Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2017 i Cruising Helmsman

Every year the director of Multihull Central in Sydney, Brent Vaughan attends half a dozen boat shows, meeting people and selling dreams. He reckons he can distil cruising folk into three common groups: retired couples who have downsized and bought a boat to fund their cruising lifestyle older couples with the dream that, one day, they will buy a boat middle-aged couples who are working hard, paying off mortgages but always talking about their last cruise and their next big adventure on their own boat. Vaughan began to wonder how this third group achieved their dream while others remain stagnant? These people have unlocked the key to owning a boat, combining personal time on board and getting experience with gaining revenue to help pay down finance on the boat. In…

What possessed me to buy my first sailing boat in my late 20’s I sometimes wonder? None of my living relatives had ever owned boats and I had not been exposed to boats at any stage. More to the point, I had never lived near the coast and had settled in a small, inland Victorian town, at least an hour’s drive from any navigable waterway. I had also just become a father for the first time, I had a large garden to manage and I was at the beginning of a career in air traffic control. Nothing to suggest that buying a new Sparrow dinghy would be a good idea. Nevertheless, the temptation was there at the 1974 Melbourne Boat Show and I fell for it. Forty years later, I…

Arguably one of the best known Aussie cruising yachts (at least to old farts like me), the Compass 28 was popular in its day. A development of the Northerner 28 released in 1966, an estimated 400 Compass 28 yachts were launched between 1970 and 1981. Nowadays a late seventies model in good condition can be bought for as little as $15K with a Yanmar 8, excellent value for a yacht that can comfortably sleep four adults and is large enough for safe coastal cruising. This full keel design with moderate overhangs is slow compared to modern designs but in rough offshore conditions the combination of a relatively fine convex entry and soft bilges ensures a forgiving motion and the long keel makes for steady tracking without needing constant helm adjustments.…

Being down below decks on a yacht at anchor on a still night in a safe and calm anchorage, is one of the most peaceful of situations. You may be lying in a cosy bunk and reading a good book or having a glass of wine. But it is not always that quiet. Often you can hear strange popping and cracking sounds coming from the outside of the hull, like the sound of distant gunfire. One old sailor I met while anchored in Island Head Creek said he lost a lot of sleep believing that the clicking was the sound of small crabs gobbling up the putty caulking between the planks of his wooden yacht! But the sharp cracking sounds in the water are actually made by small crustaceans known…

Ocean How often do you get to fly into a cruising destination with a complimentary brandy in one hand and smartphone in other, looking out the window to take images of the island atoll as we bank to land? I was a guest of both the Groupama Race New Caledonia and the countries tourism authority. My mission was to find out just what NC has to offer the possibly-interested cruising yacht. The first day found me sweltering under the humidity. But, given it is on a similar latitude to Brisbane, I adapted overnight and the air temperatures were quite acceptable to a person coming from a Sydney spring. It was especially easy to ease my way into island living as my first meal that night was in the only revolving…

The Windcraft Group’s European yacht brands: Solaris and Brenta, are both set to expand in 2017. The two brands will each open advanced production facilities for its luxury yachts. Both announcements come ahead of modellaunches during 2017 for both companies. Italian brand, Solaris, recently announced its first yard expansion since it started in 1974 producing what it calls its performance cruisers combining elegance with technology and highcraftsmanship. Solaris revealed that they have invested in a yacht hall in order to improve process and production. The new yard will be ready at the end of 2017. Solaris isset to launch two models: Solaris 55 and Solaris 68. The manufacturersays the Solaris 55 has been designed to set a benchmark in the 16 metre category; ideal for buyers looking for high performance…

Don’t wake the whale Hi Phil, With the dramatic increase in whale migration along the East Australian coast in recent years, everyone has a whale encounter story to tell, which are mostly about whales breaching, tail slapping or simply majestic sounding through calm waters. A recent encounter we experienced was somewhat different, which had the adrenaline flowing much quicker than normal and offered no time to capture the moment on film. Motor sailing recently along the Kennedy Sound channel on the western side of Shaw island, Whitsunday, on a balmy and clear blue sky morning, careful note was being taken of our positioning to enter Plantation Bay, Lindeman Island, to avoid the small islands, shoals and rocks that lie along the way. Visibility from the helm of New Silver Gull…

While many potential boat buyers may generally feel all production yachts are beginning to look the same, for the boat builders the opposite is actually true. I was lucky enough to interview Salvatore Serio, Dufour Yachts chief executive officer, during the last Sydney boat show. He highlighted what is fast becoming the new ‘norm’ for global yacht builders, “the market is very dynamic at the moment,” Serio said. “Nowadays manufacturing has to be driven by product delivery.” What this means is that each yacht range must be updated in under three years to not onlytake into account improvements in hull design and interior layout, but also accommodate the changing desires of the target market. Now a global player of note, Dufour has had to allow its designs to accommodate different…

Like many Australians, I thought Mackay was just a mining town that was probably suffering from the end of the boom. And, like many cruisers, I thought the best way to see it was over my left shoulder when heading north to the Whitsundays. However, a trip to this magic region has changed my whole perception. Now I am a passionate advocate for stopping off to reprovision and spend some time exploring the culinary and tourism delights of a very special place. The Mackay Marina is a safe haven in all weather and offers haul-out and repair facilities. There are islands to explore just off the coast and the town and greater Mackay region offer a visitor many days of on-land diversions. More than mining In actual fact, Mackay was…

You have dropped anchor in a snug harbour, protected from the swell behind a headland. Later the wind picks up and the swell starts building outside the anchorage. The wind continues building from the same direction and before you know it the swell starts to wrap around the end of the point coming beam on. It creates a nasty roll that not only can keep you awake but it may cause you to spill your drink. The beam on wave motion may be amplified if you have a keelboat due to the pendulum effect of mast and ballast. I have been told this rolling is not as noticeable on a catamaran, however, having seen first hand the effects on several cats when anchored on the north end of Great Keppel…

“Rebecca quick, I need another flare from the hanging locker!” The jib alone was just barely pulling Brick House southward at a pace slower than a lame lamb, but there was no hurry, we were saving diesel fuel. The south west coast of Vietnam was 100 miles to our east and the coast of Thailand, 125 miles to the west. Here at the southern edge of the Gulf of Thailand, the hundreds of traditional wood fishing boats have thinned to a very few. From several miles away I monitored our approach to a group of three anchored, fishing boats. Depending on the type of fishing they do, some boats anchor during the day and fish at night. With the slight wind out of the north west, I adjusted the Monitor…

Abell Point Marina seeks to take its customer service to another level by launching its e-concierge service in the form of a smartphone app. Available through Google and the Apple store, the E-concierge app provides access to information about the marina, its services and the Whitsundays. The Abell Point Marina app is the brainchild of marina dockhand Matthew Smith. Working as a dockhand and being committed to customer service, Matthew saw a gap in the marina’s services, which he believed could be leveraged with digital technology. “The original inspiration for creating an e-conciergecame after directing many vessels to berths using verbal directions and visual references, which inspired the idea of an interactive map. It became clear that a way to easily locate a berth, access local information and services and…

Hanse has released its 315 e-motion rudder drive, which is certainly a different way to propel yachts. The Hanse 315 e-motion rudder drive was developed in cooperation with its partners Jefa and Torqeedo and has an electric engine, which not only replaces the diesel engine and its components but also the complete saildrive. A four kilowatt electric engine and a folding propeller have been integrated into the rudder shaft with the propellor projecting out of the trailing edge of the rudder. The advantages of this system is improved maneuverability as well as an emission-free and almostsilent propulsion from the electric motor. The integrated engine in the rudder directs the thrust into the respective direction of the rudder. The extended rudder angle of 100 degrees in total allows the Hanse 315…

It may be odd but, potential buyers sitting on a demonstrator yacht at a boat show will look at the rig, the galley, the size of the wheel ... but it is seldom that anyone enquires of the keel. The only question asked of the keel relates to draft. 2017 Keels invoke so little interest some yacht brochures do not even show any image of them at all. We can thank an Australian, Lexcen or Miller, as having brought keels into international public focus with his (and/or Oossanen and Sloof’s) winged keel for Australia II. So, given Australia II’s winged keel brought so much advantage to the yacht, it is strange keels are, again, yesterday’s hero. Traditionally keels many decades ago were full keels and built as part of the…

Any time your mast is down, or someone is at the masthead, take a few photos of what is up there. This can act as a reminder about the details, or can be shown to anyone who will be working at the top of the mast. Make sure you get close ups and detail shots of everything. If, for instance, your anchor light stops working, you will know what brand it is and what bulb it takes. It is also useful to photograph the bolt holding the top end of a two-part main halyard. When the halyard needs replacement, you will know whether to take up a couple of shifters or other gear to remove and replace a split pin. DIDUNO In the days when inter-ship communication was by semaphore,…

Understandably, many first time cruisers heading north along the Queensland coast are concerned about the presence of crocodiles. What surprises many, however, is how far south they can actually occur. While ‘croc country’ is generally recognised as beginning at the Boyne River near Gladstone, crocs may be present wherever there is suitable habitat for them. They have been sighted as far south as the Great Sandy Strait, with an unconfirmed sighting at Tin Can Bay in 2015. A 3.8 metre estuarine crocodile was removed from the Mary River in 2014. A crocodile ‘of concern’ is regularly seen by locals in the Mary River and has been targeted for removal by the authorities. In reality there is potential to encounter an estuarine crocodile anywhere within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park…

On its way: Bavaria launch C57 Ensign Yacht Brokers have announced the Bavaria C57 will be in Australia next June. The emphasis for the design of this large size yacht is to bring superyacht feel to the ordinary sailor. Starting with the hull design of a steep bow and stern, its appearance resembles that of a modern racing yacht. But Bavaria’s designers are looking for something more. Alessandro Ganz and partner Maurizio Cossutti have developed the design of the C57 with a deck layout different from what has come before, providing significantly more living space in the cockpit. While still promising simplified handling when short-handed. In addition, the designers claim, various rigging and sail configurations guarantee sailing fun to suit all requirements. A long waterline length to overall length is…

We have probably all read the claims about why chines are so good. Some claims are true, others have elements of truth and some are just marketing words. There is little doubt that chines can work well on a modern high-performance racing yacht. For a given beam often controlled by a handicap rule, the chine adds stability and hence sail-carrying power. The associated flat under-surface makes planing a lot easier to initiate. However, cruising boats are not restricted by handicap rules and almost all of them are too heavy to plane, as distinct from just surfing down waves momentarily. So why do they appear on cruising boats? Is it just fashion or are there some genuine benefits? Is it the chine itself that generates those benefits, or is it some…