Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i Yachting World

We live in slightly uncertain times. From elections and financial markets, to literal turbulence – those of us on Atlantic shores have had weeks of unsettled and stormy weather. Against this background questions were being asked about the resilience of the yachting industry at the world’s biggest indoor boat show in Düsseldorf in January. There’s no denying that some big names were missing, and there’s been some tough days for powerboat builders in the past month. But what struck our team who toured the halls of Boot was how the sailing industry has responded with real creativity and diversity. And that can only be a good and interesting thing for our sport. Instead of taking the ‘safe’ option and launching increasingly homogenous boats, the talking points of this year’s show…

In a shock announcement on 23 January, British America’s Cup backer INEOS issued a terse statement that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company had split from team boss and skipper Ben Ainslie and intended to launch a separate challenge. The statement read: ‘INEOS will enter a challenge for the 38th America’s Cup under the team name INEOS Britannia after parting ways with Sir Ben Ainslie. ‘Unfortunately, INEOS Britannia and Sir Ben could not find agreement on terms to move forward following the conclusion of the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona. ‘INEOS Britannia has appointed Dave Endean as CEO, who brings immense experience in sailing and the America’s Cup. INEOS will also continue to leverage the design and technology expertise of the Mercedes F1 Team under the guidance of technical director, James…

Back in December I reminded myself what ‘too close for comfort’ feels like. After 18 days at sea, my crew and I finished an Atlantic crossing and parked up in Rodney Bay, St Lucia, with around 5lt of usable diesel left – barely a couple of hours run time for our 60hp Volvo. You could look at that and consider it an example of exceptional seamanship and precise fuel management – a perfect plan. Barely a drop in the tanks more than needed! Or you may judge it a reckless ‘near-miss’. Just one unexpected variable such as a messy sea state or dirty fuel, and we’d have been stuck, windless and embarrassingly fuel-less, in sight of land. Whether you judge it good or bad; two things hold fast. 1) Cut…

This trio of dayboats, unique and very different from each other, provided an appetising mix. Both the Tofinou and the Sunbeam fit into a modern daysailer bracket, the Bay Cruiser being more a small cruising yacht which is also simple and light to tow. Tofinou, a long term specialist in daysailing, has continued its spirit and neoclassic style of the 9.7 with this 7.9. Now the smallest in its range, it’s very much a pure design with modern lines designed for the pleasure of a few hours warm weather sailing. The standard boat comes engineless. You can choose a 20hp diesel, or ours had a Temo 3kW electric drive with 1.7kW batteries (€13,000 extra). My favourite feature is the iroko tiller with the throttle neatly integrated into its end. The…

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Highly successful professional navigator Simon ‘Si Fi’ Fisher gives Andy Rice his five top tips for race-winning weather routing. Whether you’re preparing for a race or even just a leg of a longer race, there’s always a process for planning your routing, says Si Fi. “I’ll start looking at the forecast and the different weather models about five to six days out from the start. It’s vital to do some wideranging research, taking a look at the overall weather pattern and where the models agree or disagree, but it’s also important not to get to the point of paralysis by analysis.” He uses a range of technology to plan the routing, but advises a KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach. “Most of what I do is based around Expedition and…

On 14 January Charlie Dalin crossed the finish line of the Vendée Globe to become race winner and set a new race record, smashing the previous time by nine days. Dalin’s long-awaited and hard-earned victory in the solo non-stop around-the-world yacht race could scarcely have been more poetic. The skipper of Macif Santé Prévoyance approached Les Sables d’Olonne on a glassy, moonlight night, where he was welcomed by a huge flotilla of spectator boats that accompanied him towards the line as the sun rose. He crossed the line just after dawn broke, sealing his place in history with an emphatic and masterfully executed victory. It was a huge contrast to his finish four years previously, where he crossed the line first, but with a flurry of boats close behind him,…

What Pip did next When Pip Hare’s rig suddenly came crashing down on Medallia, her Vendée Globe was over – but the story wasn’t. Pip tells the story of her incredible self-rescue, sailing some 800 miles under jury rig to Melbourne, and shares what’s next for the only British-based IMOCA ocean racing campaign. Tested: Lagoon 43 Lagoon catamarans are some of the biggest-selling cruising yachts of all time – Rupert Holmes puts their new VPLP-designed 43 to the test to see if it will have the same mass appeal. How to find a bargain boat The brokerage market has been in a state of flux for some years, but there are signs things are settling down. So is now the time to grab a bargain? Will Bruton finds out. Supersail:…

Compact or voluminous? Monohull or multihull? Shoal draught or fixed keel? Coastal or offshore? Daysailing or passage-making? Shorthanded or family? Seeking perfection or tight on budget? Choosing a new yacht is loaded with questions. A large portion of my work focuses on testing new yachts, trying to show as many alternatives and give as many insights or answers to these questions as possible, via our magazine and website reports plus video tours. Now in its 22nd year, the European Yacht of the Year trials continues to be a focal point of our annual testing programme. HOW WE TEST Every shortlisted nominee is tested by all 12 jury members, each an authority on boat testing from leading sailing titles across Europe. We have collectively sailed millions of test miles and take…

If the Moody 48DS could have made it to the trials we’d have had an interesting duel of modern pilot saloon cruisers. As it was, the Heyman 42PPH (‘pocket pilothouse’) shone, a design I have followed for years. Gabriel Heyman poured his vast experience and passion into it, creating a couple’s cruiser (with the largest cockpit you’ll find at this size), teeming with original ideas. Most of these concepts impressed our jury, some still need tweaking. This two-cabin yacht is designed for two to live aboard in supreme comfort by fluently combining monohull and multihull features. In my full report in YW December 2024, I noted how it brings a lot of fresh thinking, including beach-house style inside-outside living, in what Heyman promotes as “a level of comfort offered by…

They call themselves The Lost Buoys, a nautical pun on the ragtag group led in Neverland by Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn’t grow up. The three friends in their 20s decided to quit their jobs, buy a boat and sail from Falmouth to Australia. While other crews in the ARC transatlantic rally arrived in St Lucia in freshly laundered matching crew outfits, Olly Jenkins and his university mates hopped on the dock barechested, tousled and slightly salty, joyously making fast their Moody 37 Good Mood 4 after 25 days at sea. It was a voyage they described as “absolutely epic”, with a tale of breakages and repairs, of learning to problem solve their way across to prove it. With 140 yachts ranging from 35ft to 105ft sailing at different…

Impeccable is a Doug Peterson-designed Three Quarter Tonner that was famed for its part in Australian yachting history, and has been lovingly restored As a trained fine furniture maker and lifelong sailor, Ben Gray’s search criteria for a restoration project to which he could bring his woodworking skills to bear would seem, on the face of it, entirely practical. “I understand the charm of a classic yacht. But there’s something nice about having the people who built the boat still being there to come and say, ‘Here’s what I reckon you should do’.” Delve a little deeper into the story of Gray’s ownership of the Doug Peterson Three Quarter Tonner Impeccable and his restoration philosophy becomes less one of pragmatism and more concerned with the yacht’s legacy and the people…

Sam Goodchild was the first British skipper home in the Vendée, finishing an impressive 9th as a ‘rookie’. He enjoyed a near-perfect start to his first solo round the world race, leading in early stages despite his Vulberable being four years older than most of the front-runners. Once the fleet entered the Southern Ocean his previous generation IMOCA (ex-LinkedOut) was outpaced by some newer foiling designs, but he rounded Cape Horn in a solid top 10 position. Goodchild chipped his way back through the fleet on the return South Atlantic leg, taking smart inshore routes around the Falklands, and by the time he passed Fernando de Noronha was locked in a duel for 4th with hugely experienced French contender Jérémie Beyou on Charal. At its most intense the pair were…

Working their way up the Atlantic towards the finish, the leaders in the Vendée Globe were around 1,600 miles ahead of the previous record-breaking pace set by Armel le Cleac’h in the 2017 race. As I write this, the final stage was yet to play out, but it’s clear this had been an exceptional race with outstanding performances from Charlie Dalin, Yoann Richomme and Sebastien Simon in particular. The section of the race around the bottom of the world had been an extraordinary one with Dalin and Simon taking big gambles as they ran the gauntlet in front of a major weather system in the Indian Ocean (see last issue for an in-depth analysis of their strategy). Sailing the shortest distance around the world means going as far south as…

A trio of the latest key-sized family cruisers from the mainstream production yards was bound to present interesting competition. The Dufour 44 is very similar to its smaller 41ft sister, which launched the year before, but with more space felt throughout. Again it uses Felci’s very voluminous hull shape, particularly in the forward sections. This helps create a vast master cabin which can boast a separate shower and heads, plus the addition of a valuable sail locker. The 44 also provides the option for a utility cabin or home office. The result is a lot of hull to push through the water, but while testing we saw how this narrow waterline, single rudder design comes to life once the breeze reaches the teens where we enjoyed 8.5 knots under gennaker.…

A reduced showing of new multihulls this year, which is perhaps representative of a market that’s been booming for many years, but also one which is slowing its new model releases as it struggles to fill order books. Lagoon continues to build the highest numbers – nearly 1,100 Lagoon 42s have launched since 2016. And while this new Lagoon 43 was slated as a replacement, the 42’s continued popularity sees its production run continue (albeit only the four-cabin model for charter). The new 43 is the same length and width, but otherwise quite different. A chief goal was to offer four equal size cabins for charter guests, and to move the berth in the owner’s cabin version forward away from the dock. The result is that the 43 looks especially…

The only forecast that mattered to most Sydney-siders in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays was the welcome news that a very wet spring was finally giving way to some classic summer beach weather. Sure enough, Boxing Day dawned bright and clear, but it was the wind forecast that held the attention of the crews in the 79th edition of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race because the outlook promised plenty of it! Counter to the typical ‘Southerly Buster’ for which this ocean racing classic is renowned, it was the forecast of strong north-easterly winds at the race start, building to gale force on the first night and intersecting with a westerly gale that would fan east from Bass Strait, which had navigators looking to the history books.…

We’re sailing upwind on a glorious late autumn day in the Balearics, in supreme comfort and with minimal heel, yet maintaining 6.5-7.1 knots of boat speed in only 8 knots of true breeze. The helm has a lovely light, direct feel and I’m able to fine tune sail trim instantly from a comprehensive bank of controls for the electric and hydraulic sail handling systems on the wheel pedestals. Yet this is not a lightweight and pared-down daysailer or weekend. It’s a high-end 32-tonne cruising yacht with spacious accommodation, refined aesthetics and the ability to go anywhere in the world in style. I sailed the Contest 63CS over two days in a fairly wide range of conditions with windspeed ranging from as little as four knots through to gusts in the…

Social media has changed how cruisers meet and communicate, but the latest apps and platforms aim to provide more information than ever before Fleeting acquaintance has always been part of sailing, particularly for bluewater cruisers. A friendship struck up over a rum cocktail or a kids’ playdate in one anchorage might be rekindled weeks or even months later when your paths cross again. But while yachties once exchanged visiting cards to stay in touch, they are now turning to dedicated apps. Two in particular – NoForeignLand (NFL) and SeaPeople – aim to provide a social media platform tailored specifically to sailors. As is the way of the digital world, these services offer far more than their analogue equivalents. As well as managing contacts, they allow you to identify boats near…

‘The last conventional monohull that raced for the America’s Cup’ ROLF VROLIJK NOMINATES ALINGHI SUI-100 “SUI-100, which won the America’s Cup in 2007 [by one second against Emirates Team New Zealand in the seventh race], represents the last conventional monohull that raced for the America’s Cup. For most sailors this was then the start of the foiling generation of racing yachts,” says Rolf Vrolijk. “The AC design teams in 2007 represented the type of development and support for racing teams that is nowadays the standard for classes like the TP52 and the Maxi 72. “I feel very honoured that I was part of the winning Alinghi Team as the principal designer in 2003 and 2007. Winning the America’s Cup is for all involved in sailing the pinnacle you can reach.”…