Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting June 2021

with JUNE 2021 £4.95

UK CRUISING

PLOT YOUR DREAM SUMMER CALEDONIAN CRUISE Loch Ness by yacht DIGITAL PILOT What the latest tech can do

E OF THE DUKR H EDINBU Gg A

CROATIAN ISLANDS Charter skipper shares all

life in sailin

REGAL RAMSGATE Insider’s guide for sailors

MASTERING WAVES Olympic coach’s top tips

WE GO CHARTERING! How boat hire works in 2021

Take the Helm in Croatia You don’t need to be a sailor to explore the many islands of Croatia. Set sail this summer from our Dubrovnik or Agana marina and see the Adriatic differently. Take the helm or relax with our expert skippers and enjoy creating those precious moments.

Visit sunsail.co.uk or call 03303 321 1874 Bareboat | Skippered | Flotillas | Sailing Schools

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REGULARS

10 News 18 Paul Heiney 20 Andy Rice 22 Andi Robertson 32 Tom Cunliffe Choosing the right boat for you

98 Jess Lloyd-Mostyn

UNDER SAIL

24 Croatia

Insiders tips on sailing the Dalmatian Islands

36 Round the Island’s 90th anniversary A celebration of 90 glorious years

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44 Caledonian Canal A trip through the heart of Scotland

66 Gull’s Eye Ramsgate Harbour

72 Day charter Rob Peake takes a day trip through the Solent

BOATS

16 Boat news The latest launches

52 Neel 43 An exciting new cruising trimaran

78 Excess 11 An innovative new multihull

90 Three of the Best Three of the finest brokerage boats

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72

84

GEAR

60 Buyer’s Guide A look at the latest innovations in the world of multi function displays

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84 Launched The latest kit reviewes

93 Books The latest releases reviewed

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94 Shortlist Anchors

MASTERCLASS

86 How to Win

Jon Emmett on hitting maximum speed in waves

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 DARE TO DREAM BUT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, WE CAN ALL GO SAILING AGAIN

ART & PRODUCTION EDITOR Gareth Lloyd Jones PUBLISHING CONSULTANT Martin Nott PUBLISHER Simon Temlett simon.temlett@chelseamagazines.com ADVERTISING ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Jodie Green 020 7349 3722 jodie.green@chelseamagazines.com Mark Harrington 020 7349 3734 mark.harrington@chelseamagazines.com ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION Allpoints Media Ltd allpointsmedia.co.uk CHAIRMAN Paul Dobson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicki Gavin MANAGING DIRECTOR James Dobson CHELSEA CREATE MANAGING DIRECTOR Steve Ross 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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A WHILE BACK I happened to be chatting with a girl from Equatorial Guinea and in the course of the conversation I happened to mention that I had a small yacht that I kept nearby. 'What do you do with it?' She asked: 'Do you go fishing?' I had to admit I did not and she gave me a look of bewilderment until I explained I lived on it. She still looked concerned but at least had a new air of comprehension; there was, in fact, some purpose to my yacht. Clearly the idea of going sailing purely for pleasure is not something that happens very often in Equatorial Guinea. The same was true in the UK not so long ago when pioneers of yacht cruising such as R T McMullen were largely viewed as eccentric cranks by fishermen who had to take to the waters in earnest to make a living. I have to say that until recently I did rather subscribe to this line of thinking, maintaining that if you didn't live on a yacht, it wasn't worth the expense. To quote Arthur Ransome: 'Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable, not the animal world, rooted and stationary. Well, three months of lockdown trapped on a boat in France did for me and I accepted I needed to live somewhere I could stand up straight if I was to retain a shred of sanity. The relief has been great but it did put me in a new and novel position this spring of owning a yacht purely as a luxury item. As I was stripping varnish off the boat and then painstakingly slapping it back on in March, the blank look of my Equatorial Guinean friend flashed back. What in the world was I doing all of this for? I must admit I even went to the lengths of buying a fishing rod in order to justify my lavish lifestyle. Then I actually went sailing on a wild early April evening as the Tramontana screamed past and twisted the clouds into extraordinary shapes that glowed in the sunset, I remembered how vital and life affirming being out a boat is; how it brings you so much closer to nature and the elements - how it gives you at least a small feeling of freedom. Welll, this spring more than ever, this is the case. That first sail will rarely have felt sweeter after these tough months of lockdown. I wish you fair winds.

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CONTRIBUTORS

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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We cannot, however, accept any responsibility for transactions between readers and advertisers. For the Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd full set of terms and conditions please go to chelseamagazines.com/terms-and-conditions

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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

ANDY RICE is a sailing journalist and accomplished racing sailor with European and National titles to his name Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Bol-lissimo Croatia’s coastline is famed for its myriad Islands and limpid waters but one thing you don’t generally get is sandy beaches - they are almost all pebble. The exception is Bol on the island of Brac, where this iconic sandy spit is generally a magnet for tourists during the summer. As a consequence, the best way to see it is almost always by boat as you can drop the hook, avoid the crowds and luxuriate in the limpid waters Stocklapse/iStock

Happy anniversary The Round the Island race generally generates a selection of iconic images every year and this photo captures the pressure patches on the water as the fleet beats up the course during the 2018 edition of the race. 2021 is a very special year for the race, marking the 90th anniversary of the event. Turn to p36 for a look back on 90 glorious years.

Paul Wyeth/Round the Island Race

News

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

GORDONSTOUN IMAGES CREDIT MAJOR B VARVILL R.A.M.C; UFFA FOX IMAGE PPL MEDIA

Sailors pay tribute to Prince Philip

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As the sailing world paid tribute to HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, previously unseen images of His Royal Highness sailing as a schoolboy came to light.

They were released by his former school Gordonstoun and were taken by the great-uncle of a former student.

They show the Duke in happy times in 1937, sailing one of Gordonstoun’s boats, Diligent, helming and washing-up (above centre and right). Diligent was a 14-ton Cornish trading ketch, bought in Plymouth in 1936 by teacher Michael-Noel Varvill.

Meanwhile tributes have been paid from across the sailling world to the Duke, who was a keen sailor and did much to support sailing.

Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Jamie Sheldon, said: “We owe a substantial debt to our Admiral, who was an active and talented sailor and contributed enormously to the development of yachting on the Isle of Wight.

“He was the catalyst behind the formation of Cowes Combined Clubs, the organisation which lies behind Cowes Week.

“He was elected a Member in 1947 and became Admiral on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. “He served as commodore from 1961-68. He was a dynamic, reforming commodore who modernised the governance of the club and admitted ladies as Associate Members (they were admitted as Full Members in 2015).

“He continued to take a keen interest in the JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

club’s affairs well into his nineties. For the club’s Bicentenary in 2015, he undertook a Fleet Review of Squadron yachts, dressed overall, off East and West Cowes — a spectacular occasion.

He will be sorely missed.“ Vice-Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Tony Hanna, said: “His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, agreed to become Patron of the Royal Thames Yacht Club in November 1952. His Royal Highness attended dinners and presentations at the clubhouse, appeared regularly at our Cowes Week cocktail party and competed for club cups.

“The Duke had many sailing successes, including being six times winner of the Holt Trophy, presented to the club in 1962 and now awarded to the Flying Fifteen class winner in Cowes Week. His Royal Highness, The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was proud of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and we were exceedingly proud of him. He will be much missed.”

Tim O’Brien, President of the UK Flying Fifteen class, said: “One of Prince Philip’s passions was the sea and his link with sailing was prominent throughout, none more so than during Cowes Week when the Royal Yacht was anchored off Cowes with many of the Royal family actively involved in the week’s racing.

“Flying Fifteen K192 - Coweslip - was a gift from Uffa Fox to Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip on the occasion of their marriage in 1949, and Uffa and Prince Philip were often to be found sailing Coweslip throughout the 1950s and

1960s (above left), usually in front of the paparazzi of the day and frequently with significant racing success... fun times. The Prince subsequently became life Patron of the Flying Fifteen class association, and Coweslip can still be seen today on display in Edinburgh with the Royal Yacht Britannia.”

World Sailing said: “Well-known for his love of sailing, as well as his long-standing naval career, The Duke of Edinburgh started sailing while he was at Gordonstoun School in Scotland.

“In 1948, Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh were listed as new members of the RYA and given Honorary Membership.

“At the 1956 RYA Annual General Meeting, The Duke of Edinburgh was elected as President of the RYA for the first time. Following his election, the Council was regularly invited to hold one of its meetings on board HMY Britannia during Cowes Week.

“In 1964, on the suggestion of HRH Prince Philip, Cowes Combined Clubs was formed to run and organise the regatta. That structure is still in place, delivering a single set of racing instructions for the regatta and ushering in a modern and evolving race management system which has been instrumental in creating what is one of the world’s premier regattas.

“His Royal Highness opened the Regatta House building that the Cowes Week team still uses today, on 19 May 2004.”

News

RYA launches diversity strategy The RYA has launched an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy, aiming to “chart and cement the sport’s commitment to developing a culture that celebrates diversity and is free from discrimination and prejudice”.

The RYA was the first UK national governing body to achieve the Advanced Level of the Sports Councils’ Equality Standard for Sport, in 2016, and it intends the new strategy to build on this.

RYA Chief Executive, Sarah Treseder, said: “We joined other voices from the world of sport last summer to speak out against racism, and in doing so we recognised that more needed to be done to ensure that boating was as inclusive and diverse as we would like it to be.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to equality of opportunity then, and we have gone on to develop the Strategy that we are launching today that will enable us to deliver on that commitment: recreational boating and competitive sailing that is accessible and inclusive to all.

“It is a hugely ambitious and exciting plan that we

are looking forward to actioning to demonstrate that a person’s sex, age, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or religion should never be a barrier to participation in boating.”

The strategy has four objectives: to change perceptions, behaviours, experiences, and reality. It has 10-step plan, aiming to drive progress via the embedding of best practice, training, positive engagement, and monitoring.

Meet our Olympians As the countdown for the Olympics begins, with the Tokyo Games set to open on 24 July, all our interviews with the sailing members of TeamGB are now online at yachtsandyachting.co.uk. The team comprises 15 sailors including Hannah Mills, aiming to make history by becoming the most successful Olympic sailor in history.

RORC crewmatch If you’re looking for a boat to race or looking for crew, RORC has launched an updated international Crew Match portal. Anyone can register, whether a RORC member or not. crewmatch.rorc.org Ellen’s Trust in 2021 The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust has outlined plans to take young people on day sails and longer cruising trips across the UK between July and September. The trust had to cancel all its trips last year.

Trust CEO Frank Fletcher said: “Nothing would make me happier than the Trust supporting young people in person again this summer. We now believe we can safely make that happen.” ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org

Cowes Week for cruising boats Entries have opened for Cowes Week and organisers have created a new class for Club Cruisers, designed to welcome cruising yachts and less experienced racers to the regatta.

There will also be the first ever Cowes Week opening party, which will take place on Saturday 31 July, after the first race day.

Laurence Mead, Regatta Director, said: “What a year! We have so many sailors desperate to get back on the water and I think this will be a bumper year for boat racing all round. We are working flat out to deliver a great Cowes Week. There won’t be any fireworks this year (at least not up in the sky!) as a Covid-safety decision but there will be great racing for thousands of keen sailors and, in the end, that’s what matters most.

“A special thanks to our long-term clothing sponsor Musto, who stood by us without hesitation during ‘the AP year’ that was 2020, along with nearly 200 competitors who rolled over their entries. The AP flag is coming down on March 29!”

NEWS BRIEFS

As well as the class for Club Cruisers, which will have one or two starts daily depending on entries, there is also a division for Performance Cruisers with four starts daily. Mead said: “The decision was taken to split cruisers into Performance and Club divisions to recognise the very different performance characteristics across the range of yacht designs, as well as the sometimes more family-orientated crew lists in the Club cruisers.

“The team behind Cowes Week believe this will deliver high-quality racing for everybody, with similar boats and like-minded crews in the different divisions and are delighted to be able to offer a new trophy for the Club Cruiser Division sponsored by The Cruising Association.”

For the first time there will be a daily prize giving, open to all competitors, to be held on the Parade at 1800 hours, each day celebrating the race winners across the regatta, which is hoped will become a social occasion in its own right.

Cowes Week runs from 31 July to 6 August.

L-R: 2019 Cruiser Division Newcomer’s Trophy winners JALO 1; coming up to the line in the Cruising clasS

Landsails J-Cup Key Yachting will run the Landsail Tyres J-Cup from 24-26 June, taking place just after the anticipated ending of all lockdown restrictions. Hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club, more than 50 teams are expected. keyyachting.com Fastnet course record MOD70 trimaran PowerPlay, led by Peter Cunningham and skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield, completed the Fastnet course of 595 nautical miles, from Cowes to Plymouth, in a new record of 25hrs 04mins, averaging more than 20 knots. powerplay.ky Mystic honours Terry Hutchinson The Mystic Seaport Museum is giving its 2021 America and the Sea Award to Terry Hutchinson, skipper of American Magic in the America’s Cup. “What truly sets Hutchinson apart is his leadership,” said Mystic president Peter Armstrong.

New RORC chief executive RORC’s new chief executive is Jeremy Wilton, taking over from Eddie Warden Owen. Wilton has held senior positions in at Bath Rugby and Wasps, as well as at Whitbread PLC. He has sailed all his life and competed in many RORC races.

OSTAR & TWOSTAR The 60th anniversary editions of the two transatlantic races has been postponed to May 2022 due to Covid restrictions. They were due to take place last year and then this year. Race Director Adrian Gray said: “Atlantic weather systems prevent us from looking at a start later this year.”

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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News

Keelboats get their own ‘Round the Island’ With entry open for the 90th anniversary Round the Island Race, the organisers have announced details of the Windeler Cup, a new event for keelboats.

The Island Sailing Club will run the new race on the same day as the Round the Island Race, Saturday 3 July, for boats which are ‘too small to safely participate in the annual circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight to join in the excitement of the Round the Island Race weekend’.

Boats from the Daring, Dragon, Etchells, Flying Fifteen, Mermaid, Redwing, Sunbeam, Swallow, Sonar, Squib, RS Elite, Victory and XOD classes will compete in a ‘Round the Solent’ race.

The race will start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line off Cowes, around 08.30 after the main Round the Island fleet is underway. It will follow a course towards Hurst Narrows, around Western Solent marks, before taking advantage

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of favourable tides to return along Cowes beach and finish back on the RYS line in Cowes.

The new race is named after the founder of the Round the Island Race, Major Cyril Windeler.

See our feature on the history of the race on page 36.

With Cowes Classics Week, which also features big fleets of keelboats, coming directly after the Round the Island weekend, it provides a great opportunity for competitors.

Also new for this 90th anniversary year of the Round the Island Race is a Round the Island Rowing Race. Five or more rowing teams will set off on the afternoon of Thursday 1 July from the RYS start line in their ocean rowing boats, circumnavigating all 50 nautical miles around the Isle of Wight.

To enter Round the Island Race and the Windeler Cup, visit roundtheisland.org.uk The Island Sailing Club has also said there are openings for new partners in this year’s race and beyond. Those interested should email sponsorship@islandsc.org.uk

Award for Bob

Southampton Boat Show ramps up

Yachts & Yachting writer Bob Fisher has been given a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bob was recognised in the Classic Boat Awards, organised by our sister title Classic Boat magazine, in April.

The announcement was made by Olympic, Admiral’s Cup and America’s Cup sailor and coach Harold Cudmore.

Harold said “His life was dedicated to family and sailing.

“He was a campaigning journalist. Along the way, with his engaging and outgoing personality, he was controversial and ruffled many feathers, but he was always great fun.”

Bob’s daughters Alice Davies and Carolyne Archer gave an acceptance speech, saying that their father might have “for once been lost for words”.

As well as his lifelong journalism, documenting sailboat racing at every level, Bob was recognised for his own sailing achievements, his eminence as a historian of yachting, his 30 books including the definitive work on the history of the America’s Cup, and his active guardianship of the Victorian yacht Rosenn, which he raced from Lymington with co-owner Barry Dunning and friends.

Bob wrote for Yachts & Yachting for most of his life. He died in January aged 85.

Watch the ceremony at classicboat.co.uk

The Southampton Boat Show will run from 10-19 September this year, with a new layout and a host of exhibitors already signed up.

Working in partnership with Southampton City Council, organiser British Marine has confirmed additional land has been agreed for use at this year’s show, making the event bigger than ever and creating space for a new entrance and festival area outside Southampton’s Westquay shopping centre.

There will be a zone for paddle boards, kite surfers, kayaks and windsurfers, accompanied by a stage, street food and music, while another zone will cater for dinghies and another for classic and wooden boats.

Mayflower Park itself will be ‘bigger and better than ever’, says British Marine, with a wide range of exhilarating on-the-water experiences for everyone as the natural arena between pontoons and shore is utilised further to create a safe and constantly active water park with opportunities to demonstrate, compete, entertain and get more people out on the water, all with live commentary’.

British Marine says that while the Government roadmap allows for outdoor events to run in full by September, the health and safety of visitors and exhibitors remains the top priority.

Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, said: “After more than a year dominated by the pandemic, we are delighted to be working

JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

with Southampton City Council to bring the show back to the city again and plans for the new layout and zone are really exciting.”

Councillor Jacqui Rayment, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer and Organisation, Southampton City Council, said: “While we were disappointed that last year’s event couldn’t go ahead, everyone’s health and safety must come first.

“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.” southamptonboatshow.com

British will challenge for next America’s Cup The rumours that had been doing the rounds on the Auckland waterfront were confirmed on 19 March when Royal Yacht Squadron Racing was accepted as official Challenger of Record for the 37th America’s Cup. The news broke a few days after the end of the 36th Cup, won by Emirates Team New Zealand against Italian outfit Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

It is not since 1964 that a British team has been official Challenger, when the Royal Thames YC-backed Sovereign, designed by David Boyd, lost to the New York YC-backed Constellation, designed by Olin Stephens.

It also means that there will be a British challenge for the Cup in three consecutive editions – Land Rover BAR competed in the 35th Cup in Bermuda, while INEOS Team UK competed in the recent Auckland event and will do so again in the next America’s Cup, if not beyond.

It will be the first time a UK team has competed in three consecutive Cup cycles since Sir Thomas Lipton and the Royal Ulster YC bids between 1899 to 1930.

Bertie Bicket, Chairman of Royal Yacht Squadron Racing (centre in photo above), said: “We are delighted to be embarking on our third successive America’s Cup challenge with Sir Ben Ainslie and INEOS, as the Challenging Yacht Club for the 37th America’s Cup. We look forward to working with all parties and will strive to continue the tradition and history of this great sporting event.”

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron commodore Aaron Young (left above) said: “The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have received and accepted a challenge for the 37th America’s Cup from our long-standing British friends at Royal Yacht Squadron Racing. It is great to once again have the RYSR involved, given they were the first yacht club that presented this trophy over 170 years ago, which started the legacy of the America’s Cup.” The venue of the next event has yet to be decided, but one idea is that it could be a two-boat America’s Cup around the Isle of Wight, between Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Team UK, mirroring the original race around the island in 1851.

Great Scott – he’s back!

After taking the winter out to concentrate on his duties as tactician with INEOS Team UK, Giles Scott was back competing in the Finn Europeans in April, a regatta where he was second a year ago. It was a shaky start for the man who has dominated Finn sailing for so long, but he did enough to fend off the challenge from the many younger sailors knocking on his transom and finished with an impressive silver medal, behind defending champion Zsombor Berecz, who must now be seen as Scott’s main rival for the Olympic title in Japan this summer.

Fellow Brit Henry Wetherell was seventh.

MARIA COSPITO, HEAD OF NAVIGATORS AND GENERAL Happy 100th to Navigators & General!

Can you celebrate properly given the circumstances?

Thank you! We’ve had to change some of our plans but nonetheless we’ve still been able to mark this milestone. It’s our customers – some of whom have been with us for decades – that have made our centenary possible, and it’s them who we really want to thank at this time.

It’s an interesting time to be an insurer.

Have you been fielding some unusual requests over the last year?

With overseas holidays hampered by travel restrictions, people are thinking of new ways to travel and explore.

Boats appeal to what many people want at this time – a sense of freedom and to escape outdoors. We’ve seen spikes in demand for cover at both ends of the market, from small speedboats to large yachts.

Has boat insurance has risen during the pandemic?

We regularly review the value for money provided by our products, and based on it, we adjust our pricing models to ensure a good outcome for our customers. We have done this even more frequently during the pandemic.

Consequently, some customers, especially in the commercial space, have seen large premium reductions, while others less so if the risk hasn’t fundamentally reduced during the pandemic. As an example, we have seen fewer claims related to grounding, and more claims related to fire, which tend to be a total loss. While the key risks have changed, they have not disappeared.

Nav & Gen’s founder Captain William Coombs was strongly motivated by the desire to help a wronged colleague. Is the company still on the side of the ordinary sailor?

Absolutely. Although a significantly different company to the one Captain

Coombs formed in 1921, our focus on customers has remained constant, and it’s their trust and loyalty that has helped us to reach this milestone in our history.

It helps that we speak the same language as our customers. Like them we have a genuine enthusiasm for the boats we insure, whether they are small craft or large yachts.

People might be surprised to hear N&G only has 36 employees. How many policyholders do you look after?

We have about 100,000 policyholders – covering a wide range of boats and vessels, all up to the value of £10 million.

We also offer commercial insurance for UK marine trade businesses such as marinas, sailing schools, hire fleets, boat builders and boatyards.

Are we talking to sailors if we call up?

One of the strengths of our business is the knowledge and expertise of our employees, eight of whom have been with N&G for over 20 years. Our staff have both a passion for sailing, and the knowledge and expertise required in a such specialist market. It is a real differentiation point for us. More than that, it helps us understand how important it is that we deal with a claim efficiently to put customers back in the water as quickly as we can.

What proportion of policyholder claims do you honour?

We are committed to paying all valid claims. We pay out millions each year to support customers with claims, ranging from the theft of small outboard engines to the loss of prestige yachts. Paying valid claims goes to the very heart of what we do and we’re proud of the fact we are there for our customers when they need us most.

What is your best insurance anecdote?

We’ve had two totally separate claims that cows had eaten a customer’s boat.

In both cases, the cows were attracted to the saltiness of boats stored ashore.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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News

World Sailing under pressure for Paris 2024 In an unprecedented move, the IOC has given World Sailing little more than six weeks to come up with an alternative Olympic class for the Paris 2024 Games.

The news that the IOC were less than keen on the new Mixed Double-Handed Offshore class, which had been proposed for Paris 2024, had been feared for some time, but then on 16 April, World Sailing held a virtual press conference announcing that the IOC had decided to continue its review into the class. Meanwhile in a private letter to World Sailing the IOC indicated the class is unlikely to gain approval.

It is a blow for the many mixed crews around the world with their sights set on Paris 2024.

The new discipline was designed to create opportunities for female sailors at Olympic level and also to give sailing better media coverage.

World Sailing’s CEO David Graham said: “We’ve been asked to propose an alternative event should the Offshore event be rejected.

The Offshore is our preferred choice. It’s an unusual situation that we find ourselves in. It’s going to be hard-hitting news for those who are preparing for 2024.

We have to get this right for our athletes now.

This tight timeline is unprecedented for us.”

SailGP tickets Tickets are on sale for the Plymouth leg of SailGP on 17-18 July, where racing will take place on Plymouth Sound, with a roster of top sailing names competing. Ben Ainslie will lead the GB boat against seven other national teams helmed by Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Tom Slingsby and Jimmy Spithill among others.

There is a range of ticket options.

Ticketed free access to the Spectator Area, includes live race commentary, big screens, merchandise shop, entertainment, immersive experiences, refreshments, and podium.

There is also a Premium spectator experience a little closer to the action with refreshments.

There are two on-water spectator experiences - Premium and Access, on official spectator boats.

There is also a Bring Your Own Boat programme.

More information at SailGP.com/GreatBritain

Position: The health nut

PHOTO: JOAO COSTA FERREIRA - OSGA PHOTO

Sailors these days take hydration seriously

T

his shot does not show a world class sailor who was sucking so conscientiously on his water bottle that he failed to notice the mark approaching behind the sail of the boat in front. No, this piece of action from the recent Finn Europeans shows the trialling of a new athlete hydration system designed for those competing in the heat of Enoshima Bay this summer. Rather like a baby sucking a dummy, athlete literally never lets go of water bottle, sucking endlessly until whatever substance inside is consumed entirely. Hands are left free to trim, steer and raise flags. Sailors these days are a healthy bunch.

DIFFICULTY RATING: 1

Rather like a baby sucking a dummy, athlete literally never lets go of water bottle Quote and buy online at www.noblemarine.co.uk or call us on 01636 707606 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Luxury is in the Details Escape to Croatia and revel in the glistening sunshine whilst exploring all that the islands have to offer.

Taking care of the details is what makes our holidays unforgettable and we provide added flexibility as a standard to help you book your 2021 yacht charter with confidence.

MOORINGS.CO.UK | 03303 321 523

New boats DESIGNS | LAUNCHES | PROJECTS

De Cesari 33 The DeCesari 33 is a modern classic from the drawing board of Italian designer Giovanni Ceccarelli. Despite classic lines above the waterline, this is a thoroughly modern yacht with a square topped mainsail and bulb keel. Designed as a weekender, accommodation is modest but stylish while there has also been emphasis placed on ease of handling and manoeuvring. Construction is laminated mahogany with a teak deck. This wooden construction lends itself to the interior which fairly gleams with beautifully finished woodwork.

Solaris 60 Solaris Yachts seem to embody the absolute epitome of Italian boatbuilding being stylish and sleek with decent performance.

The new 60 sits towards the top end of their range and this Soto Acebel design has been conceived as a ‘mini maxi’ that will be a strong performer on the offshore racing circuit while also remaining a luxurious and comfortable cruising yacht. Weight is a relatively modest 25,000kg but make no mistake, this is a very well appointed yacht when in cruising mode.

As you’d expect, the lines are suitably striking.  Solarisyachts.com

 ceccarelliyachtdesign.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 first 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

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Befoil 16 The Befoil 16 is a new foiler designed to be more accessible to newcomers to the game hungry for speed.

This French 16 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 boatrpomises to be a lot of fun. 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. l befoil.com

Neo 430 Roma Neo 430 Roma is a cruiser/racer that definitely is somewhat more oriented toward the racing end of the market. This Ceccarelli design has been penned with a good rating under IRC the priority but can also perform well in ORCi and PHRF. The boat is intended to be a well rounded performer doing well in both in light and and stronger winds with great attention to the

distribution of the volumes of the hull to produce a boat that is well balanced and easy to sail. The hull is wide, with the maximum beam carried right aft to maximize the righting moment from the crew weight. There is a choice of either a single rudder and a fixed keel or twin rudders and a lifting keel. This is as light boat at 5,700kg and she promises to be a flier. l neoyachts.com

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

17

Paul Heiney Yacht chandlers do a fine job and are generally a pleasure to visit but there are moments when you can’t help but get the feeling you’ve been cheated

H

ow much would you pay for a piece of wood?

I’m thinking of a longish piece, but strong, around eight feet, but thin enough to hold in your hand. If you were lucky and a gale brought down a convenient tree, I suppose you’d get it for free. If you had to go to a timber merchant it might cost you a few quid. On the other hand, if you went to chandlery your might have to fork out £99.95, plus postage, and think yourself lucky to get such a bargain.

It was this (lame) joke that I exchanged with the chap at the boatyard as he launched me for the season. Once in the water, you have to make a tight turn from a standing start if you don’t want to be getting intimate with the boats opposite. To save them having to ring the bell at Lloyds, Keith gives your bow a shove, strong enough to shift a bus, with his eight foot pole. It always works. ’There’s a market for that. Quick, get it in the chandlery!’ I said. ’Around ninety nine quid! he shouted back, grinning.

There’s a huge amount of kit that only chandlers can provide, and they’re very good at it, but do you sometimes suspect that the word ’maritime’ puts at least 20 per cent on the price? If you have a long memory, you may recall that there was a ’luxury’ rate of VAT of 25% on yacht fittings when other sports suffered a more comfortable 15%. Inventive sailors shopped elsewhere and, if needing shackles for example, followed farmers into agricultural stores.

There, galvanised shackles were essential farming items at rock bottom prices; and while the boat owner was there, wondering if that 50 litre tub of ’udder ointment’ might also make decent antifouling, their eyes might have fallen on the rubber boots and foul weather gear that farmers use. This was the era of the ’yellow wellie’ which all smart and overfunded sailors were wearing.

The more canny knew that a pair of farmer’s boots was every bit as good, and probably half the price.

For that reason, can I recommend that you return to that agricultural store should you be in need of a new boat hook. How many boathooks do you have at the moment?

I mean actually on your boat and not at the bottom of a harbour, or still leading a lonely life clinging to a mooring buoy after you were forced to let go when the chump on the wheel gave her a hard burst of astern just after you’d grabbed it, making you choose between the boat hook or your shoulder socket?

I’ve got lots of boat hooks. I’ve even got one of the violent antique type which is heavily galvanised with a fearsome, mediaeval spike which looks as though it might once have been used on the wild boar hunt. It is rarely deployed these days for fear of being found in possession of an illegal weapon. But the others are in regular use. There’s one that promises to hook a rope through a mooring every time - which it almost does but you need a good aim. There’s one with a springy hook which is suppose to help you capture a shoreside cleat when coming along side. That’s OK, but the handle isn’t very long so you have to get so close to the cleat you could step ashore with a line anyway. Then there’s the extendable fiend which takes the skin off your finger ends every time you try to shorten/lengthen it.

And then there’s the one you will find at your nearest agricultural supplier. Ask for a double-ended shepherd’s crook. You don’t have to dress like a competitor from One Man and his Dog, they’ll serve you anyway. You’ll get an aluminium pole with a broad hook at one end, normally used to capture a sheep by the neck, but perfect for picking up anything useful that might drift by, such as someone’s escaped fender. And at the other end, a much narrower hook, used to capture a sheep’s hind leg, but far more useful on a boat for picking up a trailing line. How many times have you tried to retrieve the end of a sheet that’s gone over the side, only for it to slip off the boathook inches from your grasp?

If a shepherd’s crook can capture an unwilling ram, a wayward spinnaker sheet is a minor task. It’s so easy.

And now you must keep this secret. By all means buy your shepherd’s crook, but don’t tell anybody else. You know what will happen. The next time you go into the chandlers there it will be, an anchor painted on it and stamped ’marine’. And the price?

Roughly the same as a length of wood.

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

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ILLUSTRATION: CLAIRE WOOD

‘Do you sometimes suspect that the word ’maritime’ puts at least 20 per cent on the price?’

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Andy Rice It looks like Tokyo 2021 will happen despite the problems posed by a worldwide pandemic.

This is good news but it offers up even more challenges for the competitors

W

here would Olympic sailing be without the Portuguese haven of Vilamoura? This resort in the Algarve has been the saviour of international competition for many of the Olympic classes while all else in Europe and most of the rest of the world has been cancelled. The 470 fleets had their Worlds there in March and are back on the same Atlantic waters for their European Championships just six weeks later. The Finns have just had their European Championships there and move to the north of Portugal for the Finn Gold Cup in Porto in early May. How relieved must the RYA selectors have been to have made such early calls on who would be going to Tokyo! Most of the British team was announced in September 2019 and the last to be announced was Elliot Hanson in the Laser at the end of February 2020, just as COVID was beginning to engulf Europe.

The idea of carrying on with Olympic campaigning through a year of such uncertainty, not even knowing if you would earn selection - mentally that must have been very hard indeed.

For the teams that have been battling for Tokyo qualification at events in Portugal and other venues such as Oman for the Asian nation selections, they will barely have time to hose down their boats after qualifying before they load their equipment into containers bound directly for Japan.

With less than a hundred days to the start of the Games, it looks increasingly likely that the Olympics will take place in some form. But it will be the strangest, most soulless experience imaginable. Like an extreme form of lockdown but with TV cameras following their every move. A bit like the Truman Show, or Big Brother, or the Hunger Games, take your pick!

There was due to be a World Cup event at the Olympic Regatta venue of Enoshima in June. Most sailors would have incorporated that warm-up event into a long training session, then fly home to rest and recuperate before travelling back out to Tokyo perhaps two to three weeks before the Opening Ceremony. Now the sailors are being told that the earliest they might be permitted to land in Tokyo is just five days before the first race. Five days to get used to a new time zone, to acclimatise to the high heat and energy-sapping humidity of mid-summer Tokyo, and five days to get boats and equipment out of 40ft containers, not to mention trying to get safely through the extensive measurement process without any hiccups.

I can still remember the whining scream of multiple angle

grinders late into the night on the eve of the Olympic Regatta in Qingdao 2008.

Most of the Star fleet had been ruled out of class and were engaged in a race against time to get their hulls into a legal shape before race one. The current crop of Olympic classes shouldn’t have too many problems, although recent years have seen some Nacra 17s struggle to pass the measurement process. That’s a headache that no one will have the time for in the short and frenetic build-up to this Olympic Regatta.

Heading up the team is the RYA’s Olympic performance manager Mark Robinson, with the RYA’s director of racing Ian Walker operating in Tokyo as a floater, a ‘minister without portfolio’ as Ian described it to me. Ian is there to slot in to help in whatever way he’s needed, leaving Mark clear to run the scheduled, day-to-day operations. As one of the few nations to have sailors competing in all 10 events, the RYA’s declared medal target is between four to seven medals of any colour. That seems like a tall order, especially with all the curveballs that Tokyo could hurl at the athletes. Aside from all the uncertainty that COVID has brought into the equation, there is the extreme heat, the extreme waves and, according to team meteorologist Simon Rowell, the strong possibility of a typhoon and/or tsunami at that time of year.

Whatever happens, I hope the media is given the freedom to cover the event and do justice to what could be the most spectacular sailing conditions ever experienced at an Olympic venue. Five years ago in Rio there was the travesty of all the TV cameras pointing at a postponement flag hanging limply over the inner race courses while on the other side of Sugarloaf Mountain the Finns and 470s were battling through the most monstrous waves that those experienced athletes had ever encountered in their careers. And no TV footage of such a wild day!

The lack of spectators at the Games won’t affect sailing nearly so much as the stadium sports and if that’s what it takes to get this Games away, so be it. Currently I’m still down to be writing for World Sailing at the sailing venue, although I’m not holding my breath. Having attended the past three Games in Beijing, London and Rio it would be a shame to break the chain. But the most important thing is for the sailors and other athletes across every sport to get their chance to shine. If this has to be a Lockdown Games, it’s better than no Games at all. We sailors drew immense pleasure and inspiration from following the Vendée Globe and America’s Cup from afar. On a much grander scale, the 2021 Olympic Games have the potential to bring cheer and unity to the world at a time when it’s needed more than ever.

PHOTO RYA TEAMGB

‘HOW RELIEVED MUST THE RYA SELECTORS HAVE BEEN TO HAVE MADE SUCH EARLY CALLS ON TOKYO!’

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JUNE 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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21

Andi Robertson The idea on an Mixed Offshore event at the 2024 Olympics is a mouthwatering idea but is looking less and less likely

T

he writing seems to be on the wall as far as the chances of there being a Mixed Offshore event at the 2024 Olympics.

It is not that any of the IOC’s concerns about the new event are new or have just been raised with World Sailing, working with some of my French colleagues who raised the question last September there were serious rumblings in the world’s hotbed of solo and shorthanded racing that Olympic Mixed Offshore was at best in for a bumpy ride, at worst could by sunk in the early months of this year.

Make no mistake recently appointed David Graham, the CEO of World Sailing, is very much in offshore’s corner. When I asked him last Autumn if there was a chance Mixed Offshore might be under threat he said, “When you look at what happened (the choice of Mixed Offshore for the Olympic slate) there was a democratic process to get that through. That was made by council and ratified at the AGM and so to undo that at this stage I cannot see it. I am new to this game but I can’t see it. And so some of the people who voted for it would have to now be voting against it,” At the time it was predicted by a French insider, “What may well lead to this programme being overturned would be the election of a new president in place of Kim Andersen, who was behind this change. It is not so much the proposals that worry me as the election,” confirmed someone inside World Sailing. “Opponents who hope to get a new president elected, which could throw into question the programme adopted for 2024 by the IOC. Apart from the current president, the three others are ambiguous when asked about this matter.

So it could go the wrong way if a new president cast doubts about the programme on offer to the IOC.” “And within the IOC there is ongoing internal pressure in the IOC” the French article reporting “In particular from one of the vice-presidents, the representative from Singapore, Ser Miang NG (former vice-president of ISAF, the former name for World Sailing), who is not hiding his hostility to the offshore event, putting forward

arguments about the costs.

“A lot of the world are under financial pressure brought on by the global pandemic and the IOC are not outside of that and so they are looking at ways of reducing complexity and reduce costs for Paris 2024” stressed David Graham. And at the time he told us World Sailing were all the time trying to show how mixed double offshore race is neither complicated nor expensive: “We are talking to them all the time about the entire slate and costs and complexity.

Our team has done a wonderful paper for the IOC which shows that this slate is a more simple slate and most cost effective. The number of days are effectively reduced and offshore is relatively simple to run, once the boats are offshore they are offshore. So it is a fairly simple event to run.”

So in my mind it is not that World Sailing have been somehow backwards or tardy in their communication with the IOC it is more that they have to meet the IOC’s hard headed one size fits all concepts of universality which are being applied across all the Olympic sports, and there seems no latitude for choosing an event which would actually take the whole sport forwards into a new and exciting direction, one which reflects an increasingly popular momentum which I could only see growing within Olympic sailing and in the sport globally.

I dread to think what the alternatives will be.

Mixed team racing in Finns and Europes? Please……

That smacks of nothing more than sheer desperation trying to reinstate Olympic classes which were democratically eliminated from the Olympic slate.

I was, and still am, absolutely looking forwards to one day seeing some of the biggest names in sailing, past medallists, round the world aces, Figarists, Vendée racers, going racing in an Olympic mixed doubles class on an even playing field in supplied craft.

In the meantime I hope that the nations really interested and focused can conspire to produce more and more high quality events, European and World Championships to prove this is a viable and exciting future direction for the sport.

PHOTO: TEAM GB/RICHARD LANGDON

‘I DREAD TO THINK WHAT THE ALTERNATIVES WILL BE. MIXED TEAM RACING IN FINNS AND EUROPES? PLEASE……’

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ABOVE Could the Finn class be resurrected for Olympics to accommodate Mixed team racing?

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

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Cruising - Croatia

M

any years ago I spent a couple of summers working as a charter skipper out in Dalmatia. I’d like to tell you that the whole thing was an out of control bacchanal, but I’m afraid I’d be misleading you; I had a nice time but nothing remarkable happened. Nothing?

Well, perhaps that’s misleading. At some point in the months I spent out there, I fell in love; not with a person but with the landscape. the beauty of this coast is savage and wild. Life out here in the summer months is like living with the contrast turned all the way up. It’s a world of vivid blues; lambent waters and deep blue mountains reverberating on the mainland; blinding chalk white shores topped by emerald pines crackling in the heat. It’s an impossibly seductive cocktail.

Sailing tips

Given that you will doubtless be chartering in the summer, there are numerous tips I can give you to improve your experience for sailing in this area. Dalmatia enjoys a hot

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

Dog days in Dalmatia Sam Jefferson recalls the highlights and lowlights of working as a charter skipper on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast

and generally very settled summer so most days feature beautiful weather and you usually wake up to a sparkling crystal clear morning with very little wind. As a charter skipper, this meant you spent a lot of your time motoring as you generally had a fixed destination to get to by mid afternoon. This was a real shame as the best breeze on offer is generally to be found in the late afternoon when the Maestral, a thermal wind, kicks in. This generally doesn’t really get going until about 2pm but can pick up to 15kn or so and provide some really good sailing conditions. the problem is that - particularly in midsummer - things get incredibly busy so it means that if you want a plumb berth on the quayside of towns such as Korcula or Vis, you are forced to miss out on the good sailing. The good news is that as a private charterer you are not under such pressure and there are an almost infinite number of good anchorages

to be found. So my first tip would be to be prepared to anchor off and use the dinghy in the evening rather than get involved in a dog fight for a berth with the many charter skippers. Do be aware though that the Croatian authorities are not shy of charging considerable amounts even to anchor off some of the main ports.

If you do choose to go for a berth, be sure to get there early and steer clear of the charter skippers. Things can get quite aggressive in mid season

ABOVE Korcula town is one of the jewels of the Dalmatian Islands BELOW A relatively uncrowded anchorage in the Pakleni Islands

and, unless you are a fiend when it comes to med mooring, you often find that you are squeezed out even as you line up to park (see box out on med mooring for further tips).

Aside from that, it’s all pretty much plain sailing. Very occasionally a Bora (very strong northerly wind) will come through and this is usually accompanied by a bit of swell. Keep an eye on the forecast for this.

Otherwise, all will be well and you can get on with enjoying Dalmatia.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Cruising - Croatia

Where to go and what to expect

My usual charter route took me from the historic port of Sibenik down past Primosten into the heart of the Dalmatian Islands around Split. The itinerary took in the islands of Vis, Solta, Hvar, Brac and Korcula. These are the islands I am intimate with and can give the best tips on. These are also the islands you are most likely to visit if you take a charter out of Split or Trogir and any of the many marinas around this area. The basic formula is simple enough; there is a liberal scattering of pristine islands with beautiful clear waters peppered with charming villages. Beaches are white pebbly affairs so the, unquestionably the best way to explore multiple islands is by yacht.

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

Hvar and Pakleni

Let’s start with Hvar which is something of a honeypot with sailors. Hvar Town itself is heavily marketed as a party town – no idea why as it’s just a charming venetian port with a decent selction of restaurants. Anyway, this is where all partying diehards want to go. It gets so full in summer that most have to moor at the Palmizana marina in the neighbouring Pakleni islands and take a taxi over. From personal experience, I’d say give it a miss. The Dalmatian Islands are crammed with charming Venetian ports so why jostle with lots of boat and human traffic at the busiest? Personally, I was always much more taken with the Pakleni islands and I would generally usher guests off to Hvar

ABOVE Split is the biggest city in Dalmatia and is a big charter hub in addition to having a beautiful historic city centre BELOW RIGHT Looking down on Palmizana marina, Pakleni Islands BELOW A tranquil morning off Stari Grad, Hvar

and then take a walk from Palmizana along a path that followed the ridge of the island of Sveti Klement – the largest island in the chain. Here you could enjoy real peace and tranquility. A half hour walk brought you to the sleepy village of Vlaka where you could get a cold beer and, with any luck, Konoba Dionis, the small restaurant, would be open and you could enjoy a simple but delicious mean before strolling back in the twilight. Although I was generally obliged to stop at Palmizana for the night, there are innumerable anchorages around the island and most are nice and quiet even in high season.

Anyway, back to Hvar; if I was going to recommend a town to visit, then I’d probably go for Stari Grad,

on the eastern tip of Hvar. This is a very ancient town, dating back to 348BC, and one that is just as beautiful as Hvar Town but somewhat less blighted by mass tourism and distinctly more tranquil in August.

Korcula Korcula Town is one of those iconic spots that often appears on tourist brochures. It’s a pretty walled town – a sort of mini Dubrovnik and claims to have been the birthplace of Marco Polo. There is a marina here

Skipper Sam’s Secrets Mooring and anchoring In ports, Med mooring is king and once you’re used to doing it, there is no problem with this. For the uninitiated it can be a bit daunting, particularly considering how busy things get in midsummer. The key is to act decisively and assertively plus brief your crew well in advance so everyone knows what they are doing. The basic principle is to drop the anchor about three boat lengths ahead of the space you are going to back into. You need to line things up nicely so you don’t get your anchor crossed with the adjacent boat. If it’s breezy, yuo need to reverse at a decent speed to retain control.

The best option is to find a spot with a

ABOVE LEFT Looking down on Hvar town ABOVE RIGHT Korcula town

and you can moor on the harbour wall. I generally visited by anchoring at a spot called Gradina Bay at the southern tip of the island and taking a taxi down to the town. That sounds like a faff but Gradina Bay is a nice tranquil spot and what you spend on

decent sized boat to windward. That way, once you are vaguely in the gap, the boat provides shelter. A boat to leeward aswell is also great as you can lean against this and then have all the time in the world to secure lines and tighten things up. There are lots of nice anchoring spots even in high summer.

The depths close in take a bit of getting used to but, other than that, there should be no problem although an electric winch is a real boon.

Weather You can generally expect wall to wall sunshine from April, but things don’t get really balmy until June and until then, the water can be chilly. From hereon, the weather is uniformly clear and sunny right through to September. The coast benefits from being cooler in the evening, so you generally sleep undisturbed.

Winds are generally light until the sea breeze, or Maestral, kicks in around midday, when it can build but rarely exceeds 20 knots and dies off in the evening. The only thing to look out for is the Bora. This is a NW wind prevalent in the off season, but one that can still catch out the unsuspecting yachtsman in summer.

Food and drink The traditional dish of the area is Peka. I always found the name faintly comical and generally disliked telling guests that they must have some as it could be easily misconstrued. However, the Croatians rightly see nothing amusing about their dish and it is seriously delicious. Essentially, it is a local stew placed in a huge pot which is then buried in hot ashes and stewed for several hours at a time. The meat comes out so succulent and tender that even the boniest goat tastes irresistible. I always felt extremely sorry for any vegetarian guests who missed out on this rare treat. The consolation here was that Croatians also make a mean pizza.

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Cruising - Croatia

Top five anchorages in Croatia in association with Navily Sesula, Solta 43° 23’ 34” N, 16° 12’ 36” E A lovely sheltered cove with a top class restaurant just a few metres away serving delicious Peka.

Protection: SE-W Anchoring – Allowed Mooring buoys – available Anchor stern to – unavailable Lines Ashore – recommended Type of seabed: Rock

Vlaka, Pakleni Islands 43° 10’ 1” N, 16° 21’ 58” E A good lunchtime stop with and excellent restaurant in the sleepy village of Vlaka.

Protection: E-SW Anchoring – allowed Mooring buoys – 15 Type of seabed: Rock

Uvala Stonica, Vis 43° 4’ 2” N, 16° 11’ 33” E Extremely well protected anchorage not far from Vis town. Benefitting from good holding and access to a number of beaches. (below)

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

Protection: SW-N Anchoring – allowed Mooring buoys – not available Type of seabed – sand/seaweed/mud

Uvala Gradina, Korcula 42° 58’ 21” N, 16° 40’ 30” E A nice bay with beautiful crystal clear waters and a couple of bars ashore (above) Protection: NW-S Anchoring – allowed Mooring buoys – Available Type of seabed: Sand

Bobovisca, Brac 43° 21’ 5” N, 16° 27’ 35” E A decent overnight anchorage in protected weather close to a village with a number of restaurants (below) Protection: NW-SW Anchoring – allowed Mooring buoys – available Lines ashore – recommended Type of seabed: Rock

ABOVE Proizd beach, just off Korcula BELOW Vis Town

the taxi you save on mooring fees, so it balances out.

The other benefit is that Gradina Bay is a couple of kilometres from my favourite anchoring spot in the Dallmatian Islands; Proizd is more of an afternoon stop off anchorage just off the southern tip of Korcula. It’s essentially a narrow strait between mainland Korcula and the small island of Proizd and I’d imagine if there was much wind or swell it would be a dodgy spot. Sailing through is quite unnerving as the water is so clear you feel certain you must touch the bottom even though there is actually plenty of depth. I used to drop the hook here, prepare lunch and then let the guests go swimming in the limpid water and take a nap while the cooling breeze fanned through the channel. After that, I can sat back and let myself be soothed into sleep by the lapping water and the rhythmic hum of the cicadas.

Solta Solta is an oft overlooked island, the slightly vacant less glamorous sister of Hvar, Korcula, and Vis. The island comprises mostly of splendidly inhospitable rocks and cliffs with few houses. This has ensured it retains a certain raffish charm, particularly if you head inland a bit, where you are soon enveloped in whispering pines and rugged, sunburnt slopes where the cicadas crackle like live electricity from among the rocks.

Brac Brac is a sleepy companion to neighbouring Solta and there are a handful of peaceful villages. Milna is a decent sized port, but I found it slightly fishy when I was there. The smaller village of Bobovisca just to the north was extremely charming, however. Brac also boasts the only sand beach in the Dalmatian islands; Bol or Zlatni Rat, a striking spit of land with iridescent white sands.

Unfortunately, it’s generally a tad busy and, given that having a yacht removes the need for a beach, I’d skip it.

Vis This was probably my favoured island. In the era of Tito it was a military base and off limits to civilians which has given it a certain crumbling charm mixed with a strange and very Balkan feeling of menace. The main port is Vis Town, which I liked very much – not least because, in my time at least, The Yacht Week had been banned from the harbour wall on grounds of causing a public nuisance. The town is lively but not overrun with tourists and you can take a stroll along the waterfront to Grandovac, a small pebble beach. There is also an excellent anchorage at Rogacic just to the NE of Vis which offers good shelter and holding plus an interesting nuclear submarine

ABOVE The town of Komiza on the island of Vis BELOW RIGHT Looking towards the island of Bisevo from Vis

bunker which you can actually moor up alongside and is an interesting relic of Tito’s Yugoslavia.

The other decent sized port is Komiza on the eastern side of the island which is similarly picturesque and worth a visit. I can’t say the same of the Blue Cave on neighbouring Bisevo which I always felt were rather hyped and overrun with tourists and tripper boats. If you have a yacht, don’t bother with them is my advice.

Contacts Click and Boat: clickandboat.com Dream Yacht Charter: dreamyachtcharter.com GlobeSailor: theglobesailor.com Helm: helm.yt Sunsail: sunsail.co.uk The Moorings: moorings.co.uk Seafarer: seafarersailing.co.uk

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Advertorial

SailGP comes to Plymouth The UK leg of the ground-breaking SailGP championship takes place in Devon, with spectacular vantage points ashore and afloat, as the world’s best sailors go head to head

P

lymouth, Devon, will be hosting some of the sport’s best athletes over the weekend of 17-18 July, for the UK event of the global SailGP Championship – the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth.

Sir Ben Ainslie will be leading a Great Britain team against seven other nations including Jimmy Spithill’s new-look US team, Season 1 champions Australia helmed by Tom Slingsby and newcomers and America’s Cup winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, among others.

They will be racing supercharged F50 catamarans – some of the fastest and most innovative sail race boats on the planet and capable of exceeding speeds of 50 knots – nearly 60mph.

The racing will take place on Plymouth Sound which provides a natural amphitheatre to the adrenaline-fuelled racing. The event, run in partnership with Plymouth City Council, with support from

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

Associated British Ports, English Cities Fund and Sutton Harbour Group, will also form part of the city’s Mayflower 400 commemorations, marking the anniversary of the signature voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to America.

The Great Britain Sail Grand Prix will be the third event in the league’s global calendar, following the season opener in Bermuda in April and the

ABOVE Season 2 sees eight national teams with mixed crews, as SailGP seeks to ‘fasttrack the inclusion of female athletes’

first-ever Italy Sail Grand Prix in Taranto in June.

The UK event in SailGP Season 1 – which was witnessed by 24,000 spectators and delivered US$24 million in economic impact to the community while reaching a total global audience of 231 million – saw some of the most dramatic scenes of the year. In front of packed crowds, the United States SailGP Team capsized in spectacular fashion and

Inspiring young sailors SailGP Inspire – the global league’s community, education and outreach initiative – relaunches in Bermuda at season opener with an increased focus on inclusivity and diversity and aims to leave a lasting legacy in all eight grand prix host countries in 2021-22.

Launched in 2019 and building on the success of its inaugural season – when 3,000 young people were engaged through the program –

SailGP Inspire will focus on providing experiential opportunities and new career pathways to the next generation. Not only will the programme be gender equal, but it will aim to expand racial and socioeconomic diversity in the sport through its three pillars: Learning, Careers and Racing.

SailGP Inspire has set a target of reaching 10,000 young people by 2025.

For more details visit SailGP/Inspire

#RaceForTheFuture In Season 2, not only will SailGP’s eight competitive teams be battling for the championship trophy that comes with the sport’s largest monetary prize, but they will also be racing for a better future and championing a world powered by nature.

As the first climate positive sports and entertainment property – removing more carbon than its footprint – SailGP is already leading the way and setting a new standard for major event hosting. From its inception in 2019, SailGP has been measuring, reducing and offsetting its own carbon footprint and has set an ambitious target of 55 percent reduction of its carbon footprint – based on science – by 2025, as well as committing to

both Great Britain and Australia made history by eclipsing speeds never before seen in sail racing. A renowned sailing venue, Plymouth is expected to bring similar excitement for fans, who will be able to view the thrilling action from the water or shore.

Sir Ben Ainslie said: “For us as a British team there is nothing better than racing in front of a home crowd and we are incredibly excited about the prospect. There is an element of nostalgia for me personally, having grown up and learned to sail in the West Country and now all these years later coming back to race on the international stage. Plymouth is a fantastic sailing venue with a natural amphitheatre for the fans to watch

being fully powered by nature by 2025. The remaining carbon that cannot be eliminated is offset via a partnership with One Carbon World, directly supporting renewable energy wind projects around the world.

SailGP became a world first in sport to be certified as carbon neutral and achieve both the Carbon Neutral International Standard and join the UN Climate Neutral Now Initiative, reaffirming its commitment to maintain a zero-carbon operational stance.

Further highlighting that SailGP is more than a racing championship, the global league has achieved the international sustainability

these amazing F50s.”

The Great Britain Sail Grand Prix will be showcased around the world via top-tier broadcasters in 175 territories, including exclusively in the UK and Ireland on Sky Sports and via YouTube SailGP CEO Sir Russell Coutts said: “We are really excited to add Plymouth as the third event in Season 2 of SailGP. The British have a very talented team led by Ben Ainslie and I’m sure they will receive a lot of local support in their bid for the global championship. Plymouth is a city that shares a lot of the same DNA as SailGP, with a strong focus on marine technology and well aligned with our sustainability

ABOVE AND BELOW The F50 boats are capable of 50 knots and the racing is spectacular; Ben Ainslie helms the GB boat

How to watch There are a wide range of ticketed experiences at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix - both on and off the water. Plus ways to get up close with your own boat. Plymouth Hoe provides a spectacular viewpoint to immerse yourself in the high-speed action as the 50-knot foiling catamarans race right before your eyes within the natural amphitheatre of Plymouth Sound. Ticketed free access to the Spectator Area includes live race commentary, big screens, the official merchandise shop, entertainment, immersive experiences, refreshments, stage and podium with athlete appearances. There is also a Premium spectator experience a little closer to the action with refreshments. For those wishing to get even closer to the action there will be two on-water spectator experiences - Premium and Access. Official spectator

standard ISO20121 in unprecedented speed ahead of its second season.

A legacy born from the London 2012 Olympics, ISO20121 is a robust sustainable event management system developed to an international standard.

New for Season 2, each of the eight national teams will collaborate with a Race for the Future partner to help the sports pinnacle league accelerate the transition to clean energy and work to explore practical clean energy solutions while raising awareness about the challenges of ecological transition geared around clean energy.

This is a central part of the global league’s ambitious purpose agenda to race for a better future and champion a world powered by nature.

objectives. It also provides great viewing opportunities for spectators, who can view the racing from an elevated position on Plymouth Hoe. We look forward to working with Plymouth City Council to ensure we leave a positive lasting impression and legacy in the city.”

Pete Smith, deputy leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome one of the world’s most spectacular sailing events to Plymouth – where better to play host than Britain’s Ocean City. It’s going to be an unmissable weekend, with fast and furious racing that spectators can witness up close.”

latest information about the race course and live commentary to ensure you get in the best spot for racing and don’t miss a moment of the action.

Book the 17-18 July, 2021 in your diary and don’t miss any of the action.

boats will offer the closest vantage point to the racing and allow fans an unrivalled view of the world-class athletes and supercharged F50 catamarans as they compete at electrifying speeds across Plymouth Sound.

Finally, for those that have their own boat, there is a Bring Your Own Boat programme - a simple registration ensures you have all of the

For more information on SailGP Season 2 teams and schedule, the Plymouth event, the SailGP Inspire programme, tickets and more visit the website SailGP.com/GreatBritain and keep up to date by signing up to the newsletter, you can also download the App and follow the Facebook page Facebook.com/SailGP For all the information on the event, check out SailGP.com/GreatBritain. Don’t forget to sign-up to our newsletter or follow us on social media to ensure you don’t miss a minute of the action.

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Tom Cunliffe

Tom Cunliffe

L

ast week during a Q&A Zoom session organised

by MDL Marinas I was asked about what sort of boat to buy. The question was quite specific and I’ll return to it shortly, but it triggered off some general thoughts about how the rest of us choose suitable yachts to ward off the hard knocks of life.

My wife and I were once marooned up a muddy creek in America’s deep south. I was recovering from

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

a damaged rib cage left over from a nasty night off Cuba. Funds were tight and the local yard proved a bountiful haven. Spanish Moss festooned the live oaks overhanging the water and to say that the denizens of the river bank were a sparky bunch would be an understatement, but among their number were notable examples of how, and how not, to pick the right boat.

As the sweltering weeks passed and I grew slowly stronger, we

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

subsisted on crabs harvested from a pot dangling off our stern donated by the lady skipper of a neighbouring shrimp boat. Close by was a genuine Tumlare. Aboard this pencil-thin, 28ft, 1930s Scandinavian race boat lived a girl with her boyfriend. He was the yard engineer and he had a southern accent that blew Johnny Cash into the reeds. One morning, I met her clambering ashore sporting a teeshirt emblazoned with a strong message. ‘Isn’t this a lovely day,’

ILLUSTRATION: CLAIRE WOOD, PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE

A soujourn in the swamps of America’s deep south gave Tom pause for thought on the fraught question of selecting the right boat to buy

“I’ve often pondered on how the young couple survived on so inappropriate a yacht’’ it read. ‘Now watch some bastard louse it up.’ Time has taught me that this prophesy contains more than the seeds of truth, but she was a sweet-natured soul and I’ve often pondered on how the young couple survived on so inappropriate a yacht. The Tumlare was beautiful, probably cheap too in a land where nobody understood it, and they were in love. I suppose they didn’t care, but you did have to wonder how they coped in a home whose beam was an inch or two over six feet, designed for day racing and occasional overnight camping in the Stockholm Archipelago. The truth was that they put up with the discomfort because of how she sailed and they were always smiling.

Further up the creek lay the ultimate dreamer living in a fantasy world. Ambrosio was a sort of heavy-displacement hippy with a mighty blond beard and no comb.

One evening shortly before cocktail time I was wandering back to my boat after a day’s toil varnishing someone else’s pride and joy when Ambrosio decided to give Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner a run for his money.

He’d made inroads into a bottle of rum and, as always, he delivered his message at Force Ten. Just as if I were Coleridge’s reluctant wedding guest, he grabbed me by the arm and began extolling the ocean-going virtues of the long-since pensioned off charter boat he had claimed as his own from some scrap yard.

ABOVE Tom’s boat hauled out in Carolina with a visitor showing her some decent respect BELOW The Tumlare ‘on the hill’ for a topside job

‘Man,’ he bragged, ‘this boat is so goddamn strong you could sail her round the world tomorrow!’ For emphasis, he took hold of his rusty forestay and rattled it with gusto.

It fell apart in his hands. His girl, who had the reddest hair I ever saw, spun on her down-at-heel sneaker and marched off in the direction of Blackie, a proper southern gent with well-trimmed side whiskers who had been burning off a classic Chris Craft powerboat for weeks after he knocked off from work.

Blackie always had a six-pack in his pickup truck and he had a generous heart. The roar of his old-fashioned paraffin blowlamp fell silent and I heard two pop-tops fizz. Ambrosio meanwhile offered me the ragged ends of his rotten forestay.

‘You reckon they’d splice up?’ he asked, to which there just wasn’t a kind answer.

There were other characters in that yard, but these epitomised getting it right, getting it wrong, and coping as best one can. The Tumlare folk loved their little boat, they couldn’t afford more but they maintained her with genuine pride in a job worth doing. They’d made something special out of an impossible situation and when they went sailing at the weekend, the boat ate the wind out of almost everything on the water. The thrill they shared as she’d get up and go made it all worthwhile. I expect

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Tom Cunliffe

by now they have prospered and have a more appropriate craft, but they will remember their youth and be glad they followed their dream into the wind’s eye.

Ambrosio was a hopeless case. I never got to the bottom of whether he really did plan to sail around the world or if he just maintained the fantasy, fooling himself perhaps, but certainly nobody else. He’d come by a boat that was far bigger than he could afford to bring up to standard and he’d no taste for work. Rather than decide what he actually needed, then find something more appropriate, he’d turned his back on reality and retreated into make-believe.

Even after all these years, I still look back on Blackie with affection and admiration. He never seemed to think badly of anyone, he was everready with a cold beer for people who needed a chat, and he grafted away quietly on a boat that was well worth the trouble. Goodness knows what he paid for her. Not much, I suspect, because she was in a sorry state, but she was a class act and he was cutting straight to the chase on the restoration. No messing around for Blackie. He ripped into it with every spare second he had and he was going to end up with a power cruiser to be proud of.

When I asked what he’d do with her, he told me he planned to enjoy the waterways and the primordial cypress swamps of South Carolina,

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ABOVE Some choice - a modern carbon rig ghosts past a gaffer outward bound for high adventure

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

and to have what he described in his catch-phrase as, ‘Fun, fun fun!’

By defining his objectives honestly, Blackie had satisfied the first axiom of successful boat ownership.

Such exotic creatures as these seem a world away from a young lady in southern England asking for guidance about what boat to buy, but the rules don’t change. The question she posed was interesting.

She’d made a good start by deciding what she wanted to do. She’d set out two further parameters. One made complete sense, the second was also useful, but the third was doing her choice no favours at all.

The boat could cost up to £50,000.

This, I’m sure you will agree, is a tidy sum and it establishes the limits on the major issue of cost. Whatever one fancies in the way of boats, the chosen one always seems to be overbudget. Even if you aren’t, you’re still going to need some extra for the inevitable upgrades. Occasionally, it’s best to toss your fate and your bank balance to the wind and go for it, but unless you are young and footloose, penury rarely leads to happiness.

The better option is to forget her and go back to Apollo Duck.

The second criterion was that the yacht must be a bilge keeler because

this made the lady feel safer in tight waters. I can understand that, but the third requirement really rocked the boat. The door was open for taking off round the world later, so buying up front conferred a chance to get to know her. That sounds rational, but it isn’t really. Very few sailors given the option would opt for a bilge keeler as an ocean passagemaker, but some lovely bilge-keel variants are on offer for half the funds she has available. Why not forget the big plan that might never happen, and grab a Westerly Fulmar to enjoy for a year or three in the Solent? These boats sail well, a decent example is only half her budget and it ticks all the boxes. Our girl can then ringfence the balance and see how she gets on. If the world trip firms up, sell the Fulmar and invest the full amount in a deep-keeled cruiser ‘of a certain age’. That way she’ll have the right boat at the right time.

Whether we’re fixing up a wreck like Blackie or commissioning a custom new-build, our only hope of bringing our dreams to a safe haven is to take a long hard look at our objectives in the free air of self-knowledge.

Whatever our plans, there are some wonderful boats out there.

ALL PHOTOS TOM CUNLIFFE

“Whatever one fancies in the way of boats, the chosen one always seems to be over-budget’’

WORLD-CLASS

UK .

CO .

EK E SW E W O C

R E G AT TA R A C I N G

1 9 5 TH Y E A R

SCARAMOUCHE SAILING TRUST

with

Round the Island Race

90 years on To celebrate the Round the Island Race’s 90th birthday this year, former Yachts & Yachting writers Malcolm McKeag and Barry Pickthall look back at the magazine’s coverage of the race

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PHOTO: IAN ROMAN

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Round the Island Race

MAIN PHOTO BELOW PAUL WYETH; ABOVE IAN ROMAN; MAGAZINE SHOTS BY MALCOLM MCKEAG

T

38

he Round the Island Race celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. The first race took place in 1931 with 25 entries. Nine decades later, it is renowned as one of the biggest mass participation events in the world, giving weekend family crews the chance to compete on the same course as the biggest names in the sport. Records have tumbled and eras come and gone, but the heart of the event – a spectacular, challenging day out for ordinary sailors – has not altered.

Back in 1930, it was Major Cyril Windeler, a member of the Island Sailing Club, who proposed a handicap race around the Isle of Wight for ‘smaller’ boats, which at the time meant between 5 and 25 tons. In this anniversary year, the Island SC, which has run the event since 1931, launches a new race for keelboats in Windeler’s name.

Peter Brett’s 22ft Cornish fishing boat Merry Conceit won that

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

innaugural event, the first of many victories over the years by the smallest boat in the fleet. The tradition was continued in 2019, by Jo Richards and crew in the victorious 18ft bilge-keeled Alacrity, Eeyore.

Numbers steadily increased over the decades and passed the 1,000 mark in the 1980s. The centenary of the Island Sailing Club, in 1989, saw the biggest fleet so far of 1,813. That was exceeded in 2008 with 1,875 entries. During the pandemic, the 2020 event was cancelled. Could a pent-up desire to get afloat and the additional attraction of the 90th anniversary see another record fleet in 2021?

ABOVE LEFT The 1947 edition of the race gets only a few paragraphs in one of the first issues of Yachts & Yachting, but the race and the magazine grew rapidly BELOW LEFT The 15th race, in 1950, had a record fleet of 124 yachts; today, still organised by the Island Sailing Club, the race rivals the biggest sporting events in the world for sheer number of competitors

Yachts & Yachting was founded in 1947 and has reported on every Round the Island Race since then.

Looking back through the Yachts & Yachting archives sheds light on the race itself and also on wider events. It debunks a few myths and it reminds us, today more than ever, of the sheer fun and excitement of sailing in a big fleet.

Growing up together

When Yachts & Yachting was founded, the Second World War had only just ended and Britain was still in the throes of wartime shortages and austerity, writes Malcolm McKeag. Our new-born paper was just that – a folded newssheet priced

Frequent flyers

at fourpence, rather than a magazine – and with paper rationed, so were space and words. The 1947 race got just three paragraphs plus the results.

The ‘Big class’ was won by Owen Aisher’s Yeoman and ‘the small class’

by Chris Ratsey’s Evenlode, both of them, like every other entrant, pre-war yachts. 1948, the year of the Torbay Olympics, with Stewart Morris winning gold and a young Paul Elvstrom winning the singlehanders sailed in Fireflies, saw ‘the most successful race ever’, with 81 starters and the ‘Big class’ sent round the Nab Tower as well as the island.

By 1950 both the race and Yachts & Yachting were growing. “Another record fleet [124 starters] and the

most successful Round the Island race ever,” reads our report. It was as “good as an ocean race and doesn’t take so long”. And there were photographs to prove it. Year on year, both the race and the coverage grew – double page spreads of photographs in 1953, with full results, and in 1957 an evocative photograph of a becalmed start, with spinnakers all a-droop, accompanied by the caption: “Could you be a race officer?”

The editor, whose “decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into” offered a prize of two guineas to the reader who could correctly identify the greatest number of yachts in the picture.

ABOVE RIGHT Yachts & Yachting’s report from 1957 mentions Owen Aisher, racing the 12-Metre Evaine, and the JOG fleet, still very active today BELOW RIGHT Jack Knights’ report on the 25th anniversary event, as yachting entered ‘a new era’, with a fibreglass boat and a catamaran the talk of Cowes that evening

Many are the yachts whose name has appeared often in the entry lists and many are the yachtsmen who would need to borrow the hands of a friend to count on their fingers the number of times they have been ‘round the island’. But the number of yachts and the number of yachtsmen who have had their names engraved on what is generally regarded as the principal trophy, the Gold Roman Bowl, is diminishingly small.

The delightfully named Evenlode is the first to appear a second time, in 1947, repeating her 1938 win, while in 1966 and 1967 Sir Max Aitken’s epoch-changing fin-and-skeg One Tonner Roundabout was the first to have back-to-back wins.

Prime Minister Ted Heath’s Morning Cloud topped that with three-in-a-row in 1971, 1972 and 1973 and the name appears again in 1980. That was, of course, three different guises of Morning Cloud.

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PHOTO: LEFT JO RICHARDS; RIGHT EILEEN RAMSAY PPL MEDIA

Round the Island Race

Nonetheless, Heath and ‘Morning Cloud’ are usually credited with having won the race four times – “a record no one has bettered” to quote more than one history.

However, the owner was not on board for the first win, as Yachts & Yachting’s report race makes plain, complete with a photograph of the two smiling paid hands who raced the boat for him in his no doubt unavoidable absence. Nor was he aboard for the second win either: Yachts & Yachting’s caption to the photograph of a mop-haired and moustachioed Owen Parker tells us that ‘the Prime Minister was celebrating his birthday at Chequers’ that day.

If there is a King of the Island, the title must surely go to boatbuilder Jeremy Rogers, who has sat at the tiller of the winning yacht no fewer than three times – in 2002, 2003 and 2006. And it was the same yacht in each instance – Rosina of Beaulieu, his own Contessa 26.

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A new era

The 25th anniversary race of 1961 was not merely another record year with 274 starters. In the words of the respected writer and sailor Jack Knights: “Possibly British yacht racing in general entered a new era.

For the first time a true planing keelboat planed away with a prize – the fibreglass Bristol I took the coveted Gold Roman Challenge Cup. And for the first time a catamaran went round the Isle of Wight in less time than the fastest conventional yacht [the 12-Metre Flica II].”

The catamaran, a Prout Snowgoose, not only beat that year’s quickest big monohulls, but by going round in 6hr 46m, she beat the all-time race record set by the 8-Metre Iskareen in 1948.

Jack Knights himself sailed aboard the “true planning keelboat”, which was built entirely in the still-verynew medium of glassfibre by Bristol Aircraft Plastics, hull number 7 of a Jack Holt design originally called the

ABOVE LEFT Jo Richards and crew cut in through the Needles on their way to winning overall in 2019 ABOVE CENTRE One of the first commercial colour sailing pictures, taken during the 1968 race, by celebrated photographer Eileen Ramsay, showing the RAF Association’s Slipstream of Cowley with a colourful pack of chasing yachts astern BELOW LEFT Morning Cloud wins the 35th edition in 1971, without the owner on board BELOW RIGHT The overall winner is often one of the smaller boats and has on many occasions been a Folkboat and its sister design the Contessa 26

Zest class but which would, thanks to the diamond-shape logo on its sail, soon become the Yachting World Diamond.

The race was sailed in a south westerly Force 4, gusting 5, which took a toll on the fleet as it punched its way down the west Solent on the ebb – demanding wind-against-tide conditions no more pleasant today than they must have been in 1961, as Knights describes: “Our first mark was the Bridge Buoy, four hundred yards to seaward of the Needles. Here the waves got suddenly large and curly. We had time to notice two dismasted Atalantas… there was another larger boat with just a stump and one or two boats with split jibs.

What with the sea, the damage and the odd launch taking photos, the scene was becoming very like an oil of Trafalgar.

“It was a relief to be around the buoy and to be easing our sheets, for this was what we were here for – a wind from aft of the beam. We

PAUL WYETH

immediately began to surf.”

Knights and crew debate whether or not to set the spinnaker and decide to go for it: “The boat picked up on the instant. Where we had surfed, occasionally we lifted and planed. Now we began to run through the fleet, past boats of all sizes…”

And so on to St Catherine’s, Bembridge Ledge and No Man’s Land Fort, overtaking larger boats all the while. Then a long-and-short beat to Old Castle Point and the finish. “We were ninth out of the 274 to finish and had won the Gold Roman Cup from Angelique, a sixteen tonner, by two and a half minutes.”

And history had been made.

There is a curious footnote to this.

Over the years a tale grew that Knights secured his victory by ‘threading the Needles’ – that is, by nipping in between the great chalk pillars instead of going around the lighthouse. Whence comes the myth, research cannot find, but myth it must be. Knights won the Gold

Roman Bowl but once – and this was it. A Yachting World Diamond has won it but once – and this was it. The Bridge Buoy was a mark of the course, so the ploy would have been illegal and the boat disqualified. And it was blowing Force 4, gusting 5. Not even the great Jack Knights would have attempted such a risky manoeuvre in those conditions.

Female victories

In the 90 years of the race, only two female names have appeared on the Gold Roman Bowl, in 1954 and 1982.

Helen Tobin was a prominent member of Royal Lymington YC and her yacht, Babar, was a Lymington Slipway 5-tonner. These little double-enders were comfortable cruisers with a full-width raised deck amidships to give headroom down below. The 1954 race was one of the lightest on record and Babar, in Division C for the smallest boats, negotiated her way round in 10h 46m 04s, to beat her closest competitor, also in Division C, by

ABOVE Massed spinnakers, the quintessential Round the Island Race sight, as spectacular now as it was 50 years ago BELOW Yachts & Yachting’s coverage of the dramatic 1982 race, won by Julia Dane on Glass Onion

just two seconds on corrected time. It must have been a very sweet win, as Babar had been second overall the year before, by a not much greater amount. That year, the first boat to finish, Foxhound, in 9h 21m 5s, was also owned and skippered by a female sailor, Rachel Pitt-Rivers.

The 1982 race could hardly have been more different. By now the event attracted more than 1,000 yachts and Yachts & Yachting was giving the event many pages of text and photographs. This year was one of the wildest on record and Yachts & Yachting’s report begins: “More than records were broken in this year’s Round the Island race when over 1,100 yachts were faced with a boisterous south-westerly. In huge seas and gusts of reportedly up to Force 7, masts crashed to decks, sails were blown to shreds, halyards parted and spinnakers became their own masters – one minute driving boats at breath-taking speeds, the next throwing them round in wild broaches.”

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PHOTO: FAR LEFT AND RIGHT BY PPL MEDIA; MIDDLE SHOT PAUL WYETH

Round the Island Race

A heavy airs race such as this might have produced a big-boat winner in years past, but by now yacht design was enjoying radical innovation and the conditions suited a different type. The lightweight fractionally-rigged boats like Smokey Too, Pacifist and Glass Onion “put up their spinnakers, shot up onto the plane and were away…”

Glass Onion, named after the Beatles song, was a Julian Everitt design, developed from a boat he built as a wedding present for his wife Julia Dane.

And it was Julia who was at the helm on this wild day. The breeze lightened towards the end and it started to rain, so the fleet was faced with “a rather miserable beat up The Solent” against a foul tide.

Nimbleness and shallow draft were now assets worth their weight in gold and at 1700 Glass Onion took the win – by seven seconds.

Race records

PHOTOS: LEFT SPORTOGRAPHY; RIGHT PAUL WYETH

For the contenders, there are always two goals in the Round the Island Race: to win the Gold Roman Bowl for best corrected time; and to be first to finish, preferably in record time, writes Barry Pickthall.

The current race record-holder is Ned Collier Wakefield and his Concise 10 MOD70 trimaran, which skated round the 50-mile course in 2

hours 22 mins 23 secs back in 2017.

Having started in the second van at 0640, the crew were back ashore before 1000 in time to catch last orders for breakfast! The boat also broke the Rolex Fastnet Race record the same year.

If no other multihull of her ilk swells the entry list this year, there is always the monohull record to crack.

Mike Slade has done so on five occasions, first with Ocean Leopard in 1991, the maxi racer Longobarda in 1996, then in 2001, 2008 and 2013, with his swing-keeled 100 footer, Leopard, which reduced the time to 3 hours, 43 mins 50 secs. After eight years, it’s high time the record was broken again.

It is a far cry from the first time set in 1931 when Thomas White Ratsey laboured round in almost 10 hours.

Technology has changed a little bit, too. Today’s results are live online within minutes of each boat finishing, while declarations can be made by text message.

We’ve mentioned the 1961 race, which saw the introduction of the multihull class and a lowering of the race record by Snowgoose of White.

Two years later owner Don Robertson managed to trim 10 minutes off this.

The multihulls would never be beaten again for pure speed and so it was in 1985, when Tony Bullimore

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ABOVE L-R Apricot broke the record in 1985; the race has been run by the Island Sailing Club since 1931; the winner’s trophy bears famous names from yachting’s past BELOW LEFT The race’s official charity is the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust; many other charities also benefit through individual fundraising BELOW RIGHT Cheers and here’s to the next 90!

and Nigel Irens took the record to new levels with their 60ft wingmasted tri, Apricot, slicing 1 hour 46 minutes of that time, prior to going on to win the double-handed Round Britain Race and Round Europe Race later that year.

Not to be outdone, Mike Whipp and Rodney Pattisson reduced the time to 3 hours 55 mins 28 secs a year later with their 60ft trimaran Paragon, a record that remained for the next 15 years, before Pattisson returned, this time with his French friend Francis Joyon, sailing the 60ft trimaran Dexia Eure et Loire to a record of 3 hours 8 mins 29 secs – an average of 19.1 knots.

Sir Ben Ainslie took over Pattisson’s mantle in more ways than one, by streaking round in 2013 in 2 hours 52 mins 15 secs, in the solid-wing AC45 catamaran, JP Morgan BAR, controversially chaperoned by RIBs in case the cat capsized. Some questioned whether sailing a boat that could not be reefed was a safe and seamanlike example, but at the time, she did share the same sponsor as the race.

There were no questions about Lloyd Thornburg’s 2 hours 23 min 23 sec time, set in 2016 with his MOD70 Phaedo^3. Few people believed the record could be lowered, until Ned Collier Wakefield and Concise 10 did exactly that a year later.

Cruising ~ Caledonian Canal

Lochs and locks Miranda Prynne narrates a cruise through the Caledonian Canal taking in the legendary Loch Ness

80 44

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Cruising ~ Caledonian Canal

A

local saying in Western Scotland: “If the sun is shining, it’s going to rain.”

Few utterances have

more truth.

Pete and I had been sailing up the west coast of Scotland for three weeks by the time we reached Fort William and had probably endured about 60 squalls – averaging about three per day.

Yet testing weather, ferocious tides, big seas and all, I would not hesitate in stating that Western Scotland is the most spectacular place I have ever sailed.

It is mythical in its proportions, mysterious in its emptiness and medieval in its scenery It is like sailing through a Tolkienesque fantasy.

Our original plan had been to make it all the way to Orkney before sailing back down the east coast but, as is so often the way with sailing, we ran out of time. The incredible coastline with its islands, lochs and coves all beckoning us in, waiting to be explored, combined with the erratic weather conditions and some of the strongest tidal races in the world, meant even the best laid passage plans often went awry.

But our forced shortcut proved a blessing in disguise. By the time we reached Fort William we had endured enough angry seas and minor gales to satisfy all but the most intrepid sailors. While in awe of our surroundings, we had been wet and cold for nearly a month and the prospect of sheltered tide-free waters seemed as welcome as a hot bath.

We motored out of Fort William mid morning on 17th September to hop up Loch Eil to the entrance to the Caledonian Canal at Corpach, where there is a fuel point for those needing to fill before heading up the canal. There was a fair amount of faff and waiting around before we could lock into the canal but by 2pm we were chugging our way towards the lock flight ‘Neptune’s Staircase’ at Banavie, with Ben Nevis and his mountain clan looming over us, for a rare moment free of cloud cover.

There was a cheerful audience to admire us as we carefully negotiated N’Tiana’s 13-tonne bulk up through

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the seven locks. Unlike narrowboats, yachts are not designed for canal locks and this is very evident when trying to steady and stabilise them against the inflow or exit of water.

Thankfully we had a friend who had joined us for the trip through the canal and an extra pair of hands was invaluable when keeping the boat steady as we rose and fell. It meant one person with a lead on the bow, one on the stern and one fending off the wall and other vessels sharing the lock. Pete and I had also had plenty of practice when traversing the Crinan canal a few weeks before.

As we progressed up the Great Glen, the huge and ancient fault line that splits Scotland in two, the weather pressed in upon us. A thick grey mizzle blanketed the highlands hiding the peaks but cocooning us

ABOVE LEFT Happy to shelter from angry seas on the first part of the Caledonian Canal BELOW N’Tiana on Neptune’s Staircase

amidst the luscious green tranquillity of the tree lined canal banks which gave way to a backdrop of softer slopes reaching into the clouds.

Torrential rain

We were forced to moor up before reaching Gairlochy as darkness descended. It was in the nick of time for at this point the weather took a sudden turn from grey and uneventful to a violent deluge that showed no signs of letting up until morning. We battened down the hatches and took advantage of our stationary state to cook a hot stew which we followed with a night cap of whisky picked up at the Oban and Tobermory distilleries a week before.

The next morning we were up at dawn, determined to cross Loch Ness before dark fell once again which

The boat: N’Tiana A beautiful Oyster 435 – a 43-ft (13.2m) ketch – built by Oyster Marine in 1986.

Designed by Holman and Pye of Colchester, with a fibre-glass hull and encapsulated keel, she weighs in at just over 13 tonnes.

With a draft of 6 ft 6 (2m), her waterline length is 36 ft (11.25m) and beam is 14 ft (4.2m).

With a 60 ft (18.3m) mast, she has a 821 sq ft (72.27 sq m) sail area She has six berths with three cabins with a large central cockpit.

N’Tiana is one of just 65 Oyster 435s that were built between 1983 and 1995 – they proved to be the second most popular Oyster design ever made.

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Cruising ~ Caledonian Canal

meant reaching Fort Augustus at the south western end of the loch by lunchtime. The early start paid off, by 7.20am we were through the swing bridge and the lock leaving Gairlochy in our wake we floated out into Loch Lochy. It was eerily still with a thin shawl of mist lying across dark shoulders of the highlands, tickling the treetops perfectly reflected in the glassy water. As the mist thickened, it gave the impression we were floating through a tunnel in the clouds.

The silence of the weather forced us to keep the engine on as we crossed Loch Lochy which despite being less than 10 miles long, is the third deepest loch in Scotland reaching depths of 531-ft. The steep forested slopes fall directly to the water on either side, giving it a fjord-like appearance.

We motored serenely across to reach the lock at Laggan with its sprinkling of homes nestled against the waterside in just over two hours.

Here the canal carried us for just a mile and a half to the smallest of the Glen’s key lochs, Loch Oich, whose dimensions make it feel more like a slow flowing river than a lake. Its thickly forested banks crowded in upon us through the mist almost within touching distance as we covered its four mile length.

A swing bridge at the northern end granted us entrance to the next section of canal. We had not seen another boat or human on the move all morning. Our engine cut through the heavy silence like a clumsy intruder, all was still apart from the wavelets left in our wake. The mist had lifted into the bruised moody skies to reveal the heather adorned

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highland slopes in all their glory.

There was little to do but sit and stare and take in the rugged beauty that surrounded us on all sides.

Then around another bend there was Fort Augustus. Suddenly we were surrounded by all the hustle and bustle of a sizeable settlement and tourist honeypot. After a morning of quiet contemplation among the mountains, this sudden explosion of humanity was a cheerful interruption on our peace.

Loch Ness

It was about 1pm when we moored up alongside several other vessels, mostly motor boats under charter, all waiting to descend through the lock ladder and be released out into the famous waters of Loch Ness. We had been warned there can be quite a

ABOVE Fort Augustus on Loch Ness BELOW En route to Loch Oich

hold up at Fort Augustus as a limited number of boats can go up or down through the five locks at any one time and with several vessels negotiating their way carefully through each lock together, it takes some time. Even off season we only just made it into the first batch descending. Others who arrived shortly after us were not so lucky and would have had a long wait before another group was allowed down.

I dashed ashore to explore shop and café options and soak up the liveliness and chatter after so much silence and stillness. Sitting at the southern end of Loch Ness, Fort Augustus is the obvious launch pad for many visitors wishing to explore the famous loch and surrounding highlands. It is also a good stopping place for anyone travelling the length of the Great Glen whether on foot, wheels or like us, water. With good lunch spots and shops for reprovisioning, it is a pleasant place to be stuck for a couple of hours if you do find yourself with a long wait for the lock ladder.

Caledonian Canal staff oversee the lock ladder, clearly instructing on where the various boats should place themselves and helping with lines.

With so many novice crews on newly chartered motorboats crowding into the locks together, this was a huge help and a great relief to all. The whole process still took nearly two

hours but was a good humoured with few hiccups and everyone dutifully concentrating on their respective roles, be that fendering or keeping the lines fast. At 3.30 the heavy gates of the final lock opened unleashing us into the dark waters of Loch Ness.

Gimme shelter

The wind had picked up from the south west bringing with it warnings of a storm sweeping its way across the Atlantic towards UK shores. We needed to reach the shelter and security of the moorings at the other end of Loch Ness before it struck.

So with the wind almost directly on our stern we loosened the sails and let ourselves be propelled along

Loch Ness. Giant cumulonimbus clouds were gathering far behind us in the west but the sky above was clear. The sun lit our course and a rainbow rose out of the waters ahead of us, like a good omen beckoning us forth.

We gybed on into the sunshine, the waters sparkling around us, the greens and purple hues of the hillsides bought alive by the unfiltered light. After a mile or so we goose winged the jib and coursed north east.

We had a glorious sail through that late September afternoon with a fresh south westerly breeze powering us along at over eight knots. Coastal sailing is abundant in amazing

ABOVE RIGHT Nessie!

BELOW Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

scenery but usually only on the landward side, here we were surrounded by Scotlands geological wonders on every side. As we sailed north east towards Inverness, the steep highland slopes of the west steadily gave way to softer slopes of forest and farmland.

Loch Ness is 23 miles long but we flew across it in about three and a half hours, chasing the sun which glided westwards remaining just out of reach of the clouds and warming our faces and moods. At its northern end there is no lock but the loch narrows to resemble a river.

Dropping the sails, we motored up to the mooring spaces just before the lock at Dochgarroch. It was a beautiful spot with an azure evening sky above us and towering clouds lit gold rising in the west – the calm before the storm.

We celebrated our successful evasion of the Loch Ness monster by sampling more of the many whiskies we had acquired while exploring the Western Isles. The wind built

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Cruising ~ Caledonian Canal

overnight bringing with it dark thunder clouds and rain but once through Dochgarroch Loch the next morning we had just a short motor of less than an hour before we were floating through the outskirts of Inverness. A four lock ladder and swing bridge took us down into the basin at Merkinch where we spoke to the Caledonian Canal authorities.

A lock is the key

A smiling lock keeper came down to work the Clachnaharry Sea Lock.

There is a strong current in the sea lock due to the tide racing in and out of the Inverness and Beauly Firths so we had to keep a careful control of the lines to stop N’Tiana violently swaying. But under the experienced supervision of the lockkeeper who oversaw the operation with swift efficiency, before we knew it we were motoring into the open flowing waters of the firth.

There is a sandbank north east of the canal entrance so any vessel heading to Inverness Marina must first head out and stay in the white sector of the Longman Point Beacon before turning in and following the clearly marked entrance to the River Ness.

By the time we reached Inverness Marina and squeezed our bulk into one of the few remaining spaces, the wind was howling. We turned off the engine at 11.57am just before Storm

Aileen began her onslaught.

In two days we had travelled 60 miles - 38 miles of natural lochs and 22 miles of canal cuttings – traversing 29 locks and 10 bridges to cross from one side of Scotland to the other. The same journey going round by sea via Orkney could have taken weeks, depending on the weather and sea states.

But leaving aside the huge time saving of the Caledonian Canal, it is a feast for the senses and offers a sailor a novel way to enjoy being on the water and fresh roster of practical challenges. After many weeks of coastal sailing, we welcomed the change. A crew with more relaxed time constraints could easily spend several days traversing the canal, heading ashore and exploring the

ABOVE LEFT Approaching Inverness

wilds around the canal on foot as well as by water. Others may find a canal too restrictive and resent the need to use the engine so much. It is down to personal preference but few sailing experiences will ever compare for pure beauty and enjoyment as that afternoon chasing the sun across Loch Ness overlooked by the marbled mountainsides of Scotland.

The Caledonian Canal in numbers Total length of the canal: 60 miles (96.6 km) or 50 nautical miles Length of natural lochs: 38 miles (61.2km) Length of canal cuttings: 22 miles (35.4 km) Summit level at Loch Oich: 106 feet (32.3m) Number of Locks: 29 Number of Bridges: 10

Practical information on the Caledonian Canal Minimum time needed to cross the canal: 2.5 days Maximum dimensions for vessels: 150 ft (45.72 m) long; 35 ft (10.67m) beam; 13.5 ft (4.1m) draft. Vessels with draft over 12.5 ft (3.8m) are advised to contact the Canal Office before arrival to ensure there is sufficient water.

Maximum mast height in the canal is 115 ft (35m) above the waterline, but clearance under the Kessock Bridge on the Inverness Firth is lower at 89.8 ft (27.4m).

All locks and gates are operated by Scottish Canals staff between the following hours: Winter: Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm Spring & Autumn: Seven days 8.30am to 5.30pm Summer: Seven days 8am to 6pm Tidal restrictions of the sea locks: During normal operating hours, Corpach Sea Lock is available ≥ 1m, and Clachnaharry Sea Lock is available ≥ 1.4m.

At low water and spring tides the sea locks are closed for around two hours either side of low tide.

For more details and advice go to www.scottishcanals.co. uk/canals/caledonian-canal.

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Boat Test ~ Neel 43

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Three – that’s the magic number?

Neel trimarans have been ploughing a fairly lonely furrow with their range of cruising trimarans but the results are compelling as Sam Jefferson discovered

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Boat Test ~ Neel 43

I

t’s not often you step aboard a yacht these days and mutter ‘hmm, different’ but I can honestly say that the Neel 43 had that effect on me. On one level, this is far from a surprise because, unlike 95% of the boats I have tested, the Neel 43 features three hulls instead of one or two. Yet there is more to it than that.

The La Rochelle based manufacturer started out with a concept that dared to be different when it first started started building cruising yachts and this has led to concept that has evolved in a different way to other boats in ostensibly the same category.

This is interesting because the goal is ultimately the same; to produce a well mannered, comfortable easy to handle sailing yacht with decent performance that you can cruise across oceans.

And, of course, a trimaran is a good vehicle for this; three hulls provide more inherent stability than a catamaran while also providing a similarly spacious platform for living aboard. The main reason that catamarans have exploded in popularity compared to trimarans is simply because building three hulls instead of two brings with it greater cost and a slightly more nuanced approach to building. This is where Neel has excelled; building up a range of cruising trimarans with a strong reputation for performance and comfort. The Neel 43 is their latest model and is the smallest boat

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in their range, sitting below the 47 and replacing the old Neel 45 which hit the water back in 2012.

The new 43 is designed by Marc Lombard who has worked with the company for a number of years. It sticks to the same template as the 45 in terms of an almost identical displacement and similar sail area but features many refinements on the Joubert/Nivelt designed 45.

So what have we got here? The

ABOVE xx BELOW xxxxx

43 is, predictably, 43 ft long with a beam of 24’6”. Displacement is 9,000kg which is relatively modest for a blue water cruiser and there has been a conscious effort to make sure weight is kept to a minimum.

The hull is vacuum infused sandwich with carbon fibre reinforcement.

Neel has made a conscious effort to use PET as the filling for its sandwich because this is both more environmentally sustainable and also less susceptible to water infiltration.

The sandwich construction and network of bulkheads also ensure that the 43 is unsinkable. The central hull is heavily rockered to facilitate fast tacking and there is a small skeg in front of the rudder that protects the saildrive and rudder.

Water and fuel tanks are located low within the central hull with the 50hp sail drive located aft; all this makes for good integral stability.

The sponsons are relatively narrow with aggressive dreadnought bows.

The rig is set well aft with a big fully battened main and generous overlapping genoa hinting at a boat that should be able to provide not only comfort but a few thrills along the way. The big gennaker adds another string to the 43’s bow.

The nacelle is the key to this

On deck

yacht’s cruising comfort and fights the battle that all multihulls have between providing masses of internal volume while not looking like a shed unsubtly dropped on top of the hulls. I’d say Neel has fought the good fight here, because, while I would argue that there are few cruising multihulls out there that would win a beauty contest, this one looks integrated and very much part of the original design concept – not always the case unfortunately.

Step aboard and you immediately think ‘well, here’s something different’ and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Neel's concept of cruising comfort revolves around the slightly unusually monikered ‘cocklit’ this is the easy transition between indoor and outdoor space common to multihulls. On the Neel the outdoor section is extensive with a solid fixed bimini providing good protection from the elements.

To port is a large seating area with a table and to starboard is an aft facing bench seat which was very comfortable. The aft end of the main hull is used as a space to store your dinghy. The helm is situated to starboard and slightly raised but you do remain reasonably well in touch with the main cockpit

ABOVE xxxx BELOW xxx

area. The running rigging set up is relatively simple with all lines led to a bank of jammers within reach of the helmsman. From here the helm has a pair of winches, one electric and one manual on the test boat, which allow you to handle the boat with ease singlehandedly. There are two more winches on the sponsons which can be used for setting the gennaker. Up forward, the side decks are wide. You can lounge on the coachroof but there is a feeling it is not the main intention of this space which, if anything, feels a bit surplus to requirements although it’s a great spot to put acres of solar panels.

Inside/outside

The transition between saloon and cockpit is seamless and obviously all on one level. The 43 features huge forward facing windows in the saloon and these mean that this is a spectacularly bright space. There is a bit of flexibility when it comes to layout of course but on the test boat there was a main living area to starboard set well forward with the main lounging area to port.

This can be converted into a double berth if you wish. Forward of this is a nav area from where you can happily control the boat thanks to the autopilot and the excellent views forward. To port and starboard are a pair of double berths which are very bright thanks to internal windows letting light in and making them very much part of the communal space by day, while curtains ensure you have your privacy at night.

The heads/shower room is on the Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

55

Boat Test ~ Neel 43

starboard side aft of the galley and the main stateroom is in the bow of the main hull. In addition, there are two small single berths in the bows of the two sponsons that can be accessed from the main deck.

Never before have I used the word labyrinthine on a boat test, but I have to say that there were moments when the Neel had me foxed. I was also charmed by the whole approach to the interior design.

There is a clear emphasis on weight saving and this is reflected in the use of fabrics instead of doors for cupboards and a simplicity to the layout. Yet that does not mean it is sparse or cold – far from it. The use of bright colours for fabrics and all that natural light make for a friendly environment. I was somehow put in mind of Playschool with all those bright primary colours. It was cheerful and made you think of holidays. Access to the engine area was good and there was a lot of space beneath the deck for all manner of blue water kit. My only real reservation was that I felt the heads/ shower area was a bit tunnel like.

Under sail

The next question was, how would the damn thing sail? Well, I’m happy to say that the answer is that it went very well indeed. There is always something ponderous and stately about these big multihulls as you move away from the pontoon berth.

You feel like you’re at the helm of a block of flats or a cross channel ferry and I must admit I’ve sailed a

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couple that handled similarly. This is definitely not a charge that could be levelled at the Neel. We sailed in a pretty steady 10-15kn of breeze and flat water and the boat behaved exceptionally well. Straight line speed was superb – rarely dropping below 10kn. What struck me most was the consistenct of the boat. It stuck to that 10kn with some rigidity.

You had to try pretty hard for the speed to drop below that and in the puffs there were some nice surges of acceleration.Being a trimaran, there is a bit more involvement than on your typical cruising cat. The intention is to fly the windward hull and this means there is a decent amount of heel – not enough to

ABOVE

xxx

BELOW

xxxxxx

scare anyone but enough to make you feel you are sailing with purpose. The steering also had great feel and this is achieved by having a single rudder controlled by Vectran lines on ball bearing blocks.

At the helm you felt fully in control of the boat and I was impressed by how close winded the 43 was. This is also a boat that went through the tacks with relative ease, although the real test would have been in choppier waters.

I was slightly taken aback by the fact that one winch was used to control both jib sheets, meaning that mid tack there is a bit of a scramble to switch them over. Although a pair of cleat jammers reduces this issue and we certainly had no problem on the test day to be fair. The only other thing of note was that we really did sail fast and with a great feeling of speed – obviously a joyous thing – on the flip side we did also manage to receive a decent lump of spray into the cockpit as a result of this impressive speed.

This may have been just an unfortunate occurrence but it would be good to sail the boat in wilder seas.

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Boat test ~ Excess 15

ALTERNATIVE BOATS

DRAGONFLY 40 A bit smaller and sportier but with less volume. Danish boatbuilder Dragonfly has been ploughing a similarly individual furrow and this is their biggest offering yet. dragonfly.dk

SAM’S VERDICT The Neel 43 is a highly innovative yacht that combines weight saving and sleek hull design with clever nacelle layout to provide a yacht that is both fast, fun and comfortable. The looks are individual – as with most multihulls – but the performance is undeniable – not always the case with multihulls. It’s a boat that will

doubtless appeal to someone with a very clear idea of what they want from a yacht and someone who dares to be a bit different. As such, I thought it was excellent and a real beath of fresh air.

PERFORMANCE: ★★★ ★★ LOOKS: ★★★ ★★ COMFORT: ★★★ ★★

THE SPEC

Sail area: 1096 sq/ft (101.8m/2)

Length: 42’7” (12.97m)

Engine: Diesel Sail drive 50HP

Width: 24’6” (7.49m)

Price: (base) €329,800.00 (VAT not paid)

Draught: 4’5” (1.37m) Displacement: 9,000kg (19,800lbs)

OUTREMER 45 Ok only two hulls not three but this is a catamaran with a similar blend of performance and comfort in a very attractive looking multihull. catamaran-outremer.com

Contact: neel-trimarans.com Multihull.co.uk (UK Dealer)

RAPIDO 50 A bigger boat and an interesting proposition, claiming to be the world's ‘ultimate folding ocean cruising trimaran’. Hard to argue with that. rapidotrimarans.com

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59

Buyer’s Guide: MFDs

Multi Functional It’s a sign of the times that Multi Function Displays have become the nerve centre of the modern yacht. Sam Fortescue looks at the latest upgrades

W

hether your old instruments are starting to fail you, or you just want to upgrade, the four top marine electronics brands offer unprecedented firepower. The multifunction displays which form the nerve centre of a modern network are more powerful than ever, with dazzling colour screens and sophisticated user interfaces.

The digital charts they display have never offered more features, from automatic route planning and user’s pub reviews to the most astonishingly detailed seabed detail – viewable in a kind of Jules Verneesque 3D. Not only that, they can be updated electronically via Wifi, so no more messing about with Notices to

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Mariners and purple ink.

Finally, the instruments that they support are becoming more sophisticated, too. We’ll always need the basics of speed and depth, wind direction and water temperature. But to that you can add solid-state radar that tracks targets, dedicated collision avoidance and cameras for remote monitoring. Increasingly, the MFD is the portal through which you can control everything from the

BELOW Raymarine's Axiom range

music streaming in the focsle to the underwater lights, via tank levels and engine diagnostics. Here is a look at what the main brands are offering this sailing season.

Raymarine

It may seem as if it was just yesterday that Raymarine launched its new Axiom displays, but it was back in 2017, and they’ve had an important upgrade this year. Axiom has become

RAYMARINE GETS SERIOUS ABOUT CHARTING

“The multifunction displays which form the nerve centre of a modern network are more powerful than ever’’ Axiom+ and now packs more processing power (brands are very reluctant to put an actual figure on this, because it compares unfavourably with fast-moving consumer goods like mobile phones).

In line with the more recent Axiom XL and Axiom Pro, its internal memory has quadrupled to 16GB, paving the way for Raymarine to roll out its own proprietary Lighthouse charting (see boxout for more detail).

There’s also the new IPS screen technology, which improves viewing angles and visibility by a reported 25 per cent, according to marketing director Jim Hands. “Axiom was great before and now it’s even brighter with the Plus.” The screen has a nano-particle coating to repel water, oil and smudges more effectively – handy in poor conditions.

Axiom+ also has a new 10Hz GPS receiver. This won’t improve accuracy much for slow cruising boats, but it is more sensitive and should mean the unit gets a faster fix when you switch it on and holds that fix through more sailcloth/coachroof and other obstacles. What’s more, it has been

hosting apps for longer than the competition, and offers products from PredictWind to Spotify and Netflix (astonishingly, its most downloaded app).

Raymarine instruments all run on NMEA2000, but there is a plug arrangement peculiar to the brand which means it interfaces more easily with other Raymarine equipment, rather than third party kit. That said, their range is among the broadest in the business, with solid-state radar, AIS, VHF radio, fishfinders, FLIR marine cameras and hi-end audio through its more recent tie-up with Rockford-Fosgate.

Garmin

New from Garmin is the GPSMAP X3 - its next generation of mid-sized MFD. Available in 7in, 9in and 12in formats, the design has undergone similar upgrades to its two big competitors, including a sunlight viewable IPS screen and a processor with almost twice the power of the previous range.

The screen of the 7in and 9in models has 50-60 per cent more pixels, and there is now a more

ABOVE LEFT Raymarine's Axiom 12 Plus ABOVE RIGHT Raymarine Lighthouse BELOW (L-R) Garmin's GPSMAP X3; It is now possible to perfectly discern the details of wrecks from the detailed bathymetry of modern digital charts; Garmins GM120

Though Raymarine has long had basic charts, it is investing heavily in an effort to match Garmin’s Navionics and B&G’s C-map offer. Called Lighthouse, the new charts will include street mapping, depth contours and points of interest (from shops and restaurants to marinas and slipways). Charts covering UK, Irish, French and Italian waters are already available, with UK and Ireland pricing around £145.

powerful 10Hz GPS receiver.

Networking gets a look-in, too, with the ability to combine digital switching, cameras, engine data and nav data. And although you can buy a bundle with Garmin’s latest SideVü and LiveVü scanning sonar, sailors will be pleased to learn that there is a sonar-free option too.

Garmin offers a full suite of instruments to go with its displays, including solid-state radar, DST, various wind transducers (it offers a durable horizontal axis wheel), video cameras, Fusion entertainment systems and EmpirBus digital switching. Plus, you can set up your Garmin Quatix 6x smartwatch to repeat key nav data.

Bluechart g3 is Garmin’s native chart offer, based on the Navionics charts which are available for users of any MFD. But there are some differences. Both have the astonishingly detailed 1ft contours that allow you to see the seabed in striking detail. But Bluechart g3’s premium Vision product can put this on a kind of highway view, where you have either a keel- or mast-eye view. Then there’s shallow-water shading, auto route planning and

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Buyer’s Guide: MFDs

aerial photography.

Garmin’s existing ActiveCaptain app allows you to do your passage planning at home, and have it transfer across automatically to the display when you board.

GPSMAP 723 from £900 GPSMAP 1223 from £2,600

B&G

Part of the electronics behemoth that is Navico, B&G continues to dominate the market for performance sailing instruments.

This year saw it launch an exciting new addition to its range of displays with the full-colour Nemesis.

Designed to repeat whatever data you choose, Nemesis can be used above the mastfoot or flush mounted in the cockpit. It features a cuttingedge IPS SolarMax screen, with super-wide viewing angles, even through polarising glasses. It began life as a replacement for the popular HV unit, but became something more powerful. “We wanted a display

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that allowed the user to show whatever data they liked in whatever format. They can be as creative as they like,” explains product director Matt Eeles. It comes in a 9in or 12in format and can be mounted either landscape or portrait. A really nice feature is the ability to select context profiles, so it will display different information on a run, for example, than on a beat.

B&G’s other big launch this season is a new souped up version of its top performing MFD, called the Zeus 3S. With the enhanced viewability of the Nemesis and a powerful quad-core processor, it is billed as keeping chart scrolling perfectly smooth, even with sonar or radar running. The other key upgrade is the ability of the Zeus 3S to run embedded apps. These will emerge slowly in coming months, but will offer some additional functionality, such as weather forecasting or controllers for hardware elsewhere on the boat – underwater lighting is an obvious one. Zeus already offers market

ABOVE LEFT B&G's Nemesis ABOVE RIGHT B&G's latest Wind/ Speed/Depth display in action BELOW LEFT B&G's Vulcan 7 BELOW RIGHT Navico's C-Map

leading sailing functionality, including SailSteer, RacePanel, StartLine, Laylines, Advanced Windplot and Weather routing.

Navico’s in-house charting brand C-Map has also had a relaunch. Its so-called Genesis layer adds 1ft depth contours, while Reveal plots it in staggering shaded 3D that brings the seabed to life. Zeus3S is also now capable of taking a video input from Flir’s marine cameras, giving you optical, infrared and even underwater imagery. Expect a future software update to blend cartography, AIS data and video, for so-called ‘augmented reality’. Collision avoidance is another technology that B&G is looking at.

There is a full range of sailingspecific instruments compatible with Zeus 3S and the cheaper Vulcan displays. B&G’s wind instruments are market leading, and range from the basic cruising model to a highmodulus carbon model for grand pric racing. There’s also ForwardScan, a sonar product that

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Buyer’s Guide: MFDs

can plot the seabed ahead up to eight times the depth – so 40m ahead in 5m of water. It gives you time to crash tack to avoid grounding.

Zeus3S starts at 9in costing £2,700, up to 16in at an eye-watering £6,660.

Nemesis costs £3,260 (9in) or £4,900 (12in) b&g.com

Furuno

Despite its commercial vessel image, Furuno does a solid range of cruising electronics under its Time Zero Touch 3 sub-brand. Launched in early 2020 as big format 12in to 19in displays, a smaller 9in unit has just been added.

A quad-core processor gives seamless chart scrolling, with the no industry-standard IPS technology for a brighter screen and wider viewing angle. The 9in and 12in displays also offer hybrid controls, with buttons

GETTING GREENER Raymarine, B&G and Garmin all offer a wireless wind instrument package which saves you the bother of running power and data cables down the mast. Simply plug a wireless receiver into your network below decks, or install a compatible display, and the wind data appears as if by magic.

But you can also go wire-free for your whole instrument network if you choose. Raymarine acquired the Tacktick suite of instruments a decade ago, and offers packages tailored to cruisers and racers. You can get depth, speed, temperature and wind, communicating with dedicated wireless displays (they all run off tiny solar panels or off the connected Raymarine T121 hull transmitter) Plenty of other brands have seen the opportunity here. SailTimer is one, offering an autonomous masthead wind transducer that communicates

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and a dial that is more practical than a touchscreen in wet conditions.

Furuno makes its own AIS, VHF radio, satellite compass, wind transducer, plus DST and even fishfinding sonar. It also offers a very capable solid-state Doppler radar in the form of the DRS-NXT. But the TZT3 can also support up to five third-party devices through its built-in HTML browser. This means you can run ‘apps’ produced by other equipment suppliers, such as underwater lighting or an inverter system.

TZ touch 3 12in: £2939.95 furuno.com As they get more capable, MFDs are also getting more expensive. For that reason, upgrading only really makes sense if you have a very old system, or if you are an intensive user of sonar and radar, which requires directly with your smartphone via low-energy Bluetooth 4/5, or to a special receiver below deck. It works with masts up to at least 30m.

Budget brand Nasa Marine makes a good wireless wind unit (£270), and Calypso does a racier ultrasonic unit with no moving parts that either connects to a phone via Bluetooth (€499) or to the instrument network with a separate receiver (from €699).

There are also standalone displays, such SailRacer’s super low-power InkDisplay, which has a big battery and runs its own app. In the premium version (£35.95 per year), you can feed in the boat’s NMEA data. SailMon is the performance choice, with a very flexible configuration that allows you to decide exactly what startline and race data matters most. The 4.4in LCD Max display has an all-day battery and wireless charging, while the 6in Element Ink (€1198.80) must be connected to power in order to receive wireless boat data.

ABOVE LEFT The Furuno TZT3 suite of MFD's ABOVE RIGHT The TZT3 display in action

lightning fast processing capabilities.

Otherwise, it’s a bit like switching to the latest mobile phone. Features are similar across all three brands, but B&G has an undisputed lead when it comes to its suite of sailing tools: SailSteer, Laylines, SailingTime and so on. Raymarine’s Axiom is the best connected in terms of third-party apps, through its attractive and flexible Lighthouse 3 operating system. Garmin offers keen pricing and impressive performance, with a growing suite of sailing tools. If you want to move seamlessly between home and the boat, planning passages and scrutinising charts, then B&G is the best equipped (for an annual subscription cost of $45), followed by Garmin. Raymarine is lagging in this sphere, with two poorly reviewed apps for remote viewing of the plotter when on board.

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ROYAL HARBOUR, RAMSGATE GULL’S EYE

KENT

51°19’.51N 01°25’.50E

PORT OF RAMSGATE RO/RO ferries and big ship movements

BOAT HOIST FUEL FACILITY

WEST MARINA

EAST MARINA EAST BANK

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S

N E

Ramsgate has long been an important stopover for sailors making the voyage between east and south coasts. Yet it is more than just a stopover as Sam Jefferson discovers

MARINA OFFICE

INNER MARINA Access is controlled by locking tidal gates

Ramsgate

T

he port of Ramsgate has been close to the heart of the country’s international cultural and trading links for centuries, although it was first recorded as a fishing settlement in 1245. St Augustine landed nearby in 597AD when Pope Gregory sent him to ‘Christianise’ the Anglo-Saxons, but sadly Ramsgate didn’t warrant a mention in the record back then.

The geography was formed 5,000-odd years BC, when the North Sea breached the downs to form the English Channel, leaving the Isle of Thanet high and dry.

It’s not an ‘isle’ any more, being connected to the mainland by marshy farmland instead of the ancient Wantsum Channel, but the name persists appended to the triangle of land that juts into the southern extremity of the North Sea at the top right hand corner of Kent. Indeed, while Ramsgate feels every bit like a Channel port, it’s 20km or so north of the official dividing line between the English Channel and the North Sea which runs from Leathercote Point – site of the first world war Dover Patrol memorial – and the Phare de Walde near Calais. This fact makes little practical difference to navigation, but it may be helpful if you and your crew find yourselves weather-bound and condemned to participating in a pub quiz at Wetherspoons – Ramsgate is home to the biggest branch of the aforementioned hostelry chain in Britain.

Ramsgate is better known perhaps, at least to historians, as part of the Cinque Ports confederation established in Anglo Saxon times – not one of ‘big five’ members, but as a sort of subsidiary limb to Sandwich. Ramsgate had the last laugh, as the silting of the Wantsum Channel cut Sandwich off from the sea altogether, although not before it claimed fame as the landing place of the first elephant to reach these shores – sent here by the Roman emperor Claudius.

Ramsgate hit the headlines in recent times after then Transport Secretary Chris Grayling awarded a

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BELOW The inner marina at Ramsgate

51°19.51’N, 001°25.50’W

£14m contract to Seaborne Ferries to run a new service out of Ramsgate only to later cancel it after it emerged the company had no ferries and actually specialised in pizza delivery.

Ferry or no ferry, the main focus for large ship activity is on the western side of the harbour inside the outer breakwaters, where there are three RO/RO berths that can handle vessels up to 180m. Yachts entering the outer harbour between the breakwaters must cut across the ship channel and make for the old Royal Harbour which lies behind imposing stone walls to the north.

Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour Marina, which is owned and run by Thanet District Council, is the focus for the

leisure boating community. It has three sections, east, west and inner, the latter being primarily reserved for annual berth holders with access limited to two hours either side of high water. The west section should be dredged to 2.5m and is typically where visitors are berthed.

Latest information on depths can be found on the marina website in the section marked ‘approach’ As well as offering first class facilities to annual berth holders and visitors alike, the marina benefits from its close links with the celebrated Royal Temple Yacht Club. All the club facilities are available to sailors using the marina, including accommodation.

MARINA GUIDE

The Royal Harbour Marina is not just a highly practical option for yachts to-ing and fro-ing to destinations in the north of the UK and Europe, it’s also blessed by a picturesque and historic situation within the walls of the ancient harbour.

Construction of the Royal Harbour in its current form began in 1749, and was completed in 1850, and there are many notable structures around and about from the period including the clockhouse, lighthouse and Jacob’s Ladder steps. It earned its ‘Royal’ tag from George IV who visited with the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1821, and the harbour was developed as a leisure marina in the 1970s. RHM now boasts a Four Gold Anchor rating for its amenities and quality of service, and has grown to offer 700 berths on its finger pontoons. Inside the inner harbour lock gates is where amenities are centred, and access is controlled by lock gates which open either side of high tide.

Access to the outer marina berths is available 24hrs at all states of the tide, and the harbour runs a port control office manned round the clock with a listening watch on VHF on CH14 to help direct visitors if necessary. Of which there are many.

Due to its combination of location

ABOVE Another view of the inner marina at Ramsgate

and excellent facilities, Ramsgate attracts and welcomes huge numbers of visiting yachts every year making it among the busiest marinas around.

On arrival they should find a warm welcome from friendly helpful staff, with free shower and toilet facilities and a coin-operated laundry in the purpose-built

block. Water and electricity is available on all pontoons too, and marina users get free Wi-Fi access as well as the reassurance of CCTV security.

The management team is keen to maintain its reputation as one of the premier south east marinas, and as such says it constantly strives to improve facilities and customer service.

There’s certainly good provision of maintenance and repair services on site, with slipways, a 40-ton boat lift, chandlery and sail loft all available.

With the town of Ramsgate built around the harbour, the marina naturally benefits from proximity to all its attractions – whether that’s waterfront bars and restaurants, or a full range of shops five minutes from your boat.

The Royal Temple Yacht Club warrants a mention here too. It occupies an imposing building with views across the marina, and as well as having its own full programme of racing, cruising and training events, is notably welcoming to marina visitors who can enjoy the bar and dining, plus accommodation if required.

FACTFILE

RAMSGATE ROYAL HARBOUR MARINA Website: www.portoframsgate. co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 1843 572100 VHF: 14 Call sign: Ramsgate Port Control Charts: Admiralty 1827 Max yacht draft: 2.5m Berths: 650 Wi-Fi: Free (subject to ‘fair usage’) Electricity: £38.32pw/£7.52 daily Water: Included in visitors fee Fuel: Diesel/petrol on barge 365 days Waste: Recycling points at West Pier and entrance to boat park Laundry: Coin-operated on site Showers and WCs: Free for berthholders and visitors

Car park: £153 annual or £7 daily charge Boatyard and liftout: chandlery, sail loft, slipways and 40 ton hoist on site Supermarket: Ramsgate town – minutes on foot Cashpoints: Ramsgate town – minutes on foot Berthing charges: £3.26 per metre per day for visitors, or £19.33 per metre weekly Annual fees are £334 per metre (Outer Western Harbour), £304 per metre (Inner Harbour) Mailing address: Port of Ramsgate Royal Harbour Marina The Harbour Office Military Road Ramsgate CT11 9LQ

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Ramsgate

PICS: ALAMY, VISITTHANET.CO.UK

PASSAGE PLANNING Approaching Ramsgate can cause qualms, not least due to the proximity of the Goodwin Sands about four miles outside the harbour.

If approaching from the south east, keep going all the way up to the S cardinal named Goodwin RA east of the ship channel. Turning north west towards the harbour entrance too early brings sailors to grief every year as the tide sweeps vessels onto the sands.

From the south, follow the Gull Stream NE from Deal Pier, or if you’re confident take the inshore Ramsgate Channel. The latter is a tricky bit of pilotage with marks that are hard to pinpoint, and shouldn’t be attempted at all in darkness.

Northerly approaches should be made at least half a mile offshore as you follow the coast down from North Foreland, and

if port traffic is stopped there’s a holding area just north of Number 3 buoy in the ship channel.

Large ships and commercial traffic using Ramsgate harbour approach via a broad, 2.5Nm lane that’s dredged to a depth of 7.5m and leads on a bearing of 270° from the East Brake buoy (R FL R 5s) to the outer entrance.

The final marker on the northern side of the channel is an S cardinal mark (Q(6)+LFl.15s) denoting a sandbank that shallows to 1.3m close by, while a red channel buoy No.6 (Fl(2)R.5s) is your final mark on the south side of the ship channel.

The entrance itself lies between north and south breakwaters, the north pier head showing a green beacon (Q.G 5M); the south a red beacon (VQ.R 5M).

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ABOVE Racing action off Ramsgate

on a parallel 270° course, but keeping to the south of the main channel, and passing on the ‘wrong side’ of the red markers. On nearing the south breakwater, a request to Port Control on VHF CH14 will clear you for entry. If Port Control has barred access to the outer harbour due to ship movements, there is a designated small boat holding area to the south of the southern breakwater. Traffic lights are also displayed (3 vertical greens, clear to enter; 3 vertical reds, no entry) on the north breakwater, and a flashing orange light on the cream-painted Port Control office also means you can’t enter or leave harbour due to commercial shipping movements.

Once authorised, a degree of caution is required as you cut across the ship channel on a north-westerly course running roughly parallel with the north breakwater and heading for the red and green marks denoting the entrance to the inner harbour. Call the marina office on VHF CH80 for instructions. Once inside the west marina berths lie immediately to port. Motor on for the east marina berths, but watch out for the buoy (Fl.G.5s) designed to keep you off the drying East Bank.

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Ramsgate

CRUISING GROUNDS RAMSGATE IS A SPRINGBOARD TO THE EAST COAST, THE SOLENT OR PARTS FOREIGN Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour is a natural point of departure for yachts headed to northern European destinations such as Oostende, the Baltic or Scandinavia. It’s just 35 miles to the nearest point in France, and the profusion of commercial shipping racing up and down the traffic separation lanes generally ensures there’ll be one or two memorable moments in any crossing.

But Ramsgate is equally relevant for sailors rounding the corner of the UK for destinations on either the south coast or east coast, depending

on their direction of travel.

From Ramsgate you can launch explorations of the River Medway, or travel up the Thames to take a closer look at the Thames Barrier, and even venture right into the heart of the capital itself. There’s also a great opportunity to discover for yourself ‘the magic of the swatchways’ as described so memorably by author Maurice Griffiths. The rivers Roach, Crouch, Blackwater, Stour, Orwell and Deben all open up delightful vistas and challenges to creek crawlers heading up the East

ABOVE The Thames Barrier is well worth a visit BELOW The Belgian port of Oostende is a charming stopover

Coast, while names like Burnham on Crouch, Brightlingsea, Pin Mill and Woodbridge have an enduring appeal for intrepid sailors who like to keep one eye on the depth sounder and the other on the compass.

Head in the opposite direction, and the south coast offers little in the way of stimulation to the cruising yacht crew, except views of the white cliffs of Dover and Beachy Head.

Until you’ve reached Chichester Harbour or the Solent that is, but the heart of the UK yachting scene lies a good couple of days from Ramsgate and you’ll typically be battling the prevailing weather.

Leap-frogging off the north coast of France is an obvious option if you’re headed that way and have time to break up the journey.

USEFUL CONTACTS Tourism information: visitthanet.co.uk, visitkent.co.uk Royal Temple Yacht Club: rtyc.com Chandlery: marlecmarine.com, 01843 852 452 Sail loft: northropsails.com, 01843 851665 Marinas nearby: Dover – doverport.co.uk/marina/.

Suffolk Yacht Harbour – syharbour.co.uk

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Charter - UK

A charter staycation Rob Peake enjoys getting afloat again after lockdown, with a day charter from the Hamble, on the cleanest yacht known to mankind...

P

erhaps against the expectations of some, the safest holiday you can undertake in the world today is on a yacht. Yes, you still have to contend with the

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

normal perils of life afloat – your G&T may spill as another boat’s wake sends ripples across your anchorage, and you might have to tweak the jib sheet more than once as you pootle round that nearby headland. Who

ABOVE Universal Yachting has a fleet of Dufours, operating from Mercury Yacht Harbour on the Hamble

knows, you might even have to reapply some Factor 50 after an afternoon swim off the bathing platform.

Of course, in post-Covid world, what you really want to know is that

the yacht you will find on your handover day will be clean enough to operate on.

I don’t get halfway through this question, when we turn up at Universal Yachting on the Hamble, for our day charter of a Dufour 412, before fleet manager Steve reassures me. Steve has in fact spent most of the last year scrubbing hard in between charters and covering not only Universal Yachting’s fleet of Dufours but also himself in the necessary anti-viral mist. On board, all knives and forks are in sanitised plastic bags and similar measures have been taken for other implements. Any pandemic-induced neuroses can be dispelled. This is probably the cleanest, freshest boat we have ever been on.

Our children, aged 7 and 10, disappear down below to explore the three cavernous cabins and multitude of lockers, while Steve gives my wife

ABOVE A thorough handover from Universal Yachting for a family day afloat BELOW Granny gives a lesson on the helm, while Miles plots the course to steer

Kathy and I the handover chat. We’re only out for a day, so he doesn’t give us the long version reserved for week charters – and we pay close attention, because our own sailing together has been on a 1980s Moody, not a modern Dufour that comes bristling with the latest systems.

Steve has been kind enough to switch on and set up everything that we’ll need for the day, from batteries to plotter. We take note of the basics – VHF, emergency kit and heads procedure. And then there is nothing for us to do other than to work out how to get this good-as-new, quarter of a million pound yacht that belongs to someone else out of the marina without an embarrassing mishap.

Both Steve and company boss Chris have given excellent advice on coming in and out of Mercury Yacht Harbour, but the Dufour is typically massive modern yacht and we know its high side decks will cause more

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Charter - UK

“The twin wheel set-up means an adult can steer while a youngster gets the hang of it on the other side” than a bit of windage. We give the bowthruster a few trial squirts, leave go the lines and motor on out. We have with us Kathy’s mum, Sue Heaser, who is here partly as a thankyou for having had the kids to stay for the past week, but mostly because she’s a far better sailor than either of us.

Sue has the helm and steers the boat out into the river easily. No mishaps, the sun is shining and we’re in the Hamble, which for sailors new to the area is an attraction itself. Sue and Kathy, both lifelong east coasters, enjoy watching ‘the cradle of yachting’ slide past to port and starboard. Jolie Brise is a highlight, neatly moored up as we motor downstream.

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

It’s a glorious Friday and the Solent is empty. With the help of 10-yearold Miles, who is self-appointed chart-plotter, and seven-year-old Amity on the wheel, we take an easy route towards Osbourne Bay. The twin wheel set up on the Dufour means an adult can steer on one side, while a youngster gets the hang of it on the other. The deck and cockpit space is huge and really this boat, with eight good berths down below, could take two or three families easily.

We spread ourselves out luxuriously and settle down for a rare day afloat. It’s been a while, mainly due to parenthood rather than lockdown, since mum and dad

ABOVE & BELOW Solent pilotage is tailor-made for teaching kids the basics; electric anchoring off the Isle of Wight; lunch at the chart table for the first-timers

have sailed together. In the old days, pre-kids, we found it worked best with Kathy as skipper, while I did nav, ropes and tea. We settle into the old routine and all works fine. There is, of course, the inevitable rustiness that comes after a long period ashore – and in 2021 after almost an entire year ashore – but luckily granny Sue has been enjoying some more regular sailing on Arthur Ransome’s Nancy Blackett on the River Deben.

Universal Yachting are keen to attract people who are newer to sailing and may want a skipper. No problem – they can provide. Their ‘Pop Up’ days are designed to get new sailors afloat, particularly as the pandemic persuades many people that sailing is a good option if they can’t fly to the Algarve.

Unsurprisingly, Universal Yachting are already getting booked up for the summer ahead.

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Charter - UK

Charter for a day Chris and Mel Warwick, of Universal Yachting, have teenagers at home and their inspiration for their Pop Up Sailing concept came from family summers spent on Chichester Harbour, as members of Emsworth Sailing Club, where when the sun is out and the tide is in, they are used to dropping everything and escaping out on the water. Melanie Warwick said: “We know that everyone is looking for fun, exciting things to do after lockdown that are safe. As a family we saw how crowded the beaches got last summer. We’ve been running the business from home during lockdown and around the kitchen table with our kids’ input, we came up with ‘Pop Up Sailing’ as way to enjoy a new experience sailing on the sea, away from the crowds.”

With skippers on hand if you need them, no previous sailing experience is necessary. The Pop Up Days will run according to all government restrictions and safety guidelines and cost from £400 per group. Groups can also pre-book private days out on the Solent midweek or at weekends, with a variety of lunch options and itineraries. Register at universalyachting. com/day-sailing-trips

Nobody needs explaining how perfectly well-suited UK chartering is to the idea of bubbles, social distancing and not being able to fly.

And us Brits are blessed, of course, with some of the finest coastline in the world. Not all of it, admittedly, lies in the Solent, but as we near the Isle of Wight things get decidedly more scenic.

We potter round below Norris Castle and into Osbourne Bay, to join a handful of other yachts anchoring there for lunch.

Universal Yachting’s charter party the day before had apparently tacked all the way up the Beaulieu and explored their way up the Medina too, before arriving back at base after nine hours underway. That’s getting your money’s worth. It’s true that the Solent is ripe for exploring, with plenty of places off the beaten track, and plenty on it.

We have a more leisurely time in mind. After sandwiches and coffee,

we raise the anchor on the electric windlass and slowly get underway again.

We pootle past Cowes and take a right turn after the Brambles cardinal, heading home while enjoying more Solent sights.

ABOVE AND BELOW Coming back in to the ‘cradle of yachting’

Not an ambitious trip by anyone’s standards, and all the better for it! The two children have loved their first day on a ‘megaboat’ and mum and dad have got the wind in their hair again after almost a year without getting afloat.

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‫ ׎׎׎ ד׏‬ƏȇƬǝȒȸƏǕƺɀ ƏȇƳ ȅƏȸǣȇƏɀً (ȒɯȇǼȒƏƳ Ɏǝƺ ƬȸɖǣɀǣȇǕ ǕɖǣƳƺ ɎǝƏɎ ǔǣɎɀ ǣȇ ɵȒɖȸ ȵȒƬǸƺɎٍ Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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Boat Test ~ Excess 11

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Top cat Excess Catamaran's range has cause quite a stir and the new Excess 11 is their most exciting design yet as Sam Jefferson discovers

I

t’s not difficult these days to view the past with somewhat rose tinted spectacles and think it was a domain where everything was just better – or at the very least less complicated. This is not, however, something that applies to the world of multihulls. Back in the day, your average cruising multihull had all the visual appeal of a pair of cupboards placed horizontally with a garden shed strapped atop.

Quite frequently they sailed to windward with all the prowess of this structure. If you look at some of the somewhat high freeboard monsters out there on the market at the moment you might be tempted to say, well, plus ca change. But the fact is that almost all now sail with some degree of competence upwind and often dreamily off the wind.

There is, however, one area where you could look back with misty eyes to the past and that is when it comes to size. In common with their monohull sisters, multihulls have been expanding year on year for a long time now, leaving potential owners who are searching for a sub 40’ catamaran at something of a loss.

That’s why the arrival of the new Excess 11 is extremely good news, as one of the big producers of multihulls has opted to chance their arm and produce what you might term as an entry level multihull.

At this point it might be good to provide some of the uninitiated with a bit of a back story. Excess is part of Lagoon catamarans which is, in turn, part of the Beneteau Group. It is unquestionably one of the biggest Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

79

Boat Test ~ Excess 11

“She is built with comfort as the first priority but with the added bonus of a splash of style and soupcon of good performance’’ manufacturers of multihulls in the world. A while back, the company decided it needed to broaden the appeal of its multihull range and bring in more young sailors. The upshot was the launch of a new brand, Excess, which was a masterful piece of repackaging essentially, with existing Lagoon models substantially jazzed up with improved handling and bigger sail areas. Some applauded, others derided but, whatever your thought on previous Excesses, the 11 can be viewed differently because it’s an entirely new model that owes nothing to the existing Lagoon range.

All new

ABOVE Fancy decals give the Excess a moderately sporty look

is endeavouring, if not to be all things to all people, at least to be a cruising catamaran with added fun.

BELOW The positioning of the helms outboard is a key feature in providing enhanced feel and greater enjoyment

On deck

Step on deck and the obvious game changer compared to rivals in this sector is the twin helms on the sponsons. If you’re a multihull novice and wondering what the pros and cons are, well, on the plus side, it frees up extra space in the cockpit and also generally provides steering with more ‘feel’ to it. The downside is that the helmsman is more exposed to the elements in bad weather and that the line of vision is always compromised in comparison with someone perched on a bridge deck. This line of vision question has been looked at carefully by Excess and the solution has been to provide good vision by thoughtful placement of the portlights on the coachroof which ensures very good lines of sight when parking the boat. The helm stations feature the throttles and nav instruments to port and wind instruments to

PHOTOS: POGO

So here we have an all new boat, fresh off the drawing board. It’s not a ‘reimagination’ or a MK2 and the benefit of that is that it is likely to carry far fewer compromises – if, of course, you overlook the fact that all cruising yachts compromise somewhere along the line. Anyway, this is a 38’ catamaran that has clearly been built with cruising comfort as the first priority but with the added bonus of a splash of style and soupcon of good performance.

In terms of internal volume, there’s a lot of that thanks to high freeboard, chined hulls and a beam of 21’7”.

The hull is vacuum infused and balsa cored with a draft of 3’9” and no daggerboards. Weight is a not insubstantial 18,000kg. So in this respect the Excess has nailed

it’s colours firmly to the mast; it’s a cruising catamaran. Yet the designers have been canny in adding in a fun element and the key to this is steering with a bit of added feel. The twin wheels are therefore situated outboard on the sponsons and Dyneema linkage direct to the rudders means the steering is much more direct than the hydraulic setups or complicated linkage associated with helms situated on a bridge deck. The sail area is also generous with the option of a special sporty ‘Pulse’ package which gives you 85m² of sail area as opposed to 77m² on the standard version. The rig is set further aft than on many contemporary models allowing for a bigger fore triangle and a touch more balance. The lack of bridge deck steering also means that the boom is significantly lower than on many rivals, thereby dropping the centre of gravity and making for a better sailing boat essentially.

Throw into the mix some sporty decals and flashy styling and you have an interesting new model that

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

starboard. You can pay extra for throttles on both sides which is certainly a useful feature. Both sides have flip up seats that are sort of reminiscent of directors chairs and are both stylish and practical but I was left wondering how they will last under wear. There is also the option of helmsman’s bimini’s to keep the elements at bay but they aren’t the easiest on the eye to be honest. The running rigging is also very tidily dealt with on this boat. All the lines come aft, making it easy to manage the sheets, main halyard and reefing lines from the helm. There is no traveller – instead the mainsheet comes back to two blocks either side of the aft bench on the transom.

Step into the cockpit and you are confronted with the real coup de grace which is the slide back ‘soft top’ roof. This is a real boon which gives the boat masses of flexibility, providing light when it’s required and shelter when it rains. This is an optional extra that certainly provides a great deal of versatility. Other than that, the cockpit space feels

incredibly large for a 37’ boat. No doubt this is in part thanks to the outboard helms. It means that the whole area is devoted to leisure and blends seamlessly with the saloon itself. The main cockpit table is to starboard and there is another bench to port plus and extra lounder between the two helms. It’s very comfortable and there is little question that this is a boat that will be a hit on the charter market.

Out on the side decks, there is a lot of room for manoeuvre and decent handholds. There is a ladder up to the coachroof but this space can’t really be used very well as it is compromised by the low boom – the main reason for being up here is to stow the mainsail.

Up forward there is a trampoline and the usual storage spots for anchor chain etc.

Down below

As you can probably imagine given this is part of the Lagoon family, there are an awful lot of options available with the main variation

ABOVE A comfortable living space with a nice blend of outdoor/ indoor areas BELOW A modern, bright interior

being three cabins and two heads or four cabins, also with two heads.

If you take the three cabin option, the owner’s version is in the port hull and the owner’s quarters, replete with queen sized bed, are aft. Up forward is a fairly palatial heads compartment and a modest office/workspace amidships.

The accommodation on the starboard side consists of two decently dimensioned doubles plus a heads/shower compartment amidships. It’s all very roomy and also very stylishly fitted out. In this respect the Excess 11 owes a debt of thanks to its big sisters the 12 and the 15. As mentioned, these two were Lagoons at heart so a good deal of time and money was invested into making sure the interiors had a different look and feel. The results were compelling and this has been translated to the 11.

Under way

Sails up and we were on our way.

The Excess is equipped with twin 29hp Yanmars although you can

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

81

Boat Test ~ Excess 11

SAM’S VERDICT The criticism thrown at the Excess 12 and 15 was that they were simply repurposed Lagoons. This is certainly not something that can be levelled at the 11 and, to be fair, the boat is all the more coherent as a result. Don’t kid yourself; this is an out an out cruising yacht but the manufacturers have succeeded in adding a bit of extra fun into

THE SPEC Overall length: 11,33 m (37’2’’)

82

the mix. There’s nothing earth shatteringly different going on here but this is a small (ish) catamaran that provides and interesting new option for prospective buyers.

PERFORMANCE: HHH HH LOOKS: HHH HH COMFORT: HHH HH

Light displacement: 9 T (19 845 lbs)

Length: 11,06 m (36’3’’)

Upwind sail area: 77m² (829 sq ft) Pulse option: 85m² (915 sq ft)

Beam: 6,59 m (21’7’’)

Price: €249,400 (base)

Draft: 1,15 m (3’9’’)

Contact:excess-catamarans.com

JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

ABOVE

Freeboard is generous

BELOW

The Code Zero is an invaluable tool in light airs

upgrade to 39hp motors if you fancy it. In common with most cats she was extremely manoeuvrable and, given that her length is modest, this is a boat you can spin in its own length. Under sail, I was favourably impressed. For me, the key here was that the steering had a really good feel because this is essentially the means by which Excess want this boat to differ from the others. The results were positive. The boat felt lively and fun to sail – responsive even. I’m not going to say it was like throwing Merlin Rocket about, but nevertheless, it was fun and engaging in a manner many multihulls are not.

She also pointed well. The test sail took place in modest airs (7-10kn) and I wondered whether her fairly substantial weight might count against her but it was not the case; we frequently touched on 7kn plus particularly with the Code 0 up. I was also fortunate to see the boat in action the following day when there was some serious breeze (18-22kn). I was on a different boat test, but had the opportunity to see how the boat behaved when hard pressed and I must say I was favourably impressed.

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83

Fliteboard Like something out of a James Bond film, the new Fliteboard hovers 70cm above the water, its speed controlled by a hand-held Bluetooth remote. It runs on a batterypowered electric motor, giving ride times of more than 90 minutes. The Australian company behind it has now unveiled a Series 2, which is said to be easier to handle while offering greater response for the more advanced Fliteboarders among us.

From $17,995

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LAUNCHED THE BEST NEW KIT

Gill OS3 System G-Shock The latest G-Shock comes with an unexpected tie-in with the Ministry of Defence.

The Royal Navy x G-SHOCK Frogman “is an unbreakable timepiece built from a ‘Never Give Up’ philosophy that makes it perfectly equipped to support UK service personnel”, Casio tell us.

The unique aesthetic takes inspiration from HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest aircraft carrier ever to serve the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy’s instantly recognisable colour palette of red, white and navy is used to striking effect, alongside the contrasting light grey which replicates the ship’s hull. £799

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The new OS3 is billed as a great all-rounder, suitable for beginners to advanced boaters and because of its water resistance and breathability it is said to be the perfect outer layer for year-round boating.

Gill has taken all the expertise and knowledge used to develop its popular OS1 and OS2 systems to develop the new OS3 garments, offering the ‘same offshore benefits in a lightweight package at a competitive price’.

The OS3 is developed with Gill’s unique 2-layer XPLORE fabric and XPEL technology, which is Gill’s new and exclusive fabric. This plantbased finish is REACH compliant and has passed third party per fluorinated compound toxicology tests, which means it is ‘much better for the environment’. Each fibre of the outer fabric is coated with XPEL during the manufacturing process, resulting in a durable and long-lasting finish, as well as giving moisture repellence, stain resistance, stain release and odour resistance.

OS3 Jacket £185

OSE Trousers £120

Gillmarine.com

This knife, the Runabout 1956, was recently launched as a steak knife by a French manufacturer, who happens to be one of our readers, and it has distinct nautical appeal. He tells us: “We developed the idea of dedicating a knife to the famous Runabout boats of the 1950s, reflecting the unique charm, elegance and technical precision of the popular motorboats of that era. Thus originated the knife with the typical trunk lines and the curved contours of the runabout boats as in Chris-Craft or Riva boats.” standop.net/voiles/runabout-knives

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

Ben Ainslie’s sunglasses When Sir Ben and his cohorts were out in Auckland, they were protected from the awesome sunshine by Smith sunglasses. The brand has partnered with INEOS Team UK, outfitting them with customized helmets and eyewear. smithoptics.com

Photo: Cameron Gregory/Smith

Boat-shaped knife

Raymarine LightHouse charts The new LightHouse Charts Suite offers a new level of clarity in marine navigation, Raymarine say, with the added benefit of “enhanced product purchase and delivery options” thanks to the new Raymarine Chart Store and RayConnect mobile app.

New Raymarine LightHouse Charts are crafted from official hydrographic sources and are said to make it easy to identify, navigate to, and explore on-shore destinations, fishing spots, and other points of interest. “Engineered for both recreational and professional applications, LightHouse Charts allow captains to switch between an official government-style chart presentation or an information-rich leisure chart view,” Raymarine says. Users can also take a LightHouse Premium subscription for chart updates plus an expanded enhanced satellite imagery from Mapbox.  From £145, also available with a purchase of any new Axiom+ MFD.  chartstore.raymarine.eu

Electric winch handle The electric winch handle Ewincher has enjoyed success since its launch in 2017, but now the company is launching a new model, the version 2, which is “faster, more powerful and with an increased autonomy, offering a 20% performance boost”. It has three operating modes (electric, manual and combined). The Ewincher “is more powerful than a crew member in good physical condition” and the company says you can hoist a 45ft cruiser mainsail in a minute, or lift a 110kg crew member up the mast of a 60ft boat. The removable lithium-ion battery can be charged in 1hr 30mins.  www.ewincher.com

Mirka boat cleaning range Mirka is expanding its marine product portfolio with the launch of its new Polarshine boat cleaning product range. There is a range of products on offer, according to your boat and job required, but Mirka say all are designed to “provide effortless and effective cleaning of surface stains on boats”. The Polarshine Marine Boat Wash is meant for sensitive surfaces, the The Polarshine Marine Deep Clean removes deep stains, while the Marine Final Finish is a high-quality finishing agent and the Marine Shield offers UV and salt water protection.  https://www.mirka.com/uk/uk/

Camper sneakers Camper has been named the Official Footwear Supplier of SailGP and is creating a selection of technical and casual footwear for both SailGP and the Spain SailGP Team.

“A family-run business with over 140 years of footwear expertise, the Mallorca-based brand shares SailGP’s purpose, vision and values, challenging the status quo while focusing on quality, performance, and sustainability,” says Camper.  From £145 for a pair of CRCLR sneakers  camper.com

Kid’s Bitter End YC t-shirt This kid’s teal t-shirt declares that you and your offspring have holidayed in one of the most incredible resorts on the planet. We hope the Bitter End YC gets back on its feet before long. There are also adults’ versions in various styles.  Kids t-shirt $35.00  Men’s Sailing Team Dri-Tek $69.00  bitterendprovisions.com

Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting MARCH 2021

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How to Win ~ Reaching starts How to Win ~ Sail fast in waves

Ruling the waves Sailing fast in big waves is the most exhilarating facet of being afloat.

Jon Emmett coaches you through the troughs and crests at top speed

H

ave you ever stood in the sea and felt the action of the waves on your legs? The surge as the waves push you forward towards the beach and then the sucking action pulling you back out to sea. That is

correct: the waves don’t simply ‘go one way’ and the way we steer in waves can have a huge effect on our Velocity Made Good (VMG). This is why we often see bigger speed differences in wavy conditions than in flat water racing.

You have probably noticed the

Fig 1

wave effect many times before, especially when you are trying to hold a boat by the beach when launching or waiting for your trolley BELOW to recover your boat, but have you WATER FLOW IN A WAVE Water flow in a wave really thought about the current between waves which at one point is pushing and another point pulling?

ABOVE Blasting down waves is one of the greatest thrills in sailing

HIGH WATER HEIGHT

ACTUALLY CHANGES

WATER FLOW IN A WAVE

TIDE TIMES

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

CURRENT HERE

TIME

WIND WIND CURRENT CURRENT

Fig 2 WAVES ON SHALLOW WATER

Fig 3 WIND WIND

CURRENT CURRENT

WIND WITH WITH AND AND AGAINST AGAINST CURRENT CURRENT WIND

OCEAN SWELL VERY DEEP WATER

CURRENT CURRENT

MAXIMUM MAXIMUM FLOW FLOW OF WATER WATER OF

On a local scale we know that water always likes to run downhill.

You can see this on the waves; the water is running from the top to the bottom which means the flow of the water can be considered from the peak to the trough. A quick note when we draw diagrams of waves like this: they can often look like tide charts. However, for tide charts it is not that simple with the flow of water rarely changing at exactly high and low water but that is a topic for another article!

The reason we mention current, as in the underlying current is that it is relevant to wave height and length.

So, when the wind is with the current it really flattens the waves. A good example is Portland harbour in a North Westerly wind at spring tides flowing out of the harbour. The water can be super flat even though it is over 20 knots. However, if the wind were South Easterly then the harbour would definitely not be flat, you would have very choppy water inside the break water and the waves by the harbour entrance would best be described as trying to sail in a washing machine. Where the current flow is at its strongest is just outside the entrance having been squeezed through the gap. Imagine turning a bottle of water upside down, the strongest flow is just after the bottle opening – not exactly at the narrowest point. “Outside” in Weymouth Bay can get very large waves in a South Easterly

ABOVE The interaction between wind and current and depth all have a profound effect on the shape of waves BELOW The differnce between real waves and how they are drawn in a text book is significant

Another factor is water depth, something I think that most of us intrinsically know but rarely think about. So, when trying to choose similar venues to train in this is an important decision. You get huge ocean swell coming in from the west of the Canary Islands where the water is hundreds of metres deep.

You would never expect to get that same swell on a shallow inland water, however large the area of water!

The second point is that waves are not uniform in size and direction.

Something that anyone who has been hit by their own personal wave

WIND

Fig 4 TEXT BOOK WAVES FROM ABOVE

REALWAVES FROM ABOVE

TEXT BOOK WAVES FROM SIDE

REALWAVES FROM SIDE

TEXT BOOK TIDE TIMES

REAL TIDE TIMES

off the start line which no one else seemed to get can relate to and it is much the same way that you are looking for that perfect high speed flat spot to execute the perfect gybe (or tack). The more you get your head out of the boat the more likely you are to see the best place (usually a ‘flat spot’).

In the extremes we have waves which are going straight on and waves with are going side on.

Although normally it will be somewhere in between. A good analogy is the reach and the approach to rig set up. With a really tight reach (almost beating) we have a very similar rig set up to upwind and with a very broad reach (almost a run) we have a very similar rig set up to downwind and then there are many shades of grey in the middle where even small differences in tuning makes a difference in boat speed which will be noticeable over a long leg. This is also true when it comes to steering for the waves.

The side on wave

Here the main issue is being ‘picked up by the wave’ and carried to leeward which, due to the wave being side on, is almost directly downwind. You may have seen spectacular wipe outs when boats are hit side on by a huge wave.

A secondary issue is the power will tend to go very on and off whether you are at the top of the wave or the bottom of the wave, being pushed or pulled. So precise steering becomes very important.

The key idea here is that you need to maximise your time on the windward side of the wave (where it helps you) and minimise your time Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

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How to Win ~ Sail fast in waves

on the leeward side of the wave where it is pushing you downwind.

This requires a big steering moment, maybe an even bigger ‘stab’ at the precise moment.

FRONT ON WAVES

SIDE ON WAVES

WAVE HELPS

WAVE PUSHES SIDEWAYS

MINIMISE TIME UPHILL

The front on wave

If side on waves is all about precise steering, then front on waves is all about controlling the power. Every wave is literally trying to push you back, so in most conditions you need to take as much power as possible to climb over them. This means when going down the wave you bear away as hard as you can (whilst maintaining maximum VMG) to not only maximise your time on the “good side of the wave” but to build as much speed as possible to help you steer up and over the “bad” side of the wave”. Here the steering is smooth and very often footing works very well (sailing as low and as fast as you can with maximum VMG).

It is worth making a note here that in fast boats, usually those which plane upwind you do need to be careful that you don’t launch off the top of one wave and then end up burying the bow into the next wave.

In non-planing boats it is all about perfectly timed forward and backwards movements by the crew to keep the boat pitch as stable as possible (imagine you are trying to keep the boat as close to horizonal at all times). For foiling boats, the ride height needs to be set so that you are as close to the water as possible but with the hull never making contact with the waves… easier said than done!

Kinetics

No doubt you have seen the huge work rate of the Olympic sailors.

This is not just hard work physically, but also the technique is so important. If you do a big forward movement and bury the bow when you should have moved backwards then it is far worse than doing nothing at all. The more waves you pass the more frequently you need to move your body. For slower boats this means most of the body movements are upwind because the waves are coming towards you whereas downwind the waves are going away from you but as soon as

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

MAXIMISE TIME DOWNHILL

FROM THE SIDE

Fig 5

TROUGH

Fig 6

FROM THE SIDE

TROUGH BEAR AWAY DOWN THE WAVES PEAK

PEAK QUICK LUFF

HEAD UP GOING UP THE WAVES TROUGH

TROUGH

FROM ABOVE

FROM ABOVE

you start to surf / overtake the waves you need to do the same forward and backward actions downwind.

Moving the weight backwards in the boat makes it easier to bear away, therefore we put our weight back at the windward mark. Whilst having the weight forward and the bow digging in with a slight amount of leeward heel makes it easier for the boat to head up, which is why this is how we start a tack, but it is not that simple.

In practice especially in single handed boats it tends to work very well to head up the wave you steer up, weight back (so as not to bury the bow) and sheet in. All three would be achieved if you just hold

ABOVE LEFT XXXX ABOVE RIGHT AND BELOW XXXXX

KINETICS BOAT WITH WAVES FROM IN FRONT

WEIGHT FORWARD TO TO GET BOW DOWN

WEIGHT BACK TO GET BOW UP

onto the tiller extension and lean back and out away from the mainsheet ratchet block. Likewise, to bear away we need to ease the sheet (just like we would for rudderless sailing) to keep the boat flat and as we move forward (to keep the bow in the water going down the wave) we are naturally pulling the tiller extension towards us.

Timing is of course key. The boat does not turn “at the front” like the wheels of the car when you turn the steering wheel (especially in a van with the wheels right at the front of the vehicle) but rather around the trailing edge of the centreboard.

This is why raking the centreboard forward and aft is so key for good performance and to a lesser extent why the position of crew weight also affects steering. So, in your head the steering action is being performed with the bow in mind (get the bowdown at the top of the wave) but remembering the turning comes from approximately the centre of the boat!

Conclusion

Fig 7

One of the great joys of sailing is every day is different. To sail fast in a venue not only do we need to learn about the winds and the currents but perhaps most importantly how to sail fast in the waves.

Britain's favourite yacht race Saturday 3 July 2021

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BROKERAGE | BOATS FOR SALE

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FANTASI 44 | ROSE SALTER MASCOT 35DS | ORIANA A unique deck saloon yacht with renowned Danish seagoing heritage and build quality. Sleeping six across three cabins she is spacious and very comfortable. The main saloon is superbly light and has fantastic visibility all round thanks to large wrap around windows. With a helm station forward in the main saloon she is a true all weather cruiser that will look after you whatever the conditions. Mascot developed a strong reputation for producing solid, comfortable motorsailers and the 35DS certainly ticks all the right boxes.

Sailing performance is good but it is in the comfort levels that this boat really excels. Oriana boasts masses of space

with forward and aft separate heads compartments, a light and spacious main saloon with dining table to port and a linear galley to starboard with helm station forward.

Length: 11.30m (37’) Beam: 3.4m (11’15”) Max Draft: 1.6m (5’2”) Engine: Volvo Penta 43HP Cabins: 3 Year: 1992 Lying: Kip

The Fantasi 44 is an exceedingly rare and sought after yacht with a true cult following. This Swedish build, aft-cockpit, pilot saloon yacht is a true blue water cruiser. Rose Salter is a highly specified example of this Gabriel Heyman design and was launched Jaccobsson’s in 2002. Rose Salter has been configured for effortless short-handed sailing and benefits from in-mast furling, tandem furling foresails, electric sheet and control winches in the cockpit plus a powerful bow thruster for close-quarters manoeuvring.

Below decks, her comfortable and beautifully appointed teak-finished two cabin, two heads layout offers plentiful living space for a short-handed crew with a large upper saloon, lower dinette and fantastic lower galley. Servicing these areas are a plethora of ‘blue water’ essentials including generator, watermaker, heating, washing machine and plentiful refrigeration.The Fantasi 44 really is a very very special yacht.

Michaelschmidt.co.uk craftinsure quote: £POA

LOA: 14m (45’9”) LWL: 11.3m (37’) Beam: 4.05m (13’2”) Draft: 1.95m (6’3”) Displacement: 14000kg (30,000lb) Year: 2002 Engine: Yanmar 4JH3-TE 75hp Berths: 4 Cabins: 2 Lying: Solent, UK Grabauinternational.com craftinsure quote: £POA

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JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

£ Tax 360 no ,000 tp aid

NAUTITECH N40 | POLÉPOLÉ Nautitech’s N40 catamaran offers a beguiling mix of speed and bluewater capability. PoléPolé is a particularly fine example and one which is ideally located at present to set off on the adventure of a lifetime. PoléPolé is a young N40, launched in December 2019. She was shipped to the Caribbean where she has been sailed only by her owners never chartered. She is blue water specified with everything on board you would need for crossing oceans or sailing from bay to bay. With a new 600Amh lithium battery bank, a 1050watt solar array and 60L per hour watermaker, you can live aboard without the need for a generator. With a combined fridge and freezer capacity of 250L, you never run out of tasty treats, even on long passages. She has been treated with CopperCoat antifouling, so will not need another treatment for several years. The inventory includes a full suite of B&G electronics including 3x 9” Zeus chart plotters, with Naviop digital switching system to control the onboard 12V amenities, radar and autopilot. As well as a generous sail wardrobe with lazy bag, for easy hoisting of your mainsail and a gennaker and asymmetric spinnaker flown from a lowerable bowsprit to see the best of her amazing sailing ability.

Length: 11.98m (39’4”) Beam: 6.91m (22’8”) Max Draft: 1.35 m (4’5”) Double Berths: 3 Cabins: 3 Year: 2019 Lying: Grenada Keyyachting.com craftinsure quote: £1,355 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 JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

91

Considering an Electric Outboard?

“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

TIME OUT SAM JEFFERSON REVIEWS SOME BUNKSIDE READS, AND THUMBS THROUGH THE LATEST REFERENCE PUBLICATIONS

Canal du Midi: The Ultimate Guide - Andrea Hoffmann The Canal du Midi connects the Atlantic with the Mediterranean and runs from Bordeaux on the River Garonne to l’Etang de Thau near Sete on the Mediterranean coast. From here you can carry on by canal almost to Marseille. In other words, it’s a jolly useful cut through for those wanting to get to the Med without going around the Iberian peninsula. This is an all new guide which promises to help you with planning your traverse. Highlights include: ● Highlights and itinerary for Canal du Midi trips for easy planning ● Insider travel tips for your boating holiday: where to stop off, sightseeing highlights, recommended restaurants to visit along the way ● Essential practical nautical information such as how and where to charter, locks, bridges and berths and so on ● English-French dictionary with the most important vocab ● Route maps

A knot a day – 365 knot challenges for all abilities – Nic Compton

All in all, if you’re planning on heading this way, your life will be made easier with this guide. What more can I say?

If you like knots, you’re going to love this. A knot a day – well, why knot? (you’re fired, ed). Well I’ll give you one good reason. I hate knots. they’re knot for me.

However, I realise that I may well be in the minority among sailors and, yes, they can be useful. Besides, what better time to start aimlessly tying knots than in the midst of a pandemic when we’re all locked up.

Thereare probably are better things to do, ut this might keep you sane. Anyway Nic Compton talks you gently through all 365 knots with the sort of soothing bedside manner that is ideal in these fraught times.

The knots are ranked according to difficulty and the book is clearly and thoughtfully illustrated.

Essentially, if knots are your thing, knock yourself out.

bloomsbury.com £13.99

Bloomsbury.com £16.99

Classic Choice The Cruel Sea – Nicholas Monserrat Ok nothing to do with sailing but an awful lot to do with the sea. This is a book that focuses on the vicious Battle of the Atlantic during WWII when the British Navy desperately tried to keep the supply line between the US and the UK open in the face of a sustained and savage attack by the German ‘Wolf Pack’ of U-Boats. To this end, large convoys of slow moving merchantmen were escorted across the Atlantic by the Royal Navy with predictably awful results. The book is fiction but it clearly

draws heavily on Montserrat’s own experiences serving as Sub Lieutenant and eventually Lieutenant Commander on various corvettes and frigates during this epic running battle.

As such, the book has the very clear tang of authenticity which makes it both gripping and horrifying in equal measure. This is certainly not a book for the faint hearted and Monserrat pulls no punches in portraying the war at sea for what it was; savage, remorseless and relentless. The book also conveys with great accuracy the extent to

which Britain and its allies were caught on the hop in 1939 and also charts the path from rather ad hoc amateurism at the start of the war to its development into an effective fighting machine. Monserrat is also clearly a patriot but, thankfully he is not blindly patriotic making for a balanced and considered narrative that looks at the complex relationship with other allies such as the US and Russia. The real star, however, is the North Atlantic which comes across exactly as it should; bleak, savage and, yes, cruel.

sailingtoday.co.uk JUNE 2021

93

Shortlist | Anchors

SHORTLIST ANCHORS

MORE SHORTLISTS

All anchors selected to be suitable for a 40-45ft boat up to c12t

We keep this and similar lists bang up to date online at sailingtoday.co.uk

Rocna

Fortress

A reliable new generation anchor that features a roll bar for correct orientation. the Rocna features concave flukes and a chisel tip. Resets within in its own length in most conditions.

Often seen on motorboats, the Fortress is made of super lightweight aluminium-magnesium alloy.  £539 (6.8kg)  Fortressanchors.com

 £641 (25kg)  marinefactors.co.uk

Vulcan

Spade anchor

Also by Rocna, the Vulcan has become a popular modern anchor and is designed without the roll bar for easier stowing on the bow.

This French made anchor is a simple shape and is designed to dig in to the seabed fast, and keep digging when under heavy load.

 £812 (25kg)  marinefactors.co.uk

 £814 (25kg)  spade-anchor.com

Manson Supreme

Ultra

New anchor with a spear head tip, roll bar and a ‘rock slot’ in the fluke so a fouled anchor can be freed without a tripping line. Available galvanised or stainless.

A thing of beauty in stainless steel. Has a hollow shank to concentrate weight at the lead-filled tip, plus sharp nose, side wings and non chain-foul bar.

 £598 (27kg)  mansonanchors.com

 €2,303 (27kg)  ultramarine-anchors.

Maxclaw

Lewmar Epsilon

The Maxclaw 316 Stainless Steel anchor range, based on the proven North Sea claw design is available in seven different sizes.

The Epsilon super-high holding power anchor builds upon the Delta anchor’s robustness and quality. Its concave fluke and ballast keel ensure good holding power and rapid setting,

 £531 (15kg)  vetus.com

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JUNE 2021 sailingtoday.co.uk

 £309 (20kg)  Lewmar.com

THE

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DINGHIES 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. £13000 Tel 07903 993588 / (CHICHESTER)

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Buy and sell shares Buy and sell with YACHT withshares confidence from the UK’s no.1 confidence from the yacht-share UK’s no.1 SHARES broker since 1991

TIDEWAY SAILS. Tideway Sails by Jeckylls in White Terylene Main - 1 row of reefing points fitted. (No battens supplied) Genoa some staining, nylon twist Hank’s on luff Jib - brass piston Hank’s fitted to luff All in good useable condition. £100 Tel 07887 771451 / (FAREHAM)

yacht-share Buy and sell sharesbroker since 1991 with confidence from the www.yachtfractions.co.uk UK’s no.1 yacht-share broker since 1991

CLOTHING

www.yachtfractions.co.uk WETSUIT ‘VEST’ BLACK. Wet Suit ‘Vest’ Black [TRADE]. £7.5 Tel 0161 793 1787 / 07975 901478 (MANCHESTER)

VISIT SAILINGTODAY.CO.UK

INSURANCE

SCORPION DINGHY PARTS. Everything for sale apart from hull - mast, boom, sails, rudder, centreboard, spinnaker poles, rigging and fittings, etc. Canvas cover only 3 years old. Launching trolley with removable jockey wheel. Everything in fair condition. Parts for sale separately, please apply. £20 Tel 01969 368371 / (LEYBURN) EUROPE CLASS SAILS. Velas Pires de Lima (AP-3 layout, different shapes) 4 sails in very good condition, used 2-3 months Spanish Champion design 2014!!!. £280 Tel +3466 0181999 / (SPAIN)

From dinghies to racing yachts, we’ve got you covered.

MIRROR 14 (MARAUDER). 14 foot racing dinghy with spinnaker & trapeze. With launching trolley and boom-up cover. £200 Tel 07913 604 574 / (STAINES) MIRROR DINGHY. Mirror dinghy No.64859 for sail. Never sailed. Stored in garage since built. All parts still in original package, Stainless Steel rigging. £700.00. £700 Tel 07798 828733 / (DARLINGTON)

01636 707606 www.noblemarine.co.uk

FITTING OUT Calls maybe recorded. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

DINGHIES LASER 2000, GOOD CONDITION. Complete and ready to sail with all three sails, combi trailer/trolley and top cover. £3500 Tel 07709 365089 / (WEYMOUTH) STREAKER 1651 SELLING DUE TO ILLNESS. Gillard hull in very good condition, launching trolley and road trailer. £1695 Tel 07980 578405 / (SOUTHPORT) LASER PICO. 2005 Hardly used. In store since 2008. Good condition. Ready to sail.

Buyer to collect in person. £600 Tel 07585 114194 / (BATH)

Boat Insurance made easy Get a quote in 20 seconds On cover in 2 minutes Low on-line premiums Get the App - craftinsure.com/app

craftinsure.com 03452 607888 Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

96

JUNE 2021 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting

BOSTON WHALER OUTRAGE 19. 2007 Whaler, with 2019 150 Yamaha engine with 61 hours. Stainless steel propeller. Bimini cover, copper bottom, all in very good condition. Road trailer included. £32500 Tel 07899 973482 / 01202 762064 (POOLE) LASER. Full and radial rigs. Refitted 3 years ago - hardly sailed. Cover. Launching trolley. £600 Tel 01825 733089 / 07484 897661 (UCKFIELD) RS400 SAIL NUMBER 1376. Mist grey hull.

Built 2013. Very little use. Approx 15 events.

Very competitive boat. Immaculate condition. Stored indoors. Combination road base / Launching trolley. Under cover. Top cover. Padded rudder bag. All Harken fittings. Mylar radial sails. Black kite. Vynalester hull. Carbon pole. Cut thwart. Carbon tiller extension. Cost of this package new over £15,000. £5950 Tel 07721 767777 / (HOLYWOOD, NORTHERN IRELAND) 2020 CABRINHA SWITCHBLADE FX KITE. New Cabrinha 2019 Switchblade FX Kite Complete With Bar And Lines kitesurf 2020 Cabrinha Switchblade FX Kite Complete With Bar And Lines kitesurf Available Colors - Orange / Yellow / Blue Contact : Simonsenterprize. Call Me +1 832 299 4636 Whatsapp +1 469 988 5877. £700 Tel 83229 94636 / (DALLAS)

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To advertise please call Mark on 020 7349 3787

KEELBOATS FLYING FIFTEEN CLASSIC KEELBOAT 1333.

Anaconda, 1971, Isle of Wight, Copeland/ McIntosh. Fibreglass/Wood, mahogany m sheet console. Wide side decks. Grey point deck. Green & white topsides. Very good condition, well maintained. Includes: 1 very good set of sails (high aspect jib). 2 reasonable sets of sails., spinnaker bags, compass, anchor. Galvanised trailer, new wheel bearings £1850 Tel 07949 542531 / (HULL) J24 KEELBOAT 4266. J24 Built 2003 J-Boats Italy. Dry sailed. Hull professionally faired and epoxied 2018. Minimum weight with correctors, certificate, full inventory. Echo sounder. Kenyon mast/boom. Carbonfibre pole. Harken deck fittings. Long shaft Tohatsu 3.5 outboard. Tactick race compass. North regatta sails only used for Worlds 2019. BALBI tilting road trailer. £10050 Tel 01929 556222 / (POOLE) 1990 ROGERS DESIGN J-24. Good race results both in club racing and opens. 2nd Spring Cup 2019 in Dartmouth. 5th Summer Cup 2019 in Parkstone with race win. 3rd Autumn Cup in Poole. Race wins at the last two National Events. Last weighed in at 1272KG. Original Kenyon Mast with forestay reinforcement completed 2019. £9000 Tel +4477 87741871 / +4477 68533119 (POOLE)

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SAILS

DINGHY COVERS

www.rainandsun.co.uk

rain .co.uandsun k

Dinghy covers

Tel:

023

803

4 88 54

Call Philip Bull on 023 8034 8854 KEELBOATS JEANNEAU ‘16 479. Used 13.4m length polyester white coloured diesel Sailboat, with 4 cabins, 4 heads, 4 beds. Usage hours 3.289. Engine’s power 55bhp.

Anemometer, Bathroom ladder, Auxiliary machine, Compass, Electric windlass, Fathometer, GPS, Gangway, Kitchen, Land socket, Oven, Plotter, Sewage tank, Tent, Tv, Vhf, Water tank, Auto pilot, Outboard motor, Refrigerator, with 1 engine, A/C, Bimini Top, Bow Thruster, Electric Winch for Mainsail, Electronic Instruments, GPS Plotter Inside and on Cockpit, Reefing Mainsail, Outboard Motor, Radio/CD player, Solar Panel, Sprayhood, 2 Steering Wheels. £189000 Tel +30 6932606223 / (GREECE) J24 BOAT LIFTER. Hydrohoist Boat Lifter.

Ideal for J24 or other keelboat/small yacht.

Lifts boat completely out of water so no need for antifouling. Good working order, can be seen in action in Poole. Can be disassembled for transport. £2000 Tel +4419 29556222 / (POOLE) ROGERS CONTESSA J24. Race-ready Rogers Contessa J24. GBR4113 is ready to take away today, fully rerigged in 2019 with Kingfisher Ropes, Harken and Viadana blocks. Correctors, 2016 Dart Sails set, North Sails spinnaker, road trailer, outboard engine. Contact for full history and inventory. £6750 Tel 07894 275014 / (PLYMOUTH) 1980 SOUTHERLY 105. Well-maintained lifting keel Southerly 105, all the gear, including full suit of sails, inflatable dinghy, winches, full inventory and ready to sail away immediately for all-year round sailing. Viewing by arrangement, contact for more information. £30950 Tel 07894 275014 / (PLYMOUTH) 31 FOOT CRUISING YACHT. A Sparkman and Stephens designed sailing sloop, with a black GRP hull, teak deck, beautiful lines and shape. Fully equipped for sailing, roller reefing and GRP/Radar installed 2011. New Nanni 21 hp engine and seacocks. Down below: 4 berths, leather upholstery, cooking galley,separate toilet and washing area. £15000 Tel 028302 60600 / (NEWRY) SWALLOW YACHTS BAY CRUISER 23. Bay cruiser 23. Built 2015.Very good condition.

Includes a braked trailer. £39000 Tel 07770 860730 / (CARDIGAN) SB20 NUMBER IRL 3148. Excellent condition.

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

Mast, boom and carbon gennaker pole.

Keel hoist. Keel buffers. Tacktick Compass.

2 – Gennaker launch bags (blue). Rudder blade plus cover sleeve. Top cover. Lifting straps. Engine bracket. 2.5 hp engine. Many accessories. Road Trailer. £10000 Tel 00353 863731738 / (DUBLIN) SIGMA 8 SPORTSBOAT. 8m white hull built 1995. Two suits of sails with large and small jib together with large and small spinnakers. Tacktick with depth speed compass ans starting sequence. All racing equipment included. Mercury outboard 3.3 hp. 4 wheeled double axle trailer. She is in good condition ready to sail. £7500 Tel 07595 057188 / (NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE)

T: (01929) 554308 The Sail Loft, 16 Sandford Lane Ind Est, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 4DY

www.kempsails.com

ENGINEERING

ENDURANCE 38 DECKSALOON. Beautifully light maple interior by Blondicell Southampton. Safe comfortable Grp criusing yacht with raised saloon for all the family and friends, 6 berths. Only lightly used. Fin and skeg hung rudder. Autohelm, GPS, Navtex, Heater, 240v, Battery charger.

Any offers or share considered. £69950 Tel 07770 860730 / (PLYMOUTH)

MULTIHULLS SHADOW X 093. Built 2014 but the beams were replaced Spring 2020. Not sailed this season. The hulls are in excellent condition as is the tramp, sails and foils. Chute on the pole. Big wheel trolley with handle; foil bags; stern blocks and trailer with box. . £8750 Tel 07795 080605 / (GORLESTON) DIAM 24 - 2014 OD TRIMARAN. Professionally prepared (ex Team BP) and perfectly maintained. Little sailed.

Complete pack includind Torqueedo engine, 2 set of sails, launching trolley, covered road trailer. Revised in ADH yard 2017, ready for leisure or season 2019/2020.

Visible South of France. £20000 Tel +33 607341149 / (MONTPELLIER)

MARINAS

Arbroath Harbour

OTHER EQUIPMENT HYDROVANE SELF STEERING NEW AND UNUSED. Latest model with remote course setting. £2500 Tel 64211 754205 / (NEW ZEALAND) LIFERAFT 4 PERSON. Lazilas 4 person liferaft ISO 9650-1 in hard case, just 3 years old, 3 year service interval. Needs new service for certificate. Used. £300 Tel 07775 706626 / (TWICKENHAM) EMERGENCY RIGGING / STEEL ROPE CUTTER. Toolova Shootit 12. Unique power tool using explosive cartridges to drive two blades together for immediate steel wire rope / shroud cutting. Ideal in emergency / dismasting – easy to use. Cuts wire to 12mm (1/2 inch) and rod to 9.5mm. With 33 unused cartridges. £325 Tel 07768 791992 / (SHEPTON MALLET) VICTRON MULTIPLUS INVERTER-CHARGER. Used. 48V/3000VA/35A. Latest Firmware 2.6 including MK3 USB-VE-Bus interface module.

Images and further details on request. £800 Tel 01395 271256 / 07971 261798 (EXMOUTH) YACHTING MONTHLY YEAR BOOKS. 20 Books starting from 1908 through to 1925. 1909, 1910 and 1917 to 18 are missing. Condition is very good for age, there is some fading to the covers of some but bindings are all good. Collection or collection by courier NN6. £150 Tel 01604 686685 / 07977 538386 (MARKET HARBOROUGH )

TRAILERS/TROLLIES ROLLEY FOR DINGHY. Rapide extender trolley for sale. No longer extends but suits up to 12 foot dinghy. Solid wheels. £50 Tel 07906 869185 / (CAMBRIDGE)

“Arbroath Harbour has 59 floating pontoon berths with security entrance which are serviced with electricity and fresh water to accommodate all types of leisure craft. Half height dock gates with a walkway are located between the inner and outer harbours, which open and close at half tide, maintaining a minimum of 2.5m of water in the inner harbour.

Other facilities in the harbour include free parking, toilets and showers, a crew room, fueling facilities, on site laundry facilities and boat builders’ yard.

The town of Arbroath also offers a variety of social and sporting amenities to visiting crews and a number of quality pubs, restaurants, the famous Arbroath Harbour twelfth century Abbey and Signal “Arbroath Harbour has 59 floating pontoon berths with security entrance Harbour Office • Arbroath • DD11 1PD Tower Museum are located close to the which are serviced with electricity and fresh water to accommodate all types harbour. The railway and bus stations Harbour Master: Bruce Fleming of leisure craft. Half height dock gates with a walkway are located between are only 1km from the harbour with Tel: 01241 872166 the inner and outer harbours, which open and close at half tide, maintaining direct north and south connections.”

Email: harbourmaster@angus.gov.uk a minimum of 2.5m of water in the inner harbour.

Other facilities in the harbour include free parking, toilets and showers,

a crew room, fueling facilities, on site laundry facilities and boat builders’ yard.

YACHT DELIVERIES LEATHER STEERING WHEELS The town of Arbroath also offers a variety of social and sporting amenities to visiting crews and a number of quality pubs, restaurants, the famous twelfth

century Abbey and Signal Tower Museum are located close to the harbour.

LEATHER WHEEL The railway and bus stations are only 1km from the harbour with direct north and south connections.”

COVERING KITS

Arbroath Harbour • For all wheel sizes and Harbour Office Arbroath DD11 1PD sprayhood grab rails l

•

l

Harbour Master: Bruce Fleming Tel: 01241 Spinnaker 872166 Leather pole covers Email: harbourmaster@angus.gov.uk

• Handy Pull Tags to open Shackles

• Suppliers of Marine Leathers to Sailmakers & Riggers

Clyde Marine Leather www.clydemarineleather.com T. 0141 881 4981

VISIT WWW.YACHTSANDYACHTING.CO.UK

Clyde_RYA_Win_16.indd 1

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Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JUNE 2021

97

Jess Lloyd-Mostyn The issue of theft while blue water cruising illustrates the importance of a tight knit local community and what a difference this makes to law and order

L

iveaboard sailing is, in general, actually a pretty safe lifestyle to adopt. If you steer clear of pirate hotspots (so not Somalia) and don’t dip down to the huge seas of the southern ocean (brrrrrr!) you can coast around in a warm, temperate climate of relatively straightforward tropical sailing indefinitely.

But what about personal safety and security? Okay, let’s forget about pirates and all their associated swashbuckling, cutlass-wielding caricatures. I’m talking about real situations of potential robbery or violence to crop up and spoil your seemingly endless boating holiday from the ‘real world’.

Thefts in the Caribbean are common. They’re almost the aquatic equivalent of schoolboy hijinks, consisting for the most part of opportunistic stealing.

A dinghy goes wandering, an outboard goes missing, etc. More often than not it’s no nastier than that and in many cases the stolen items are recovered.

What’s far more sobering are the incidents that involve forced entry onto a boat or crew, couple or families, being threatened or harmed. Fortunately, in our experience at any rate, such incidents are rare but the stories spread like wildfire among the cruising community, causing all sailors to be on the alert. And being on the alert is no bad thing. As sailors we train ourselves to be on the lookout for all types of trouble from the forecasts so developing a weather-eye for potential crime can be very wise.

While dawdling at anchor in Panama we got wind of an incident where a couple had been attacked in the night by local young boys. The news tore through the cruising fleet leaving all of us shaken and feeling nervous.

We started shutting and locking ourselves in at night, a shift in our personal freedom that felt wretched and rather than continue to do that we decided it would be far better to simply change cruising grounds and sail on.

Such issues reared their ugly heads yet again when we were sailing in the Western Pacific. Many sailboats avoid the Solomon islands and Papua New Guinea entirely due to reports of crime against boats there. But, rather than skip these wonderful cruising grounds altogether and potentially miss out on some fantastic exposure to traditional village ways of life we opted to do our homework and

simply prepare for eventualities or problems the same way that we prepare for every passage.

When you research into theft and violent crime in these places the rather endearing and slightly too lenient term “rascal” or “raskol” is often used. Crews are advised to consult the village chief or elder about known rascals in the area and what measures to be taken to avoid trouble with them. This rather blanket term, which sounds more akin to “loveable scamp” than someone trying to force their way onto your boat with a machete and demand money or goods to go away, seems to cover all manner of indiscretions.

However, we duly prepared for the rascals, avoiding certain islands where there had been reports of incidents, never leaving loose, tempting items on our deck and locking the boat fully when not aboard. Some boats go much further, installing motion-activated security lights, alarms or even cameras to discourage thieves. We were also warned away from the mainland in Papua New Guinea and anywhere else where extraction industry, mining or logging, had brought workers from outside. The issue with such places is that people have moved away from their local chief-led society which acts as effectively as law-enforcement in most places.

In a typical island village, if anyone were to steal something from a yacht, the whole community would know about it as the stolen items are clearly foreign and yacht crew would report it to the village leader.

The guilty party would quickly be discovered and publicly shamed and ostracised, on occasion even formally punished. So consequently, in a properly wellfunctioning village, such crimes simply can’t happen.

And this was most certainly our experience in sailing for many months in both of these beautiful countries.

Of course, we took our precautions and were wary at times but it’s also important to remember just how curious and friendly the locals in these places are. In the same way that we were desperate to explore their village and get a glimpse into the way they live so too were they amazed to see just how many people called this strange yacht home and what it looked like inside.

Did we feel safe? Yes, most definitely. But perhaps what’s far more important than that is that we felt welcome.

98

JUNE 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

‘A chief-led society acts as effectively as law-enforcement in most places’

The Windelo 50 Adventure is a real joy to sail and live aboard. Seaworthy and a high performer under sail, clocking up miles will never have felt so good. She also has everything you need for a great time at anchor, with an open view of the surroundings from her spacious user-friendly nacelle and open plan deck.

20knts

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DESIGN BY Barreau / Neuman

Come and visit the 1st Windelo 50 Adventure in Canet en Roussillon, France WINDELO 47 2021 / 2022

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Launching in Summer 2021

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