Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting June 2023 - Sample

O the beaten track in the Highlands and Islands

How nature's signs can guide your path

Prepare for victory

REGULARS

8 News

26 Tom Cunliffe

36 Paul Heiney

38 Andy Rice

98 Jess Lloyd-Mostyn

UNDER SAIL

18 Hidden Scotland

Local sailor David Stevenson gives you his insiders cruising tips

30 By way of Biscay

Pilotage expert Nick Chevasse gives you his tips for cruising Atlantic France

48 The Ocean Race

Full report on the drama as the fleet plunged into the treacherous Southern Ocean

52 Heineken Regatta

Rupert Holmes reports from a sun soaked Caribbean regatta

58 Round the Island Race

A look three different race experiences

68 Analogue or digital?

Sam Fortescue discusses the merits of paper and digital charts

74 Charter

The best beach club holidays

78 Gull’s Eye

Seaham Marina in County Durham

82 Tall Ships Youth Trust

BOATS

14 New boat news

16 First look: Outremer 52

92 Three of the Best

Three of the finest brokerage boats

EXPERT’S FORUM

86 Expert’s Forum

From race tactics to cruising conundrums

GEAR

56 Launched

Our picks and reviews

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Skipper’s View

THE ADVENT OF DIGITAL CHARTS HAS BEEN TRULY REVOLUTIONARY, BUT DITCHING YOUR PAPER CHARTS WOULD BE A POOR CHOICE

THIS MONTH, one subject seems to crop up time and again and that's the matter of navigation. It's possibly not the most glamorous of subjects but definitely fundamental to our sport. The question of digital vs paper just keep coming up and its a subject that is always guaranteed to get people talking. I guess things kicked o in earnest in July 2022 when the UKHO announced that it was planning on discontinuing its range of Admiralty paper charts - used by sailors for over two centuries. That got many people going and eventually led to the UKHO rowing back on it's plan and stating it would continue to produce them until at least 2030. We examine the choice between paper and digital in Sam Fortescue's article on p66, with further thoughts from Tom Cunli e on p70 plus a look at the latest chartplotters on p60.

It's an interesting issue that gets to the heart of the question of digital vs analogue. This magazine itself lies there too of course: are you reading it on paper or on your iPad? I must admit that, as a sailor, I long ago shoved most of my paper charts to the back to the chart table and merrily navigate using my phone. Yet this does have serious limitations. Back in the day when I used to steadfastly plot my Estimated Position every hour, I was a more thoughtful sailor and much less likely to get caught in a downtide position. Equally last year, after a particularly fraught and spray strewn trip across the English Channel in a 23' boat, I found that the phones of both the skipper and myself had been destroyed by constant soakings and we were suddenly in a somewhat precarious position. Equally, of an the evening, there's no better way to plan out a passage than to crack open a beer and pore over a full sized chart of the area. I've also always much preferred a solid hard cover pilot book to it's digital brother. The truth is that, while print is black and white, the issue of digital vs analogue is far less binary. The two work very well together and by using them in conjunction, you can find your way from port to port, or indeed across oceans, with far greater ease.

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CONTRIBUTORS

chelseamagazines.com

JESS LLOYD MOSTYN is a writer and blue water cruiser who is currently moored in Singapore

TOM CUNLIFFE is an author, journalist and TV presenter, and one of Britain's best-known cruising sailors

ANDY RICE is a journalist and veteran dinghy racer who has won championships at both ends of a ski

Let us Spray

Federic Puzin’s Ker 46 Corum takes a plunge into the balmy waters of Caribbean as she roars around the race course during February’s Antigua 360 . The race was part of RORC’s inaugural Nelson’s Cup series . Corum was ultimately to lose out by a single point to Niklas Zennström’s Rán 8 in IRC 1

Photo: RORC

Ebb and flow

Round the world racing ‘is coming home’ to Southampton

British sailors grew up with Southampton and the Solent being the accepted start and finish of round the world races, until commercial pressures forced organisers to go abroad.

Now the Ocean Globe Race will herald a return to those days as it starts and finishes at MDL’s Ocean Village marina in Southampton.

Starting in September, the Ocean Globe Race is a Whitbread throwback, with fully crewed yachts racing around the planet over four legs in a ‘retro’ style to recreate the spirit of the original Whitbread 1973 race.

On board the 15 privately-owned, pre-1988 sailing boats, the 160 sailors will have no GPS, no high-tech equipment and no computers, navigating by chart and sextant.

Some of the big names from the great Whitbread days are returning, including Tracy Edwards’ famous Farr 58 Maiden Around 50,000 people cheered Maiden’s all-female crew into Ocean Village at the end of the Whitbread round the world race in 1990.

Five other boats competing in the Ocean Globe Race have taken part in one or more Whitbreads.

The race village at Ocean Village will open on 26 August 2023, two weeks prior to the start of the race on 10 September.

During the run up to the start, the race village will host speakers, past

race screenings, hospitality and entertainment as well as the media centre and sailors’ briefing area.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have MDL onboard for the 2023 Ocean Globe Race and starting from Ocean Village in Southampton is a personal dream for me,” said Don McIntyre, Ocean Globe Race founder.

“When I conceived this event as a 50th anniversary celebration of the original 1973 Whitbread Race, I desperately wanted a start in the UK as this is where it all began. Now, in September, the UK public and sailors everywhere will be able to celebrate an important part of their maritime culture as 15 yachts set sail to recreate that first ever fully crewed race around the world.”

“What better way to celebrate MDL Marina’s 50th anniversary than to join forces with Don McIntyre to bring the Ocean Globe Race to life to celebrate the iconic Whitbread Round the World race as it also turns 50?” said Tim Mayer, Sales and Marketing Director at MDL Marinas.

“By hosting the start and finish of this retro edition of the historic race at our Ocean Village Marina, we’re hoping to recreate the jubilant atmosphere of the early races, welcoming crowds of supporters, capturing the imagination of visitors and inspiring the next generation of round the world sailors.” oceangloberace.com

Honour for Jeremy Rogers

Contessa boatbuilder Jeremy Rogers, who died in October last year, was honoured at the Classic Boat Awards in April with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.

There was lengthy applause at the ceremony as Fiona Rogers, Jeremy’s widow, accepted the trophy and spoke about her husband’s celebrated career.

His son, Kit, who has run Jeremy Rogers Ltd, in Lymington, since 2012, refitting classic Contessas and building new, was in the audience, with Jeremy and Fiona’s grandson Jonah.

The Classic Boat Awards is organised by our sister title Classic Boat, with the ceremony held at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London. Around 150 guests travelled from around the world to attend.

British skipper safe after dramatic south Atlantic rescue

Golden Globe Race skipper Ian Herbert Jones from Shropshire, England, has been evacuated from his yacht in the south Atlantic after he suffered a back injury and gashed his head when he was rolled in seven metre seas, losing the rig.

A dramatic 24 hours began when Ian, 52, a former British Army engineer who works in the software industry, contacted the race office mid-afternoon on day 218 of his intended circumnavigation, 10 April, to say he was in extreme weather and confused seas with 50 knots of wind, gusting over 70 knots. The married father-of-three was running under bare poles and trying to hand steer downwind in his Tradewind 35, Puffin

Ian was several hundred miles west of southern Patagonia, lying third in the race’s Chichester class, having had to make a stop for repairs earlier in the race.

He reported that the yacht was being laid over by wind and waves and there was a small amount of water down below.

Then the line went dead and contact with Ian was lost. He called again 10 minutes later to say he could not launch his drogue to keep Puffin stern to the waves. Conditions were extreme, he had been washed out of the cockpit twice and he had activated his EPIRB so that Search And Rescue in Argentina would be aware of his position and situation.

Race organiser Don McIntyre advised Ian that the extreme weather would last for at least another five hours. Launching the drogue, to keep Puffin stern-on to the waves and avoid being rolled, would be critical.

The race office confirmed with MRCC Argentina that they had received Ian’s EPIRB signal, but two hours later Ian sent a message via his Yellow-Brick YB3 satellite tracking and texting unit – he had pressed the distress alert button, recognised as a distress protocol for all GGR entrants, suggesting he was in trouble and could not text or use the sat phone.

Search and Rescue Puerto Belgrano began coordinating a rescue with commercial ships in Ian’s vicinity, including a tanker 120 miles north of his position and several fishing boats. However, contact with them still had to be made and meanwhile winds were 55 knots,

gusting 88 knots. Just over an hour later, at 1840, Puffin sent the message: “Rolled dismasted, injured back, hard to move, 2ft water in boat.”

Then at 1844, a second message read: “Situation getting worse... need weather break to cut rig from Puffin.”

The 7.7m south west sea also had a forecast 1.8m north east secondary swell at nine second intervals – two opposing seas sure to cause highly confused and dangerous conditions.

The race office reported: “With the mast down hanging over the side and Ian unable to cut the rig clear, the risk of damage to the hull is real. The motion of the Puffin without a mast is also very dynamic.”

At 2015 a further message was received from Ian, saying he had gashed his head while trying to cut away the rig. His back was painful and stiff, with movement difficult.

As night fell, Ian waited for conditions to ease before any vessels in the area could reach him. Three Taiwanese fishing boats headed towards him, the first to arrive being the Zi Da Wang, poisitioning herself to windward of Ian while discussing how he could be transferred via VHF.

At 1930, around 26 hours after Ian’s first distress message, the race office was told that Ian was safely aboard the Zi Da Wang “bruised, cut, scraped, still with a back injury, but safe”.

The Tradewind 35 was then scuttled so she would not remain a potential hazard to navigation and the Zi Da Wang headed for Cape Town.

Meanwhile, at the front of the Golden Globe Race fleet, as we went to press, British sailor Simon Curwen was on course to come in first, even though a repair stop earlier in the race means he can’t be awarded the winner’s trophy.

Curwen had to make a 1,000 mile detour in the south Pacific but since caught up the front-runners and will likely lead them into Les Sables d’Olonne.

The battle for the official first place was on, with non-stop circumnavigators Abhilash Tomy from India and Kirsten Neuschafer from South Africa both very close as they reached the latitude of southern Portugal.

Dylan joins INEOS

Dylan Fletcher is the newest recruit to INEOS Britannia’s sailing team. Fletcher recently won the Moth Worlds, to add to his Olympic 49er title with Stuart Bithell at Tokyo.

He said: “It’s something that I have dreamt about for a long time, pretty much since I started my Olympic carer. I thought – well, I want to win the America’s Cup for Great Britain, and I want to win a gold medal. Now I have gone and got that gold medal. Next step is to win the Cup for Great Britain.”

The Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia received their AC40 in October and also elected to build their own prototype 40-footer, known as an LEQ12, and chose Palma, Mallorca, as their winter training base.

Team Principal and skipper Sir Ben Ainslie said: “The 37th America’s Cup venue announcement was a much-anticipated moment that we had all been waiting for, and it certainly did not disappoint. The team was delighted that Barcelona had been chosen as we knew it would provide excellent facilities for operations, competitive racing conditions and an engaging setting for visiting fans. We had already committed to a winter training camp in Palma, which meant that once the news was official our focus would be on a mid-summer 2023 move to the host venue. Our Barcelona base is now well under construction and in the coming months we are looking forward to moving in and immersing ourselves in the Barcelona community and experiencing that special Catalonian culture. With six teams entered there is already a buzz in the city ahead of us all hitting the water, this could be a special edition of the Auld Mug.”

Finlo for RYA

Finlo Cottier is the new CEO of RYA Scotland. Originally from the Isle of Man, he has worked as an Arctic scientist, eventually becoming a Professor at the Scottish Association of Marine Sciences in Oban. He was Commodore at Oban SC and a as a deputy coxswain for the RNLI.

Q&A

SIMON MORGAN, WILDWIND

How did you do in the recent Hobie 16 Worlds? Having trained with a former 420 world champion, she contracted Covid three days before the event and I was lucky to find another crew from the Wildwind team in Vassiliki. Our ‘training’ consisted of three tacks on the way out to the start line. We had a first place on the last day - we finished on a high at least!

What is behind Windwind’s sponsorship of the International Hobie Class Association?

My dad (Tony Morgan) was Keith Musto’s crew in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics finishing with a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman. He never really had enough time to teach me racing and although I raced Cadets as a youth I only ever did well when it was blowing – true to this day. I was 25 when my best mate suggested we bought a Hobie 16 – and from then on I spent every weekend sailing, including some fairly adventurous organised events such as the Hogs Breath 1000, 727 miles non-stop around the Florida coast over four days, and some distinctly unorganised events such as a jaunt from Highcliffe SC to Cherbourg one fine Sunday.

Are Wildwind’s beach clubs back to full bookings post-pandemic? 2022 was our best year ever, and 2023 looks like it will be completely full too.

Sailing is changing rapidly. How do you keep your fleets up to date?

We spend a fortune keeping our fleet up to speed and with our clients regularly sailing (and capsizing) in winds of 20 knots and more, our bosuns work really hard. The maintenance alone is about £100,000 a year, including depreciation, at a very rough guess.

This year we have 79 brand new sails being delivered, four brand new Hobie 16s raced at the Worlds in Spain, a racing RS800 and an upgrade to all of our hulls and equipment.

How do you guarantee the safety of children at your bases? We are RYA-recognised and also wellcontrolled by the Greek port police authorities. Being at such a windy spot, safety is critical, whether it’s for children or adults. We have three safety boats, manned both inshore and further out and a tower with a keen eye on all craft at all times. We have a target of one minute to be with any boat that’s capsized, if we can’t see they’re safe. And we keep an even closer eye on kids.

What is there to do if we don’t want to go sailing? Lefkas is one of the most beautiful islands in all of Greece. From our base in Vassiliki, there are daily ferries to Cephalonia. As well as sailing the Wildwind base offers free mountain bikes and SUPS, and we also have our Wildwind Adventures programme which offers newcomers a chance to try out sailing, windsurfing, SUPS, kayaks and scuba and more, ideal for anyone wanting a taster experience of a wide variety of watersports. Our award-winning ‘Healthy Options’ programme includes yoga, Pilates and fitness classes.

In the evenings, is it a party vibe or a family with young kids vibe? Either. We are not an inclusive holiday and almost all of our guests head into the village which is a ten minute walk away for evening meals, and while the bars stay open until late and there is a fun atmosphere, in no sense can Vassiliki be termed a real ‘party’ resort – just busy with exuberant sailors.

A

New rating system for cruiser racing

The RYA has launched a new free rating system, designed to make cruiser-racing easier to run and more accessible.

The RYA YTC powered RORC Rating (YTC) went live nationally in February 2023 and is on course to have more than 800 boats registered ahead of the season, with 69 clubs having adopted it so far.

YTC aims to offer a simple rating system to create a level playing field for all monohull yachts.

Richard Moxey of British Keelboat

Sailing said: “Since the introduction of YTC we’ve seen a fantastic take-up by clubs across the UK from the South West where the system was originally developed to as far afield as the North East and Northern Ireland. We hope many more yacht clubs and cruiser-racing sailors will also now welcome this free new rating system.”

Many clubs use their own rating systems or the National Handicap for Cruisers (NHC), which is responsive to individual performance. YTC is based on the physical measurements of a boat and for those sailors who want to progress, it is designed as a stepping-stone to IRC racing.

The system was developed over a number of years by a team of volunteers and enthusiasts based at Mylor Yacht Club in Cornwall and gradually adopted by clubs and regattas across the South West.

Joining forces with the RYA and RORC meant it could be used more widely. Since the national roll-out, half of the boats so far issued with a YTC certificate for 2023 are new to the scheme.

Founder member Chris Davis, of Royal Cornwall YC, said: “YTC is aimed at the club racer and the whole ethos is that you can just turn up with your boat and join in.

“What we’ve found and observed over nearly a decade is that it does work. YTC uses easily available data and it is simple to understand. For a boat owner it is quick to apply for a certificate and free. For a busy sailing secretary, it is easy to implement.

“In the South West people started to notice YTC and use it at different clubs and regattas. Since going nationwide it’s really taken off. It’s a matter for clubs to decide what system they want to use but I hope that more and

Laser Round Britain

Dr Andrew Hill-Smith was inspired by a friend and also his uncle, who both died from motor neurone disease.

He was due to set sail from Gosport on 10 April, hoping to raise £5,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. He aims to be back home by the end of the summer, with distances of 10 to 50 miles per day.

Andrew said: “It will be hard work. There will be problems along the way. The boat might break. I might physically break. But I think emotional exhaustion will be the biggest problem.”

If successful, Andrew believes he will be the third person to sail around Britain in a Laser.

Donate via laseraroundtheuk3.uk

more people will start to see the benefits of YTC.”

Richard Craven, Honorary Handicapper for Scarborough YC, where YTC has now been adopted, said: “People like the idea of it being a measured system, rather than using empirical data which can be skewed. YTC is an actual calculation, straightforward and transparent – there’s your numbers, there’s your rating. It’s based on length, weight and sail area and it doesn’t change from race to race. And if you want to race seriously you can go IRC.”

Enthusiasm for YTC in Northern Ireland has included all nine clubs on Belfast Lough adopting the new rating system for their racing and joint regattas.

Robin Gray, a member of Ballyholme YC on Belfast Lough - who is also an International Race Officer, Chair of the RYA Race Management Committee and RYA Regional Race Management Coordinator – said: “People just want a handicap and to go racing. A personal handicap is more of a hindrance and NHC normalises at different levels within clubs, so when boats come together for regattas the numbers are not effective. The question for clubs to ask is ‘are you happy with NHC?’ If the answer is no, YTC is the alternative. YTC is completely free, you can see the numbers and you know where you are, and it’s simple to apply for your certificate.”

Find out more or get a YTC number for your boat at ytc.rorcrating.com or swytc.org.uk

doctor from Surrey is aiming to sail his Laser around Britain for charity.

Cowes Classics Week: racing and partying!

Small boat racing sailors are invited to one of the biggest regattas of its kind, Cowes Classics Week, which will run from 8-14 July, incorporating Cowes Classics Day on 9 July and racing from 10-14 July.

The event, sponsored by GJW Direct, sees top racing for a huge variety of one-design and handicap classes and organiser the Royal London Yacht Club has announced that its popular club-based social program will this year include events at six local yacht clubs.

Social events traditionally start with post-racing tea and cakes at the RLYC, with evening entertainment typically getting underway with daily prize-giving and drinks, hosted this year by a number of clubs including the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Royal Yacht Squadron. Each

Position: The Swiss Army boat

The boat that comes with a nail-file…

In the old days we had the single daggerboard. Nowadays, foiling boats come with so many cutting implements they resemble a Swiss Army knife. Designers are building in all manner of tools – the latest F50s, as shown here, carry a giant toothpick, a nostril hair razor and a nail le. Development is being driven by the sailors. Jimmy Spithill has requested a tanning lamp at the helm station, Ben Ainslie wanted a lower back massager and Pete Burling likes to watch Tom & Jerry cartoons on the nav-screen in between races. To accommodate these and more tools, like Swiss Army knives, the boats just keep getting beamier, until nobody can remember what tools there are. One thing is for sure, though, when Tom Slingsby gets a splinter, he’ll be glad he’s on one of these boats.

Like Swiss Army knives, the boats just keep getting beamier

evening at least one club will lay on an evening meal and this may range from a hog roast to the regatta dinner. Clubs including the Island Sailing Club, Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club and the Royal Victoria Yacht Club will be hosting the evening dinners. The RVYC was the original host club for the yacht racing events in the 1908 Olympic games and this year competitors in Cowes Classics Week will be able to enjoy a motor boat cruise down the coast to the RVYC for supper. cowesclassicsweek.org

DIFFICULTY RATING: 1/5