Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Yachting World

Najad returns to Orust Traditional cruising yacht manufacturer Najad Yachts of Sweden is returning to its roots in Henån on the island of Orust after the purchase of the maintenance yard Orust Yacht Service AB. It will also offer a full service and maintenance scheme. Najad’s recently announced 450CC Next Generation (left) will be the first model built in Henån. An ‘attack’ by a pod of orcas has caused a cruising yacht to sink, the second this year. The incident marks a further escalation in dangerous interactions between sailing yachts and the cetaceans in the seas around Portugal and Spain. Incidents of orcas damaging yachts have been on the rise since 2020, with 230 interactions being reported in the last two years off the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic coast. It…

Whitbread yachts to race transatlantic The ninth edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race has so far attracted 21 entries for the 3,000-mile race. Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the fleet will set off from Lanzarote on 8 January 2023, bound for Grenada. Among the diverse entry list is the famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI, built for Eric Tabarly’s entry in the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race, and L'Esprit d'Équipe, winner of the 1985/86 Whitbread. One of offshore racing’s most celebrated skippers, Mike Birch, has died aged 90. Legendary Canadian skipper Mike Birch won the first edition of the Route du Rhum in 1978, crossing the finish line on the diminutive 39ft yellow trimaran Olympus Photo just 98 seconds ahead of his nearest rival Michel Malinovsky’s mighty…

The world’s top sailors can be extremely convincing. Talk to the best of the best and in no time at all you find yourself nodding in agreement at explanations of how they handle situations the rest of us simply can’t imagine. Their logic and approach seems completely sound. In their world it is – thanks to thousands of sailing hours under their belts that allow them to consistently and repeatedly raise their game. But step outside their bubble, or try and have a go yourself, and you’re quickly brought down to earth. The instant reminder of being slapped in the face by salt spray travelling at 40 knots while hanging on as the carbon creation beneath you bucks and lurches is precisely what makes talking to these sailors so fascinating.…

They won’t come into a marina very often, but when they do, Pete and Tracey Goss will be doing a lot of talking. They were in Mayflower Marina in Plymouth when I met them, taking on fuel and water, and a steady stream of people stopped as they walked by. All asking, ‘What is this boat? What is she for?’ The name says it all. Oddity. Spelt out in a groovy 1970s font. Turquoise with a bright yellow tender, a big squared off coachroof, a gaff rig and daggerboards. This curious boat absolutely screams ‘Story!’ Pete has time for every passer-by. He answers all their questions and invites one man on board to look around. He listens to descriptions of their own boats and sailing history, but he doesn’t counter…

We’re sailing by the Gulf of Venezuela as we approach the Colombian coastline, a notoriously difficult stretch of water with frequent high winds, big swell and current. This night is no exception. It’s 0100 and Jim and I are both in the cockpit under a ceiling of stars. It’s Jim’s watch, but tonight is all-hands on deck. Polaris is surfing fast down waves which have now built to over 4m. The wind has just reached 40 knots but, mercifully, is coming from behind. Swell breaks into the cockpit once again, soaking us both. We decide to put the tiny sliver of genoa away, and begin sailing under bare poles. Our speed drops from 16 to 7 knots, but it’s still too fast, we don’t want a night-time arrival. Under the…

Where: Solent, UK Test conditions: Force 4 south-westerlies, smooth seas Model tested: standard boat with optional second forestay, reaching sail and upgraded ‘Flagship’ interior trim level For some of us, sailing has always been about the functional and fundamental. We enjoy sailing for sailing’s sake. But today people want so much more from a boat and, in many respects, today’s yachts undoubtedly offer a lot more. What you might loosely call the mainstream European builders of family cruising yachts have been following this path for some time, making each generation of designs bigger and plusher than the last. For Hanse in particular, it has been a rapid evolution from the small, basic and functional to the large and luxurious. This latest Hanse is the first to be designed by Berret-Racoupeau.…

North Helix Furling Gennaker What is it? A genuine multipurpose cruising sail for use both reaching and downwind Who’s it for? Owners of cruising yachts who don’t have space or budget to carry two off-wind sails I’ve long held that it’s best for cruising yachts to have at least two sails for use off the wind, writes Rupert Holmes. A Code 0 is needed for reaching, especially in light airs, while a spinnaker (either symmetric, or a very well cut asymmetric) is needed downwind to work in up to 14-16 knots of true wind. Above this figure, and certainly above 20 knots, poled out headsails are almost as fast and considerably easier to control, especially if a preventer on the main boom is rigged. However, the growing trend towards sails…

This image shows the power of the Juan Kouyoumdjian-designed Rambler 88 battering through strong wind and waves during Les Voiles de St Barth in April 2022. Photographer Bertrand Duquenne recalls that the conditions also put a camera into retirement, but not before it captured this shot, shortlisted for the prestigious Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award 2022 And the winner is… a black and white image could fool you into thinking at first glance these other-worldly sails are from a bygone era of sailing. Look again and you’ll see it’s fleet racing during the Rolex TP52 World Championship at Cascais, Portugal, in June 2022. The photo by Nico Martinez was strikingly different enough to win the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image Award 2022. See the 20 images shortlisted for the prize along…

boot Düsseldorf sustainability focus Boot Düsseldorf, Europe’s largest boat show, has launched a new stage focussing on sustainability and the future of boatbuilding. The Blue Innovation Dock (BID) aims to bring together investors, inventors and policy makers to focus on green technology innovations, changing industry standards and the economic impact of sailing. After a two-year hiatus, boot Düsseldorf returns from 21-29 January 2023. The 37th ARC rally set sail on Sunday 20 November in lively conditions including a 1.5m swell and 18-20 knot north-easterlies, making for a white sail reaching start for the 143-boat fleet. Over 800 crew are taking part in this year’s transatlantic rally, on board a diverse fleet of monohulls, multihulls and one motorboat, with established tradewinds forecast for a classic crossing on the 2,700-mile sail to…

I recently came across Untold: The Race of the Century, the story of the Australian victory in the 1983 America’s Cup, on Netflix. For me this was a must-watch, not just because it was about sailing, but rather it was a film about the boats and the era I could immediately relate to, yachting back in the day on the east coast of America. I never participated in the America’s Cup. In those days American sailors racing at top level international competitions fell into one of three disciplines; America’s Cup, Olympic classes, or the Whitbread Round the World Race – and in 1983 there were only a handful of Americans that had ever done the latter. Today, the professional sailors move seamlessly between all three. They step off a circumnavigation…

A butterfly-shaped pocket of paradise nestled in the Caribbean Sea, Guadeloupe is a land of tropical forests punctuated by waterfalls. It’s a stark contrast to the brittle sunshine of northern France in November, where the Route du Rhum fleet tuck themselves under St Malo’s ancient ramparts before the start, hiding from the Atlantic gales. Arriving in Guadeloupe is the reward for negotiating one of the trickiest of transatlantic crossings. But while it is seductive, this island paradise is also deceptive. After flying in on the north-easterly tradewinds, the skippers must hook around Guadaloupe’s western butterfly wing, looping the island of Basse Terre where its thickly forested cliffs cast a windshadow over the deciding miles of the 3,500-mile race. Ever since Mike Birch and his nimble 39ft trimaran Olympus Photo overhauled…

New multihulls in this year’s ARC include two Bali 5.4s, two Outremer 55s and a 4X, Lagoon 450S and 46, Fountaine Pajot Elba 45, two Nautitech 46 Opens, Neel 51, Marsaudon ORC50 and two Excess 15s run by a Swedish charter company SPECIAL REPORT HELEN FRETTER ON NEW MULTIHULLS IN THE ARC The explosion in multihull sales has been well documented, with many yards reporting lead times of two years or longer as build slots sold out as quickly as they were released. Now, many multihulls that were ordered post-2020 are on the water. In this year’s ARC rally there were 16 new boats that had been launched in this year alone, of which 15 were multihulls. We caught up with some of their owners in Las Palmas to find…

Hull construction is simple, with just four plywood planks each side – one on the bottom, two intermediates, plus vertical hull sides The Ace 30 is a new design intended to bring the scow bow concept, popular among offshore racing machines, to IRC yachts Scow bow designs are still very rare in the UK and mostly elsewhere in northern Europe. The exception is France, especially on the Atlantic coast, where their distinctive spatula-shaped forward sections are an increasingly common sight on Mini 650s, Class 40s and IMOCA 60s. Scow designs are now even pushing into the cruising domain. The Mojito 650, for instance, is a detuned version of the phenomenally successful Maxi 650 that took five of the top nine places in the last Mini Transat, with demand outstripping the…

Jangada wins RORC Yacht of the Year Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada, which was raced double-handed with two co-skippers during the season, Jeremy Waitt and Yachting World regular boat tester and writer Rupert Holmes, has been named RORC Yacht of the Year 2022. Jangada won the RORC Season’s Points Championship in a season that included an overall win under IRC in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race. Finnish solo skipper Tapio Lehtinen was rescued by fellow Golden Globe Race competitor Kirsten Neuschäfer after Lehtinen’s boat sank “in minutes” and he spent over 24 hours adrift in the southern Indian Ocean. Lehtinen and Neuschäfer were both racing in the ‘retro’ single-handed non-stop around the world Golden Globe Race, in 2nd and 3rd place respectively before the incident. On the morning…

Former Discovery Group boss fined over £1m Sean Langdon, ex-director of the Discovery Group, has been ordered to pay £1.12m after losing a court appeal. Andrew and Maria France were awarded over £1m in compensation and costs in 2019 when they sued the Southampton-based boatbuilders over the poor condition of their Discovery 58. Mr Langdon challenged the High Court decision but was unsuccessful, and has been ordered to pay out after Discovery Yacht Sales Ltd and Discovery Yachts Group Ltd went into liquidation. A report into the death of a sailor during the Newport Bermuda Race last year, has reopened the debate of whether wearing a lifejacket is a matter of personal choice. In the conclusion to its report into the death of Colin Golder, who died when he went…

Chasing a dream The granddaddy of round-the-world record chasers, Sails of Change (aka Spindrift) is back for another tilt at the Jules Verne record. Helen Fretter sails on board with Dona Bertarelli to find out why the challenge is so illusive – and addictive Best mates Whether you’re joining another boat for a passage, or want to take additional crew on yours, a first mate or co-skipper role can help things run smoothly. We get expert tips on how to be a great second-in-command Escaping the Doldrums Meteorologist Chris Tibbs on how to navigate a north-south Equator crossing and the calms and squalls of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone Gear of the Year The most innovative and exciting new product launches were celebrated at this year’s DAME Awards at METS –…

The Baltic is one of the best cruising grounds in Europe, with a myriad of options to choose from. But how can you make the most of this diverse sailing area – and, for non-Schengen passport holders, what can be done in 90 days? Between late June and mid August the Scandinavian summer can be seriously warm with temperatures around 25°C-30°C. There’ll be the occasional rainy or (very) windy day, but in general the forecast is very accurate. Sweden, Norway and Finland broadcast good forecasts for the whole Baltic, and we also found the ECMWF model (through the Windy app) very accurate. STABLE WEATHER Prevailing winds are from the west or south-west, fuelled by a train of lows coming from the Atlantic. However, in summer a stable high pressure area…

An astonishing number of new IMOCA 60s are being launched for the next Vendée Globe, with eight splashing last year and more to come, along with an accelerated updating of existing boats. A stark indication of the speed of evolution is that the boat which holds the Vendée Globe course record set in 2018 (ex-Banque Populaire Vlll) is now Pip Hare’s Medallia. Yet so much has changed she reckons it’s currently outclassed in design terms by two dozen others. That will change for Medallia next season, after UK boatbuilder Jason Carrington fits bigger foils and slices off the front 2m of the hull to create more of a scow bow shape. If the latter sounds drastic, bigger budget teams have been more aggressive. Kevin Escoffier’s new PRB, which was originally…

NEO 570c LOA 17.50m 57ft 5in Beam 5.30m 17ft 5in Draught 2.80m-4.20m 9ft 2in-13ft 9in Displacement 11,500kg 25,353lb Price including full carbon build and lift keel is around €2m ex VAT neoyachts.com If you design and build a boat to look this wickedly fast, you better hope it performs. And it seems Shaun Carkeek and Neo Yachts have done everything they can to try to achieve just that by producing an 11.5 tonne 57-footer which has half that weight hanging in the bulb 4m below the surface! Their brief to produce a repeatable cruiser racer with the same speed, power and performance as a TP52, yet with a habitable cruising interior, always ensured this would be a fascinating project. Paolo Semeraro, the head of Neo Yachts and Banks Sails, reports…

WATCH THE VIDEO youtube.com/yachtingworld NEW SERIES In this second of a new series on double-handed sailing techniques, Pip explains the skill of inside gybing a spinnaker Double-handed sailing is gaining in popularity across many disciplines – we now regularly see crews of two managing all sizes of boat, and sailing them with the same efficiency and expectations as full crews. Here I’m sharing how I approach key manoeuvres with a crew of two, how to minimise risk, prepare for success and advance your techniques. Gybing a spinnaker double-handed is tough. The boat is sailing fast, timing is critical and there are high loads involved. In this masterclass we look at a technique for safely inside gybing an asymmetric spinnaker which will work in any breeze on all sizes of boat.…

‘Mike Birch and his boat began the legend of the Route du Rhum’ VITAL STATISTICS TOP SPEED 20 knots LOA 12m/39ft 4in LAUNCHED 1978 BERTHS 2 PRICE $40,000 ADRENALIN FACTOR 90% GUILLAUME VERDIER NOMINATES OLYMPUS PHOTO “The late Mike Birch’s Olympus, designed and built by Walter Greene, sits at the root of all modern multis,” says Verdier. “Mike and his boat began the legend of the Route du Rhum and made offshore racing so popular. With his 12m-long yellow trimaran he beat Michel Malinovsky on his 21m (69ft) monohull Kriter in 1978, by less than two minutes – extraordinary considering they didn’t know each other’s position at the time. “Greene’s design was a cold moulded wooden-epoxy coated boat with small longitudinal stringers. At the time it was a very…