Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i Yachting World

‘I feel like I’m living in a dream! This result is beyond my expectations’ After what was not only the closest, but also the most complex finish in the Vendée Globe’s 32-year history, Yannick Bestaven won the 2020/21 edition. Bestaven on Maître CoQ IV was 3rd across the finish line early on Thursday 28 January, but earned the win thanks to a time compensation of 10 hours and 15 minutes, which he was awarded for his role in the search and rescue of fellow competitor Kevin Escoffier back in November. On a tense final night after 80 days of racing, the first boat home was Charlie Dalin on Apivia, who finished at 1935 on the evening of the 27th, completing the course in 80d 06h 15min. At that point, Dalin…

While the Fastnet Race may not be stopping in Plymouth this summer, the Royal Western Yacht Club (RWYC) is fast re-establishing itself as a host for offshore, particularly shorthanded, racing. The RWYC has confirmed that the 2021 edition of the Original Single-handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR), combined with the Two-handed Transatlantic Race (TWOSTAR), is scheduled to go ahead on 9 May. This will be the 60th edition of the famous solo transatlantic race, which was founded by Blondie Hasler (see www.rwyc.org). A large number of entries are predicted, with many hoping to use the OSTAR as training for the Global Solo Challenge, a solo non-stop round the world event which starts in 2023. “The OSTAR has been a breeding ground for some of the world’s best known and most successful sailors…

Nautor’s Swan has made its first foray into the powerboat sector by unveiling this sleek 43ft design, the first of its new Swan Shadow line. The Finnish yard says customer demand from its growing fleet of maxi yacht owners has driven the need for such a chase boat. The twin-stepped V-hull shape is capable of speeds of over 50 knots. The aft platform, which lowers abaft the outboard engines, helps create a full walkaround deck. The Shadow is a convertible design which can shift from sportsboat to limousine tender.…

Since arriving in New Zealand and taking up my position in the America’s Cup television compound I’ve spent hundreds of hours looking at the extraordinary AC75s under way. And from my desk in the gallery (where the host broadcaster feed for the live action is produced) I’ve been lucky enough to watch each boat and its team throughout the racing. From trimming techniques to manoeuvres, we’ve looked at this new style of sailing in forensic detail and it’s been fascinating. But then I saw them at a distance and was blown away. For the hundreds of people sunbathing, swimming and picnicking on the beach at Mission Bay, a few kilometres east of Auckland and on one of my favourite coastal roads in the world, there was little out of the…

7-8 June: Coastal passage from Dutch Harbour, Amaknak Island, towards Dora Harbour, Unimak Island, Aleutians The course along the Alaskan Peninsula took us east under the Akutan Volcano. This volcano had given us grief in 2011 and it did so again. Most of these very big Alaskan volcanoes create their own local weather. The wind accelerates down the slopes, reverting to a gentle 6 knots 10 minutes later, then 35 knots again, coming forward, then shifting aft. And that is what happened as Tom worked hard on his watch 2200-0100. In my bunk I could hear Tom taking out a slab and then having to put it back in, twice. I came on watch again at 0100, there was still a pale glow of light in the sky. The water…

“Quick, close the hatches!” my partner Wietze calls down while we prepare an early Monday breakfast. All is ready to leave Seychelles, we’ve mustered our courage to tackle the difficult passage south, but now there is thunder, lightning, and pouring rain. None of this was forecast. We need to fill our diesel tanks but with the rain gushing over the deck there is no way we can open the filler caps. So we wait some more. Only in late afternoon does it finally stop pouring; too late to go to the fuel dock. “Okay, we leave tomorrow,” Wietze says with barely concealed frustration. Fortunately the next day dawns bright and sunny, so we say our goodbyes again and are at the fuel dock by 0730. A few hundred litres later…

Which are the most interesting, innovative, practical, well built and best value for money new yachts on the market? These are typical questions and the reason we can answer them confidently is that, as well as conducting our own independent tests, Yachting World also sits on the 12-strong jury panel for the European Yacht of the Year awards. The European Yacht of the Year is without a doubt the most thorough and impartial awards programme for new production yachts. It involves shortlisting the best annual prospects into categories before testing them all to elect the winners. Designers are always finding ways to incorporate more volume, natural light, and, in many cases, performance into today’s yachts. Another current trend is for expedition-style cruising yachts, reflected in our Bluewater category. During these…

LOA 18.30m 60ft 0in • Approx displacement 7 tonnes • Price POA • www.mills-design.com Given the history of the America’s cup, which has provided the sailing world with the benefit of equipment ranging from winches to aluminium masts, it’s no surprise that technology from the current edition of the Cup would filter down to other parts of the sport. Even so, given the extremely radical concept of the AC75s, few of us would have predicted the development of an offshore yacht relying on the same foiling technology before the finish of the current Cup cycle. Roberto Lacorte is no ordinary owner. Vicepresident of the International Maxi Association, he is the founder of the popular 151 Miglia race, and a hugely successful owner-driver with a string of high-profile victories to his…

The safety and wellbeing of both crew and vessel are the primary responsibility of any skipper. Without exception every crew leader will attest to this and yet it is nearly impossible to find a single MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Branch) report that doesn’t attribute a safety failure to some degree of human error and breakdown in communication, sometimes with catastrophic results. So, what are we in the sailing world doing wrong? To answer this question it pays to look at the aviation industry, which has acknowledged and addressed the impact of ‘human factors’ for almost 40 years. With a single passenger aircraft carrying up to 800 people, eliminating error is absolutely critical in flight. In 1981 United Airlines introduced Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, to try and improve safety by…

‘The Tornado was extremely male dominated’ CAROLIJN BROUWER NOMINATES THE TORNADO “The Tornado multihull is a really cool boat. It was my introduction to high performance sailing and it had a big influence on me in many ways. Once you get a taste for it, there is no way back. Sailing the Tornado opened up different doors for me in my sailing career,” says Carolijn Brouwer. The Tornado was for many years the fastest Olympic class. “Sailing the Tornado is where I got the feel for apparent wind sailing. It’s a pretty big cat in the small boat sailing world with its 20ft length and 10ft width creating decent loads and righting moment. Also, the Tornado was the only Open discipline at the Olympic Games but it was extremely male…

Rivals rally to rebuild Patriot Just nine days after near-sinking on the Hauraki Gulf, the American Magic AC75 Patriot was back on the water test-sailing its hastily repaired systems. A replacement hull panel was fabricated by ETNZ’s build team and, on relaunch, Patriot sported a ‘sticking plaster’ on her hull thanking the British, Italian and New Zealand teams for their help with the boat’s recovery and repair. Vendée closer, but slower When Charlie Dalin crossed the finish line on 27 January it was eight years to the day since his mentor, François Gabart, won in 2013. Dalin’s time was two days slower than Gabart, and six more than Armel Le Cleac’h in 2017. Light conditions in the South Atlantic saw the new foilers fail to set records, and the whole…

This summer’s biggest sailing event looks set to be the Rolex Fastnet Race after a record 500 places were claimed within an hour of online registration opening in January. Eddie Warden Owen, outgoing CEO of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) said: “It seems that everyone is looking forward positively to a future of sailing without COVID-19 hanging over their heads as once again we have a ‘sell-out’ Rolex Fastnet Race. More than 400 boats registered in less than an hour and when you add to this the non-IRC fleets like the IMOCA and Class 40, plus the usual mixture of multihulls, it makes the tally around 500 boats. It’s very exciting for our sport.” The race, which will begin from Cowes on 8 August, will for the first time…

Despite most sailing areas and destinations being closed to yachtsmen last year, some remarkable cruises were completed, as recognised in the Ocean Cruising Club’s annual awards. The foremost award, the Barton Cup, was given to Bert terHart from British Columbia, who made a non-stop, unsponsored, solo circumnavigation via the five Capes entirely without the use of GPS or other electronic aids to navigation on board his Seaburban, an OCY 45 based on the Reliance 44 hull. terHart left Victoria, BC, in October 2019 and was at sea for seven months, following a route south to Cape Horn, then eastwards round Cape Agulhas, Cape Leeuwin, South East Cape in Tasmania, South Cape New Zealand and homewards across the Pacific. The OCC commended his navigational skill and seamanship, which ‘set a magnificent…

I am a lousy sports fan. If I can’t actually do it, I’m ambivalent. However, I do tune in to the FIFA World Cup and Rugby World Cup finals and, as a Yank, the Super Bowl, for no other reason than to arm myself for the Monday morning conversations downstream. Best not to be totally ignorant of any important world event, whether it be famine, war, an election or sport. Same goes for yacht racing. The amount of sailing news on various forums is overwhelming and I’m wondering how people can take this all in and still function with a job and family to support. I will watch the actual America’s Cup, though to follow the whole story from the end of the last one is too time consuming. And…

Since 1981, when we bought our wooden, varnished, 39ft Sparkman & Stephens sloop Sunstone, my husband Tom and I have sailed some 200,000 miles. Our world cruise, with some racing thrown in, began when we finished full-time employment and departed England in September 1997. Over the years I kept a journal recording life on board, describing the places we visited, the weather and the state of the ocean, and my reflections on our lives permanently on board Sunstone. The following are extracts from these diaries, with some bluewater cruising insights I gained along the way.…

22 October On passage from South Africa towards Fremantle, Western Australia This afternoon, 12 days into the passage, gave a memorable period of sailing. Over smooth seas, with a north-north-west wind of 10 knots, on a 70° reach, we were sailing fast making 6.5 knots over the ground. As the sun went down in a clear sky, I had a visit from two royal and two wandering albatross, among the shearwaters, prions and yellow-billed albatross. The magnetic variation has been as high as 40°, which makes compass direction a little odd. Going east means steering 130°. After water temperatures of around 18°C, the ocean temperature plunged on Tuesday morning down to 9°C. It felt much the same for the night time air too; we were maxed out with nine layers…

Having to make a non-stop crossing of the Mozambique Channel was not the only impact COVID had on Janneke and Wietze’s around the world voyage, they also spent 11 weeks during the peak of the pandemic on anchor in the Maldives. We asked them, and other cruising couples, for advice on how to prepare for cruising in an ever-changing world: 1. DATA “The most useful thing we did was to buy a lot of data in Maldives,” recalls Janneke. “It was 40°C every day, with high humidity. We were not allowed on shore. Having lots of internet keeps your mind occupied: you can research possible options, devise plans A, B, C…” They also used it for WhatsApp groups in anchorages, so cruisers could share information quickly. Joshua Shankle, who spent…

Mike Horn is not a man you forget easily, yet if you were to name the world’s most famous sailors, it’s unlikely Horn’s name would top the bill. For a man who has, by his own count, sailed 27 times around the planet, this seems something of an oversight. The ultimate South African tough guy, Horn has a commanding manner and physical presence. This, partially, is what has made him a household name in France, where he presents a reality television show called The Island (similar to the English show with Bear Grylls). But Horn is far from being a ‘celebrity’ explorer. He has spent a lifetime achieving near-impossible journeys in the wilderness and campaigning against climate change. He has made global headlines over 25 years of adventures, many of…

LOA 12.19m 40ft 0in • Beam 4.42m 13ft 6in • Draught 3.00m 9ft 10in • Light displacement 4,500kg 9,920lb • Downwind sail area 268m2 2,880ft2 • Price ex VAT (and ex sails) €410,000 • www.pogostructures.com The Pogo team and Guillaume Verdier have worked their magic on this fourth generation Class 40. The scow bow combined with a very shallow forefoot has much in common with Armel Tripon’s Sam Manuard-designed IMOCA 60 L’Occitane en Provence. This shape minimises wetted surface area in light airs, but form stability and effective waterline length build very quickly as heel increases. It’s also good to see the need to shelter on deck taken seriously. There’s excellent protection at the front of the cockpit, with provision to see forward and to each side. The only downside…

A new model for marine electronics? A possible taste of the future, with the potential to fundamentally change our long-term relationship with marine electronics, is offered by Finnish company Next Four. Historically we’ve been accustomed to new yachts being fitted with equipment from one of the big marine electronics brands – Raymarine, Navico (including B&G), Garmin and so on. However, Next Four’s Q Experience range is intended to form a single integrated system that can be customised by boatbuilders to offer exactly what they believe will best suit each of their models. This customisation can include specific screen layouts and datasets, as well as the boat manufacturer’s own branding. In this respect the concept has more in common with cars than marine. Other than very high-end systems, such as the…

Reversing the odds over the space of four weeks, where the worst performing America’s Cup Challenger team became the best and vice versa, was on nobody’s radar here in Auckland before January, writes Matthew Sheahan. It isn’t just the pundits that have been surprised by the complete turnaround in fortunes in the Challengers’ camp, the teams have been shocked too. Among them was American Magic, who had never expected to be so comprehensively thrashed in the opening two Round Robins. After the first two weekends of the Prada Cup they had nearly lost their entire campaign after ripping a hole in the bottom of their boat in a dramatic capsize, and having to perform a major rebuild simply to stay in the game. The only team to have beaten the…

Realising a dream The 2020/21 Vendée Globe was another epic edition of the legendary solo race, with the final result going right to the wire. For Pip Hare, it has been the realisation of a lifetime dream. She shares her story Unlikely hero One of the standout performances from this year’s Vendée has been that of the doyen of French offshore racing, Jean Le Cam. We find out what drives him Supersail design special These are interesting times, and the superyacht world is no exception. We have a 32-page spectacular examining the latest new designs and concepts from some of the most creative brains in the business Back to basics With his ocean-going yachts locked down in North America, and a newborn son at home in Sweden, Andy Schell decided…

‘There is nothing serene about being becalmed on an ocean’ On their first night at sea, a ‘dark shadow’ passed 100m away from Christian and Manuela Lücking’s boat. It was unlit and not moving. Unnerved, Christian Lücking called the Coastguard. Two hours later, the Coastguard called back asking them to return and check the vessel. They found a wooden fishing boat, around 10m long, with a 40hp Yamaha outboard on the back. It was deserted and empty apart from a solitary lifejacket hooked on the bow. The Coastguard concluded that it had been packed with migrants fleeing through Mauritania, and abandoned after they swam ashore to one of the Canary Islands. Shaken, the Lückings resumed their course, let draw and returned to the route being taken by the 84 crews…

4-5 April: On passage from Isla Bayoneta, Las Perlas, Panama towards Academy Bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos Both my night watches 1800-2200 and 0100-0400 were just beautiful experiences. Watching a deflated red balloon sink below the horizon, I felt at total peace with the world. The sky turned pale pink and then a deepening orange, with a translucent blue: a blue so serene and calming, bright but pale, the end and the beginning. Then the heavens lit up; the stars were magnificent with no interference from external light. I felt part of the velvet blanket spotted with sequins, a disorganised patchwork stretching for light years. Later the orange moon made its first appearance, peering from behind a small bank of cloud. When the moon rose, the sequins fell away, as the…

MEMORY BANK When cruising and voyaging it’s hard to find the time to write regularly in a journal, to take photos, and keep a detailed ship’s log book. It’s hard either because you’re having such a great time, or such an awful one, but it is worth it, especially when it is most difficult. The records are not a substitute for memory, but a trigger for your later memories and reflections. It’s important too to record your full experience, from the mundane and problematic to the amazing and special. THE IDEAL YACHT? Sunstone does not look like the ideal cruiser: too little protection, engine too small, too little sail area, too heavy – and all that varnish! On the plus side, she is set up for two people, and the…

With so much uncertainty, should cruisers still set off? There is a moral quandary here. “We advise people to wait another year,” says Janneke. “The countries that are popular with cruisers are usually the poorer countries that will be the last to receive vaccines. You’ll be heading to countries with weak and overburdened health care systems that are still a big infection risk. In 2022 a lot of that may be much more under control and will pose less risk.” Some regions remain effectively out of bounds; most of the South Pacific is either closed to new arrivals, or full, or both. Even yachts which have managed to gain entry into Australia or New Zealand have been faced with breathtaking mandatory quarantine and marina charges. You may be better modifying…

LOA 12.20m 40ft 0in • Beam 4.10m 13ft 6in • Draught 3.00m 9ft 10in • Sail area 120m2 1,290ft2 •Displacement 4,500kg 9,921lb • Price POA • www.wilson-marquinez.com History tells us that unfamiliar Argentine names in yacht design are not to be underestimated. The country has produced many of the world’s most successful naval architects, including Javier Soto Acebal, Juan Kouyoumdjian and three generations of the Frèrs family. Less well known, at least to date, are Laureano Marquinez and Nahuel Wilson. They set up their own practice five years ago after working on world-class projects for both Acebal and Juan K. Significantly, the pair are also responsible for the Persico 69F foiling monohull. Many of the lessons gained from refining that design have gone into this full-foiling 40ft offshore racer. It’s…

Boats have been built of wood since Noah first put axe to tree. For devotees of the classic style, Spirit Yachts have been building head-turningly pretty yachts with laminated wooden hulls since 1993, including the largest single-masted wooden yacht built in the UK since the 1930s, the jaw-dropping new Spirit 111. But last year the Ipswich-based yard also launched Avvento, a smaller sister to its 47 and 55 Cruising Range yachts. The Spirit 44 Cruising Range Electric (44e for short) hides technology advances that offer a glimpse into a future of sustainable boatbuilding. Unrecyclable fibreglass and sails, toxic antifoul, and fossil-fuel propulsion have been replaced by sustainably sourced timber, self-sufficient electric propulsion and zero carbon emissions. The owner is Vincent Argiro, a retired tech entrepreneur who lives and sails in…

Champion sailor and Volvo Ocean Race winner CAROLIJN BROUWER talks to ANDY RICE about expert skills for fast downwind helming. As a proven talent, Carolijn Brouwer was an obvious pick for the all-female crew on Amer Sports Too for the 2001/02 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo 60 was a responsive planing boat that rewarded good instincts at the helm. Brouwer found the Southern Ocean a challenging but fun learning ground for how to handle the wheel of a powerful 60-footer. She went on to crew in two more round the world races with Team SCA and the winning Dongfeng Race Team. “I think I’d only ever been a couple of nights at sea when I went off to do my [first] Southern Ocean leg. I was trimming…