The UK’s hardest hitting powerboat magazine
FLYING MACHINES Hydrofoils let loose on Lake Garda
TOP ENGINES IN 2010 Vector’s UK debut is set to ruffle feathers
MARINE WIFI
Is it really possible to work from your boat?
DIARY DATES Early season events for the ambitious boater
SIX OF THE BEST Fixed VHF radio to get excited about
Salcombe Flyer 530 - Stingher 10-metre - Sessa Key Largo 36
LONDON’S FINEST
CELEBRITY SPECTACLE AT BRITAIN’S WINTER BOAT SHOW
MARCH 2010
An insider’s guide to the World’s most radical race series
£3.95
AT THE HELM
SUPERSTOCK
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Contents MARCH 2010
REGULARS Word from the water ............................................... 10 Big news from Windy, Colombo and Hunton
Superyacht News........................................................ 16 If you have to go slow, go slow like this . . .
Classics update ............................................................ 19 The plight of a classic powerboat museum
Word from the circuit .............................................. 20 Thrills and spills from the international race circuit
Cutting edge accessories..................................... 23 Marine touchscreen finally comes of age
Word from the web................................................... 27 Audio upgrades and a telling off
‘Naughtical’ terms ..................................................... 92 A glossary of words for the salt-free sea dog
fEAtURES Superstock is go .......................................................... 31 The Honda race boats get a fresh new series
Winter show scene .................................................... 35 Plan your diary with our off-season update
Destination Dubai ...................................................... 39 The most perfect boating venue in the world?
Hydrofoil high-jinx ..................................................... 47 The old school answer to economical boating
London Show Review .............................................. 52 Tyre kickers and frilly knickers at Excel 2010
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SUPERYACHT NEWS
IMPULSE SPEED MR ZULU With Explorer Yachts forging a reputation as the new big thing in superyachting, Tom Isitt enjoys a long, ponderous look at this previously maligned class of vessel . . .
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e have seen the future - and it’s slow. We have tasted life in the slow lane, and it’s surprisingly sweet. Green, as we all know, is the new Black. And Slow is the new Fast. Painted in huge letters on a wall near the London Underground station I occasionally use are the words “Don’t Rush”. Given that no-one ever ambles to the Tube in London, this always strikes me as good, if ultimately futile, advice. But rushing is something we do. For those of us who still work for a living, rushing is part of our daily lives. Rush to work. Rush to meetings. Rush lunch. Rush to more meetings. Rush home in the rush-hour. And what do we do when we finally take some time off work in order to enjoy our boats? We rush to the boat, we rush to get underway, and we rush off somewhere else at 30 knots.
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However, travelling everywhere at 30 knots is not necessarily a comfortable experience, even on a 40-metre boat. The constant pounding across the waves, the noise from the engines and the hull, the raised voices required to make yourself heard. These things can become tiresome after a while. And if you spend your working life in a high-stress, highpressure environment, the appeal of noise and speed can begin to pale. Then there are the environmental issues. We are urged to reduce our ‘carbon footprint’, go green, drive a hybrid car, recycle. And even though we’ve worked hard for our luxuries and believe that the ingenuity of the human race will undoubtedly find an alternative to fossil-fuels, deep down we know that we really shouldn’t be burning hundreds of gallons of fuel to take ourselves and a few friends 70 miles down the coast. A year or two ago I went on a short jaunt around the Adriatic on a semi-displacement Custom Line Navetta 26-metre. Not really my kind of boat, but I sat on the
Classic News
NEWS i claSSic boatS
National Motorboat Museum These are troubled times for the UK’s one and only Classic Motorboat Museum. With the threat of closure looming large, what exactly does the future hold for this special collection of craft? Simon Everett finds out.
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att Tyler Country Park in Basildon, Essex, has been the home of the National Motorboat Museum since 1986. In the intervening years, the collection has attracted most of the historic racing and recordsetting boats from our own fondly loved British builders. The number and variety of craft has become extremely impressive and represents the best of British design and boatbuilding achievement. The collection includes the Fairey Huntress used in the filming of ‘From Russia With Love’, as well as a comprehensive library of reference material in the form of magazines, books, photographs and boat plans dating right back to the 1890s. And yet despite this wonderful collection of ephemera, very few people even know of its existence. As a result, the museum has failed to attract visitors in sufficient numbers - and even those who have been aware of the collection have seemed reluctant to travel to the back end of the Essex marshes merely for the sake of a viewing. Owing to this lack of support, the museum has had to vacate its old premises and is now seeking a new home. Its hope is that this marvellous collection of famous craft can be kept together as a single attraction in a a more accessible and appropriate location. Finding a venue large enough to house the exhibits is a bad enough problem, but the logistics of moving all these boats is quite another. For one thing, the museum doesn’t own all the exhibits. Most are in fact on loan and tracing the owners after 30 years or more looks like a labour-intensive task in itself. In fact, given the age of most classic boat owners, some
will no doubt have died, leaving behind families who are unaware of their legacy. And as for the practicalities of moving a boat that has been sitting on the same (probably un-roadworthy) trailer for years on end - well that is a huge undertaking too. Even so, the hope is that the exhibits will remain together and to that end, the first idea was to rehome them at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. It’s a beautiful building in a beautiful location but undercover standing for 45 boats is a hell of a tall order and it simply doesn’t have the room. But the ‘Friends of the Motorboat Museum’ have been hard at work behind the scenes and Chris Kay, their Chairman, tells me that a more feasible location might already have been found. The proposed location is a concrete bunker that was boarded up at the end of the Cold War. It will take time to bring it up to the standard required for the boats and the viewing public but on the positive side, the new site, at the top of Bolt Head near Salcombe, has met with universal local approval. Even Anthony Steen, the local MP has lent the project his support and, as far as we can discern, there has been no opposition to the idea from any interested party whatsoever. Support seems overwhelming but of course the machinations of local government take time, so a decision remains pending. If it does get the thumbs up from the local council and planning permission is granted for the change of use, funding still has to be put in place to guarantee the project’s ongoing success. But whatever transpires, we at Sports Boat wish them well. Hopefully it won’t be long before we bring you happy news of the museum’s grand re-opening . . .
Above: There is a breed of boater in the UK that needs to throw its considerable weight behind the new museum, wherever its new home happens to be
To find out where the RYA stands on the issue of safeguarding the UK’s powerboat heritage, see our monthly ‘RYA Answers Back’ column on page 87. SB&RIB I 19
NEWS I ACCESSORIES
BOAT ACCESSORIES the latest GADGETS AND GIZMOS from the world of marine recreation . . . 1. Hot pods from SES
3. Aqua PC
Ships Electronic Services (SES), UK distributor for Seaview, has a new range of instrument pods to shout about. Constructed on a marine-grade aluminum base in white or black, with a UV-resistant ABS plastic housing, the pods can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically, and tilt can also be achieved by means of the polished stainless steel quick-release handles on the pod housing. The unit’s gasket ensures a watertight and secure installation and a Gore-Tex port enables ventilation, minimising the chance of moisture build-up. The Seaview Pods are available pre-cut, uncut or ready to customise to a specific application, which means you can mount your electronics in exposed locations without compromising their watertight integrity. All sockets and cables are hidden away and the pod can even help you make more of limited helm space. Very sound boating equipment. www.ses-marine.com
Digital Yacht has launched its new Aqua range of marine PCs. The range takes advantage of the latest Windows 7 operating system and incorporates Intel’s Atom processor for low power consumption. All models run directly from the boat’s DC battery power with a wide-ranging 6-30v DC regulator built in, so there’s no need for expensive, power-hungry inverters. The compact Aqua processor can be mounted remotely, on a bulkhead or on a tabletop and, while the range is customisable, Digital Yacht recommends three specific configurations for most marine requirements - Standard Aqua PC (a dedicated and marinised PC for on board e-mail, web browsing and office applications); AquaNav version (which adds a sensitive dual-channel AIS receiver and 12 channel GPS sensor for use as a navigation device); and AquaMedia (designed as an entertainment device with built in digital TV tuner, BlueRay DVD drive and software for HD movie playback). The Aqua PC range starts from £715.16. www.digital-yacht.co.uk
2. Waterpoof medic Deuter, manufacturer of a diverse range of waterproof marine accessories, from belts to sacks and kits to cases, has introduced what it calls the ‘First Aid Kit Dry’. It is basically designed to protect your emergency essentials from the elements, with a traditional drybag-style roll-top closure and taped seams to help keep out sand, dust and water. The first aid kit contains the essentials, like dressing material, a blanket and a triangular bandage, which makes it pretty useful equipment for any regular boater. But why on earth do they call it the First Aid Kit Dry? A small rearrangement of the words would seem in order. www.deutergb.co.uk
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4. G12 Summit The G12 Multi-Function Display (MFD) is part of a new range of integrating marine electronics from Geonav, featuring BlueLogic User Interface, DualFuel Cartography and built-in XD Sonar. With a choice of 15 and 19-inch displays and the option of a frameless 19-incher for glass bridge integration, the G12 MFD is the centerpiece of Geonav’s navigation range, with a 50-channel GPS and a choice of cartography from Navionics and C-MAP. The QuickConnect Data Port offers waterproof front-panel USB access, plus two SD card slots, while the built-in sonar eliminates the need for a black box. The display can be integrated to Geonav’s HD Ethernet Radar, AIS, and GeoSat TV. A simple user interface called BlueLogic provides colourful graphics and animation, making the G12 simple to operate with positive, tactile controls. With the industry’s most powerful embedded processor and high-speed memory, the G12 is designed to refresh all views of charting, radar, sonar, AIS and sensor data virtually without delay. It’s a very highclass entry indeed. www.ses-marine.com
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LifestyLe i forum
FoRum FocuS www.sportsboat.co.uk
green gruMp I have just read Mike Pullen’s article, ‘Green Around The Gills’ in your February issue and I was disappointed that on such a serious subject he chose to close rather than open the debate. While he is correct that the jury is still out over many green issues and there is a double edge to many supposedly green solutions, what we can’t get away from is that fossil fuels are a finite resource and need to be conserved, and that burning them creates a degree of pollution. As a leisure sports boat owner I have to accept that my completely avoidable leisure pastime consumes valuable energy that could otherwise be put to better use, and contributes unnecessarily to global pollution for no reason other than my pleasure. What I further have to accept is that I choose to continue to do this despite my awareness of its negative impact. In the short term I can live with my guilt, and my boat is a tiny consumer of fuel by comparison to most. I guess I would need to have my head well and truly buried in the sand next to Mike’s to sleep at night if I owned some of the amazing craft you cover and I covet. Of course renewable clean energies must be our future, and by the looks of the tidal generators and wind farms now adorning our coasts, perhaps we are making slow headway. It is somewhat ironic that we enjoy our selfish leisure in an environment that, to other more enlightened souls, is a ready source of renewal energies (namely wind, tide and sun) and yet we mostly fail to capture any of these to reduce our impact. The automotive industry leads the marine industry in terms of development of engines, and that industry is now starting to move slowly into a cleaner, more sustainable approach. The forecast is that by 2015 approximately two million electric and part-electric powered vehicles will have been produced, which is about 2.5 per cent of the total. While this is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the motor industry is concerned, the new technologies being developed to meet this growth must surely also be a part of the marine industry’s future. If I can buy an electric car today (and I can – the Tesla) that will give me 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and a 250-mile range on a single charge, perhaps I could imagine an electric sports boat with exciting performance and good cruising range that also manages to recharge itself while moored up, drawing its energy from its surrounding
natural environment or from a renewable energy source. If we can imagine a different future, we stand a chance of making it a reality. But if, like Mike, we can’t see beyond the end of our own carbon deck shoe print, then the future looks less promising for me and certainly less so for my children. Unless you want to have to start sending your magazine out in a plain brown envelope, perhaps Sports Boat and RIB needs to imagine and promote a different, more environmentally acceptable future. Through your reviews, you could start to apply a series of green measures covering not just the boat in terms of fuel consumption and efficiency of design, but also the use of recycled and recyclable materials in construction, green methods and standards of production, and generation of renewable energies. Perhaps your marina reviews could include their investment in using renewable energies to feed pontoon sockets. Okay so you may offend those who score badly, but so what. Perhaps they need a kickstart to a new way of thinking and working. I leave it to your imagination.
Martin Ellis Dear Martin, Mike’s specific brief was to be opinionated, forthright and confrontational. When we published the article we knew that there was plenty more to be said and we hoped that the uncompromising vehemence of his tone would generate a bit of reader response. Happily, it has done just that and the scale and nature of that reader response has provided us with a firm grounding for a more committed exploration of the issues. You can rest assured that the views you express will be well represented, not just through our coverage of new electric products and alternative building materials, but also through guidance on efficient methods of helming and a close and committed association with the Green Blue.
if there is any particular area of the green issue you would like to see covered, let us know by emailing editor@sportsboat. co.uk or go online and have your say at www.sportsboat.co.uk.
Write to us at: sportsboat and rib Magazine, CsL pubLishing Ltd, aLLianCe house, 49 sidney street, CaMbridge Cb2 3hX e-MaiL: editor@sportsboat.Co.uk
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LifestyLe i diary dates
DIaRy DateS
In the next three months, there is a feast of early season boat shows to tempt you from your armchair. Alex Smith cherry-picks four of the best for your perusal.
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ith the boat tucked away, winter can be a confusing time of year, full of doubt and trivial dilemma. Should you have a piece of toast or watch a tepid repeat of a low-budget drama? Should you have an afternoon nap or get the ironing started? Should you reorganise your wallet or hack off your own head with a pair of blunt scissors? Difficult questions indeed. And yet there is no need to allow the closed season to overwhelm your sanity because it’s at precisely this time of year that the nation’s most memorable shows kick off. I’m not talking about national exhibitions you’ve been to every year since you were five. I’m talking about a rogue scattering of special events that have the power to charge up your batteries and get you excited about the approach of another new season . . .
Birmingham Boat and Caravan Show (23-28 FeBruary 2010) At the time of going to press, the organisers of the Birmingham event were promising more than 560 varied exhibitors, covering pursuits as diverse as caravanning, camping, canal boating, watersports and holidays, both in the UK and abroad. In the Marine Hall itself, there will be more than 250 of the latest narrow boats, riverboats, offshore cruisers, powerboats, personal watercraft, RIBs, sports boats and
inflatables. And the prices will be as varied as the craft themselves, with everything from a £50 inflatable right up to a £400,000 offshore cruiser. Given that the show’s aim is to cater for everyone from the complete novice to the most avid enthusiast, this kind of approach to the exhibitor list seems to make a lot of sense. There look like being some UK debuts too, with the new Haines 35 Offshore showing for the first time, as well as Cove Marine’s new 2010 range of sports boats and sports fishers. It includes the Pro-Line Express 23, a Profisher 180 and three Grews, a 180SS, 198GRS and a 200GRS cuddy. Midlands Nautique will also be launching a new boat at the show, in the form of the Ski Nautique 200. Available in either open or closed bow configurations, it’s designed to be a versatile three-event tournament ski boat. New boat launches aside, Yamaha Motor UK, the Birmingham stalwarts, will be there with their excellent range of Yamarin boats and Yamaha personal watercraft. The list goes on but your kids will probably be happy to hear that there will also be a few things for them to do. Activities include canoeing lessons, climbing and caravan towing courses, plus motorhome manoeuvering lessons. There will also be free 20-minute scuba diving sessions available for those over eight years of age. PADI instructors will supply wetsuits and dive gear. All you have to do is turn up and have a go. And if all that is a bit much then you can visit the Inland Waterways Association, who are celebrating their centenary year, and look out for celebrity chef, James Martin, who is due to pop by.
Opening: 1000 - 1800 every day Adult entry: £14.50 08445 813000 www.boatandcaravan.co.uk
Above: The Birmingham event has become far more serious about its marine content in recent years SB&RIB I 35
LIFESTYLE I DUBAI
Dubai
A PLAYBOY PARADISE? The United Arab Emirates is a land of contradictions and at its heart lies Dubai. Matt Crowhurst packs his wakeboard and his hunger for fun and heads east to find out just how well modern Dubai caters for the roaming powerboater . . .
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ince the withdrawal of the British in 1971 the emirates of Dubai has become a major economic and tourist hub, with world-class free trade zones, financial institutions and all the trappings of a leading 21st century western city. It’s a cosmopolitan liberalism that screams out in stark contrast to the powerfully Islamic underpinnings of the culture - and yet somehow these two contradictory worlds seem to be embraced with equal vigour right here in modern Dubai. But before I turn this into an episode of ‘Wickers World’, let’s cut to the chase. Dubai may be the world’s most peculiar and contradictory leisure venue but what we all want to know is whether the British boater can head out east and have a good time. Happily, the answer is a very resounding yes.
Finding your feet
The first thing to accept is that things are not particularly cheap, in terms of accommodation, dining or drinking. In fact, as the 20th most expensive city in the world you would expect things to be a bit pricey, so make sure you know what you want to do while you’re here and what it will cost before you go. If you don’t you may be in for a rude shock. But that’s where the bad news ends, because if you enjoy getting out and about, first-class shopping and perfect (and perfectly reliable) weather, it’s the equal of any tourist destination in the world. The ‘out and about’ part is key here because the landmarks and attractions of Dubai are spread across a pretty huge area. But happily, taxis are relatively cheap and most of the big hotels arrange transfers so for a
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talking point i wifi
Marine WIfI
In a world where the demands of work limit our leisure time, wouldn’t it be helpful if marine wifi allowed us to combine the two. Colin Jones explains just how feasible that is . . .
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LIFESTYLE I HYDROFOIL
The legend of the
FLYING BOAT
The crossover between boats and aeroplanes is closer than most people realise - and the one place where that becomes particularly evident is in the use of the hydrofoil. Simon Everett reports.
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LifestyLe i LiBs
London BoaT
Show RevIew The following show review may contain flash photography, semi-naked women and nuts. Alex Smith gets violently cross before reporting on the shape of things to come in 2010 .
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h, feeble, feeble, feeble. So very feeble, it makes me want to throw a little furniture and punch the odd face. Why is it that we panic at a dusting of snow? Why is it that we wring our hands in despair and horde carbohydrates like hibernating squirrels? Why is it that we sit back and allow TV news reporters to compare the cold snap of 2010 to the London Blitz of 1944? It’s an over-reaction so vile, it makes me want to move to France where, despite appearances, people have the self-respect to eschew the nannying of the state. Here, by way of repulsive contrast, we seem to have embraced our traditional faith in established institutions at the direct expense of our traditional backbone.
In any case, despite press warnings to stay indoors and abandon all hope of salvation, the Tullett Prebon London International Boat Show came together. We turned up early on the first morning, keen to get stuck in and, despite the neon allure of the show’s two internal halls, we decided to get the nasty bit over with first and visit the brutally exposed dockside. Here, elegant Sunseeker sports yachts huddled together for warmth and comfort, like preening beach babes forced to take part in an arctic expedition. Beside them, looking altogether more relaxed and at home, stood a collection of stoic canal boats, all steel construction and thickset forearms. It was a splendidly incongruous contrast and one which beautifully encapsulated the breadth of the pastime we all love. I considered the resonance of this happy scene for all of three seconds, before heading inside and embracing the welcome warmth and luxury of the nation’s premier indoor boating exhibition . . .
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LIFESTYLE I ENGINES
ENGINES for a new decade Stuart Field gets stuck into the best of the new engines for the season ahead . . .
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aced with a worldwide recession, a dramatic reduction in global boat sales, horrendous exchange rates and everincreasing fuel prices, the manufacturers of outboards and sterndrives for sports boats and RIBs have a formidable year ahead of them - and they are not helped by two dramatically conflicting camps of boaters. In the blue corner, the sporting fraternity demands ever more powerful engines in a bid to achieve outright performance. In the red corner, family boaters and commercial operators of small craft seek ever more fuelefficient, lightweight, robust, and yet affordable engines. Perhaps what we boaters ought to do is turn the thing on its head and demand boats that are designed to perform
well on the end of affordable, economical engines. Imagine that! In any case, the upshot is that, as things stand, engine manufacturers have to walk a tightrope to keep everyone happy. Add to the marketing mix the complications of ‘politics’ in the form of ever more stringent emissions restrictions, the increasing cost of engines in relation to the bare boat and the fact that the vast majority of engines sold are in the (largely unprofitable) low horsepower bracket, and it’s easy to see how being an outboard manufacturer is really not that easy.
The marine scene
The motor industry, which produces literally millions of engines a month, can spread the cost of research and development across vast numbers. The marine
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ON THE WATER I SALCOMBE FLYER 530
SALCOMBE FLYER There can be few small boats in Britain with a fan base as loyal and committed as the Salcombe Flyer. Mike Pullen heads to West Wales for a drive in the first of the new boats to roll off the production line.
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famous name in British sports boating is back from the wilderness, courtesy of Hugh Hodgson, owner of Pembrokeshire Sports Boats. Having bought the moulds, Hugh is once again manufacturing Salcombe Flyers from an ideal testing ground at the company’s headquarters on the Pembroke estuary in West Wales. We last reviewed one of these back in May 2004, when both the 480 and the 530 proved such capable sea boats that, after a protracted thrash in the building swells off South Devon, Simon Everett nearly bought one. Only the fact that he already owned two boats kept his wallet safely tucked away in his camera bag. Now though, after discussions with Salcombe-based Bananashark, previous owners of the moulds, Hugh has updated the build processes and is to launch a fresh line-up consisting of at least four craft in the spring of 2010.
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ON THE WATER i SESSA KL36
FIrSt LooK
SeSSA Key LArgo 36 In the Key Largo 36, Sessa has produced a craft that captures the essence of modern Italian boat building. Alex Smith reports on one of the most emotive sports cruisers you can buy.
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