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TOP TEN TOW CARS • THE RYA’S BIG DATES FOR 2011 • 20 PAGES OF BOAT TESTS
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THE UK’S HARDEST HITTING POWERBOAT MAGAZINE
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New from pursuit
THE LATEST AMERICAN OFFSHORE FISHER TESTED
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FEBRUARY 2011
CONTENTS REGULARS WORD FROM THE WATER 12 The Sea Ray Weekender 235 lands in the UK
WORD FROM THE CIRCUIT 18 Sneak peek of the new 75mph one design race boat
WORD FROM THE WEB 26 The new Cobalt 200 gets the readers’ thumbs-up
RYA UPDATE 92 The must-see boating events in 2011
ON TEST AMT 200DC 36 On board the new Finnish flagship PURSUIT OFFSHORE 235 42 The latest American offshore fisher
48
RIBTEC 740SX RIVIERA The new £40,000 RIB temptation
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TEN BEST ACCESSORIES
THE PICK OF THE LATEST BOATING GADGETS
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THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION ON BOARD WITH BAYLINER
32
WIN
READER COMPETITION
WIN AN OBRIEN WAKEBOARD PACKAGE WORTH £300
FEATURES UK PRO TOUR 28 All the highlights from the 2010 wakeboard circuit
68
TOP TEN TOW CARS The best new tow vehicles of 2011
SUN WORSHIPPERS 75 Solar power solutions for your boat
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REGAL 42 SPORTS COUPE
THE THINKING MAN’S SPORTS CRUISER
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STEP YOUR FIX ALL YEAR ROUND EXPERT TIPS ON GETTING UP MATT CR
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Solar panels for every budget
HARD WHEEL OF THE GLORIOUS THE EST HIT BEHIND TIN
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Bespoke own-boat tuition from Wavenav
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EXPERIENCE
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TOP TIPS TO HELP YOU PLAN YOUR OVERSEAS ADVENTURE
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ST TO SPICE UP YOUR TOY COLLECTION THE PERFECT A CHRISTMAS LIST BOATING GADGETS IO G
PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE
THROUGH
EXPERIENCE
The latest GADGETS AND GIZMOS from the world of marine recreation . . .
BOAT ACCESSORIES 20 I SB&RIB
Brilliant budget boating gloves Marine-specific gloves are very important, as wet fingers and slippery ropes can be a nightmare in the winter months - but you don’t want to be investing £200 in mittens lined with Unicorn fur. Instead, you want something cheap, effective and readily replaceable, and at less than £5 a pair, the Gill Grip Sailing Gloves are just the thing. With a textured rubber coating on the palm, they offer a winning combination of good grip and great value. The concept is simple - work them hard, wear them out, replace them with a new pair. They are not waterproof of course, but the breathable back means you can use them all year round and they can even be ‘DIY-customised’ by simply cutting the fingers to the required length. Great stuff. Price: £4.99 01159 460844 www.gillmarine.com
AS A MARINE-SPECIFIC UNIT, THE NEW MUSIC DOCK DOES A GREAT JOB OF INSPIRING CONFIDENCE Magnetic loo seat This is not half as silly as you think. In fact, this magnetic loo seat was nominated by the International Jury for the 2010 DAME Award. It didn’t win, but that doesn’t diminish its usefulness, solving at a stroke the problem of falling seats and lids on board your boat. Magnets are installed in both the seat and the cover, and a third is installed on the wall. With more than 20 years experience in marine toilets, this is one of three patents filed by this prolific company in the last year alone. It won’t change your life but it will improve your loo. Price: POA www.planus.biz
NEWS I BOAT ACCESSORIES You gotta have a LavNav Finding your way to the loo in the middle of the night can be enormously annoying on a boat - and it’s even worse when you have to semi-blind yourself by turning on the bathroom light. Yeah alright, it’s not a massive problem but it’s been solved regardless with a small, funky and very affordable bit of kit. The splendidly named LavNav simply sticks on the inside of your toilet lid, courtesy of its sticky pads. Then, whenever you stumble into the bathroom in the dark, desperate for relief and half asleep, the motion sensor fires it up, and it shines a gentle guiding light into your loo. Better still, it turns it off after you leave. It even knows if the seat is up or not - red light for up, green light for down. This really is top class kit for the boater who thinks he has everything. Price: £20 www.iwoot.com
Doing it for the kids Here’s one for your boat mad (and ecologically responsible) offspring. The RYA’s new title in its ‘Go!’ series is entitled ‘Go Green! A young person’s guide to the blue planet’. Written by celebrated author, artist and sailor, Claudia Myatt, the book is designed to educate children on environmental issues and build their awareness of the environment when out on the water. Lavishly illustrated, the book takes kids through a humorous adventure around the UK’s waterways and shorelines and highlights some of the problems our wildlife experiences due to marine pollution. Aimed mainly at seven to 12-year olds, it’s a cool (if slightly agenda-heavy) gift for the budding boater. Price: £9.99 08445 569518 www.rya.org.uk
Top Dock Marine AV, one of Europe’s top suppliers of audiovisual systems for boats, is now stocking the iBoat range of iPod/iPhone docks. Compared with most other iPod docks on the market, the iBoat is very stylish - and the product name also does a fine job of inspiring confidence that this might be a serious marine solution. It comes with a built-in amplifier for direct loudspeaker connection, and auxiliary inputs and outputs to enable the connection of other audio sources and additional amplifiers for system expansion. Designed for internal use, it is available in black, chrome and white. Price: £299.95 08706 091446 www.marineaudio.com SB&RIB I 21
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ON THE WATER I AMT 200DC
200DC
Fresh from an eye-opening visit to the AMT factory in Finland, Simon Everett tests the largest in the company’s new day cruiser range - the 200DC.
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ON THE WATER I PURSUIT 235 OFFSHORE
PURSUIT 235 OFFSHORE
If you have been desperate for a Pursuit Offshore Fisher but you couldn’t quite afford one, the new 235 might be your chance. Simon Everett reports . . .
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ON THE WATER I RIBTEC 740 SX
RIBTEC 740 SX RIVIERA Fancy a frill-free, 45-knot RIB for less than ÂŁ40,000? Mike Pullen thinks you should step this way . . .
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Bayliner THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION
50 years ago, a young philanthropist paid $100 for a small company named Bayliner. Half a century later, they’re in every marina in the world. Adrian Porter reports on the planet’s most prolific boat brand.
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EDSON SETS UP ADVANCE OUTBOARD MARINE AND STARTS TRADING FROM A CAR PARK
EDSON MOVES HIS BOAT BUILDING OPERATION TO A SHOW ROOM
1955
1958
ON THE WATER I BAYLINER
A long, long time ago . . .
Once upon a time in a car park (in Seattle to be precise), the story of Bayliner began. The founder of what we know as Bayliner today is a man named John Orin Edson. Born in 1932, Edson was introduced to powerboating at the impressionable age of ten, and seemingly boats have been on his brain ever since. He founded the company, Advance Outboard Marine (AOM), in 1955 and sold boats from his location in a car park. Three years later, Edson capitalised on his success and moved the operation to a showroom. One of Edson’s suppliers at the time was a small manufacturer of plywood craft, who operated under the name of Bayliner. Edson was so impressed with the company and the quality of its wares that in 1960 he bought the entire outfit, and the name, for just $100. Come 2010, J. Orin Edson can be found at number 385 in Forbes’ official list of the wealthiest Americans. In fact, his September 2010 estimate put his worth at around one billion dollars.
EDSON BUYS A SMALL PLYWOOD CRAFT MANUFACTURER CALLED BAYLINER.
1960
ADVANCED OUTBOARD MARINE STARTS PRODUCING ITS OWN CRAFT UNDER THE BAYLINER NAME.
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Land Rover Discovery
Mitsubishi Shogun
BMW X5
Range Rover Sport
Jeep Wrangler
Hyundai i800
Audi A4 Allroad Quattro
Mazda CX-7
Skoda Superb Estate
Nissan Pathfinder
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TALKING POINT I TOP TEN TOW CARS
TOP
S R A C W O T TEN inness
Gu ir. Paul a f f a d e at complic 11 . . . a e b t ’ edn of 20 boat ne ten tow cars r u o y op ing or haul selecting his t f e l c i h re l ve he idea al advice befo t g n i d Fin ner ome ge s s r e f f o
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TALKING POINT I SOLAR POWER
SOLAR POWER FOR BOATERS S
Colin Jones outlines the ‘need-to-know’ facts behind solar power on board your boat.
olar panels have always fascinated me. Being able to turn beams of light, which have no mass, into enough power to drive a boat, almost seems like alchemy. But the technology is not new. In fact, I have had solar panels on my boat for the last 15 years, during which time, I have understood how to make them work, without really understanding how they function. I suspect that I am not alone in that.
The magic trick
The ‘magic’ is the creation of solar electricity from solar light, thanks to a process which is not too different from the ubiquitous transistor, made into a photovoltaic (PV) cell. The name hints at the miracle of turning light (‘photo’) into volts - even though
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