Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i Yachting World

It’s easy to forget how quickly things move on. This issue Tom Cunliffe introduces an extract from an account of a young man who put to sea in a Cal 30, sailing the Pacific in 1976 (see page 57). It spoke to Tom because he sailed away at the same time and recalls the same sense of being out of touch with the world. “Nobody sailing with all the benefits available in the modern world should forget,” Cunliffe writes, “that, just one lifetime ago, things were very different indeed.” This issue we review no fewer than 24 yachts, with our report from the European Yacht of the Year. There are five categories, which this year does not include a separate multihull award. Monohulls and multihulls are judged side by side…

The crews of 25 Oyster yachts set off from Antigua on 9 January on the first leg of the Oyster World Rally, a 16-month fully supported circumnavigation. The 27,000-mile adventure comprises 25 stops around the world and is the third edition for the British brand. The first leg sails to Panama City, where the fleet will regroup in early February to transit the canal. There are five new yachts competing, including three of Oyster’s latest 565s and one 595. Meanwhile 44 yachts set off from Gran Canaria on the first ever ARC January. The new rally is designed to give owners the option of a post-Christmas start and a later crossing. Like the November ARC, it finishes in St Lucia, though there is no racing division. The January ARC was…

The Ocean Cruising Club has announced its prestigious annual cruising award winners. Winner of the top award, the OCC Barton Cup, is American sailor Dustin Reynolds, a double amputee who this year completed a 7.5-year circumnavigation. Reynolds, who lost an arm and a leg following a motorcycle accident in 2008, calls himself ‘The Singlehanded Sailor’. He set off from Hawaii aboard a 35ft Alberg sloop, in 2014, having taught himself to sail after his accident. By the time he reached Thailand, recurrent engine failures were jeopardising the voyage, so he sold the Alberg and bought a Bristol 35.5, boosted by a crowd-funding campaign. His second yacht was equally low-tech, and it wasn’t until Cape Town’s Royal Cape Yacht Club presented him with a self-tailing winch in 2018 that he had…

Wild cruising special Skip Novak leads a mid-Atlantic expedition to help save the Albatross, liveaboard sailors go diving with sharks in Fakarava, plus more cruising adventures with memorable wildlife encounters Aiming for 80 knots The speed sailing record has stood for 10 years – but now teams are racing to be the first to smash the speed barrier, with 70-80 knots in their sights. Mark Chisnell finds out how they’ll achieve such impossible speeds… Supersail design focus The latest sailing superyachts now offer innovative layouts and breathtaking interior styling. We step aboard the YYachts Tripp 90 and Solaris 111 On test: J/45 J-Boat’s new flagship yacht is a super-sleek 45-footer designed to be cruised short-handed or with a family. Rupert Holmes tests their most modern cruiser yet…

‘Tactics are adaptable as the situation changes’ On Tuesday 15 June 2021 our Swan 48 Isbjorn was positioned near 51° North, some 350 miles south-west of Fastnet Rock. She was in deep North Atlantic waters, charging north on the fringes of a strong depression in sustained gale force south-westerlies and heavy seas. “Isbjorn is handling the conditions like a champion!” her skipper wrote to me from the sat comms. During the strongest conditions that the boat had ever experienced under the 59° North flag, I was ashore at my farmhouse in Sweden, nervously watching the progression of the GRIB forecasts overlaid on Isbjorn’s track. ”The seas are impressive and we are taking on some green water when the breaking crests catch up with us. Making great speed under triple-reefed mainsail…

What constitutes a ‘classic’ Sydney Hobart Race? There are almost as many answers as there are sailors who’ve taken up the challenge of this 630-mile ocean racing test over its 77-year history. But few would disagree that to be a true test, somewhere in the mix there needs to be a solid bash into a big southerly blow. Sure enough, it was clear the crews of the 74 starters in the 2021 edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race – including those in the inaugural two-handed division – were not going to be eased gently into the race after their Boxing Day start. The forecast for a building southeasterly on the first night at sea, with winds gusting to 25 knots, didn’t appear to be causing undue concern on…

This year’s performance category shortlist had the full range. From the more conventional style of performance cruiser to the contemporary French interpretation of a lightweight planing cruiser – and even a new brand of sports catamarans for the thrill seekers. The latter is the IC36, an exciting first offering from a Czech firm that’s packed with fresh thinking. The first turbo version of this cruising catamaran (Independence) is built using a carbon fibre crossbeam, bowsprit, boards and rudders, epoxy hulls, plus a custom Pauger mast, which all serve to keep weight below three tonnes. It provided some spirited sailing, particularly when fetching at a measured pace of 10-13.5 knots with the Code 0. The direct feel of tiller steering while seated in the low rotating bucket seats was a highlight.…

Mike Jacker is a retired orthopaedic surgeon living in Illinois. Among many other activities he still sails his boat, now mainly on Lake Michigan, but he has a long memory. In 1976, shortly after graduating from college, he and two friends set off in a Cal 30 production yacht from New Orleans for a year’s cruise in the South Pacific. The unusual thing about his account of this voyage is that it was not written until 2020, looking back on a different age with all the wisdom of a life fully lived. I sailed away into the blue myself at the same time, and I find his notes on the total lack of backup, no weather forecasting, no GPS and no communication with the outside world, ring absolutely true. Nobody…

Yacht charter companies increasingly own new yachts for only a few years, selling off sooner to ensure they can offer the latest models to customers. Meanwhile some older, heavily used ex-charter yachts are listed for sale at very low prices. Does either option represent a good buy for the private owner? Visit any charter destination around the world and you’ll find yachts that have suffered the punishments of a life for hire. Scratches and bent stanchions are par for the course on something that is used for a week or two, then handed back. But unlike many yachts on the used market, charter boats are used regularly – meaning maintenance is regular. If you’re considering buying an ex-rental boat, understanding the charter business is key. BUSINESS MODELS Stephen and Estelle…

The 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race turned into a nail-biting contest between one of the largest racing yachts on the water, the 100ft Comanche, and a 48ft Oyster Lightwave, built in 1987. The eighth running of the RORC Transatlantic Race saw the race come of age, attracting its strongest ever fleet, with a diverse and highly competitive line up that ranged from MOD70 trimarans to a double-handed team on the 32ft JPK 10.10 Jangada. Thirty teams, with crew from 27 nations, set off from Lanzarote to Grenada, on Saturday, 8 January. First into Port Louis in Grenada was the Italian Multi 70 Maserati, skippered by Giovanni Soldini, which finished on 15 January to take multihull line honours. The modified foil-asssited MOD70 overhauled the more conventionally set up Powerplay, which led for…

Pioneering catamaran designer and Polynesian marine archaeologist James Wharram has died at the age of 93. From a young age Wharram was obsessed with Polynesian culture and sailing, spending hours in the library and wandering museums in search of information on the classic double hulled ships of the Pacific. He was 16 when he bought the book that would remain an inspiration for the rest of his life, Eric de Bisschop’s The Voyage of the Kaimiloa. The book details de Bisschop’s voyage across the Atlantic in a catamaran in 1937, but the crossing had gone unnoticed by the mainstream sailing historians. Many still insisted that Polynesian double-hulls were not capable of long sea voyages. Wharram took this as a challenge and set out to reenact his hero’s adventure and prove…

Two of Britain’s most successful female sailors, Shirley Robertson and Dee Caffari, have teamed up for a 2022 double-handed offshore campaign, building up to the 1,800-mile Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race. Dee Caffari and Shirley Robertson will be racing together on a new Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300, supplied by SeaVentures UK, having competed separately on boats of the same design last season. The pair need little introduction. Caffari has made six circumnavigations, three of them solo, two eastabouts. She skippered a Volvo Ocean Race team and a Global Challenge entry, completed a solo Vendée Globe, and a double-handed Barcelona World Race. Last season she was racing with 22-year-old James Harayda, winning the RORC Double Handed National Championship. Shirley Robertson is one of sailing’s most successful Olympic female athletes, having…

How many Christmas fairy lights made it back into your loft at the start of the year? In the Sheahan household it seems the accepted way to clear up and mark the progression into a new year is to stuff a number of these battery-powered LED daisy chains into the ornate empty gin bottles that have failed to make it to the bottle bank. Some of the lights have even taken up permanent residence around picture frames or banisters. And while I can see the aesthetic appeal there’s no getting away from the fact that, in order to keep up appearances, we are quite heavily dependent on AA batteries. To be a bit greener we’re now using rechargeable ones which I guess is a step in the right direction, but…

■ PREPARATION Set up the boat’s sailplan and gear to easily and efficiently handle all weather conditions while minimising complexity. ■ AVOIDANCE Plan our sailing seasons during stable weather patterns, and plan our specific passage departure dates with a favourable window. ■ MITIGATION Position the boat in the best spot relative to oncoming heavy weather to avoid the worst of it yet leave open options. ■ ENERGY CONSERVATION Switch to alternate heavy weather watch rotations early to keep the crew fresh and a leader (skipper or mate) on deck at all times. ■ CREW SAFETY Employ only tactics that will minimise crew exposure, and employ them early. ■ GEAR CONSERVATION Employ tactics that minimise wear and tear on the boat and its systems.…

When the 2021 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers set off from Gran Canaria on November 21, there was one early sign this would be an unusual crossing: the 143 yachts set off with sails sheeted, upwind. The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has attracted thousands of sailors over its 35-year history, drawn to the appeal of a tradewinds passage to the Caribbean. The rally’s startline runs roughly eastwest just outside the harbour of Las Palmas and in mid-November the prevailing north-easterly trades mean it’s almost guaranteed to be a downwind start. Instead, a light southerly breeze gave a gentle reminder that nothing should be taken for granted in ocean sailing – and the 2021 ARC rally proved this adage once again. Tragically, the crossing saw one fatality and two yachts abandoned at…

Videos for all these yachts are or will be on yachtingworld.com plus our YouTube and Facebook channels It has become abundantly clear that, for all it’s heinously disruptive downsides, Covid has had little effects on smart yacht design and production. In fact, for the 19th year of the European Yacht of the Year awards, we had so many viable options it was a hard enough task shortlisting the top nominees. And, on top of our five overall category winners, we issued another three special mention prizes. European Yacht of the Year is without a doubt the most thorough and impartial awards programme for new production yachts. It involves all 12 jury members trialling each yacht to elect the winners. We collectively sailed over 2,000 miles during eight days of trials,…

What a diverse and interesting collection of new designs for this category – a celebration of French ingenuity. For those planning long term cruising, would you choose a robust aluminium build for higher latitudes sailing, shoal draught to tuck into the shallows (a mix of both?), sustainable living, reliable comfort, or the ability to log sustained high speeds to outrun weather systems? This selection gives you all those choices and more. The new flagship Allures 51.9, for example, is a no-nonsense adventure cruising design built and finished to a high standard. It retains Allures’ niche of using aluminium hulls with glassfibre decks and superstructures which, the yard maintains, gives the optimum combination of least maintenance and less weight higher up. Priorities for this design were a full beam aft cabin and…

Large cruising yachts are enormously appealing, but it’s imperative that they’re easy to tame in deteriorating weather. Yet if this is achieved through making the boat underpowered it will be a disappointment in lighter winds. Striking the balance between the two is therefore a key factor in establishing a successful new model. My first sail on the X56 was in very light airs, with just 3-7 knots of true wind, but even this revealed important insights about how well the boat might handle challenging conditions. With the Code 0 set we made speeds that belie dits near 20 tonne displacement, hovering at around 80% of the true wind speed at an apparent wind angle of 45-50°. We achieved 2.8 knots of speed in just 3.5 knots of true wind, rising…

FOILING BIRDYFISH • BIG YACHT SAIL HANDLING • HEADSAIL TRIM • BUYING EX-CHARTER Wrestricted sailing? ould you take your preschooler cruising? Or are toddlers and yachts a recipe for stress, sleep deprivation and While going on a bluewater adventure with your family is a popular dream, the advantages of having a child that can understand instructions, occupy themselves with a book, and have mastered at least the basics of swimming, keep many families ashore until school age. But cruising, and even liveaboard bluewater sailing, can be done with babies and preschoolers. Four families cruising and living aboard with young children share their tips on how to manage – and enjoy – sailing with very small crew. SOONER RATHER THAN LATER There are many reasons for setting off with under-fives. For…

In a surprising twist, the New York Yacht Club has announced that it intends to take part in the next America’s Cup, represented once again by American Magic. This is something of a U-turn: in June 2021 the New York YC announced that it would return for the 37th America’s Cup, but would be represented by the Stars & Stripes team (a rival American challenge which failed to get off the ground for AC36). Then in October, the club announced that it was ‘pausing our pursuit of the 37th America’s Cup’ and would not compete. New York YC was represented by American Magic in the 36th America’s Cup in New Zealand. Their AC75 Patriot was widely tipped to be among the fastest until a devastating crash landing caused severe damage…

The two yachts that were abandoned in the recent edition of the ARC brought into question issues that need attention but, as is often the case, will not be easily resolved. Let me first say that anyone making judgements on these two incidents is sticking his/her neck out to be chopped off as it can be nothing more than armchair speculation. You’d have had to be there in person and then later be willing to talk about it. Certainly, in the case of the X43 Agecanonix where they had a fatality, the psychological pressure just to ‘get off’ must have been enormous. Understandable and case closed. The case of Charlotte Jane III is not so cut and dried though, and there are not many actual facts forthcoming – due no doubt…

Known as a ‘cut-off’ low, this low had become disconnected from the driving force of the jet stream; the Azores high had migrated north to the UK and the jet stream was even further north. There was a weak ridge of higher pressure across the Canary Islands and towards the Cape Verde Islands. However, this only gave a narrow band of wind close to the African Coast that could be best described as a weak tradewind. The dilemma for yachts was whether to head south and try to keep in the weak tradewinds near the African coast, or make an attempt to pass close to the south of the low in moderate to strong headwinds. Or they could follow a more extreme route to try and pass north of the…

All these shortlisted yachts are worthy of closer scrutiny by anyone in the market for a new mid-range yacht to suit easy cruising, whether as couples, or with friends or family. The ‘space race’ continues to thrive but these designs prove you can have volume without unnecessarily impacting performance or enjoyment on the helm. In the case of the Oceanis 34.1, a key priority for Beneteau when replacing its 35.1 was to ensure better performance in lighter air. The yard managed to save 500kg over the old model, while increasing the sail area. It also employed a lightweight bridle-style jib sheeting system, like Jeanneau, and also now offers a lift keel solution as per the smaller Sun Odyssey range. We sailed the First Line version, which has a square-top mainsail and…

Once again, this category comprises a wonderfully eclectic mix, which bring some fascinating ideas. Take the Revolution 24 for example, a really special looking ‘special yacht’, this aluminium-built David Raison scow design is a veritable Tardis. The test boat is very basic below decks, agricultural even, but the boat has intrigue, innovation and charm. The concept was to keep it simple and light (although it is 2.2 tonnes), so, for example, a spray cork insulation is used for the interior with no liners needed. Built by Afep Marine in La Rochelle it has a vertical lift keel which reduces draught from 1.9m to 1m and it can dry out on its bulb and rudders using legs. Whether you admire the scow shape or not, the volume it buys you below decks…

Offshore wet weather kit Professional sailors spend a great deal of time in foul weather clothing, and with Rubicon 3 expeditions heading out into some of the harshest conditions we need equipment that consistently delivers in the real world. The conditions out on deck of an ocean-going yacht make it a challenging task for equipment manufacturers, writes Bruce Jacobs. Clothing needs to be able to keep wind, rain, and the cold at bay, along with that seeping, wet greyness that seems to get everywhere by the end of a tough night watch. In heavy weather we might also have waves sweeping over the deck and us. We expect all that water to be kept out, yet we also want jackets and salopettes that give us freedom of movement while letting…

The BirdyFish is a dinghy that aims to make foiling accessible to sailors of all levels. François Tregouet took it for a test sail to see if it really does bring foiling within reach Based on an engineering school graduation project, three young Frenchmen have created the BirdyFish, a dinghy that aims to make foiling accessible to everyone. BirdyFish is the story of a sailing startup, something western France does well. Near Nantes, Jean-Baptiste Morin, Pierre Rhimbault and Alban Satgé were not yet 25 years old when they started out to create a new class of boat. Foiling designs fascinated them, from the Mini Transat small yachts to 60ft IMOCAs, but they wanted to make flying on the water easier. Ambitious but realistic, the trio focused on the business and…

Simon ‘Stir’ Fry is a world-class trimmer with wins in a huge range of classes. He shares headsail set-up tips with Andy Rice The challenge of headsail trimming, according to Stir Fry, is understanding at any given moment what the team is aiming to achieve. On a busy race course, those aims are ever-changing. Whether you’re going for VMG speed in open water, footing through some bad chop or sheeting in hard to live in a thin lane, the trimmer needs to be in sync with the helmsman and the mainsheet trimmer for the ‘speed loop’ as well as knowing what the tactician and strategist are thinking as well. One of the big differences, Fry believes, between a fully pro team and typical amateur race crew is the level and…

‘Kuka is the most extreme keelboat I have ever sailed’ MITCH BOOTH NOMINATES KUKA LIGHT “Kuka Light is the most extreme keelboat I have ever sailed,” explains Mitch Booth. “At 42ft and built in an autoclave she is VERY light and stiff. But when you look at the spec she’s special. Around 3,200kg with a beam of 4.6m and draught of 3.5m makes Comanche look very conservative by comparison!” Booth was involved with the design from the outset, recalling that the brief from the owner was to build the fastest 40ft monohull in the world that could take part in the premier ocean and coastal races. It was designed by Schickler/Tagliapietra Yacht Design and drew on Booth and the owner’s own performance multihull backgrounds. The full carbon custom build frequently raced…