auckland America’s Cup World Series. Cup Defenders and hosts Emirates Team New Zealand dominated the leaderboard, winning five of their six races. However, beyond the points tally things weren’t quite so simple: the event was ultimately only decided in a place-changing final race between Emirates Team New Zealand and Prada Pirelli Luna Rossa. If the Italians had held their intermittent lead to the end, the result would have been a tie between Pete Burling on the black boat and Dean Barker, helming for American Magic. Over the three-day World Series each team raced six times, Emirates Team New Zealand ultimately winning five of six, losing once to…

Don’t plan on sailing to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) until further notice – its ports of entry are effectively closed due to COVID and several crews sailing into the area have been fined and detained. In June 2020 the BVIs introduced an exclusion zone to limit and restrict marine traffic and made pre-clearance a requisite of entry. In November, US Virgin Islands sailor Kevin Gregory says he took a tack into BVI waters, but just outside the exclusion zone, while on passage between St Thomas and St John USVI. His boat was stopped and detained, and he was fined US$20,000. He says that no Notice to Mariners had been issued and that he was given no option to withdraw from the area before being escorted to Tortola and fined.…

Oyster has released initial details of its 495, the smallest model since the 475 finished its production run in 2018. It says the 495 will set a new benchmark in 50ft bluewater cruisers, a yacht which should be equally at home on shorter passages and coastal cruising. This powerful new Humphreys design incorporates many of the features, styling and engineering knowhow of Oyster’s larger G6 range, including the bowsprit, vertical portholes and beam carried well aft. The latter contributes to form stability which, combined with twin rudders, should help make it a powerful but manageable yacht to sail short-handed. “The objective was to follow our proud tradition of creating true, go-anywhere bluewater cruising yachts and Rob [Humphreys] and the design team have delivered an exceptional yacht on every level,” says…

For the second year in the row, a multihull record was set in the ARC transatlantic rally by a Marsaudon catamaran. Vincent Willemart and a crew from Belgium took their TS42 Banzaï across the line in St Lucia 10d 21h after leaving Gran Canaria and sailing 3,090 miles. Their time smashed by almost a day the record set in 2019 by French sailor Régis Guillemot in his larger, 55ft Marsaudon TS5 Hallucine. It is the third time in the last four years that line honours have been claimed by a Marsaudon catamaran – in 2017, TS42 Guyader took line honours after 14 days. It shows that these performance cruising cats set up for spacious living can, if well sailed, be faster downwind than a monohull with a longer LOA. “We…

A hunt in the archives In late 1955/early 1956, my Dad answered an advert for crew on the three-masted schooner Amphitrite. She was to sail from Falmouth in Devon to English Harbour, Antigua. His application was successful, and in late June 1956 my parents and I (aged just three) boarded for the voyage of a lifetime. Things did not go to plan, and that voyage of a lifetime lasted less than a year; we did not make it to Antigua. My mother kept a diary during those months, and it reveals an astonishing story of the criminal underworld, gun-running, conmen and prostitution. I’m currently researching the background for a book I want to write based on Mum’s diary, and I’d love to find the original advert that started this whole…

While my high latitude colleagues are languishing in various ports in South America, either blocked by port authorities or dead in the water for all practical purposes due to lockdowns or simply lack of demand, I find myself flat out here in Cape Town. Why? A simple case of being in the right place at the right time, with the right contacts. Out of the 52 companies in the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), which includes expedition ships, superyachts, air operators and vessels like Pelagic Australis, I have been the only one in operation, at least for the first half of the season. Pelagic Australis arrived from Marion Island mid-November after a fortuitous 70-day charter supporting a science team. Marion is a South African outlier, 1,200 nautical miles…

The Vendée Globe has a proud tradition of competitors going to one another’s aid in extraordinary acts of bravery and successful mid ocean rescues. The first Vendée Globe in 1989 featured one of the most remarkable rescues in the event’s history. Philippe Poupon capsized south of Cape Town but his ketch, Fleury Michon X, did not right itself. LoÏck Peyron came to the rescue, sailing his Open 60 Lada Poch III to Poupon’s position, taking a line attached to her masthead and literally pulling the other yacht upright. If that weren’t incredible enough, Peyron even managed to capture righting Poupon’s yacht on film. He went on to take 2nd place. In the 1996 race three sailors were plucked from the seas, including Pete Goss’s heroic rescue of fellow competitor Raphaël…

Extracts from a letter written by Arthur Briscoe to The Yachting & Boating Monthly in 1909: I call her a single-handed cruiser, although I usually have my wife or a boy on board with me. When the design was being made, the following points were insisted on: nothing to be sacrificed to gain a yachting appearance; seaworthiness before speed, and the ability to lay-to in all circumstances were necessities. From personal experience and the advice of many Bristol Channel pilots and others, I had all the ballast inside. I am sure this makes an easier boat in a sea-way, and in a big-bodied vessel like mine it does not cut into the headroom to a serious extent. As to construction, she is built the old-fashioned way… in fact, most of…

Where we tested: Cherbourg, France. Conditions: wind south-east to south-west 7-19 knots, flat water. Model: three cabin/two heads version with options including carbon mast, twin helm stations, Hydranet sails, 1,080W solar, and electric winches. ‘Garcia has been building metal boats for almost 50 years’ In recent years there have been two clear trends in serious long-term cruising yachts. Firstly catamarans have become mainstream, to the extent that professional racing sailors talk of ‘buying a catamaran’ for cruising with their families – a monohull doesn’t even enter the equation. This trend can also be seen in ARC entries, where multihulls are increasingly common. In 2020 they accounted for 28% of the total fleet and a much higher proportion of new boats and more recent designs. The second trend is the rapidly…

Are you sure?” my partner Wietze asked. I nodded: “Yes, look at that cloud there. It is different, I’m sure there is an island under it.” I can’t keep my eyes off the cloud, and half an hour later am calling Wietze back on deck with cries of “Land! Land, look there!” Wietze joins me in my joy; we hug and look at the dark mass in the distance. Every time when you arrive somewhere after a long crossing it is special. But this one was extra special: the crossing was only 14 days, but it was the closing stage of 102 days of strict isolation on board in the Maldives. Our bodies longed to walk on terra firma, eat fresh food and meet other people. All that was now…

ANDY RICE talks to mainsail trimming expert CHRIS HOSKING on mainsheet tweaks for ultimate performance Good trimming has always been an art. Increasingly it’s becoming a science too, with the ever-growing use of technology. These days the instruments on the back of the mast are just the start of it, with all kinds of live feedback and post-race analytics to help exploit those tiny margins of advantage. For professional mainsail trimmer Chris Hosking, you still need to relate everything back to ‘feel’, to that instinct that you learned in small boats. Hosking started out in the ultra-competitive single-handed junior class of Australia, the Sabot, and was twice national champion. Those early years of small boat sailing equipped Hosking with a talent for being able to find the feel in any…

‘When you are on board it is just another world’ GILLES MARTIN-RAGET NOMINATES WALLY 143 ESENSE “This is the most incredible yacht I have had the privilege to shoot and to witness… the length, the design, the power, the elegance. “Maybe meeting this beautiful yacht in very particular circumstances helped influence my choice. I had the privilege to shoot it for Wally after it was just launched in the Kornati Islands off Croatia. It was in advance of the tourist season and we literally had the archipelago to ourselves for three days. “Following the mood Wally had been creating, the captain was all dressed in white, alone at the helm on the yacht during the shooting, which gives it the scale and adds to the pureness. “When you are on…

Your Local Broker on the East Coast of the USA Operating out of a charming listed building in the lovely town of Newport, Rhode Island since 2010, the office is close to the legendary New York Yacht Club and a short walk to the water front. A fantastic sailing area, Newport is home to many sailing events in the summer as well as hosting the Volvo race the last time it was in the USA. An amazing area to cruise with Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard close by, there is good service available at local shipyards and it is an easy transit to the Caribbean to enable you to take advantage of annual twin season use of your yacht. Berthon USA sells new Rustlers from the UK, Moody from Germany,…

A cargo loss ‘of epic proportions’ is how one shipping news website described an incident in late November 2020 when 1,800 containers were lost mid-Pacific from a cargo ship en route from China to California. The 364m Japanese cargo ship ONE Apus, had left Yantian in China and was around 1,600 miles north-west of Hawaii when it encountered severe weather and waves reported to be up to 16m. Container stacks collapsed and around a quarter of the ship’s cargo of containers were lost overboard, including 54 containing fireworks. The ship was diverted to return to its home port in Japan, where an investigation is under way. The operation to remove collapsed container stacks from the ship was expected to take a month. This is the largest loss of containers from…

This vibrant, powerful-looking new custom built 100-footer launched from Southern Wind in Cape Town in December. Once your eye re-adjusts from the striking neon green cockpit cushions and bold lettering on Morgana’s transom, you’ll notice the very modern performance lines by Reichel/Pugh. The Californian firm, known for its racing flyers such as Wild Oats and Alfa Romeo, collaborated with Nauta Design, MYT and Southern Wind Shipyard to create this full carbon speedster. A light displacement of under 65 tonnes, generous sail plan, and combination of powerful hull form and narrow upright waterline will all help her excel in light breeze. Morgana also sports a lifting keel, single rudder, hybrid carbon mast, transversal jib tracks and a removable bowsprit. While superyacht racing is a key part of the brief, her experienced owner has…

European Yacht of the Year The sea trials and testing for this year’s European Yacht of the Year awards were a bit more challenging than most, but 15 boats were still put through their paces. YW’s Toby Hodges, one of the panel of expert judges, reveals the winners Next stop: the Caribbean This year’s ARC crews were among a lucky few to experience a transocean crossing – and a quarantine-free welcome in St Lucia. Elaine Bunting talks to crews who arrived in the Caribbean after the most unusual ARC yet The adventurous sailor Mike Horn might be the world’s greatest living explorer, but his sailing exploits are less well known. Helen Fretter meets the extraordinary adventurer Lessons from 200,000 miles at sea Vicky Jackson reveals some of the cruising knowledge…

‘You’ve seen images of shipwrecks? It was like that, but worse, In four seconds the bow folded up’ At 1345 (UTC) on Monday 30 November, on a grey and lumpy South Atlantic some 840 miles south-west of Cape Town, Kevin Escoffier was 3rd in the singlehanded Vendée Globe when his boat, the IMOCA 60 PRB, suddenly and catastrophically broke up. Escoffier had time only to send a three line Whatsapp message to his shore team before all communication with the boat was lost. It would be 11 hours before anyone on land heard from him again. Before he had any indication anything was wrong, Escoffier was racing fast in 22-25 knot south-westerlies. He was around 20 miles behind 2nd placed LinkedOut, with Jean Le Cam in 4th around 25 miles…

‘Maybe it was cabin fever, but after 19 days at sea, I dove deep into the placid Pacific Ocean’ Immersed and weightless in the warmth of the endless blue, I looked down and could see only fathomless depths below me. Without a point of reference I couldn’t tell if I was two or 20 feet below the surface, the only difference to sense was the pressure of the vast ocean above me. Maybe it was cabin fever after being becalmed for days on end that had driven me to do it. Perhaps I just couldn’t take the sound of the sails flogging and the blocks knocking one more time as our 42ft Tayana, Agápe, gently rolled back and forth on the ocean swell. But after 19 days at sea, without…

Over the last seven years Riley Whitelum and Elayna Carausu have advanced from novice sailors to logging more ocean miles than most of us will sail in a lifetime. And they’ve managed to translate their journey in the most engaging way, reaching more people than any other sailors on the planet. This Australian couple are actively influencing a new generation of bluewater cruisers. Millions of viewers watch their weekly episodes of the Sailing La Vagabonde channel on YouTube, which brings multihull cruising into your living room (or office). In them they share their liveaboard lifestyle by providing 20-minute hits of endearing weekly escapism. But their reach is now ensuring they have the ear of the industry too, with the couple starting to leak plans of a new emission-free vessel, which…

The ultimate success of a yacht depends on how carefully her original owner defined the boat’s objectives. Jarlath Cunnane (featured in Great Seamanship in the April 2020 issue of Yachting World), built the 50ft aluminium cutter Northabout for high latitudes and ice. He succeeded mightily, successfully tackling the full polar circumnavigation via the North East and North West Passages from east to west with an unstoppable crew of Irishmen. When Sir David Hempleman-Adams decided to attempt the first British challenge to make both passages from west to east in a single season, Northabout was the boat of choice. He convinced Jarlath to part with her and, to cut a story of careful preparation down to three words, away he went. Open Water, Breaking Ice is a beautifully produced account of…

An easy-to-cruise yacht that can excel in both IRC and ORC regattas sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Yet that’s the core brief of this smoking new model from the Cantiere del Pardo stable. It marks the yard’s first collaboration with Matteo Polli, who has worked successfully with Cossutti Yacht Design and Italia Yachts in the past. Polli was tasked with providing a boat with high form stability while not being too extreme. If looks play a part in its success, the GS44P is off to a flyer. Maximum beam is carried well aft at deck level, but is narrow at the waterline, which reduces drag and suits a single rudder configuration. After the sea trials pictured, in which Polli took turns on the helm with multiple world…

Seychelles re-opened its borders to foreign yachts on 1 June, 2020. An online form needs to be submitted before arrival. After approval, a yacht needs to be at sea for 21 days. If the crossing is shorter than that, additional days can be spent in the quarantine anchorage near Victoria. Port Victoria on Mahé is the only port of entry/exit. The small nation has had a very low amount of COVID-19 infections and is carefully increasing its tourist numbers again. Information through Facebook and government websites is good. Provisioning is good (although eating out can be expensive); health care is as can be expected from a small country. Availability of boat parts is reasonable, due to large charter and fishing fleets. There are three boatyards where maintenance work can be…

We were running before a deep depression en-route from Ponta Delgada in the Azores to La Coruña. The sea was building behind us and the gale we had was due to become a severe gale soon. We were perfectly comfortable in our 30-ton Clipper 60 Hummingbird but I knew that the whoops of excitement would soon be replaced by weary silence when the weather started to exact its toll on the crew. The massive TSS off Finisterre coincides almost perfectly with the continental shelf and we had just under 100 miles to run before we got there. By my reckoning we’d arrive just as the sea state peaked in 12 hours’ time, and it would be dark. In the current sea state we were already invisible to shipping most of…

The Berthon Sales Group currently has 5 offices spanning 2 continents offering a common service and a commitment to provide the best possible yacht sales service. We recognise that the voyage to excellence is never ending, but our commitment to this goal is total. We are a closely knit team throughout the business and regard ourselves as a yachting family. So wherever in the world you yacht, contact our local office to discuss buying or selling, you are dealing with Team Berthon. You will find the Berthon Sales Group HQ in the UK on the banks of the River Lym at the western end of the Solent, on the beautiful South Coast of the UK. To the west are the iconic Needles and to the east is Cowes, arguably the…

Your Local Broker In Scandinavia The newest office in the Sales Group, the Berthon signs went up in February 2020, and it is found on the enchanting island of Orust, which is at the heart of yachting in Scandinavia. All the Swedish yachting greats have built yachts on this pretty island. Previously XLNT Yachting, this established business has a team that are very experienced with the sales of high quality Scandinavian yachts and they know them intimately. These days many of the sales are international but there is still a strong business in Orust where Berthon Scandinavia is able to offer excellent service and refit, out of the old Najadvarvet Shipyard as well as heated, secure winter storage, and they can also help source berths in the summertime. Local knowledge…