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SAILING TODAY

GO FURTHER I SAIL BETTER I BE INSPIRED JULY 2013 sailingtoday.co.uk £4.20 JULY 2013 – ISSUE No 195

INTERVIEW

Pete Goss

Vendée legend takes on the North Sea in a kayak

Soft Shackles

Round GB

Make your own with our step-by-step guide

ROUND BRITAIN

Circumnavigator falls for the unloved NE coast

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CHILEAN CHANNELS •

SALONA 35 •

ST HELIER

BOAT ON TEST

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PLOTTERS

Slippery slim

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CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

CH A M MA

Salona’s new 35 is half cruiser, half racer ST HELIER

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SAIL A ‘TINNY’

Rod Heikell urges young explorers to just set off

CHARTPLOTTERS

Which is the best 7in standalone plotter?

FIT A WATERMAKER

Endless fresh water without filling up!

YA CHELSEA ARINE M MAGAZINES

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CH A M MA

A StuNNiNg SurpriSE

BATHING PLATFORM Large and easy to fold bathing platform means you are just one step from the sea

NEW

345

HANSE

CRUISING COCKPIT Spacious and safe with a sturdy cockpit table and an extra-long companionway

TWIN STEERING WHEELS The best solution for relaxed steering with an unobstructed view forward

LIVING COMFORT Double aft cabin version, galley with large fridge capacity, saloon sofa which converts into double berth

InnovatIve DesIgn

LIGHT & DESIGN Elegant coach roof with light stripes, opening windows and five flush hatches for lots of light and ventilation

Details

325

new

345 385 415 445 495

new

575 630e

Just a few DelIverIes left for thIs summer.

Call now for DetaIls

Inspiration Marine Group Ltd. | contact.us@inspirationmarine.co.uk Southampton | P 02380 457008 || Windermere | P 01539 447700 Scotland & Ireland | P 01475 522515

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www.hanseyachts.com

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Strap book CONTENTS

Regulars 8 NEWS

Which Asian?; Northshore bust; foghorn

14 NEW BOATS Winner 9.00, Varianta 44, J/88, Legend 40, Du Four 500, Sunbeam 28.1

16 READERS’ LETTERS Indian Navy, fuel filter, QL spares

18 WHAT’S ON 21 BROADSIDE 72 BOOKS 78 RIDING LIGHT 102 DISPATCHES

Cruising

22 ROUND BRITAIN Harbours and ports of the northeast coast prove a highlight

30 INTERVIEW Pete Goss sails the North Sea in a kayak

32 SECRET PLACES

STUART ABRAHAM, C/O JERSEY TOURISM

Caroline & Bill Cole in the Galapagos

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Brittany’s rocky Odet River

34 GULL’S EYE Fold-out guide to St Helier, Jersey

48 CHILEAN CHANNELS Part II of Uhuru’s southern adventure in the rugged beauty of Chile’s islands

BOATS 28 pages AND KIT

78 CRUISING CLINIC

Boats

40 SALONA 35 56 COPPERBOTTOMED

66-69 40

Hallberg-Rassy’s 34 broke the mould

Gear

60 CHART PLOTTERS Five 7in plotters tested on the water

66 NEW GEAR 68 GEAR TESTED

MIKE POWELL

We test the Croatian cruiser-racer

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Garmin watch, Jabsco freshener, polisher

Practical

74 SOFT SHACKLES 80 WATERMAKER As much fresh water as you can use!

RICK BUETTNER

Guide to making your own

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EAST NOT LEAST Michael Wright circled Britain in his nicholson 31 and was bewitched by the unsung northeast coast

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Main: The harbour at Arbroath

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rom the West Country to the Western Isles and back, via the peaceful rivers of Essex and Suffolk, I was looking forward to busy harbours, lonely anchorages and stunning scenery in my sail around Britain. But somehow I had gained the impression that most of the east coast was to be sailed quickly past. How wrong I was!

visitscotland.com

Wells-next-the-Sea

After a three week dash up-Channel from Falmouth, we found ourselves drifting at the channel marker off Wells late one afternoon. Looking towards the harbour entrance we saw a continuous line of uninviting surf.

Every now and then our solitude was broken by a local fishing boat roaring past; first heading in a southeasterly direction and then abruptly, without any change of pace, seemingly turning hard to starboard, a moment later to port and disappearing from view through the breaking waves.

There was an hour to wait before the harbourmaster’s buoy-laying barge chugged out to guide us down the narrow, ever-changing channel

Clockwise from above left: The harbourmmaster’s barge brought Liberty Jane safely into Wells-nextthe-Sea; Dawn behind the old granary; on a fine reach off the Scottish coast

through the swell and past the menacing breakers. On the way in we went slowly past a yacht, just outside the channel, that was spending the day standing vertically in the mud, waiting for the next rising tide; we were very grateful for our pilot.

We moored on the visitor’s pontoon under the imposing 18th-century granary with its overhanging gantry, and had a pleasant evening in one of the town’s pubs. All the same, we were up at 0730hrs, and the harbourmaster willingly guided us back out; such is the unforgiving nature of tides and the working of a river entrance.

The 55nM passage towards Grimsby had us pass several burgeoning wind farms, with their attendant working platforms. The passage finished with the 15nM pilotage up the Humber, which made for interesting sailing with 3 knots of tide underneath us, shipping and a floating “combine harvester” (monobuoy). Across the expanse of the Humber Estuary, the distinctive Italianate Lock Tower by Grimsby dock marked our target.

That evening, we retired to the very welcoming clubhouse of the Humber Cruising Association, where some July 2013 sailingtoday.co.uk

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GULL’S IN ASSOCIATION EYE Pwllheli WITH

THE BOAT INSURANCE SPECIALIST

WWW.BOATINSURE.CO.UK

An Amlin Group Company

Approaches There are shoals and isolated dangers whichever approach is used - most well marked. On the final 0230 leading line, pilotage is simple

La Collette Basin The 24-hour access marina is for local boats only, but the haul-out and servicing facilities are here

Chimney The tall smokestack of the La Collette power station is a ready mark for landfall

GULL’S EYE

ST HELIER 49° 09’ .95N 002° 07’ .38W

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Elizabeth Castle At low water, the castle is attached to the shore, so access to Elizabeth Marina, or north into St Aubin’s Bay is near the top of the tide

Jersey Boat Show Over the first May bank holiday, the show fills the four visitor pontoons of St Helier Marina with yachts and motorboats, and the quays with food stands and 30,000 visitors

FACTFILE ST HELIER MARINA Contact: +44 (0)1534 447708 www.portofjersey.je Berths: 1,150, inc 81 for visitors

AERIAL PHOTO: PATRICK ROACH

Facilities: Drying pad, Wi-Fi, electricity, showers, laundrette, shop, café (fuel, 65t hoist adjacent) Tides: Dover -0455 VHF: Channel 14 Maximum size: 65ft (20m) Price: c£2.37 per metre per day

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On test

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Slippery cruiser Is the sleek and stylish new Salona 35 typical of this innovative Croatian boatbuilder’s highperformance cruisers? Duncan Kent reports

phoToS: Rick BueTTneR

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alona started in 2002 with a fast 45-footer that was enthusiastically received by those seeking a well-built performance cruising yacht that could be competitively raced with a crew or cruised shorthanded with the family. Since then the yard has expanded its portfolio to six models from 33ft to 60ft (10.1-18.3m).

Drawn by the renowned Slovenian team, J & J Design, with additional input from British race yacht designer Jason Ker the Salona 35 now supersedes the original 34. Like all Salonas, she looks streamlined and powerful when viewed from the water, though the drive for performance hasn’t been allowed to override her capacity for comfortable family cruising.

She carries more sail than her predecessor and her modern hull lines include a plumb stem, deep forefoot and shallow body aft. Her beam remains the same at 11ft (3.4m), but then Salona has never been tempted to imitate the typical ‘fat-bottomed’ cruiser, preferring instead to retain a longer canoe-style body for speed and directional stability.

You just know she’s going to be a slick performer by her looks and specs. At 5½ tonnes, she’s light for her length and her high sail area/ displacement ratio of 23.3 implies that she’s no slouch.

Sleek lines

Winds were relatively light (F3-4) when we sailed her, but she didn’t disappoint, regardless of the rather baggy cruising canvas we hoisted. On a broad reach, she easily made 5 knots plus, but the headsail lost power as the wind angle edged beyond 150° due to shadowing from the large mainsail.

In the cleaner air of the Solent we took her onto a beam reach, where she locked onto our course and swiftly lifted us to a more exciting 6.8 knots – in just 12 knots of apparent wind. Close reaching added another half-knot to our speed and she was balanced enough to helm herself without veering off course.

Close-hauled she still managed an impressive 6.2 knots at 33° off the apparent wind and lost little momentum during tacks, through a 76° minimum angle. She proved easy to handle two-up, even gybing, thanks to her small genoa.

How broad?

Salona hasn’t gone for the typical ultra-wide stern of some modern production cruisers, preferring instead to keep to a slimmer canoe body. This does mean there’s only one aft cabin below, with the heads opposite

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Cruising

LAND OF FIRE AND WIND After rounding Cape Horn the wrong way, Steve Powell learns how Tierra del Fuego got its fearsome reputation in part II of Uhuru’s southern adventure

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On test

7-INCH PLOTTERS TOUCHSCREENS ARE AVAILABLE ON EVER SMALLER CHART PLOTTERS. DUNCAN KENT PITTED THREE TOUCHSCREEN UNITS AGAINST TWO TRADITIONAL, STANDALONE PLOTTERS

T

hese days it’s hard to find a standalone chart plotter – one that isn’t designed for slotting in to an instrument network (a multifunction display or MFD, in the lingo). Navico recently announced that it would no longer be promoting its Lowrance or Simrad brands for sailing vessels, leaving just the Standard Horizon, Humminbird and Raymarine units.

For our test on the River Hamble, on a rare sunny day, we also took two offerings from Garmin, although they are really designed as MFDs. We felt they should work well as standalones.

Similar displays

We chose comparable devices, all with 7in widescreen displays (measured across the screen diagonals). In this orientation, if the unit is set to ‘course-up’ or ‘heading up’ mode, there is less viewable screen ahead of your vessel. For this reason, all allow you to offset your own vessel’s icon so it appears in a position where you can see more chart ahead than astern.

All five of the models we tested can display charts with overlays for AIS, and many have smart sonar sensors and radar – either simultaneously overlaid onto a single screen, or split between two smaller screens. All but the Humminbird have the ability to receive data from sailing instruments (wind, speed, depth), either using a NMEA port or a proprietary network protocol such as SeaTalk.

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Plug-in functions

All but one (Humminbird) of the plotters tested has a built-in GPS receiver, although all can be connected to an external antenna or source if preferred – either via a proprietary GPS receiver or through

‘All five of the models we tested can display charts with overlays for AIS... and sonar’ a NMEA data link to another GPS device. All the internal antennae tested performed as well below deck as they did in the cockpit.

Although none has an AIS receiver, they all accept external AIS data and plot targets with their speed, distance and course. The advent of combined AIS/VHF receivers, such as Standard Horizon’s Matrix GX2100, may negate the need for built-in AIS receivers.

Below: Mounted side by side in the cockpit, the plotters were assessed for ease of use and legibility. We didn’t test connectivity

Some standalone devices are intended primarily for open-boat fishing and provide complex sonar capabilities. Forward-looking, wide-angle and even 360°-view sonar transducers are now available, and for yachtsmen, they can offer a clearer picture of what’s ahead of the boat rather than simply below it.

What cartography?

For chart plotters there are only three EU-approved suppliers of cartography – C-Map (Jeppesen), Navionics and Garmin. All have their pros and cons, and they cannot be corrected as simply or cheaply as paper charts. Often the cost of updating them is so high that it puts people off, which is a real concern.

Thanks mainly to greater memory capacity, chart providers have recently squeezed more data onto each card. Major UK suppliers often include the 800-plus charts of Britain and Northern Ireland.

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REVIEWS

NIKIFOROV ALEXANDER, SHUTTERSTOCK

Standard Horizon cP-300i

Navionics: Probably the most widely used digital cartography for leisure charts, available in Gold, Platinum or Platinum+ versions. Top buck gets you 3D views, satellite photos, aerial photography, tidal data and more.

Bluechart: This is Garmin’s own cartography, which is similar to Navionics. Its 750/751 plotters come with detailed UK charts preloaded, but with the optional g2 Vision upgrade card, you can add MarinerEye or FishEye view, providing a 3D perspective above and below the waterline. The g2 version also provides high-resolution aerial photos and Auto Guidance, which will plot a course for you. c-map: Similar features to the Navionics and Garmin offerings, only with slightly less details at some zoom levels and different colour codes for land, sea and water depths.

Above: If you’re not installing a whole new nav system, the chart plotter is the most likely standalone upgrade for most sailors Below: View from the companionway as we motored into Southampton Water for the test

One of the few remaining standalone designs that aren’t primarily a sonar with a plotter added, the CP-300i has also eschewed touchscreen technology. It is compatible with a wide range of Sitex radars and has external GPS, AIS and sonar connectivity, but relies on fixed and ‘soft’ keys for display control.

The CP-300i uses C-Map cartography, which comes on a proprietary C-Card. Data cards are available to store waypoints and routes data for transfer to a PC via a special card reader.

At the time of writing, SH is on the verge of launching its new CPN700i touchscreen plotter (with Wi-Fi and web access), but were unable to supply one for our trials.

INStAllAtIoN With four inputs and five outputs for NMEA data, so you can connect an AIS, sonar/fish finder, sailing instrument network, autopilot, VHF and more. Some ports have pre-configured baud rates for specific tasks, but you can change this. A GPS socket accepts SH’s proprietary Smart GPS external antenna.

The unit has a ‘pod’ style mounting bracket that allows it to be tilted up, down and sideways. Alternatively, it can be flush-mounted using the template and studs provided.

oPeRAtIoN This is a smart looking unit that is simple to set up and use, so you’ll soon be able to ditch the manual. Its joystick control allows you to quickly navigate menus, as well as positioning the cursor on screen. But it is extremely sensitive and hard to use when underway.

A split-window function enables two chart views at different zoom levels, or either chart/compass or chart/ highway simultaneously. The widescreen display comes into its own with this function.

Navigation is very bold and clear, and the unit has dedicated goto, mark and route keys. A celestial page shows full tidal data at the nearest main port and the find key allows you to search for extra info on ports.

There’s also DSC polling for group communications when connected to an SH radio. veRdIct: HHH HH Very good for a simple, low-cost, standalone chart plotter with WVGA display, AIS, radar and sonar capability, together with autopilot output.

Its display was one of the easiest to see in the sunlight – possibly due to the brighter colours of the C-Map charts.

Excellent value for money.  www.standardhorizon.co.uk  Price: £710

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Practical

SOFT SKILLS FOR HARD SAILING MAKING YOUR OWN ROPE SHACKLES HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER. TOBY HEPPELL HAS A LOOK AT THIS SATISFYING PROCESS

Splicing

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This type of splicing requires a modern 12-strand, coreless rope, usually Dyneema

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Knot

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A diamond knot makes the best stopper on a soft shackle

hackles, in my experience, are that frustrating combination of unavoidably useful and, occasionally, hideously annoying.

More times than I care to remember, I have stood – the surrounding air blue with liberal swearing – trying with all my might to undo a twisted, bent or otherwise stuck pin from a shackle. There has to be a better way, I had often thought. Well, there is.

Soft shackles have been around for many years as a length of rope with a bobble at one end and a loop at the other. Threading the one through the other creates a strong, light fitting.

However, the advent of modern high-tensile ropes with no core has made them simpler and stronger.

Passed back through themselves, the outer line moves freely over the inner until tension is applied, constricting the outer and jamming the inner.

DIAMOND STOPPER KNOT: STEP-BY-STEP

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Step 1 Loop one of your ropes (red), pass

Step 2 Take the blue working end and run it

Step 3 Take the working end of red and run

the other underneath the loop, over the red standing end and under the working end

across the loop, weaving it underneath itself.

Then run it over the top of the red standing end

it over the standing end of blue

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These shackles have long been in use on racing boats as they compete to save a few grammes here and there.

But the cost and the potential for damage by metal shackles on gelcoat, sailcloth and ropes gives cruisers a powerful reason to consider them – not to mention eliminating the stress of jammed shackles.

Useful everywhere

Almost anywhere you use metal shackles at present, you can safely use a soft shackle – perhaps the only caveat is an inexact breaking strain (see panel over the page) and a slightly larger profile.

An array of pre-made soft shackles is available from most chandlers. But for those with the inclination and the

dexterity, it is not hard to make your own. It’s cheaper, and I get a certain sense of calm when I’m sitting at anchor, fiddling with rope and ending up with a useful fitting.

The basic concept of a “softie” is a length of rope with an adjustable loop at one end and a stopper knot at the other. To make a simple one, like that pictured opposite, requires hollow 12-strand rope – like the 5mm Kingfisher 75 Dyneema we are using here. This type of rope can be threaded back through itself by opening up the weave of the rope and

‘The knot should give a satisfying ‘thunk’...

Step 7

Diamond knot The most difficult part of the process, and one required by almost all variants, is the stopper - usually a ‘diamond knot’. With a little practice it is easy to master, though I would recommend trying it a few times before moving on to your soft shackle. In the photos below I used ropes coming from different directions to make the knot as clear as possible.

Tying this knot on a shackle, the ropes will come out of the splice from the same direction.

Note: The diamond knot will become the weakest part of the shackle and will reduce the advertised tensile strength of the rope by up to a third.

pushing the opposite end through this opened centre. To do this properly you will probably want to use a splicing fid – though a piece of wire also serves, as I show later.

Splicing the loop

Once you have learned how to make a diamond stopper knot, it is simply a case of splicing the shackle.

Mark out the rope according to the size of the shackle and the diameter of the line (see the length guide on the following page). I wanted a 10cm shackle in 5mm line, so I began by marking 25cm from one end of the rope – this provides one tail for the stopper knot. For the loop itself, I marked another 23cm, then left a further 25cm for the other tail before cutting. Be sure to wrap tape around the rope where you intend to cut it, otherwise it will quickly unravel.

Take the cut end of the rope and place it into your fid (or attach it to your wire – whatever you’re using).

Post the fid into the rope at the second mark, push it up through the centre of the rope and bring the fid and the rope out at the first mark. If using a wire, like me, you may find it easier to post the wire into the rope at the first mark, push it out at the second mark, then attach the rope to pull the whole thing back through.

You should now have a loop at one end, a thick middle section where the rope runs through itself and two 25cm tails, one of which exits the other at the first mark. Tie the diamond knot using the two long

I have used two different coloured ropes here to make each step clear. If tied correctly, the two stubs of rope will exit the knot at the same point and run parallel

Step 4 Pass the working end of red underneath the initial loop and the blue loop and up through the centre of the knot

Step 5 Take the working end of the blue rope and loop it underneath and up through the middle hole

Step 6 Our knot is now complete. Don’t panic that it still looks a mess, careful tightening will produce the result in step 7 (above) July 2013 sailingtoday.co.uk

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SailingToday(Ultimate).pdf 1 16/04/2013 12:11:46

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INTRODUCING ULTIMATE CRUISER THE NEW COASTAL/INSHORE RANGE FROM HENRI LLOYD ULTIMATE CRUISER JACKET OPTIVISION HOOD SYSTEM OUTSTANDING LEVELS OF COMFORT AND PERFORMANCE

henrilloyd.com

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