Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i Yachting World

A few months ago we ran an article on ‘how to work from your yacht’. It sparked quite a conversation. Whilst the feature focussed on the logistics - how to juggle the competing demands of boat maintenance and a job, how to set up with reliable data - it raised a wider debate. Should you work from your yacht? Is it feasible to combine cruising with ‘everyday’ life, or should sailing be about disconnecting? Patrick and Sheila Dixon are firm believers that it is possible to ‘have it all’. To cruise, but to continue to build a serious career. To liveaboard, but maintain a family home. And to spend time away, but regularly see family and friends. Their feature on ‘hybrid cruising’ makes for fascinating reading (see page 34). It…

The Medal Race should have been straightforward for Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre. Having sailed a really solid qualifying series, the British duo carried a 14-point advantage ahead of their closest rivals, the French. The French team of Lecointre and Retornaz could only beat them if they won and the Brits were a long way back. Meanwhile Poland needed to finish just one position ahead of the French to steal silver. Down the final run before the last turning mark to the finish, GBR was in 2nd with the French behind them. All seemed to be going to plan. But it was tight at the mark and the Brits took a wide berth, not wanting to do anything that could put the gold at risk. By being so conservative the…

Yachts and other private vessels have been drafted in on several occasions to help evacuate victims of wildfires in southern Europe. This summer has been one of the hottest on record with the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe on the Italian island of Sicily, peaking at an extraordinary 48.8C. With this heatwave came summer wildfires that raged over much of southern Europe. Among the worst affected areas were Greece and neighbouring Turkey. The Greek island of Evia is situated north of Athens in the Aegean and suffered several severe fires that caused many towns and villages to be evacuated by sea. The rescue fleet was organised by the Coastguard and included ferries and local and visiting private yachts. Yachts also came to the rescue in Turkey when the local…

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I am writing from 80° north – in truth 79° 45’. The Pelagic 77 Vinson of Antarctica bit off a lot to chew on with her first real offshore sea trial sailing from the UK direct to Tromsø. We had to enter Norwegian waters in order to deal with a quarantine and then carry on to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. A gamble for sure given a new custom boat straight out of the box. This was our first charter and had been seven months in the negotiation, supporting a German government team of geologists in their long term study of the geophysical structures of that archipelago and taking samples for age analysis – that will be 1.5 tonnes of rocks in the forepeak after 30 days in the field. We are…

‘Life is too short to waste a single day doing things you don’t believe in’ Seven years ago, as a pair of empty-nesters living in London, Sheila and I embarked on an impulsive sailing adventure. I was working at a frenetic pace, flying all over the world advising global corporations on future trends. Meanwhile Sheila was running our company, working as a magistrate, and holding everything else together. We were looking to slow down a bit, and also to develop new skills, reinvent our future and rejuvenate ourselves. But we were worried about damaging the business, neglecting family, wrecking our bank balance and risking a host of other things. Could we make it work by spending a third of each year aboard, as ‘hybrid sailors’? MAKING THE LEAP It was…

A ‘Temporary Import Permit’ must be obtained for your yacht upon entering Mexico. This grants a stay of up to 10 years in Mexico Mexican port authorities ask you to check in and out of each port of call. Ensenada is the first port of call when arriving from the United States The Baja peninsula is 775 miles long We used ‘Charlie’s Charts’ and Navionics for navigation, which proved accurate Strong northerlies prevail in autumn/winter. Wind is light to nonexistent spring/summer ‘Coromuel’ westerlies kick up suddenly in the south-west portion of the peninsula in the evenings when the land cools La Paz has the largest community of liveaboard cruisers. Marina Puerto Escondido, Marina San Carlos, Guaymas, and Puerto Peñasco are popular areas for cruising and safe to leave yachts. Isla…

This issue may seem a bit like the Skorpios show. But then there are few projects that come around in one’s lifetime as bold, as phenomenal as this. It takes enthusiasm, guts, a sizable brains trust, tens of millions of euros and a scant regard for resale value to commission a superyacht-sized raceboat. That opportunity to integrate the very best designers, project managers, suppliers and boatbuilders into a multi-year enterprise of innovation and engineering makes for a pretty unique and exciting endeavour. Of course biggest is not always best. However, without your Bob Oatleys (Wild Oats), Jim Clarks (Comanche), and George Davids (Rambler), our sport would frankly be less interesting. Yes, he could probably have built another technical project, another foiler, another IMOCA, but by going for something so much…

‘It takes 1-1½ minutes to get back to full speed. It’s a little bit like chess on water’ A newcomer who had never flown the spinnaker before has carried off the silverware at Europe’s longest running superyacht regatta. The 43m Royal Huisman sloop Ravenger won both her class and the overall event at the 25th Superyacht Cup Palma, held at the end of June. It is the first time in 15 years that a rookie owner has triumphed, but there was plenty else that was new about this year’s event. It was a year which saw a somewhat reduced field of competitors, with nine boats emerging from lockdown to race. But after losing last year’s regatta to the pandemic, organiser Kate Branagh was determined that racing should return in 2021.…

‘She represents the best parts of our sport’ NIKKI HENDERSON NOMINATES SWALLOW “For my most influential boat, my mind drifted to the story of Swallows and Amazons, which gripped me as a child,” Nikki Henderson recalls. Arthur Ransome’s much-loved tale of children who set out in their dinghy Swallow to colonise an island was published in 1930. It has been adapted for television and film, although Henderson favours the original text which was a childhood inspiration. “Having resisted the lure of watching the film productions, the boat still remains a picture in my mind, so I cannot say much to her appearance, construction or speed apart from that she is small, well proportioned, and playful. “Like people, I believe boats have an aura, or a personality. To me, she is…

After what must rank as one of the strangest Olympics ever to take place, Team GBR has continued its dominance in sailing, with British sailors taking five medals from the 10 fleets. Despite being in doubt almost until the opening ceremony, the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games eventually went ahead smoothly, athletes and coaches widely praising their Japanese hosts’ hospitality and efficiency. There were substantial compromises: no spectators, no family and friends to support, and no chance to explore Japan – competitors and staff were shepherded strictly between event locations and team bases. For stadium athletes used to the vibrant energy of a buoyed up crowd the lack of spectators will have been the most significant change. But for the sailors – more used to competing without observers than with –…

After a year away following the cancellation of the 2020 event, the famous annual multi-class Cowes Week regatta returned for its 195th running in the first week of August 2021. Around 500 boats raced in 30 classes, with organisers adjusting the start procedure to send as many off from the famous Royal Yacht Squadron canons as possible. The newly arrived Cape 31s, a high performance one-design originally conceived by designer Mark Mills for racing in South Africa, delivered some of the most exciting racing, with five different winners across six races. At the top end of IRC, Tony Langley’s TP52 Gladiator raced with many of the INEOS Team UK America’s Cup sailors onboard. Meanwhile at the other end of the scale there was tough competition in the dayboat classes -…

This August marked the 50th anniversary of Sir Chay Blyth setting a record to become the first person to sail non-stop, single-handed, westabout around the world against the prevailing winds and currents. Blyth’s plan to sail the ‘wrong way’ around the world was deemed impossible by Sir Frances Chichester, not long after Chichester’s own triumphant return as the first solo sailor to sail the ‘clipper route’ around the globe, giving the endeavour the epithet of ‘the impossible voyage’. On October 18, 1970 Blyth set off from Southampton in his 59ft ketch British Steel and charted a course west in the footsteps of Magellan. He returned 292 days later to a hero’s welcome. The Times said it was: “The most outstanding passage ever made by one man.” This August Blyth returned…

Navigating by iPad Convenient, affordable, and easy to use, tablets have become the de facto navigation tool for many skippers, but which apps or software are best? We put some of the latest and most popular options to the test on passage On test: Oyster 595 Toby Hodges gets an exclusive offshore test of the much-awaited new model from Oyster, the 595. Is this a new benchmark for luxury cruising 60-footers? When to cross the Atlantic? How to pick your moment to transat – Chris Tibbs explains the meteorology to help time your perfect crossing The Duke’s Dragon Bluebottle was a wedding present to the late HRH Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth. After a top-spec refit, the 73-year-old keelboat was back on winning form in Cowes this year. Rupert…

It takes 600 miles to make a true offshore, or so tradition dictates. The Royal Ocean Racing club was formed in 1925 following the first ever Fastnet race, with the objective: ‘to provide annually one ocean race not less than 600 miles in length’. All of the ‘blue riband’ races – the classic Rolex Sydney Hobart and Rolex Middle Sea Race, the Newport-Bermuda, the newer RORC Caribbean 600, and until this year, the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race – were contested over a course of around 600-630 miles. When the classic offshores were conceived, those races took around a week to complete: Jolie Brise won the inaugural Fastnet Race in 1925 in 6d 14h. As yachts have got larger, and faster, the bulk of the fleet now finishes in three to…

3:45am. I don hat, base layers, foulies, boots, head torch and neck gaiter before stepping up on deck. There I am greeted by a fiery sunrise rising above the fierce vertical cliffs of western Gotland, and a very sleepy Scotsman still wearing a pair of shorts (turns out that, no matter how many years you’ve been sailing, you can still get your gear choice wrong sometimes!). The boat leaned to the lee as we sailed dead downwind through glasslike waters in a new breeze. We were on the rhumb line to the mark off Visby, threading a gap between Karlsöarna and Lilla Karlsö. The previous watch had overtaken three yachts; our suspicions had been proven correct that the surprisingly enormous spinnaker was Spica’s secret weapon. Freshly brewed coffee in hand,…

It’s tricky to gauge speed and scale against anything else when you have to sail a few miles offshore to avoid dredging the English Channel. Nevertheless, I could tell that great stretches of the UK’s coastline, passages that would normally drag by over hours, were ripping past at a velocity that made me question my knowledge of known landmarks. Aboard Skorpios, the imposing new ClubSwan 125, we’re not talking outright silly peak speeds, but more the sheer unrelenting consistency of the high speeds. At 140ft including bowsprit, Skorpios is, by any scale, a beast which, under its substantial sail area, becomes an uncompromising, fiendishly powerful mile-muncher. Standing at the windward helm when powered up feels so high above the water it’s akin to leaning out of a second storey window.…

The new sailing superyachts on display at Monaco Yacht Show from 22-25 September hold particular appeal. They may be dwarfed and outnumbered by the mega motoryachts, but they typify today’s exciting breed of sailing superyacht as they’re all fast designs built from exotic weightsaving materials, with a strong emphasis on performance and enjoyment. Baltic Yachts, Southern Wind and Nautor’s Swan are all renowned for the quality of their composite-built performance cruisers and this show will provide an ideal opportunity to see the latest model from each yard. Burgess will also be showing Ribelle, the much-admired 33m cruiserracer, which launched from Vitters in 2017. In total there will be nearly 60 superyachts exhibited, ranging from 22m to 95m and including 37 new launches. The sailing yachts highlighted here form part of…

Waterproof kit bags Once a novelty, then a go-to item for dinghy sailors, a drybag is now a must have for all sailors and watersports enthusiasts. After all, why would you not keep your kit and valuables waterproof when afloat? We chose a range of bags from 25lt to 50lt as typical options for taking for a day ashore and soon found that these are largely ‘get what you pay for’ items. If you’re just taking some spare layers ashore/to the beach, a cheap dry tube style bag will be fine, albeit not overly durable or practical in use. Also the typical single shoulder strap these have is not comfortable when the bag is laden. It’s arguably a better investment to choose a more robust backpack or duffel-style bag with…

For those who watched the 36th America’s Cup and envied the format but not the complexity or cost, Persico Marine may have a solution. The Italian composite specialist has introduced this new Fly40 one-design concept class. At nearly half the size of the AC75s, this 12m foiler with canting arms is designed for owner-racers and a five person crew. Weighing just 1,600kg it will only need 7 knots of breeze to take flight, and should clock speeds over 30 knots in 15 true. This spin-off class incorporates the R&D Persico and Pure Design & Engineering put into the last Cup, with design by Caponnetto Hueber, a collaborator with Luna Rossa. “In an instant, on the day we saw our AC75s sail for the first time, all our previous accomplishments up to…

The first new IMOCA designed for fully crewed racing, the new Guillaume Verdier design for 11th Hour Racing, has been launched. Whilst many existing IMOCAs have been raced with crew for events including the Ocean Race Europe, or previous editions of the Fastnet, all were built with single-or doublehanded racing as their main focus. This new launch will be raced doublehanded by Charlie Enright and Pascal Bidégorry in this autumn’s Transat Jacques Vabre, but has also been drawn with the 2022 Ocean Race in mind. The brief was to create a boat that could be pushed hard 24/7 by a crew of four or five, and one that will be suited to the stop-start nature of the Ocean Race instead of the nonstop Vendée Globe format. Adaptations include a more…

After more than a year of anguish, frustration and stress, Cowes Week was back. Around 500 boats turned up for this year’s event and while the tally was clearly down on previous years, name me another regatta in the world that has this year drawn more boats across such a broad range of size and types for a week of racing. True to its tradition, the event enjoyed a full range of conditions from flat calm to full-on and called off. At times there was frustration with the race management as the event struggled to deal with the very conditions that make Cowes Week so challenging, especially when two opposing sea breezes cancelled each other out sandwiching the bulk of the fleet in between. Yet, the overriding sentiment was one…

The earth inhales. A treeless desert fevers under a rising sun, breathing the cool air that rests at sea. In the evening the earth exhales, its warm breath accelerates down the mountain sides, returning it to the sea. The Coromuel winds frequent the southern half of the Sea of Cortez in late spring. We prepare for them every evening by setting our anchor tactically, for the gentle exhalations are quick to become 25 knots. Aboard our steel ship, I feel safe, Alekona seemingly uninterrupted by nature’s local phenomenons. Inside lies the entirety of my world, our four month old son Otis. While Alekona floats steady, Otis grows. The landscape surrounding us looks Martian and the sea bright green. The Baja coastline has beautiful knuckles in which we can routinely find…

When my toes get cold, I know the wind has piped up. The dorade over the foot of our bed only seems to move air when it’s blowing over 20 knots, and that night it was working overtime. As the wind howled through our rigging, I pulled the blanket back over my feet and struggled to fall back asleep as Agàpe was battered by high winds and driving rain. The next morning, after three days confined to the boat with 35+ knot winds, I finally decided I'd had enough. I would escape for a swim under the pretence of checking our anchor, but as I swam forward, my anxiety for the safety of our boat grew. I could see that even though we had a scope of 7:1 out, all…

Pen Duick VI is the 73ft ketch built for Eric Taberly’s 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race entry. It will compete in the 50th anniversary Ocean Globe Race, in 2023 Few yachts are more iconic, or have done more to inspire others, than the late Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duick series. Pen Duick Vl, a 73-footer built for the 1973/4 Whitbread Round the World Race, is the ultimate boat in the line. Although approaching 50 years old she is far from retirement, despite having already sailed an estimated 300,000 miles. Tabarly’s daughter, Marie, recently announced an entry in the Ocean Globe Race, the re-run of the original Whitbread organised by Don MacIntyre, and also took part in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race. A talented sailor and adventurer in her own right,…

ANDY RICE talks to pro inshore racer TOM BURNHAM on how to run the pit smoothly, and be an effective crew boss Running the pit is more than pulling the right ropes at the right time, according to Tom Burnham. “The pitman is that communication and decision-making link between the front of the boat and the back of the boat. “You’re right in the middle, and you’re also the one that decides the timing of everything going up and down. You’re helping make the decision as to whether you can execute a manoeuvre or not.” This means that a good pitman needs to be thinking like the tactician and strategist, in terms of the big picture on the race course, but also what impact that has on the technical demands…