30dwscwewce

59 G ial Essent

SAILITNTAS REGAummer this s

£4.30 Issue #1697 May 2016 yachtsandyachting.co.uk

OUR GUIDE TO SHORT-HANDED SAILING

EXCLUSIVE

STUNT

Comanche

Alex Thomson How the Brit pulled off his big Hugo Boss stunt

Onboard the 100ft maxi with Ken Read and Stan Honey

TRAVEL

STRATEGY

B&B boats

Sea breeze

The new holiday trend

Get set for summer sailing with Libby Greenhalgh

INTERVIEW

Peter Burling

CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

The world’s best high performance sailor?

05

9 770044 000205

ELEANOR POOLE

J/112E ON TEST

DINGHY PREVIEW

NEW FOOTWEAR

The young sailor of the year talks Toppers

Sailing the latest design from the ‘J’ stable

What’s in store for the small boat season ahead

All the latest developments in sailing shoes and boots

CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

Survival Solutions Compact

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THIS MONTH

C/O ALEX THOMSON RACING / HUGO BOSS

MAY 2016

32

Alex Thomson talks about his latest stunt

OPINION

FEATURE

6 Hot topics from the racing scene News

W

10 100 days until Amercia’s Cup News spotlight

CREDIT DANIEL FORSTER/ROLEX

World Series, Portsmouth

Fisher 13 Bob Oracle accused of pumping in AC34

44

14 Why are there no women entered

tests the latest ‘J’ boat

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

on the making of his latest, impressive stunt, the skywalk

INSIGHT & ANALYSIS

38 COVER STORY: Andy Rice Peter Burling

18 COVER STORY: Ken Read and Stan Comanche warriors

talks to the biggest name in high perfromance sailing at the moment

Honey reveal how the team got the radical 100 footer’s top performance

Short-handed sailing 44 Rupert Holmes reports on the

continuing rise of short-handed sailing

FEATURE

How to win 50 COVER STORY: Part one of

PAULA IRISH

Libby Greenhalgh’s guide to sea breeze and Quadrant Theory

PODIUM TOPPER W classes, is not easy, and in a 190-strong fleet at the 2015 Topper nationals in Weymouth, the Devon teenager took the title with a string of firsts.

Poole has since moved into the RYA youth programme’s Laser 4.7 national squad, and recently qualified in first position overall in the 2016 Laser 4.7 World and European Qualifier Series.

SQUADS Poole started sailing before she could walk, on her grandparents’ gaffer Wender in Dartmouth and Scotland and, at the age of eight, joined Starcross Yacht Club’s Friday night junior club, which her dad Rupert used to help run, starting out in an Optimist and loving the fun and friendships forged by the camaraderie of the sport.

Then after moving into the Topper,

Above Eleanor on her way to making history at the Topper national championship

Poole surprised herself by being selected for the RYA’s Southwest Topper Zone Squad, aged 11, following a windy regional zone championship at Chew Valley Lake SC in 2012: “I turned up in my massive drysuit and not having all the kit and not knowing anyone, and it was quite scary but also really good. Then I got the letter to say I was in the squad.

I was quite shocked. I didn’t really expect it; we’d been talking about how I could go back and try again the next year.”

Over two years in the zone squad, Poole initially found herself at the back of the racing during the winter training weekends but learnt quickly, and jumped from bronze fleet at her first ever national championship in 2013 to gold fleet at the next. Following a move into the national squad, Poole once again found herself racing towards the

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

PETER NEWTON

caught up with Eleanor Poole, the talented young sailor who made the transition from club sailor to national sailing hero

back of the group. When Poole looks back, it is the small successes in the squad training which gave her a chance to realise what it felt like to be near the front, and the motivation to improve.

“I remember the first time I actually did well in one of our little zone squad training races, I was really happy,” she says. “And in the national squad I wasn’t at the front of the training races either, and I remember I did well in one of them. The feeling of winning is what you’re there for to be honest.”

ROLE MODEL In the Topper national squad, it was the first year that Natalie Lloyd was the head coach and Poole says it was great for the girls in particular “to have that role model”.

The girls in the Topper fleet also

benefited from All Girls training delivered by Dave Cockerill who, prior to Lloyd, had been the Topper national coach for 13 years.

“It was very much focused on how to beat the boys,” recalls Poole.

The aim was to raise the girls’ aspirations and encourage them to see beyond the established pecking order: “We talked about how we just expect the boys to beat us, so they did, basically.

Also, the girls tended to race against themselves because obviously there’s the girls’ prizes, so it was good enough for a girl just to come in as first girl, whereas it was talked about a lot that that wasn’t actually our goal, it was to win.”

An emphasis on fitness was also brought into the equation to enable the girls to compete against the greater strength and endurance of the boys.

CONFIDENCE While many young sailors find the start line the most daunting part of the race, Poole relishes the competitiveness of it. And yet this confidence is not something which came naturally to her. It grew with experience. And as with so many other aspects of Poole’s sailing, having confidence, like fitness, was a conscious decision.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

61

24/03/2016 17:08

Buyer’s Guide: Footwear 64 Latest developments in shoes for the sailor news 68 ABoat Whitbread 60, Firefly birthday, an

updated Osprey and a new IRC racer

Kit innovations 70 Th e lastest kit on the market for sailors Travel: B&B boats 72 COVER STORY: The lastest

trend in holidaying on board

Essential summer regattas 76 Our guide to the best racing weeks across the UK

ESSENTIALS Clubs & Classes 88 Th is month’s event round-ups from around the country

Eleanor Poole

Gold Star Awards 92 Inspirational winners announced

Topper nationals talks to Paula Irish about beating the boys

98 Position The replacement

60 The first female to win the

In addition to playing netball, Poole augments her fitness regime with two weekly visits to the gym. She also has a personal trainer. By the time she attended the nationals last year, Poole felt she was as fit as she could have been, a bonus given the generally windy conditions that dominated. “You have to be just that little bit fitter because boys have the natural advantage,” says Poole.

45

24/03/2016 17:06

32 COVER STORY: Alex Thomson

16 Should we envy sailors ‘down under’?

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

test: J/112E 54 Boat COVER STORY: Rupert Holmes

Flying high

Andy Rice

60

reports

for the small boat season ahead

in this year’s Vendee Globe?

YY1697_062_ELEANORPOOLE.indd 60-61

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

RUPERT HOLMES

Dinghy preview 26 We take a look at what’s in store

Andi Robertson

hen Eleanor Poole won the Topper national championship, she became the first girl ever to do so in the 30-year history of the event’s Ian Proctor Trophy.

This impressive result led to 15-yearold Poole earning the Yachting Journalists’ Association Boats.com Young Sailor of the Year Award, an accolade recognising endeavour and achievement

by Britain’s upcoming young sailors and previously bestowed on Ellen MacArthur and Ben Ainslie, to name but a few.

As with those before her, Poole’s success is a result not only of talent but also dogged determination and sheer hard work. Keeping up with the boys – and beating them – in one of the country’s largest dinghy

hether you’re a newcomer to racing, or a hardened professional, it seems the short-handed scene in the UK is continuing to attract a growing band of supporters, whether their main intention is inshore/coastal racing or crossing oceans. The scene certainly offers something for everyone, including the Royal Southampton YC’s long-standing 12-race doublehanded series, the Torquay-Kinsale-Treguier Triangle Race and RORC’s prestigious Rolex Fastnet Race and a wide choice of longer-distance challenges.

Similarly in JOG, doublehanded boats have certainly proved themselves capable of winning an impressive slice of the silverware, plus a successful and well supported AZAB – in which 46 doublehanded and 19 solo entries, set out to race the 2,500 miles from Falmouth to Ponta Delgada in the Azores archipelago and back.

Last year’s RORC season saw 87 doublehanded boats finish at least one race. Unlike 2013, the overall winner of last year’s Rolex Fastnet Race may not have come from the 55-strong doublehanded class, but Kevin Rawling’s

EQUIPMENT AND TRAVEL

Although big name events tend to take the lion’s share of publicity, at a grassroots level the enthusiasm for short-handed racing is growing.

YY1697_046_Doublehanded.indd 44-45

but did they break any rules?

ELEANOR POOLE

SHORT-HANDED RACING

FEWER CREW GREATER FUN?

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

3

EDITORIAL Acting Editor Toby Heppell Deputy Editors Sue Pelling, Sam Jefferson Art Editor Claire Wood Senior Sub Editor Henry Giles Clubs & Classes Editor Paula Irish club@yachtsandyachting.co.uk Contributors Bob Fisher, Helen Fretter, Libby Greenhalgh, Louay Habib, Rupert Holmes, Paula Irish, Sarah Norbury, Andi Robertson, Andy Rice 59

al Essenti

SAILING TTAS r REGA summe this

£4.30 Issue #1697 May 2016 yachtsandyachting.co.uk

OUR GUIDE TO SHORT-HANDED SAILING

EXCLUSIVE

STUNT

Comanche

Alex Thomson How the Brit pulled off his big Hugo Boss stunt

Onboard the 100ft maxi with Ken Read and Stan Honey

TRAVEL

STRATEGY

B&B boats

Sea breeze

The new holiday trend

PAUL WYETH

Get set for summer sailing with Libby Greenhalgh

Looking to the future

I

t’s easy to forget how lucky we sailors are in the UK with a thriving racing scene brimming with enthusiastic sailors from all walks of life.

Happily when I find myself needing a reminder of this, each year the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show rolls around and I spend the weekend at Ally Pally surrounded by enthusiastic dinghy sailors. Without fail the Dinghy Show lifts my mood and reminds me what a great sport sailing is. Like many of you I have been attending the show in some form for years and hazily remember being there with my parents as they manned their class stand when I was very young.

Though I may be a fair bit older now, it is always positive to see so many youngsters at the show set to take the sport into the future. On which note, regular readers will know our Editor, Georgie Corlett-Pitt recently went on maternity leave. I am very happy to say Georgie recently gave birth and mother and daughter are doing very well.

Georgie reports baby Corlett-Pitt is remarkably tall – they’re thinking she’ll make a good 470 crew!

By our estimates, 2036 looks like a suitable Olympics for young Corlett-Pitt to aim for, and who knows, maybe by then Peter Burling will have been beaten in the 49er, although by the way he is

going at the moment (27 regattas undefeated) it’s not exactly definite. Flick to page 38 to read Andy Rice finding out about what makes the New Zealand boy-wonder tick. Of course, Burling and his crew Blair Tuke have made the move to short-handed offshore racing by then, in which case they would do well to read Rupert Holmes’ report on page 44 about the rising popularity of the niche sport.

In truth it’s hard to know exactly where the sport will be in 2036 but I would suggest fast keelboats will certainly be clear descendants of the innovative Comanche. Louay Habib reports on page 18 on her pro crew’s efforts to fully get to grips with the 100ft Maxi.

But enough of future ponderings, I see the sun is finally shining, which can only mean it is time to hit the water.

YACHTS YACHTING

INTERVIEW

Peter Burling

CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

The world’s best high performance sailor?

CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

05

9 770044 000205

ELEANOR POOLE

J/112E ON TEST

DINGHY PREVIEW

NEW FOOTWEAR

The young sailor of the year talks Toppers

Sailing the latest design from the ‘J’ stable

What’s in store for the small boat season ahead

All the latest developments in sailing shoes and boots

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Libby Greenhalgh raced as navigator on Team SCA, and has been Meteorological Support for British Sailing

Helen Fretter is based in Cowes and has worked as a sailing journalist for over 13 years, covering the best regattas

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NEWS

The switch to M32 catamarans for the 2016 World Match Racing Tour has done nothing to stop Ian Williams, six-times World Match Racing Tour world champion, and his British-flagged GAC Pindar team, dominate the start of the new race season.

Having rounded off the 2015 season with an overall Tour win for the sixth time, at the Monsoon Cup at the end of the year, Williams and his all-star team dispelled the notion of not

being able to teach old dogs new tricks. With a passion to face challenges of learning a different style of sailing – from sedate keelboats to high performance cats – the team embarked on an intense M32 training campaign, which led to its ultimate success.

Williams told Y&Y that sailing the M32 in the Scandinavian Series last autumn was vital to the process. “The experience was invaluable in terms of understanding what sort of team

I would need to tackle this year’s WMRT, and also where my own skills needed improving. With that knowledge, and the help of GAC Pindar, I was able to put together a strong team which, combined with an effective training programme, got us up to speed relatively quickly.

“My whole career has been about learning new boats quickly, so changing to a different type of boat has not been too difficult.

Having said that, I do not have

IAN ROMAN/WMRT

Rule Britannia: Williams wins so much experience in refining techniques in the same boat over a long period of time so the challenge now will be to continue to innovate and find new ways to get more speed out of the M32s.

“My tips for anybody trying to learn a new area of the sport is to focus on what is important and don’t worry if you make mistakes as that is inevitable – you just have to ensure you learn from them and don’t make them again too many times.”

JAK BENNETT

Instructors to benefit from charity grant

6

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

To help train a new generation of volunteers in instructor roles, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation (ASSF) has pledged to fully subsidise 200 RYA instructor courses over the next two years.

The idea of offering volunteers, who dedicate their time to teach children and young people to sail, came about following feedback received by the ASSF about the cost of instructor training courses and how that cost can act as a barrier.

Tim Anderton – ASSF sailing development manager commented: “The provision of youth training at clubs around the country is at the heart of participation and leads to employment opportunities, significant improvements in health and wellbeing and provides thriving, vibrant club environments for the whole family.”

To apply, email Tim Anderton: grants@andrewsimpsonsailing.org

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

RICHARD LANGDON/BRITISH SAILING TEAM

106

IN NUMBERS

118 days to go

Olympic countdown

Paige Railey (USA), who raced at the Weymouth Olympics in the Laser Radial is thrilled to have been selected to represent her country for the second time.

Following the London Olympics where she finished fourth, Railey (29) stepped immediately back onto the Olympic circuit with one goal in mind – Rio. However, the talented young sailor’s career nearly ended after a serious road bike accident in 2014 left her with potential life-changing injuries including spinal fractures.

Following a remarkable recovery, Paige – Rolex World Sailor of the Year, and US Sailing Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year – made a comeback last year and showed good form at the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship in Oman in November. This was followed by the final selection trials (Sailing World Cup, Miami and Laser Radial Europeans in Las Palmas), where her combined results earned her a ‘ticket Rio’.

Team GB recently added five more Olympians to its already impressive line up including Nick Dempsey (RS:X Men) who is set to become a five-times Olympian, plus Olympic first-timers – Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth (49erFX), and Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves (Nacra 17).

In probably one of the most difficult Olympic team decisions they have ever had to make, the RYA deselected the 470 (Men) duo – Luke Patience and Elliot Willis. This was due to the team being unable to fulfill the training requirements during Willis’s ongoing treatment for bowel cancer.

Patience says he is determined to see through the work he and Willis started out together in the 470 class and therefore hopes to re-qualify with Chris Grube. The other class yet to complete its selection is the 49er (men’s).

Miles per hour recorded off the Needles, Isle of Wight at the height of Storm Katie that swept across the country over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

89

– year anniversary of the Star class Bacardi Cup

120

1,100

Competitors already signed up for the Supernova 2016 National Championship nine months before the July event.

RICHARD LANGDON/BRITISH SAILING TEAM

Young people were given the opportunity to experience sailing last year through funds raised by the UKSA as the official Cowes Week Charity.

8,500 Visitors attended the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace on 5-6 March.

THEY SAID… “Growing up, I never dreamed I’d be a two-time Olympian.”

PAIGE RAILEY shortly after securing a place to Rio during the the Laser Radial European Championship in Las Palmas, which formed the second and final part of the US selection series.

“It’s pretty obvious which way to point a fast boat like an M32 so my job is relatively easy, it’s what the guys do in front of me that really counts.”

IAN WILLIAMS in Fremantle praises his crew following their domination of the first World Match Racing Tour event in M32 catamarans.

“I am fine with both the technical and physical aspects but managing my mind will certainly be a full-on task.”

Nivea-sponsored ANNA-MARIA RENKEN describes herself as a solo novice as she prepares herself and her Class 40 for The Transat.

“The RYA youth programmes are the building blocks for the future and have helped all of us get where we are today.”

GILES SCOTT – three times Finn World Champion – commenting at the presentation of the RYA Regional Youth Champion Awards at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show earlier this month.

“I think Ben would be the first to admit they had crummy starts, he was behind so many times – I believe they were dead last in 4 of 6 races at the first mark.”

North Sails President KEN READ’S blog comment following the Land Rover Bar America’s Cup World Series win in Oman.

“…for me to be in a race 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 12 weeks, is the right kind of race for me.”

ALEX THOMSON reveals his passion for the Vendée Globe in his website’s Road to Vendée Episode II film.

“...our objective was to get round the course in good shape and come back with all our fingers still attached.”

JORGE HEINRITZ helmsman of the J-Class yacht Topaz commenting after the completion of first day of the Saint Barths Bucket regatta.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

7

Ô IN BRIEF The new Fast 40+ class has chosen Cowes Week (6-13 August) as one of its five core events for its first season.

VINCENT CURUTCHET / DPPI

As seen on TV Spirit Yachts is showcasing its 54-foot yacht, Soufrière, which starred in the James Bond film Casino Royale at London On-Water – Prestige London, the London Yacht, Jet and Prestige Car Show (Old Billingsgate, 4-6 May). This beautiful example of a Spirit Yacht will be moored up in St Katharine Docks.

Quality fleet prepares for the Transat

Clubbing Kevin Armstrong from Little Chalfont, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire, scoops the big prize for Wembley Sailing Club in the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show/Suzuki Marine, Safety Boat competition.

Armstrong and fellow members of WSC were delighted to receive the £5,500 safety boat package prize which comprised a Rigiflex Newmatic 360 powered by a Suzuki DF9.9A outboard, plus a road trailer from Extreme Trailers.

PAUL WYETH

VOR heads to the UK

Artistic Young Artists (5-16 years old) from Hampshire are offered the chance to design trophies once again for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth. Closing date for entries is 6 June.

8

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

For the first time in 12 years, the Volvo Ocean Race will visit the UK as one of its stopover destinations for the 2018 event.

The City of Cardiff is the chosen location to mark the finish of the transatlantic leg from Newport, Rhode Island, USA (25 May–10 June, 2018). This is traditionally regarded as one of the toughest legs in the nine-month VOR challenge.

It was on this leg where Dutch ABN Amro Two crewman, Hans Horrevoets, was lost at sea, and where the crew of movistar (Spanish entry) was rescued from its sinking yacht.

Teams will start the 2,900nm leg from Newport, Rhode Island on 20 May and depending on the conditions, should take approximately five days to complete the Atlantic sprint.

Ian Walker (45) who skippered Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing to victory in 2015 to become first-ever British skipper to win the Volvo Ocean Race told Y&Y why he feels a stopover in the UK is so important: “As a kid I used to go and watch the Whitbread start in Southampton. I loved seeing the boats on the dock and there is no doubt it inspired me to do the race. I am sad I never got to sail into the UK during my three Volvo Ocean Races but delighted to see the race will now do so in 2018. I have never sailed in Cardiff but have heard good things from those who have. I am looking forward to being there in 2018, whether I am ashore or afloat!”

GREAT READING This month our sister magazines offer incisive additional reading for sailors. Classic Boat chronicles Wooden Boatworks’ recreation of the ‘lost Fife’ Canadian 8-M, Invader. CB also lists winners in its annual awards and has a design analysis of the Harrison Butler Z4.

Meanwhile Sailing Today features 12 stunning UK harbours, profiles the new Boréal 55, assesses the possible impact on sailors of a Brexit vote and tests the latest in deck shoes.

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Up the Bosphorus To Istanbul in the wake of Jason and the Argonauts HUGH HOWEY

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Behind the scenes at the world’s No.2 boatbuilder

INNER W

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Obituary Ed Dubois, one of the world’s greatest known naval architects, died suddenly on 24 March in his home town of Lymington at the age of 64. Ed leaves his wife Honor and four children.

who already numbers two Transat Jacques Vabre wins and a Vendée Globe victory among his many offshore accolades is, not surprisingly, rated favourite in class.

Other entries include JeanPierre Dick, Loïck Peyron, and Sébastien Josse.

The latest female entry joining Anna-Maria Renken, and Miranda Merron in the Class 40 fleet, is Isabelle Joschke on Generali Mixite.

editions. Fifty-six years on, it is still regarded by leading offshore sailors as one of the world’s toughest solo races, and as such is the perfect warm-up for the 2016 Vendée Globe that starts in November.

The Transat offers fleet racing for Class 40, Multi 50, IMOCA/ Open 60 and Ultimate, and among the 26 plus entries signed up for the Transat so far, is Vincent Riou (IMOCA 60). This French sailing legend

i

Entries to the venerable, fouryearly, solo transatlantic race – the Transat – are still flowing in with less than a month-and-ahalf to the 2 May Plymouth start.

This 3,000nm race across the North Atlantic to New York is steeped in history dating back to the 1960s when it was known as the OSTAR. In those days it was the playground for the likes of Sir Francis Chichester and Eric Tabarly who won the first two

FIND SHELTER

How to identify a calm anchorage in a storm

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NEWS SPOTLIGHT

100 DAYS TO GO The biggest show in sailing arrives in the UK in 100 days as the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series returns to Portsmouth

T

he Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) is the hottest sailing competition in the world right now. The 35th America’s Cup is looming and whoever wins the World Series will start their bid for the America’s Cup ranked in pole position.

Last year over 245,000 spectators turned out for the ACWS, Portsmouth to watch Sir Ben Ainslie and Land Rover BAR take the win after a challenging weekend, which saw everything from spectacular sunshine to storm conditions.

While last year many of the teams had only just launched their foiling AC45 catamarans, this year’s event will be the

10

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

seventh on the circuit and the level of competition looks set to have stepped up.

“This time everyone’s had plenty of time in the boats, so all the boat handling will be closer by the time we get to Portsmouth, and there won’t be big differences between teams. As we’ve seen for most of this year, any team can win any race,” comments Land Rover BAR’s Paul Campbell-James.

“You’ve got a lot of Brits on a lot of the boats. Obviously our boat is full of Brits, Iain Percy on Artemis and Chris Draper on the Japanese boat, so there are plenty of people with a lot of experience in and around Portsmouth.

Anyone can have their day. You’ve only

Above Land Rover BAR on their way to victory at the ACWS, Portsmouth

to look at the scoreboard to see that Team New Zealand lead with Oracle just in front of us. The Japanese and French teams are definitely getting better, and especially on the light wind days you’d back them to win a race.”

CLOSER COMPETITION The racing will also be intensified by some changes to the race schedule.

For 2016 the event will open with an invitation-only day (Thursday 21 July), followed by Friday’s public preview day, with practice racing and match racing competition. The competition kicks off on Saturday 23 July, followed by a double points finale on Sunday

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

MARK LLOYD / LLOYD IMAGES

Hearing the cheers of the crowd. It was just ‘Wow!’, absolutely awesome 24 July. There are plans to run three races per day, making for a fast and furious weekend of competition.

The course has also been moved closer to the shore for even tighter racing.

“Effectively it will be smaller, that will be the biggest change,” explains Teamorigin racing director Rob Andrews. “We were the first event last year, and everyone was slightly unsure of the speeds of the boats in relation to the course length.

As it’s all evolved over the course of the year the courses have got smaller.

“Typically in a southwesterly the leeward gate and finish will be as close as we can get to the shore.”

The daily schedule will see the teams dock out from Southsea seafront, with aerial displays before racing, intense racing scheduled between 1330 and 1500 each day, and then teams docking in before post-racing debriefs and interviews on the big stage in the race village. Aerial acrobatic displays confirmed so far include the Red Bull Matadors on Sunday, 24 July and the popular Red Arrows on Friday, 22 July.

Sailing fans will want to head to the

Race Village, home of a special Kids Zone, Tech Zone and Team Zone with lots of activities for all ages, and the chance to learn more about the America’s Cup and the technology behind it. Event Director Leslie Greenhalgh commented: “We’re really excited about our new Race Village for 2016, which is going to include lots of hands-on activities as well as live commentary and big screen coverage of all the racing.

“The teams are going to be docking in and out close to the spectator area, and we’ll be getting the sailors up on stage to hear their reactions straight after racing. There’s going to be a fantastic atmosphere with supporters cheering on our home team and we want to give them a great send-off before they head to Bermuda in 2017.”

This year tickets start from £25 per person, with 6-15 year olds half price and under-5s free. Last year’s sell-out Premier Grandstand is once again booking fast (just 100 places left as we went to press) while new this year is the Sailors Lounge, an exclusive area with special guest speakers giving special insights into

the competition. Each Sailors Lounge ticket also includes a Grandstand seat.

Last year saw a big flotilla fleet of spectators enjoying the racing from the water. This year there will once again be a fixed Exclusion Zone. Anyone hoping to bring their own vessel should register via watchonwater@teamorigin. com to keep up to date with the latest information. There are hopes that this year will include a mooring zone, so on-water spectators can enjoy the racing with less manoeuvring. There are also a number of Official Charter Partners who will be offering on-water spectator places, see: lvacwsportsmouth. com/pages/watch-on-water Paul Campbell-James says the first Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth was the highlight of his year, and he’s hoping 2016 will surpass it. “My favourite moment of last year was taking a moment just to look towards the shore, and hearing the cheers of the crowd. It was just ‘Wow!’, absolutely awesome.”

For info on tickets go to: lvacwsportsmouth.com/tickets

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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Bob Fisher OPINION

When is a rule not a rule? When it is placed in the America’s Cup Protocol apparently, following Bruce Knecht’s revelations

42 PROPULSION A yacht shall compete only by using the wind and water to increase, maintain or decrease her speed. Her crew may adjust the trim of the wing, sails, rudders, daggerboards and hulls, and perform other acts of seamanship.

There is, it would seem, no express restriction on pumping the wing, as in the restricting paragraph 42.2 in the Racing Rules of Sailing, but the rapid and continuous wing movement cannot be covered by ‘adjust the trim of the wing’ – the language of the Protocol Rule 42 may be less explicit, but pumping can hardly be described as an act of seamanship. No questions were raised at the time simply because no one noticed it going on with all the other activity of the crew, six of whom were dedicated to full on grinding to provide the power for the mainsheet winch. Their flailing arms would detract from the movement of the wing perhaps.

It raises the question of whether the Oracle crew was, or was not, cheating in AC34. Among the US-based International Judges who were asked for their opinion, the three who replied fully all said that Oracle broke the AC Rule 42.

Other judges did not want to comment or felt it would be inappropriate to do so, while several did not know the answer.

Fortunately, for Oracle at least, this

RICARDO PINTTO

I

recently became aware of the rules in the America’s Cup Protocol whereby the challengers are subject to fines if they publicly criticise the Cup organisation. It is US$25,000 for the first offence (small beer), $100,000 for the second (makes you think now) and $250,000 for any subsequent offence (lose your job time). One is only grateful that the fines cannot be levied on the media!

Bruce Knecht, in his excellent new book, The Comeback, has raised the question of the possibility that Oracle cheated by constantly ‘pumping’ the wing. One has to examine this under Rule 42, but also bear in mind that Rule 42 has been altered in the Protocol. It reads, in entirety:

The three judges who replied fully all said that Oracle broke the AC Rule 42 is now a matter of history. It is far too late for a protest to be lodged and no one outside of the Oracle camp was aware of what was happening in the last races in 2013. The whole matter must therefore be officially buried, only to re-emerge as heated discussion whenever Cup aficionados meet.

The Cup, or more correctly AC35, began again in Oman, a country priding itself on its efforts to develop the sport, particularly for the young, yet also a country which, as the ACWS regatta came to a close, announced that it would not hold the World Youth Championships later this year. Oman refuses to observe the World Sailing requirement that all nations would be welcome and treated equally – shades of Malaysia.

In direct contrast to the ultra hi-tech AC45f foiling catamarans of the main event, the local youth show regatta was in Optimists, almost certainly the perfect boat for the beginner to race.

The contrast stimulated thought that was further brought into focus by a visit paid to an America’s Cup skipper of a few years past, John Oakeley, and one to the RYA Dinghy Show, both in company with my boat partner, Barry Dunning.

Three hours with John O set the ball rolling – we reminisced over the changes we had seen, and made, back

Above Competitors at the America’s Cup World Series in Oman, which country recently stood down from hosting the Youth Worlds

One of the biggest names in yachting journalism, Bob Fisher has a passion and depth of knowledge that’s second to none

in the Seventies and compared them to what is being done today and agreed that we were at the ‘Amstrad stage’ of development. Yet it needed the visit to the Dinghy Show to fully open our eyes.

The major improvement has been in the development of the hardware – John O had reminded us that the recirculating ball traveller that he and Ian Proctor had designed, was never patented.

Many are the manufacturers who can be grateful for that, and I am sure that both its originators would be staggered by the small sizes in which they are now produced, and by the variety of purposes to which they are assigned.

The development of hardware has allowed greater control of rigs with greater safety. I can remember trying to fit a system to alter mast rake, but it needed very careful operation, and several of them, before the required altered rake was settled. One had to be certain to take up the slack in the forestay if the shrouds had been released before adjusting the jib halyard. One look at the system in Jon Turner’s Merlin-Rocket, where all the alterations were controlled by a single line, left me in awe of today’s dinghy sailors for their ingenuity.

I was brought back to earth by looking at the boat alongside her – Gently, Merlin number 16. The development of 70 years was extremely evident. So too was it in the latest National 12 – a four plank Dead Cat Bounce design, a far cry from Cloud, number 460, a Currey Sunshine that I raced with Tony James when we were fresh out of school.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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Andi Robertson YACHTS

This year’s Vendée Globe will lack a woman participant but elsewhere the lonely world of short-handed offshore racing welcomes Mary Rook and others for their début

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

C/O ARTEMIS OFFSHORE ACADEMY

T

here will be no women on the start line of this year’s Vendée Globe. This will be the first time since the 1996 race, when Catherine Chabaud finished sixth in 140 days and Isabelle Autissier on PRB had to retire with a broken rudder, that there have been no female competitors in the most demanding solo ocean race there is.

Why? Is this a reflection of the marketability of women racers in straitened times of the global economy or simply a generational gap, the next wave of women soloists not quite at a level to take on the Vendée Globe?

I think the reasons are a mix of the two. You have to pretty much rule out two of the most likely potential contenders in Sam Davies and Dee Caffari. Their commitment to Team SCA and the last Volvo Ocean Race means that a credible, cohesive, competitive Vendée Globe programme was not really possible for either. And for sure neither Sam nor Dee would do the race again unless theirs was a top line, fully competitive campaign.

But in fact there are very few others at a level to be genuinely competitive.

Anna Corbella, the Spanish shorthanded ace has now done two Barcelona World Races doublehanded and a bunch of Mini sailing, but has not yet done much IMOCA 60 solo sailing.

She has spent the last few months getting fit after knee surgery and even she would agree she is not yet at a level to race solo around the world.

There are three women racing in this Spring’s Transat. Miranda Merron has all the experience to do a Vendée Globe but has yet to come forward.

All three – Merron, Franco-German Isabelle Joschke and Germany’s Anna Marie Renken – race in Class 40.

That is the situation with regards to this next Vendée Globe but perhaps the following edition will see more women racing in what the organisers and owners of the race love to call the ‘Everest of the Seas’.

I didn’t think I’d like this because I have always been part of a team; this is all new Much more encouragingly La Solitaire du Figaro has six women set to race in this edition, Alexia Barrier, Sophie Faguet, Cecile Laquette, Justine Mettreax – ex SCA, Claire Pruvot and Briton Mary Rook of the Artemis Offshore Academy.

Rookie Rook (sorry!) was selected at the back-end of last season and has spent her winter training out of Lorient. She is only really the second ex British Sailing Team athlete, after Richard Mason, to move from an Olympic programme to short-handed offshore racing. Having just completed her first solo Figaro race, the Solo Concarneau, she realises there is a bit of a mountain to climb before the start of La Solitaire du Figaro Bompard on 19 June in Deauville, all set for the 510nm passage to Cowes via the west Channel – Portland Bill, Lizard, Wolf Rock. But the Solo Concarneau Trophée Guy Cotten – a tough 342nm non-stop, two-day race along the French Brittany left her with food for thought after finishing 19th. Especially as her compatriot and training partner Will Harris finished top rookie in sixth place. Harris, though, has done much more Figaro sailing over the last five years whilst at university.

“It was really tough. I was good at the start and in the mix, going well through

Above Mary Rook is acknowledged to be on an offshore learning curve but has competitive drive

Few people can match Andi Robertson’s insight into the big boat world, both in the UK and globally

the first day but then made a mistake on the first night, straying too far from the rhumb line, trying to do something clever, and I lost boats,” Rook recalls.

To compound her tactical error she struggled through the rest of the race with her water ballast which refused to remain on the windward side.

“This was my first time racing on my own. I was under-prepared and so there is so much to do before the next warm up race, the Solo Maître Coq in mid April.”

Singlehanded racing is not a natural trajectory for Rook who says she loved being part of teams, doublehanded and crewed sailing – she won the 2011 Match Racing Worlds with Lucy McGregor – and as part of the bigger British Sailing Team.

“Now there is no one else to blame.”

She grins, “I did not think I’d like this because I have always been part of a team and enjoyed sharing decisions and so on, so this is all new.”

The Vendée Globe is a more distant horizon for Rook who has her sights set on the Volvo Ocean Race. But her work ethic and drive is second to none, according to those around her.

In the gym she wants to beat the boys all the time. And the Olympic sailing campaigns mean she is ultra-competitive.

Charles Darbyshire of the Artemis Academy says “Mary is a tough sailor, competitive, and very able to stand up to the guys, she works hard in the gym doing whatever the boys are doing. It remains to be seen if she can be competitive offshore.

She is on a steep learning curve. She’s used to having someone else in her dinghy crew to help with the jobs, and little boats have little problems – managing a 33ft yacht alone at sea is a bigger challenge, and one that can only be overcome by time on the water. Her coaches will tell you she likes to sail fast, but sometimes at the expense of everything else. The full transition to a solo sailor will only be complete once you balance raw speed with the multitude of other factors that allow you to complete a solo race – balancing nutrition, sleep, boat maintenance, media commitments and so on.”

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Andy Rice DINGHIES

As soon as there’s a sniff of needing to wear a wetsuit, most Aussies pack up their boats for the winter. And there’s the difference to the UK scene

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

SPORT THE LIBRARY/JEFF CROW

D

id you know that sailing is a more seasonal sport in Australia than in the UK? Even though, by British standards, it’s roasting hot all year round? As soon as there’s a sniff of needing to wear a wetsuit, most Aussies pack up their boats for the winter. Winter – they don’t even know the meaning of the word!

There’s no doubt the weather in Australia is sensational for sailing, as I was reminded on a recent trip to Perth and Melbourne. But the Aussies – and the rest of the world for that matter – look at the UK sailing scene with great envy. The reason is best summed up by the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show, which I saw Steve Cockerill recently describe as ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’. For we dinghy nerds, I think Steve’s right.

What other country could sustain such a niche show? Not France, not Germany, not Australia, and not even the mighty USA. For grass-roots sailing, there’s nothing to touch the depth or diversity of what we have in Great Britain. Going to Australia was certainly a reminder of what we don’t often have – warm weather – but also a reminder to cherish and be thankful for what we do have: the most vibrant sailing scene in the world.

While in Melbourne – which is famously capable of delivering the extremes of British and Australian weather all in the space of an afternoon – I caught up with some old friends from the Fireball fleet, Heather and Chris Payne. I first met Heather and Chris in the late 80s/early 90s when they were working in the UK for a few years, and when we competed against each other as fellow members of Grafham Water. So this successful couple know the pros and cons of both sailing down under and ‘up over’ as well as anyone.

While they love sailing in Australia, they do miss the big fleets that many of us probably take for granted in the UK. Winner of many major titles in the Fireball and Tasar, Heather and Chris

Heather and Chris think nothing of travelling the eight hours from Melbourne to Adelaide to link with Fireballs think nothing of travelling the eight hours from Melbourne to Adelaide to link up with the Fireballs in South Australia. It’s the only way to guarantee more than 12 boats on the start line.

Of course, if you live in Perth – often described as the most remote city in the world – then you are resigned to the fact that if you want to find good competition you’re going to have to drive a very long way across the wastes of the Nullarbor Plain to find it. The nearest city is Adelaide, a mere 2,686km away or 27 hours of driving, so Google tells me. Or a slightly more challenging 3,922km and 40hrs to Sydney.

So, not much of a chance of learning big fleet skills if you live in Perth, you might think. And you would probably be right. But it hasn’t stopped some major talent from emerging out of Western Australia.

The late Alan Bond can probably take a good deal of credit for that, with his America’s Cup campaigns of the late 70s and early 80s, which ultimately culminated in the winged wonder Australia II’s 1983 victory over Dennis Conner and the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island.

Above The Australians look at the UK sailing scene with envy but there is no doubt that in places like Melbourne, conditions are sensational

Musto Skiff sailor Andy Rice has unparalleled knowledge of the dinghy sailing scene, from grassroots to Olympic level

The following 1987 Cup put Perth – and the nearby port of Fremantle in particular – on the world map, and created a legacy of match racing and a nucleus of competitive sailing which endures to the present day. I competed at the very first 49er Worlds in 1997 on the Swan River, and there were a few excellent local teams. Perth has continued to produce world class skiff sailors, a few of whom were invited to take part at the recent World Match Racing Tour event in Fremantle.

Among those was Steve Thomas, who won the 29er World Championship in 2008 and who has since gone on to be a very good 49er sailor.

This was the first Tour event to take place in M32 catamarans instead of keelboats, which have been the traditional weapon of choice for match racing. The new Tour has billed itself as a #gamechanger, and it certainly looked that way when the young local, Sam Gilmour, beat the reigning World Champion Ian Williams in their opening match. OK, so in the end the Lymington veteran would go on to dominate this event, showing an incredible talent for learning a new high-speed game in a very short time.

Old dogs can learn new tricks after all. But what the Fremantle event also showed is just how good young skiff sailors can be when they’re offered a chance to step into the big league.

We saw this changing of the guard at America’s Cup level just a few years ago, when the Terry Hutchinsons and Ed Bairds made way for the likes of Nathan Outteridge, Pete Burling and Chris Draper. What the example of isolated Western Australia shows us is that, with just a few really committed sailors working and competing together locally, you can put together a squad capable of going out around the globe and producing world-beating performances.

If you’ve got raw pace, provided you can find a bit of space on the start line, it doesn’t matter if you’re racing in a 100-boat fleet for the first time.

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COMANCHE

FEATURE

COMANCHE WARRIORS Since her launch in 2014 the Supermaxi Comanche has taken monohull speed onto a new plane. Skipper Ken Read and navigator Stan Honey explain to LOUAY HABIB

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

TIM WRIGHT

K

en Read is considered one of the most accomplished and celebrated sailors in the world. He has been named United States Rolex Yachtsman of the Year twice and won more than 40 world, North American, and national championships in a variety of classes. In other words, he has seen and done it all. Yet when he speaks of his latest command, Comanche, you can tell that he is still amazed by the 100ft supermaxi: “I’ll never forget the first day of trials,” he recalls with a wry smile: “We were

told to sail the boat downwind with 25º of heel with all the fruit in the air, we just laughed. But guess what, we found 30º of heel was even quicker.”

Speaking to Read and his navigator Stan Honey, it is clear that Comanche has made a big impression on the pair.

In fairness, this a remarkable yacht and the world truly woke up to her potential when she smashed the 24 hour monohull distance record with an astonishing run of 618nm. Read argues that she actually possesses many of the attributes of a multihull. She is simply huge aft, with a maximum beam

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

19

FEATURE

SHANNON FALCONE

RORC / EMMA LOUISE WYN JONES

COMANCHE

of 7.8m earning her the nickname of ‘the aircraft carrier’. Despite this, under way she actually has a very low wetted surface area, and is designed to be sailed heeled over, with keel, foils and rudder designed accordingly. Vincent LauriotPrévost, one of Comanche’s co-designers, states that the design team was handed a brief to build a yacht as light and as powerful as possible. He believes that her powerful hull, maximum draught to enter most marinas, low freeboard height and side water ballast make her the most potent yacht in the 100 footer fleet.

A yacht is nothing without the right skipper, and Read is certainly well qualified to handle this beast. In the past he has been world champion in the J/24

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

Top The whole crew are commited to making the boat go faster each regatta Above Comanche relies on human power rather than electric or hydraulic winches. This not only saves on weight, but keeps the crew on their toes Facing page Comanche has enormous speed potential off the wind in moderate to fresh breezes.

Her maximum recorded speed is 32 knots

and Etchells classes and was helmsman aboard two of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes America’s Cup campaigns, also serving as strategist and coach with America’s Cup entry Young America.

Since completing his third Volvo Ocean Race – as skipper of Puma Ocean Racing Team’s il Mostro – Read has become President of North Sails. He is clearly excited about Comanche and the challenges that lie ahead of her: “The next big one coming up is the Newport - Bermuda Race and one of the ultimate goals of the boat; the Transatlantic Record,” Reid enthuses: “We are going to put the boat as close to the transatlantic configuration as we can for the Bermuda race as practice and for the Transatlantic we are considering lots of drastic steps, like taking out the engine, the propeller, really anything in the boat.

“It sounds kind of crazy but there is a variation of this boat that could do without the constraints of ISAF safety regulations. They are there to protect idiots like ourselves but trimarans sail the fastest time around the world without engines. We could take possibly a tonne out of the boat, which could make the transatlantic record hours better. Do we

want to just break the record or set the time as low as possible for Comanche.”

AN INNOVATIVE CO-OWNER Read Cites Comanche’s co-owner, Jim Clark, as playing a big role in Comanche’s success story. Clark, who shares ownership with his wife, Kristy, is no stranger to pushing boundaries, having made his money through Netscape, a pioneering software company widely credited with creating Javascript.

“He has made a career, and a fair sum of money, from technical innovation and being different,” Read explains: “So when you work with Jim Clark it is the ultimate sailboat racing experience because he lets you push everything.

Combine that with my philosophy, which is every regatta you have to get faster, and you have a fun programme full of smart people who all have a say in the process.

“Jim Clark is a very smart human being but he doesn’t question that process, he let’s the team do their thing.

“In my opinion boats like Comanche are the ultimate development of our sport and lead innovation. As far as development goes, I like to use a baseball saying; we are not swinging for the fence, we are out to hit singles,

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

I am not trying to be cocky but if we get in a gybing duel with a powered winch boat, I say bring it on

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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MARINE INDUSTRY REGATTA 1st June Brings together the the marine industry and entrants so far include Survitec, Chelsea Magazines and British Marine

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BRAINS AND BRAWN “The design team were spot on and their technical innovation has been a ball to be a part of,” Reid enthuses: “Comanche is manually powered and the reason we did that is twofold; firstly, the design team convinced us that weight was this boat’s ultimate enemy and if we were going to have weight it should be people and not extra fuel required for powered winches.

Secondly, through our experience with Rambler 100, you would have a helmsman and main trimmer, sitting next to a button and any crew handling required, you had a bunch of guys with brains that were not into the action.

“Having manual systems keeps everybody on their toes and their head in the game. I maintain that the boat handling on Comanche is as good as it gets. I am not trying to be cocky but if we get in a gybing duel with a powered winch boat, I say bring it on.”

A skipper at the top of his game, a crew on their toes and a turbocharged yacht; the only other thing a successful yacht requires is a top notch navigator.

That role is filled admirably by Stan Honey, an extraordinary man whose yacht racing achievements literally run off the page. He has been part of winning teams in just about every major offshore event, including the Volvo Ocean Race and Jules Verne. Stan is also a major figure in technological innovation in sports television, having co-founded

SHANNON FLACONE

which add up to a home run.

“Many of the Comanche team have sailed hundreds of thousands of miles together in the Volvo Ocean Race and we assumed Comanche would be an extension of a Volvo 70 but when we got involved with Guillaume Verdier and VPLP [The design team behind Comanche], they talked us out of a Volvo 70 type design.

“Each step of the way, during the design process, we trusted them and their judgement, more and more.

“Trust of a design team is hard because, being honest, we have all sailed on lemons, but they were incredibly convincing and smart and rational in their approach and before we knew it, we had a boat that looked completely different from a Volvo 70.”

Read soon found that Comanche sailed radically differently from a Volvo 70 and much more like a multihull.

The discovery during sea trials that she sailed better off the wind if she was heeled over to 30º was one of a number of surprises the yacht had in store.

COMANCHE

TIM WRIGHT

FEATURE

Sportvision in 1998. It was here that he led the development of the yellow ‘first-down’ line technology widely used in the broadcast of American football – the equivalent of goalline technology in this country. He also helped develop the tracking system used in NASCAR, in addition to the system used for the 35th America’s Cup. Honey co-founded Etak Inc that pioneered vehicle navigation systems, which was sold to News Corporation in 1989 and is now part of TomTom. Honey is also an inventor of eight patents in navigation technology and 21 patents in tracking and television special effects.

“It is a great experience to navigate a fast boat,” he explains: “You have to, consider options that in the past were impossible, because you really can pick your weather to a far greater extent than a boat of normal speed.

Above The view from Comanche’s 46m mast!

Top Positioned forward of the mast, the daggerboards are angled top out.

When Comanche is heeled over this generates

RIDERS ON THE STORM “I have had the good fortune of navigating fast multihulls for round the world record attempts. Comanche is fast enough to ride a weather system, an approach we pioneered on Playstation in 2001 when breaking the Transatlantic record. We started in a southerly and carried that storm all the way to England.

“It is tricky, you have to pick a storm that is strong enough to get all the way and slow enough so that you can stay ahead of it. With a monohull that is a challenge, even though Comanche is really fast, she is not as fast as Playstation and picking the right storm to beat the Transatlantic record will be difficult.

“If we experience a cold front near the end of the run, the record could still be on but if we come against a pressure ridge, the record will be toast.

“In a short course race like the RORC Caribbean 600, you have to think well ahead, because the corners come up very quickly. Sail handling is challenging on a boat this big and, as the navigator, you have to work with the afterguard to sort out the issues down the course. The same is true of, say, the Sydney Hobart.

“If you sail into a front or get overtaken by a front, you have to discuss with the crew in advance on what is going to happen. I spent a lot of time on downloading weather to give the crew the best warning I could.

“For example, in the Hobart, as the front approached, the preview puffs are going to back to the east. So, as the front approached, we tried to stay on

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

23

FEATURE

the east side of the front for as long as possible, as we were faster downwind.

But once the front was imminent, it was important to gybe onto starboard because the puffs would then be headers and much easier to handle, so taking the spinnaker down and reefing the main would be much easier.

“The other thing that is critical is that we have an extraordinarily skilled crew.

I have sailed with all of them before but this is the first time I have sailed with them as a concentrated group. I try to do my bit on the handles [pedestal winch] but watching the guys is stunning.

“The reason that this crew is so good is experience and the guys who get this much experience tend to be good guys personally. The really experienced, talented sailors tend to be delightful guys and I don’t think that is random but highly correlated.

“All of these guys have won their America’s Cup or their Volvo, so they are all just happy to be here, the

Selected Honours nnFirst overall handicap class and fleet, Storm Trysail Block Island Race nnFirst overall elapsed, 2015 Rolex Transatlantic Race nnFirst overall elapsed, 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race nnFirst overall (Elapsed Time Class), 2015 Rolex Maxi Worlds nnLine honours, 2015 Sydney-Hobart

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

RORC / EMMA LOUISE WYN JONES

ROLEX / CARLO BORLENGHI

COMANCHE

team develops quickly because we all have each others back, which is just fabulous because you have the support of everybody else. Kenny develops this team philosophy and it is very important.

“There have been some fine adjustments made to the appendages and rake of the mast and especially weight, we are very focused on minimising the weight on board.

These small modest changes have made a substantial difference to the performance of Comanche. I have been very impressed on how Kenny (Read), Rhino (Tim Hacket) and Casey (Smith) focus in on these minute changes.

“Comanche is very similar to a Volvo 70 from the standpoint of being so wet.

In many respects, Comanche is even wetter, as there is a lack of any kind of cowling over the companionway.

“The boat handles magnificently in windy conditions and that is a credit to the designers who have also achieved something unusual; modern racing yachts tend to be triangular in shape to

Top Comanche needs to be sailed with significant heel upwind and downwind Above The team celebrates another line-honours win

gain maximum stability, but this shape tends to be ‘nosey’ and go bow down in the waves and the boat goes ‘bow steering’ when you are heeled over.

“This is the first triangular platform boat that I have sailed on that doesn’t have these problems; when she is going fast, the bow pops up and stays up. This is due to the keel fin angle, the placement of the appendages, the distribution of volume in the boat and the bow crease which increases the chine forward.

“Right from the start, we have had the go ahead to incorporate any navigation systems on board, so we have highly accurate, rock solid systems, which are as light as possible. I have had the ability to try to do things exactly right in terms of the quality of the sensors we use and navigation equipment. With respect to the future, I think we are in quite good shape for now, we have been improving and extending as we go. I have a list of stuff I would like to do before the Newport - Bermuda Race and Transatlantic record attempt but we are very close.

“It is a great boat, a great crew and it has been a fabulous run. We are the first American Maxi to go down to Sydney and take line honours for some time.”

The fact that the last yacht to complete that feat was Larry Ellison’s Sayonara way back in 1998 gives you a fair indication of the sort of yacht you are dealing with here. She may be a Comanche but she was never going to be a high plains drifter. Nevertheless, it takes sailors like Read and Honey to tame this warrior and turn her into a winner.

COMANCHE FACTFILE

LOA: 30.50m Beam: 7.80m Draught: 6.50m Mast height 46.00m Displacement 31,000kg Mainsail 410sq m Standard downwind sail area 1,022sq m Upwind headsail area 350sq m Largest spinnaker 1,100sq m IRC Rating 1.958 Designer: Verdier Design/VPLP Builder: Hodgdon Yachts, Maine Mast/boom: Southern Spars Sails: North Sails Maximum recorded speed: 32 knots Highest 24 hour run: 618.01nm

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DINGHY PREVIEW

FEATURE

A NEW SEASON The start of the racing season is, for many, marked by the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show

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KEITH CALLAGHAN

PETER NEWTON

RUPERT HOLMES

T

he start of the racing season is, for many, traditionally marked by the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show with its combination of social gathering, tips from pros, launches of the latest kit and boats, and more besides.

This year, once again the show set the tone for the season ahead and it seems the trend in recent years, of a smattering of new boats mixed in with a number of updates to more established classes, is set to continue.

Of the newest boats on display, the new Hadron H2 (above top)had been on our radar for a while, though this would be the first time I and many others had seen it in the ‘flesh’. The boat is a development of designer, Keith Callaghan’s earlier design (above), so to call it entirely new may seem, to some, to be somewhat overstating the mark. But we think it’s fairer to view this as the final iteration of a design several years in the making.

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FEATURE

C/O FIREBALL

DINGHY PREVIEW

The boat is clearly aimed towards the Phantom or Blaze end of the market – a singlehander for relative heavyweights.

It has also been cannily designed to offer advantages for the older or slightly less athletic sailor. “She has a fairly high boom, deep cockpit and high topsides, all of which have been designed to make her more enjoyable to sail and easier to hike,” explained Callaghan.

The most recent carbonfibre hull out of the mould is a touch over 50kg and with a mainsail measuring in at 9.1sq m, performance should be decent – though it should be noted this is a bare hull weight. Callaghan says they are expecting a Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) number somewhere in the region of 1050 but also adds that he thinks realistically the boat will prove to be a touch faster than that.

Singlehanders remain the area where the greatest number of new launches are taking place in the dinghy market.

And to add to the launch of the H2, Red Forza is a brand-new company which was exhibiting two new boats, the Zen and the slightly smaller JS4.3. The Zen was designed collaboratively between Bruce Kirby and Ken Swarbrick, who met having designed competing boats in the 1980 America’s Cup. Kirby also

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famously designed the Laser – the world’s most popular dinghy – so there is certainly pedigree there.

Of the two boats on display, the Zen was the closer to its finished form and arguably the more interesting. The JS4.3 on display was a prototype so it will be interesting to see how it fairs as it heads straight into a particularly tough market. Hull dimensions are pretty close to that of the Laser, and with its three rigs at 6.5sq m, 8sq m and 9.5sq m it will be up against the RS Aero and Devoti D-Zero – not to mention the many traditional classes around the UK. The Zen, however, is a somewhat different kettle of fish. Measuring in at 4.8m it is only fractionally shorter than a 49er and has been designed (much like the H2 earlier) with the slightly less athletic sailor in mind.

“The dinghy sailing population is getting older, and are not as fit as they used to be,” commented Swarbrick. “Both boats are easier to sail than the Laser, are well balanced and more comfortable.”

CROSS-POLLINATION 2016 marks 16 years since the 49er made its Olympic debut – a fact to make those of us who view the boat as the ‘cool new’

Above The singlehanded Zen made its debut at the show Centre The unique Allen Brothers Fireball cleat designed in colloboration with Dave Hall of Hyde Sails

class of the Olympics feel a little older.

The ubiquity of the fast asymmetric looked for a time likely to all but kill off the more traditional symmetric spinnakered classes. But these fears have proven to be largely unfounded.

In fact, recent years have seen a rise in a number of more traditional classes, though the asymmetric still remains default in most new designs.

Today, many sailors chop and change between classes, mixing high performance asymmetric, symmetric, trapeze boats and hikers together in order to broaden their skills. This cross-pollination typically means that new blood arriving into a new class might sail the boat rather differently to class stalwarts.

This new thinking in a traditional class was in evidence during the summer of 2015, which saw British Sailing Team 49er sailors, James Peters and Fynn Sterrit competing in the Fireball National Championship in Pwllheli.

The pair evidently sailed their Fireball 49er-style with crew, Fynn taking the mainsheet straight from the boom.

This worked well and was, anecdotally, extremely fast when the breeze was up (borne out by wins on the breeziest

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XXXX

The Osprey is a slightly more powerful boat than the Hornet or Fireball and can sail three-up day of the championship) but was less successful in the lighter winds where leech tension becomes an important factor in pointing and power upwind.

With this in mind Dave Hall, of Hyde Sails, has come up with a novel solution with his Fireball. Hall explains the custom system devised with the help of the Allen Brothers design team: “The conventional centre jammer is replaced by a fixed twin cam cleat on a special bracket with a floating pulley led out of the centre. If the helm is handling the mainsheet in the lighter winds, when the leech needs tension, the pulley is pulled down to the base.

Once the breeze is up and the crew takes over, the pulley is released and floats a bit like the free twinning line on a spinnaker sheet. The changeover still needs a bit of coordination between helm and crew but it will be a lot simpler than having to ream it back through a conventional jammer.”

TRADITIONAL UPDATES The Fireball is a fine example of a traditional class, which has managed to maintain reasonable turnouts despite the introduction of more classes to the scene and developments in technology.

Go back 30 years or so and the Fireball was fighting hard with the Jack Holtdesigned Hornet for its share of the market, both classes having their own staunch advocates. However, it is fair to say that the Hornet has not enjoyed the same success as the Fireball in recent years, particularly in the UK. Fortunes for the Hornet class could well be soon to change. The class was exhibiting a brand-new boat on its stand at the show and she looked impressive indeed.

This is the first new Hornet in quite some time. But in 2008 the class went through what turned out to be an illfated relaunch. The then new launch was an attempt at a much more modern

Above The Jack Holtdesigned Hornet lost out to the Fireball over time

looking iteration of the class, with an open, self-draining cockpit and tapered side decks, all of which provided a sleek and more modern look. However, as has been the case for a number of classes during an update process, the finish product ultimately proved to be out of class and the class rules required rewriting to accommodate them.

It hardly seems necessary to go into the fallout of those complications here other than to say those boats are no longer being produced and this latest iteration of the class by buildersSP Boats looks to all intents and purposes to be identical to the hornets of old – a very good thing to my mind.

In a similar vein to both the Hornet and the Fireball, the Osprey is a twoman, single trapeze, symmetric boat.

It was actually the earliest designed of the three classes, being first introduced for the Olympic trials back in 1953.

The Osprey is a slightly more powerful boat than the Hornet or Fireball and as such will carry slightly more crew weight (indeed the class’ rules permit sailing the boat three-up). As with many traditional classes the sole builder of Ospreys is now Hartley Boats, who has steadily made improvements

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culminating in this, their latest, Mark V. The toss up between allowing a boat to gradually evolve and thus not become redundant over time and ensuring the existing fleet is not made uncompetitive overnight can be difficult to manage and not uncontentious.

It is never going to be possible to satisfy all parties, that so many of those we have spoken to in the Osprey fleet

are complimentary of the new MkV speaks volumes as to the work that has been put in by Hartley. It certainly looked the business to me at the show.

As with the 49er it is often easy to forget how long ago some of those designs we think of as modern were actually brought to market. The RS300, for example, was launched back in 1998, making it 18 years old this season.

Above The RS300 is now being built by the Boatyard at Beer

After RS ceased manufacture but with a passionate following it was only going to be a matter of time before class stalwarts were considering how they might get their hands on a new hull.

With this in mind the RS300 is now being built by the Boatyard at Beer and they were able to show the first new RS300 at the dinghy sailing show. The boat was not sporting any particular changes in terms of design but the point is not to develop the class which has an admittedly small but very committed following, rather allow them to purchase new 300s in the coming years.

I have to say the ‘new’ 300 looks well built and remains as modern looking (or odd depending on your point of view) as ever.

It seems, despite much agonising within the dinghy world about the state of the sport in the UK, sailing small boats is looking as strong as ever. A point about which I was reminded when a wide-eyed American gentleman, recently arrived in the UK chatted to me at the show. He simply couldn’t believe the vast array of boats on offer and the staggering number of people all coming together to share their passion for racing dinghies.

Volvo Young Journalist competition winner Mark Ripley – Topper sailor from Paignton Sailing Club – reports on his day at the Show I was recently given the fantastic opportunity by Volvo to interview some members of the British Sailing Team at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show.

My weekend started when my dad took possession of a black Volvo XC60 in which we could travel to the show in comfort and style.

At the show’s entrance we met the two other young journalists.

We then interviewed the Nacra 17 team of Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves, who were both anxiously waiting to hear if they had been picked for the Olympic team. Nicola had started her sailing career in an International Optimist and had been inspired by two-times Olympic gold medallist, Shirley Robertson.

Ben, however, had started in a Topper dinghy like myself and was inspired by his parents and Ben

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Ainslie. They explained that sailing a catamaran is more tactical and that you have to sail it fast and heeled unlike my Topper. Both were excited about the possibilities of a foiling catamaran. Following photographs, we headed to the Volvo stand where we met triple Finn World Champion, Giles Scott.

Giles had just returned from Oman where he had sailed with the Ben Ainslie Racing America’s Cup Team. Giles told us he enjoyed sailing with Ben but was only able to fit in sailing in the America’s Cup when his Finn scheduled allowed.

He felt it was important to get as much time out on the water as possible; he also spent a lot of time in the gym and watching Netflix.

Then we met Helena Lucas, who in London 2012 was the first-ever female sailor to win a Paralympics gold medal. She told me she also sailed a Topper, when younger.

Helena said the most difficult part of sailing a 2.4 keelboat was being able to read the wind as you have to

sit so low down in the boat. Helena was the first athlete to have her position confirmed for the 2016 Rio games. Sadly these Olympics’ might be the last for her as Paralympics sailing is not being included in the Tokyo Games in 2020.

Later we chatted to Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark who are competing in the 470 and are hoping to improve their silver medal achieved in the London 2012 Olympics. They are great friends and enjoyed teasing each other, especially over food. Saskia explained that she has to maintain her weight and is lucky enough to be able to eat anything she likes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience in Alexandra Palace.

I will carry on my sailing career now being inspired by the great sailors I met on the day. We all give our best wishes to all the sailors competing in the Rio Games.

Since the weekend, Ben and Nicola have had their place confirmed in the team – congratulations.

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FLYING HIGH Alex Thomson’s latest stunt complementing the Hugo Boss VendÊe effort could be the most impressive yet. We speak to the Brit and find out how it was done

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FEATURE

HUGO BOSS

ALL PHOTOS C/O HUGO BOSS/ALEX THOMSON RACING

Y

ou have only to watch a few short clips or see a couple of images of sailors competing in the singhlehanded round the world epic that is the Vendée Globe to understand this is a race for those with nerves of steel.

To sail round the world solo is challenge enough, to do so at the sort of speeds the fleet of IMOCA 60s now manage adds to the feat. And to do all that safe in the knowledge that these boats are cutting edge and as such remarkably prone to failure is enough to make you question the state of mind of those skippers who take part.

All of which is to say that it takes a certain type of person to take on the challenge of the Vendée and Alex Thomson is the archetype of that sailor. But simply being the right type of sailor with the right skills is not enough. The Vendée also costs money.

Admittedly we are not talking the kind of sums that have traditionally been associated with the America’s Cup, but

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HUGO BOSS

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FEATURE

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

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with new IMOCA 60s costing millions of pounds plus campaign costs, those wishing to compete can really only do so with the backing of a company (or companies) willing to invest significant money over a long timeframe.

Short-handed offshore racing remains the preserve of the French, and in France it is relatively big business. As such, French brands backing French sailors are ubiquitous within the Vendée and though sponsorship remains hard to find it is certainly a less intimidating proposition there, than elsewhere.

Within this context it is not difficult to see that the relationship between British sailor, Alex Thomson and his long-term sponsor, Hugo Boss is unique. Thomson has been aiming to become the first British skipper to win the Vendée Globe for some years and, though he has finished on the podium, has yet to achieve his goal in three editions of the race.

TAKING TO THE SKY Despite not yet achieving their joint objective Alex Thomson Racing and his black Hugo Boss boats are probably one of the most recognisable sailing brands, certainly in the UK if not the world. And this is thanks, in no small part, to the series of impressive stunts the team has masterminded over the years, consistently gaining column inches within the mainstream press over and above that which any other teams have been able to generate. And the stunts have only been getting better. First

Above Thomson says he is an ‘average’ kite surfer Left The sailor was attached to a 393ft rope Below The mast walk was a breakthrough stunt…

there was the keel walk in 2012, then came the mast walk (below), which was, arguably the breakthrough stunt and this year the team caused a huge buzz after they released their skywalk video.

The stunts are testament to Thomson’s fearlessness and seem to be increasing in scope year-on-year. This year’s stunt involved Thomson kitesurfing behind his IMOCA 60, picking up a tow rope attached to the top of the mast before launching 280ft in the air only to release and float back to earth. The pictures and the video make the whole thing seem fairly terrifying and it is perhaps unsurprising some corners have wondered loudly where this might all end? “There is no pressure to do stunts from our sponsors,” counters Thomson. “But the first two have been very successful and this one was one which combined my two

We set the cameras into action and over two days I completed the stunt 13 times

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Left It took 13 attempts to nail the landing Below left It was a four-week team effort to get the footage

be rather more varied and the whole thing could be performed in anything from 18-30 knots – though it should be noted Alvor was selected specifically because of its guaranteed afternoon, cross offshore breeze, allowing the team to sail upwind close to the shore and generating enough breeze for take off.

“It’s important to remember I am not a professional kiter. I have been kiting for eight years and learnt with Ray Kasper in Kenya,” Thomson says of his experience. “I’m actually still a very average kiter, it’s my hobby, and so we approached the stunt in little baby steps.

“The final edit is made from several takes. We set the cameras into action and over two days I completed the stunt 13 times,” he continues, adding that the biggest challenge was “putting aside my fear of heights.”

Certainly the stunt is impressive and despite the claims of a lack of pressure, Hugo Boss must be pleased with the media attention. But for all the stunts and the exposure there is one element to the team that remains elusive, a Vendée win. And to see the conclusion of that story we will have to wait until later this year… at least.

LOOKING AHEAD

greatest loves, kitesurfing and sailing.

It was probably the most fun to do!”

Safety was also a significant factor in performing the stunt, which actually took place in Alvor, Portugal back in early summer 2015. At all times there was a diver and medic on standby in a safety RIB following Hugo Boss. The diver was ready to get into the water in case Thomson splashed down incorrectly and he was always in communication with the team via a radio headset. “This communication channel allowed me to

know what the yacht was doing at all times ensuring the stunt was completed successfully. In addition to this I wore a wetsuit under my Hugo Boss suit, which provided me impact protection and additional buoyancy,” he explains.

In some respects, Thomson says this was easier to perform than the previous two stunts. Where both the keel walk and mast walk required extremely steady wind in a very tight range to get the boat to heel over at a consistent angle, this time the conditions could

seconds’ flight time

393 36

feet – in length terms the rope connecting Alex to Hugo Boss

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

feet: max flight altitude

60 - 90

280

SKYWALK IN NUMBERS

4 25

(weeks), stunt practise time

knots – max wind speed experienced

Thomson and his team were, at the time of going to press, just about to relaunch their brand-new IMOCA 60, fitted with semi-lifting foils. The boat was first launched back in 2015 and was widely viewed as the most radical of the new designs. However, during the Transat Jacques Vabre race in late 2015 she suffered significant damage in the Atlantic and had to be abandoned by Thomson and co-skipper Guillermo Altadill, before being towed back to Spain (only one of the new IMOCA 60s managed to complete the race).

Since then the team has been working on the boat in preparation for this re-launch and ultimately the start of the Vendee Globe later this year. Thomson said (at the time of writing): “We have the new Hugo Boss going back into the water over Easter. We are really confident with the changes we have made and are looking forward to getting back out there and learning how to sail her fast.”

10 - 12 13 - 15

knots – max boat speed

knots – Alex’s stunt speed

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21/03/2016 1:03:04 PM

FLYING KIWIS

Pete Burling and Blair Tuke have become an unstoppable force in the 49er class. ANDY RICE meets this pair of prodigies

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FEATURE PETER BURLING

F

JESUS RENEDO

ew Olympic sailors ever dominate their sport.

Unstoppable talents like Ben Ainslie are rarer than hens’ teeth, but New Zealand currently has two of them: Pete Burling and Blair Tuke. The last time the young Kiwis were beaten in a 49er regatta was when they took the silver medal at London 2012 behind the Australian duo of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. Their unbroken winning streak now stretches back more than three and a half years and across 23 major international regattas, including the past four World Championships. Around two-thirds of those victories have been wrapped up with at least a race to spare – a record in the 49er class.

Perhaps the most breathtaking victory was when they missed the first day of a regatta in Rio to attend the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year awards ceremony across the Atlantic. After a boozy evening and a long flight from Europe to Brazil they jumped off the plane and went racing. Even though they started the regatta with three DNCs on their scoresheet, Burling and Tuke went on to win the competition, again. No wonder the opposition is spooked. Although not stated out loud by many, most 49er teams will be going to Rio 2016 this summer believing that the best they can hope for is a silver-coloured medal.

Gold looks as though it’s gone already.

SECRETS OF SUCCESS So what makes them so good? It’s the question that has been vexing the whole 49er world for the past three years, and there’s no obvious or straightforward answer. To look at the size of Burling, skinny but still muscular and comfortably over 6ft tall, he looks too big to be a 49er skipper.

If he bulked up a bit, he’d look perfect for the Finn. Tuke is not exactly small either, and the perception was that they’d be slow in light winds. Unfortunately for the opposition, they’re not. They don’t appear to have a weakness and, just when their rivals think they might have caught up on the Kiwis, they make yet another leap forwards.

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for the best part of a decade. Aged just 17, he qualified to represent his country at the 2008 Games, crewing in the 470 with his childhood mate, Carl Evans.

Part of the reason Burling feels he got good early is because of his size. Having started out in the Optimist he moved on to other boats quite soon. “I was already 50kg when I was 12. I was quite tall and skinny so it wasn’t like I could lose any weight so I decided to move on to the P Class and then the Sterling. The Sterling is a really nice little New Zealand design, great for someone who’s about 50 to 60kg and really light, so it teaches you a lot about kinetics, roll tacking and so on.”

INGRID ABERY

The probable answer to the question of their impressive speed is that we’re looking at the law of marginal gains, the term popularised by Dave Brailsford in his time turning Team Sky into world beaters in cycling, enjoying unprecedented success in the Tour de France and longer-term dominance as part of Team GB at the Olympics. It’s the philosophy of trying to make 100 elements of your sporting performance better by even just the smallest amount, and believing that the cumulative effect of all those marginal gains will add up to a significant overall advantage.

Certainly the Kiwis are known to be obsessive about logging all their equipment, being meticulous with their boat preparation and recording everything to the nth degree.

You can also see a high level of synchronicity when Burling and Tuke are sailing together, a higher level of telepathy than most crews. For a big guy, Burling is very smooth and precise around the boat. In lighter breezes, both Kiwis like to go barefoot for better feel, even if their coach sometimes tells them off for being silly.

Even if he’s only just turned 25, Burling has been an Olympic campaigner

UP THROUGH THE RANKS Burling kept on progressing through the youth classes and into the 420 where he crewed for Bruce Kennedy. For a twoyear period, the duo was unstoppable, winning virtually everything. They even won the 420 World Championship two years in a row. The one blip was when they failed to win the New Zealand youth trials and weren’t able to represent the nation, even though they were the World number one even at senior level.

Having dominated the 420, the next obvious step was the 470, even if Burling

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JESUS RENEDO

FEATURE PETER BURLING

was still only 15 at the time. “It was 2006, and Carl and I decided to give the 470 a nudge for Beijing; we got a boat, started sailing a little bit and were pretty fortunate. The first event we ever went to was the Europeans and we managed to get a sixth place and that was after five months of sailing the 470. That put us straight into top tier funding, which gave us time to do a proper campaign.”

Good results followed with the pair picking up an 11th at the 470 World Championship in early 2008. The teenage Evans and Burling were on their way to the Olympic Games in Beijing. “We should have done better but obviously we were still growing through the whole 470 campaign. I was 17 at the time of the Olympics and Carl was 18. I think since I started sailing with him he has probably grown about 30cm, and I grew a couple of inches myself. We went from being one of the lighter teams to being one of the biggest when the Games ended up being in really light conditions.”

Nevertheless, Burling learned a lot from his first Games experience. “Going to London 2012 I felt I’d got a lot of the hard stuff out the way. “I’d seen

We managed to get a sixth place and that was after five months of sailing the 470 Left Burling and Tuke in action. The pair seem to enjoy an almost symbiotic relationship out on the water Below Burling controversially replaced Dean Barker at Emirates Team New Zealand yet results vindicated the decision

how everything happens and how it all unfolds, and how much extra stuff surrounds the Olympic Games – just because it’s the Olympic Games.”

Having outgrown the front of a 470, Burling decided to have a go at the back of a 49er. “When I was really young I used to watch the videos of the 18ft skiffs flying around, and out of all the Olympic classes the 49er was closest to the 18ft skiff and was always the boat that really excited me. It seemed like an obvious progression from the 470 into the 49er so I sent Blair an email after the 2008 Games. He wrote back and said that he was keen to give it a crack for 2012, and things went from there.”

The challenge for the new partnership was that there hadn’t been a strong history of 49er racing in New Zealand.

But help came from across the Tasman Sea, in the form of a training partnership with top Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. Since winning the 49er Worlds in 2008, Outteridge had been the dominant force in the Olympic skiff.

“When we first started sailing the 49er we got Nathan over to New Zealand to show us the ropes and we kind of just kept pestering him to try and let us do some training and to come over.

“Eventually he agreed. I think he saw us as not really too much of a threat but probably enough of a threat to give him a good push, to actually help him learn and improve. Things just went from there.

“I think in the early days they were helping us out a lot more than we were helping them but at the end we definitely felt that we were starting to pay them back a little bit. Looking at the form book going into London, you’d probably say that we deserved the silver and they deserved the gold. We were a fair way ahead of the rest of the fleet.”

PERFECT PARTNERSHIP Asked to analyse what makes him tick so well with Tuke, Burling can’t really

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RICK TOMLINSON

PETER BURLING FEATURE

EXPANDING HORIZONS Since winning the silver medal at London 2012, not only have Burling and Tuke dominated the 49er circuit but they have also found time to compete in many other parts of the sport. In 2013, just before the America’s Cup final in San Francisco, Burling steered New Zealand’s entry to victory in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup with Tuke crewing aboard the wing-masted AC45.

The pair also got hold of some A-Class catamarans for the World Championship when it came to New Zealand. While Glenn Ashby, now the skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand, ran away with yet another world title, the two young guns took second and third overall at their first attempt – beating many America’s Cup sailors and professionals as well as the A-Class regulars. On that occasion Tuke beat his 49er helmsman, his second place proving that as a helmsman Tuke is also a world class act.

Burling has since gone on to

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

It’s a lot easier doing an Olympic campaign when you’re doing it with one of your mates win the International Moth World Championship, taking the title off Outteridge on Australian waters.

Meanwhile Tuke won the prize for first rookie, taking sixth overall in a hot international fleet and having never raced a Moth Worlds before.

Whatever they turn their hand to the pair seem to be able to win at it.

This dynamic duo’s star quality wasn’t lost on Grant Dalton who invited them

Above Enjoying the fruits of their labour with Emirates Team New Zealand Below Burling and Tuke go into Rio 2016 as massive favourites

LOOKING AHEAD Burling is typically modest about his involvement in the Cup. “At the moment I have got so much to learn on that side, about how a whole team works and the complexity of it all.

I’m really enjoying it at the moment and I feel it is not hurting our 49er sailing. I think it is about enjoying the challenge as much as anything else.”

The plan now is for Burling and Tuke to concentrate on the 49er. Although they have been considered a shoo-in for New Zealand’s 49er Olympic spot, such are the official hoops to jump through when it comes to the Games, their official selection was only announced

by Yachting New Zealand in March.

With selection confirmed it is onwards to Rio 2016 and (surely) Gold.

BARBARA SANCHEZ

put his finger on it. “I’m not really sure to be honest. That’s one of those things that most people ask, what makes Blair good? One of the things is just that we get along really well and we’re both really willing to learn and to improve ourselves.

“We’ve obviously been sailing together for a long time now. I think one of the things that’s really strong in our relationship is that we do really enjoy a lot of the same things – whether we’re going fishing or surfing or hiking. So when we do go away it’s pretty easy to spend a little downtime together.

“It’s a lot easier doing an Olympic campaign when you’re doing it with one of your mates.”

to join Emirates Team New Zealand and since then they have proven to be a vital part of the crew. Dalton – typically of his ‘no nonsense’ style – didn’t exactly handle the situation with much tact or diplomacy, but few would disagree that his decision to replace Dean Barker – the longstanding helmsman of the team – with Burling was the right one.

Dalton’s decision has since been vindicated as Burling has steered ETNZ to the top of the leaderboard in the America’s Cup World Series. Could Burling with Tuke at his side on board the immensely fast and physically challenging AC50 catamaran be the one to finally steer New Zealand to victory in the America’s Cup? Time will tell but you wouldn’t bet against them.

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44

hether you’re a newcomer to racing, or a hardened professional, it seems the short-handed scene in the UK is continuing to attract a growing band of supporters, whether their main intention is inshore/coastal racing or crossing oceans. The scene certainly offers something for everyone, including the Royal Southampton YC’s long-standing 12-race doublehanded series, the Torquay-Kinsale-Treguier Triangle Race and RORC’s prestigious Rolex Fastnet Race and a wide choice of longer-distance challenges.

Similarly in JOG, doublehanded boats have certainly proved themselves capable of winning an impressive slice of the silverware, plus a successful and well supported AZAB – in which 46 doublehanded and 19 solo entries, set out to race the 2,500 miles from Falmouth to Ponta Delgada in the Azores archipelago and back.

Last year’s RORC season saw 87 doublehanded boats finish at least one race. Unlike 2013, the overall winner of last year’s Rolex Fastnet Race may not have come from the 55-strong doublehanded class, but Kevin Rawling’s

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

Although big name events tend to take the lion’s share of publicity, at a grassroots level the enthusiasm for short-handed racing is growing.

RUPERT HOLMES

reports

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FEATURE

SHORT-HANDED RACING

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

45

FEATURE

and Stuart Childerley’s J/105 Jester took fourth overall, beating many of the other rock star sailors in the race in larger and higher profile, fully crewed yachts. The pair also took the honour of being the first British entry overall.

After finishing the race, Childerley reported it as having been a “fantastic challenge,” while Rawlings said that, for him, the victory was, “…up there with winning the first race in the Challengers’ finals in the America’s Cup, against Australia II, the eventual winners.”

Other top doublehanded results in the race included the 2013 overall winners, Pascal Loison’s JPK 10.10 Night and Day, which took sixth overall in IRC. SOLO RACING Although lower profile at an amateur level than it is on the professional scene, solo racing also has a growing band of dedicated followers. If anything, this is a significant additional challenge – the gap between fully-crewed and doublehanded is arguably a lot smaller than that between doublehanded and solo.

A little more than a decade ago, the only solo racing on offer were the classic ultra-long distance races such as the OSTAR transatlantic from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island and the AZAB, both of which were run on fouryearly cycles. After the 2000 OSTAR, however, a small number of skippers formed a group called Petit Bateau, which subsequently ran its first race in 2004, before rebranding as the Solo

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

Main picture Kevin Rawlings and Stuart Childerley aboard their J/105 Jester chase the fully-crewed Stormforce Coaching yacht Juno IV during the 2015 Rolex Fastnet Race

Offshore Racing Club (SORC) in 2009.

The club now runs both inshore and coastal programmes, including a popular event round the Isle of Wight, as well as an offshore series, with the 15 events in the 2016 programme totalling 1,328 miles. A total of 40 skippers took part in at least one race last year. The club ethos is to include and encourage all with a fairness and common sense approach.

Traditionally there has also been a one or two-week summer series of passage races visiting locations including the Brittany coast and south-west Ireland.

However, this year SORC’s main event is a significantly more challenging one – more than 600 miles from Cowes around the Fastnet Rock, finishing in Plymouth. This has attracted recordbreaking levels of interest, as well as a high-profile headline sponsor – Virgin Media Business. So far there are 53 confirmed deposit paid entries, from five countries, ranging from a Contessa 32 to Class 40s and an Open 50. There are also six Sunfast 3600s, five JPK10.10s and four JODs entered, which gives the potential for close boat-on-boat racing.

The impressive level of interest for the inaugural race clearly demonstrates a level of the latent demand for this type of racing that can be easily completed within regular holiday periods.

Another even more challenging long distance solo race has also attracted outstanding interest: The Golden Globe Race will be a re-enactment of the original Sunday Times-sponsored solo

round the world race that gripped the nation and had only one finisher – Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. The re-enactment, which marks the 40th anniversary of the original, will see 30 modest, long keel yachts race non-stop around the world, starting from Falmouth in 2018.

Interest in this event has been phenomenal, with more than 150 expressions of interest. This is despite the retro nature of this race, which will see competitors using only the same equipment available that was available 40 years ago – think sextants for navigation and cassettes for music.

This all augurs well for the next edition of the classic 3,000-mile OSTAR, the original long-distance solo race, which takes place in summer next year. This is the original singlehanded transatlantic race, from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island, which has been run by the Royal Western YC every four years since 1960. With SORC’s Round the Rock Race acting as a qualifier for this – and the OSTAR itself as a qualifier for the Golden Globe – next year’s edition of the race promises to be the best attended for many years.

In addition, it will be run alongside the TWOSTAR, the doublehanded equivalent race on the same course.

BOAT PREP In many cases a well set up boat that has all settings clearly marked and so on doesn’t need significant modifications for short-handed racing,

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DANIEL FORSTER/ROLEX

XXXX

A decent pilot is fundamental to successful short-handed racing

Below Mini Transat sailor Nikki Curwen enjoys a blast in her Mini 650

turn, that makes it more likely that you will, for instance, choose the wrong spinnaker for a 50-mile leg.

PILOTS A decent pilot is fundamental to successful short-handed racing, although if you fancy giving the discipline a try, then the pilot you already have will do in the first instance. There’s no secret to the minimum requirement for a pilot.

Most importantly, it needs a gyro or rate-sensing compass. A system that measures heel angle is even better, as that will apply additional helm as the boat heels, rather than waiting to

BOAT HANDLING So how is it possible for a short-handed boat to be faster than one that’s fully crewed? On an offshore passage race there are times at which we have a weight advantage, although clearly when bashing upwind in a blow, or when power reaching, there’s a big gain in having bodies on the rail.

My own view of the primary difference is that, with the exception of a relatively small number of mostly high-profile and often semi-professional teams, the average skill level on a doublehanded boat is significantly higher than that on fully crewed vessels. For a start, owners who race doublehanded tend to choose their co-skippers with care. It’s also easier to run an effective training programme if fewer people are involved and many short-handed sailors have spent a significant amount of time practising manoeuvres and optimising

THIERRY MARTINEZ/SEA&CO

aside from fitting the best pilot you can afford. For offshore racing, efficient mainsail reefing that can be handled from the cockpit also makes sense.

Similarly, a furling headsail or reefing hanked on jibs, rather than a Tuffluff is also advantageous. The difference here is that one person can easily handle a hanked on sail – even on a boat with the power of a Class 40 – whereas a Tuff Luff requires significant effort to prevent the sail going overboard when it’s dropped and the luff is no longer restrained. Note that few competitive boats opt for the rating advantage of a 130 per cent furling genoa, preferring to stick with more efficient jibs.

Nevertheless, the most important elements of set up are still in the basic preparation that’s the same for all boats.

Do all the systems work smoothly, with a minimum of friction? How much work have you done in calibrating instruments? How accurate is your sail crossover chart? These are all, especially the last two items, things that can be optimised only by an iterative process.

It’s impossible to get the final two nailed down at the first attempt, or the second or third. Instead they are something that you constantly work to improve, gradually improving accuracy across as wide a range of conditions as possible.

It’s easy to forget how interconnected instrument calibration and sail crossover charts are. If you don’t have reliably accurate true wind data, then the sail chart cannot be accurate. In

respond to the boat’s inevitable luff.

However, what’s not so widely understood is the need to tweak the settings for different points of sail and sea states. Therefore, after each change of course or significant wind change, you may have to spend time adjusting these, particularly response levels, rudder and counter rudder settings and tack timing. To a large degree, this can only be learnt by practise and experimentation. It’s also important not to underestimate the amount of time even professional sailors will spend tuning the settings while racing. The use of the pilot also increases electrical consumption, so an extra service battery, plus better charging, may be needed.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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FEATURE

SHORT-HANDED RACING

Kit for short-handed racing Head torch

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KURT ARRIGO/ROLEX

Pontos winches

boat speed. By contrast, fully crewed teams frequently struggle to make up the numbers and therefore are often forced to race with a team that has not previously sailed the boat together.

Otherwise, there’s no big secret to being successful on the doublehanded scene. It’s exactly the same process as for any other kind of racing – practice and preparation are key. It may seem surprising to some that manoeuvres that can appear complex with eight crew when racing inshore can be carried out without a hitch by only two people, and in some cases one.

However, those eight people working together as a well-oiled team are only gaining a length each mark rounding. While that’s essential for success in a short round-the-cans race, on a longer distance passage, straight line speed, navigation and going the right way are much more important factors. Nevertheless, when observing a downwind start of a mixed fleet of two-handed and fully crewed boats, there are certainly times you’d see the doublehanders with spinnakers hoisted and set before most of those on fully-crewed boats.

Perhaps the biggest advantage is to have experience of all the tasks on a raceboat. Someone who has sailed only as mainsheet trimmer, or only at the mast, may not appreciate the steps each person t is doing in each manoeuvre.

While racing it’s also more important to figure out priorities for your energy and attention. It’s all too easy to work hard during the early stages of a race in which there are few big gains to be made, and then lack the energy needed to make clear and well informed decisions at a later stage where a wider range of options means there’s more at stake.

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

Above Rolex Fastnet success for Pascal and Alexis Loison’s JPK 10.10 Night and Day in 2013

The Pontos range of four-speed winches, which were developed with the help of Class 40 sailors, have two extra gears that can be arranged either to increase line speeds, or reduce the effort needed to turn the handle, depending on the model chosen.

The Grinder models have the fast line speed arrangement, which enables winding the headsail in after a tack to be completed in a single process. The handle is in place at the outset and

when fitting a furler. Facnor’s FD model minimises this through using a webbing furling line, thus allowing for an ultra-low profile drum.

PLB

Short-handed and especially solosailing requires significant focus on safety. Clearly ensuring you stay on the boat is key but should you go overboard some way of alerting rescue services to both your position and predicament could be life saving. The rescueMe PLB1 can be operated with a single hand in even the most challenging situations.

Quality alarms

you simply keep winding, changing direction in the normal fashion each time you need to change gear. This speeds the process to an extent that the sail can be sheeted home in less time than is taken by a fully crewed boat with conventional winches.

If you’re racing solo offshore one of the most important bits of kit is a really decent alarm clock. Ideally you will have it set all the time – otherwise what will inevitably happen at one point is that you wake up, check around and sail the boat for a bit, then sit down briefly but find you wake up three hours later.

Until recently the alarm of choice was the Screaming Meanie, a 120 decibel alarm with North American truckers as its target market. However, more recently Solo Sails of has developed a very neat waterproof 3-60 minute timer with a twist dial and optional remote reset button.

Facnor FD furler

Doublehanders are unlikely to have a headfoil for a suit of different jibs and I know of no boats seriously raced with one. This leaves a choice of either hank-on sails, or a furler, with the fleets fairly evenly split between both options. Some recent cruiser-racers were designed to accommodate under-deck furlers allowing a sail with a full length luff, but on many boats a loss of luff length is inevitable

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

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FEATURE

SEA BREEZES

SEA BREEZE IN THE UK For a sea breeze to develop there are a few simple rules that need to be considered. LIBBY GREENHALGH explains

I

The basics

For a sea breeze to develop there are a few simple rules that need to be considered 1. Gradient wind (the wind at 2,000ft that can be found from a synoptic chart) to be blowing offshore with a strength of less than 15 knots

2. Air temperature (land temperature is another variable you can use) higher than sea temperature by at least two deg C 3. Slightly unstable conditions. There needs to be vertical mixing over 2,000ft.

So no fog, haze or mist – all indicators of stable conditions and limited mixing

Return flow (at +900 metres) Down flow Warm air rising Sea-breeze

PHOTOS: TOM GRUITT

t is possibly the most discussed weather phenomenon between sailors, but is often poorly understood.

Sea breeze can be a complex subject and is about more than just understanding the basic thermal effect of land heating air (below right).

As winter turns to spring and the days get longer and warmer, the weather gradually changes. Taking the bigger picture, we see the Azores high pressure – at least in theory – gradually push further north to provide more settled conditions over the UK and lighter gradient driven conditions.

The result is the development of sea breezes along our coastlines which can also penetrate inland. On a good day, a sea breeze can reach up to 40 miles inland. That’s from the south coast to Reading as the crow flies!

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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4. No significant high ground (1,500-2,000ft) within 5-10 miles of the shoreline.

Despite the basic theory of a sea breeze, often when we go sailing it is never quite as it said on the tin! That is primarily because of point number one in the basics to a sea breeze – the need for an offshore gradient wind.

Assuming all other elements are even we can establish some traits for sea breeze or more truthfully thermally-influenced winds based on quadrant theory that was developed by David Houghton.

Despite the basic theory of a sea breeze, often when we go sailing it is never quite as it said on the tin Above The attributes of a sea breeze will be dictated by the quadrant from which the gradient wind is blowing

2000m

Left The ‘mixing’ of warm surface air and cooler air higher in the atmosphere intensifies as a hot day progresses, resulting in increasing wind strength

1500m 1000m 500m 6kn 06:00

10kn 0800

Mixing

10:00

TOM GRUITT

Sometimes, the sea can be a perfect mirror in the morning even though the forecast is for a winds of around 10 knots, gusting 18. However, by the startgun has blown, the wind has picked up to 12 knots and it’s a lot gustier.

There are two principles at play here. The first is that due to reduced friction, winds at higher altitudes are stronger than near the surface. This difference in windspeed with height is greater in the morning – more than can be explained by friction alone.

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

15kn 12:00

20kn 16:00

16:00

To understand why the change exists, it’s important to understand mixing. When the sun starts to heat the surface of the earth quicker than the air above, a layer of warm air underneath the colder air is created, which will rise until it finds air of the same temperature (above).

The air that rises is replaced with colder air from higher levels.

We end up with a mixing process with constantly rising and sinking bubbles of air. The sinking bubbles not only bring colder air from higher levels, but also stronger winds.

Q3

Q1

Q4

Q2

QUADRANT THEORY

Quadrant theory is defined by the direction of the gradient wind and how that affects the development and traits of any thermally driven or influenced wind, which, in turn, will affect how you will approach your race course.

The theory

QUADRANT 1: Best development for sea breeze. Offshore gradient wind aids the sea breeze circulation.

Traits ■ Develops inshore first ■ Typically develops between the time of 1130-1200 ■ Stronger closer to the shoreline ■ Strongest wind speeds ■ Strongest between 1400-1500 ■ Persists for longest – up to 20002100 in the evening (UK) ■ Returns to gradient direction as it dies off QUADRANT 2: Second best set up for sea breeze development.

Offshore gradient wind aids sea breeze development but set up inherently means there is higher pressure over the land than the sea.

Sea breeze is based on a pressure difference between the land and sea created by heating. This will take longer for the sea breeze to set up as there is a larger pressure differential to overcome.

Traits ■ Slower to develop ■ Typically develops btween 1230-1330 ■ Patchy and develops in bands ■ Strongest between 1400-1500 ■ Up to 3 knots less than quadrant one ■ Returns to gradient direction as it dies down. However, less predictable, so likely to go calm in the process

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FEATURE

Offshore wind

Strong sea-breeze

SEA BREEZES

Offshore wind

Light sea-breeze

Q1

Q2

Sea-breeze

QUADRANT 3: Thermal enhancement.

Gradient wind is aligned or not far from being aligned with the mean sea breeze direction. There is low pressure over the land and high pressure over the sea.

As the land heats up, the pressure over the land lowers further and therefore the pressure gradient increases and so the surface wind increases.

When within 10 deg of the mean direction then the wind will be at its strongest Peak wind around 1400-1500, though depends on gradient wind forecast

Above left Quadrant 1 offers the best conditions for a sea breeze, with an offshore gradient wind aiding circulation

QUADRANT 4: Least likely to have a sea breeze or any wind.

High pressure over the land and low pressure over the sea and a gradient wind helping the circulation aloft.

Therefore as the land heats up it needs to overcome the pressure difference and any sea breeze will be reliant on the temperature difference. Rule of thumb is that for every deg C of temperature difference you could potentially get two knots of wind strength.

Above right Quadrant 2 although the gradient wind is favourable for a sea breeze, it is likely to be slower to develop

■

■

13 NEXT MONTH Sea breezes part II On sale 13 May

Traits ■ Gradient wind battles with thermal development ■ Patchy decaying gradient wind throughout the morning ■ Period of calm before any sea breeze can develop and likely to remain weak patchy

The reality

As any sailor will know, in reality, the coastline isn’t straight, so you do not have four neat quadrants, in fact you have four sectors or wedges that are hugely influenced by the orientation of the land. Next month we will explore how you can practically apply quadrant theory to your sailing.

ALAN CROWHURST

Traits ■ Building breeze ■ Strongest set up ■ Larger shift range, often characterised by two breezes creating the shift pattern – lighter wind from the sea breeze and stronger from the gradient direction

Sea-breeze

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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XXXX J/112E

BOAT TEST

J-DREAM BELIEVER 1

SPECIFICATIONS LOA: 11.00m LWL: 9.68m Beam: 3.60m Standard draught: 2.10m Displacement: 5.125kg Ballast: 1,731kg Upwind sail area: 65m2 Spinnaker: 120m2 J/112 Rig Dimensions 36.00' LOA 31.76' LWL 11.81' Beam 6.90' Draft 11,300 lbs Displacement 696 sq.ft.

100% SA 48.58' IM 52.00' ISP 14.00' J 45.93' P 15.50' E 20.75' STL 5.41' BAS 25 Upwind SA/DSPL 58 Downwind SA/DSPL 30 hp Aux. Diesel

54

10.99m 9.68m 3.60m 2.10m 5,125kg 64.65 m² 14.81m 15.85m 4.27m 14.00m 4.72m 6.32m 1.65m 25 58 30 hp

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

The J/112E breaks fresh ground for J-Boats, taking the company firmly into performance cruising in the 36ft size bracket. RUPERT HOLMES reports CONCEPT 10/10

««««««««««

The J/112E’s sports cruiser concept promises heaps of fun allied to first-class handling. At the same time it benefits from a level of comfort, space and sophistication that is generally not seen on more race-oriented boats of the size.

J-Boats has eschewed the trend for chined hulls, twin rudders and the full beam extending all the way aft. The after sections are distinctly narrower than those of most recent designs. Although this inevitably reduces space towards the back of the boat and arguably impinges on planing performance downwind, it makes for a more rounded overall performance profile.

With more rocker than the J/111, plus additional weight due to construction differences and the fully fitted interior, the J/112E is not a planing boat in the same way. Nevertheless, the trial certificate for our test boat shows an IRC rating of 1.060. There are also plans for an IRC optimised version, with a high modulus carbon rig and no bulb on the keel, which is expected to rate 1.053.

Compared with the J/109, an enduringly popular design that’s now approaching 20 years old, this is a larger boat, with 25cm more overall length, a 38cm longer waterline and 7cm greater beam. Therefore, although they are both nominally 36 footers, it

would be possible to fit a J/109 hull completely within that of the 112E. Hull construction is of end grain balsa sandwich using biaxial and unidirectional glass, with vinylester resin in the outer layer. In the UK and Europe, most boats are expected to sell to a racing oriented audience, while in North America, where 12 boats have already been sold, demand has primarily been for fast cruising use. The first boat left the factory in September 2015.

DECK LAYOUT AND RIG 8/10

««««««««««

Those familiar with J-Boat’s designs will find no big surprises on deck, although there are important tweaks that bring improvements for cruising use, or indeed short-handed offshore

3

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

TEST PHOTOS: XXXX ALL PHOTOS: RUPERT HOLMES

22

racing. The most obvious of these is the all-round moulded toe rail, almost a low bulwark, which improves security for those working on deck.

The outboard edge of this has a wedgeshaped profile that still provides a degree of comfort when hiking.

A closer look shows a commendable effort has been made to keep water out of the inside of the hull. For instance, the retractable sprit is configured to be completely sealed from the accommodation, while attention to detail includes routeing the wiring outside the keel-stepped mast just above deck level, so that the spar can be sealed at this level to prevent water dropping into the bilge.

The fractional rig sports twin swept back spreaders with discontinuous rod rigging. Jib sheet cars are adjustable

4

1. J-Boats has eschewed the recent trend toward chined hulls and broad aft sections 2. Even as the wind peaked at 17 knots, reefing was not required 3. The sprit is sealed off from the accommodation, to ensure there is no water ingress 4. Stowage includes a dedicated liferaft locker 5. An electric anchor windlass is an optional extra 6. Clean deck lines are augmented by flush hatches

5

on a 6:1 purchase, while the mainsheet is led from the traveller via a 2:1 purchase to size 40 Harken self tailing winches. The boat is supplied as standard with Dyneema main and jib halyards, although the spinnaker halyard is pre-stretched polyester.

The cockpit is protected by low coamings that will help keep the seats dry, without having so many different levels that moving around the boat becomes difficult. The open transom – a feature shared by many boats in the range – is equipped with a standard removable swim ladder, in another nod towards cruising conveniences. Cockpit stowage includes a dedicated liferaft locker, plus a large, yet well-organised, deep locker that also has access from the heads compartment. There’s also

an anchor locker right forward, with provision for fitting an electric windlass.

Our test boat had a fairly standard specification, with the exception of the headsail furler, grey nonskid deck surface and the glassfibre composite wheel, the latter in place of the leather covered aluminium standard wheel. It also had the benefits of the Jefa direct drive autopilot unit, which all but eliminates friction in the system when hand steering.

The wheel is positioned such that you can sit behind it, astride of it, or if short-handed, ahead of it, meaning the traveller and mainsheet are easily to hand. In all cases you get a good view of the luff of the jib and can brace your feet against either well-proportioned foot chocks or the wheel pedestal.

6

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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When every second counts...

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Round the Island 2015: Cowes-Dinard 2015: Rolex Fastnet 2015: Vulcain LS 2015: Palermo MC 2015:

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J/112E

UNDER SAIL 9/10

««««««««««

Our test boat was almost factory fresh, with only very minimal equipment on board and was therefore in almost a lightship displacement mode. It was equipped with a North Norlam mainsail and all-purpose furling jib, plus A2 and A4 asymmetric spinnakers.

The test took place on a bright, though bracing, day in early March. Initially the windspeed was only 6-8 knots, however this soon increased to give gusts of 15-16 knots. In the very light airs she slipped along easily, making what felt like a respectable speed for the conditions, although with little feel in the helm.

As the breeze started to firm up, she fell nicely into a groove upwind. When the wind built further the mainsail could be effectively bladed off, so the first of the two reefs was not needed – even when close hauled in an indicated 15-17 knots of true wind without any crew on the rail. Popping the A2 spinnaker

up, we quickly jumped to hull speed, although at that stage we didn’t have enough breeze, or a sufficiently large sea, to break away from the boat’s stern wave. While the helm was finger-light at most times, with good feedback, when pressed it gives plenty of warning as the rudder loads up, although even when sailing at hot angles under the A2 we were not able to induce the foil to stall.

BELOW DECKS 9/10

««««««««««

It’s immediately striking that there is much more space available below decks, and a better level of finish, than on many of the builder’s earlier models of this size. This is combined with lots of natural light and ventilation, together with a white finish that’s offset by enough timber to give a sense of quality and style. The standard finish is a dark walnut, with lighter hazelnut used for the sole.

It’s particularly noticeable that the

Above The helm was finger-light even when the yacht was hard pressed Below, left The galley area is modest but perfectly functional Below, right Plenty of natural light with enough wood trim to add a quality feel

BOAT TEST

builders have not attempted to cram too many gimmicks or cabins into the available space. Instead, they settled for a two-cabin layout that offers plenty of space for each element, including a large galley and a proper forward facing navigation station with its own seat. As a result there’s a great comfortable feel, along with plenty of easily accessed stowage, all in a configuration that will work well both in harbour and on long passages at sea.

The boat also benefits from many small touches that are all too infrequently seen, but cumulatively make a big difference to life on board. These include good handholds throughout the saloon, galley and navigation areas, proper deep fiddles in the galley and navigation station (a real rarity), and an opening port to give ventilation above the cooker, allowing steam to quickly exit the galley. In addition the cabin sole boards are properly fastened down so they stay in place in

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

57

J/112E

BOAT TEST

The J/112E offers attractive and comfortable accommodation in a boat that is great fun to sail the event of a knockdown. However, we would also have liked to see a crash bar in front of the gimballed cooker.

The saloon uses the full width of the hull to create a spacious area, with comfortable settees that would also make excellent sea berths, and a substantial folding table, suitable for four to sit round most comfortably.

Stowage is provided in overhead lockers and shallow shelves, plus a significant volume below the bunks.

Despite the J-112’s relatively finer bow in comparison to an all-out cruiser – a necessity for the boat’s easily driven hull shape – the forecabin offers an impressive level of space and comfort.

Wide double doors to the saloon in the main bulkhead further enhance this impression of lightness and space.

Even with these doors closed there is ample standing space at the head of the berth, along with decent stowage, although headroom below the forehatch on the marginal side. The 200-litre water tank is positioned below the berth.

The aft cabin, located next to the galley, is a smaller space and lacks the same amount natural light and ventilation as the forecabin but still serves its function perfectly well.

VERDICT 9/10

««««««««««

The J/112E offers properly civilised, attractive and comfortable accommodation in a boat that is great fun to sail. This is a combination that ought to appeal to many, whether from a more performance focused

background, or cruisers wanting to step up to a faster boat that offers the precise and reassuring handling of a thoroughbred sports car. It’s a design that deserves to be successful and certainly has potential as a dual purpose family cruising and racing boat, especially if configured for short-handed use.

COMPARISONS

ANSWER BACK

Sunfast 3600

Elan E4

A lightweight chined hull, twin rudders and lead keel with a 44 per cent ballast ratio for the new Sunfast means it is likely to be popular for both fully crewed and short-handed racing.

LOA: 10.8m Beam: 3.55m Draught: 2.13m Displacement: 4,700kg

Performance cruising yacht, recently rebranded as the E4. Elegant and sporty design, featuring integrated toerails as well as new rotating plotter pods on the steering consoles.

LOA: 10.6m Beam: 3.5m Draught: 2.35m Displacement: 5,350kg

Many thanks to Rupert for testing the J/112E. The new E series has been designed to satisfy those wanting outstanding sailing characteristics coupled with a superior interior layout. The magic of J-Boats is that, as a family owned business, developments evolve and each new model is positively better than the previous one.

The J/109 was and still is a phenomenal success.

Her replacement, the new J/112E is longer and wider, has more freeboard and a much longer waterline.

She carries more sail area and is stiffer and faster.

J building standards are very high; resininfusion sandwich laminates with balsa and airex foam cores, produce a very stiff, strong structure.

The keel and rudders are made in moulds and a smooth, fast shape is the result. Equipment is the best available, properly designed and capable of delivering ease of use and long service.

From: Paul Heys of Key Yachting Ltd

ELAN YACHTS

SUNFAST

58

Right The J/112E has achieved a blend of performance and comfort

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

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ELEANOR POOLE

FEATURE

PAULA IRISH

caught up with Eleanor Poole, the talented young sailor who made the transition from club sailor to national sailing hero

PODIUM TOPPER W hen Eleanor Poole won the Topper national championship, she became the first girl ever to do so in the 30-year history of the event’s Ian Proctor Trophy.

This impressive result led to 15-yearold Poole earning the Yachting Journalists’ Association Boats.com Young Sailor of the Year Award, an accolade recognising endeavour and achievement

by Britain’s upcoming young sailors and previously bestowed on Ellen MacArthur and Ben Ainslie, to name but a few.

As with those before her, Poole’s success is a result not only of talent but also dogged determination and sheer hard work. Keeping up with the boys – and beating them – in one of the country’s largest dinghy

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

classes, is not easy, and in a 190-strong fleet at the 2015 Topper nationals in Weymouth, the Devon teenager took the title with a string of firsts.

Poole has since moved into the RYA youth programme’s Laser 4.7 national squad, and recently qualified in first position overall in the 2016 Laser 4.7 World and European Qualifier Series.

SQUADS Poole started sailing before she could walk, on her grandparents’ gaffer Wender in Dartmouth and Scotland and, at the age of eight, joined Starcross Yacht Club’s Friday night junior club, which her dad Rupert used to help run, starting out in an Optimist and loving the fun and friendships forged by the camaraderie of the sport.

Then after moving into the Topper,

Above Eleanor on her way to making history at the Topper national championship

Poole surprised herself by being selected for the RYA’s Southwest Topper Zone Squad, aged 11, following a windy regional zone championship at Chew Valley Lake SC in 2012: “I turned up in my massive drysuit and not having all the kit and not knowing anyone, and it was quite scary but also really good. Then I got the letter to say I was in the squad.

I was quite shocked. I didn’t really expect it; we’d been talking about how I could go back and try again the next year.”

Over two years in the zone squad, Poole initially found herself at the back of the racing during the winter training weekends but learnt quickly, and jumped from bronze fleet at her first ever national championship in 2013 to gold fleet at the next. Following a move into the national squad, Poole once again found herself racing towards the

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PETER NEWTON

back of the group. When Poole looks back, it is the small successes in the squad training which gave her a chance to realise what it felt like to be near the front, and the motivation to improve.

“I remember the first time I actually did well in one of our little zone squad training races, I was really happy,” she says. “And in the national squad I wasn’t at the front of the training races either, and I remember I did well in one of them. The feeling of winning is what you’re there for to be honest.”

ROLE MODEL In the Topper national squad, it was the first year that Natalie Lloyd was the head coach and Poole says it was great for the girls in particular “to have that role model”.

The girls in the Topper fleet also

benefited from All Girls training delivered by Dave Cockerill who, prior to Lloyd, had been the Topper national coach for 13 years.

“It was very much focused on how to beat the boys,” recalls Poole.

The aim was to raise the girls’ aspirations and encourage them to see beyond the established pecking order: “We talked about how we just expect the boys to beat us, so they did, basically.

Also, the girls tended to race against themselves because obviously there’s the girls’ prizes, so it was good enough for a girl just to come in as first girl, whereas it was talked about a lot that that wasn’t actually our goal, it was to win.”

An emphasis on fitness was also brought into the equation to enable the girls to compete against the greater strength and endurance of the boys.

In addition to playing netball, Poole augments her fitness regime with two weekly visits to the gym. She also has a personal trainer. By the time she attended the nationals last year, Poole felt she was as fit as she could have been, a bonus given the generally windy conditions that dominated. “You have to be just that little bit fitter because boys have the natural advantage,” says Poole.

CONFIDENCE While many young sailors find the start line the most daunting part of the race, Poole relishes the competitiveness of it. And yet this confidence is not something which came naturally to her. It grew with experience. And as with so many other aspects of Poole’s sailing, having confidence, like fitness, was a conscious decision.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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FEATURE

POOLE FAMILY

ELEANOR POOLE

GOALS Poole has now started her GCSEs and, like many young sailors, has a juggling act to accommodate her commitments.

During the week it’s about fitting in fitness and homework and, at the weekends the emphasis is on training in between squad sessions and competing.

Poole continued: “It is quite difficult.

I just try and concentrate more in the lessons so I don’t have to revise as much, and I just have to be very organised.”

Poole also ensures her teachers are aware of her sailing so that Teign School, where she is a pupil, is on board and supportive of her goals.

And if there is one big goal she

Left Eleanor, aged 10, at the Starcross YC Two Rivers Regatta Left below Eleanor became the first ever girl to win the Ian Proctor Trophy

I thought I might as well put everything into it and know that then I will never regret it...

aims to achieve with her sailing, it is to always put in maximum effort, to be the best she can be.

When Poole is asked to recount memorable results, it is not her finest that spring to mind, but the most disappointing – a Topper National Series result from the Winter Regatta in Weymouth last year when she was in the national squad.

“I came fourth girl. I was just standing there and all the other girls were on the podium – that stood out for me, just because I realised that actually, that’s not where I wanted to be. I wanted more, I wanted to be on the podium as well.”

Rather than be demoralised, Poole instead made a simple but gamechanging decision to give it her all, to work really hard. “Obviously I wasn’t going to stop sailing, so I thought I might as well put everything into it and know that then I will never regret it or look back and wish I’d done that little bit more.”

POOLE FAMILY

BEATING THE BOYS

“I was one of the nervous people to begin with but the startline is where big gains can be made,” says Poole. “As soon as I realised I could actually do quite well, I was like ‘I want to try and do the best I can, I’ll regret it if I don’t’, and part of that was having confidence. So I kind of made myself have confidence.”

Routines also help Poole to stay cool and calm, including sticking to a pre-start routine, which begins from the minute she arrives in the boat park and starts rigging, doing everything the same, and keeping a straight head.

On the water Poole teams up with her training partner and best friend Ellie Hutchings. Together they find the line and course bias, and work to devise a plan for the race. “Then, for the start, I won’t be thinking about where I want to go, I’ll just be thinking about the people directly around me.”

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

2015 was a great year for the girls in the Topper class. At the 2015 nationals, Niamh Harper from Loch Tummel SC/Royal Tay YC was also on the podium, finishing third overall; Niamh also won the hugely competitive Topper National Series of events in 2014-15 and was the top British sailor at the worlds on Lake Garda, finishing an impressive third overall, with GBR’s Bella Fellows fifth and Poole seventh.

For Dave Cockerill, who led the all-girls training and is now doing more work with the class internationally, it was a great way to sign off.

He collected a range of positive quotes from feedback over the years, his favourite of which is: “All girls training, better than shopping!”

So, why have specific girls only training at all? Cockerill says: “I did an analysis of a number of girls in the Topper fleet, because the Topper is a pretty physical boat for a junior class, and about 33 per cent of the fleet would be girls, and you would get a really good spread throughout the fleet, except for the top 10.

“You’d watch a girl sailing and think ‘that’s quick, that Topper is being sailed really well’ and then you’d look at the results and the two just didn’t marry up. We all know that sailing a boat fast and being very successful are two different things, you’ve got tactics and strategy and all of that, but I was aware that somewhere there was a mis-match.”

The RYA and class association, wanting to encourage more girls to enjoy the sport and help them break through any ‘glass ceiling’, supported the idea of setting up some all girls

training over approximately four weekends a year. Cockerill realised that they didn’t so much need extra training – the girls could sail the boat just as well as the boys – but did need a change of mindset. “By bringing them together as a group they made friends and we always did team games, such that when they got to events they’d be in the changing room and they’d recognise and feel comfortable in the environment.

“My view was for girls to be successful, first of all they needed to feel comfortable, and they also almost needed permission to be successful.

Girls wouldn’t tack on their mates in case their mates hated them for it, whereas a boy has no problem tacking on their mates if they need to.

We were trying to make them understand there is a difference between being themselves on the shore and being a competitor on the water. That and having the self belief that you can do it.”

Cockerill also noticed that girls could remain at the top of the fleet at a long championship, until the last day or two when things would fall apart. And so his advice to the girls was: “If you’re going to beat the boys, you’re probably going to have to work harder than them. By the end of the week, you’re probably going to have less energy levels than they’ve got so you’re going to have to be fitter than the boys, and you’re going to have to do everything slightly better – you’re going to have to eat better, sleep better, warm up better, stretch down better – these were the kind of messages you were constantly giving these girls. Confidence comes from knowing that you’re going to do the very best that you can do.”

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BUYER’S GUIDE

SAILING SHOES

BEST FOOT FORWARD

Sailing shoes are constantly evolving and improving. HELEN FRETTER finds out more about the latest sailing footwear trends for 2016

W

e’ve come a long way since sailing footwear options were limited to rubber dinghy boots, wellies or leather deck shoes. Sailing trainers became commonplace around a decade ago, while developments in construction methods ensure that offshore boots can now survive really extreme conditions,

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

and dinghy shoes have become lighter and more flexible than ever.

But the latest trends go even further.

Classes such as the TP52s, VO65s, MOD70s and AC45s place new demands on kit – clothing needs to be able to withstand high speed water impact, and grip and flex becomes paramount for footwear. The aqua-sport component of the market is starting to make a real impact, and once radical-looking design

developments that have been trialled by pro sailors on fast cats are now filtering down to sportsboat and dinghy sailors.

FUTURISTIC DESIGN Musto’s new range of shoes for 2016, the TriLite, illustrates this evolution.

The shoes may well be found in your local high street branch of Clarks, but pick them up and turn them over and you will see a surprising

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There has been a big push forward in sailors using running sneakers and trainers

CHRISTOPHE LAUNAY

construction). This is built into the mould rather than created using hot knives afterwards. The construction means that there is no last used, the shoe is essentially made inside out without a foot bed, and this is added later.

“The main advantage of this shoe is water management. The drainage is exceptional, and in extremely wet conditions it will keep the inside from filling up.”

Besides working with Clarks, Musto has also taken inspiration from other sportswear, which it has adapted to the marine environment.

“Sailors have found that they don’t need their footwear to be as ‘bomb proof ’ as they have had in past,” McGrath explains: “There has been a big push forward in sailors using running sneakers and training shoes as they are light, flexible and multipurpose. They can wear them on or off the boat.”

three-part sole construction.

Chris McGrath, Head of Footwear, explains: “In collaboration with Clarks, we have developed a shoe with a three-point or TriGenic system. This combines heel strike, mid sole strike and toe-off. By separating the three areas you can focus the pressure and create a more natural movement. More natural movement equals more comfortable feel, which equals better performance in the shoe and your sailing.

“We developed these with Clarks who work closely with Loughborough University. The exact systems they use to test the shoe are kept a close secret, but what we can share is that the shoe is made of a soccetto construction (also known as California

LEARNING FROM THE EXPERTS “This is something we have used in the TriLite. Its construction is reminiscent of modern running footwear and it’s light yet durable. Some things cannot change however – the rubber compounds in the sole unit need to keep the high level of traction that previous models provide, to ensure you don’t slip in wet conditions.”

Adidas is another multi-sport brand that has embraced the radical, with futuristic designs like the distinctive Adipower Hiking boot with cutaway heel. New for 2016 is the GR02 shoe, which will be worn by Ben Ainslie and his Land Rover BAR team (Adidas are Official Technical Suppliers of footwear and luggage to the America’s Cup Challengers). Adidas also develop their footwear with input from sailors like Taylor Canfield, who is competing on foiling catamarans in circuits like the World Match Racing Tour (with USOne in M32s) and Extreme Sailing Series (with China One in GC32s).

The increasing shift to very fast foiling designs has put a big emphasis on fit and drainage for footwear.

“They need to be super-grippy, and they need to have a drain so any sea water can get out of the sole, because if you’ve got water in the sole it means your foot isn’t actually in contact with the shoe properly,” explained Adidas Sailing UK’s Director of Sales & Marketing Matt Forbes. “It doesn’t matter how good the shoe is, if your foot actually isn’t in contact with the shoe properly, any technology you put in will be rendered pointless.

n Musto’s TriLite range features exceptional water management

n Adidas Adipower hiking boot

n The Adidas GR02 is optimised for multihull sailors

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

65

BUYER’S GUIDE

SAILING SHOES

but when you go on a trampoline or step onto any other surface, that’s where this GR02 sole shows its versatility.

“It’s really grippy, it’s got quite a soft sole but it’s got a really good tread as well, so there’s bite to the actual mesh of the trampoline, but also you’re getting really good grip on the solid bits of the boat.”

n Chatham’s Made in Britain range blends traditional styling and modern design features

n Dubarry Newport boot remains a favourite with offshore sailors

“So what the GR02 shoe is really designed to do is make sure you’ve got a good contact at all times, so it’s like a hybrid. You slip it on, it’s got a Neoprene collar on it, but then you lace it as well, so it’s super tight.

“The upper has got a drain in it as well so it drains through the mesh, it’s got a really good big toe bumper on it as well which we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about, giving protection on these high performance boats where there are quite a few things that are really solid and you are going to hurt yourself if you smash into them.”

The big shift towards multihull sailing also means that footwear has to function on trampoline nets as well as decks.

Matt explains, “In our Dinghy Range, we’ve got a trapeze shoe and hiking boot, and they’ve both got the same sole on them – which are what the Team GB guys are using in Rio for the Olympics.

“These shoes have a flat sole with a razor cut, made of super soft rubber, and that works really well on fibreglass,

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

MODERN CLASSICS At the other end of the scale, ‘heritage’ brands and traditional designs are having something of a renaissance, particularly among home-grown companies.

Chatham is launching a new men’s range ‘Made in Britain’ this year, with each shoe made in Chatham’s Exeter-based factory, and featuring a new ‘Aqua Go Tread’ quick draining mid-sole system. Sebago celebrates its 70th anniversary this year with a new range of their classic leather Dockside deck shoes in contemporary colours including lime green and orange.

British brand Gill has recently launched a new Competition Boot, a lace-up dinghy style which combines a retro style with modern design and product testing, and has been developed

by Gill over many years. Product Development Director Matt Clark explains: “The Aigle-style boot was out there for many years and was a bit of a staple for many people’s kitbags.

Our approach was there’s no point us developing it if we can’t bring something

‘Heritage’ brands and traditional designs are having something of a renaissance

13 NEXT MONTH Dinghy clothing On sale 13th May

new to it or do something different, so we held off for quite some time until we’d developed something that was a step on from what else was available.

“So from the outside, yes, it looks like the regular rubber dinghy boot. But there are a number of developments, which we’ve put through their paces. Key things like the non-slip outsole. It’s a customdesigned outsole, and we’ve spent a lot of time tweaking the compounds. It’s a natural rubber compound but has other added ingredients for that perfect blend of grip and durability. It has been a number of years in development, and really only launched when we were 100 per cent confident it really performs.”

Besides thorough testing by the Gill

Race Team sailors, Matt says the boot sole was flex tested thoroughly under laboratory conditions. “One of the drawbacks of using a natural rubber compound is that over time it can split, particularly with repeated flexing, so in the lab we’ve flexed these 100,000 times just to check that it doesn’t deteriorate.

You get a natural flex point which is always a point of weakness, so again we’ve got specific overlay in those areas where we know there are flex zones, reinforcing them.” Other new features include two optional lacing systems – the boots are supplied with both static and stretch laces, to give either increased flexibility of extra-firm fit.

Irish brand Dubarry also prefer to develop their products slowly, with an eye to longevity – their famous Shamrock boots were launched over 30 years ago.

“The products have a long life cycle, and what we have tended to do when we have products like the Shamrock and Ultima that have stood the test of time is to make modifications and improvements, but not change the name or the style,” explains Marketing Director Michael Walsh.

The Crosshaven boot, Dubarry’s top of the range product, originated from feedback during the 2008 Volvo Ocean Race by the Green Dragon team, and was launched in 2010 after two years of product development. “It was interesting, when we met with the team here in Galway at the stopover, many of the team were sailmakers and had made their own concocted version of a gaiter, literally gluing and stitching it onto the boot they already had.” From that initial feedback the Crosshaven boot was developed with an integrated gaiter. Other features adopted from the sailors’ feedback included thick toe reinforcement and extra wide fit. “For Southern Ocean sailing when it’s really cold, the sailors really do bulk up on their socks, to keep the feet warm. And the other problem was that the swelling of their feet in different weather conditions.”

Six years and two Volvo Ocean Races on, and the Crosshaven is still a key part of the Dubarry range. “I think the Crosshaven will be around for a long time, because we spent a lot of time getting it right,” comments Walsh.

Dubarry is also currently working on a new aqua-sport footwear range, combining their extensive yachtingspecific expertise with new design and materials developments for lighter, more flexible designs. Dubarry anticipete these will be available by Spring 2017.

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BOAT NEWS

FOR SALE

BOAT NEWS

SHERIDAN BROWN

NEWS

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

ROTHMANS

Here’s a chance to get your hands on a bit of racing history. Rothmans competed in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race – now better known as the Volvo Ocean Race.

She belongs to an unreformed era when men were men and high tar content cigarettes and sailing clearly went hand in hand.

Back in 1989, Rothmans, skippered

by Lawrie Smith, carried the hopes of the British public. This beautiful 24m IOR Maxi was designed by Rob Humphreys and built by Paragon Composites, featuring a plethora of innovations. As Peter Bentley wrote in Yachts and Yachting way back in May 1989: ‘If looks alone were enough, this boat would be a certain victor.’

Sadly, this was not to be: The 1989/90 Whitbread will be remembered as the year the giant ketch Steinlager, skippered by

Sir Peter Blake swept the board.

Rothmans performed strongly but came in fourth overall.

She has been owned by a Swedish consortium of enthusiasts for the last few years and is now up for grabs. Although in largely original condition right down to her blue and white livery, she has been upgraded and maintained. She features a new 150hp Cummins engine and was fully refitted in 2011. She also boasts a staggering 26 berths although accommodation is Spartan to say the least.

Designer: Rob Humphreys Model: IOR Maxi 81 Length overall: 24.7m Price: £154,000 Location: Sweden Contact: Nicolle Associates nicolle-associates.com

Firefly class marks 70 golden years

The majority of us weren’t around when Uffa Fox unleashed the Firefly dinghy on an unsuspecting public in 1946, but almost all of us have come into contact with this evergreen classic at some point.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of this ubiquitous one design which briefly featured as an Olympic class in the 1948 games before being replaced by the singlehanded Finn. The original boat was constructed using the lamination techniques used to manufacture Mosquito warplane fuselages during the war and featured a rotating mast. It cost £65 to buy brand new.

Fast forward 70 years and the class continues to flourish and there will be a range of events held throughout 2016 to mark the anniversary.

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Series Portsmouth rica’s Cup World SPECIAL ISSUE Ame

DECEMB

The design team of Reichel/Pugh has built an enviable reputation for turning out hugely effective racing machines. The X-Treme 32 builds on that pedigree; she’s unashamedly a flat out racer designed with IRC and ORC in mind, featuring a full carbon rig, rod rigging and a fixed sprit tube with a retractable extension. She’s constructed using vinylester with a Gurit core.

Despite her extreme appearance, the yacht is Class A, so suitable for offshore racing and is equipped with a 12hp inboard motor. The X-Treme 32 is built by G-Force Yachts, whose current range also features the Rebel dinghy and X-Treme 37.

£4.30 er 2014 | Decemb .uk Issue #1680 chting.co www.yachtsandya

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OSPREY MK V

Skip forward 63 years and dinghy is still going strong. Hartley Boats has been producing the Osprey since 2005 when the Mk IV was launched featuring a carbon rig. The Mk V is the next step; she features an epoxy hull made from three separate mouldings for the hull, deck and foredeck. This construction method provides a double thickness on the floor meaning a stiffer hull. The rig will remain the same, but there will be a few tweaks to improve ease of handling.

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YACHTS YACHTING CHELSEA M A R I NEES MAGAZIN

04/08/2015 16:24

Yachts & Yachting is the racing sailor’s ultimate read, with expert coverage of all aspects of racing, from local dinghy and keelboat events to the heights of the Olympic Games, America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race.

Improve your own sailing skills with practical advice from some of the best coaches in the sport and keep up to date with all the latest products, sailing clothing and new boats.

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SFAMILY TRAVEL ASHBART’S BAISA SH F WORLD BART’S B ADISE continues PARdown UTY count The

1680 Cover

You know a dinghy must be doing something right when you start getting to the launch of the Mark V and that is certainly the case with the Ian Proctor designed Osprey. First launched in 1953, this 5.35m dinghy announced itself to the sailing world by winning what must surely have been a severely challenging Round the Island race for dinghies. With her designer at the helm, she saw off a field of 196 other competitors to take line honours.

COWES WEEK

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KIT INNOVATIONS

HENRI-LLOYD COBRA DRYSUIT The latest addition to Henri-Lloyd’s dinghy collection, the Cobra Dry Suit is, rather predictably, 100 per cent waterproof.

It also features HenriLloyd’s Durable Water Repellent finish which means the suit sheds surface water quickly.

A further boon is the frontfastening T-zip which runs diagonally across the front of the suit and means you can get the suit on and off without asking for help.

RRP: Adult, £400 Junior, £325 henrilloyd.com

JULBO LA RACE 2.0 POLARIZED SUNGLASSES The latest generation of sunglasses from Julbo offer a plethora of extras tailored for sailors. To this end, the La Race glasses feature vented lenses to eliminate fogging and improved 3-D nose grip to ensure they stay in place even in rough conditions.

RRP: £103.95 julbo.com

KIT INNOVATIONS

SAM JEFFERSON takes a

look at the latest kit for all your sailing needs

SRC-2 SAILING TIMER

HCB COMPOSITE BATTENS

If you’ve ever considered that starting a race using a stopwatch and a horn is a slightly imprecise technique, this might be just the thing for you.

The SRC-2 timer is designed to take all margin for error out of start timings. This dedicated timer is waterproof and can be hooked up to a horn to ensure timing a race is a one-man job.

The most common countdown sequences are programmed in and it can store up to 40 custom sequences. Bluetooth connectivity allows the possibility of activating it remotely, while a USB port means you can import information directly from sites like Sailwave.

RRP: £899 (special offer price of £650 for first ten units sold) eightdog.com

Hall Spars and Rigging believes its new hollow composite batten will set a new benchmark in mainsail shape control. It also claims that this carbon-fibre batten is the most advanced batten on the planet – which is a big claim. The secret apparently is all in the high pressure lamination process involved in manufacturing.

The batten also has a full range of end fitting options.

RRP: depends on batten size hallspars.com

GILL WATERPROOF BACKPACK The new Gill backpack is a robust, 30 litre bag made out of a hard-wearing nylon fabric. A waterproof coating ensures that this is ideal for keeping the water out. In addition, the main compartment includes a laptop sleeve and document pocket in order to keep all of your valuables organised.

RRP: £55 gillmarine.com

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

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The Thuraya SatSleeve+ is an innovation which ensures that even if you’re mid-Atlantic you still needn’t miss emails, texts and Facebook. This nifty device resembles a phone case, but is capable of turning your smartphone into a satellite phone.

Once the SatSleeve+ is clipped on to your smartphone, you can make calls, send emails and messages and even use your apps in the remotest locations. The device also has an SOS button that connects to a pre-set number of your choice.

RRP: £400 expansys.com

Australians are passionate about all sorts of strange things and a case in point is flip-flops – or to be precise ‘thongs’ as they insist on calling them. One man who cares more than most is Michael Maurer, an Aussie on a one-man mission to spread the word about comfortable flip-flops.

It is therefore fitting that his Gumbies feature a Dual Layer cushion; a non toxic EVA mid sole with 100% cotton canvas upper and a Soft recycled cotton Strap Flexible and non-chafing cotton toe post. All very comfortable. Maurer was apparently inspired by the ancient Aborigine rite of passage called Walkabout.

RRP: £20 gumbies.co.uk

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Fans of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race can now take the time to show their appreciation with this unique keepsake.

Elliot Brown is the official timekeeper of the Clipper Race and the watchmaker spared a few seconds to produce this rather fetching commemorative watch.

The elegant timepiece features a unique engraving of the official race logo and comes in a smart custom made box.

This special watch will be showcased at Henri-Lloyd’s chain of marine clothing stores in Cowes, Lymington, Salcombe, Dartmouth, Falmouth and Truro.

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71

AGAINST

How to dry at the town

BEDS ON BOATS

TRAVEL

It has never been easier to rent someone else’s boat for nights away or a sailing holiday – and new business models work both ways, says SARAH NORBURY

BEDS ON BOATS 72

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

C/O SUNSAIL

S

ailing holidays have been transformed thanks to new business models which offer more choice to travellers as well as income to boat owners. The sharing economy is growing at an extraordinary rate, and hot on the heels of peerto-peer companies like Airbnb and Uber, entrepreneurs are creating web platforms that match up boat owners with people who want to rent a berth or hire a boat for a sailing holiday.

Just a glance across any marina is proof that most boats spend most of their time lying idle. It’s said that the average yacht owner sails their expensive asset only 10 per cent of the time. For most of the year the boat sits there racking up fees for berthing, insurance and maintenance.

Beds on Board is a company that is helping boat owners make an income to help towards those costs, while offering customers an exciting new type of accommodation. Having seen boats languishing in some of the world’s swankiest marinas, Sir Peter Ogden, businessman and owner of the Maxi yacht Jethou, together with brothers Jason and Tim Ludlow, decided that here lay an opportunity.

With Beds on Board the boat doesn’t move, it’s like Airbnb but customers rent a berth on a boat rather than a bed in someone’s home. Owners advertise their boat on the Beds on Board website for free and the company takes a small percentage of the rental fee each time it’s booked. Just as with Airbnb, once a would-be renter has selected a boat, they chat with the owner online, and if both are agreeable, the deal is done.

There are around 7,000 members of the Beds on Board ‘community’ – people who have signed up with an interest in this peer-to-peer scheme – and around 300 boats listed on the website. There’s a mind-boggling choice, from a luxury motor cruiser in the Bahamas to cheap as chips ‘backpacker berths’ in Mexico.

Ports and marinas are often fun

places to stay, right in the centre of the action of a town or city, but those looking to sail as well as stay, you’ll find that peer-to-peer yacht charter is slow getting off the ground in Britain due to a law requiring boats hired out for commercial use to be MCA-coded (Maritime and Coastguard Agency requirements for seaworthiness and provision of safety gear).

Tommy Tog, joint owner of Plain Sailing says, ‘The question of when the yacht peer-to-peer market takes off is less a case of if than when, because it’s ultimately what consumers want. And they want to find and book boats online, and to be able to filter them, and read reviews… stuff our website is all designed to do’.

NICHE HOLIDAY IDEAS Plain Sailing is gradually getting British boat owners onboard, offering lots of advice on how to get their yacht through the MCA coding process. The company’s website features hundreds of boats for charter in Croatia and Greece, mostly with the well-known companies like Sunsail and Kiracoulis but also more niche holiday ideas with smaller outfits away from the big sailing bases. Thanks to low overheads Plain Sailing guarantees to beat anyone else on price, including booking direct with the charter companies. Tommy Tog explains, “Owners tell us it’s great that they can charter out their boat without having to sign annual contracts and fill in lots of paperwork.

We aim to take the hassle out of earning money from your boat.”

Over the Channel in France it’s a different story. With no government safety certificate needed, there are no barriers to owners listing their boat on peer-to-peer sailing sites and holiday sailors can choose from thousands of boats listed on French sites like Click&Boat and Shareboat.

Charlotte Mery of Click&Boat says, “We insist that boats are in good condition and if one is not it will soon be reported on the feedback

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TRAVEL

system. The boat owner or a manager approved by us will always meet the client to check the boat in and out.”

Most of the 2,500 individually owned boats listed on the Click&Boat website are in France, giving sailors the opportunity to cruise coastlines that are not covered by the big charter companies. There’s a huge range of boats, in southern Brittany, for example you can hire all kinds of cruiser – monohull, trimaran, lifting keel, and French boats not often seen in Britain like the popular Pogo fast cruisers, to boats that you might hire for the day while on holiday, like a RIB, or a Hobie cat, or a Merry Fisher, or even a minitransat style racer or a race-ready J/80.

Normandy, beautiful Brittany and the Atlantic coast are cruising grounds very popular with British boat owners yet most charter-sailors only experience the Mediterranean coast. Click&Boat aims to introduce new sailors to the harbours, islands and coastlines of north and west France as well as the well known hotspots on the Med like Cassis, Cannes and Nice. Not to mention Spain, Greece, Croatia and the Caribbean.

Sailors who prefer to relax without having responsibility for the boat can meet their perfect match with

SHUTTERSTOCK/ILONA IGNATOVA

BEDS ON BOATS

Above Inviting yachting scene at Cannes in France

‘Fleet members’ get pure pay-and-play with no responsibility for boat maintenance or costs Incrediblue, whose slogan is ‘ditch the hotel, hit the deck’. All of its 3,000 listed boats are chartered with either the owner or approved person as skipper. Incrediblue goes to great lengths to ensure that boats are legally fit for charter, offering peer-to-peer charter holidays in Greece, Croatia, Turkey and Spain.

For those who want simply to get out on a yacht, sailing with the owner rather than chartering the whole boat, it’s a cheap option with an agency like crewseekers.net. The owner benefits from having willing crew if their family and friends aren’t available, though this method won’t go far to defraying running costs as the maximum they can charge per day is £15 if the boat is not MCA coded.

Sailors who enjoy chartering boats for weekends or holidays might find that a boat-share membership gives

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them similar flexibility at an affordable price. For boat owners, this is a way of getting income from your boat.

Peer-to-peer is the buzz phrase at the moment but there are well established ways in which boat owners make money while others benefit from sailing without having to commit to yacht ownership.

Pure Latitude is a ‘membership boating club’ with a fleet of 20 boats based in seven locations in England, Scotland and Wales. Their boats belong to ‘owner members’ who make their yacht available for a certain number of days a year in return for a monthly income, free insurance, free professional maintenance and a proportion of the running costs as well as use of the other boats in the fleet.

‘Fleet members’ get pure pay-andplay with no responsibility for boat maintenance or any other costs. The club puts on social events, races and training days giving members the chance to meet others, build their crewing network and improve their skills.

For £475 per month you could take family and friends on a Dufour 375 cruiser from Plymouth one weekend, a J/109 from Hamble the next time, or a cruise the Thames on a motor yacht from Windsor, among many options. Or if you prefer sailing the same boat from the same location each time, the monthly fee is £325.

If you want to sail as a crew, Associate Membership is £100 per month plus a joining fee, giving access to training, social events and crewing on other members’ boats.

Another way that many owners reduce their costs is to buy a boat with others as part of a syndicate. Different to the previous schemes, in that they don’t make money by offering strangers time aboard, it’s popular due to the fact that you can sail in a bigger, more expensive boat than you might otherwise afford.

One of the biggest boat share firms

is Yacht Fractions which gets owners together in many parts of the world, with the south coast of England and Greece being the most popular. The contract set up by Yacht Fractions is designed to keep disputes to a minimum, detailing how costs are shared and what happens when a member wants to sell their share.

The most usual way that non-yachtowners go sailing, and boat-owners make money from their boats, is traditional charter-management with companies like Sunsail and Fairview. When people go on a charter holiday they tend to assume that the company owns the boats, but in fact most charter boats are owned by couples who have bought them in a charter-management scheme. The company guarantees you a certain income over the year, and you can use your boat for so many weeks. Some offer use of any boats in the fleet, anywhere in the world.

Sunsail has the world’s largest charter-management fleet which it says offers owners generous benefits and flexibility of payment methods (or option to purchase). It guarantees income of 8-9 per cent p.a. or a discounted purchase price, the owner can use the boat 4-6 weeks advance booking per year and more at short notice, access to other yachts at over 30 destinations worldwide, no insurance, maintenance or berthing costs.

CONTACTS Beds on Board: bedsonboard.com Plain Sailing: plainsailing.com Click&Boat: clickandboat.com/en Shareboat: shareboat.fr/en Incrediblue: incrediblue.com Crewseekers: crewseekers.net Pure Latitude: purelatitude.com Sunsail: sunsail.co.uk Fairview: fairviewsailing.co.uk

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REGATTA WEEKS

FEATURE

ESSENTIAL SUMMER NORTH

BASSENTHWAITE LAKE SAILING WEEK

30 July-7 August Bassenthwaite SC, Dubwath, Cumbria OVERVIEW: The One Bassenthwaite Lake Sailing Week is a ‘must do’ family event. Nine days of sailing on one of the most picturesque lakes in the country, over 100 entries, camping on site, full catering service, children’s entertainment, and not forgetting the bar.

As Ian Hall from the club explains: “There is no other family sailing event in the country offering such a combination of social and competitive sailing, coupled with so much to do for the non-sailors in the family.”

The event is open to all dinghies and keelboats with PN 822-1390. There will be fleet starts (subject to change) for: Flying Fifteen, GP14, Laser, Enterprise, RS200, Fast Handicap, Medium Handicap, Slow Handicap, Topper-Mirror-Tera.

INSIDER TIP: Enter early to get the best price – look on the event website for details – and arrive early to get the best pitch.

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SPONSOR: Lead sponsor is The Lakes Distillery (near the club) and their brand – the One; also Noble Marine, and safety sponsors Icom WEBSITE: bassweek.org.uk

ROYAL YORKSHIRE REGATTA

30 July-6 August Royal Yorkshire YC, Bridlington, East Yorkshire OVERVIEW: Open regatta sailed in Bridlington Bay with hot racing for PY Cruisers, Contessa 26, Squib and Yorkshire One Design classes, combined with a legendary social programme.

INSIDER TIP: Plan early as accommodation gets booked up. Accommodation is available on a nightly basis in the club bunk room.

WEBSITE: ryyc.org.uk

ULLSWATER REGATTA AND HOLIDAY WEEK Regatta 6-7 August Holiday Week 8-12 August Ullswater YC, near Pooley Bridge, Cumbria

OVERVIEW: A relaxed week of sailing and entertainment in beautiful surroundings. The week follows the popular Ullswater Regatta on August 6-7. Why not have a weekend of racing and then enjoy a real holiday with the family at the club with all you need for a good time both on and off the water? Reasonably priced evening meals every night, family-friendly on-shore events all week and children’s activities every day. Plus hiking, mountain biking, a trip on an Ullswater Steamer and much more on the doorstep.

INSIDER TIP: The Birkett Field will be open for tents or campervans on site.

WEBSITE: ullswateryachtclub.org

EAST

BLACKWATER CLUB WEEK & REGATTA

15-21 August Blackwater SC, Heybridge, Maldon, Essex OVERVIEW: This friendly family orientated club offers a full week of racing and evening entertainment.

Situated on the sheltered River Blackwater it offers something for all ages and abilities.

WEBSITE: blackwatersailingclub.org.uk

BRANCASTER STAITHE SAILING WEEK

7-12 August Brancaster Staithe SC, Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk OVERVIEW: A family-friendly week with a variety of classes for both adults and juniors, with social events and bar open throughout. Come along and enjoy our new clubhouse.

INSIDER TIP: An enjoyable week for all ages with plenty to do on the north Norfolk coast for any non-sailors and when the tide goes out.

WEBSITE: bssc.net

DEBEN YACHT CLUB REGATTA

3-7 August Deben YC, Woodbridge, Suffolk OVERVIEW: Our regatta is the highlight of the sailing year. The dinghy and yacht racing is open to sailors of

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

GRAEME SWEENEY/MARINEIMAGES

Whether you want to have family fun in boat, there is a summer sailing week for

REGATTA GUIDE

a dinghy or enter the world’s most famous regatta in Cowes in a big you. The choice is huge and it’s yours – so start planning!

HORNING SAILING CLUB REGATTA WEEK

all ages and abilities, offering a relaxed family event on the beautiful River Deben. There will be lots of fun for all with a barbecue and activities for youngsters.

INSIDER TIP: If you see grass growing out of the water, it’s probably attached to a lump of mud.

WEBSITE: debenyachtclub.co.uk

16-19 June EAORA/Haven/HPYC/RNSYC/RTeYC OVERVIEW: The East Anglian Offshore Racing Association’s Offshore Regatta runs from Thursday 16 June to Sunday 19 June. This popular east coast annual event is sponsored by Haven Knox-Johnston and the racing covers a 200-mile course over four days. There are three races from Harwich to Ostend to Ramsgate and back to Harwich, including a lay day in Ostend. The regatta is open to all IRC, 2-handed and Haven yachts.

SPONSOR: Boat insurance specialists Haven Knox-Johnston WEBSITE: eaora.org.uk

SUE PELLING

EAORA OFFSHORE REGATTA

BURNHAM WEEK

August 27–3 September Royal Burnham YC, Royal Corinthian YC, Crouch YC, Burnham SC (represented by the Joint Clubs Committee), Essex OVERVIEW: The regatta is organised to enable entrants to pick and mix their racing experience.

Competitors can choose to race for the full eight days, just the Bank Holiday weekend, or the

mid-week series. Classes available for IRC rated boats, cruiser/racers, keelboats and dinghies.

One race per day, allowing plenty of time for socialising or family fun.

INSIDER TIP: The JCC is looking to attract entries from the many boats moored up in the local rivers and marinas, so please contact us if we can help this happen for you.

WEBSITE: burnhamweek.com

1-5 August Horning SC, Horning, Norfolk OVERVIEW: Horning Sailing Club Regatta Week is a truly unique spectacle on the Norfolk Broads.

For the first week in August the river comes alive with sailing boats, racing from 9am-6pm every day, with a variety of craft. Come and take part in the action yourself – visiting sailors welcome.

INSIDER TIP: A fun week for the whole family is planned, make the most of the social activities too, every night after sailing.

WEBSITE: horningsc.co.uk

MERSEA WEEK

22-27 August Dabchicks SC & West Mersea YC, Essex OVERVIEW: Mersea Week is a family and friends oriented week. The sheltered waters of the River Blackwater provide perfect conditions and space to run daily racing with expert race management and courses for all.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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9-11 September 2016

Supported by

Incorporating the Spinlock IRC Channel Islands Regional Championships

Push the boat out this year!

This September join us for three exhilarating days of high speed racing on the beautiful Jersey coast. Share the excitement on the water with sports-boats, cruisers, dinghies and catamaran classes. Step ashore and sample delicious delicacies by the beach as you unwind in Jersey’s welcoming and relaxing atmosphere.

Experience the best of the island’s attractions as you explore rugged cliffs, sweeping bays and secret coves.

Soak up the sun, sea and sand at Jersey’s flagship sailing event.

Call:

00 44 (0) 1534 732229

Email: info @jerseyregatta.com

1720 - 2020

Visit:

www.jerseyregatta.com

FEATURE

OULTON WEEK

21-26 August Waveney & Oulton Broad YC, Oulton Broad, Suffolk OVERVIEW: Oulton Week is a hectic six days of racing for dinghies, Squibs, local keelboat classes and River Cruisers. Even Stars are expected this year. Most dinghies compete in handicap races although there are class races for Lasers, Norfolk Dinghies and Hansa dinghies (sailed by members of Waveney Sailability).

The evening entertainment is great fun too.

INSIDER TIP: Contact the club for info about where to stay – but the best place is probably on a boat.

WEBSITE: wobyc.com

OVERY STAITHE REGATTA

18-22 August Overy Staithe SC, North Norfolk OVERVIEW: Overy Staithe Regatta offers a challenging tidal estuary, competitive handicap and class racing (including specific events for Laser, Laser Radial, OK, Sharpie, Mirror and Topper) and fun for sailors from the age of eight (and younger) to 80 (and a few beyond). Spectacular North Norfolk scenery and a classic clinker fleet means there’s something for everyone.

WEBSITE: overystaithesc.org.uk

PYEFLEET WEEK

31 July-6 August Brightlingsea SC, Brightlingsea, Essex OVERVIEW: The east coast’s premier annual dinghy week with great racing, awesome après-sailing and fun for all the family, all taking place in the safe but challenging estuary waters.

Cats, cadets, singlehanders, doublehanders, asymmetric and classic dinghies all welcome.

INSIDER TIP: Be prepared for a fantastic traditional dinghy week. Camping available nearby.

WEBSITE: pyefleetweek.com

24-29 July Royal Temple YC, Ramsgate, Kent OVERVIEW: Ramsgate Week is the RTYC annual, friendly regatta and a good alternative to Cowes.

IRC classes, cruiser classes, two-handed and classic class. We recognise that we must accommodate those that want to have a full week’s holiday and those that can take only a couple of days off. We look forward to welcoming both old and new competitors to our special regatta week.

INSIDER TIP: Sunday 24 July, Round the Goodwins (standalone event); Monday 25 July, IRC and Cruiser Classes (Monday-Friday Series); Tuesday 26 July, Coastal Race; Wednesday 27 July Coastal Race (IRC Regional Championship Wednesday-Friday Series); Thursday 28 July, QE2 Cup (IRC 2 Races); Friday 29 July, Gold Cup. SPONSORS: Whitstable Bay, Shepherd Neame, Miles & Barr Property Agent WEBSITE: ramsgateweek.com

CHRISSIE WESTGATE

RAMSGATE WEEK REGATTA

Mersea Week

STONE WEEK

1-5 August Stone SC, St Lawrence Bay, Essex OVERVIEW: Annual club regatta incorporating the Unicorn national championship. Visitors welcome.

INSIDER TIP: Five days of great racing and socials. Free camping on club grounds (subject to availability).

WEBSITE: stonesailingclub.org.uk

WHITSTABLE WEEK

1-5 August Whitstable YC, Sea Wall, Whitstable, Kent OVERVIEW: Competitive 10-race series over five days for dinghies and catamarans, combined with friendly social events and family activities.

Whitstable offers great fleet racing, and for the non-sailors/après-sail, the club is in the centre of the charming seaside town of Whitstable – perfect for shopping, restaurants and pubs.

INSIDER TIP: Check the Whitstable YC website for local accommodation – from bunk rooms to boutique hotels and holiday cottages.

WEBSITE: wyc.org.uk

WROXHAM WEEK

24-31 July Norfolk Broads YC, Wroxham, Norfolk OVERVIEW: Competitive race programme throughout the week for members and non-members to enjoy.

Socials include: commodore’s reception, quiz night, infamous Wroxham Open Regatta on Thursday evening, dancing to The Collective. Finish the week in style at the End of Regatta Party being entertained by Rococo Bar. Catering available throughout the week.

INSIDER TIP: Moorings available throughout the week, contact the office for more details. Book early for the moorings and social functions, it’s a popular week.

WEBSITE: nbyc.co.uk

SOUTH

BSC & SVYC REGATTAS

19-22 August Bembridge SC & Sea View YC, Isle of Wight OVERVIEW: Four days of dinghy and keelboat racing

DAVID WHITE

The week includes many traditions, not least the Round the Island Race – that is Mersea Island of course – for the much coveted Coconut Trophy.

There are daily starts and prize-givings for all classes: IRC, Local Handicap and White Sail Cruisers, Classic Yachts and Gaffers, Smacks, MFOBs, Dinghies Fast, Medium and Slow. Entry fees for yachts are £60 for the week or £15 per race, and for dinghies £40 for the week or £10 per race.

A vibrant social scene includes bands and events every day at both clubs after racing.

Food is available at both clubs and there are many local pubs and famous eateries, with accommodation available locally.

INSIDER TIP: Mersea Week publicity officer Chrissie Westgate says: “There really is something for all the family and all age groups.

Try our famous Native oysters and locally caught fish, or the wonderful beach for the non-sailors, where one can view the racing.

“In 2015 Mersea Week attracted more than 800 competitors and the event increases in popularity every year. We have some incredible sponsors and it is thanks to their generosity that we are able to keep the entry fee low, and provide excellent shore side entertainment.”

WEBSITE: merseaweek.org

REGATTA WEEKS

Pyefleet Week

in the Eastern Solent. Racing on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 August is run by Bembridge Sailing Club, and on Sunday 21 and Monday 22 August

by Sea View Yacht Club. Dinghy races include Optimist, Lasers, fast and slow handicap, Solent Scows (BSC only) and SVODs (SVYC only).

Visitors always welcome. No entry fees.

INSIDER TIP: Visitors welcome.

SPONSOR: East Wight Combined Clubs WEBSITE: ewcc.co.uk

BOURNE END WEEK

28 May-1 June Upper Thames SC, Bourne End, Bucks OVERVIEW: Bourne End Week offers river racing at its best. Five days of racing on the wide and long reach of the Upper Thames at Bourne End in Bucks. Fast and slow handicap, class racing for Merlin Rockets, Wayfarers, OKs, Solos, National 12s and RS Fevas, alongside the Thames A Rater nationals. There is always good quality catering, camping available next to the clubhouse plus a very busy, and exciting, social programme. Beautiful setting with historic clubhouse and lawns.

INSIDER TIP: This is the best regatta for non

sailors and spectators. Spectators can watch all the action close-up from a deckchair on the lawn or from the Thames Path running along the riverbank for the length of the course.

SPONSOR: Volvo dealer Squire Furneaux Maidenhead WEBSITE: bew.utsc.org.uk

JUNIOR BOURNE END WEEK

2-4 June Upper Thames SC, Bourne End, Bucks OVERVIEW: Fun and games by the river for four to 18 year-olds. Everyone competes in fun team games, mixed in with some serious sailing. Race coaching is available for RS Fevas and Toppers for the Sharks who compete to be Champions of Junior Bourne End Week. There will be additional training and practice in Toppers and Otimists for the Dolphin beginners, plus crafts, optional Optimist sailing and rides for the youngest Starfish.

INSIDER TIP: Book early as every year there is a waiting list, and parental involvement is essential.

SPONSOR: Rotary Club of Bourne End and Cookham, principal sponsor WEBSITE: jbew@utsc.org.uk

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Royal Ulster Yacht Club

M A N Y D I F F E R E N T C L A S S E S • F U L L R AC I N G P ROG R A M M E F A M I LY F U N • S O C I A L E V E N T S

A FUN AAFUN FUN

is proud to be celebrating its

150th Anniversary in 2016

Anniversary Events June & July Todd Navigation Ailsa Craig Race Sigma 33ood UK & Irish Championship Keelboat and One-design weekend Anniversary Sail Past Templeton Robinson Annual Regatta Gala Dinner Scottish Cruise in Company with Irish, Clyde, Ocean and Royal Cruising Clubs Visiting boats are all welcome to join us in our anniversary celebrations

H O S T E D B Y PA R K S T O N E YA C H T C L U B I N T H E B E A U T I F U L WAT E R S O F P O O L E H A R B O U R

SUN 21ST TO

FRI 26 TH AUG

Royal Ulster Yacht Club

101 Clifton Road, Bangor, Co Down BT20 5HZ Tel: 028 9127 0568 E: info@ruyc.uk Web: www.ruyc.uk

F I N D O UT M O R E A N D E NTE R @ W W W. POO LE W E E K .O RG E A R LY B I R D D I S C O U N T S F O R B O O K I N G S B Y 8 T H A P R I L 2 0 1 6 ©Photograph courtesy of David Harding/www.sailingscenes.com

FALMOUTH WEEK REGATTA 2016 Saturday 6th to Saturday 13th August

Join us for friendly and competitive racing for boats of all classes, with hospitality and lively entertainment at a different host club within the port each day.

Full supporting shoreside program.

Sailing for all with fun for the family High quality racing in superb sailing waters.

Traditional classes (Falmouth Working Boats, Sunbeams, St Mawes One Designs) racing with modern yachts and day boats.

A variety of race formats.

Enter for a 3 day series or for the full 7 day week.

Outstanding shoreside programme, including Red Arrows Display team, Fireworks Display, Falmouth Marching Carnival, “Five” and the Wurzels in Events Square, plus much more.

www.falmouthweek.co.uk raceoffice@falmouthweek.co.uk

16

FEATURE

REGATTA WEEKS

CHICHESTER HARBOUR RACE WEEK

15-19 August Chichester Harbour Federation at Hayling Island SC, Hants OVERVIEW: Great regatta at one of England’s top sailing locations on the open yet sheltered water at the mouth of Chichester Harbour. Fleet and handicap racing on three separate courses for dinghies from 49ers to Toppers, Solos to RS400s. Early-bird on-line entry discount and expanded social programme for 2016. Relaxed atmosphere, loads of activities for friends and family, sandy beach, ample free parking.

INSIDER TIP: Come to the How to Win Race Week workshop and learn how to beat the locals.

SPONSOR: Tooway by Bentley Walker WEBSITE: chichesterharbourraceweek.sailevent.net

classic boats, with exceptionally well organised racing and extensive social programme.

SPONSORS: Charles Stanley, Harken, Hudson Wight, Red Funnel, NMS Marketing, Winkworth Estate Agents WEBSITE: cowesclassicsweek.org

COWES DINGHY WEEK

23-27 July Gurnard SC, Shore Road, Gurnard, Isle of Wight OVERVIEW: Five afternoons of regatta sailing in the challenging waters of the western Solent. Class racing for eight or more entries along with three handicap classes. Three mornings of cadet racing plus morning ladies’ race and parent and child race. All supported by a full social programme.

Dinghy Week secretary Joyce Martin says what makes the week special, is that it is entirely

CHICHESTER YACHT CLUB DINGHY WEEK

COWES WEEK

2-6 August Chichester YC, Chichester Marina, Birdham, West Sussex OVERVIEW: Dinghy Week is five days of relaxed racing, casual sailing and socialising. There is an additional focus on families and juniors. While the majority of racing is handicap, fleet racing will be provided for any class with sufficient entries.

Alongside our racing programme, we have a start racing fleet and busy social programme.

WEBSITE: cyc.co.uk

COWES CLASSICS WEEK

11-15 July Royal London YC OVERVIEW: Charles Stanley Cowes Classics Week is for classic yachts, dayboats, old gaffers, spirit of tradition and metre boats. Check online if your own boat is eligible to enter and join the fastest-growing regatta.

Superlative boats, homemade cakes and a good dose of fun combine to make it a regatta with a difference – where beauty and style are as important as speed, and having a great time is as important as winning.

INSIDER TIP: The greatest annual gathering of

volunteer-driven, “from running the kitchen and bar through to organising the racing and manning the safety boats – and this makes for a friendly welcome for all visiting sailors and their families.

At the same time, competition amongst the classes is often fierce, with the best of the sailors fighting it out for the title of overall winner and the Yachts & Yachting trophy that comes with it.”

INSIDER TIP: Book your ferry early for the best deal.

SPONSORS: Lancaster Estate Agents and Henri Lloyd WEBSITE: gurnardsc.org

JOG 65TH ANNIVERSARY ROSCOFF 28 May - 3 June Junior Offshore Group OVERVIEW: Mark this milestone in JOG’s illustrious

6-13 August Cowes, Isle of Wight OVERVIEW: Cowes Week is a must-do regatta on the global sailing calendar. It is the largest sailing regatta of its kind, attracting between 800 and 1,000 yachts in up to 40 classes. More than 7,000 competitors race – from leisure sailors to world class champions – while onshore there is a lively après-sail atmosphere. Even if you don’t own a yacht, lots of opportunities to crew, charter and spectate make it inclusive for all.

INSIDER TIP: Enter before 23:59 Tuesday 31 May for an early bird discount. The dedicated website has all the details for both competitors and visitors, complete with online entry, racing documents and entertainment schedule!

WEBSITE: aamcowesweek.co.uk

ALAN CROWHURST/GETTY IMAGES

C/O GURNARD SC

Cowes Dinghy Week

history. A challenging offshore series race from Cowes early on Saturday, via Casquets and Sark to Roscoff, where the fleet is expected to arrive through Sunday. Enjoy the celebrations on Monday before Tuesday’s fun not-for-points race to Treguier with a rest day on Wednesday before Thursday’s start to St Peter Port.

INSIDER TIP: Swot up on Channel Island and North Brittany tides then tie up in Roscoff and relax into the fun element of the week.

SPONSOR: Clanfield Properties WEBSITE: jog.org.uk

MUDEFORD WEEK

1-7 August Mudeford SC, Mudeford, Dorset OVERVIEW: A family regatta held in Christchurch Harbour. Each day has a mix of sort-of-serious racing and fun events with a social in the evening. The race fleet is divided into fast and slow at PY 1180, but novice racers can choose which fleet to sail in regardless of boat type.

Juniors sail with the slow fleet unless they are particularly talented. Entry on the day OK. INSIDER TIP: The Harbour is limited in depth – dinghies with long daggers and rudders will be at a big disadvantage. The ideal boat is L2K or Laser-sized.

WEBSITE: mudefordsc.org

POOLE WEEK

21-26 August Parkstone YC, Poole, Dorset OVERVIEW: This summer Parkstone YC in Poole is once again hosting Poole Week, an actionpacked six day regatta for all dinghies and small keelboats. Offering a great opportunity to experience some of the best sailing on the south coast, the event caters for a wide variety of classes and provides a mixture of racing formats in the beautiful surroundings of Poole Harbour.

INSIDER TIP: A daily prizegiving held in the clubhouse includes on-the-spot prizes, so everyone is in with a chance. Don’t miss out.

WEBSITE: pooleweek.org

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Fowey Royal Regatta

CAMEL WEEK

13-18 August Rock Sailing and Water Ski Club, Rock, Cornwall OVERVIEW: Offers visitors to this famous part of Cornwall the chance to sail on the beautiful Camel Estuary and Padstow Bay. It is a very family oriented club offering a warm welcome to sailors of all standards. The clubhouse has a panoramic view with a well-stocked bar and fabulous food. The regatta is open to: Dinghies Great Lakes Handicaps (GLH) 600 – 1650; Multihulls GLH <600; Shrimper 19s; Shrimper 21s.

INSIDER TIP: The racing usually takes place over high water, which leaves plenty of time during the rest of the day to enjoy all the other great activities the area has to offer.

SPONSOR: Sharp’s Brewery WEBSITE: rswsc.co.uk

JUNIOR CAMEL WEEK

28 July-3 August Rock Sailing & Water Ski Club, Rock, Cornwall OVERVIEW: A week’s racing – one race a day – starting around midday on the first day and slipping back each day to a late afternoon race followed by prizegiving. Entry includes games, dinner and disco. As popular with locals as it is with visitors countrywide, Junior Camel Week hosts any kind of monohull with a PY between 987 and 1649 and sailors from the ages of eight to 17.

INSIDER TIP: The local area also provides plenty to do when not sailing: surfing, walking or just relaxing on the beach.

SPONSOR: John Bray Cornish Holidays & Ann’s Cottage Surf Shops WEBSITE: rswsc.co.uk

FALMOUTH DINGHY & CATAMARAN WEEK

15-19 August Restronguet SC, Mylor, Falmouth, Cornwall OVERVIEW: Now in its third year, the regatta offers a five-day programme of competitive and fun racing for sailors of all abilities and ages in the beautiful Carrick Roads in the Falmouth Estuary, combined with socials and prizegivings.

Organised by Restronguet SC with support from St Mawes SC and local partner Windsport. Both dinghies and catamarans are welcome.

INSIDER TIP: Falmouth has accommodation for all price ranges. Book early.

SPONSOR: Gul WEBSITE: falmouth-dinghy-week.co.uk

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

FALMOUTH WEEK

7-13 August Helford River SC, Mylor YC, Restronguet SC, Royal Cornwall YC, St Mawes SC, Flushing SC OVERVIEW: The Falmouth Week Regatta features up to seven days of fleet racing for yachts and dayboats in the expansive waters of Falmouth Bay and the Carrick Roads (lower Fal estuary). Racing takes place each day from Sunday to the following Saturday, with daily and series prizes, complemented by comprehensive shoreside events for everyone. Many competitors combine the racing with their annual family holiday.

INSIDER TIP: Many viewing points on the banks of the River Fal. Another good vantage point is Pendennis headland, especially the ramparts of Henry VIII’s Pendennis Castle.

WEBSITE: falmouthweek.co.uk

Torbay Royal Regatta

on the website or by email pasab@pzsc.org.uk.

WEBSITE: pzsc.org.uk

RYA Active Marina, Yachthaven and MDL marinas WEBSITE: yacht-regatta.ppsa.org.uk

PLYMOUTH REGATTA

SALCOMBE YACHT CLUB REGATTA

15-17 July Port of Plymouth Sailing Association and Royal Western YC OVERVIEW: Plymouth Regatta 2016 incorporates the Seascape 18 nationals, the new UK Sports Boat Association HP 30 class nationals and the Devon Yawl nationals. Other classes catered for are Cruisers, J/24 and Squibs. The event has a good onshore social programme with reductions in both berthing and launching costs for competitors.

SPONSOR: Cattewater Harbour Commissioners,

14-20 August Royal Fowey YC and Fowey Gallants SC, Cornwall OVERVIEW: The Fowey Royal Regatta is very much a family regatta, being part of Fowey Carnival week.

Events occur daily on the Town Quay – carnival processions, gig racing and two firework displays, not to mention the children’s crab catching competition – plus seven days of racing for cruisers, keelboats, dinghies and Falmouth Working Boats.

INSIDER TIP: Huge fun if the sun shines.

SPONSOR: St Austell Brewery WEBSITE: rfyc-fowey.org.uk

Dinghies 20-23 August, Yachts & Keelboats 24-28 August Organised by the Joint Regatta Sailing Committee on behalf of Royal Dart YC, Dartmouth YC & Dittisham SC OVERVIEW: The usual mix of great racing and fun ashore, with a warm welcome for all assured at this historic Royal Regatta on the beautiful River Dart. To get a flavour of everything Dartmouth has to offer see our film of 2015 at: vimeo.com/138382461 Yacht racing starts with a Passage Race from Brixham on Wednesday 24 August, followed by four days of racing for all classes in Start Bay. Dinghies: adult racing at Dittisham SC (with additional prizes for those only able to do the weekend). Juniors at RDYC. For classes and entry fees see the NOR on the website.

Expect a vibrant atmosphere with live music, air displays, fireworks and regatta marquee, which is great for all, including families.

For self-catering visit our official accommodation agency – bluechipholidays.co.uk – or see our website for other providers. Afloat, Dart Harbour have kindly agreed to waive harbour dues (but not berthing fees) for competing boats, Wednesday to Sunday night inclusive.

INSIDER TIP: It is advisable to book entry and accommodation early to avoid disappointment.

Reduced entry charges apply before 31 July.

SPONSORS: Volvo Cars UK, Savills, Chatham Marine, Hawksmoor Investment Management, Baltic Wharf Totnes, Darthaven Marina, Blue Chip Holidays, Dart Harbour, Wollen Michelmore Solicitors, Spinlock & Dart Sails and Covers WEBSITE: dartmouthsailingweek.com

NORTH DEVON YACHT CLUB OPEN WEEK 9-14 August North Devon YC, Instow, Bideford, Devon OVERVIEW: North Devon YC’s Annual Open Week, sailed within the estuary on the confluence of the Taw and Torridge rivers. Classes for: Fast Catamarans, Sprint 15, Handicap 1 (up to PY 1199), Handicap 2 (PY1200+), Gaffers.

INSIDER TIP: Enter for the week or sail by the day.

SPONSOR: Sharp’s Brewery WEBSITE: ndyc.org

PASAB RACE

29 July–1 August Penzance SC, Albert Pier, Penzance, Cornwall, OVERVIEW: The annual PASAB race – Penzance Around Scillies And Back – departs 8pm Friday evening to race to St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly.

Race around the islands on Sunday before racing back to Penzance on Monday. More details available

7-12 August Salcombe YC, Cliff Road, Salcombe, Devon OVERVIEW: Salcombe offers a simply stunning sailing area with dramatic cliffs, golden beaches and unspoilt creeks. Families and friends can enjoy a great spectator sport from the splendid vantage point of the yacht club terrace with a commanding view of the start and finish line. Six days of sailing in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Great facilities for visiting sailors. Family social programme.

INSIDER TIP: Book now and pay before the end

DARTMOUTH ROYAL REGATTA SAILING WEEK

FOWEY ROYAL REGATTA

BIG BIRD DESIGN

SOUTHWEST

C/O ROYAL FOWEY YACHT CLUB

FEATURE

BORDERPHOTOS

REGATTA WEEKS

CLASSIC YACHTS & OLD GAFFERS This is a class for all yachts over 24ft length on deck, built of wood or steel before 1975 or in GRP before 1965. A division for Spirit of Tradition yachts may be allocated for boats built after the above dates to designs that reflect the appearance and virtues of classic yachts. There will be fleet splits depending on entries including non-spinnaker fleet.

Wilsonian Sailing Club MAIN ROAD HOO ROCHESTER KENT ME3 9HF Sponsored by MTS CLEANING SERVICES LTD and MSBA

MEDWAY DINGHY REGATTA PREMIER ANNUAL SOUTH EAST OPEN EVENT OF THE YEAR

SATURDAY 2ND & 3RD JULY 2016 RACING FOR 2000 BLAZE STREAKER WAYFARER FAST MEDIUM SLOW HANDICAP FLEETS

ON THE WATER

• 2 X RACES SAT AND SUN • PRIZES FOR INDIVIDUAL RACE WINNERS • PERPETUAL PRIZES FOR CLASS WINNERS EVE • KEEPSAKE PRIZES FOR CLASS POSITIONS

OFF THE WATER

• FOOD ALL W/END • TALLY RAFFLE • STEEL BAND SAT REDUCTION FOR ALL 4 RACES PAID TOGETHER ENTRY FORM AND NoR ON WEBSITE AND SAILRACER

WWW.WILSONIANSC.ORG.UK EMAIL INFO@WILSONIANSC.ORG .UK Visitors welcome on Fri 1st July Food available and Camping in tents and small Campavans

Torbay Royal Regatta 2016 20th to 23rd August 2016 Four days of competitive racing for Juniors, Dinghies and Asymmetric Classes. and at the same time Championship Racing for IRC, Unrated Cruisers and Sportsboats Hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club with racing taking place in some the finest sailing waters in the country Great social programme and shore side entertainment Enquiries welcome from class associations for National and Regional Championships to be part of this prestigious regatta

Contact us by email admin@rtyc.org or visit www.rtyc.org

FEATURE

charge – book early to avoid disappointment.

SPONSOR: Conwy Land Rover, part of Rybrook Cars Ltd WEBSITE: abersochkeelboatweek.org

TORBAY ROYAL REGATTA

MENAI STRAIT REGATTAS

WALES

GJW ABERSOCH DINGHY WEEK

23-29 July South Caernarvonshire YC, Abersoch, North-West Wales OVERVIEW: Week of family-friendly dinghy racing just off the main beach in Abersoch.

Racing in the morning for the singlehanders and the kids and in the afternoon for the rest.

Best week of the year in one of best sailing venues in the UK. INSIDER TIP: Get your accommodation and beach hut booked early, enter on WebCollect and be prepared for a fantastic family week.

SPONSOR: GJW Direct Insurance WEBSITE: scyc.co.uk

ABERSOCH KEELBOAT WEEK

21-26 August South Caernarvonshire YC, Abersoch, North-West Wales OVERVIEW: An established event in the calendar for over 40 years and renowned as being a fun regatta with a serious edge – a relaxed atmosphere off the water complements the competition on it for a memorable week. Racing for Small Keelboats, IRC, and White Sails (Non Spinnaker). Socials include kick-off dinner, class suppers in SCYC’s Cove Restaurant, karaoke and the not-to-be-missed daily prizegiving.

INSIDER TIP: A limited number of moorings will be available to visiting yachts, free of

1-13 August Mostly hosted by Royal Anglesey YC but also other clubs in North-West Wales OVERVIEW: Twelve days of keen racing in 15 classes from off-shore to dinghies. Also Celtic long-boat racing on both Saturdays. There are many social events in the evenings run by the various clubs, to which all are cordially invited.

INSIDER TIP: Accommodation is at a premium in August so early booking recommended.

Permits for dinghy parking on the green available from the regatta office at Royal Anglesey YC or from regatta secretary Ian Bradley: secretary@menaistraitregattas.org.uk.

WEBSITE: menaistraitregattas.org.uk

Findhorn Week

SCOTLAND

EAST COAST WEEK

2-8 July Royal Tay YC, West Ferry, Dundee OVERVIEW: Includes a coastal rowing event, dinghy regatta, keel series and the Scottish and Northern Squib Championships. Full social programme including skippers’ reception, crews rowing race and live music.

INSIDER TIP: Free craning, swinging mooring, ferry service and limited camping on site.

WEBSITE: royaltay.org

COLIN JOHNSTON

20-23 August Royal Torbay YC, Torquay, Devon OVERVIEW: The Royal Torbay YC is once again hosting the Torbay Royal Regatta, with four days of racing for IRC Yachts, Unrated Cruisers, Sportsboats, Junior Dinghies, Asymmetric and Non Asymmetric Dinghies from Saturday 20 August to Tuesday 23 August, followed by a separate pursuit race on Wednesday 24 August.

Sailing will be over three courses on the renowned sailing waters of Torbay, and as commodore Bob Penfold explains: “This is one of the most prestigious regattas on the south coast, don’t miss it. The English Riviera is a great place to be in August and you can be sure of a warm welcome, cordial hospitality and great shoreside entertainment.

“Over many years the Royal Torbay YC has gained a well deserved reputation, hosting numerous regattas and championships, and 2016 promises to be another great occasion.” Already signed up are the Cherubs and 4000s for their national championships.

INSIDER TIP: The NOR and entry forms will be available shortly on the website. Book early for discounted entry fees. Free berthing and free parking for dinghies and trailers.

WEBSITE: rtyc.org

Abersoch Dinghy Week

IAN GREEN

of June to qualify for early entry discount.

SPONSOR: Henri Lloyd WEBSITE: salcombeyc.org.uk

REGATTA WEEKS

FINDHORN WEEK

4-8 July Royal Findhorn YC, Findhorn, Moray OVERVIEW: Open dinghy event taking place in Findhorn Bay. Open to all dinghies and multihulls. Classes for six or more boats at race officer’s discretion. Novice racing on separate course. Racing Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with fun racing Wednesday. Class Champion and Best of the Rest events Friday.

INSIDER TIP: Fun week for all the family, both afloat and ashore, with extensive social and racing programmes.

WEBSITE: rfyc.co.uk

SCOTTISH SERIES

27-30 May Organised by Clyde Cruising Club, racing on Loch Fyne OVERVIEW: Silvers Marine Scottish Series runs over four days in the stunning surroundings of Tarbert, Loch Fyne with a combination of Olympic (triangle-sausage) courses and passage races for IRC, CYCA, One Design and Restricted Sail (no Spinnaker) fleets. SMSS is Scotland’s largest regatta providing great competition at all levels and there are already more than 70 committed entries. Free craneage for sportsboats is supplied courtesy of Sailingfast. There is a great social programme. Full details on the website.

SPONSOR: Title sponsor Silvers Marine WEBSITE: scottishseries.com

TUMMEL WEEK

25-29 July Loch Tummel SC, Pitlochry, Perth and Kinross OVERVIEW: A fun family week sailing on one of Scotland’s inland lochs, hosting a total of 50 to 60 boats for a two-races-a-day regatta, along with a lively social and off-the-water series of events. The week starts with a Sunday night supper after the club’s anniversary race on Sunday 24 July and all classes of dinghies are welcome.

WEBSITE: lochtummelsc.org

WEST HIGHLAND YACHTING WEEK

30 July-5 August Oban SC, Royal Highland YC, Western Isles YC OVERVIEW: A unique moving regatta taking in three venues: Craobh, Oban and Tobermory.

WHYW offers competitive racing with anexcellent après-sail social programme. The regatta is a six-day mix of passage and Olympic racing for 10 classes using CYCA and IRC handicaps. Four classes are for restricted sail. WHYW is an event for all the family with something for everyone.

INSIDER TIP: This is one of the best loved regattas in the UK – come and enjoy fabulous racing, spectacular scenery and great camaraderie on Scotland’s west coast.

SPONSORS: Tunnock’s, Argyll and Bute Council, Tobermory Harbour

Association, Owen Sails, Dunstaffnage Marina, Gaelforce Marine WEBSITE: whyw.co.uk

IRELAND

Royal Ulster Yacht Club

17 June-1 July Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Belfast, Northern Ireland OVERVIEW: A series of events on the water and ashore to celebrate RUYC’s 150th Anniversary beginning with the Sigma 33 UK National Championship 17-19 June followed by a Classic Keelboat weekend on 24-26 June with the Club’s Annual Regatta on 25 June including a Parade of Sail of classic yachts some of which have raced on Belfast Lough since the 1890s.

The event concludes with a Gala Dinner on 1 July. A full programme of social events ashore is planned around the activities on the water.

WEBSITE: ruyc.co.uk

WIORA 2016

29 June-2 July Royal Western YC of Ireland, Kilrush, Co Clare, Ireland OVERVIEW: The West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association premier sailing event for the west coast of Ireland, hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club

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West Highland Yachting Regatta

SIMON ROPERT

FEATURE

RON COWAN

REGATTA WEEKS

Jersey Regatta

of Ireland and raced on the waters of the Shannon Estuary. Four days – seven races – IRC and Echo.

WEBSITE: wiora.org or westernyachtclub.com

CHANNEL ISLANDS

TIM WRIGHT

JERSEY REGATTA

CORK WEEK

10-15 July Royal Cork YC, Crosshaven, County Cork, Ireland OVERVIEW: Fantastic sailing and famous Irish hospitality. An eclectic mix of classes, competitors and great racing, run by volunteers with the good humour of Cork Week’s 10,000 visitors. Courses range from Atlantic wind and waves to the tricky tidal confines of Cork Harbour, with racing for IRC, Two-Handed, White Sail and One Design classes,

including this year the inaugural IRC Europeans, while ashore there is the legendary ‘craic’ ashore hosted by the Royal Cork YC. INSIDER TIP: Book accommodation well in advance. For those wanting more racing, the RCYC is offering free berths for any Cork Week competitor from 15 July until the start of Calves Week in West Cork or Cowes Week in the Solent.

SPONSOR: Volvo Ireland WEBSITE: corkweek.ie

8-11 September Royal Channel Islands YC (St Aubin’s Harbour), St Helier YC (St Helier Harbour) and St Catherine’s SC (St Catherine) OVERVIEW: The UBS Jersey Regatta, incorporating the Spinlock IRC Channel Islands Regional Championships, combines fun and competitive racing in a stunning location with a lively social programme ashore.

Chairman and event director Bill Harris says: “As the major highlight in the Island’s sailing programme, the combined clubs’ UBS Jersey Regatta is an open event that extends a truly warm welcome to visiting boats. The undoubted added value for UK-based cruisers is the cross-Channel passage, should they not already be sailing in Channel Islands waters.

We aim to provide a super sailing experience for all, from top-class sailors to occasional racers,

all of whom contribute equally to the warmth, enjoyment and excitement of this great event.

“The regatta is our sailing jamboree and one that provides a fitting climax to the Island’s summer programme. For our visitors, I can safely say that once bitten by the UBS Jersey Regatta bug, you will surely want to come again.”

Racing classes are for sportsboat, cruiser/ racer, dayboat, dinghy, sport-catamaran and windsurfer classes. Early bird fees for entries received no later than July 15.

SPONSORS: UBS AG (Jersey Branch), 4th year as principal sponsor; Ports of Jersey, provision of complementary berthing and services INSIDER TIP: Book early if you need accommodation, the Island really buzzes in September. For accomodation information see: visitjersey.com.

WEBSITE: jerseyregatta.com

Royal Harwich Yacht Club Regatta

WEEKEND

For those who may not have a full week to spare, weekend regattas include: 1-3 July Wilsonian SC, Hoo nr Rochester, Kent OVERVIEW: Social on the Friday, racing Saturday and Sunday. Four races in fast, medium and slow fleets plus 2000, Blaze, Streaker, Wayfarer and junior racing.

SPONSOR: MTS Cleansing Services WEBSITE: wilsoniansc.org.uk

ROYAL HARWICH REGATTA 20-21 August Royal Harwich YC, Ipswich, Suffolk OVERVIEW: Multiple dinghy classes and cruiser racing, from the great new clubhouse on the banks of the River Orwell at Wolverstone, Ipswich. Activities for young and old alike.

WEBSITE: royalharwichyachtclub.co.uk

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

LYMINGTON DINGHY REGATTA

30-31 July Royal Lymington YC & Lymington Town SC, Hampshire OVERVIEW: Building on 2015’s regatta success when over 100 boats took to the water. Class starts for Fast, Medium, Slow, LR Scow, Fireflies, D-One, RS Aero and many more on two race tracks.

INSIDER TIP: Avoid missing out with early bird entry as numbers are limited.

WEBSITE: rlymyc.org.uk

GOODACRE CUP

27-29 August Roadford Lake SC, nr Lifton, Devon OVERVIEW: Popular end of summer event at the Southwest’s largest reservoir. All dinghy classes welcome. Nine races over three days, with modest entry fee.

Relaxed sailing, camping available on site, BBQ Saturday and Sunday night.

INSIDER TIP: Book your campsite/caravan early at swlakestrust.org.uk WEBSITE: roadfordlakesailingclub.org.uk

SCARBOROUGH YACHT CLUB SAILING REGATTA 27-29 August Scarborough YC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire OVERVIEW: One of the premier sailing regattas on the north-east coast, with great sailing and hospitality.

SPONSOR: James Stockdale Ltd WEBSITE: syc.org.uk

PODD

21-22 May Paignton SC, South Quay, Paignton Harbour, Devon

OVERVIEW: PODD – Paignton Open for Doublehanded Dinghies – follows the club’s POSH event (Paignton Open for Single Handers) on May 7-8. Three races a day, early entry fee, club bar after racing. Meal included in the entry fee for helmsman and crew.

INSIDER TIP: Entries capped at 70 boats so pre-enter online now.

WEBSITE: paigntonsailingclub.com C/O RHYC

MEDWAY DINGHY REGATTA

MUDHOOK REGATTA

11-12 June Mudhook YC, nr Helensburgh, Scotland OVERVIEW: The Old Pulteney Mudhook Regatta will determine the IRC Scottish Championship and provide competitive racing for one design and CYCA Handicap Classes. Socials at Helensburgh SC, berthing packages at Rhu Marina.

SPONSOR: Old Pulteney – Single Malt Scottish Whisky WEBSITE: mudhookyc.co.uk

GUERNSEY REGATTA

3-4 September Guernsey YC, Channel Islands OVERVIEW: Friendly multi-class regatta in challenging tidal waters for Yachts (IRC + non-IRC), Catamarans and Dinghies, Juniors and Seniors welcome. Incorporates Kona One Windsurfer UK Nationals, Hobie Tiger UK and Hobie Wildcat UK nationals, and entertaining socials.

SPONSOR: Price Bailey Chartered Accountants WEBSITE: gyc.org.gg

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CLUBS & CLASSES

Submit your event reports to club@YachtsandYachting.co.uk

CLUBS & CLASSES In demanding breezy conditions, many UK winter series events lived up to their name – but record numbers have been taking part. PAULA IRISH reports

TIM WRIGHT 2016

Barton wins Roadford Rocket

Record fleet for Caribbean 600 The eighth edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 saw a record 70-yacht fleet gathering in the starting area outside English Harbour, Antigua.

George Sakellaris’ Maxi72 Proteus (USA) completed the 600nm course around 11 Caribbean islands in an elapsed time of 48 hours 22 minutes 16 seconds to score the best time after IRC correction to win the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy, and also the IRC Zero class.

Lloyd Thornburg’s MOD70 Phaedo3 meanwhile, co-skippered by Brian

Thompson, finished after 31 hours, 59 minutes, four seconds, breaking its own multihull race record.

Taking Monohull Line Honours was Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze Clark’s American VPLP-Verdier 100 Comanche, with an elapsed time of 40 hours 53 minutes two seconds.

Eric De Turkheim’s French A13 Teasing Machine won IRC One and claimed third overall.

“We like to win but not at any cost,” said De Turkheim. “The ambience on

board is fantastic and we were often toasting our performance with a small glass of red wine!”

Ross Applebey’s British Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster, won IRC Two for the fourth time: “We are proof that you can come to play on a charter boat and win at one of the world’s greatest offshore races,” said Appleby.

Conor Fogerty’s Irish Sunfast 36, Bam, won IRC Three, while Chris Frost and Elin Haf Davies, racing J/120 Nunatak won the IRC Two Handed class.

Records Smashed in Round St Maarten Race Records tumbled on the Round St Maarten Race as the first day of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta enjoyed a lively start.

A total 193 yachts set off on the 26 mile circumnavigation, with strong trade winds from

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

the east. Lloyd Thornburg’s Phaedo3 finished in an elapsed time of 1 hour 19 minutes and 59 seconds, establishing a new race record after a wild ride at speeds topping 30-35 knots, winning the Multihull 1 Class.

Lord Irvine Laidlaw’s RP82, Highland Fling XI, finished in an elapsed time of 2 hours 12 minutes and 32 seconds, another new race record, while Peter Harrison’s TP52 Sorcha was declared the overall winner. “It was a

fantastic blast and we were home before lunch!” said Sorcha’s Campbell Field.

Ross Applebey’s British Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster, was holed on the waterline the day before, was repaired overnight and won CSA 2.

Round two of the South West Challenge 2016 was the Exe Sails Roadford Rocket – 34 entered for the second running of the event at Roadford reservoir, in a gusty northeasterly.

Conditions were attritional with capsizes, breakages and retirements on the big figure-of-eight course. The Laser Radials started first in the pursuit race but on the second lap the RS Aero 7 of Lymington’s Peter Barton moved into the lead and never looked like being caught by the Ospreys.

Local Supernova sailor Norman Halstead was just overhauled on the line by the Osprey of Terry Curtis and Peter Greig.

Fourth was Laser Radial sailor Dave Stockton ahead of the Osprey of Ben and Simon Hawkes (also first junior), both from Wimbleball SC. First lady helmsman was Ros Downs, Osprey, from Tata Steel.

The event raised £300 for the Calvert Trust on Exmoor.

Shaw’s silver at RS:X Windsurfing Worlds

GBR’s consistent Bryony Shaw claimed a silver medal at the RS:X Windsurfing World Championship in Eilat, Israel. In a closely-fought double points medal race the 32-year-old claimed her second consecutive world championship silver.

“I just tried to stay solid all week,” said Shaw. “It was never over until it was really over and the medal race proved that.”

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

CLUBS & CLASSES

Big breezes at Illusion nationals Twenty Illusionists made the start of the first race at the class national championship held in Bembridge Harbour in cold and breezy conditions.

With an east-northeast Force 5, a long course was possible but as tends to be the case with that wind direction, the beats were one-sided with the St Helen’s shore the way to go. Andy Blundell had a perfect port-tack flyer but was unable to hold off Mark Downer, Julia Bailey and James Meaning.

In race two, Downer again led, with Bailey snapping at his heels until Bruce Huber overtook for second. In race three Bailey seemed to be pointing much

higher than everyone else and soon developed a considerable lead ahead of Huber and Downer. The overnight leaders were Downer, Bailey and Huber.

Sunday’s conditions were similar and there was another win for Downer; then the second race of the day had a surprise in that Downer, Bailey and Huber were well down the fleet after the first round.

Bailey then set the pace in the final race ahead of Blundell and Huber.

Downer finished the race in fourth – enough to secure the overall championship on countback from Bailey, both on 10 points, with Huber just three points further back in third.

Topper sailors tackle Siberian conditions at Winter Regatta

With conditions sent from Siberia, the Volvo GJW Direct Topper Winter Regatta required true grit. A breezy first day at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy saw 152 eager 5.3 sailors take to the water.

Queen Mary SC’s Dan Thompson notched up the first race win and Llyn Brenig SC’s Harry Pulford took the second flight’s first race. Parkstone YC’s Elliott Kuzyk then followed with two straight wins and led overnight ahead of Dan Thompson and Hykenham SC’s Nicholas Welbourn.

Race three took its toll on many sailors with winds approaching 27 knots. In the 4.2 fleet Felpham SC’s Finlay Swanton took the first race and Monique Vennis-Ozanne the second, before racing was suspended as conditions worsened.

On day two, the wind didn’t ease until another three races were completed for both fleets. Elliott continued his form in the 5.3 fleet to win overall, and Dan Thompson worked hard to keep second. In the 4.2s Jack Berry took control of the day with three bullets claiming overall victory ahead of Felpham SC’s Finlay Swanton and Hill Head SC’s Monique Vennis-Ozanne.

Tim Evans won the Optimum Time Endeavour prize and the top three won kit from Rooster Sailing.

STEWART BERRY

PETER NEWTON

For the last day of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta, Caribbean sunshine and a 12 knot southeasterly greeted the 193 teams.

With no discard and just one race to go, every class was hanging in the balance.

In Maxi 1, Peter Harrison’s British TP52 Sorcha dominated the class with four straight bullets, while Irvine Laidlaw’s British RP82 Highland Fling X1 came in second. Maxi 2 saw Jeroen Van Dooren’s Dutch Swan 66, Lot66, hold on to win the class by a single point from Giancarlo Gianni’s Durlindana 3, with Alan Edwards’ British Swan 65, Spirit, a solid third.

The Volvo Class was won by Przemysław Tarnacki’s Lithuanian Farr 60, Ambersail while the Multihulls were dominated by Lloyd Thornburg’s untouchable American MOD70, Phaedo3. Jason Carroll’s Elvis was the king of the Gunboat class for the third year in a row.

In other results, Frits Bus’ Island Water World won the Melges 24 class; CSA 1 was won by Mark Chapman’s Trinidad team aboard Ker 11.3, Dingo; CSA 2 by Ross Applebey’s British Oyster 48, Scarlet Oyster; CSA 3 by Richard Wesslund’s Florida team on J/122 El Ocaso; CSA 4 by Ben Jelic’s St Maarten custom Kiwi 35, Wild Devil; CSA 5 by Sir Bobby Velasquez’s Beneteau 45 L’Esperance; CSA 6 by Ralph Magras’ x-34 Maelia from St Barths and Bareboat overall by Aleksei Dushkin’s Kiev Team Racing.

MIKE SAMUELSON

St Maarten Regatta Finale

High turnout for Alton Water Frostbite Alton Water SC’s Frostbite Series, sponsored by Fox’s Marine and Country, saw a healthy number of entries with 131 boats and all 18 races sailed in the 12 to count series.

The maximum number of starters in any one race was 85 and the minimum was 22, in a boat-breaking all-in single start for race number 16. An intrepid three boats sailed all 18 races despite winds gusting 40mph at times: Matt House (Phantom); David Conlon and Sarah Bines (RS200); and Graham Ireland (Laser Radial).

In the fast handicap fleet, the overall series win went to the Merlin Rocket of Dan Willet and Pete Nicholson from Brightlingsea SC, while the same club

also supplied the winners in the asymmetric fleet, with Conlon and Bines’ RS200 taking first. There was also a comfortable series win for Brightlingsea’s Peter Kyne in the Laser.

The medium handicap fleet provided the overall series winner – Lark sailors Alan Krailing and Charlotte Stewart from Waldringfield SC – who succeeded in beating all the competitors from across the five fleets based on average lap handicap racing.

In the slow fleet, Richard Townley in his Topper came out on top. This class also provided the winner of the Perseverance Trophy, which went to Waldringfield SC’s Tera sailor Alex Bell-Jones.

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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CLUBS & CLASSES

Merlin Rockets at Ranelagh

NEIL MARSDEN

sunny enough to need sunglasses, windy enough to mostly have both crew on the side upwind, and shifty and holey enough to cause all manner of problems if inadvertently caught out in too much tide.

Dan Alsop and Jennie King from Lyme Regis SC won to have their names on the trophy first won by Beecher Moore and Jack Holt, with Wembley SC’s Duncan and Jack Salmon second ahead of locals Frances Gifford and James Warren.

Olimpic 420 Grand Prix at Draycote

PIERRE DUNOYER

Despite coinciding with both Mothering Sunday and the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show, a strong turnout of 16 Merlin Rocket teams raced at Ranelagh for a trophy first awarded in 1946 – while those at Alexandra Palace were drinking Prosecco to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the class.

Six travellers from as far afield as Plymouth and Lyme Regis joined a 10-strong home fleet to do battle on the Thames between Putney and Hammersmith bridges. It was

Antiguan Valentine’s Regatta

The final of the Jolly Harbour YC Valentine’s Regatta in Antigua took place in solid trade winds which produced exhilarating sailing. The results of three of the four classes, racing under the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) rating rule, hung in the balance as racing got underway.

CSA One saw Pamela Baldwin’s J/122 Liquid win the last two races for victory. In CSA Two success went to Tanner and Shari Jones’ J/30 Caribbean Alliance Insurance. CSA Three saw Tony Sayer’s First 42 Augustine win the class. In the Pocket class Robbie Ferron’s Jeanneau 20, Budget Marine Micron 99, likewise kept up their winning ways.

Icicle at Bough Beech The Icicle series at Bough Beech SC was dominated by windy conditions over its eight-week run but this did not prevent a record entry of 118 boats.

In the asymmetric fleet, first overall went to Luke and Trevor Boughton (2000) ahead of the RS200 teams of

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

Mike Warwicker and Kate Fitzsimmons in second and Mike Chapman/Lynne Ratcliffe in third.

The conventional fleet was won by John Clementson and Melanie Titmus (Scorpion) with Elliot Marks (Laser Radial) second overall, and Richard Sharp (Finn) third.

An Arctic weekend at Draycote Water SC kicked off the Olimpic 420 Grand Prix series with the 18 teams benefiting from a learning environment within the context of a proper racing programme, with coaches Neil Marsden and Mike Wood and PRO Andy Shorrock.

Robbie King and Marcus Tressler took

a convincing win, even before discarding two OCSs. Second, third and fourth were all equal on net points – Alexander Hughes and Tom Smith; Jo Kalderon and Ben Shorrock; and Milly Pugh and Matilda Matthews – hotly pursued by the new under 17 boat, Vita Heathcote and Milly Boyle in fifth.

470 gold medals for France and Croatia

Finn Europeans

A tight medal race battle in the 470 world championships in Argentina was won by Camille Lecointre/Helene Defrance (FRA) in the women’s fleet and Sime Fantela/Igor Marenic (CRO) for the men.

Series leaders Lecointre and Defrance had only a six point advantage going into the medal race but a fifth place secured their first ever world title. After a slow start, 2012 Olympic gold medallists Jo Aleh/Polly Powrie (NZL) dug deep to take silver ahead of previous winners Lara Vadlau/Jola Ogar (AUT).

GBR’s 2012 Olympic silver medallists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark had a difficult week finishing 15th. Writing on their Facebook page, they said: “I am sure we will look back and think how lucky we are to have made the mistakes at this time and to have had the chance to learn and improve.”

In the men’s fleet, Croatian team Fantela/Marenic used all their 15 years of experience together to claim gold, with silver going to Paul Snow-Hansen/Dan Wilcox (NZL). Three-time world champions Mat Belcher/Will Ryan (AUS) and Sofian Bouvet/Jeremie Mion (FRA) were on tiebreak, from a redress decision due to a scoring error, and were uniquely both awarded third place. GBR’s Luke Patience and Chris Grube finished fifth.

Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) won the Finn European Championship in Barcelona, with silver for Zsombor Berecz (HUN) and bronze going to Milan Vujasinovic (CRO).

Postma has never managed to convert a strong position into a major championship win and now heads into Rio with the European title around his neck after successfully holding his nerve in the medal race following a very light and shifty week of racing.

Britain’s Ben Cornish finished fifth overall and fourth European.

Arnell claims Icicle crown at Highcliffe SC

The Highcliffe SC Icicle Series finished with a wild race in Christchurch harbour in a west-south-westerly Force 5-6. A dozen boats braved the final race, with Finn sailors dominating.

The overall Icicle Series crown went to Christchurch SC Finn sailor Jack Arnell.

Mudeford’s Tim Reid in a Laser Radial was second overall ahead of Parkstone YC’s Stewart and Jack Bowen, sailing an RS200, in

third place.

Highcliffe SC Laser Radial sailors – Hamish Scott-Dalgliesh, Ken Fowler and John Phelps –took sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.

Cadet season opener at Burnhamon-Crouch

A total of 23 Cadet teams headed for the first open event of the Cadet calendar at the Zhik-sponsored Corinthian Otters event in Burnham-on-Crouch.

Consistent sailing from the Waldringfield SC duo of Ellie Wootton and Amelia Meyhew was enough for them to secure the event.

Isobel and Emily Speirs from Frensham Pond SC were second, with Hattie and Hamish Collingridge, also from Waldringfield SC in third.

Birdham Bandits win Wessex Winter Warmer

The return of Wessex SC’s (Southampton University) Wessex Winter Warmer attracted 18 of the UK’s top teams, with the final coming down to a battle for supremacy between the

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CLUBS & CLASSES

Laser Spring Qualifier at Weymouth

DAVID EBERLIN

A strong breeze and flat water at the Noble Marine Laser Standard Spring Qualifier at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy saw James Skulczuk and Anthony Parke leading overnight on joint points after three races, closely followed by Jack Cookson.

A gusty 12–16 knots from the north on day two saw another three races and Parke continued his good form to win overall from Cookson in second, with Skulczuk third.

In the 80 plus Radial fleet Hannah Snellgrove pulled off some solid comebacks but it was Daniel Whiteley who delivered the most consistent scoreline across all six races to take first overall in the tricky conditions, with Jake Farren-Price third.

Cambridge win Nottingham Snakebite The University of Nottingham’s Snakebite featured perfect breeze, sunshine and 18 teams – 15 from universities plus West Kirby Youth Team, a Notts County team, and Tonbridge School in a close fought battle of wits.

Racing in Fireflies at Notts County SC, teams blasted

through 78 races on day one, with 45 races on day two in bronze, silver and gold fleets before going into semis and finals. Cambridge Grey, Edinburgh Blue, NOGs and West Kirby Youth Team made for an exciting afternoon of close races, leaving Cambridge victorious and NOGs to take the silver.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 1 May IRC yachts, Spring nn Series 001, Island SC, Cowes 707 Edinburgh Cup, Port Edgar YC 707 Eastern Area Championship, Royal Corinthian YC, Burnham

2 May The Transat start, nn Plymouth Open Day, Chipstead SC

7 May Open Day, nn

MIKE SAMUELSON

Hollowell SC Glenham Trophy Race, Jersey to Dahouët, Royal Channel Islands YC IRC Solent Championship, Royal Southampton YC

7-8 May Enterprise nn

Melges 20 Miami Winter Series round up

Liam Kilroy won top honours in the Melges 20 Miami Winter Series and, sailing with his crew of tactician Steve Hunt, Erik Shampain and Stephanie Roble, he also received the award for Best Helmsman Under 21. Reigning world champion John Kilroy on Samba Pa Ti finished second overall with Bill Hardesty and Jeff Reynolds.

Drew Freides and his Pacific Yankee team of tactician

Inland Championship, Bristol Corinthian YC Hayling Island SC 95th Anniversary weekend POSH Regatta, (Paignton Open for Single-Handed Dinghies), Paignton SC Solo Round the Isle of Wight and Inshore Races, Solo Offshore Racing Club Flying 15 Southern Championship, Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy

Morgan Reeser and bowman Charlie Smythe moved up to finish third overall, while John Brown captured his first ever Corinthian Miami Winter Series Championship title.

Win for Team Aqua at RC44 Bermuda Cup A last minute charge from Vladimir Liubomirov’s Bronenosec Sailing Team was not enough to displace Chris Bake’s Team Aqua from the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of the RC44 Bermuda Cup, the first event of the Sir Russell Coutts-conceived one design’s special 10th anniversary season.

Bala Massacre

Victory in the Bala Massacre pursuit went to the Merlin Rocket team of Ben Hollis and James Dawes.

8 May Monohull nn

dinghies, Spring Regatta, Strathclyde Loch SC

NIGEL BROOKE

Birdham Bandits and BYOB. In a best-of-five final the Birdham Bandits (Tim Saxton, Holly Scott, George Yeoman, Sophie Ormsby, Sam Littlejohn and Kate Devereux) continued to dominate, taking the first three races and the title, having lost only one race all weekend.

10-15 May RC44 World nn

Lymington Perisher finale The final event of Lymington Town SC’s eight-race Perisher Series took place in marginal conditions with the breeze gusting to 30 knots. This, combined with an outgoing tide, made the Western Solent look formidable. Overall, Luke and Emma McEwen’s RS800 secured the series with a race to spare.

Pete Barton (RS Aero) took second spot with team Willis, Keith and Julie, grabbing bronze in their RS Venture.

Championship, Sotogrande, Spain

12 May Antigua to nn

Bermuda Race start, Royal Bermuda YC/ Antigua Sailing Week

14-15 May Optimist nn

Inland Championship, Grafham Water SC Spring Regatta, Royal

Channel Islands YC Wayfarer Western Championship, Arun YC 20-22 May IRC yachts, nn

Vice Admiral’s Cup, Royal Ocean Racing Club

21-22 May Wayfarer nn

Eastern Championship, Royal Harwich YC Flying 15, Northern Championship, Derwent Reservoir SC

24-29 May Yanmar Moth nn World championships 2016, Hayama Yacht Harbour, Japan

27-30 May Silvers Marine nn Scottish Series, Clyde Cruising Club

28-31 May Dart 18 nn

National Championship, Stokes Bay SC

28-30 May IRC yachts, nn

Poole Regatta, Poole Yacht Racing Association British Moth, Fowey Weekend and Sea Championships, Fowey Gallants SC Squib, Eastern Championship, Medway YC

28-29 May Squib Spring nn Regatta, Aldeburgh YC

28 May-1 June Bourne nn End Week, Upper Thames SC Merlin Rocket, River Championship, Upper Thames SC

28-30 May Monohull nn

dinghies/multihulls, Rock Spring Cup, Rock Sailing and Waterski Club IRC, Southern Championship, Poole YC

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

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SUPPORTED BY

Y&Y GOLD STAR AWARDS noblemarine.co.uk | 01636 707606

waves and ice cold temperatures.

As he summed up before leaving: “I will be totally outside of my comfort zone and expect this experience to be exciting, boring, cold, hot,

wet, scary, uncomfortable, exhausting, fun, rewarding and exhilarating.... I have no idea how I will cope but I will have to as I won’t be able to get off !”

It will all, however, be for a cause

C/O DAVID BIRCH

DAVID TACKLES CROSS-CHANNEL PICO CHALLENGE

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

extremely close to his heart. Rick’s mother, Ann was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in July 2014, a disease which her own mother – Rick’s grandmother – was diagnosed with in her sixties.

His mother says that she is ‘proud that Rick has chosen to take this challenge on... and proud he has chosen to support Bloodwise.’

Around 38,000 people of all ages are diagnosed with blood cancers and related disorders every year in the UK. To support Rick visit: justgiving. com/Rick-Lawrence2 and donate.

NOMINATE

ONEDITION

The longest Rick Lawrence had ever spent at sea before undertaking GOLD STAR AWARDS two stages of the Clipper Round the World Race was four days. Yet despite admitting before setting off that he was completely out of his comfort zone, he was determined to celebrate his 50th birthday aboard 70ft yacht Garmin while at the same time raising money for blood cancer charity Bloodwise, in support of his mum who was recently diagnosed with leukaemia.

The dad-of-two from Little Chalfont in Buckinghamshire started Leg 6 of the Clipper Race from Qingdao in China on March 20 – a little over one month ahead of his birthday on April 22 – heading across the north Pacific to Seattle in the USA. Leg 7 then races around the American coast to New York via the Panama Canal – adding up to a combined challenge of around 60 days and over 12,000 miles.

Rick is sailing with a team of 20, some of whom he has not previously met. He is racing against 11 other boats in a watch system rotating four-hourly in the night and six-hourly during the day. The North Pacific Ocean can produce some of the toughest weather conditions, including 70 foot

ONEDITION

Rick’s 12,000-Mile Race for Leukaemia Research

Also planning to overcome a sailing challenge for a good cause is David Birch, a car park attendant at MDL’s Torquay Marina, who intends to cross the 75 miles from Guernsey to Torquay in a 9ft Laser Pico to raise money for the Devon-based Rowcroft Hospice.

Rather than go for the shortest route across the Channel, David has chosen a real test of endurance that’ll take 14-15 hours.

Although experienced aboard yachts, David has less than two years of singlehanded dinghy sailing to his name, but as he explains: “I just think that if you’re going to do something for charity then it should be a challenge, something

Every month Yachts & Yachting magazine’s Gold Star Awards page honours the achievements of sailors, clubs and classes. If you would like to nominate a grassroots hero of the sailing world for recognition on the page – whether it is for outstanding results, overcoming adversity, great sportsmanship or tireless volunteering.

Visit: yachtsandyachting. co.uk/gold-star-award

that you have to work hard to complete and worthy of people donating money to.”

The crossing, planned for May, will have a support boat alongside should it be needed, and David has been training hard.

To help with preparations, gather advice and enable followers to track his progress, David has set up a YouTube channel, posting regular video updates showing how he is getting on. He’s looking for sponsors, and hopes to reach and, with any luck, exceed his £5,000 fundraising target.

To find out more visit: justgiving. com/David-Birch8

TECHNICAL DIRECTORY

Technical Directory To book in the Technical Directory call 0207 349 3746 COPY DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE IS 25/04/2016 DRYSUITS

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Insurance Risk & Insurance Management & Consulting

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Composite Mouldings is a GRP & FRP Fibreglass builder running under Lloyds Register/ISO/SOLAS/MED standards.

Specialising in the manufacture and design of plugs, moulds (tooling) and mouldings in epoxy, polyester, vinylester (CSM/Wovens/Carbon Fibre/Aramid).

CML also carry out Repair contracts, they provide Training courses, Project Management and Design services.

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May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

93

DIRECTORY

DIRECTORY

To book in the Directory contact 0207 349 3746 COPY DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE IS 25/04/2016

COVERS

DINGHIES & SKIFFS

Experts in Manufacturing Boat Covers & Accessories sun rainand .co.uk

54 034 88 8 3 2 0 Tel: DINGHIES & SKIFFS GRP foils, combi bag, launching trolley, top and bottom covers, genuine sale, the boat is as new and ready to race. £4000 Tel 07702 103115 / 01323 893125 (SEAFORD) 29ER GBR2236 Sailed 4 regattas. Fully race prepared, all harken blocks and hardware, tapered sheets. Shock Sailing centreboard alignment and packing (cost £400), new halyards, Shock foot loops and carbon tiller extension, trolley, top and bottom covers, padded mast bag. Sails only used for one regatta. £5750 Tel 01244 300058 (ST. ASAPH) NATIONAL 12 3518 Paradigm 2. Fully sorted boat, but hardly used. Ready to race now. Adjustable carbon rig, Running rigging all spectra through ball bearing blocks, Sails in great condition, Foiled and standard rudders, Combi trailer, Top and bottom covers. £2900 Tel 07506 664639 (SALISBURY) SOLUTION 415 Very fast boat lots of winning history behind it. Hull is in excellent condition no scratches dings or dents. All new continues control lines. 2 sails. One original evolution full. 5year old Hyde flat.

Launching trolley only. Good condition top cover.

Foils vgc with rudder bag. Super spar rig. £2800 Tel 07786 673327 (LINCOLN)

DINGHIES & SKIFFS LASER 201358 EUROPA CUP WINNER Full & radial rigs XD spec white (sept 2011) dry boat full block set up GRP foils top under covers lazy bones carbon tiller & extension, trolley, all in very good condition incl sails, some items new. [Optional new road trailer for additional £300]. £3300 Tel 07854 547326 (MACCLESFIELD TOPPER TAZ GREAT TO GET KIDS GOING Topper Taz, fun & easy to sail, great for teaching kids basics but also brilliant fun in stronger winds. Sail number 1731, blue hull, launching trolley (collapsible), main, jib and cover. Two centre boards, one weighted to help prevent capsizing. Selling as kids older/using club boats. Car toppable easy to transport. £500 Tel 07808 808077 (ASHBOURNE) LASER 204019 YOUTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER 2012 Olympic boat. Youth Nationals Winner 2014, Youth European Winner 2015. Trolley, t/b covers, foil bag, two radial bottom sections, two top sections, one sail in excellent condition, two other nearly new sails for sale seperately, Carbon tiller and two carbon tiller extensions, XD spec. £3300 Tel 07771 980970 (FAREHAM) D ZERO 135 Up for sale as I want to upgrade to a new D-Zero. It was new in October 2014. Comes with big rig, brand new top cover and mast cover.

Excellent condition. £4900 Tel 07507 493209 (GRAFHAM) NATIONAL 12 3215 “The Fixx”. Rowsell built cold moulded hull (blue). Decks renovated. Alloy rig.

Two suits of sails, including one kevlar main, in good condition. Carbon dangly pole. Good P&B cover.

Good launching trolley. Good condition foils. All usual racing controls and fittings. Road trailer available, but road-worthiness unverified. £350 Tel 01275 878052 / 07876 205729 (BRISTOL)

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cockpit when cruising. Needs a refit but nothing major. Two sets of main sails, one with reef points.

Very good combi road/launch trolley trailer. New (2015) Trident blue cover. £350 Tel 07919 608430 (DRIFFIELD) SUPERNOVA 1025 Excellent condition, Comes with; black spars, excellent foils, a decent sail, adjustable tiller extension, good rain and sun cover, cocoon trailing cover, foil bag, trolley and padded toe strap. All ropes in good condition, very good condition hull, totally dry and light, waterline dark blue. £3000 Tel 07816 933873 (WOLVERHAMPTON) FIREBALL GBR 14694 1999 Winder wide-bow, light grey deck/light green hull with chute Freshwater sailed One previous owner, well maintained/dry stored out of season. Very good condition Owned for three seasons but sailed only part of first season.

Comes with a club level set of sails plus others. £3400 Tel 07770 416246 (NORTHWICH) LASER 207301 Laser Hull/Sail Number 207301 Standard Rig Carbon Tiller & Extension Combi bag Spar Carrier Top Cover. £3500 Tel 07967 480590 (NOTTINGHAM) 29ER 1908 EXCELLENT RACE READY CONDITION No leaks. 2 mainsails, Jib and 3 spinnakers, Harken race setup. Combi-railer with top and bottom covers and foil bag. Always carefully maintained, scratch free hull. Based in Surrey. £5000 Tel 07768 402928 (KINGSTON UPON THAMES) TOPPER New March 2015 47706. Dry and fast boat. Winner of Topper Nationals 2015. Sprint XL Special Oakley edition. 2 good sails. Boat hand picked by David Cockerill of Sailing Solutions direct from Topper. Fully race prepared with the best gear available. Top and bottom covers, foil bags and transom protector. £2600 Tel 07850 919180 (EXETER)

COMET DINGHY SAIL NO. 588 Built 1993, red hull/white deck, rear main. Ready to sail in good condition, folding launch trolley, foils, spars, top cover and recent Hyde sail. Original handbook and registration. £650 Tel 01926 815522 (RUGBY)

GP14 14025 2009 speed epoxy GP14, 1 main, 2 genoa, 3 spinnakers (speeds). Over/under covers, combi-trailer. Garage stored since 2013. Good racing pedigree 3rd Irish nationals 2011. Fixed rudder with foil bag + assorted spares. £4200 Tel 07456 571847(WALLINGFORD)

STREAKER SAIL NO 1275 White, plywood, amateur built, year unknown.12ft9” single-hander,light,fast, responsive and great fun. Room for 2 in large

LASER 209215 Laser 1 XD, A1 condition purchased new in June 2015 used for about 15 days, rolled standard rig sail as new carbon tiller and extension,

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

420 - ZIEGELMEYER - 51989 - SCOTLAND Selden Kappa Mast with adjustable Selden spreaders Selden Boom Superspars floating spinnaker pole Variety of sails and spinnakers Top Cover Under cover Mast Bags Rudder bag Launching trolley gunwhale hung Ready to race. £1700 Tel 07725 215440 (GLASGOW) 420 - ZIEGELMEYER - 53328 2006 hull Selden Kappa Mast with adjustable Selden spreaders - new 2012 Spare Selden Kappa Mast with adjustable Selden spreaders Selden Boom Superspars floating spinnaker pole Simon Cooke Rudder blade Simon Cooke centreboard Variety of sails and spinnakers Top Cover Under cover Mast Bags Rudder bag Launching trolley - gunwhale hung Road base Ready to race. £3250 Tel 07725 215440 (GLASGOW) DEVOTI D-ONE 11 Immaculate, barely used, garaged, combi trailer, all covers flat, boom up, undercover, spar covers, foil covers etc. Unused since Brightlingsea Europeans (came 6th). Grey Deck, Yellow Kite still crinckley and fast Hyde Mainsail. Expensive EXTENDED RACKS and all other modifications to bring it in line with the new boats. £5900 Tel 07849 127060 / 07472 961001 (BRISTOL) MERLIN ROCKET 3751 ‘STRINGS ATTACHED’ Built April 2013. Full Winder Boats Factory Build to the highest specification. Canterbury Tales Design.

Carbon Decks. Carbon Bow tank. Selden Carbon spars. Flyaway twin pole system. North Sales over cover. Winder Carbon lifting rudder. 2x full suits of HD sails. Combi road trailer with 10” wheels. Ready to race. Very well maintained. Can be viewed anytime. £12750 Tel 07971 688151 / 07827 418453 (LYNDHURST) RS VENTURE ‘S’ WITH BALLASTED CENTREBOARD Dark blue hull, ballasted centreboard, mylar and dacron mainsails, cover, keel band, rubber gunwale, o/b bracket, locker bag, antifouling, launching trolley, road trailer. Only sailed a few times due to health of owner and in as new condition.(List price new £14,980). £8995 Tel 0774 7795303 (CHICHESTER) SOLO 667. EXCELLENT CONDITION FOR AGE Restored in 2014. Stored under cover. Two sails (one

new, used three times). New cover and launching trolley included. Contact Mike. £550 Tel 01934 842768 (CHEDDAR) MIRROR 58171 Kit built wooden mirror. Epoxy coated. Good first boat. Bermuda rig with alloy boom. Spinnaker with modern pole launching system. Hull in reasonable condition for age with some repairs around centreboard case. Trolley.

Road Trailer available separately at £200. Contact julian.elwood@newellco.com. £750 Tel 01539 740296 / 0777 5696814 (KENDAL) LASER 204890 Standard rig, 3 sails - best used one week only. Little sailed last year and garage stored when not in use. Spare foils and tiller. XD with Harken blocks. Trolley, cover, compass, hiking bench. Road trailer for sale separately £200. Contact Julian. elwood@newellco.com. £3150 Tel 01539 740296 / 0777 5696814 (KENDAL) 18FT SKIFF TO FINISH - BRAND NEW Brand new 18ft skiff to finish. Comes with new set of foils and cradle - Dry stored. (Price is £20,000 + VAT.) TRADE. £24000 Tel 0191 2576011 (NORTH SHIELDS) LASER 154825 Good condition, used mainly for river and lake sailing. Combi trailer, two sails, XD controls, over cover. Water tight. Also advertised on other sites. £1350 Tel 07795 490233 (WALTON ON THAMES) LASER Radial 198883 Ex Youth Squad boat All the Harken go fast kit 3 Radial Sails 4 Topmasts, 2 Bottom Sections, 2 Booms Glass Foils with bag, 2 tillers/extensions Brand new top cover, undercover Trolley Double stacker trailer (will take both types of trolley) 1 girl owner, only ever sailed with radial rig for a year Unused for last 2 years . £3400 Tel 07976 411265 / 01726 832757 (FOWEY) GP14 MAST AND BOOM Proctor mast and boom for sale, very good condition but little used, mast has adjustable spreaders, standing rigging and jib halyard, fittings for spinnaker, boom has cutaway ends, photos available. £50 Tel 01865 820898 (WITNEY) WAYFARER Sail no 10513,cruising version, Hartleys August 2008. Oxford blue hill with non slip white decks. Comes with combi trailer, overboom cover, main slab reefing, genoa furler, aft side decks, outboard pad, mooring cleat,twin bow fairleads, anchor, paddle,Hawk indicator. Selling due to change of boat. £6500 Tel 01255 830848 (CLACTON ON SEA) LASER RADIAL 198883 Ex youth squad boat, all Harken XD, 3 sails, 4 topmasts, 2 bottom sections, 2 booms, Glass foils & bag, 2 tillers/extensions, New topcover, undercover, trolley, Double stacker trailer, 1 girl owner, only used for a year, unused last 2.

Great condition. £3400 Tel 07976 411265 / 01726 832757 (FOWEY) RS800 - 844 Watertight hull. Brand new top cover.

Combi trailer in good condition. 2 complete sets of sails, 1x set of foils with foil bags. Club sailed regularly, reluctant sale due to leaving the country.

Viewings welcome. Currently lying at Thornbury Sailing Club. Offers Welcome. £3000 Tel 07933 766559 (BRISTOL) RS800 - 1041 Mast Re-Varnished 2015 with 2 pack. New Shrouds Forestay Re-roped 2015.

Continuous Kicker + Cunningham. Refurbished Centerboard 2015. Refurbished Deck grip. Carbon tiller extension. Foil Bags Freshwater lake sailed Clean and tidy boat 1 Pinhead, 2 Jibs. 2 Kites. New breathable topcover Trolley Trailer. Can deliver, for fuel. Photos. £2900 Tel 07887 511532 (ASHBOURNE) OVINGTON 49ER 1425 Complete boat in excellent condition, comes with mast, boom, foils ,1 suit of sails, top cover, mast bag, foil bag. Ready to race package. Contact me for more details. £13500 Tel 07747 791793 / 01770 600952 (PORTLAND) ZIEGELMAYER 420, GBR 51800 Good condition 420, race rigged. Sails, boom, rudder etc have been stored indoors. 3 mainsails, 5 jibs (all Olympic sails), 2 spinnakers (speedsails), top and bottom covers. Mast and boom are superspar; centreboard and rudder are N1 Foils: very good condition. Carbon fibre tiller extension. Combi roadbase available £350. £1700 Tel +4477 73585207 (BRIGHTLINGSEA)

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DIRECTORY INSURANCE

the boat insurance people who really care Call us: 01732 223650 www.boatinsure.co.uk

The BoaT InsuranCe speCIalIsTs David Readman, Haven Knox-Johnston’s YACHTS & YACHTING QP new 100x137mm.pdf Business Account Manager

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DINGHIES & SKIFFS ALTO 118 Good condition, ready to race. Built 2012, white vinylester hull, Selden spars (carbon mast), DEM foils and Hyde sails. Recent upgrade to latest pole swing and jib sheeting systems and refurbished deck cover. Comes with launching trolley and PVC top cover. £7500 Tel 07890 658497 (GILLINGHAM) WINDRIDER WR17 TRIMARAN NEW, EX DEMO BOAT WR17 Trimaran, centre cockpit with foot steering pedals. Category ‘C’ fast stable, sailing simplified. Up to 3 crew. Yellow Rotomoulded hulls.

Fitted engine mount. New end of season ex demo boat. Adaptable for hand steering. Save over £2000 on new price. New boats accessories and Windrider16’s in stock. www.windriderboats.co.uk. £6950 Tel 02380 452021 (HAMBLE) STANDARD RIG BYTE 1611 Good condition Standard Rig Byte with nearly new sail. Launching trolley and boat cover. £450 Tel 07766 836210 (CIRENCESTER)

MERLIN ROCKET 3551 ‘RUSH IN BLUE’ Price reduction due to move Honeymoon design based on a Canterbury Tales Jackson design and build.

Fully spray painted wood with dacron foredeck.

Lots of sails including 1 good club/open meeting set. Cocoon cover for trailing. Made to measure Banks top cover. Carbon mast and twin, selflaunching carbon poles. Good trolley and road base with larger wheels. £2500 Tel 01837 89158 (NORTH TAWTON) OVINGTON B14 - GBR774 - DORIS Prepped by P&B. 3 suits of sails. Fully refurbished ally wings, trailer/trolley, 2013 top and undercover, CST carbon mast and new kite cockpit bag for 2015, so... loads of kit! *PRICE REDUCTION* . £5000 Tel 07533 005194 (SOUTHAMPTON) LASER VAGO Sail no 598, c/w std and XD mains, XD gen,2 covers, launch trolley. Light blue hull, v

little use, nearly new condition. Trailer available.

P/X Larger dinghy or cat possible. £2750 Tel 07970 743199 / 01548 550288 (SALCOMBE) TRIMARAN - 26’ MARPLES CONSTANT CAMBER Built 2001 Pat Web, Harwich. Refurbished winter 2013.

New: standing rigging, solar panel, 2x 55 Amp Hour AGM batteries, VHF DSC radio, GPS plotter, LED navigation lights and internal lights, Firdell Blipper radar reflector, 5 HP 2-stroke OBM. Toilet, water tank, sink, gimbaled gas stove, Sleeps 2. £14500 Tel 01722 712572 / 07904 079860 (POOLE) WAYFARER NO 10230 ,Built 2001, New mast, complete with cover,trailer and launching trolley. colour lilac.bouyancy aids.Contact Ashley, any time. £3000 Tel 01775 820386 / 07796 391681 (SPALDING) WAYFARER 3195 GRP construction by Westerly.

Proctor,2 suits + spi, cover, trailer. . £750 Tel 07903 258 331 / 01323 833 143 (CATERHAM)

RS100 253 8.4 rig with mast extention for 10.2, trolley but no road trailer, under and over covers.

Good condition. Happy to deliver locally following successful viewing. £3000 Tel 07796 687094 (LANCING) EUROPE CLASS SAILS Velas Pires de Lima (AP3 layout, different shapes) 4 sails in very good condition, used 2-3 months Spanish Champion design 2014!!! £280 Tel +3466 0181999 (SPAIN) 18 FOOT SKIFF 2001 Ovington 2 Complete Square Top Rigs Plus Various Spares CST Australia Masts/ North Sydney Sails CST Boom, Bowsprit Ovington Foils Sovereign Box Trailer Hull stiffened in 2013 to current rules Complete Awlgrip respray in 2013, No leaks New Wing Dodgers and Kite bag 2013 More info and photos matthewkiddle.com/skiff. £13500 Tel 07834 777348 (GRIMSBY)

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

95

DIRECTORY KEELBOATS

INSURANCE

Instant on line quotes and cover I Tel: 02392 754000 Quality Policies for all kinds of Dinghy, Yacht and Multihull, from Sailors to Sailors. dinghyinsurance.com is a trading style of WH Insurance Consultants which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

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1988 ALUMINIUM SHEARWATER 39 BLUE WATER CRUISER Blue water adventure awaits! Proven circumnavigator; solid, reliable, extensively equipped, much-loved live-aboard yacht, ideally situated in the Med. Eight sails, 2006 Yanmar 56, radar, AIS, fwd looking sonar, PILOTWHALE autohelm, HF Radio, Parachute anchor, ROCNA and much more. Text us your email for a full inventory and history. £75000 Tel +39 3427601106 (SICILY)

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KEELBOATS HALBERG-RASSY KUTTER 94 1987 Fully loaded small sail cruiser pilot house-sloop rig(9.4m.L), re-engined 2009, good condition inside & out.

Returned from S.Baltic last season. Lying Goole, Humber. Many Photos& accesory list available pl. ring . £42500 Tel 01677 450895 / (GOOLE) SABRE 27 - 1970’S GRP 27FT CRUISER A GRP vessel with Fin & Skeg hull built in 1973. £4950 Tel 07404 048998 / (UK) JAGUAR 21 YACHT - FIXED FIN VERSION In nice condition for age, original gel coat (not painted).

Main, Genoa, jib, storm jib and spinnaker (including pole). Mariner 5hp in good condition. VHF DSC, Speed, Log, Depth (Fish finder) unused portapoti.

Anti-fouled ready for the season. All usual kit (fenders, lines). Ready to sail at Orwell Yacht Club. £3300 Tel 07881 553801 / (IPSWICH) HUNTER FORMULA ONE - SPIDER PIG Spider Pig is for sale. Great set of North Sails (2x Genoa, 1x Jib, 1x Main, 1x Spinnaker). Extra Goacher Spinnaker.

Recent 2 wheel trailer. 4.5hp outboard. Upgraded Harken deck gear. £4500 Tel 07940 751976 / 07979 810250 (WINDERMERE) WESTERLY KONSORT WESTERLY KONSORT needs a new owner. Very good general shape. £15000 Tel +3346 6750854 / (PORT MEDOC) SADLER 25 CRUISER RACER - REDUCED PRICE Seaworthy and quick yacht for her size, fin keel, diesel engine/folding prop, good sails inc spinnaker etc, simple little cruiser racer with dry hull and tidy inside and out, afloat Lymington, ready to sell and REDUCED PRICE now, phone for more info. . £3250 Tel 07789 712049 / 01590 676488 (LYMINGTON) C & C 35 CRUISER/RACER 1987 35ft x 11’ 2” Well maintained example with full enclosure, windlass, A’helm 4000ST Raymarine ST 60 Speed, Depth,Wind, VHF, 4 berths, 5 gall hot water, NovaKool fridge, cockpit speakers and cushions. F/B main and 125 genoa. 24 gall h/t, 50 gall water. 3 burner stove with oven. . £35000 Tel 416-5 03-1685 / (TORONTO, CANADA) FARR 727 QUARTER TON Owned from new 1977, ready to sail. Kept ashore. Winner of Cowes Deauville race overal 1978. £6900 Tel 07715 004850 / 01604 496668 (NORTHAMPTON)

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Yachts & Yachting May 2016

2008 CORBY 36 ‘STRATISFEAR’ Major refit in 2014 and new keel profile in 2016. Endorsed IRC 1.075 . Fresh suit of Doyle Stratis sails plus spare practice sails and delivery mainsail. New tactic instruments 2015 and Raymarine autopilot. Proven track record of podium finishes. [Price is ONO]. £105000 Tel 07962 175090 (COWES) BENETEAU FIRST 21.7 2005 model, genoa and main (sobstad) symmetric spinnaker. Mariner 6hp outboard. plasimo rib, bi-date instruments, Navicom VHF, auto pilot. Fully equiped ready for use. needs antifouling. Excellent well maintained condition. Dry stored in boatyard. £14000 Tel 01937 844979 / (NEWHAVEN) GOLDEN HIND 31 YACHT 1980 Golden Hind 31ft Sailing Yacht. Long keeled Solid GRP construction safe & comfortable offshore cruiser ‘Land Rover of the sea’. In excellent condition, new 2015 Beta Marine engine. Huge inventory & current survey available. £24950 Tel 01273 840129 / 07974 022206 (BRIGHTON) DRAGON Petticrows 93 Spheretex, Mast and boom 2010 vgc, 2 sets sails TackTick and depth Complete and ready to race Can deliver. £9000 Tel 00316 50222290 / (AMSTERDAM) SWALLOW Swallow 59, modern rig, fresh Batt sails one season used, cosm refit 2015, can deliver. £3500 Tel 00316 50222290 / (AMSTERDAM) HURLEY 27 Built around 1974, good family boat, anti-fouled, ready for next season. 10hp Yanmar diesel inboard (brand new 2006/7), rewired interior, new windows, main and genoa in good condition, 2 ring oven on gimbal, ladder, chart table, 4 bunks, navigation lights, spare tiller, interior cushions. New toilet. Seacocks replaced 2005. Cradle. £7200 Tel 07740 409589 / (PORTLAND) BENETEAU 423 BLUEWATER Gryphon returned from 6 year circumnavigation (see mailasail blog). Extremely well equipped with Hydrovane, Watermaker, Solar Panels, Aquair towed/wind generator,2Alternators, SSB radio, power winch, bow thruster, 2 fridges, awnings and sun shades,bimini, storm sails, cruising chute, new mainsail, rerigged 2014 . Perfect short handed cruising in comfort. £80000 Tel 075223 00223 / (LOWESTOFT) HUSTLER 32 Steven Jones IRC Optimized (0.936), tall fractional rig, retractable bowspirit, new profiled keel, 3.6 ton displacement,extensive sail inventory,Corus instruments, full profesional repaint with Awlcraft. £15750 Tel 01614 398102 / (LLANDUDNO)

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HOLIDAYS

T: (01929) 554308 The Sail Loft, 16 Sandford Lane Ind Est, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 4DY

Hands-on sailing in the Greek Ionian

IF YOU THINK LUXURY COMES AT A PREMIUM...

www.kempsails.com ELECTRONICS/NAVIGATION SUUNTO D135 COMPASS UNIT BRAND NEW (1 SOLD) Is brand new in unopened box. £200 Tel 02380869462 / 07866523814 (SOUTHAMPTON)

MOTORBOATS/RIBS

...THINK AGAIN!

FORCE OUTBOARDS SERVICE MANUAL Covers 85,90,120 & 125 HP,1988 TO 1991 A MODELS. £6 Tel 07950 997713 / 01227 451272 (CANTERBURY)

A SUPER YACHT EXPERIENCE OFFERING EXCITEMENT AND TRANQUILITY IN AFFORDABLE LUXURY.

3.2M RIB INCLUDING MARINER 9.9HP 4STROKE ENGINE Europa V-keel April 2013. Used for sail training, 8 hours only. Complete with transom wheels, Bravo Servo pump, 12V battery & charger plus galvanized trailer. Dry-stored since new. (Cost new £3440). £1750 Tel 07970 248300 / (WORTHING)

USAILONE IS A DUFOUR 525 YACHT, 5 METERS WIDE WITH 4 KING-SIZE CABINS AND 6’ 6’’ HEAD ROOM.

MULTIHULLS WHARRAM HITIA 14 CATAMARAN Very nice Wharram 14 for sale not been used for a good while but dry stored a little tidying required and perhaps a lick of paint nothing much complete with all rigging and sales all original build plans bargain . £850 Tel 07599 093024 / (EXETER)

KEELBOATS

contact us for further details www.usail.net or +44 (0) 1892 614140 KEELBOATS ASSYMETRIC SPINNAKER 0.75oz. Pink. Gorgeous condition, virtually undistinguishable from new.

Probably never used. Fits yacht around 40’ / 12M. Dimensions: Luff = 16.4M / 53’10”. Leech = 15.59 / 53’10”. Foot = 8.89M / 29’2”. Can deliver 40 mile radius of Lewes or to the Hamble. £495 Tel 07968 475 639 / (LEWES) DARING CLASS One of the fastest and lightest Darings in the fleet with centre console and raised flooring. Full Harken fit out. New jib and spinnaker 2016,new mainsail in 2015, carbon spinnaker pole, carbon tiller, adjustable shrouds and jumpers,centre launching spinnaker bag. Offers invited. Tel 07989 491147 / (COWES) 1/5 SHARE IN JEANNEAU 40 Serenity is a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40 Two wheel helm with a double cabin in the fore peak and two double aft cabins.

1 X 1/5th share available with equal use by each syndicate member - See more at: http://www.

yours2share.com/ads/imaculate- jeanneau40/#sthash.YTbd14o5.dpuf. £13000 Tel 0743 2153516 / (AEGEAN, GREECE) SOUTHERLY 95 Lifting keel. Standing rigging & Coppercoat 2014. White with blue lining. Polished & blue repainted 2015. Genoa, main, stack-pack, cruising chute, snuffer, pole. Volvo MD2020, heating, hot water, shower, holding tank, TV, fridge, Autohelm, chart plotter, wind, depth, log, DSC VHF, inflatable, anchors, warps, fenders, lines. 1980. £24500 Tel 07453 -953735 / 01480 -280352 (POOLE) PARKER SUPER SEAL 27 Harlequin (Boston 1984).

Fully lifting keel and internal ballast, takes ground on flat-profile hull. Draft 1’ 3” keel up, 5’ 3” down.

Amiable for single handing; fast in company. Great East Coast boat, sailed to continent. Standing rigging refitted 2012; main with two slab reefs; furling genoa; Bukh DV10ME diesel. £13500 Tel 07903 069537 (FOSDYKE, LINCS)

SB20 NUMBER IRL 3148 Excellent condition. Ready to race. 1 – Main & Jib. 3 – Gennakers. Mast, boom and carbon gennaker pole. Keel hoist. Keel buffers. Tacktick Compass. 2 – Gennaker launch bags (blue). Rudder blade plus cover sleeve. Top cover. Lifting straps. Engine bracket. 2.5 hp engine.

Many accessories. Road Trailer. . £8000 Tel 00353 863731738 (DUBLIN) HUSTLER 25.5 WITH FIN KEEL BUILT 1977 Built by Landamores, Wroxham. Draft 4’10”, displacement 2.3 tons. Beta 13.5 marine diesel, folding propeller.

Five berths in two cabins, separate heads. Foruno electronic navigation, B&G log, depth sounder, cockpit repeaters. Won prizes in Round the Island and Cowes Week. Cruised to France. £5500 Tel 020 8399 5993 (CHICHESTER) ISLAND PACKET 380 OCEAN GOING YACHT FOR SALE A great example of this wonderful sea going cruising yacht. Kiah has completed circumnavigations of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic in the past 10 years. Fully equiped for long distance cruising including HF Radio, Watermaker, Solar Panels etc and Spare parts too many to mention here. . £130000 Tel 07973 380988 (EAST COAST OF ENGLAND)

TRAILERS

FREE MAINLAND DELIVERY OF LAUNCH TROLLEYS IN KIT FORM

MARINE TAPES

• Combination Trailers • • Double and Triple Stackers • • Yacht trailers to 3.5 tonnes • • Power boat trailers to 3.5 tonnes •

0870 909 9887 Fax: 01206 792 466 Tel:

sales@merseatrailers.com

www.merseatrailers.com 6 Commerce Way | Colchester Essex CO2 8HH

MULTIHULLS CATAMARAN LEOPARD 40 (ROBERTSON & CAINES) 2005 Ready to go. Very well equipped..Full refit in 2014/2015. Many equipments have been replaced, revised and added. Price = 220 000$ US. more information at : >http://www.chantemer.net Vidéo pour “catamaran leopard chantemer” http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgkqVh1BUowww. youtube.com/watch?v=7qgkqVh1BUo. £100000 Tel 51492 26058 / (SAINT MARTIN) HOBIE 15 CLUB CATAMARAN WITH NEW FURLING GENNAKER Hobie 15 Club catamaran with furling jib, furling gennaker, twin trapezes, mast-head float, launching trolley, righting pole, and new cover. An exciting Hobie 15 with its furling gennaker. Ideal for 1-4 people, and very robust. £2999 Tel 07789 748941 / (POOLE) CATAMARAN THUNDERCAT 18 (NO. 1) Twin trapeze, Harken blocks, main and jib slightly discoloured, spare daggerboard, on adjustable road trailer with new tyres, white hulls, rigging mast etc fine. Needs trampoline. Many common parts to the Hurricane 5.9 . £650 Tel 01380 828655 / 07989 600950 (DEVIZES)

OTHER EQUIPMENT DIE BLOCKS FOR ROLL SWAGE MACHINE. 7MM, 1/4, 5/16 AND 10MM Die blocks off a loos roll swage machine - seem to be a standard size though, they fit our other machine too which is not a loos. Little use. £150 for each pair or swap for 2.5mm or 3mm die blocks. £150 Tel 07966 687785 / (BIRMINGHAM) 1998 CARVER 530 VOYAGER PILOTHOUSE Year: 1998 Type: Power Brand: Carver Category: Motoryachts Model:530 Voyager Pilothouse Length: 53’ 9” (16.38m) Engine Hours: 50 † Stock #: 096170 Location: Daytona Beach, Florida. £170910 Tel (321) 282-3657 / (ORLANDO) LEWMAR 40” WHEEL 40” Commodore Wheel 5 spoke with Hide Cover. Second hand in good condition. This item is about 8 years old. £300 Tel 07929 177424 / 01584 841239 (SHREWSBURY) 40” COMMODORE WHEEL 5 SPOKE WITH HIDE COVER Second hand 40” Lewmar wheel in good condition. £400 Tel 07929 177424 / 01584 841239 (SHREWSBURY) IDROMAR WATERMAKER MODEL MC3J Used Idromar Watermaker, Model MC3J. Excellent condition. Fully operational before being replaced for a larger capacity unit. Retails for $14,561.31. I am asking only $3000.00 US. Production: 180 liters/ hr. 4300 liters/day. . £2130.15 Tel 619-5 97-9555 / 619-9 13-4439 (SAN DIEGO, CA) 28FT MOTOR BOAT (MOD) 28ft mitchel newhaven sea warrior radar/gps/fish finder /search light /diving ladder / cooker/ toilet /ford saber straight six engine /elecric capston trim tabs this a ex mod boat with loads of paper work to prove so questions happily answered. £20000 Tel 01383 411049 / (ROSYTH) BARIENT 24-45 2 SPEED CHROME WINCH Chrome on bronze 2 speed sheet winch. 2 available, never fitted. height = 170mm, base = 160mm, drum = 90mm weight = 15Ibs. £280 Tel 01489 575847 / (WARSASH) BARIENT 27C 2 SPEED WINCH Barient 27c 2 speed chrome sheet winch, 2 available, as new, never fitted!, Height = 175mm, base = 180mm, drum = 95mm, weight = 24Ibs. . £350 Tel 01489 575847 / (WARSASH)

May 2016 Yachts & Yachting

97

POSITION DIFFICULTY RATING: 1/5

No. 30 The replacement ‘me’

L

ots of us have, at some point or another, made a mistake on the water that has affected a competitor’s race. Sometimes the affected sailor is forgiving but some will berate you for as long as they’re nearby. If faced with the latter, select a moment they are looking elsewhere, prop this replacement up in your boat and swim quietly away. This leaves the fake you to take the embarrassing abuse while you get your head together for the next race.

98

Yachts & Yachting May 2016

TOM GRUITT

A useful tool for those times you mess up someone else’s race

The perfect replacement for those moments when you wish the ground would swallow you up

yachtsandyachting.co.uk

RACEARMOUR RACE ARMOURlite ARMOUR lite

protect your assets

ROOSTER RACEARMOUR™ LITE: Featuring dual-layer contoured neoprene padding with durable armoured exterior and 410gsm Spandex front panels ; whether you sail in Rochdale or Rhode Island, we have you covered. Wear them on their own in warmer climes for extended hours on the water, with Rooster ProHike Pads to hike harder for longer, or as a perfect partner when worn over one of our SuperTherm® Long Johns.

visit us online at ROOSTERSAILING.COM or call 01243 389997

PHOTO: ANDY GREEN

Part of the crew

When you are on the water you need kit that will work as hard as you do.

For the last 30 years, sailors around the world have relied on Dubarry boots to protect and perform in the toughest oceans and the worst that Mother Nature can dish out.

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