Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting September 2021

with SEPTEMBER 2021 £4.95

EXCLUSIVE: SOUTHAMPTON INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW TICKET OFFER AD SDFHRE

41 BOATS YOU HAVE TO SEE The multihulls, yachts and race boats changing the game

BOAT TESTS PLUS BOAT TESTS

10 REASONS TO VISIT THE SHOW

BOAT TEST

ADVENTURING IN COMFORT Windelo 50 cat

OLYMPIC COUNTDOWN GB stars going for Tokyo gold ESSENTIAL SAFETY KIT For you and your boat CRUISING ON THE EDGE

Unintended adventure

ROUND THE ISLAND

We sail in 90th bash

SCOTTISH CRUISING DREAM Island-hopping holiday

www.chatham.co.uk

REGULARS

10 News 16 Paul Heiney 18 Andy Rice 20 Andi Robertson 30 Tom Cunliffe Recollecting the exploits of Bully Forbes, a legendary clipper captain

98 Jess Lloyd-Mostyn The joy of bringing up kids afloat

UNDER SAIL

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34 Olympic preview A look at the runners and riders as the teams head out to Japan

40 Scotland

74

Exploring the west coast of Scotland with a cruise around Islay

62 Gull’s Eye We cast our eye over Lowestoft Harbour and focus on Lowestoft Haven Marina

74 Exiles in the Caribbean How Covid restrictions shaped a Caribbean cruise

82 Round the Island review The winners and losers in this 90th anniversary edition of the race

94 Dispatches

BOATS

22 New boats special All the latest launches for 2020/21 reviewed

48 Windelo 50 Sam Jefferson tests a French catamaran with an extraordinary story

66 90

22

88

92 Three of the Best Three of the finest brokerage boats

GEAR

56 Buyer’s Guide A look at the latest innovations in the world of safety kit

68

68 Southampton Boat Show preview A look ahead to the 2021 edition of this old favourite

88 Launched The latest gear

90 Shortlist Flexible solar panels

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting NOVEMBER 2020

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Welcome

EDITORIAL EDITOR

Sam Jefferson 020 3943 9261 sam.jefferson@chelseamagazines.com

YACHTS & YACHTING EDITOR

Georgie Corlett-Pitt georgie.corlett-pitt@chelseamagazines.com GROUP EDITOR Rob Peake

Skipper’s View THE PANDEMIC HAS MADE MANY SAILORS MORE DETERMINED THAT THEIR DREAM OF BUYING A BOAT BECOMES A REALITY

ART & PRODUCTION EDITOR Gareth Lloyd Jones PUBLISHING CONSULTANT Martin Nott PUBLISHER Simon Temlett simon.temlett@chelseamagazines.com ADVERTISING ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Mark Harrington 020 7349 3734 mark.harrington@chelseamagazines.com GROUP SALES DIRECTOR Catherine Chapman HEAD OF SALES OPERATIONS Jodie Green ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Allpoints Media Ltd allpointsmedia.co.uk CHAIRMAN Paul Dobson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicki Gavin MANAGING DIRECTOR James Dobson CHELSEA CREATE PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR Lyndall Beeton Published by: The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London, SW3 3TQ Tel: 020 7349 3700 © The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2020.

All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1367-5869 (print) ISSN 2059-9285 (digital)

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ARGUABLY THERE HAS RARELY BEEN a better time to dream of buying a boat. Rarely have the words 'freedom' and 'escape' played so regularly on the lips of so many people and there are few better means of dreaming about escape than by imagining untying the lines and heading out into the wild blue yonder at the helm of a yacht. Well, the good news is that this edition has that dream at its heart; featuring a list of the finest new boats on the market for you to browse through. I am continually staggered at just how many new yachts are built every year. I recall some years back when working as a freelancer being commissioned to write the Boat News section of Sailing Today and being breezily asked to send in a write up of six new boat launches per issue . That's 72 new boat launches per year. I thought it seemed like a tall order and assumed I would struggle. Yet that was not the case at all and I was often forced to omit certain more outlandish yachts. At the same time, I was asked to carry out two boat tests per issue for the magazine - that's 24 boat tests per year and, again, this seemed like an impossible task but, again, I was most definitely mistaken. Even in this last somewhat fraught year new boats have been hitting the water with almost monotonous regularity and manufacturers have reported, if anything, a spike in interest in yachts. The only boatbuilders taking a serious hit from the pandemic are those who supplied large numbers of yachts to the charter market. Chatting to the CEO of one manufacturer during a boat test, he professed that the biggest problem they were having was that the pandemic had made it very difficult for potential customers to actually take a look at the boat they were interseted in buying. This is a serious hurdle when you are sometimes talking about an investment of around a million pounds. Hopefully our boat tests have helped somewhat in this regard but let's also hope that this autumn we will actually be able to go to boat shows and see the magnificent selection of new boats built in 2020/21 for real and maybe, just maybe, turn our dreams of escape into reality.

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No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission in writing. Every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of information in Sailing Today, but no responsibility can be accepted for the consequences of actions based on the advice portrayed herein.

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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

RUPERT HOLMES has decades of experience covering and participating in the offshore racing scene

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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A splash of Plymouth magic America’s Cup winner Jimmy Spithill admitted he packed his drysuit for the Plymouth round of SailGP, but the skies were blue and the temperatures were high as he and his seven rival skippers in the global championship took to the Sound for what turned out to be an epic weekend of racing. There was a race win for the Great Britain SailGP team and plenty for the thousands of fans ashore and afloat to enjoy. We report in brief overleaf and we’ll have a full round-up of the Plymouth event in our next issue.

Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

News

Ebb and flow EVENTS | NEWS | TALES FROM THE SAILING COMMUNITY

Plymouth SailGP: what a scorcher!

SailGP Plymouth was a spectacular success as the world’s best sailors put on a show to remember for thousands of fans watching from the Hoe and more than 1,200 boats along the course. The Great Britain SailGP team struggled on day 1 but came back on on the Sunday to give the cheering home fans a win, stand-in helm Paul Goodison leaving the team second overall on the leaderboard after his two events replacing Ben Ainslie, who has taken time away after his wife Georgie gave birth to a son, Fox. The event, over 17 and 18 July, was run under strict Covid safety restrictions, with the spectator boats and other viewing areas sold only to half capacity to allow social distancing. Nonetheless the atmosphere around the Sound was electric as the F50s took to the water, with Jimmy Spithill, Francesco Bruni, Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge and many other big names on board.

Conditions were windier than predicted and racing was tight, with high speeds and the championship’s first ever black flag given to the SailGP team after a controversial start.

Tom Slingsby’s Australia SailGP Team were victors overall after an edge-of-your-seat final between Australia, USA and France.

Celebrating with his Australia crew members was an ecstatic Nick Hutton, the team’s grinder, who hails from Devon.

Paul Goodison said: “That was a special day. There were so many positive vibes going out there this morning and then seeing all the fans and hearing all the noise coming from them on the water was just incredible.”

See next month for full report.

ROUND THE ISLAND RACE PHOTOS THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE PAUL WYETH

Eeyore wins 90th Round the Island Race

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The 90th anniversary Round the Island Race was celebrated by a fleet of over 1,200 participants and won by local Cowes boat Eeyore, an Alacrity 18 bilge-keeler, which retains the Gold Roman Bowl after her 2019 victory.

The Island Sailing Club event, which was founded in 1931, enjoyed conditions ranging from flat calm to 25-knot gusts, fog and sun.

Eeyore owner and skipper Jo Richards (pictured right with crew, the trophy presented by Pip Hare) said: “We had a shocking first leg down to the Needles and luckily there was a bit of a lull under the cliffs, when we got back into our class and from then on it was really tight.

“When we got to Bembridge Ledge, having got the rating list out, we knew we had to finish a minute and a half ahead of one boat and three minutes ahead of another boat. It was pretty tense the whole way back and being the smallest boat in the SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

fleet you’ve got no control if a 55ft boat sits on top of you. It was only when we got back to shore and people starting texting that we thought we might have won. A great day out.”

Meanwhile, the Alan Buchanan-designed Cherete won the Silver Gilt Roman Bowl, for first boat overall in the ISCRS divisions. Owner Brian Haugh said: “We had a totally unexpected result and we were late getting to the start line.

This was our tenth Round the Island Race, we had a great day and it felt like normality had resumed.”

Peter Cunningham’s MOD70 trimaran PowerPlay was the first to finish, in 4hrs 11mins. A light start prevented any chance of a new race record, which was set by PowerPlay (then called Concise 10) in 2017, at 2hrs 22mins.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting is official media partner for the race. The Island Sailing Club thanked its other partners Haven Knox-Johnston, Helly Hansen, Marlin Leisure Marine, Raymarine and Cowes Harbour Commission. There are openings for new partners in 2022 – email sponsorship@ islandsc.org.uk. The 2022 race will be on Saturday 25 June.

See page 82 – we do the race with the Disabled Sailors Association and Gwennili Trust.

News

NEWS BRIEFS Maritime Minister goes sailing The UK’s Maritime Minister, Robert Courts MP, visited the Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre in London on 7 July to be briefed on issues regarding the sector by the RYA, as part of Maritime Safety Week.

The minister found time to go sailing in an RS Quest.

Watch Cowes Week via an app Cowes Week races will be live-streamed from cameras on board, with the footage viewable on shoreside screens and via a new Cowes Week app and website.

The initiative is being run through the regatta’s technology partner aql and the 1851 Trust charity, with co-funding from the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to create a connected 5G network at Cowes.

There will be 360° high-definition cameras, beaming pictures back to shore from around 50 boats, an idea that the organisers say “could become almost ubiquitous across the fleet in the future”.

The 5G network allows on-board data such as wind conditions and boat speed to be sent back to shore, further enhancing the spectator experience.

Laurence Mead, regatta director, said: “We’ve

also changed the format of the regatta this year – we’re having more starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron line and two feature races each day, filmed via drone from a RIB, which we hope to show live using 5G.” The app is free to download and includes information about the event onshore as well as the entertainment schedule. Each class is identified and described and long-term the intention to develop a ‘point and identify’ feature, using 5G communications to instantly identify any boat you point your mobile phone camera at.

The 1851 Trust charity, a Cowes Week patner, will be using the data gathered through 5G to run educational programmes for secondary school students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

Cowes Week runs from 31 July to 6 August.

Solo Ultim round the world race The first ever single-handed race around the world in the giant Ultim multihulls will take place in 2023 and a number of big names have already signed up including Vendée Globe winner Actual skipper Yves Le Blevec (Actual pictured during this year’s Round the Island Race), Banque Populaire skipper Armel Le Cléac’h, Maxi Edmond de Rothschild skipper Charles Caudrelier and Sodebo skipper Thomas Coville. The boats are capable of sustained speeds of more than 30 knots. Organiser OC Sport Pen Duick said “the coming together of these 32-metre giants promises an extraordinary sporting feat that will be shared around the globe”.

Ellen’s Trust back afloat The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust successfully kicked off its 2021 season in Round the Island Race, marking the first time the charity has sailed since October 2019. The race was an important test for the Trust’s extra COVID safety measures, which it will employ as it welcomes young people living through and beyond cancer back on the water this summer.

Marina purchase Premier Marinas has bought Universal Marina on the River Hamble for an undisclosed sum. Premier Marinas owns and operates nine marinas on the English south coast.

Made in Britain Marlow Ropes, the UK rope manufacturer, has been accredited as a member of Made in Britain and the adoption of the official, protected mark.

Newsletter Sign up to our monthly newsletter and get the latest news stories, practical advice and sailing inspiration sent direct to your inbox every month – plus you can choose cruising or racing, or both! You also receive notification of when the new issue is published. Visit sailingtoday.co.uk/ newsletter/ or yachtsandyachting.co.uk/ newsletter Sails recycled Environmental organisation Clean Sailors is encouraging sailors to drop off their old sails at SKB Sails (Falmouth) free of charge. The sails will be recycled by Sails & Canvas in Topsham as ‘lifestyle products’.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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News

Fastnet set for clash of the titans Will this monster yacht win the Rolex Fastnet Race on 8 August? The just-launched Skorpios is the talk of the yacht-racing world, the first example of a ClubSwan 125. The 42.6m-long boat, owned by Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, overtakes Nilaya as the biggest monohull to enter the Fastnet since the 100ft maximum length limit was eased by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in 2017.

Skorpios has a beam of 8.75m, a draft of 7.6m, downwind sail area of 1,961sqm, a canting keel and two foils, mainly to prevent leeway, not to make her fly. She is skippered by Fernando Echavarri, Spanish Olympic Tornado gold medallist and former Volvo Ocean Race skipper, who says she should regularly exceed 30 knots downwind and upwind is as fast as the wind up to 14 knots. He won’t be drawn, however,

on whether or not she’s the fastest monohull ever launched, saying: “That is a hard one because we are facing things we have never faced before, like understanding how the wind works at very high altitudes [due to the extreme mast height]. The numbers are pretty promising.”

Her Fastnet entry sets up a head-to-head with previous victor Rambler 88, whose US owner George David would love to make it a triple – overall line honours, plus handicap honours, plus a race record.

The last boat in the Fastnet to achieve both line and handicap honours was Ludde Ingvall’s Nicorette in 1995.

We’ll review the race in full in our next issue.

RNLI proud of ‘humanitarian work’ The RNLI issued a statement after a newspaper article highlighting its saving of Channel migrants provoked criticism.

An online article in the Daily Mail about “migration madness” said that “the Mail’s investigations this week confirmed the other twist to this disturbing tale — that Britain’s lifeboats are also now racing into French waters to bring migrants to Britain”.

The RNLI said it had been inundated with social media comments.

The charity said: “We want to be absolutely clear that we are incredibly proud of the humanitarian work our

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

volunteer lifeboat crews do to rescue vulnerable people in distress. HM Coastguard and the Irish Coast Guard can request any of our lifeboats to launch to an incident.

“Our lifeboats operate under international maritime law, which states we are permitted and indeed obligated to enter the waters of other territories for search and rescue purposes. Where we believe there is a risk to life at sea, we will always launch. We are not border control and once a rescue is complete, we hand over responsibility for casualties to UK Border Force and/or the police.”

RYA on the lookout for new helm The CEO of the RYA, Sarah Treseder, announced she will be leaving in August after 11 years in the job.

She said: “I have treasured my time at the RYA and am proud of what the association has achieved whilst I have been at its helm. The team support I have received over the past decade has been outstanding, which has made the decision to leave incredibly tough, but I know I leave the RYA in a very strong position and that it will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.”

RYA chair Chris Preston said: “Sarah has transformed the RYA in terms of strategic thinking, partnership networking and ambition during her 11-year tenure. There is not an aspect of the association’s business both internally and externally that she has not influenced or changed for the better; consequently, she leaves a strong and lasting legacy.

“The board would particularly like to thank Sarah for her commitment and contribution during the COVID crisis and the challenges posed by Brexit – the association’s response to both has been exemplary.”

Sir Peter Harrison, 1937-2021 Leading sailors paid tribute to Sir Peter Harrison, who died on 18 June. Sir Peter personally backed the GBR Challenge, which campaigned for the 2002/03 America’s Cup in Auckland, and was behind numerous other sailing projects big and small. He was a keen racer and owned many yachts, notably the Farr 115 superyacht Sojana.

As a businessman and technology pioneer Sir Peter developed the company Chernikeeff into the largest privately held computer networking company in the UK, before selling out for £300 million in 1999.

He used the money to set up the Peter Harrison Foundation, which focuses on the development of disabled and disadvantaged young people. He was knighted in 2013 in recognition of his philanthropic work.

The GBR Challenge saw Sir Peter put together a young and almost entirely British team of sailors and shore crew, many of whom have gone onto have stellar careers in the sport.

It was the first British entry in the Cup since 1987 and saw the purchase of two practice boats from the Japanese Nippon Challenge.

The team then built two monohulls on the

Isle of Wight: GBR70, Wight Lightning; and GBR78, Wight Magic. They were eventually beaten in the quarter finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup by Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes.

As ever, Harrison showed good humour in the post-race press conference, making a much-reported quip about his team having been beaten by ‘hardened professionals’. The US boat was sponsored by Viagra.

Matt Cornwell, bowman for the GBR Challenge and a key member of INEOS Team UK, said: “Britain has always had brilliant sailors but that had never translated into racing results

in the America’s Cup. Peter kickstarted a change in that. It certainly wouldn’t have been as easy for Ben [Ainslie] if Peter hadn’t done that campaign 20 years ago.”

GBR Challenge skipper Ian Walker said: “We chaulked off some good wins but the one that really stands in my mind and the one that Peter was most proud of was our win against BMWOracle. It was the might of Larry Ellison, with all the rock star sailors on board, against little old GBR Challenge. Peter was very proudly British. That day, all the stars aligned and we sailed the perfect race. It was the highlight of the whole Cup for him.”

INEOS Team UK grinder Freddie Carr said: “He really put a shot in the arm of UK yacht racing. The GBR Challenge was a young British team. The British sailing community owes him a huge debt for doing that. He was proper patriot.”

Andy Beadsworth, starting helmsman for GBR Challenge, said: “He’s been helping people right back from the late 1990s and all those people have gone on to be successful. He gave a lot of people an opportunity and lots of us racing on great boats now owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Southampton Boat Show ticket offer British Marine, organiser of the Southampton Boat Show, is offering a reduced ticket price for readers of Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting. Using the code YY21, readers can buy two tickets for £34 (two children can go free with one adult ticket). Book via southamptonboatshow.com. The ticket offer ends on 31 August, 2021.

See page 68 for our full preview of the show, which runs from 10-19 September.

Foiling kiteboards for Olympics Foiling kiteboarding will become an Olympic sailing discipline at the Paris 2024 Games, after the proposed doublehanded mixed offshore yacht-racing class failed to gain approval from the IOC. The 2024 sailing regatta is due to take place from Marseille.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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News

Ocean Race Europe winners Offshore Team Germany and Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team were the IMOCA and VO65 winners in the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe, after an exciting few weeks of racing from Atlantic France to Genoa in Italy.

It was the first time we’d seen a race between crewed IMOCAs, the boats associated with the single-handed Vendée Globe. Meanwhile the V065 class was seen as a marker for The Ocean Race itself, around the world next year.

Approaching the finish on the final leg, the German boat was under threat from the rapidly advancing LinkedOut – a team they would have to beat to avoid being relegated to third overall. The two were overlapped at the finish line, but with Offshore Team Germany taking the win by the smallest of margins.

Position: The rail-sitter It works on yachts, so why not try it on a Laser...

TOM TOUW

I

t’s vital to share ideas and techniques between classes. This youth Laser 4.7 sailor, for example, is borrowing the idea of sitting on the rail to make the boat go faster. Very sensible. He’s heard that on big boats, the crews line up dutifully along the side deck on every windward leg, keeping the cockpit clear and giving vital boatspeed. Our man here may be discovering, however, that on a dinghy, sitting on the rail means something quite different. This is not just hanging your legs over the side and hoping your deck shoes don’t get washed off. It’s a technique that demands nerve, agility and some resistance to pain. As this shot shows, there can be ramifications for the mainsail – and the rudder. Top marks for effort though...

There are ramifications for the rudder and mainsail

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

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Paul Heiney An exploration of some of the more out of the way west country estuaries reveals a rather wistful selection of forgotten yachts, all with their own story to tell

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nother season ebbing away, and another year stuck pretty much to the now established tramlines which run along the southern Devon and Cornwall coastline.

Nothing wrong with that; it is a feast of a coast. But a sailing diet needs to be varied now and again, and after two years of similar fodder the craving for new places was beginning to overwhelm the appetite.

That is why I seem to have spent more time anchored at the tops of hitherto unexplored rivers.

It was somewhere different, and new, and surprisingly rewarding both for the natural peace and beauty, which was in sharp contrast to the ‘elbowing’ for a place on rafted visitor buoys in the over-used hotspots.

The thing about the tops of rivers is that you come across boats that you never see anywhere else, but not in an inspiring way. There is a lot of sadness in the upper reaches, even a graveyard feel to the narrow, shallow confines at the very fringes of navigable water. This is where great tidal rivers turn into muddy, shallow streams where yachts can go no further - the end of the line.

I came across some sad sights, clinging to a filthy mooring buoy as if this was their last grasp on life. It was amazing that some of those boats were still afloat given the burden of bird droppings, leaf mould, and the sheer added weight of rust, rotting sail covers and anything else the weather could do damage to. The batteries will be flat, the pistons seized, the winches solid, the varnish a distant memory. It is at the heads of rivers that such boats end up. This is where the moorings are shallow, inaccessible, and cheap. If you want to forget that you own a boat , but can’t bring yourself to sell it, these are the places to dump it and forget it as economically as possible.

As interesting as the boats must be the stories behind their abandonment. I find it unthinkable that I could take my present boat and just forget it. But who knows what kind of catastrophe might have struck the owner; financial, bereavement, illness or dispute. All I know is that for some of boats I have seen this summer, at the very ends of their lives, it must have been something

utterly life-changing.

And the saddest thing is that, once upon a time, they would have been the apple of someone›s eye. Bought to fulfil a dream, to bring adventure into an otherwise humdrum life, giving a family a weekend’s pleasure, or simply bought to have something to maintain and fiddle with to pass the time. It was somewhere to drink tea that wasn›t home, a place to sleep that didn›t feel like your own bed, but most importantly somewhere to curl up with an inspiring account of adventures on the high seas and dream that one day this boat of yours will follow in their wake.

If you are a member of a sailing club, you will be familiar with the newsletter›s obituary page as it records the ebb and flow of members› lives.

There›s always something new to learn from reading them. Old Percy, who always had his own place at the bar and drank quietly from the same mug for years, might never have spoken much. Yet only in his obituary do you discover that his naval service did him credit, and his time at sea in conflicts around the world read like tales from an adventure comic.

Obituaries are not just about memories, but often revelation.

That’s why I think boats deserve proper obituaries just as much as people do. Some of those rotting hulks I saw this summer will have rich experiences stuffed between the gaping planks, or wrapped up in that heavily mildewed mainsail. Some will have made brave channel crossings in the days before satellite navigation, uncertain of their position, their long - forgotten skipper wiping spray from the binoculars in the hope that they might spot the light on the Cherbourg pier ends. Some will have won races with great glory, others may have once sunk on their moorings and caused great distress, but these are all good tales that we will never hear. Less dramatic, but equally important, might be the memories of warm, sunny days at anchor, with children who are now elderly themselves, splashing about in a leaking Avon dinghy, getting their first taste of command, while their parents sit in the cockpit fretting about their safety.

Boats have so many stories to tell but are never given any voice. All they can do is tug at that weed-covered mooring in a hardly visited creek, and keep all their secrets to themselves.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

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ILLUSTRATION: CLAIRE WOOD

‘It was amazing that some of those boats were still afloat given the burden of bird droppings and leaf mould’

Andy Rice More OK dinghies were built in 2020 than in any year since 1980.

Andy looks at the reasons driving this revival

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pparently more OKs have been built in 2020 than in any other year since 1980. Along with the Europe dinghy, which saw 50 entries at its National Championships at the ever-accommodating Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the OK seems to be going through a big uplift in numbers. It’s not exclusive to these two either, it seems like participation is rocketing across a number of singlehander classes.

I asked Ovington Boats’ Chris Turner why he thought the OK was skyrocketing at the moment? “Well, the pandemic, obviously, has driven people towards singlehanders,” he said.

“But the OK has had a lot of demand over recent years, there just hasn’t been anyone who could fulfil it.”

There have been a few keen one-man bands whose order books have been full, but whose maximum annual capacity is just five or six boats, according to Chris. A couple of years ago he was approached by a couple of enthusiasts in the fleet about doing a production version of the OK, and he’s now selling in excess of 30 a year.

Turner already had a special love for the boat. “I’ve sailed an Aero, a D-Zero, sailed an ILCA, and they’re all OK, but they’re not an OK, if you know what I mean! It’s a cracking boat to sail, one of those hidden gems that you don’t hear much about but it’s got a really good following around the world.”

The thing is, as Chris points out, one-designs are all well and good if you fit the boat. But you can’t make the boat fit you. “Human beings are not one-design, so the good thing about a boat like the OK is you can get a mast and a sail that you can tune to your weight. There are people racing competitively from about 80kg up to 120kg. I can’t think of another boat with such a broad competitive weight range.”

Another key factor in the class’s success is that it doesn’t choose world championships venues that are just, well, ‘OK’; they are really attractive, ‘bucket list’ destinations.

Recent years have seen the fleet racing in Barbados and Auckland, next year’s Worlds is on the beautiful, sailingmad Swedish island of Marstrand, the year after that it’s on Chris’s home patch of Lyme Regis (best waves in the world, if you’ve never experienced Lyme Bay in a rage), and Queensland, Australia the year after that.

The fleet attracts some big names such as multiple Olympic medallist from Sweden, Freddie Loof, who didn’t quite manage to beat Dan Slater on his home waters of Auckland.

Dan is a former Olympian and past member of Emirates

Team New Zealand. And then of course there is Britain’s own serial champion, the weekend warrior of all weekend warriors, Nick Craig who has won the OK Worlds a few times.

If sort of like the idea of giving the boat a try, but you look at the Europe and the OK and wonder how you might get under the boom, I’ve been wondering the same thing!

I’m reliably informed that once you release the mainsheet for the tack, the mast straightens, the boom pops and through you pop to the new side.

Not as hard as it looks, they say.

Meanwhile, I’m sticking with my Musto Skiff, loving it as much as ever. No great desire to go back to hiking, although I am missing having someone else to talk to other than my inner voice. Sometimes it’s nice to shout at someone else! Sailing in a team brings the best of times and the worst of times. Being in a sailing partnership is like being in a form of marriage, and for some couples it’s both!

I’ve always been fascinated by team dynamics, and when you ask the Olympic sailors the thing they most need to improve, often it comes down to clarity of communication. I was talking about this with American coach and professional sailor Tommy Burnham who has worked with Luna Rossa and with Artemis Racing when Iain Percy was running the America’s Cup team.

Tommy is one of the best communicators I’ve met, but he says he’s still learning. “Being super clear, concise and consistent with your communication is very important: Just be super specific and super clear. And then keeping the emotion out of it is important too. I was lucky enough to go do this really amazing leadership course for a couple of days with the US SailGP team a couple of years ago. It was with General Stanley McChrystal, who was head of the US military’s operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for a few years. The General talked about the importance of assuming ‘positive intent’. Because it’s easy to be emotional and have your what you’re saying sound like it’s accusatory or have some tone to it, that might not be heard in the right way.

But if you always assume positive intent from everybody on your team, then the only reason that communication is happening is to make the team better and to move forward as a team to get better and to do the manoeuvre really well.

So even if it sounds like an order or command, or something that’s a little bit terse, you have to understand that it’s not coming from a place of negativity.”

The next time your other half, your ‘sailing half ’ that is, shouts at you, assume Positive Intent! That way you might stay married longer. And you might sail better too!

PHOTO R COMMONS/ JOHANN-NIKOLAUS ANDREAE

‘HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT ONE-DESIGN”

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ANDY RICE As a sailing journalist and TV commentator Andy has unparalleled knowledge of the dinghy sailing scene, from grassroots to Olympic level

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Andi Robertson Plans are already underway for the next Vendée Globe and designers are preparing to push the limits yet further with the next generation of racers

T

he Vendée Globe quadrennial usually experiences something of a hiatus, a quiet spell as skippers and teams recover and regroup.

Aspiring newcomers to the solo round the world race launch their programmes progressively. But this time it seems there has been a pretty much seamless transition from the ninth edition, just finished, right on into the tenth which will go early November 2024.

There is already an unprecedented number of new boats being designed and built.

Jérémie Beyou was the first to announce a new Charal, leaving the VPLP stable and heading to Sam Manuard for a less extreme but scow bowed IMOCA, an update from L’Occitaine en Provence. Germany’s Boris Herrmann’s project is probably now the most ambitious, pitching to have his new VPLP design ready to compete on The Ocean Race next year and then try and improve on his fifth placed finish in the next Vendée Globe. Boris’ level of following in Germany is quite extraordinary for a solo sailor, but a nation so far starved of a real ocean racing adventurer of Boris’ calibre – smart, multilingual and a natural communicator – has really taken him to their hearts and minds. That certainly made it slightly easier for him to land two more major supporters.

That said he had pretty much decided that he would build new before the race had finished. “We want to continue for the next four to five years” he tells us. By May he was already in “full discussion on the design” and has a target of launching by next June. His boat is being built at the Vannes yard Multiplast, which is where Maxime Sorel is also having his new boat built too. The likeable surfing mad young skipper who finished tenth in the Vendée Globe has a new sponsor, Chocolats Monbana who will sit alongside his existing partnerships with the French drinks wholesaler V and B and the region of Mayenne. Sorel is having a an Apivia sistership which is being managed by Francois

PHOTO: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE

‘BEYOU WAS THE FIRST TO ANNOUNCE A NEW CHARAL, HEADING TO SAM MANUARD FOR A LESS EXTREME BUT SCOW BOWED IMOCA, AN UPDATE FROM L’OCCITAINE EN PROVENCE’

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ANDI ROBERTSON An offshore sailing expert, few people can match Andi’s insight into the big boat world, both in the UK and globally

Gabart’s MerConcept – who manage Apivia (a brand of insurance giants Apivia). This is certainly an approach which brings a certain guarantee of success and the boat is due for a launch in June 2022”.

Kevin Escoffier will have a new PRB. Rather smartly, and someone had to, Escoffier’s team have picked up the stalled Verdier design which Jason Carrington was building for a private owner team. A composites expert who was previously technical manager at Banque Populaire when Armel Le Cléac’h won the Vendée Globe, Escoffier is delighted with the advance in timing he gets from taking on a hull which is all but built. The extra sailing and racing time that this should give him will, he says, “make the new PRB more reliable”. He certainly needs that considering that many consider the PRB which broke up had been too lightly structured over time. Armel Tripon, who no longer enjoys the support of L’Occitane en Provence has announced the construction of a new scow meantime competing in the Ocean50 multihulls.

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n a post-pandemic era, the boating industry is experiencing more demand for high level comfort solutions to keep boaters happy on the water for longer. With boating more popular than ever, Sailing Today with Yachts and Yachting spoke to Dometic about the kinds of problems their consumers face, and how they’ve tackled them with their industry leading innovations.

Dometic work closely with their consumers and boat builders across the globe to understand the real problems faced onboard. Time and again, boaters come up against the age-old problem of small bathroom spaces, and even smaller toilet bowls!

Michael Hashem, Product Manager for Sanitation at Dometic, explains; “The ability to get out for a full day, a weekend, or even longer is vitally important for our customers, and while boaters enjoy the luxury of food and drinks on board, they inevitably face the problem of what to do with the waste. Space is a luxury on most yachts, with essential bathroom areas being tucked away to make room for living space.”

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There are other added benefits to the Masterflush range, including the use of a powerful 10x blade macerator flush system, which allows waste to be evenly distributed into a holding tank, easier to pump out, and causing less blockage issues during use. Dometic provide not only the toilet, but the complete sanitation system elements, including worry-free holding tanks,

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Along with Sanitation, Dometic provides thousands of other products, helping avid sailors to stay on the water longer, explore further, and discover more.

View the full range at dometic.com Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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BEST NEW BOATS FOR

2022 It has been another bumper year for the boatbuilding industry.

Sam Jefferson casts his eye over the latest launches in the last calendar year



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SEPTEMBER 2020 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

New boats ~ Cruising yachts

DUFOUR 470 French manufacturer Dufour’s latest design features a bold new look for the company according to the manufacturers. To this end, the 470 features a number of new styling touches but, perhaps most significantly, greater volume towards the bow making for a much larger forward cabin. The new 470 is available in three different configurations; Easy, Performance and Ocean depending on the sort of sailing you want to do.

Dufour.com 

J/45 American manufacturer J/Boats has been around for 45 years now and whether by accident or design, is marking that anniversary with the launch of their new flagship, the J/45. This is their biggest boat to date and, like the majority of their previous designs in this size bracket, the 45 will offer a compelling blend of racing prowess with decent levels of comfort. Interestingly, the accompanying talk around the launch makes much of this cruising comfort stating that: ‘The guiding principle involved maximising the interior volume and comfort whilst retaining an elegant silhouette, a minimal wetted surface area and by far the lowest weight estimate of its category.’ keyyachting.com 

SOUTHERLY 42 Southerly Yachts have been synonymous with shallow draft, swing keel cruisers for decades and, although their voyage has been a rocky one at times, they have found a fine custodian in Discovery Yachts. The 42 is the latest addition to the range and, as you would expect, features Southerly’s trade mark variable draft keel enables the draft to be reduced to as little as 0.84m (3’). This Rob Humphreys design’s lines were drawn up with good performance in mind which is married to a powerful rig. Meanwhile down below Discovery has teamed up with Salt Design Studio, run by Andrew Pope, to develop a stunningly spacious, considered, and practical interior. discoveryshipyard.com 

HANSE 460 Hanse Yachts has begun the process of revamping its hugely popular line of Judel/Vrolijk designs which married high volume, easily hadled yachts to decent performance to create a winning formula. Where do you go from there? Well, this time Hanse has turned to the design house of Berret/Racoupeau to come up with something new. The result is a yacht that is a departure from the previous generation, featuring a chined hull that maximises volume above the waterline while maintaining a low wetted surface area. inspirationmarine.co.uk  Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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New boats ~ Performance cruisers

ITALIA 14.98 Italia Yachts are based in Venice and have dedicated many years to producing good looking, fast yachts. Their previous launch, the Italia 9.98 certainly lived up to that reputation, scooping a plethora of trophies and plaudits mostly on the Mediterranean racing circuit. For the new 14.98, italia has switched from designer Matteo Polli who drew up the lines for the 11.98 and 9.98 and instead gone for Maurizio Cossutti.

One look at the boat and you can see that, while internal volume is decent, this is a boat designed with speed in mind. There is a good deal of taper aft and wetted surface area has been minimised.

Italiayachts.com 

X5 (6) X-Yachts latest mathematical equation in boat form is the X5(6).

No, I don’t know what the algebraic answer is but it’s fair to say this looks like another exceptional cruiser/racer in what is becoming an increasingly packed field. The X5(6) is 56’ long and sits in the niche in the X range between the full blooded XP racing range and the XC fast cruising range. It’s a narrow niche you might think but the result is a lovely looking boat with superb performance. As you’d expect from the Danish manufacturers, quality is top notch. x-yachts.com 

SUNBEAM 32.1 Austrian based Sunbeam Yachts has produced a range of sober, quality cruisers over the last few years but seems to have gone rather off piste with its new 32.1. The styling of this new boat smacks of a designer having a mid life crisis and the new yacht boasts a dreadnought bow so extreme it almost looks like a crumple zone that has seen hard use.

Nevertheless, this also looks like a boat that promises to be a lot of fun as a sporty daysailer that will turn heads. Displacement is a relatively modest 4150kg. The interior is similarly flashy and very open plan ‘loft style’ ideal for weekending. Ultimately this is a comfortable little weekender with a reasonable turn of speed. Yet it’s dramatic looks add an element of fun or make you cringe depending on your tastes. sunbeam-yachts.com 

SOLARIS 40 Solaris Yachts has spent the last few years moving slowly but methodically into the big boat market. It is therefore refreshing to discover that they have a new ‘entry level’ 40 footer on the drawing board. The new Solaris 40 fits the template of all the recent launches by the yard, being sleek and effortlessly stylish with a nod towards racing but also an eye kept firmly on the fast cruising market. In common with the marque’s recent launches, the 40 has been drawn up by Soto Acebal and boasts sleek lines married to substantial beam to provide internal volume. solarisyachts.com 

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SEPTEMBER 2020 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

New boats ~ Racing yachts

SHOGUN 43 Shogun Yachts is a Swedish boatbuilder that is definitely seeking to move away from the usual stereotype of yachts from this area as being rather sedate albeit beautifully crafted blue water cruisers. The 43 rips up the rulebook as this is definitely a boat with high performance as the priority above all else. As such, the boat features all carbon hull construction and relatively narrow beam, making the boat easily driven in light airs.

Despite the emphasis on performance, internal volume is decent and the manufacturers offers a high potential for customisation for individual clients meaning this could be either an out and out racer or a turbocharged cruiser.  Shogunyachts.com

POGO 40S4 French manufacturer Pogo has proven itself to be a dab hand at putting together both fast cruisers and full blooded racers. The new 40s4 definitely sits in the latter category and is an exciting yacht particularly because she boasts an innovative ‘scow bow’ of the type generally seen on Mini Transats. The new boat differs from previous Class 40s launched by Pogo as she is designed by Guillaume Verdier as opposed to Finot-Conq, The launch of this first boat is scheduled for April time and has been designed with the Route du Rhum in mind.

The first model has been reserved by noted racer Jean Galfione.  pogostructures.com

POGO FOILER A genuinely radical new design from the French speed specialists that works within the Mini Transat template in order to produce a pocket rocket that can actually lift out of the water and get up on its foils. There is an important distinction here between this and yachts that use DSS foils to gain more power and lift. As such, it represents a big leap forward not to mention providing stunning performance.  pogostructures.com

BEFOIL 16 The Befoil 16 is a new foiler designed to be more accessible to newcomers to the game hungry for speed. This French16 footer was drawn up in collaboration with VPLP who have real pedigree in this field. With its self-regulating T-foils, two load-bearing rudders and glass/epoxy hulls, the Befoil 16 Sport is the latest addition to the Befoil series. You can use the boat in In trapeze sport mode, or in comfort mode with the optional ladders to make things a bit easier.

The boat takes off from 8 knots and can reach up to 20 knots.  befoil.com Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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New boats ~ Multihulls

LAGOON 55 Lagoon’s new 55 sits below their enormous 65 which arguably is in another bracket of luxury altogether compared to the rest of the Lagoon range. The 55 fits much more into the standard Lagoon template with the focus on cruising comfort for a couple with blue water cruising plans. As you’d expect though, volume is simply immense and with that comes an enhanced level of comfort. Thus, the 55 boasts six cabins plus a flybridge above the cockpit which is in itself a very comfortable living space. Further innovation comes in the form of a forward cockpit. cata-lagoon.com 

BLUEWATER 50 MK 3 Discovery Yachts’ Bluewater cruising catamaran has long been viewed as one of the jewels in their crown. This luxurious cruising multihull has been ushering lucky owners around the blue water cruising circuit both in comfort and at impressive speeds. Now this evergreen Bill Dixon design is back, following a thorough revamp which has distilled all the knowledge gained from decades of satisfied customer feedback and refined it to produce a truly superlative performer that combines stunning good looks, seakindliness and the legendary levels of quality synonymous with DiscoveryShipyards’ work. discoveryshipyard.com 

ORC 57 ORC is a new range of fast bluewater cruising catamarans (ORC stands for Ocean Rider Catamarans – nothing to do with Lord of the Rings).

The 57 is a brand new design from the pen of Marc Lombard. This is a big boat that looks like it definitely sits at the high performance end of. The cruising cat range. Displacement is comparatively moderate and sail area generous. It looks like a boat that would win you the ARC and then provide a comfortable platform for a barbecue afterwards. marsaudon-composites.com 

BALANCE 442 Balance is a US brand that builds its hulls in South Africa in order to keep costs down. The company is aiming to provide performance catamarans with a good level of comfort. So it’s setting its sights firmly at the Outremer end of the market. As such, the 44’ long 442 features daggerboards, and a relatively modest displacement of 11,000kg. Nevertheless, there’s no question that this is a yacht which aims to provide a high level of comfort, boasting reasonably high freeboard which boosts volume and provides extremely comfortable accommodation. Sail handling is also kept relatively simple, suggesting this is an ideal yacht for a cruising couple with a need for fast passage making. balancecatamarans.com 

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

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New boats ~ Bluewater cruisers

CONTEST 50CS Dutch boatbuilder Contest as earned an enviable reputation for producing fast blue water cruisers that have a hint of luxury without ever straying into the world of the bling. The 50CS is the latest addition to the range, following hot on the heels of the 59CS. This Judel/Vrolijk design takes many features seen on it’s 85’ superyacht and translates it to a this more modestly dimensioned vessel. The results are compelling contestyachts.com 

OYSTER 495 Oyster Yachts continue their renaissance with another new launch.

This is the smallest Oyster in a good while and is part of owner Richard Hadida’s vision to make the marque more accessible.

That is all relative of course because this is still very much a top end luxury yacht. Rob Humphreys is retained as the designer and the set up is the familiar centre cockpit/deck saloon layout seen on the larger Oysters. Below the waterline there are twin rudders while you can expect an exquisitely finished interior. oysteryachts.com 

BOREAL 44.2/47.2 Brittany based manufacturer Boreal has specialised in putting together rugged, swing keel aluminium ‘go anywhere’ expedition yachts with some success. Their 44 and 47 have both proven to be big hits and replacing them is a headache. Yet founder Jean Francois Delvoye has done just that. The new 44.2 and 47.2 stick to the original blueprint, boasting rugged good looks and a design that would give you the confidence to sail to the Arctic Circle or the South Seas. They both boast many features that lend themselves to blue water cruising, including a solid doghouse with 360 degree views outside, a single skeg hung rudder and tankage for both fuel and water that opens up entirely new vistas. As an added bonus, the swing keel means you can dry out between tides if needs be. Down below, they are less spartan than some of her rivals in this sector of the market. If you’re wondering why we are talking about both boats as one, it’s because the hulls are identical except that the larger 47.2 has a sugar scoop stern added on which adds to her length and means that the cockpit layout changes. boreal-yachts.com 

OVNI 650 French boatbuilder Ovni made its name building rugged swing keel aluminium ‘go anywhere’ yachts. It’s a reputation that has won the marque a loyal gang of hard core followers. The latest design is a bit of a development as it is by far the largest boat they have built and is, In fact, a one off project for a specific owner. The company has collaborated with the architects Mortain-Mavrikios on this project plus the design firm CBA to produce a 100% aluminium yacht in the mould of its much smaller sister, the Ovni 400.

This boat designed for long voyages is equipped with an imposing pilothouse that integrates the chart table, benches and cockpit, to navigate well protected. Inside, the deck saloon offers a panoramic view of the outside. The boat has a dinghy garage and is extremely powerful, being equipped with two 115 HP engines.

Alubat.com  Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe

C

aptains of racing tea clippers were generally larger-than-life individuals. No doubt they loved their wives and children and missed the village fête back home, but the thing that consumed their minds all day, every day, was speed.

Making the fastest passage of the year spelt prestige and commercial gain, lots of it, and immoderate behaviour went with the job. The only modern

30

comparisons are the skippers of flat-out Volvo racers, driving round Cape Horn at galactic velocities in their lightweight flyers, but even these dedicated ‘walkers on the wild side’ have radar, GPS, composite construction and a team of well-paid professionals. Not so the clipper men back in the 1850s. Their timber-built ships displaced the best part of a thousand tons and their clouds of cotton canvas were set from vulnerable wooden spars. Crews

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

PODCAST Catch up with Tom’s columns now and in the future at sailingtoday.co.uk

consisted of a core of officers backed up by a handful of highly motivated old shellbacks whose seamanship skills will never be seen again, but the remainder of the fifty or so souls aboard were often a motley crowd whose sole reason for being there was that they had no choice.

Destitute and usually drunk, many either volunteered to escape debts, the law or some even worse fate. The rest were shanghaied by dockside crimps and boarding-house keepers,

ILLUSTRATION: CLAIRE WOOD, PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE

Tom recalls Bully Forbes, a legendary clipper captain who could have delivered many salutory lessons to the sailors of today

“ Forbes was a desperate driver who cared nothing for his crew and less for the comfort of any passengers naïve enough to sign on” yet even with such unpromising material, phenomenal passage times were achieved.

Clipper captains became so obsessed with wringing the last quarter knot from their careering thoroughbreds that many literally lived on deck for days on end. This was as bad an idea then as it is now, and the classic example of reluctance to delegate came when ‘Bully’ Forbes of the Marco Polo finally turned in while homeward bound after a week without sleep. The ship was making her best speed in heavy weather and had just set more sail.

‘I’m going for a watch below, Mister,’ the skipper grunted to his mate. ‘See you don’t take nuthin in.’

Then he glanced meaningfully aloft at the whipping, straining spars. ‘And don’t you carry nuthin away neither!

Such ships, of course, had no speedometers. To measure the distance run they hove a wooden ‘chip’ over the stern attached to a long line knotted at predetermined intervals. The line ran off a large reel held by one of the hands while a specific time interval was measured using a sand glass turned by the mate. The number of knots spinning off while the upper glass emptied represented the ship’s speed in nautical miles per hour. If eight knots spun out and you had been making more or less the same speed for the past sixty minutes, the ship had sailed eight miles through the water.

The chip was ‘tripped’ with a second line to drag it back in. It was crude and effective, but even this fool-proof system had limitations. A typical big-ship log line would be a realistic 12 knots long. The clipper versions

sometimes extended to sixteen and it was by no means unbeknown for the line to rattle out to its end before the glass ran through.

Forbes was a desperate driver who cared nothing for his crew and less for the comfort of any passengers

ABOVE The clipper Marco Polo was so quick under Bully Forbes (below) that she brought news of her own arrival in Australia from Liverpool back to Liverpool

naïve enough to sign on. When engaged on the Australia run and looking for immigrants to make up his complement, he played the ‘Fast Passage Guaranteed’ card to fill his steerage berths. The trip was notorious for its hardships and travellers were anxious to keep it as short as possible, so when they saw the Marco Polo alongside in Liverpool with her topsail hoisted, they came for a closer look.

Engraved on the sail was the legend, ‘Hell or Melbourne in 80 days’.

He filled his berths and made good the boast, at over 200 miles per day.

Bully Forbes’ sole method of working out ground speed was to note the distance between two noon sextant fixes and divide the answer by 24 hours. His log could indicate no more than the velocity of the ship through the water, because the device had no way of knowing how fast, if at all, that water was flowing over the Earth’s surface.

Any significant difference between the logged distance and the ‘astro’ positions could only be set and drift.

I’m quite sure that, like the rest of us, Forbes massaged his figures to make the ship seem blisteringly fast. If her observed positions were Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Tom Cunliffe

disappointing, he would put the poor results down to current; if the ship had travelled further than he hoped, he would choose to believe that his ocean greyhound had performed even better than the log suggested. The real truth has only been inescapable since the arrival of GPS, making a nonsense once and for all of unqualified remarks such as, ‘We hit 8.8 knots coming through The Needles this afternoon.’

‘Over the ground or through the water?’ should be the response.

If the boat was being helped along by three knots of flood tide, that wasn’t so special, was it?

In the absence of a fix, before this choice of data became readily available, ground speed had to be an estimate worked up from boat speed duly corrected from pilot charts, almanacs or by eyeballing sea state. Today, if our concern is how fast the boat is actually sailing in order to measure her performance, only water speed is of interest. GPS alone cannot help. When, on the other hand, the requirement is for an estimated time of arrival while travelling in a constant current, it’s no use looking at the ship’s speed and distance log for the answer.

This might seem basic stuff, yet it’s amazing how often we all still find ourselves pinned to the bar by the local enthusiast warbling about how his 40-footer can make eight knots close-hauled. Except in the most extreme race boats, this is physically impossible. Something like 1.35 multiplied by the square root of the waterline length is top

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ABOVE Your log is going to be very little use for measuring speed as you punch against the tide. Best method is to look at the transits on land

TOM CUNLIFFE Tom has been mate on a merchant ship, run yachts for gentlemen, operated charter boats, delivered, raced and taught. He writes the pilot for the English Channel, a complete set of cruising text books and runs his own internet club for sailors worldwide at tomcunliffe.com

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

whack when running or reaching.

Close-hauled it’s more like the simple square root, so if the dials really did indicate 8 miles per hour as he beat down the Solent, you can be sure that either he needs to recalibrate his log, or that this improbable speed was made good over the ground and measured by GPS. These days my own log book sometimes contains two columns for speed, headed ‘Boat speed’ and ‘SOG’ (speed over ground). Comparing the two offers me an instant insight into the current, always given any adjustments for leeway and cross-set.

Having, I hope, made the point about the usefulness of the technology available to most of us, I can’t sign off without reminding myself that squinting into dials can easily become an obsession.

There comes a time when they are redundant and only the human judgement of the person at the helm is of any relevance.

A few years back I was examining a group of cruising instructors. Our yacht was equipped with a pedestal chart plotter and full bridge-deck instrumentation. Boat speed and wind were prominent and I had become increasingly frustrated that the instructors were overusing the many readouts. We were

not racing, and I felt that since our ultimate purpose was to develop future students’ appreciation of the sailing environment, this might be better served by watching the genoa tell-tales for apparent wind direction and reading the water for true wind.

The crunch came while picking up a mooring, wind-against tide. The helmsman spotted the situation and correctly dropped the mainsail to hook the buoy from upwind, heading into the current and controlling the vital element of ground speed by spilling wind from the headsail.

As we made our final approach I was noting natural transits abeam.

This remains the only sure way of checking progress over the ground.

It was the critical factor here because the buoy we were about to pick up was attached securely to God’s sea bed, not drifting around in the tide.

It was a surprise, therefore, to note that our man didn’t look abeam at all, not even the occasional glance.

Instead, he was pleading with his shipmates to clear his view of the speed log so he could judge his arrival. The manoeuvre was not a success and I couldn’t help thinking about Bully Forbes, a man with a lively understanding of the realities of ship velocity. His debrief might have been a lot blunter than my own.

ALL PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE

“ It’s amazing how often we all still find ourselves pinned to the bar by the local enthusiast warbling about how his 40-footer can make eight knots close-hauled’’

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America’s Cup ~ Ineos

Our Olympic stars We meet the sailors representing Great Britain at the Tokyo Games, starting on 23 July. As they prepare for the regatta of their lives, what advice would they give their younger selves? By Jon Emmett and Rob Peake

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

RS:X, WOMEN Emma Wilson, age 21 As one of the youngest sailors, the postponement year has been good for Emma’s preparation. She has been in great form, always mixing with her main rivals from Holland, France and Israel.

The big unknown is Lu from China, absent from international competition for two years. Emma is the daughter of windsurfer Penny Wilson, who competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“It doesn’t matter what age you are, you can still make it. Don’t listen to people saying you are too young. I was young to move onto the RS:X at 14. You normally go when you’re about 18. But in fact it helped me because I got so much experience. If I hadn’t done that, there is no way I’d be in this position now. When I went to the Santander Worlds in 2014, I was 15 and it was the hardest competition I’d ever done. I was always about fifth from the back, but you learn so much more in that situation than being in your age group and doing well all the time. It’s important to do the age group stuff as well, but just keep all the learning channels going.”

SHORESIDE PHOTOS NICK DEMPSEY/RYA; SAILING PHOTOS MARK LLOYD

RS:X, MEN Tom Squires, age 27 You may have seen Tom’s popular vlogs on YouTube. The windsurf veteran excels in the windy stuff and has moved closer to being a good all-rounder in recent months. Expect a strong challenge from the Dutchman and Italian. This will be the last Olympic games for the RS:X, with many in the class now switching to the iQfoil. We hope to see Tom in the new class for Paris 2024.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“I’d like to have known that windsurfing had a pathway into the British Sailing Team. I was windsurfing round on my local lake not knowing what was possible. I’d also say that you don’t have to try to be like anyone else but yourself. When I was younger I used to think I had to be the next [four-times Olympian] Nick Dempsey, but really you just need to be the best version of yourself that you can be.”

FINN Giles Scott, age 34 The dominant force in Finn sailing for most of the past decade, Giles has showed he is still a front-runner in the class, even after time away on America’s Cup duties with INEOS Team UK. But he’s facing stiff competition from Hungary and also from New Zealand, with Josh Junior, who was part of the winning America’s Cup team, a big rival. The class is not short of other talent. To the sadness of many, it’s the Finn’s swansong, as it makes way for a new discipline after 69 years as an Olympic class.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“From 21 to 26 I’d tell myself to pull my socks up, take it seriously and remember that if you really want it, you’re going to have to start putting the effort in and try hard. Having said that, I’ve always said the most important thing is you’ve got to enjoy what you’re doing. If you don’t enjoy the racing and thrive off getting better at something, then it’s maybe not for you. Enjoying the process is super-important as a young racer.”

Sailing Today Sailing with Today Yachts with & Yachting Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER MAY 2021

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470, WOMEN Hannah Mills, age 33 (helm) A gold medal would make her the world’s most successful female Olympic sailor, a title which Dutchwoman Marit Bouwmeester is also after in the ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radial) class.

Hannah and crew Eilidh McIntyre’s main 470 rivals are their international training partners, the Spanish crew, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both on the podium. Hannah founded The Big Plastic Pledge which has gained support worldwide.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“Be more patient. Hold onto the competitiveness within you because it’s hugely important, but be more patient with other people and listen. I look back on myself as a teenager and I was so driven and competitive, and while that is obviously a really important trait within sport, as you get older you learn how to control that and still be a good person when you’re not being competitive.”

470, WOMEN Eilidh McIntyre, age 27 (crew) She teamed up with Hannah Mills in 2017 and they went straight to the front of the fleet, but as a relatively new team the extra year of preparation will have been a blessing in some ways. The big unknown in the women’s 470 fleet is the Japanese duo, who have hardly raced in the last year, but will be on home waters at the Olympics.

Eilidh’s father Michael McIntyre won Star gold in Seoul in 1988.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“My younger self was so driven by winning that she lost focus on getting better. What I mean by that is my obssession to win blinded me to the learning points of bad races. The emotion I felt in those races, I would say, try to channel that as a driving force rather than this red emotion that can be blinding. Learn from your worst races.”

470, MEN Chris Grube, age 36 (crew) Known as Twiggy for his wiry frame, Chris is superfit and has been at the front of the 470 fleet for many years. Tokyo will be about putting together a consistent performance, with a wide variety of conditions expected. One big threat comes from the New Zealand crew, who like many Antipodean teams have done little international racing since the pandemic.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“I would say just sail with as many different people and classes as you can. There are lots of skills I brought back to the 470 after sailing the 49er. I definitely wouldn’t be as good a sailor, if I hadn’t sailed with all those other people. Also, it is often the amount of effort and energy that you put out that enables you to succeed. The longer I am in the sport, the more I realise everyone has the same skills, it’s more about out-working pepole.”

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MAY 2021 Sailing with Yachts Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021 Today Sailing Today with&Yachts & Yachting

49er Dylan Fetcher, age 33 (helm) The current Moth national champion thrives on pressure and put his high-speed sailing skills to good use as helm of the Great Britain SailGP team in the series’ first season. He and Stuart Bithell are regular podium contenders but they are up against a strong team from Australia and also from New Zealand – Peter Burling and Blair Tuke of America’s Cup fame.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“The first thing I would have said to myself back then is ‘believe in yourself more’. I wasn’t a golden child and I remember being written off by certain people. It’s about just backing yourself, believing you can do something – take it on! Keep pushing and keep trying. No matter what your goal is, don’t let other people’s negative comments get in the way.”

SHORESIDE PHOTOS NICK DEMPSEY/RYA; SAILING PHOTOS MARK LLOYD

49er Stuart Bithell, age 34 (crew) A widely respected Olympic veteran who won silver at London 2012 and knows how to put together a successful campaign. He and Dylan Fletcher were competing against each other in Moths when they had a ‘lightbulb moment’ and joined forces in the 49er. Stuart goes to Japan in top fitness, pushed somewhat by a squad of younger sailors.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“A working day is longer than you think. We work way harder now than we used to when we were younger and I’m fairly sure I missed a trick there. That might surprise some people. A prime example of this is John [Gimson] and Anna [Burnet]. This cycle they have put in so many hours and it’s great to see them jump to the top of the Nacra fleet. I put that down to hard work and a good structure. So, yeah, I wished I’d done that when I was 18 and then I would have won all the medals in the world!”

NACRA 17 John Gimson, age 38 (helm) A veteran of the Olympic circuit as a former training partner in various classes and probably the most versatile sailor in the British Sailing Team, having also been at the helm of successful keelboat campaigns, this will be John’s first Olympics as competitor. He and crew Anna Burnet, also his girlfriend, are world champions and Olympic medal contenders.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“You can always work harder than you think you can. In a normal year we have sailed well over 300 days, with an unbelievable amount of travelling. We’re down to just four weeks in the UK [pre-pandemic]. I thought I was working hard, and then I joined Iain Percy and Bart Simpson for their London 2012 campaign and that was a real lesson. If necessary we’ll get up at 4.30am to go sailing.”

NACRA 17 Anna Burnet, age 28 (crew) If the swell rolls into Enoshima Bay, then the Nacra 17 is one of the hardest boats to race and the role of the crew in trimming the hull is crucial. The further offshore they go, the bigger the swell, but closer to land the waves are rebounded and get confused.

Anna is well up to the task and has showed her fitness and agility in the demanding Nacra crew role.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“I wish someone had told me that it doesn’t matter what boat you’re sailing. It is more important to get the right team.”

ILCA 6 / RADIAL Alison Young, age 34 A previous World Championships winner, which is arguably harder than winning an Olympic Gold, Alison has been working with many of the top international training partners and with new coach Charles Baily Strong. Rio bronze medallist, Danish Anne-Marie Rindom, will probably be the one to beat. Alison has been known to cycle up Portland hill on a unicycle and is undoubtedly one of the fittest in the class.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“Never forget why you are doing this. I sail a Laser because I love sailing the boat and I love having the opportunity to get the best out of myself. At times in a campaign it’s easy to get drawn to results.”

ILCA 7 Elliot Hanson, age 27 As winner of the first Olympic test event in Enoshima with a day to spare, he knows he can dominate if offshore winds prevail. Elliot not only races Lasers (he is Laser national champion) but has raced with Ben Ainslie in high performance boats. Gold? All eyes will be on Robert Scheidt as he tries to win a historic sixth Olympic medal to become the most successful Olympian of all time.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“I could tell myself not to be involved in contact sports and not do anything to hurt my ankles, but in fact the injuries that I had meant I learned more about myself than I had in years. I’d also say that I’ve seen so many sailors give up the sport because they’re not enjoying it. As a generation of Laser sailors, we’ve got on so well and have always had a friendship off the water. You really do strive to beat each other on the water, but then you all go for dinner together. That really works.”

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

49erFX Saskia Tidey, age 28 (crew) Inspired to take up sailing after watching the Beijing Olympics aged 14, Saskia was a rival of Charlotte Dobson in the 49erFX class at the Rio Games, until she opted to move from Ireland to England and compete for TeamGB, thanks to her English father. Together they’ve formed a powerful partnership and if the breeze is up in Enoshima, so will be their chances, with Saskia’s height and athleticism a potential race-winner.

SHORESIDE PHOTOS NICK DEMPSEY/RYA; SAILING PHOTOS MARK LLOYD

What advice would you give your younger self?

“It’s easy as an athlete to always be critical and harsh on yourself.

It’s not until you step back and have time to reflect that you go: ‘Well, actually I did everything I could and that was the best version of me at that time’. So I would just say, enjoy every second of it, because I can’t believe how quickly this time has gone now.”

49erFX Charlotte Dobson, age 35 (helm) Scottish former Laser Radial sailor Charlotte was considering giving up the sport until fiancé Dylan Fletcher took her sailing on a 49er. Since then she’s been to Rio in the 49erFX with Sophie Ainsworth and now sails with Saskia Tidey, with whom she’s had a string of top results. 2016 gold medallists Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze from Brazil are among the favourites.

What advice would you give your younger self?

“I wish I’d got more to grips with the different mindsets of training and executing. I think the quote is ‘perfection is good’s worst enemy’. Trying to chase perfection during a regatta can be a nightmare.

You get focussed on detail. Really it’s just about delivering the next best thing. Whereas with training it’s more about investing the time and energy in the detail and that allows you to then focus on how to make something better. There are times in the past when I’ve been drowned in the detail – ‘I made that mistake’, or ‘why did I do that?’ – when actually you’re racing and it’s irrelevant.”

PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR Mark Robinson “This is the eighth major Games I’ve gone to and they all run much the same. To my younger self, I would stress the importance of contingency planning – you will get curveballs thrown at you every day, so have a plan, even if you haven’t written it down. This coach wakes up and has a stomach upset so can’t coach that day. What do we do? An athlete has ridden their bike to the venue and they’ve been temperature screened and they test too hot, so the officials won’t let them in the venue. What do we do? There are always curveballs. If you’re not prepared and if you can’t act in a calm manner, they could derail you. I’m a lot calmer as a team leader these days.

“The other one, something I always say to our sailors, is half the team will have a good day and half will have a bad day – and tomorrow we’ll switch. It’s about how we pick each other up, because you always have ebbs and flows. It’s just the vagaries of our sport. It’s not the 100 metre sprint.”

THE REGATTA will run out of Enoshima Yacht Harbour and will start on 25 July with the concluding Medal Race on 4 August.

The Men’s 470, Women’s 470, Laser, Laser Radial and Finn fleets will sail 10 races as part of their opening series with a concluding Medal Race. Twelve races will be held for the 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17, Men’s RS:X and Women’s RS:X fleets ahead of their Medal Races.

Live racing on Eurosport from around 4am British Summer Time, highlights will be shown on the BBC.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Cruising – Scotland

Jura encircled Genevieve Leaper recalls a leisurely summer cruise circumnavigating the Isle of Jura with a couple of stop offs in Islay

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER JUNE 2021 2021

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Cruising – Scotland

L

ocated at the northern end of the Sound of Jura, Craobh Haven is an excellent starting point for a cruise. The main drawback is that with wonderful cruising grounds to the north, south and west, it’s hard to know which way to go.

The previous year, when my partner Aleko and I borrowed my mother’s Westerly Konsort for the first time, I’d thought of going to Islay and ended up in the Outer Hebrides because the weather was too good not to. This time we would head through the Gulf of Corryvreckan and then decide.

With the tide not turning to run west and north until late afternoon, there was no hurry and we left the marina after an early lunch. I had planned to anchor off Scarba to wait for the tide but when Aleko heard that the mackerel were in he had other ideas. We headed up the Sound of Luing against the tide, crabbing across towards Scarba where the sails came down and the line went out.

Soon he had caught dinner and by the time the fish were gutted we had drifted down to the entrance to the Corryvreckan. It was still early on the tide but we hoisted the sails again to give it a go.

Keeping close to the Scarba shore to stay out of the strongest current we were hit by some powerful gusts blasting down off the island. Kalessin was laid over on her beam ends several times and it must have been one of these gusts that carried the wind indicator away – though I’d noticed it was already bent so I blame the gulls.

Eileach an Naoimh, the westernmost of the Garvellachs was only five miles away, though it looked to be a beat and was rather windier than we expected. We put a reef in and, in fact, there was a helpful curve in the wind around Scarba, allowing us to head up along the coast and finally free off.

At decision time next morning the forecasts showed generally northerly winds so it made sense to head south.

Unfortunately the morning breeze had

PREVIOUS PAGE Kalessin anchored at the Fairy Isles, Loch Sween, Argyll ABOVE Anchored at Caolas Mor, Oronsay, with Jura in the distance BELOW Beinn Eibhne, Colonsay, and Jura from Beinn Oronsay, Oronsay, Argyll

died by the time we got back from a short walk ashore to see the ruins of the monastery established by St Brendan in AD542 and the igloo-shaped beehive cells. We motored most of the way to Colonsay before a good wind came in.

Colonsay is a lovely island but neighbouring Oronsay, separated by a drying channel, has the better anchorage at Caolas Mor. This low-lying island reminds me of the Uists, with orchids in the machair, white sand beaches and rocky inlets where eider and shelduck gather with their ducklings. The island is an RSPB reserve and I even heard a corncrake, that elusive bird you never see. Apart from the farmhouse, the only buildings are the ruins of an Augustinian priory built in 1380.

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Cruising – Scotland

Gimme shelter

I would have liked to spend another day ashore, but now south-easterlies were forecast, for which the bay has no protection. So in the evening we headed the 10 miles across to Loch Tarbert where we could find an anchorage for any wind direction.

Jura’s Loch Tarbert, which almost splits the island in two, is one of the wildest lochs in the area, the only habitation a shooting lodge in Glenbatrick Bay. You could stay here a week and enjoy a different view every night. We passed through the outer loch, with its impressive raised beaches, to anchor in Cuan Mor Bay, just before the first narrows.

I have long wanted to explore all the way to the upper pool, having tried once in a much bigger boat when, despite the best efforts of a determined skipper, we had to concede there simply wasn’t enough water. After lunch we were preparing to haul the anchor when an otter appeared so we delayed to watch him enjoying his lunch of butterfish before heading through to the Inner loch. The Cumhann Mor is straightforward enough but the Cumhann Beag, the second narrows,

is a much trickier passage. This mile long, tortuous channel begins at an inconspicuous cleft in the rocks, then turns 90° around a corner with a sandbank in the middle. There are several sets of leading lines (placed

by Blondie Hasler) but the beacons are overgrown with bracken. At springs the current is said to run at up to 8 knots so high water slack is recommended. Of course, the trouble with high water slack is that a falling tide soon follows – so we were deliberately early and found little current an hour before HW neaps.

We got through the channel with plenty of water and then the Top Pool opened up, the far end just a mile from the east coast of the island.

Apart from one deep hole, occupied by a motor launch on a mooring, it is very shallow and there are more appealing anchorages elsewhere in the loch – the fun was in getting there.

Curiosity satisfied we returned to the Halfway Anchorage in the Cumhann Beag. With Kalessin’s shallow draft we were able to tuck into the corner off the leading line.

Jura’s rough, boggy terrain is not easy walking but worth the effort; from a

ABOVE White sand beach on west coast of Oronsay with Paps of Jura in the distance, Oronsay, Argyll BELOW LEFT Motoring out of the Cumhann Beag with the beacons lined up astern, Loch Tarbert, Jura BELOW RIGHT Kalessin heading towards Port Ellen, Islay, with a fresh breeze

small rise we could see over the Sound of Jura to the mainland and we found a lovely lochan with blue damselflies flitting around the water lilies. A small group of red deer watched us warily from a distance.

The name Jura probably means Deer Island, appropriate enough with a population of fewer than 200 people but more than six thousand deer.

Unfortunately thousands of deer means hundreds of thousands of deer ticks. The next time ashore I tucked my trousers into my socks, which allowed the rain to run down and soak my walking boots from the inside – and I still got ticks.

With wet and windy weather on the way it was tempting to stay put, but then we would be limited by tide times when we did want to leave. I was prepared for a couple of lazy days reading and doing odd jobs but the weather wasn’t so bad and we only spent one day at anchor near Eilean Ard in the inner loch.

Sound of Islay

It was a six o’clock start to catch the tide down the Sound of Islay. Two reefs in the main and oilskins on for the first time. It seemed to take

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Cruising – Scotland

forever to get out of the outer loch, motoring straight into wind and short, steep waves. Once we could set the genoa and bear off into the Sound of Islay it was a different story; six knots on a broad reach, increasing to 7 – 8 and touching 9 knots as the tide whisked us along.

The tide had slackened by the time we were rounding the southeast corner of Islay, but with the wind getting up again and more on the beam, good old Kalessin was still doing over six knots despite a weedy hull. Even with a beat for the last couple of miles we were in Port Ellen by lunchtime after logging 35 miles, our longest sail of the trip. The marina was much bigger than I remembered and it wasn’t my memory at fault.

Luckily there was an empty berth on the first pontoon with an easy approach, but I still got it wrong first time. Marina manoeuvres are not my strong point. When Aleko shouted at me from the foredeck to go astern, I thought it far too early but lacked the confidence to ignore him. He was forgetting that the Konsort has a lot less momentum and a lot more windage than his Nicholson 32. Sure enough we were blown sideways and had to make a hasty exit hard astern.

The second attempt was more successful and not too much was said.

We discovered there were not only more pontoons but also a new marina office with showers and wifi. Port Ellen is becoming increasingly popular as an ideal stopping place on the way up from the Clyde or Irish Sea and I noticed French, German and Irish flags. Ostensibly our reason to come here was to buy fresh food, but I

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admit that all along I had been hoping to get to Rathlin Island, tantalisingly close across the North Channel. However, one look at the forecast was the end of that idea.

Whisky galore

Having lived in Scotland for 35 years and never visited a distillery it seemed a good time to remedy the omission. There could hardly be a better place with anchorages at Lagavulin and Ardbeg just a few miles along the coast. Lagavulin is one of my favourite malts, but however many times I read the pilot book, I couldn’t get my head around the directions. When I asked the marina manager which was the easiest bay to approach he advised against trying either without local knowledge as ‘there’s a lot of rocks’.

Then I remembered we had another pilot book onboard. Suddenly it all made sense, and we were soon rock dodging into Lagavulin Bay where we found the visitor’s mooring free.

Having booked ourselves on the next distillery tour we went to explore the

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

ABOVE Dunyvaig Castle at the entrance to Lagavulin Bay, Islay, Argyll BELOW LEFT Kalessin on mooring at Lagavulin distillery, Lagavulin Bay, Islay, Argyll BELOW RIGHT Common seals Phoca vitulina, Fairy Isles, Loch Sween

ruined Dunyvaig Castle that guards the entrance to the bay. The tour was more interesting than I expected and we certainly enjoyed sampling the product.

There are indeed a lot of rocks along this coast and a few miles further on a scattering of islets large enough to provide shelter. I had heard of the Ardmore islands as a pretty anchorage but was also uncomfortably aware that a friend of my parents, an experienced skipper, had put his boat on the rocks here.

We found our way in without difficulty, only realising after we’d anchored that we had misidentified one group of rocks.

The shallow rock-strewn bay is a common seal nursery and in early July there were many newborn pups with their mothers. Unlike grey seals, common seal pups have to swim as soon as they are born. Trailing behind their mums, they turned to stare as we rowed around in the dinghy. In the evening a herd of red deer came down to the beach with their own white-spotted young.

On the way south we had spotted a large orange buoy on one of the beaches. I thought Aleko was joking when he talked of picking it up on the way back, but I should know better. We were hugging the coast anyway to stay out of the tide and conditions were quiet so I just sailed up and down while he rowed ashore – a new experience as I have never sailed single-handed in anything bigger than a dinghy. Aleko had a close encounter with a surprised otter as he rowed back with his prize.

We struggled to cross the Sound of Islay in a light, fickle wind, the outgoing tide doing its best to sweep us away south, but then made better progress up the east coast of Jura, before angling across the sound past Skervuile lighthouse.

Previously I had barely noticed the existence of the MacCormaig Isles off the entrance to Loch Sween and never suspected it might be possible to anchor. The largest, Eilean Mor, has a narrow inlet which we found even tighter in reality than it looked on the chart. A submerged rock in

the middle severely restricts swinging room but tucked in close with a line ashore we enjoyed a quiet night despite the rising wind.

The early Christian missionaries liked small remote islands as much as I do. Here we found a well-preserved mediaeval chapel dedicated to St Cormac and a tiny cave, supposedly used by Cormac himself in the 7th century. Bizarrely the island belongs to the Scottish National Party, although it is run by a charitable trust.

After a gentle sail up Loch Sween we passed Tayvallich to anchor at the Fairy Isles. Aleko said this tranquil spot reminded him of Patagonia where tangled mossy forests come right down to the shore. He would have liked to tie up to a tree but contented himself with climbing one to take a photo.

Tactical tacking

Heading north from Loch Sween we expected a couple of hours of foul tide but found the outflow from the loch quite helpful. With a bit of

ABOVE Kalessin at the Halfway Anchorage in the Cumhann Beag, Loch Tarbert, Jura, Argyll BELOW LEFT Under sail off the east coast of Islay BELOW RIGHT Anchored in Kinuachdrachd harbour, Jura, Argyll

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Genevieve Leaper is a photographer and environmental consultant based in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. She specialises in nature photographer. She is a keen sailor and has many miles under her belt, including a trip from Usuaia in Chile to the Falklands

tactical tacking close to the shore we kept pace with another yacht motoring further out. When the tide turned we took a long tack to cross the Sound and were soon approaching Kinuachdrachd harbour at the northern end of Jura.

It was only a couple of hours sailing back to Craobh, but last chance for fishing so we set off before the tide turned. I thought fishing stops would be a chance for me to relax with a cup of tea but no, my job is to manoeuvre according to the fisherman’s instructions. North of the bay we found a back eddy and inside that the tide was flowing south like the main stream. A distinct tideline separated the two streams, and here, just 20m from the rocks, were the mackerel – so that’s where I was expected to keep the boat until he had a full bucket to take home for the freezer.

Mum is pleased for us to borrow the boat but misses her sailing since Dad died. So with one more day before the bad weather arrived we took her for a short excursion out to the Corryvreckan. We are not the only ones to find good fishing in these turbulent waters. A couple of porpoises doubled our tally of cetaceans and then the sound of a blow had me scanning around expectantly. It was indeed a minke whale, a great sighting to end the trip.

Our leisurely circumnavigation of Jura (175 miles in 2 weeks) may not impress anyone but I’d rather go exploring the lochs and islands than cover a big distance. Though I haven’t given up on Rathlin Island.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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Boat Test ~ Windelo 50

An eruption of innovation With its basalt hull construction, innovative forward facing cockpit and impressive green credentials, the Windelo 50 can lay claim to being the greenest cruising catamaran around. But is it any good? Sam Jefferson finds out

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

T

here is nothing wrong with a bit of conformity.

Even as humans we all have a certain desire to blend in and melt into the background. Yet, as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. This certainly rings true on boat tests where, from time to time, you find yourself confronted with a yacht so bland that you are left struggling to find anything to say. This is not an accusation that could be levelled at the Windelo 50. This is a blue water cruising catamaran from a relatively new company based in Canet en Roussillon in the south of France.

The company is ambitious and solidly backed with a large boatyard up and running. The company is young, energetic and tries at every turn to be different – and generally succeeds. Even better, all those innovations are set within the framework of trying to create a boat that is as environmentally friendly as possible. From a journalist's point of view, there is a lot to like before you even step aboard. Yet all that innovation and daring to be different has to work, and the proof of the pudding would be in the testing. I stepped aboard eagerly.

Concept

On one basic level the Windelo 50 is a conformist. It wants to be a comfortable, top end blue water catamaran in same bracket as, say, Outremer as opposed to Lagoon.

To achieve that, the boat has to

be reasonably lightweight but also well fitted out, feature decent performance but also the ability to be sailed across oceans with confidence. To achieve these aims the company tamed up with the highly respected team of Berret/Racoupeau who have worked extensively with the likes of Outremer and Catana in the past and produced a hull with the aim of providing strong performance even when the boat is fully loaded up. This has been achieved by making the waterlines slightly fuller than some rivals. This may slightly inhibit performance when the boat is not loaded but means performance does not drop off a cliff once you’ve filled the lockers up with all the gizmos and kit you need for blue water cruising.

Volume is also provided by angling the floats 6° off the vertical axis. This means that the load-bearing volume extends outward thereby increasing transverse stability. As with rivals in this bracket of cruising catamaran, the Windelo features daggerboards and, unlike many others, these are positioned in the middle of the hull, not offset as is sometimes the case. This is the most efficient position and further enhances upwind performance. Aside from that, careful consideration has gone into the positioning of the nacelle, which is set well back to minimise pitching. To further aid this, there is a clearance of 90cm between the underside of the nacelle and the waterline. Marry all that to a

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

49

Boat Test ~ Windelo 50

powerful rig with 135 sq/m of sail area, a lightship displacement of 11,200kg, and you have a yacht capable of munching up the ocean miles at anything up to 20kn under sail. Twin crash bulkheads forward provide reassurance.

The 50 has three distinct lines: Adventure – for pure blue water cruisers, Sport, and Yachting, which features higher levels of luxury.

This is about where the quest for conformity ends because the other great aim was to do all this while constructing an extremely environmentally friendly boat.

The stated aim, in fact, was a boat with 50% less environmental impact than traditional designs.

To achieve this, you certainly couldn’t accuse Windelo of lacking ambition, they started from the keel up and by using Basalt – yes, that’s right, the by product of a volcanic eruption - instead of traditional fibreglass woven rovings. Basalt fibres have actually been produced for many years now but Windelo are among the first to use it in yacht construction. Basalt is a natural volcanic fibre which offers vibration resistance and durability while still maintaining a high strength to weight ratio.

The other great asset it possesses is that it is naturally produced and has no toxic additives.

So that’s the outside of the

hull, but the other problem is that hulls are generally foam cored – a product also not good for the environment. This is where the other weapon in Windelo’s armoury comes into play: PET [Polyethylene Terephthalate]. This is a very elaborate word for a substance that is made using the plastic from old bottles which is crushed into very small pieces then melted again in order to create the PET foam.

During the fabrication process, the PET core produces half CO2 than the PVC core does. It’s light and environmentally friendly. This is not only used in the hull construction, but many of the wood laminates in the interior are cored with PET. So that’s construction dealt with,

ABOVE A generous sail area and modest displacement meant the Windelo took light airs in its stride BELOW The forward cockpit is the nerve centre of the yacht

but there’s more, much more: The Windelo carries a pair of 20kw electric engines which are powered by a 560Ah 48V battery pack. This provides instant power on tap in total silence. Marry that with a diesel generator and you have a yacht with a range of 1,100 miles under power at 6 knots. Yet the diesel generator is just that – a back up. The boat also features MaxProp hydroregenerating propellers that switch to generating power when under sail, plus, as with other catamarans, the Windelo 50 offers acres of space for solar panels. Factor in the fact that the Windelo is, first and foremost a fine sailing yacht and you have a boat capable of sailing many miles solely under the power of sun and wind.

Cockpit

Step aboard the Windelo and you are immediately aware that this is a boat that is just that little bit different. The cockpit, for example is not where you’d expect it to be but has instead been shifted well forward, sitting in front of the main living area and just abaft the mast. There are twin helms and large windows, while sliding doors provide masses of light and air but also mean you can shut out the elements if needs be. The only other mainstream boatbuilder which has gone for this approach that I can think of is Gunboat in the multihull market and Saffier Yachts in the monohull market. It provides you with a working space with excellent all round vision. Meanwhile, with all rigging controls led directly to

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51

Boat Test ~ Windelo 50

the helmsman and the addition of a self tacking jib means that handling is a breeze. Both daggerboards can also be raised and lowered from here. In addition to this, the anchor winch is also right there within the cockpit, giving you a much more immediate view of what’s going on as you lower and raise the anchor.

Marry that with excellent views of the sails and, with the big sliding ‘patio’ doors back into the main saloon blending the technical ‘sailing’ area of the boat and the lounging area nicely and you have a very appealing set up. I liked it a lot.

Out on deck, things are a bit more conventional to be fair. Up forward there is the usual pair of lockers just forward of the mast with twin diesel tanks for the generator plus ample storage. With the nacelle set well aft there is a decent sized trampoline.

Back aft there is a clever set up for raising and lowering the tender on its davits. When raised, this davit

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device helps to enclose the aft deck, ensuring you feel protected and enclosed at sea. With the davit section lowered, the aft deck is extended and opens out into a large bathing platform area.

The aft deck also has a table that can be shipped for full outdoor dining when at anchor, bringing you close to the waters edge.

Inside

You’d usually describe this area as ‘down below’ on a boat test, but it’s hard to use that term on a catamaran, not least this one.

The first thing you need to note is that the Windelo features the full width tilt/slide ‘garage door’ first pioneered by Bali catamarans.

With this lifted up, the whole back deck blends seamlessly with the interior to provide a huge indoor/outdoor living space.

Combine that with huge sliding toughened glass side windows with

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ABOVE

Solar panels proliferate

BELOW LEFT

A simple, uncluttered and extremely light living area

BELOW

The large pilot berth doubles as a lovely lounging area by day

narrow mullions and you have the very definition of a light and airy living space. The test boat featured the optional U-shaped galley to starboard with a main seating area to port, plus a huge double pilot berth above this where you could happily lounge on watch and keep an eye on things with the autopilot doing the hard work for you. The U shaped galley is not the typical arrangement but did work very well as you felt completely enclosed and comfortable. The standard arrangement also features a chart table to port forward of the main seating area with a clever flip around seat that means that lounging space

of the berths, this particular model featured separate heads/shower rooms and then a huge and very pleasant office area which took up the entire forward living space.

In standard arrangement, this is actually a much larger heads/shower room and there is also the option of having another double berth up here. Overall, the finish was very good quality and the overall sense of light and space was beguiling.

Under sail

is maximised when required. In fact, the dining table can be expanded to accommodate 12 people if required.

In terms of sleeping arrangements, the standard set up for the Windelo is the port hull devoted to the master cabin and owners suite and the starboard hull featuring twin double cabins, and a shared shower/ heads arrangement. Being a top end boatbuilder, Windelo is happy to accommodate a good deal of customisation for each individual model and this was the case with the test boat which featured twin guest cabins in the starboard hull but with the forward cabin a bunk room and the aft featuring a non-standard

36

athwartships double to accommodate the slightly larger U shaped kitchen arrangement in the main saloon. The bunk room, although not standard, worked exceptionally well. Forward of this was a hatch which opened out into another huge storage space that could also be accessed from the deck. This can be converted into a skipper’s berth if needs be.

In the port hull there was a huge double set aft and running athwartships. A beautiful curved custom portlight made from toughened glass provided a wonderful view of the sea from bot aft cabins and there was a great feeling of space in both. Forward

ABOVE The nacelle is set well back to reduce pitching and make for a more comfortable ride on ocean passages BELOW The forward bunk room is a custom feature for this particular vessel

All very well but the litmus test is, of course, how the boat performs at sea. It was time to head out and find out. With a very moderate 8-10kn of wind, this was going to be a day when we found out how the boat’s light displacement and big sail area could be used to best advantage. First though, the electric motors; we left the marina in eerie silence. The bottom end torque of an electric motor is a real advantage when manoeuvring a big multihull, while the daggerboards can be quickly dropped to provide a bit more grip in blustery conditions.

The helm position also worked well for manoeuvring in tight spaces.

Handling a big multihull often makes you feel like you are at the helm of a cross channel ferry but by being positioned amidships, this feeling of vast bulk was considerably reduced and the result was pleasing.

Sails up, and the boat proved to be a polished performer in the modest conditions. With eight knots of wind, we were able to match windspeed and boat speed provided we used the big gennaker. Sail handling was very simple and at the helm you had a really good view of the sails thanks to the forward cockpit and twin helms. The steering is a combination of rod and Dyneema line and is considerably more complicated than inf the helms are positioned right aft above the rudder quadrants. I was concerned that this might add up to more friction and therefore less feel but evidently a lot of work has been put in to ensure that this is not the case and I was very impressed with the handling, which felt reasonably responsive and involved for a big cruising cat.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JULY 2021

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Boat test ~ Excess 15

Boat Test ~ Windelo 50

ALTERNATIVE BOATS

OUTREMER 51

SAM’S VERDICT Windelo’s project is an ambitious one and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Yet I have to say I was really impressed with what this relatively young company has achieved in a short time. This is no novelty item or a one off. Windelo has produced a boat that competes on an entirely level playing field with rivals while also providing impeccable green credentials. They have been unafraid to innovate and think outside the box and the result

is a high quality boat that dares to be a little bit different and surprises you with little details at every turn. The boat sails well and is undoubtedly a great blue water cruiser. Meanwhile, the fundamental concept of using basalt and PET in the hull construction could point the way to a brighter, greener future for the whole industry.

Outremer’s pedigree for producing fast, stylish blue water cruisers makes it the leader of the pack. Their 51 is a polished performer and, although it lacks the green credentials of the Windelo the company offers custom models and has experience of all electric models with its Outremer 4E. catamaran-outremer.com

PERFORMANCE: BLUE WATER ABILITY: COMFORT:

CATANA 53

THE SPEC Length overall: 50’ (15.24m) Beam: 25’ 12” (7.92m) Minimum Draft: 5’ 2” (1.2m) Maximum Draft: 7 ft 7 in (2.32m)

Slightly bigger than the Windelo, the Catana 53 is a strong performer with a firm focus on marrying class leading performance with high levels of comfort. The 53 is all new for 2021 and represents the culmination of many years of experience in the field. catana.com

Dry Weight: 24,691lbs (11,200kg) Sail area: 135sq/m Engines: Twin 20kw electric saildrives Price (base): €735 (adventure) €789 (Yachting) €829 (sport) Contact: windelo-catamaran.com

NEEL 51 Another multihull that dares to be different. This time utilising three hulls to provide a blend of fine performance and masses of space. Neel trimarans are similarly quirky and innovative and this small family company has built a solid reputation in recent years for providing excellent blue water cruisers. There is also the option of fitting a Torqeedo electric motor. neel-trimarans.com

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Buyer’s Guide: Safety Gear

Safety first Ensuring you are safe afloat should always be a prioritsy and there is a lot of great new kit on the market as Sam Fortescue discovers

S

afety tops most sailors’ list of priorities afloat, and there are plenty of products designed to keep you safe. It all depends on the sort of sailing you do. If you’re racing round the bay in a 49er, you’ll probably be alright with a personal flotation device and a good knife. Sports boats, coastal cruisers and bluewater sailors will all have different needs that balance weight, cost and capability.

Offshore sailing – whether racing or cruising - is clearly the most demanding in terms of safety gear.

Far from shore and from ready help, you need to be able to fix more problems yourself and be prepared to be your own search-and-rescue team.

What follows is a look at the key gear

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for each stage of the process – from avoiding catastrophe in the first place to raising the alarm or getting an MOB back on board.

The basics – lifejacket

If you only think about one item of safety gear, make sure it’s a lifejacket or buoyancy aid. The latter is only suitable for good swimmers undertaking small boat sailing in sheltered waters, where there is help readily on hand. That’s because they provide less lift in the water and don’t turn you on your back. Lifejackets, on the other hand should be sized to offer at least 150N of buoyancy – perhaps more if you’re likely to be wearing many layers of clothing, tools or things that

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

BELOW The Typhoon Amrok lifejacket

will weigh you down in the water.

And for serious offshore work, a lifejacket must have a spray hood, light and crotch strap.

Buoyancy aids/PFDs Helly Hansen Rider, £45 Hellyhansen.com Zhik P2 PFD, £119.95 zhik.com Crewsaver Junior Response, £29.95 marinesuperstore.com Typhoon Amrok, £47.50 typhoon-int.co.uk

Lifejackets

Kru Sport ADV manual, £136.89 oceansafety.com

Saving the boat

Crewsaver Ergofit+ 190N auto, £199 jimmygreen.com Spinlock Deckvest 6D, from £230 spinlock.co.uk Seago 3Dynamic, £154.96 Baltic Legend 165N, £161.95 marinechandlery.com

Avoiding collisions AIS

No serious cruising boat should be without this technology, which is now a requirement for doing the ARC and many races. You need a class B transceiver that will broadcast your position and plot those of others (including signals from an MOB with an AIS beacon). Look for new SOTDMA technology that increases the frequency and priority of your broadcast. A built-in VHF splitter, wifi and Bluetooth connection can also be handy. Vesper has developed its Cortex system to neatly integrate AIS and VHF. Digital Yacht AIT1500, £504 Digital Yacht AIT5000, £1,074 digitalyacht.co.uk em-trak B924, £670 em-trak B954, £759 em-trak.com Vesper Watchmate XB-6000, £565 Vesper Cortex M1, £1,339.95 Vespermarine.com Ocean Signal ATB1, £769.90 Oceansignal.com Comar T200B, £620 fcmarine.co.uk

Radar

Useful for detecting vessels over the horizon offshore, spotting squalls and tracing land in poor visibility. Choose a solid-state unit – lightweight and energy efficient.

Newer models also include Doppler tracking that will colour targets depending on whether they are moving towards you or away.

B&G Halo20+ costs £2,480 bandg.com Raymarine Quantum 2 costs from £1,699 raymarine.co.uk Garmin Fantom is from £2,180 garmin.com

Target enhancer

An active radar reflector uses very little power until it detects a radar signal, whereupon it fires back a powerful response that is up to 15 times better than the ISO standard.

Echomax dominates this market.

ABOVE LEFT The Kru Sport lifejacket BELOW Ocean Signal's MOB bundle

If you do run into problems, it’s good to have thought about how you will stem leaks or manage very heavy weather.

Softwood bungs are still the basic standard for dealing with water leaking in through a broken seacock. You’ll need to whack them in hard, but it’s a good idea to keep one of the right size by each seacock. If there’s a breach in the actual structure of the hull, you can try the traditional technique of ‘fothering’ to secure a sail over the hull on the outside. Or try the French-designed Airbob, which inflates over the rupture on the inside to keep water out while you divert to safety.

10 x bungs, £10.15 Seaware.co.uk Airbob, €180 nautinov.com Staying safe in heavy weather is a mixture of art and science, as the Pardey’s book Storm Tactics makes clear. For a serious bluewater passage, though, the minimum is storm sails to reduce windage and keep steerage in a severe gale; a sea anchor; and wire cutters to free a broken rig.

Rolly Tasker readymade storm sails, from £309 (jib) and £342 (trysail) for a 34-footer rollytaskersails.co.uk

Echomax Active-XS £750 marinescene.co.uk Oscar One 320 German-designed collision avoidance system that analyses optical and infra-red video inputs from the masthead for objects ahead. Can spot other vessels more than a kilometre ahead, distinguishing between motor, sail and buoys, as well as floating debris down to a square metre.

Used during the recent Vendée Globe. €11,650 oscar-navigation.com

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

57

Buyer’s Guide: Safety Gear

that’s Falmouth). They also emit a homing signal that can be picked up by search and rescue crews when they are nearby. Epirbs come in two basic flavours: either manually deployed (cat 2), or with a hydrostatic release that goes off underwater (Cat 1). For most purposes, sailing boats will want a Cat 2 unit. Other bells and whistles include water-activation, flashing strobe to attract attention and the exciting new Return Link capability which tells you when your distress signal has been picked up.

Plastimo storm jib (4-6sqm), from c£400 force4.co.uk

Drogue

Stream it over the stern to slow you down in big seas or to hold station offshore or even to help immobilise the boat when heaving to. At its simplest, a drogue can be a single parachute design sized for your boat weight, or a more complex series of smaller cones hanging off a thick line.

GAS DETECTORS Many older boats weren’t built with today’s standards of gas safety in mind, and even some modern boats lack a basic gas alarm. It is an easy problem to rectify, though, and retrofitting is common. Choose from a basic cooking gas (LPG) detector, or one that can warn of carbon monoxide too.

Nasa marine gas monitor, £82.94 Nasa Marine EX-1 exhaust monitor, £109.20 nasamarine.com Pilot LPG alarm, from £99.85 envinsci.co.uk Pilot LPG and CO alarm, £315.12 Nereus LPG and CO alarm, £386.16 seamarknunn.com

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PVC yacht drogue, suitable for yachts 6-14m long, from £70-£175 Para drogue, for yachts up to 70ft LOA, from £494-£1,205 jimmygreen.com

BELOW ACR's GlobalFix Pro BOTTOM Ocean Signal's Mistral Rescue 3

RescueME Epirb 1 (manual), £456.72 SafeSea Epirb 1 (auto), £627.80 oceansignal.com ACR GlobalFix V4, £520.14 acrartex.com

Burke Sea Brake drogue, for boats up to 30m LOA, from £190 oceanchandlery.com

McMurdo Smartfind G8 AIS, £720 Kannad SafePro AIS, £720 oroliamaritime.com

Don Jordan’s Ocean Brake series drogue, for boats up to 31t, from £772.80 Oceanbrake.com

Flares

Wire cutters

No knife through butter here reckon on a much harder job than you’d expect if you have to cut through 1x19 stainless rigging wire.

Try the cutters on an offcut of wire before you go offshore and pump the handle with the cutters on a stable surface for the best result.

Felco C16 cutters (6mm max), £249.95 Marvel wire rope cutter (11mm max), £312 baselinemarine.com

Raising the alarm

In the first instance, satellite or SSB comms can be used for problem solving and seeking help. But in a total emergency, your boat’s Epirb is the key bit of kit here, although there’s still a broad recommendation that you carry pyrotechnic flares for offshore work. Epirbs are beacons that transmit a distress signal including your position via satellite to your registered Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (in the UK,

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Pyrotechnic flares are still required kit in the commercial sector, and for serious bluewater rallies like the ARC. You get what you pay for here, and cheaper own-label knock offs have been found to fail more often than reputable branded products.

Failure can mean fizzle rather than bang, or it could mean an explosive malfunction. Best not to risk it. The ARC requires just four red hand flares and two orange smokes – all SOLAS compliant. Two of the hand flares can be electronic, such as the

RAISING THE ALARM Sailing watch maker Optimum Time has developed a wrist-worn alarm signal that makes a very loud noise to attract attention and get help. Founder Tim Hawkins produced the SOS Siren for dinghy sailors in response to a request from Keith Musto. On the way back to the clubhouse, a Laser sailor had got her ponytail caught in the mainsheets when she capsized, and almost drowned.

“Fortunately she managed to find and blow her whistle and by some miracle it was heard just enough by the guy parking the safety boat,” says Tim. The girl was rescued, but it got Musto thinking about how you summon help if you can’t reach your whistle or draw breath easily.

The SOS Siren can be worn on the wrist, around the arm or even the straps of a PFD, and can be rotated to give the best angle to set it off. A silicon rubber puller sounds the alarm, or three presses of the big red button.

The user can also switch it off at will, meaning it can also be tested and used in safety drills.

The battery lasts for 20 minutes and is replaceable.

Available in five colours, it will be available in all good chandleries from August at a price of £34.95.

AIS beacon

AIS tags broadcast an MOBs position using VHF technology, which means the signal can be picked up on any boat with a radio antenna on the VHF radio spectrum to nearby boats when triggered. They are small, efficient and prices range around £275.

ACR Artex AISLink, £288.10 acrartex.com Ocean Signal MOB 1, £282.44 oceansignal.com

MOB tags

Handy for pinpointing an MOB at short range using the boat from which they’ve fallen.

MOB tags are small wearables that are triggered when someone leaves the 20m Bluetooth perimeter around the boat. They either function with a smartphone app, or using a dedicated base station/display Exposure OLAS tag, £59 exposureolas.com

BELOW LEFT The Sailor 500

Crew Watcher, £89 arthurbeale.co.uk Sea-tags, from €89 sea-tags.com Nasa Marine MOBi (tags x 3 plus display, £285) Nasamarine.com

MOB – recovery

Getting someone back on board is much harder than you might expect, and it’s well worth practicing inshore (in warm waters!).

You’ll need more than just a horseshoe lifebuoy here. Jon Buoy’s recovery module is

the limousine option, combining an inflatable danbuoy, lifebuoy and lifting system all in one. It can also feature Ocean Safety’s innovative retro-reflective technology, which facilitates night-time rescues.

The more common approach is some kind of sling, which the MOB shrugs under their arms before being lifted out. You’ll want one that’s got plenty of padding and a broad opening that’s easy to get over sodden layers, foulies and an inflated lifejacket.

An ingenious German product called the Catch & Lift uses your boat speed to reel in the casualty and lift them from the water. A special fixing permanently mounted on a shroud has a pulley clipped on, through which runs a line with a sling on one end and a sea anchor on the other. Once the MOB is clipped on to the sling, you toss the sea anchor over the side and motor gently ahead, pulling them in to safety.

Jon Buoy recovery module, from £699.95 Jon Buoy sling, from £129.95 jonbuoy.com Kim recovery sling, £139.95 Crewsaver sling, £67.95 Catch & lift, £584.94 Lifesavers tether, £20 oceanchandlery.com If the MOB is injured, weak or unconscious, you may need to get them out of the water in a supine position. There are several options for this, from the simple pick-up sail to the far more elaborate, coastguard-grade Jacob’s Cradle.

Pick-up sail, c£250 Jacob’s Cradle, £POA Oceansafety.com

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Buyer’s Guide: Safety Gear

Seago Sea Master, £1,149 Lalizas ISO Racing, £1,825 force4.co.uk Plastimo Transocean, €1,861 seashop.be

Odeo Mk III. The RORC is more stringent, with four red parachute flares and four white hand flares too.

Crewsaver RORC flare pack, £229.95 Crewsaver offshore flare pack, £189.95 Odeoflare Mk 3, c£100 marinesuperstore.com

Satphone

A basic satphone set-up for emergency use can be had for around £1500, with easy installation and an airtime contract from around £10/month. But as with all things, the more you spend the better the performance – right up to HD video streaming quality connections. See STXXX for full detail. These are your basic emergency options: Iridium 9555 handset (plus antenna and cable), c£1,485 Iridium 9522-P handset and modem (plus antenna and cable), c£2,600 Inmarsat Isatphone Pro (handset only), c£719 mailasail.com gtc.co.uk satphone.co.uk

grounding plate and a whip antenna.

ABOVE The ICOM IC M803

iCom IC-M803, c£2,924 Pactor 4 modem, c£949.95 jgtech.com

BELOW LEFT The SOLAS Compact liferaft

Abandoning ship

The oft repeated phrase is that you should only step upwards when leaving your boat for the liferaft. If you find yourself in that position, though, bluewater sailors will want to be climbing onto a raft that meets the ISO 9650 part 1 standard. This means they have well developed boarding systems, ballast pockets for stability, insulated floors and a survival pack, which can either be sub-24 hours or 24 hours-plus (which typically adds £300 to the cost). The following prices relate to an ISO 9650-1 six-man valise raft with <24 hr supplies.

Ocean Safety Ocean ISO, £1,799 Crewsaver Ocean, £1,275 suffolkmarinesociety.com

BELOW RIGHT McMurdo's FastFind 220

You might also be glad of a grab bag containing vital extras, from flares and epirb to your phone and wallet. Life Cell is the specialist here, with a floating, watertight, high-vis hard case designed to fit everything you might want to abandon ship with. The Life Cell Yachtsman costs £279.95 from Force 4.

MOB location PLBs

Personal locator beacons work in the same way as an epirb but, being much smaller, they are designed to be kept in a pocket or attached to a lifejacket.

They come into their own to summon help if you fall overboard, or get into difficulties during an expedition ashore. The battery must have a transmission life of at least 24 hours – half that of an epirb. Some units also confirm your message has been received via the Return Link.

Ocean Signal PLB1, £296.33 oceansignal.com McMurdo FastFind ReturnLink, £394 Kannad Safelink Solo,£335 oroliamaritime.com ACR ResQLink View, £418.15 acrartex.com

SSB

Based on long-range HF radio technology, SSB allows you to speak to other sailors at great distances without airtime charges.

With a Pactor modem, you can also use the system to download GRIB files and other data at nominal speeds of 5.5kbps – about twice that of the basic satellite phones, but a fraction of the dial-up internet of the last century.

Count on £300-£1,000 installation costs and some £400 for a Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

61

OULTON BROAD

MUTFORD LOCK

CARLTON BRIDGE

PONTOONS The marina was designed to ensure that each berth had easy access and generous manoeuvring space between berths and piers

GULL’S EYE

LOWESTOFT HAVEN MARINA 52’28”30N 001’43”07E

Sheltered berths in the thriving maritime town of Lowestoft, with sandy beaches and the Norfolk Broads on the doorstep.

Sam Fortescue finds out more

N W

E

S NAVIGATION Approaching, departing and transit craft must make every effort to establish and maintain contact with the Lowestoft Harbour Control on VHF Channel 14

LOWESTOFT CRUISING CLUB

TO OUTER HARBOUR

BOAT HOIST BAR AND RESTAURANT

HARD STANDING

Lowestoft Haven Marina

B

ritain’s most easterly town, Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast is also an ancient settlement whose roots go back at least 700,000 years.

From the Middle Ages it grew in renown as a fishing centre, until by the late 19th century and into the early twentieth, it was synonymous with herring. A new harbour and Samuel Morton Peto’s railway connection to Norwich spurred explosive growth in the town’s fishing fleet, until by 1913 there were 770 steam drifters landing 95,000t of fish.

The decline of the fishery coincided

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SEPTEMBER 2021 sailingtoday.co.uk

ABOVE A tranquil evening at Lowestoft beach BELOW Lowestoft’s harbour basin offers a number of mooring options

52’28”30N 001’43”07E

with the growth of North Sea gas and oil, so Lowestoft experienced a different sort of boom in the 60s and 70s. It remains an important centre for offshore servicing, with a growing expertise in renewables.

Lowestoft Harbour still offers a welcome port of call accessible in most conditions for those heading north or south. And it makes a delightful stop-over with its wide sandy beach, two piers and access to the incomparable Norfolk Broads.

There is a Maritime Museum, numerous other small museums, the Pleasurewood Hills theme park and Africa Alive! Wildlife park all within

striking range. From the harbour you can book various boat trips, including a fast ride up to Scroby Sands and Horsey Beach to view the seal colonies there.

On land, Pleasurewood Hills is a theme park on the fringes of town, with rollercoasters, fairground rides, a sealion show, waterslide and dodgems.

Africa Alive! is a safari and wildlife park including big cats, lemurs and other primates, rhino, zebra, snakes and birds.

More sedentary attractions include the Lowestoft Museum, War Memorial Museum and the Royal Naval Patrol Service Museum. There is good high street shopping and plenty of cafés, teashops and restaurants.

Marina guide

Lowestoft Haven Marina is run by Associated British Ports and lies a mile-and-a-half into the town’s harbour, which lines Lake Lothing.

There is a direct connection to the North Sea and lock access west into the Norfolk Broads. Both directions require a bridge lift.

There are 96 berths available in the marina, suitable for yachts up to 20m, wth the deeper water under the eastern pontoons.

Guest berths are available and, at the time of writing, there were also annual berths free. ABP says the marina is well equipped, with a design that ensures easy manoeuvring between pontoons.

Forming part of ABP’s wider harbour interests in Lowestoft, the Haven Marina operates under strict 24-hour surveillance, making it a safe place to leave the boat for crew changes or exploring inland. Office hours are restricted due to Covid, so it is best not to arrive at the weekend.

All the standard facilities are available, including 16A electrical connections (included within the daily price for visitors), showers and toilets ashore, recycling, rubbish bins and a laundry. There is a fuel dock that operates in office hours, seven days per week, while Calor/ Campingaz refill cylinders are also available.

ABOVE Lowestoft offers a direct connection between the North Sea and the Norfolk Broads

Limited marine services are on hand in the marina, including a 70t travel lift and waste oil disposal.

Jeckell’s chandler’s shop is a few minutes’ walk away, on the edge of Oulton Broad, and there is also a Boatshed yacht broker on site.

Though marina staff don’t recommend any specific services, the busy port here means that specialists from mechanics to stainless steel

FACTFILE

LOWESTOFT HAVEN MARINA Open: 08.00-17.00 (MonThurs); 08.00-16.00 (Fri); weekends closed (due to Covid restrictions) Tel: +44 1502 580 300 Email: lowestofthaven@ abports.co.uk Website: lowestofthavenmarina.co.uk Marina: VHF Ch.80 and 37 Harbour: VHF Ch.14 Mutford Lock/Bridge: VHF Ch.73 or +44 1502 531778 The Third Crossing: +44 1502 583 596 Facilities: Berths up to 20m LOA 16A electricity – 32A by arrangement Fresh water 70-tonne boat hoist Diesel from fuel dock

fabricators and electronic installers are all available locally.

The Third Crossing is a good bar and restaurant within the marina, with a focus on steak and local seafood, including lobster from the live tank.

On Sundays, a decent roast lunch deal is available. It had a reputation for live music, but that is on hold for obvious reasons.

Cooking gas – Calor/Campingaz Laundry, showers and toilets (accessible by keypad out of hours) Car parking and 24-hour security Berthing fees: Daily: £2.57/m Weekly: £12.72/m Monthly: £38.18/m Short-stay (<4 hrs): £5 Annual berthing: from £265.22/m Services: The boat lift can be used to haul out and lay-up, load onto transport or simply hold in the slings to check a problem or scrub the bottom.

Pricing starts at £17.53/m for boats under 9.1m.

Manual work is charged at £60 per man hour, including use of plant. This being a busy harbour, there are most services available locally.

KM Electronics +44 1502 569079, kmelectronics. co.uk

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

65

Lowestoft Haven Marina

PICS: ISTOCK

PASSAGE PLANNING Approaches to Lowestoft are fraught with sandbanks, wrecks and now one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, with a capacity of 714MW. But it is well marked and lit at night, so it should not present much of a problem.

From the south, stick close to the port can markers, which will keep you clear of Newcome Sand to the west. It is key to pick up the southerly cardinal that marks the southern extremity of Holm Sand to the east. Depths remain above 6m all the way in.

Holm Sand stretches 4nm north, so if you’re approaching from that direction, stick to the starboard markers in depths of 10-15m. A west cardinal marks the northmost extremity of Holm Sand, where there

is a cut running out to sea marked by a northerly cardinal then a southerly. Immediately to the north, South Scroby sands stand sentinel off the mouth of Great Yarmouth, forcing traffic to stay close inshore.

There is a busy commercial and fishing harbour at the seaward end of Lothing Lake, and you are urged to contact Lowestoft Harbour Control on VHF Channel 14 before entering or leaving. Observe the port traffic signals on the end of the South Pier and the Yacht Basin. Three vertical red lights mean you should not proceed.

The Harbour Bridge has 2.2m clearance and only opens on request for commercial vessels.

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vessel if they have arranged it with Harbour Control. Otherwise they should wait for a scheduled opening, currently every 1.5 to 3 hours during the day, as specified on the Haven Marina website under ‘navigation’.

There is a waiting pontoon at the east end of the Trawl Dock, and the harbour speed limit is 4 knots.

To the west, Mutford road and rail bridges open on appointment to give access to Mutford Lock, marking the entry to 120 miles of navigable Broads. Depths in the lock are 2m but you should seek advice before entering Oulton Broad if you draw more than 1.7m. Tides in Oulton Broad are three hours after those in Lowestoft with a mean range of 0.7m Note that the marina shoals quickly to the west. Depth of 2m-plus is only available between the two easternmost pontoons..

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SEPTEMBER 2021 sailingtoday.co.uk

CRUISING GROUNDS Lowestoft provides a great springboard to explore the east coast and North Sea ports Lowestoft makes a handy port of call for boats heading south into the Essex rivers or to Great Yarmouth and points further north. It lies close to the Suffolk-Norfolk border with excellent access to the Broads and the East Anglian countryside.

The town itself is pleasant and relaxed, with the historic Scores area at its heart. These narrow lanes were formed by people cutting down the cliff from the high street to the beach. Its undoubted highlight is the Blue Flag beach with its traditional pier, dating from 1903.

The golden sands of South Beach are said to have been an inspiration for composer Benjamin Britten, who grew up in a house on the seafront. His home has since become a guesthouse.

Lowestoft’s rich marine history can still be viewed in the harbour.

The International Boatbuilding Training College provides a focus on Lake Lothing, and you can see the 1921 Lowestoft Smack Excelsior moored near there.

Check out the sidewinder trawler Mincarlo. The Maritime Museum The Norfolk Broads are the other

ABOVE Leisurely sailing on the Broads near Oulton BELOW Great Yarmouth

big draw for the town, and access lies via the lock at the head of the harbour. Oulton Broad leads to Beccles on the River Waveney. It also connects to Reedham and Norwich on the Yare, thanks to the New Cut, which was built in the 1830s to help Lowestoft fishermen bypass Great Yarmouth. Via Breydon Water, there is also access to Wroxham and Potter Heigham. Depths are limited and there are many fixed bridges which effectively limit air draught in the Broads to 6ft.

USEFUL CONTACTS Lowestoft Harbour Control VHF Ch.14 or +44 1502 572286 Oulton Broad Yacht Station VHF Ch.73 or +44 1502 574946 Coastguard +44 1262 672317 Royal Norfolk & Suffolk YC For berths in the outer harbour. +44 1502 566726 Jet Adventures Harbour and seal tours.

Jetadventures.co.uk, +44 1502 Tourist office +44 1502 533600 Lowestoft Maritime Museum +44 1502 561963, lowestoftmaritimemuseum.co.uk

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

67

Southampton Boat Show

10 reasons to visit the

Southampton Boat Show The Southampton International Boat Show, which runs from 10-19 September, is expanding in a big way this year and taking over more of the city. There is plenty lined up, whatever kind of sailing you do. Here is why we are looking forward to it

B

ritish Marine, the organiser of the Southampton International Boat Show, has confirmed that the 52nd edition of the UK’s largest watersports festival will take place from 10-19 September 2021.

This year more than ever the show really does celebrate, in British Marine’s words, “everything that is great about being out on the water”, with the full gamut of boating included from SUPs to dinghies to raceboats and yachts to all manner of kit. There will be more than 450 marine brands on show and more than 600 boats.

Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, says: “It is a great pleasure to announce that Southampton International Boat Show is back in 2021; the show is such a key event in the boating calendar and a real celebration to the end of season. British Marine is using our years of boat show experience to deliver the 52nd edition at full size and to welcome visitors back in style. We cannot wait to see you all in person again!”

Chelsea Magazines, the parent company of Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting, is proud to be official media partner for the show.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

1 It’s bigger

The show has a new, bigger layout this year, taking over more of the city with new zones for every kind of watersport. Working in partnership with Southampton City Council, British Marine has agreed the use of additional land stretching inland towards the Westquay shopping centre.

There will be a new entrance to the show here, the idea being to capture visitors who are in the town, possibly those who are younger and those who are new to boating. As they enter the show, they will be greeted by a series of watersports zones that cater for specific interests to give a “tailored” show experience.

The first zone will be for paddleboards, kite surfers, kayaks and windsurfers, accompanied by a stage, street food, music and a lively vibe, showcasing the watersports lifestyle and simplicity of getting afloat.

For the first time at the show, there will be a dedicated Dinghy Zone, for all dinghy sailors from high-performance racing to club members and dinghy cruisers.

This will flow into a Classic Boat & Day Boat Zone, celebrating vintage and modern wooden boats.

The show will then move into Mayflower Park and the marina that prior visitors will know, however Mayflower Park itself will be bigger than before. There will be more on-the-water experiences and the natural arena between the pontoons and shore will be utilised further to create a safe and constantly active water park.

There will be opportunities to demonstrate, compete and entertain, all with live commentary.

Throughout the show there will be other new features, including stages, live music, entertainment and guest speakers, all aiming to showcase the boating lifestyle and create a buzzing show atmosphere.

2 Sailing is good for you – it’s official

What all sailors always knew has been confirmed by scientific research – that spending time on the water improves health and wellbeing.

With concerns around the negative mental and physical health legacy of the pandemic, the new research, commissioned by British Marine and the Canal & River Trust, explores of the wider social value associated with boating. Comparing moderate with frequent participation, the research shows that regularly spending time out on the water “could be even more beneficial than accepted mindfulness activities such as practising yoga or pilates and even generates an increase in life satisfaction of about half that seen from gaining employment”. The research shows that “the more time spent out on the water, the bigger the benefit”.

Frequent participation in boating

and watersports compared to moderate participation is associated with anxiety levels 15% lower and a life satisfaction value of 7.3 on a scale of 0-10 (6% higher), according to the research.

In line with this, British Marine has launched a new ‘on the water’ website (www.OnTheWater.co.uk), giving details of locations across the UK where people can get afloat.

The RYA is supporting the scheme and RYA-recognised training centres can also be found on the website. You can get #OnTheWater at this year’s Southampton International Boat Show.

3 Sustainability

To mark World Oceans Day on 8 June, British Marine pledged to make the 2021 edition of the Southampton Boat Show the “most sustainable and environmentally friendly” in its 52 year history.

All exhibitors must pledge that any promotional items or giveaways at the show will be sustainable and recyclable. They must also sign up to a pledge which includes no single use plastic water bottles on stands, outlets, or hosted events; to nominate a sustainability champion

ABOVE The show is expanding into the city this year BELOW The area between the pontoons and shore will be further utilised as a watersports zone

on their stand to oversee waste management and recycling at the show; to offer only sustainable and recyclable promotional goodies; and to only use compostable, recyclable or reusable cups, plates and cutlery.

“These mandatory requirements for 2021 are in addition to actions implemented at the last show in 2019, which has already seen the ban of all plastic straws, reduced use of single use plastic for all showrelated preparation and operations, encouraging the use of e-ticket and QR codes, and only using recycled paper if print materials are required.

We’re proud that during the 2019 show over 7.5 tons of waste was diverted from landfill by exhibitor actions,” says CEO Lesley Robinson.

For 2021, British Marine has focused on eight areas for change at the show, categorised into Plastics; Paper; Catering; Waste and Recycling; Our Home; Travel; Access and Education; and Awareness.

“By clearly defining categories, we can help everyone attending or visiting the show to be aware of small or large changes that can be made by the organisers, the exhibitors and the visitors. This includes, for example, having plenty of water refill points throughout the show, avoiding the need for any single use water bottles, ensuring there are sustainable travel options and providing a donation opportunity for our environmental charity at the point of ticket purchase.

“It requires some pre-planning, for example using e-tickets, rather than printed tickets, using only environmentally-sourced give-aways at the show, and post event actions such as recycling stand materials as well as any activities during the show, like an organised beach clean,” says James Scott-Anderson, British Marine’s lead in environment.

For exhibitors that go the extra mile, there is also the opportunity to enter the Exhibitor Sustainability Award, which will be presented by The Green Blue’s ambassador Mike Golding on the opening day on 10 September.

Previous winners of the inaugural Exhibitor Environmental Awards in 2019 were RS Sailing and Spirit Yachts.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

69

Southampton Boat Show

4

There’ll be plenty of new yachts

At its heart, the event is still a boat show and very much a place where dreamers and serious buyers can see multiple yachts.

Among the many on show, British shipyard Discovery will be showing the 14.5m Discovery 485 alongside a walkin scale model of the interior of the new Southerly 42.

“The Southampton International Boat Show is our home show, it enables us to showcase our yachts and demonstrate the best of British yacht building. Due to the size of the show, it offers fantastic brand awareness, not only to the UK but the international markets as well,” says Oliver Hayes, Marketing Manager at Discovery Shipyard.

There will be plenty of yachts from European countries, among them the Dutch Contest Yachts, showing their award-winning 17m blue-water cruiser, 55CS, at the show. Accolades for this stunning yacht include being named as the winner of the Luxury Cruiser category, European Yacht of the Year 2021, and winning the Bluewater Cruiser category in our British Yachting Awards.

French manufacturer Beneteau will have five models at the show, including the first chance to see the new Oceanis 40.1 and the 17m Oceanis 54.

The Jeanneau SunFast 3300 will be there. This double-handed race boat is one of the surprise stars of recent years. The company will also be showing its Sun Odyssey ranges – in sizes from 35ft (10.66m) to 44ft (13.41m).

Moving along the pontoons, visitors can see the new Dufour

70

470, making its debut at the show. This interesting boat is available in three models – Easy, Ocean and Performance – and will be on show alongside her smaller sisters, the Dufour 430 (13.24m), 390 (11.93m) and Dufour 360 (10.73m).

The Salona 46 is also making her world premiere at the show.

This short-handed, long distance performance cruiser is aimed at couples seeking an extended period of comfortable passage making.

Clipper Marine will be showing its range of Bavaria’s sailing yachts and will have nine models on show from Dehler, Moody and Hanse.

The UK premier of the Dehler 38SQ (11.66m) will take place at the show, alongside the launch of the new 12.52m Moody DS41.

Six different Hanse yachts – from the Hanse 348 at 10.4m to the Hanse 588 at 17.2m – will also be lined up on the pontoons.

Swedish builder HallbergRassy has chosen Southampton as the venue for the international premier of the Hallberg-Rassy 400 (13.6m). UK representative Transworld Yachts will also be exhibiting the Hallberg-Rassy 57.

There are more to come – see our website for the latest details.

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ABOVE LEFT Yacht launches have always been part of the event; there will be 600 boats on show ABOVE RIGHT The classic boat zone showcases wooden craftsmanship and there will be demonstrations of traditional skills and talks BELOW Visitors can enjoy RIB rides and more

5 The classic boat zone

The wooden boat sector in previous shows has always been a fascinating place for all visitors, but particularly so for the readers of our sister title Classic Boat! This year’s new Classic & Day Boat Zone will boast a variety of craft on show, including day boats, wooden and classic boats, plus equipment and materials. British Marine says that “this zone celebrates the boats and craftsmanship that stand the test of time….Classic boat enthusiasts and seasoned boaters will be able to find all the equipment they need to keep their treasures gliding across the water.”

There will also be hands-on product demonstrations, an education special, talks on traditional and modern boat building techniques, and accounts on how boating supports mental and physical wellbeing. It’s a space for boaters to discuss the world’s most beautiful boats and share their appreciation for great craftsmanship.

In the marina, there will be a Tall Ship moored up with the chance to get aboard.

6 Get afloat!

Try your luck at stand-up paddleboarding or go for a blast in a RIB. Key features at this year’s show include: Try-a-Boat – free sailing and powerboating opportunities from a range of brands; Try-a-Boat+ – as above, but you can opt to stay out on the water longer for a small fee; Get Afloat – from dinghy sailing to paddleboarding, try something new or sharpen your existing skills with experts from Rockley Watersports on hand to help; Mini Cruise – with sundecks, this is the show’s very own mini cruise ship.

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

71

Southampton Boat Show

7 The watersports zone With the growth in SUPs at sailing clubs and elsewhere, this zone is the place to go for the latest kit. British Marine say it will be “unlimited board sports action…everything from standup paddleboards, surfboards, wakeboards and water-skis, kitesurfs, windsurfs, canoes, and kayaks, to group activities on the water – something for easy riders and adrenaline junkies alike”.

Get tips from professionals, learn about the latest equipment or grab a bargain with special offers from exhibitors.

8 The Festival Green

Located next to the new main entrance up near Westquay shopping centre, the Festival Green is new this year and is one of many spots designed for relaxing – a very important part of any boat show experience! In the evening, visitors will be able to sit here and enjoy live music “under a sea of lights”.

There will be a range of food outlets, from fresh-out-of-thewater oysters to international street food, and drinks outlets, with bars offering everything from champagne and cocktails, to mocktails and soft drinks – maybe to toast your new boat?

9 Accessibility

British Marine has stated its intention to make the event as accessible as possible. There is a reduced admission price for visitors who are registered disabled. Wheelchairs will

72

be available for hire and can be booked in advance. Alternatively, you can hire a wheelchair on the day from the show entrance subject to availability (manual wheelchairs only).

Dogs are permitted access into the show, however access onto the marina will be restricted at busy times. No other animals will be admitted to the show.

A wristband given at the show entrance upon arrival allows people to move from zone to zone without having to cross bridges.

Visit the Box Office when you arrive to obtain your wristband.

10 Safety measures for all

To widespread dismay, the 2020 show was cancelled by Southampton City Council at the 11th hour due to Covid concerns.

The 2021 show will take place well after restrictions have been lifted in England. Nonetheless, British Marine is ready to implement any Covid-related safety measures at short notice and has made clear

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ABOVE

Get afloat on powerboats and sailboats at this year's show, for free

BELOW

Europe's biggest purpose-built marina

RIGHT

The show map makes clear how the event will expand into the city this year, with a new entrance to the north and new watersports zones along the city wall

the safety of visitors and exhibitors is of paramount importance.

The show has always been recognised as an important part of the summer season in Southampton and British Marine has enjoyed a good relationship with Southampton City Council; this year the council has gone out of its way to make that clear.

Councillor Jacqui Rayment, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer and Organisation, Southampton City Council, has said: “While we were disappointed that last year’s event couldn’t go ahead, everyone’s health and safety must come first. I’m therefore really pleased to be working with British Marine again as we look to produce a safe, enjoyable and expanded show at Mayflower Park and other sites across the city.

The organisers will be working closely with the city’s events safety advisory group, which includes representation from Public Health, to deliver an event that complies with government advice and the national roadmap out of lockdown.

“The Southampton International Boat Show is a key event in our calendar, and with plans for the show’s first ever Community Day and festival area, which aims to connect Southampton residents with the marine community, we are very much looking forward to welcoming boat fanatics young and old to the event and showing everyone what our great city has to offer.”

Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, has said: “After more than a year dominated by the pandemic, we are delighted to be working with Southampton City Council to bring the show back to the city again.” southamptonboatshow.com

36

Cruising – Brazil to Curacao

Caribbean outcasts Johan Tebelius recounts a trip from Brazil to Curacao on the run from the authorities during the first Covid lockdown

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER JUNE 2021 2021

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

Cruising – Brazil to Curacao

T

he tune of Ravel’s Bolero unfolds over Paraíba river while the sun is falling bellow the horizon. A man playing a saxophone is standing in a canoe that meanders around the moored yachts. The musician entertains the crowd.

Among them is Rafe Eddington. He has experienced the spectacle every day for a month. He’s had about enough of it.

There is not that much to do in Jacaré. Mingling with people that muster at sunset gives him a break from hanging out at the marina. To retreat back to his boat is not an option. Everything is upside down and peace cannot be found. An electrician scanning the aluminium yacht for electrolysis and doing maintenance on the engine has turned the interior upside down.

The boat, an Ovni 435 named Silverlining, has until recently been on the hard for 16 months. Captain Rafe left her immediately after an Atlantic crossing. Now he has returned with the intention to sail back to Europe. But he has returned to a world of lockdowns that has completely stymied his plans. Giving up seems like the best option.

At the same time something feels wrong with such a decision. Rafe bought Silverlining only three years ago. Their time together is too short.

76 68

They still have a lot of nautical miles to conquer before their paths diverge.

The sun has set and the music fades away. Confused by his thoughts, Rafe returns.

Decision time

The next morning I arrive. Rafe welcomes me with a refreshment.

While sipping on my drink he asks: “What is your opinion on sailing to the Caribbean instead?”

A little perplexed by the sudden change of destination all I can say is: “Then I brought too many warm clothes. Later I add: “I am okay with that.”

Rafe explains he received a message suggesting his presence in the UK is not required as soon as he

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

ABOVE Waiting at Jacaré marina. Silverlining to the left BELOW The author and the skipper

thought. For that reason it is appealing to stay with Silverlining on this side of the Atlantic.

The following days we prepare for our departure and wait for the third crew member to show up. His name is Sebastian, a young lad that previously has sailed with Rafe. At a lunch-break, Rafe receives a phone call. It is Sebastian. He has bad news. It turns out the UK government is no longer allowing their citizens to travel to Brazil. On top of that the result of Sebastian’s Covid test turns out positive.

Consequently he cannot board any flight. All of a sudden Silverlining’s crew is reduced.

Convinced of our abilities Rafe and I decide the two of us is sufficient. As we are following the coast, a two-handed crew is satisfactory. There are a lot of yachts sailing around the world only handled by a couple. So if they can do it why shouldn’t we be able to do so.

We leave Jacaré marina when the tide turns and gives us a push towards the sea. Before we reach the estuary, darkness has fallen.

Sunset is a rapid process in the tropics. We decide to divide the watches in four hours. Rafe volunteers to do the first while I take the opportunity to crash in my bunk.

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

77

Cruising – Brazil to Curacao

Slowly our body and soul adjusts to a long passage mode. The days pass by. A few dolphins pay us a visit.

Except for that, it is quiet. A couple of cargo ships en route to the Amazon river pass by at a distance.

No other yachts in sight.

We keep a distance of about 100 nm off the Brazilian coast. There are three reasons for such an advice: 1) we want to avoid reefs if the wind pushes us towards land, 2) thunder storms when the night falls are more frequent closer to land, 3) reports of pirate attacks along the Brazilian coast gives impetus to maintain a safe distance.

Initially we enjoy smooth downwind sailing with an average speed of six knots. At S 2° the doldrums slow us down. As the relative wind makes the mainsail flap when surfing off the waves, we decide to start the engine.

After four days of motoring without any sign of wind, Captain Rafe starts to get concerned. Have we brought sufficient amount of diesel?

Grenada, our destination, is still far away.

ABOVE St George’s harbour Grenada

Dilemma in the doldrums

We consider a change of route. Belém or Macapá are the closest ports from our position. As Brazil’s sea borders are closed we might however not be allowed to approach. Cayenne in French Guyana seems a better option. It is also en route. At the

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

same time French territory is temporarily closed to non-Europeans so Rafe might not be allowed to enter. As I hold a Swedish passport the authorities may allow me to buy diesel.

To our relief our worries disappear.

The wind returns at N 4°. Soon we resume our average speed of six knots. All concerns are blown away.

The doldrums finally released us.

Our estimation of 16 days from the mouth of Paraíba river to Grenada seems achievable again.

In the morning on day 16th day we spot Grenada at the horizon. It is pleasant to see land and traces of human dwellings. At the same time approaching shore causes some anxiety. What will await us at land?

What messages will there be from home?

After we have rounded the southernmost corner of the island and turned north to reach Saint

George’s harbour, we drop the sails.

While motoring the last bit I make contact with relevant authorities over the radio. I call up the Coastguard on channel 16. No answer! After a while I try Immigration. Still no answer! Maybe I need to contact the Port Authority or Port Louis Marina, where we have booked a mooring spot, that I am supposed to contact. None of them returns my call. Has the world ended while we were at sea? There is no answer from anybody.

After a few more attempts, a fellow sailor informs me that Port Louis Marina can be contacted at channel 14. I call them up. Finally someone responds.

The individual asks me if we have done the health check-in procedures On my negative response he informs me that this has to be done.

‘Call them up at channel 10’.

I follow his directive. Again, there

“ No, no, no! Go away! You can’t berth here until you have done the health check-in..’’

BELOW xxxxx

is a complete radio silence.

Unsure what to do, we proceed into the harbour. Rafe decides it is best to berth at the marina and then try to sort things out. While slowly approaching the jetty, a man wearing a black mask standing on the slip, raises is arm and show us the flat of his hand. “Have you booked?” he asks.

“Yes!” I shout to him.

“Where is your dinghy?”

“We don’t have one.”

“You have to go and do the health check-in before you berth.”

“Where can we do the health check-in?”

“On the other side, at the end of the monohulls over there. The government has set up a red tent. Go there” he replies and points in the general direction.

Approaching the red tent we realize it is too shallow to berth.

Close to us is a jetty where a man is

putting fuel into a Pilot boat. We ask politely if we might berth alongside his quay to go and see the health authorities. He denies our request.

Instead he points out some pontoons nearby and rapidly informs us: “it is 180 EC$ to stay there.”

BELOW Silverlining anchored off St Georges

“But we already have a mooring booked at Port Louis Marina. We only need to stop briefly to do the health check-in.”

“You can stay 24 hours. It is 180EC$”, he repeats.

Rafe is not convinced about the box berthing. With only the two of us and no bow thruster, he is afraid a gust will bring us onto the pontoons and damage the boat. So he asks if there isn’t anywhere else we can berth. The man answers: “If you have reported your destination in Sail Clear then you can go to the marina where you are supposed to stay.”

Consequently we return to the Port Louis Marina. While I am busy securing the boat, the same man we met before comes towards us, shrugging his shoulders in a non helpful way, and shaking his head. We try to explain that we were told to return and berth at the marina before we do the health check-in. “In that case you have to berth at the quarantine jetty. It is on the other side of that ferry” he explains and point out our direction.

So we take off again. When we reach the jetty the same man has apparently called his supervisor. Both of them are awaiting our arrival. The superior of the two says: “No, no, no!

Go away! You can’t berth here until you have done the health check-in.”

“But it’s is too shallow, we can’t berth there. We were told to return.”

“You can berth at the red jetty,” he says and points towards the petrol station.

So we return to the quay where we previously were told we couldn’t stay, and prepare to berth. I jump on to the slip to secure the boat. The petrol station assistant comes running towards us with a mask on his face and disinfectant spray in his hand.

“No, no, no, you can’t moor here.” We try to explain that we were told that Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

79

Cruising – Brazil to Curacao

we could stop at this jetty to go and see the people in the red tent. He denies us access and says I could be fined for standing on the slip without having done the health check-in procedure.

While we are discussing the matter, a dinghy from a catamaran that arrived at Port Luis Marina a few minutes after us, passes by en route to the red tent.

Our negotiations with the petrol station assistant do not lead anywhere. We decide to leave the harbour. There is no use going back and forth between the quays. It is better to drop the anchor somewhere. Then we can make contact with the health authorities to find out on how to proceed.

by switching off the AIS and keeping the mast light off during night. As we only spot a couple of cargo ships at a far distance we judge it is a safe thing to do.

After 200 nm we gybe and start heading back towards the South American coastline. Now another concern arises. With our average speed we will arrive at Curaçao in the dark. As we are eager to reach land we ignore the fact and do not reduce sails. After a few days we spot Bonaire in the horizon. We consider stopping but choose to continue towards Curaçao. With around 30 nm remaining to our destination the sun falls. To await daylight we decide to stop at a small island called Kleine

Change of plan

While leaving, Rafe looks at me, shake his head and says: “Let’s continue to Curaçao. It will only take us another four days. We still have sufficient water and food.” I immediately agree. So we raise the sails and continue west.

As the most direct route from Granada to Curaçao runs close to Venezuela’s Caribbean islands, we decide to take a northerly course.

Such a decision gives us a safe distance of 40 nm. If anybody under Venezuelan flag wants to harrass us they probably will not be able to spot Silverlining at such a great distance.

Our concern is the coastguard.

Recent reports tell of trouble with the Venezuelan authorities. So to avoid exposure we make ourselves invisible

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

ABOVE L-R Kleine Curaçao, an emergency stopoff BELOW Entering Willemstad, Curacao after 21 days at sea

Curaçao. It is situated a few miles southeast of Curaçao. There are some mooring buoys we manage to locate in the dark. A bit nervous as we now are illegal immigrants in the country, we leave early the following morning to avoid the Coastguard.

When we arrive at the entrance to the port of Willemstad there is a pontoon bridge blocking our passage. I call up the port control to ask if we may enter the harbour and if they in that case would be so kind to open the bridge for us. “No problem!” Is the answer. We proceed to Curaçao marina. The next day we receive negative results on our Covid tests and are free to leave the boat after 21 days at sea.

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81

Round the Island Race

Birthday racers Rob Peake joins the Disabled Sailors Association and Gwennili Trust in the 90th anniversary Round the Island Race

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER JUNE 2021 2021

FLEET SHOTS (C) PAUL WYETH

I

t is 3.30am and the music is thumping, so loud I can barely hear myself speak. A single light bathes everything in a red glow and I’m unsteady as I walk across to get a drink. Am I in a nightclub?

No, I’m on a catamaran owned by the Disabled Sailors Association and we’re motoring through a night-time Portsmouth Harbour, on our way to the start of the 90th anniversary Round the Island Race. The gun fires in around three hours’ time and it’ll be at least 20 hours before I get any sleep. Better make it a strong coffee. This is going to be quite a birthday party.

Keep an eye out

Nine hours later and we’re off St Catherine’s Point under low cloud and dark skies. The Needles are behind us and we’re rolling north east for Bembridge. “Keep an eye out,” calls skipper John Douglas as he takes a break from the wheel.

“If anything comes within five foot of us I’ll shout,” calls our blind crewman Mick Hughes, a former pilot who lost his sight in later life.

Howls of laughter ring round the boat, followed by murmurs of appreciation as another round of coffees appears from the galley. Our early start from Portsmouth has seen

MAIN A fleet of 1,200 boats celebrated the 90th anniversary of the race ABOVE Photo call as we round the Needles on Spirit of Scott Bader, having sailed through flat calm, torrential rain and 20-knot gusts up the Solent BELOW Low cloud off St Catherine’s Point as we reach the halfway mark at noon - time for another coffee!

a lightheaded hilarity settle across the boat, encouraged by a constant stream of “dad’s jokes” from our crewman Lee Davies.

“What’s ET short for?”

Silence.

“He’s only got little legs.”

Weeping laughter and groans.

John returns to the helm, glancing at a Sadler off to port. “Can someone tell me if that guy comes any closer?”

A minute later he says: “How about that boat?”

The Sadler has gone off behind us but a Laser 28 has replaced it and is pressing up fast. There is time for a quick tack, but we give ourselves a collective shake. It’s a reminder that we’re in a very big fleet and the words of race director Dave Atkinson, who I interviewed yesterday, ring in my ears. “Always keep your eyes out of the boat – don’t make the mistake of getting round the Needles and relaxing.”

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

83

Historic fleet

The first Round the Island Race took place in 1931 with just 25 boats. As we’d drifted our way across the Royal Yacht Squadron line at 6.40am this morning, we were in a fleet of around 1,200 – everything from Sadlers, to RS21s, to Diam trimarans, to MOD70s, to a healthy collection of gaff cutters that were around at the same time as the first race nine decades ago. Under the stewardship of the Island Sailing Club, the race has grown into one of the biggest mass-participation events in the world. After a year of lockdowns, this anniversary fleet is unsurprisingly a big one.

It’s not, however, an absolutely wild birthday celebration just yet.

The water is pan flat, reflecting a dark grey sky overhead. The forecast is rain.

Right now we have two jobs – don’t hit anything, and get past Hurst Castle, at the other end of the Solent, before the tide turns, or else this could be one birthday party we’ll be leaving early. John keeps us on our toes. We’re racing – slowly.

Charity partnership

Spirit of Scott Bader (named after the composites company that donated the build materials) was designed for wheelchairs, with wide sidedecks, and helm and winches easily accessible from sitting height.

Walking up to the boat yesterday in Port Solent, I’d realised one of the crew was doing pull-ups on the boat’s crossbeams. Disabled? The term encompasses a vast range of situations and conditions. “We take all disabilities,” says skipper John, a former social worker and now a

84

commercially endorsed Yachtmaster.

He runs Spirit of Scott Bader for the Disabled Sailors Association and is out on the water almost every day over the summer, averaging 100 days afloat annually.

Somewhat belying its looks, Scott Bader’s foam-core build is lightweight and the boat is fast, branded as a “Ferrari on water” by the charity’s chairman at the time, a nod at least to the ground-breaking nature of the project 20 years ago.

The intervening years have seen wheelchairs become bigger, however, and the charity has a host of additional facilities it would like offer to its beneficiaries, so it is fundraising for a bigger, better boat.

The new boat has been designed, but the money needs to be found.

Meanwhile, however, Spirit of Scott Bader is doing sterling work.

“We also run family trips so that someone in a wheelchair can have a shared experience with their parents, with their children, or whoever they choose, rather than just going off and doing something on their own with a charity,” says John. “That shared experience is so important and can be an eye-opener sometimes. I’ve

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

FLEET SHOTS (C) PAUL WYETH

Round the Island Race

ABOVE Sails of all eras on show as we round the Needles ABOVE LEFT Working the boat hard in the specially designed cockpit BELOW Spirit of Scott Bader has wide areas for wheelchairs, but the charity is now fundraising for a new boat

seen parents of a disabled girl, for example, be surprised at how independent and capable their daughter was on the boat.

“Another time we had a girl who had cuffs holding her wrists to the wheelchair – she couldn’t control her arms. We took the cuffs off and gave her the wheel. It took her a while, but she got it. Her carer told me she’d never seen her use her hands so much.”

John takes out Scott Bader in anything up to a Force 6. In his nine years as skipper, he’s seen only three wheelchairs tip over, once because the user pulled himself over hauling on a line. “Generally it’s the people with two able legs who fall over,” says John. “The wheelchairs are very stable.”

The Disabled Sailors Association partners with other charities and groups to find people to go sailing and also to find funding.

The Gwennili Trust, founded in 1995, is one of those charities.

Chairman John Thornton tells me: “We work with partner organisations to enable people with a wide range of disabilities to go sailing. Over the years people of all ages and backgrounds, including serving and retired servicemen and women, have enjoyed the thrill of offshore sailing with us.

“We charter MCA-coded yachts and look to add value to the

ABOVE Skipper John Douglas BELOW LEFT Keeping pace with other multis in our class – and Jolie Brise!

BELOW RIGHT Lee Davies enjoys the array of boats on show as we sail up the Solent in light conditions

organisations and clients that we work alongside. We do this by actively promoting offshore sailing and racing to new and existing institutions and individuals.”

Crew stories

One of the Gwennili Trust beneficiaries is Lee Davies, our self-appointed DJ today and the man responsible for turning our nighttime passage through Portsmouth Harbour into a floating nightclub.

Lee does 50km running races for fun and is serving with the Royal Welsh. The reason for his being here today becomes clear as we chat in the cabin. Lee winces mid-sentence and stops to hold his head.

“It’s no war story,” he relates later.

Lee was on his first tour of Iraq in 2005, aged 20, when he banged his head while driving in a tank. He

carried on as normal for two weeks until his commanding officer medevacced him back to Britain for immediate surgery. Two facial reconstructions later – he shows me the photos of his balloon-like head after one operation – and he has no feeling at all in one side of his face.

More than that, the nerves are damaged and shoot needles of pain into his head. The condition is called trigeminal neuralgia and is commonly known, Lee tells me, as the ‘suicide disease’, for reasons that don’t need explaining.

“I just try to keep laughing,” he says, stifling a yawn. “What other options have I got?”

Lee is mid-way through writing the story of his time in the army. On his phone he lets me read it – as hilarious, gripping and sobering an account of soldiering as you could

find. Lee, however, won’t publish. “It’s just for my daughter,” he says.

The mesh of charities supporting those from the armed forces is admirable. The Gwennili Trust helps soldiers and people from all walks of life, as John Thornton says: “We regularly organise bespoke events for families with disabled members, charities for the disabled, schools and other organisations. These events can vary in length from a single day to a full week of sailing.”

Around us is an extraordinary array of sail – gaffers, J/70s, luxury cats and pro race yachts. It seems the entire history of leisure sailing has turned up for the 90th anniversary Round the Island Race, but really this is just an average Round the Island fleet. It is a truly incredible sight, one that my hundreds of photos over the course of the day fail to do justice.

I wander back to the aft deck to find crewman Gary Hyne in tears.

“This is incredible,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “My grandfather did this race in the 1960s.”

Gary shows me a photo on his phone of him, aged 3, on his grandfather’s yacht. “It’s all coming back – he did this.”

Gary has Multiple Sclerosis and has sailed on Scott Bader before through his local MS group.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

85

Round the Island Race

“I just feel so happy on the water, nothing matters. All the normal rubbish in your head just goes.”

He only found out he’d be doing the Round the Island Race two days ago and grins as he recalls: “You couldn’t print what I said when I heard I’d be doing it. I’ve never done anything like this in my life.”

Offshore racing

As we approach Hurst Castle the predicted rain comes down and Scott Bader’s crew stand dripping in the cockpit. “James have you got your sun cream on?” Lee roars to his friend James Clements, a 22-year-old Royal Marine.

We do a Needles photocall and it’s hard to deny the feeling of shared enjoyment as we round the famous landmark with scores of other crews.

Major Cyril Windeler of the Island Sailing Club, whose idea it was to have a race around the island nine decades ago, would surely be astonished as the spectacle.

We turn south east and steel ourselves for the miles ahead.

“I think that part of the race is one reason why people keep coming back,” race director Dave Atkinson

, e

had told me the day before. “A lot of sailors rarely go outside the Solent.

This is a chance to go around the back of the island, where really you’re offshore. Unless you have a yacht that can beach, then the nearest safe haven is a very long sail away.”

We post official lookouts as the fleet starts to converge around Bembridge ledge. As we close up, it’s fascinating to see Scott Bader’s performance against other boats of different styles and eras. The big cat may not be exactly Ferrari-like, but she keeps pace with Jolie Brise upwind and a brand new Hanse can’t get away as we turn the corner NW and begin to feel we’re going home.

The sun comes out and we’re treated to a fabulous sight all around us. Two Contessas sail in a private battle, or keeping each company. A tiny Sonata shows her pace. A crew of young girls on an RS21 tack in between the bigger boats, looking for clear air. The fleet has become one massed line of sails, curving round towards Cowes.

With Portsmouth visible again off our beam, we cross our track of sometime before dawn this morning, a very long time ago.

ABOVE LEFT Coming up to the finish line ABOVE RIGHT Some big bearaways as the fleet converges round the island’s eastern side BELOW Back in Port Solent and ready for a beer

“What’s Forest Gump’s password?”

Another dad’s joke comes rolling through the companionway door, bringing me back to reality. Silence as we look at each other.

“1Forest1.”

The music is on again and Lee leads the assembled in a roaring chorus of ‘So Sally can wait….’.

Off Ryde it gets gusty and John is keen to keep our speed up. “Ease the mainsail please….more more….ease headsail….in in in…”

There’s a flurry of activity with each gust and constant trimming of sails. With less than a mile to go, our team is playing Spirit of Scott Bader’s rig for everything it’s got.

There’s a cheer as we cross the line.

Just over 10 hours elapsed. Pretty good, we reckon, as we turn back for our three-hour sail to Port Solent.

Later, we tidy up Scott Bader in silent exhaustion, a pint on our minds and the knowledge that if our paths never cross again, none of us will ever forget the day we did the Round the Island Race together.

We’re third in class, not the win we’d hoped for, but as John says, that’s not really the point.

DISABLED SAILORS ASSOCIATION

To help raise funds for the new boat for the Disabled Sailors Association, volunteer as a mate on Spirit of Scott Bader, or find out more, visit disabledsailing.org

GWENNILI TRUST

The Gwennili Trust is reliant on the support of volunteers as skippers, mates and office holders.

If you are interested in sailing with disabled people or helping in another capacity please contact chair@gwennili.org.uk

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2021

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SHORTLIST

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“Using a well-engineered electric outboard has been a revelation.’’

TOM CUNLIFFE Classic Boat

Quiet, Convenient, Reliable and Easy-to-Use In the popular 2-4hp category, the latest electric outboards – with their integral and rechargeable lithium batteries – have transformed the market, rendering petrol motors all-but obsolete. Advantages include: From £1650 Epropulsion Spirit PLUS 1276Wh battery Faster to charge Battery floats if dropped Foldable tiller means only one cable to connect › Three shaft length options › Direct drive (no gearbox) › › › ›

› Ease of Use Switch on, twist the tiller handles, go. Almost anybody can do it; no experience, strength or mechanical knowledge is needed. › Ease of Handling The batteries are removable, and the “pass up and down” weight (the shaft/motor assembly) is then 10kg or less. › Ease of Storage These electric motors divide into components, don’t leak oil or petrol, and don’t mind which way up they’re stored. › Quietness & Smoothness Electric motors are a delight to use.

From £1750 Torqeedo 1103 › 916Wh battery › GPS data on tiller gives speed & range indication › Removable tiller (more compact for storage) › Near‐silent direct drive › Much more robust than the previous model (Torqeedo 1003)

› Power Forget slow speed “trolling motors”, these 1kW electrics have huge torque (more like a 3hp petrol). › Range There are many variables, but most users achieve at least 9 to 10 nautical miles per charge, at 4 to 5 knots (2.5m inflatable dinghy).

Much more if you slow down a little. › Reliability Many outboard motors don’t get used very often, and small petrol motors hate this. Electric outboards have fewer parts in general, and in particular there’s no carburettor to “gum up”.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. The range may still not be enough for some users.

And they’re undeniably More Expensive than petrol outboards, mostly because lithium batteries are expensive. But that extra upfront cost is largely offset by their Lower Lifetime Running Costs, including (almost) No Servicing.

NESTAWAY BOATS is the UK’s number one retailer for both Torqeedo AND Epropulsion. You can find out more on our website, and we are always happy to discuss further – and offer advice – by email or phone. If you’d like to see them before making a purchase, we are based in Christchurch, Dorset (UK).

www.nestawayboats.com mail@nestawayboats.com Tel 0800 999 2535

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£2 Tax69,9 Pa 90 id

DEHLER 42 | LOLA The Dehler 42 has made a name for itself as a truly excellent cruiser/racer which has struck the balance nicely between comfort and performance, making for a very versatile yacht that gets admiring glances wherever it goes. The easily driven hull, twinned with a beautifully adjustable sail plan means fast passage times and club racing triumphs are easily achieved. Down below you will find a high quality modern interior styling, offering three double cabins, plenty of storage and a spacious saloon. Lola is a 2020 model with delivery miles only. A great spec with full teak decks, cruising laminate sails, full Navigation suite and many other luxuries. Lying in Hamble and ready to sail, this is a very tempting proposition.

Length: 12.84m (42’1”) Beam: 3.91m (12’8”) Draft: 2.15m (7’) 20,062lb (9,100kg) Cabins: 3

BENETEAU 57 | MOONLIGHT This 2003 example of the hugely popular Bruce Farr design has been comprehensively refitted and upgraded with long distance blue water cruising in mind. Moonlight is a genuine this world-girdler having completed her first Atlantic crossing with the 2003 ARC. Following her return to Europe, in 2005, she was sold to a French couple who also headed out across the Atlantic in 2006 towards Brazil and then up to the Caribbean where she remained until her purchase by the current owner in 2011. Comprehensively refitted in 2011/12 she then embarked on a leisurely full circumnavigation, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa in the Spring of 2020. With her owner now deciding to go larger, Moonlight is now offered for sale and is currently working her way back to Europe. German Registered and presently offered for sale ex VAT, ‘Moonlight is ready for her next owner to enjoy great sailing in total comfort.

Year:2020 Engine: Yanmar 30HP

Length: 58’4” (17.8m)

Lying: Hamble, Hampshire

Beam: 16’1” (4.93m)

michaelschmidt.co.uk

Draft: 8’5” (2.60m)

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Displacement: 48,623 lb (22,055kg) Berths: 5 Year: 2003 Engine: Yanmar 4LHA-HTP 160hp Lying: Cape Verdes - enroute to Mediterranean Grabauinternational.com craftinsure quote:£POA

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

£9 Tax 4,99 Pa 5 id

HANSE 400E | SILVER LINING The Hanse 400 first hit the market in 2006 and immediately turned heads thanks to her moders, aggressive styling courtest of the design team of Judel/Vrolijk. The boat proved to be a big hit, providing sparkling performance and easy handling thanks to the self tacking headsail set up.

Silver Lining is a 400E which is the Epoxy version which is noticeably lighter than the standard boat. This is a well maintained and fine example of the 400 and is ready for summer sailing.

Length:39’ 7” (12.07m) Beam: 13’ 3” (4.04m) Draft: (deep) 6’ 8” (2.03m) Displacement: 17,417 lb. (7,900 kg) Year: 2007 Cabins: 3 Lying: Red Bay, Northern Ireland Michaelschmidt.co.uk craftinsure quote: £320

Insure your yacht with Craftinsure - boat insurance at the touch of a button.

Get a quote online or call today: craftinsure.com; 0345 2607 888 SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

93

Dispatches TROON | FINGERS CROSSED

It seemed like a nice idea. “My girlfriend will drive you to Troon where you can help crew the boat back to Maryport after we have finished the Three Peaks Match Race.” It was my friend Colin’s plan and it sounded fine - in theory.

Colin’s girlfriend was very anxious to see her man and so we set off for Troon a good twenty four hours earlier than necessary with the result that on the first beautiful day of the year which I should have been spending with my family I spent those twenty four hours making small talk with a woman I’d never met and sleeping overnight in her car.

But sail we did and had a very pleasant, gentle sail along the Ayrshire coast but there was no way that we were going to make Maryport that day and so found a quiet anchorage in the entrance to Loch Ryan and spent the another uncomfortable night in the equivalent of a floating coffin. You see Colin had been racing with “Fingers Crossed” a racing catamaran which is basically two hulls with a trampoline and huge sails, no frills, no comfort. Was this what I signed up for, I don’t think so. Next morning we rounded into the Mull of Galloway and the wind picked up but unfortunately right on the nose so the next hours were spent beating into a very choppy sea which on this boat was the equivalent of having someone constantly throwing buckets of cold salt water at you with nowhere to shelter, I just wanted it all to stop! My wish eventually came true, the wind died but the relief was short lived, no engine so slowly, slowly we crept toward the twinkling lights of Maryport and my car waiting to transport me to the comfort of my own bed. I was cured. No more racing cats for me.

FEATURE HERE! Send us your dispatches – from St Mawes to St Croix editor@sailingtoday.co.uk twitter.com/SailingTodayMag

94

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Yachts & Yachting May 14.pdf

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LASER RADIAL NUMBER 134716. Radial sail. Trolley. Cover. Blue hull. Foils. Good condition. Reluctant sale due to ill health. £650 Tel 07870 136121 / (CHIPPENHAM) MIRROR DINGHY 68275. Last used 10 years ago and stored in garage throughout.

Includes trailer. TRADE. £400 Tel 07918 051098 / (WORCESTER PARK) MERLIN ROCKET - 3760. Winder Canterbury Tales built late 2013. Selden mast, boom and spinnaker poles with Winder pole launch and Ronstan cleats on the mast.

Rod rigging. Winder lifting rudder with carbon tiller 3 jibs, 2 mainsails,2 spinnakers all HD Sails. West Mersey road base. Lots of photos on request. £10500 Tel 07729 129472 / (CHICHESTER) SCORPION DINGHY FOR PARTS, INCLUDES LAUNCHING TROLLEY. Everything for sale.

Glass fibre hull has small hole that could be repaired - 2 suits of sails, canvas cover only 3 years old, would wash well. Launching trolley with removable jockey wheel. Would prefer to sell the whole as a lot. Everything in fair condition. £100 Tel 01969 368371 / 07815 643408 (LEYBURN) MIRROR 14 (MARAUDER). 14 foot racing dinghy with spinnaker & trapeze. With launching trolley and boom-up cover. £200 Tel 07913 604 574 / (STAINES)

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SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

J/24 FROM 2005 READY FOR RACING. Hull #5380 in very good condition.

5th place in Wold Championships.

Sails good for racing Hyde pentex genoa, Hyde main, North jib and North spinnaker + Sails for training. 2.5 Hp Tohatsu outboard engine. [Extra: Two-axle Balbi tilt trailer.]. £14500 Tel +4670 8124125 / (MALMÖ, SWEDEN) CONTESSA26 GENOA AND SPINNAKER - WESTAWAY. Little used racing sails, westaway spinnakers AP design and conventional. Westaway epoxy genoa, Sail Register dacron furling genoa. Stored indoors. Regatta use only. £299 each sail. offers invited. £299 Tel 01405 812307 / (DONCASTER) HUNTER 19 EUROPA S/N 273. Hunter 19 (Europa). Built 1979. Shoal. Maroon hull. Offwhite deck. Sails barely used. Boat good condition. Currently stored in Lauren Marine boat yard (Hunter yachts). No trailer. No outboard engine. Unfinished kit. Reluctant sale due to ill health. Hence price. £995 Tel 07870 136121 / (SOUTHAMPTON) J24 JIFFI. Number 4035 from 1979. 3 times winner of Westerly Plate at Nationals.

Excellent Club racing record. Many North Sails. Lowered coachroof. Tohatsu 3.5 HP. Carbon Pole. Galvanized 4 wheel road trailer. Price depends on options wanted. £2900 Tel 07790 011051. / 01752 667083 (SALTASH) DEHLER 41DS RIGID WINDSCREEN - NEW. Brand new acrylic windscreen for Dehler 41DS. £1500 Tel 07714 259616 / (OBAN) J24 HIJINKS GBR4213. 1988 Rogers, good racing history, North club sails and Quantum regatta sails, carbon pole, new standing rigging, recent survey, road trailer, 3.5hp Tohatsu outboard, dry sailed. £7495 Tel 07971 879128 / 01392 841026 (PLYMOUTH) SB20 NUMBER IRL 3148. Excellent condition.

Ready to race. 1 – Main & Jib. 3 – Gennakers.

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Jess Lloyd-Mostyn Raising children afloat is both challenging and hugely rewarding. Jess cherishes the trials and tribulations of growing up with blue water beneath your feet

D

“

on’t look it in the eye” says my seven year old daughter, her voice calm, reassuring and experienced.

She’s dealt with monkeys in the wild before and this one, suddenly appearing somewhat aggressively in the middle of a marina playground in Singapore, doesn’t faze her in the slightest.

So this is what it means to raise your children on a boat. I have a five year old son who told me this morning he’d choose to be a cuttlefish out of any ocean animal so he could camouflage by changing his patterns and colours; my two year old asked me if we’re next seeing her newest playmate on our mooring or out at anchor; and our seven year old can stare down a wild monkey… except she doesn’t as she’s well-aware that that’s absolutely not what to do when confronted by one.

I’m fully conscious of the fact that these are not your average kids and how could they possibly be? We crossed the Pacific Ocean with our eldest when she was merely eight months old. The rhythms of high and low tide, of prepping for a passage, of getting the anchor to ‘bite’ are the ebb and flow of their days. They are used to having to check various timezones of friends and family around the world before we can video chat, can cope with their home rolling and bucking around as the floor shifts and slides beneath them underway and they are aware that a sudden rainstorm means water collection in buckets as well as dancing in the downpour on the aft deck.

We have no car but we have a dinghy and outboard; we have no back garden but we have an ever-changing vast swimming pool wherever we go; we have no pets but the children tame hermit crabs on the beach and attempt to lure geckos aboard to eat any mosquitoes.

Learning the ropes of life while living full-time aboard a cruising sailboat is educating them in unusual and unexpected ways. It’s a world where there are very clear and explicable reasons for things – harnesses to be worn because we have a second reef in, toys to be tidied as we’re casting off soon, lines secured like this so they’re easy to undo. They understand that the wind is ours to harness, that the freshwater needs to be preserved and that the fridge runs on sunshine. Yes, they can read,

and write, add and subtract, but also swim and steer, handle oars and decipher charts. Our fluctuating whereabouts means that words from other languages and cultures get absorbed into day-to-day life: the Māori for tummy “puku”, the Bahasa Indonesia for cat “guching”, the Spanish for ice cream “helado”.

And the tooth fairy has paid up in all manner of currencies.

These strange lessons and exposures seep into their play as they take on roles as humpbacks and crocodiles, komodos and hornbills in turn whilst some farmyard animals still seem foreign and exotic to them.

The dinghy sits upside-down on the foredeck when not in use, directly above their cabin, creating an extra hideout den underneath or simply a way to climb up higher on top. Inside, the handholds and grab rails become a gymnasium to swing off, balance on or reach out to. And they move so comfortably and confidently about the deck or lounging in a hammock slung across the cockpit, it’s as if the fabric of the boat was a part of them.

Sailing gets into your skin that way. It forms you. It forces you to engage with the world around you in a present and connected way. It encourages variation and flexibility, the winds shift, the anchor drags, the cyclone season starts. Life with children is just as fluid; phases and stages pass, skills are honed and mastered, needs change and lessen.

And I know all too well that they are only briefly ours and the ocean’s to influence and guide. That all too soon the ‘normal’ world will stretch out its creeping arms to envelope them in screens and phones, shops and noise, that they’ll be donning socks, shirts and sensible haircuts and that their feral sea-life lessons will fade and dim. But for now, as we bob and dip with the waves, with fellow sloops swerving and heeling round us, I look at their smiling faces and silently wish that they always be barefoot, with wild, salty hair and a windburn blush to their cheeks.

May they always talk to the moon and want to dance in the rain. And I hope very much that they will always take a little bit of boat life within them wherever we go from here.

98

SEPTEMBER 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

JESS LLOYDMOSTYN Jess and James left the UK in 2011 in their Crossbow 42 and have sailed halfway round the world, growing their crew en route.

Follow their journey at water-log.com

ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL PARKIN

‘I look at their smiling faces and silently wish that they always be barefoot, with wild, salty hair’

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