Yachting Year 2019

YACHTING RACING | CLASSICS | CRUISING

YEAR

PLAN YOUR SEASON REGATTA GUIDE

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with the compliments of

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ESSENTIAL KIT New for next season BUDGET BOATS 36 of the best

Highlights of the year ahead

EXPERT ADVICE DESTINATIONS Sailing techniques Holiday cruising

BIG CLASSICS Stunning photos

Foulies not included.

Flee southwest this winter, and chill out without getting chilly. With the wind in your sails and the sun at your back, explore turquoise seas, warm trade winds, and spectacular barrier reefs. Embark on a Caribbean sailing adventure stretching from the Bahamas to Grenada, where the only cold thing is the drink in your hand.

See the world, differently.

Find out more at sunsail.co.uk or call 0330 332 1184 BAREBOAT l FLOTILLA l SKIPPERED l SCHOOLS

ROB PEAKE EDITOR

WELCOME

TO THE YACHTING YEAR CHELSEA MAGAZINES

The stunning

Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place London SW3 3TQ

spectacle of the 35th America’s Cup

EDITORIAL Editor Rob Peake +44 (0)20 7349 3755 rob.peake@classicboat.co.uk

now becomes a

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2019

global series for

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i

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The world's most beautiful anchorages

EXCLUSIVE Halsey Herreshoff interview

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Landfall in lovely St Lucia

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AMERICA’S CUP LATEST: AINSLIE’S TEST BOAT LAUNCHES

SKILLS

WEATHER PATTERNS

Make trade wind sailing a breeze

CARIBBEAN ISSUE

COWES WEEK

WORLDS

Summer

Brits top theIantable Walker on

sizzler

GBR’s Olympic potential

The hottest racing in the biggest fleets

EXPERT ADVICE

Race the Atlantic Tick off your bucket list

PLUS

Ireland

REVIEW

Exploring the Emerald Isle's east coast

CLINKER ADVENTURE Sailing around a lighthouse

BOOKS OF THE YEAR Best nautical literature

WINSTON CHURCHILL Boat that carried his coffin

THE BIG CLASSICS Where they are today SPIRIT OF TRADITION

WORLDWIDE COVERAGE

Modern classic ketch Regatta round-up CB365 Cover Standard.indd 1

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All you need to know about winter lay-up

BOAT TEST

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Boat handling skills to improve your pace

A king sized cruiser tested TOM CUNLIFFE

'Going troppo' in the Tobago Cays

Maintaining blocks

RS Games

Normandy landings

PAUL HEINEY

The ultimate brain teaser for the cruising sailor

DESIGN SECRETS

Legendary naval architect reveals his first love 20/09/2018 16:27

Slick performance meets Italian style

REBELS ON THE UP

TAKING COVER

SPEED ESSENTIALS

CARIBBEAN BUZZ

British team in action at the Extreme Sailing Series, Cardiff

Buyer’s Guide: choose a new boat cover with confidence

High performance hit-list to fast-track your dinghy racing

The top 10 must-do regattas, one year after the hurricanes

COVER_Option_FINAL_combined.indd 2

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04/09/2018 17:09

W

elcome to The Yachting Year 2019, a glorious celebration of the leisure boating universe – over the next 130 pages you’ll find boats of all sizes, ages and persuasions, you can read of growing trends and great traditions, we cover innovative kit and the latest wooden yacht restoration projects. Whether you are a dinghy sailor or a classic yacht owner or a once-a-year charterer, our expert authors will have much to turn your head.

The opening page of The Yachting Year twelve months ago saw me getting excited about the events of the 35th America’s Cup, where the sailing world was taken to new levels of competition, speed and televisual wow-ness in the crystal clear waters of Bermuda. On page 16 of this issue my colleague Georgie Corlett-Pitt shares the exciting news that that same spectacle – not the America’s Cup but similar boats and a similar audience-friendly idea – will have its own global series in 2019, kicking off in Sydney and coming to Cowes in the summer. This is just one of many exciting events coming up for sailors and shoreside observers over 2019.

The editors of our three sister titles – Georgie from Yachts & Yachting, Sam Jefferson from Sailing Today and myself at Classic Boat – take you through what we see as the big things to look forward to.

There is something else to be excited about for 2019 and beyond. The recent Volvo Ocean Race, which we review on page 36, introduced the revolutionary concept (I use the term with tongue firmly in cheek) of encouraging women participants. This has resulted in women winning the toughest race in the world for the first time. All of those involved believe it will help change for the better the improving but often still traditional perception of women in sailing.

Elsewhere we meet two major figures of sailing, one the fastest man around the world who is at the helm of one of the most innovative boats afloat, the other an America’s Cup legend who recalls the most innovative boatbuilder of all time, his grandfather Nat Herreshoff.

I hope Nat Herreshoff would be pleased to see that in this issue we feature not only the cutting edge yachts of our time, but also the cutting edge yachts of his time. Our article on ‘the big classics’ showcases some of the most stunning yachts ever built, and we include their price tags where we can, in case you have a few million going spare. Our selection of ‘10 affordable classics’, however, is just as mouth-watering.

I hope you enjoy reading about them and everything else in this issue of The Yachting Year.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 3

Contents

28

THE YEAR AHEAD FOR CLASSIC BOATS

By Classic Boat editor Rob Peake

16

THE YEAR AHEAD FOR PERFORMANCE SAILORS

By Yachts & Yachting editor Georgie Corlett-Pitt

22

FLEXIBLE SAILING How to earn money from your boat

36

VOLVO OCEAN

RACE What legacy has the race left?

46

THE YEAR AHEAD FOR CRUISING SAILORS

By Sailing Today editor Sam Jefferson

60

IONIAN CRUISING

Charter heaven

52

THE WORLD OF BIG CLASSICS We look at the most stunning yachts afloat

78

GRAND BANKS

A sturdy example from a great marque

108

AFFORDABLE CLASSIC BOATS 10 for less than £10k

68

BOOKS OF THE YEAR All your nautical reading for the next 12 months taken care of!

114

FRANCOIS GABART

72

BOATS OF NOTE The major launches for 2019

We meet the record-breaker

118 HALSEY

HERRESHOFF A legend looks back

84

120

KIT FOR NEXT YEAR For dinghy sailors, big boat

REGATTA PLANNER

cruisers and classic afficionados, something for all

Dates for your diary

4 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

98

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN Cruising the Grenadines with an all-female crew

65’ sloop Anna From cold-molded Spirit of Tradition yachts, to carbon fiber catamarans and composite motor yachts, Lyman-Morse builds them all. Ever evolving with the current technologies, our team of Maine boatbuilders takes pride in the craftsmanship that goes into every yacht we build. The result is a boat built with soul – a boat that is built to move yours.

BOATBUILDING | SERVICE | BROKERAGE | MARINA | FABRICATION | TECHNOLOGIES Thomaston, Camden, Southwest Harbor, Maine | Newport, Rhode Island +1 207.354.6904 | www.lymanmorse.com | info@lymanmorse.com

The toughest race PICTURE SAM GREENFIELD/VOLVO OCEAN RACE The Volvo Ocean Race may have largely taken place hundreds of miles offshore but those following it at home were treated to some of the most exciting sport imaginable, as the world’s best sailors went head to head, battling literally for each mile, while enduring conditions that most of us wouldn’t put the bins out in. Read our review of the race on page 38 and meanwhile you can catch all the latest performance sailing news at yachtsandyachting.co.uk

FIVE GO ROUND THE ISLAND The Nutter family – Craig, Kate, Jack, Molly and their Harrison Butler cutter Sabrina – enjoy a day to remember in the Round the Island Race WORDS CRAIG NUTTER

6 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2018

WATERCOLOURS SUE PEAKE

THE YACHTING YEAR 2018 | 7

Wish you FIVE GO were here

ROUND THE ISLAND PICTURE MATS GRIMSAETH

Cruising off the beaten track is this 44ft (13m)

Bavaria, operated by SailNorway, – pictured in The Nutter family Craig, Kate, Jack, Molly and the stunning waters of the Lofoten Islands. The their Harrison Butler cutter Sabrina – enjoy a company runs adventure sailing holidays for those who fancy something a little more than day to remember in the Round the Island Race a trip round their local headland. We’re assured the foredeck yoga is optional. For more cruising inspiration and for trusted boat and gear reviews, plus practical cruising advice, visit sailingtoday.co.uk 8 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2018

THE YACHTING YEAR 2018 | 9

FIVE GO ROUND Blue sky THE ISLAND thinking

The Nutter family – Craig, Kate, Jack, Molly and PICTURE GUIDO CANTINI their Harrison Butler cutter Sabrina – enjoy a The boat on the left here, Kismet, spent 50 years as a houseboat on the UK east coast. day to remember inherthe Island Race A no-holds-barred restoration brought back Round to her original the 1898 condition and she celebrated her 120th birthday in 2018 with a series of podium places at regattas in the UK

WORDS CRAIG NUTTER WATERCOLOURS PEAKE and Med, including at Panerai Cannes RegatesSUE Royales, pictured here. To windward of her and not to be outdone is the West Solent One Design Arrow, built in Lymington in 1924.

Traditionally maintained and aptly named, Arrow is still winning regattas 94 years on. For more amazing stories about the most beautiful boats ever built, visit classicboat.co.uk 10 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2018

THE YACHTING YEAR 2018 | 11

Atlantic 69.24m | W.Gardner 2010 | 12 Guests

Moonbeam IV 35m | William Fife 1914 / 2001 | 6 Guests

The Edmiston Classic Yacht Fleet The No.1 specialists for classic yachts proudly presents a selection from its peerless fleet.

The finest yachts, beautifully maintained and presented, keenly for sale and available to view.

Contact Mike Horsley and the Classic Yacht Team today and allow us to introduce you to some very special vessels.

Antibes office - Tel: +334 93 34 68 98 MJH@edmiston.com

Eileen II 28m | A. Mylne 1934 / 2016 | 7 Guests

Candida 39.65m | Camper & Nicholson 1929 | 4 Guests

Kelpie of Falmouth 25m | F.Sweisguth 1928 / 2014 | 6 Guests

ANTIBES: +33 493 34 68 98 |

MONTE CARLO: +377 93 30 54 44 |

edmiston.com/classic-yachts

LONDON: +44 20 7495 5151

|

NEW YORK: +1 212 792 5370

Thendara 36.5m | A.Mylne 1936 / 2014 | 6 Guests

Mariquita 38.1m | W.Fife 1911 / 2004 | 4 Guests

2

THE

YEAR AHEAD FOR RACING SAILORS

SAILGP The racing year begins with a good dose of glitz and glam,

Editor of Yachts & Yachting Georgie Corlett-Pitt on what she is looking forward to in the racing world in 2019

as Larry Ellison’s new fan-centric, grand prix racing circuit launches in Sydney, Australia in February. Ratified by World Sailing and overseen by CEO Russell Coutts, the series promises to redefine sailing, racing modified AC50s at electrifying speeds of up to 50 knots – as seen in the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda. Teams from six nations have entered, with the British team skippered by Dylan Fletcher with Chris Draper as CEO. Don’t miss the UK leg in Cowes (10-11 August) to coincide with Cowes Week. Other events take place in San Francisco (May), New York (June) and Marseille (September) – the latter featuring a winner-takes finale with a $1million prize up for grabs.

16 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

2013 DESTINATIONS

AMERICA’S CUP BUILD-UP

MAIN New boats for

New Zealand, but with details yet to be confirmed, will be

The intrigue around the keel-less, foiling monohulls

the La Solitude du

two World Series events due to take place in the second

intended for the next America’s Cup in Auckland, 2021,

Figaro

half of the year.

looks set to step up a gear in April, as teams will by then

INSET TOP

be officially permitted to launch the first of up to two

UK team SAILGP

LA SOLITAIRE DU FIGARO

official test boats. INEOS Team UK have already given the

ready to go

Late May into June sees the semi-foiling Beneteau

world a glimpse of what’s possible with their modified

INSET BOTTOM Ben

Figaro 3 make its much-anticipated debut in the offshore

Quant 28 test platform – dubbed T5 - approximately

Ainslie in his new

race scene. Beneteau have been hard at work rolling the

one-third the scale of an AC75, seen flying above (and at

America’s Cup

one-design boats off their purpose-built production line

times, crashing into) the Solent this summer. The first

trial-horse

to meet demand in time for the start. The new boat,

team to launch a 75ft version and thus prove this

which supersedes the old Figaro 2, promises superb

revolutionary design concept will definitely be granting

foil-assisted performance and is widely anticipated to

themselves a huge advantage in the battle for overall

shake up the status quo, even among the top-ranked

Cup glory. Also, promised by Defender Emirates Team

offshore sailors, making this a must-follow event.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 17

MAIN Alex Thomson

handed division is being introduced, reflecting the growing

and Hugo Boss are

trend in this discipline. The 2,960nm race was last run in

With 2020’s Vendée Globe race looming large, things are

due to launch a new

2015, when a new 24-hour record resulted. Whether it’s the

getting interesting indeed in the offshore world, with all

2020 Vendée Globe

sheer adrenaline of some of the world’s most prestigious

eyes turning to Les Sables d’Olonne for the race start next

challenger

40ft+ race yachts hurtling across the Atlantic, or the

November. In the meantime, fans of the foiling IMOCA60

INSET LEFT In the

post-race gathering in Cowes, there will be plenty to

were wowed when the first of the latest generation foiling

2015 Transatlantic

admire.

IMOCA60s, Jérémie Beyou’s VPLP-designed CDK-built

Race the MOD70

Charal, was launched in September. British offshore fans

Phaedo came home

ROUND THE ISLAND RACE

will no doubt be in for a treat when British offshore legend

in a fastest elapsed

The not-to-be-missed Round the Island Race takes place on

Alex Thomson launches his radical new Hugo Boss,

time of 7 days, 2

29 June, as hundreds of boats race the annual 50nm course

expected June 2019, and begins his final preparations for

hours, 4 mins

westbound around the Isle of Wight. With last year’s event

the non-stop solo circumnavigation. With a second place to

INSET RIGHT Round

a light airs marathon, pro and amateur crews alike will be

beat from the last edition in 2016, Thomson will be pulling

the lsland Race

hoping for a bit more breeze to carry them around, and

HUGO BOSS LAUNCH

out all the stops to tame his cutting edge monohull in time

perhaps the chance to topple the race record, set the

– and if past form is anything to go by, we expect one or

previous year by Tony Lawson’s MOD70 Concise, the fastest

two stunts along the way!

multihull round at just 2hrs 22mins 23secs.

TRANSATLANTIC RACE

CLIPPER RACE

The prestigious Transatlantic Race, run jointly by the New

The twelfth edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht

York Yacht Club, Royal Yacht Squadron, RORC and Storm

Race is due to begin next summer. While the exact route

Trysail Club, sets off from Newport on 25 June, heading for

and details are still being finalised, organisers have

a timing gate off Lizard Point, with the fleet thereafter

confirmed three stopovers in China – returning to Qingdao

bound for the finish off Cowes. Alongside existing IRC,

and Sanya, with a debut in Zhuhai. Over 500 people have

classic and superyacht divisions, new for 2019, a double

already signed up to the race, the brainchild of Sir Robin

18 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

,¥- JLM[r§ l�lElFl[T§ & l�E§TOl�ATl[ON§ ,¥Rll[on1E ][§JLANDt U§A ~ www.lLM[l[NJEWPOR1[',C0M ~ Ji<Ol<e@JLM[][NewpOlll"t.cc(Q)]□m

Photos here capturing the theme of our process and production. Bringing some tired but significant yachts back to, or a level above, their former glory.

Not only saving the yacht but providing their owners with a whole new platform for success either racing or concours d'elegance. The key aspects of project management, design, coordi-

nation of shipwrights, spar builders, cabinet makers, systems and engineers all here in a local radius centered at LMl's refit bay in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA. Now including an emerging composites department. We look after an array of Ps, Qs, Rs and S Boats, 6 and 12 Meters. Several race management teams base camp with us.

69ft Lawley ~ Carina --,

Centennial Carina underway after a twelve year rolling refit process.

Carina last year at the important stage of her restoration with new stem, keel, frames and floors.

1936 Bermuda Race winner Rhodes Kirawan receiving a new backbone, deck, interior and rig.

53ft Rhodes Kirawan currently very much in restoration process for a dedicated owner.

S&S ~ Santana 2015-2016

S&S Yawl Santana is returning to LMI after a successful Med Season.

S&S ~ Dorade 2008-2011

The mighty Dorade - after two refits can speak for herself!

lU01LJ[GlH[]B\(0]RJ01LJ[GrlH[ M[Ali:llNlE lN1[']Eli:llE§1['§ ]ULC ,,.._, "'vwwJLM[lNEWJP>ORT.COMl

MAIN The Fastnet

topped by the traditional fireworks display. As mentioned

Race takes place in

previously, new this year will be the SailGP spectacular,

2019

after racing on 10-11 August.

INSET TOP The women’s 49erFX

OLYMPIC TEST EVENT

fleet will do battle in

Gathering in the shadow of Mount Fuji, Olympic hopefuls

the Olympic test

are set to do battle on the waters of Enoshima, Japan, from

event in Enoshima

25 August to 1 September. This World Cup event will come

INSET BOTTOM

less than 12 months out from the 2020 Tokyo Games. The

Lendy Cowes Week

British Sailing Team scored four medals (two gold, one

LEFT Clipper Race

silver and one bronze from the 49er, Laser and Finn

Knox-Johnston, which sees paying crews of amateurs

BELOW RIGHT

classes) at the 2018 warm-up event. Stiff competition will

racing 40,000nm around the globe with a professional

J/70 Worlds comes

come from the Dutch, Australian and Japanese teams.

skipper on board a fleet of matched Clipper 70s.

to Royal Torbay YC

As an interesting aside, in the last race Coppercoat was

J/70 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

used to antifoul the Clipper fleet at the start. Fourteen

Rounding up the season is the J/70 World Championships

months later, at the end of the global slog, the hulls were so

at Royal Torbay YC in late August/early September. With

clean that they will not be cleaned or antifouled again

recent class worlds attracting in excess of hundred boats,

before the next race. Worth considering if you are

this one-design pocket rocket (the world’s fastest growing

antifouling your boat this winter!

sportsboat fleet) is sure to produce some exceptional

FASTNET RACE A date change sees the 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race move from its usual post-Cowes Week slot to Saturday 3 August, two weeks earlier than the original published date.

Organisers have cited a number of reasons, including weather concerns, for the decision. In light of the 600nm race’s sell-out popularity in recent years, the entries are unlikely to be affected.

COWES WEEK The regatta takes place from 10-17 August with support once again from title sponsor Lendy. A unique blend of modern and traditional, as club crews line up against elite teams, not to mention the buzzing après-race social line-up

20 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

racing, with pro and Corinthian titles up for grabs.

ENGINEER CONSULTANT BUILDER STUDENT FARMER DENTIST

ACHIEVE SOMETHING The Clipper Round the World Yacht race is a challenge like no other, raced by people like you.

Sign up for the Clipper 2019-20 Race and circumnavigate the globe, cross an ocean or combine several legs.

FREE INFO PACK

PUBLIC TALKS

Have you got what it takes to embark on The Race of Your Life?

Email OceanRacer@Clipper-Ventures.com quoting TALK TOUR for updated venues and dates.

To receive your free information pack please email us at OceanRacer@Clipper-Ventures.com quoting FREE PACK.

Join us for a behind the scenes insight into the Clipper Race. Discover more about the selection process, training, the fleet, stopovers, and most importantly the Race Crew. You’ll either walk away inspired or scared.

One thing you won’t be is bored.

Join the race: clipperroundtheworld.com/apply

W

ith more and more boat owners recognising the benefits of the ‘sharing economy’ there has been a huge surge in those offering their yacht for water-based B&B-style accommodation as well as greater flexibility through peer-to-peer chartering.

Matt Ovenden, the entrepreneur behind Borrow a Boat, says pulling privately owned boats into the charter market creates greater choice and value to the charterer, as well as bringing benefits to boat owners. “This is the sharing economy in action for the boating industry. The sharing economy is all about monetised under-utilised assets and boats are the most prolific under-utilised asset, with marinas full of boats that don’t often get used.”

Beds on the water

Whether it’s for crew accommodation at a regatta, or perhaps a mid-week business trip, staying on board a yacht in the location of your choice, rather than in a potentially non-descript hotel, has infinitely more appeal. It is now possible to stay on the water, in a marina or waterway, virtually anyway in the world on a boat of your choice. As well as being a unique way to stay, this type of accommodation offers great value for money with some of the most popular boats costing less than local hotels or B&Bs. Pioneering this sector is Beds on Board, launched two and a half years ago by brothers Tim and Jason Ludlow as the first ever on the water B&B-style accommodation model. With boats based in over 80 countries and an easy to navigate website, this is a great option for a truly unique experience.

Beds on Board is a peer-to-peer platform, meaning that guests and owners deal directly with each other, so any

questions can be answered directly before booking. Tim Ludlow, joint CEO, says with 25 per cent of guests having owned a boat, Beds on Board has a very boat savvy audience. “There’s a huge range of choice from welltravelled yachts to luxury motor yachts, from barges to houseboats and even some tall ships and superyachts.

Popular destinations include The Solent, London, Palma, Liverpool and Barcelona.”

Boat swap scheme

Alternative models see companies offering flexible accommodation choice through a day charter, either with or without a skipper. In a growing market, one company, Boataffair, has found a way to stand out from the crowd and not only offers on board accommodation through day yacht charters across Europe, and luxury yachts for hourly and day rentals in hot destinations such as Dubai, Miami, California and Monaco - but it also runs a unique Boat Swap scheme.

According to Adrian Walker, founder and CEO, Boat Swap is aimed at private boat owners who do not wish to rent their boat out for actual income, but who still want to get more out of their boat. “When you become a member of our newly launched scheme, you can exchange boats with other owners in our unique community worldwide.”

As far as yacht charter goes, Walker says customer relations and quality of experience are very important: “At Boataffair we believe quality, transparency and trust are key values. We enforce a vetting mechanism before any boat goes live to ensure that all experiences offered on our boats meet our clients’ high expectations.

“We realised that a boat renter doesn’t just want to rent a boat anymore. They are looking to invest in an experience, which centres around adventure and trust. Our boat

BOAT WITH A VIEW

From water-based B&B-style accommodation to peer-to-peer chartering, we investigate what the sharing economy is bringing to sailing WORDS SUE PELLING

22 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 23

renters can rest assured that they are in safe hands with our boat owners because we accept quality boats only: all the yachts on our platform have directly signed up with us.”

Peer-to-peer charters

Borrow A Boat offers customers the ultimate flexibility of being able to sail the boat, as well as sleep on it. Launched in 2017, Borrow A Boat now has 13,000 boats on its books in 60 different countries, from Thailand and Myanmar to the Norwegian fjords and Cornwall. Boats are available for short durations, at short notice, and with or without skippers on board.

Matt Ovenden explains that the company aims to be flexible. “Borrow A Boat is the only UK-based peer-topeer boat charter marketplace, and we pride ourselves on offering ultimate flexibility. Whereas some companies let you sleep aboard privately-owned boats, we let you charter and sail them, or just sleep on them if you choose to, or do a mixture of the two.”

Borrow A Boat launched a new app earlier this year to make booking more straightforward. Ovenden adds: “People can take this app on holiday with them or use it from the comfort of their own home, and be able to access boats from the palm of their hand in an instant, without the burden of ownership.”

Another flexible peer-to-peer charter company is Click&Boat, which offers yacht charter anywhere around the world. This French company is also keen to highlight 24 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE With many boats lying unused for much of the year, boat rental schemes are growing in popularity BELOW Liverpool is a great central city option

the importance of flexibility when it comes to booking.

Click&Boat’s Alex Katsomitros describes it as a one-stop yacht charter shop, saying: “It is ideal for customers who want to book a yacht charter at the last minute for a few days, say, a weekend break on a boat. They can compare prices, contact the owner, check reviews and book in a few clicks.

“Another advantage is that customers have the opportunity to meet boat owners from other countries and cultures. You are immersed into their world: you live like a local, eat and drink like a local, and sail like a local.

“Although it is difficult to pin it down to a specific price

because it depends on the type of boat, season and destination, a day charter of a 32ft yacht can start from £49,” he adds.

Other companies are seeking to combine peer-to-peer charters with the more traditional option of charter brokerage, giving customers the widest possible options to find their ideal boat through one platform. Netherlands based Boatsters is one such example, currently offering over 12,000 boats in more than 60 countries, bookable either directly with the yacht owner, or via one of their global charter partners.

Technology plays a key part in what this new generation of charter companies has to offer. David Ramljak, head of operations for Boatster, explains that the company is constantly seeking new ways of using the latest technology on offer: “We recently decided to accept cryptocurrency as a payment option for luxury yacht charters, through our self-developed wallet-to-wallet solution. We think this is a very big step for the yachting industry to move forward and in making it accessible for as many people as possible.”

Benefits for boat owners

Glance at any marina and you’ll notice the long-termers, the yachts that never, or rarely, ever leave the dock. Maybe the owners have moved away, lost interest, or love owning the boat but simply don’t have the time to commit to a day on the water. Sadly the long term scenario is often a forced sale.

Thanks to a new wave of boat rental options available, these situations are becoming a thing of the past.

Tim Ludlow from Beds on Board says he has boats on his books that have covered their mooring fees and annual 26 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE A wide variety of boats can be rented

maintenance from bookings alone, but he stresses it is not just about the money. “Owners also benefit from their boat being ready for them when they want to use it – it’s been aired and professionally cleaned, making a change from how owners often arrive to find their boats. It’s all about keeping the owner engaged with their boat, and getting some pleasure from it being used. The reviews on the website show how much the guests respect the boat and appreciate their time on board – which make the owner feel good, while the income makes sure that Beds on Board owners stay owners, keeping them from feeling they may have to sell their boat.”

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YEAR AHEAD FOR CLASSIC SAILORS

Editor of Classic Boat, Rob Peake, on what he is looking forward to in the classic world in 2019

DRAGONS TURN 90

man’s Bugatti....good looks coupled with supreme perfor-

One of the racing world’s most enduring designs, the

mance that has sustained their popularity for 90 years.”

Dragon, celebrates its 90th birthday in 2019. Designed as

To mark the anniversary, the Yacht Club de Cannes, in

an affordable cruising boat for young people, by Johan

association with the International Dragon Association, is

Anker in 1929, the Dragon was an Olympic class from 1948

inviting all Dragon sailors to join a celebratory regatta with

to 1972 and remains popular, with around 1,500 racing

a gala dinner, as part of Regates Royales, the final event in

boats registered with the International Dragon Association

the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge in the Mediterranean,

worldwide as well as countless other cruising Dragons.

from 23-27 September 2019.

Vanessa Bird, in her excellent book Classic Classes, says: “The Dragon is a pure racing thoroughbred, the sailing

28 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

But get in quick, as Cannes can only accommodate 120 participants. This will be one seriously exclusive party. We

can only imagine that Johan Anker would have been quite

MAIN Dragons will be

created the first Spirit of Tradition class, an idea that didn’t

surprised and delighted to see how well his slender creation

racing en masse in

come without its detractors but which has subsequently

is faring on her 90th. Those who can’t be at the regatta

Cannes to mark the

spread like wildfire to almost every major classic regatta

might be tempted by the 2019 Dragon anniversary calendar

class’ 90th birthday

worldwide. Yet the modern classic concept is still evolving

available from dragon90years.com

INSERT Forthcoming

and in 2018 we saw an exciting development with the

Britannia 74, designed

launch of a new brand that aims to become a serious

by Paul Spooner

production Spirit of Tradition yacht builder. The Britannia

Design

brand has been launched by Discovery Yachts, a main-

SPIRIT OF TRADITION It seems incredible today that the Spirit of Tradition concept is so young. It was only in 1996 that Antigua

stream builder of blue water cruising yachts with high spec

Classic Yacht Regatta recognised a growing movement and

fit-out and a strong customer base. The first model will be THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 29

the Britannia 74, a handsome looking craft that boasts classic lines in its overhangs and aesthetic, but offers modern performance through its sail material and fin-andskeg underbody. The boat is due for launch this year, surely bringing with it new customers from mainsteam yachting and a general injection of funds and interest for the wider classic world.

NEW YORK YACHT CLUB Newport Harbour in Rhode Island will be the place to be this summer as the New York Yacht Club celebrates its 175th anniversary with a major regatta for modern and classic boats. The regatta is likely to attract a serious fleet of International and Universal Rule boats, including 12-Metres and J-Class yachts, two classes with long histories in Newport.

TOBIAS STOERKLE

Classic Boat will be there and we will be bringing you all the action on the water and from inside the famous club building overlooking the harbour.

It’s interesting to note that the club, founded in 1844, was only a few years old when it sent the yacht America acrosss the Atlantic to pitch the new world against the old in the famous race around the Isle of Wight of 1851, which in

TOP: The impressive

later years would become the America’s Cup.

surroundings of the

Yachting historians will need no reminding that America left

New York Yacht

the opposition for dead, a coup for the young club and by

Club, founded

no means its last success on the water, as subsequent

in 1844

America’s Cup challengers were to find out.

30 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

“

Cowes is hosting an extraordinary triple whammy of 8-Metre events

”

8-METRES IN COWES

before 1960, but with modern rigs, hardware and sails; and

There are few more stunning sights on the water than an

the International 8-Metre Cup, for which all Eights with a

8-Metre yacht. Clearly, my preference is for a wooden one,

valid rating certificate are eligible. In theory, any boat could

but even the moderns have their magic. Those who agree

win this cup, but in reality modern (wing-keeled) boats are

will be interested to know Cowes on the Isle of Wight is

so much faster that they are unbeatable.

The Cowes event should see a host of British-based

hosting an extraordinary triple whammy of 8-Metre events

boats, hopefully including the modern Miss U, based on the

in July and early August 2019.

Hamble River, which was world champion two years ago.

Firstly, from 13-20 July, we’ll have Panerai British Classic

Finally, at least some of the 8-Metre fleet will likely stay

Week, the annual event organised by the British Classic Yacht Club from Cowes Yacht Haven. There is always a

CSY02 Bonati.indd 22

29/05/2012 14:57

on for a third regatta, the massive Cowes Classics Week,

good smattering of Metre boats there and in recent years

TOP Captn Nat

which runs from 29 July to 2 August and often attracts a

the well-known Eights Helen and Saskia have been regular

Herreshoff and his

strong collection of classic Metre yachts. The international

competitors.

designs, the subject

Metre boat clientele at Cowes Classics this year will be a

of a major show in

glamorous fillip to an already thriving regatta and the week

because the 8-Metre Worlds is taking place immediately

New England in 2019

will round off an 8-Metre Solent summer to remember.

after the event, from 20-27 July. This will be hosted by the

ABOVE Angelo

Royal Yacht Squadron and is likely to see 8-Metres old and

Bonati has retired

PANERAI TRANSAT CLASSIQUE

new gather for a magnificent regatta. Any regular readers

after having a huge

The last year saw the retirement of Angelo Bonati as CEO

of Classic Boat will know from our coverage that the

impact on the classic

of watchmaker Panerai. Bonati is not a name known to

8-Metre Worlds always produces some stunning images

world

mainstream sailors, but he has been one of the classic

This year the fleet is likely to be significantly boosted

and very close racing.

An 8-Metre World Championship offers four cups to

world’s most influential players. His sponsorship of a series of classic regattas in the Med, and in the Solent and the US

fight for: the First Rule Cup for yachts designed before

too, changed the landscape of classic sailing. The Panerai

1920 or fitted with a gaff rig; the Neptune Trophy for yachts

Classic Yachts Challenge has given shape to a regatta

designed before 1960, whose rig and deckware are still

circuit. It is a beautiful array of wooden yachts gathered

period correct (wooden spars, Dacron sails and no

in some of the world’s most stunning old ports. I heard

self-tailing winches); the Sira Cup for yachts designed

it described recently as one of the seven wonders of the THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 31

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P.O. Box 209 Marion, MA 02738 | USA 508 728 6210 anne@annetconverse.com www.annetconverse.com

2013 DESTINATIONS

modern world! The regattas have attracted wealthy owners,

ABOVE Great racing

staging an exhibition of Herreshoff ’s works titled Stronger,

who have taken on major restorations, they have driven

at British Classic

Lighter, Faster.

a greater competitiveness, in some ways, certainly at the

Week, which takes

It features rarely seen objects from the museum’s Hart

top end, these events have driven the whole classic scene.

place in July from

Nautical Collection and many other sources. Nat Herreshoff

Bonati, a keen sailor, went further than mere sponsorship,

Cowes organised by

graduated from MIT in 1870 and built eight consecutive

by restoring the Fife Eilean and having her raced (skip-

the British Classic

America’s Cup winners, the first modern catamaran, the

pered by personable English skipper Andy Cully) in every

Yacht Club

first torpedo boats for the US Navy, the first US steam-

one of the Panerai-sponsored Med events. So Bonati’s

powered fishing vessels and the first aeroplane to cross the

low-key stepping down in 2018 was a moment to pause and

Atlantic, in 1919. “It’s wonderful for us to be able to bring to

ponder his influence. He took no public bows, but as a kind

the public a fitting tribute to the life work of one of our

of swan-song he was due to be visiting the Canary Islands

greatest innovators,” said John Durant, museum director.

in January 2019 for the start of another successful Panerai-

I look forward to seeing the exhibition myself sometime

sponsored event, the Transat Classique. The 2019 edition of

in 2019. If you can’t get over to Massachusetts, have a look

this four-yearly race will see a fleet of sturdy classics set sail

at the website, which is impressive enough.

for the Caribbean, including Eilean. There will be many hand-

http://herreshoff-legacy.squarespace.com

shakes and many memories as Mr Bonati waves the fleet off towards the sun.

HERRESHOFF ON SHOW

HISTORY ON HARD-DRIVE As part of the exhibition project mentioned above, in a monumental piece of work over five years, the Massachu-

A fascinating new Herreshoff exhibition is on in

setts Institute of Technology (MIT) museum has

Massachusetts until May 1, 2019. Captain

digitised the entire Herrshoff archive – more than

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, otherwise known as the Wizard of Bristol, was not only history’s greatest designer of yachts, but one of the earliest undergraduates to read at the now famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The MIT Museum, in Cambridge, Mass, is now

25,000 documents – so that it is freely available

GOING GOING G O N E...

online. It is one of several projects in recent years to make yachting history accessible to many, the most notable of which was the Association of Yachting Historians’ digitisation of the Lloyds Register.

They scanned 104,000 pages and the whole lot is available THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 33

The ‘field of dreams’ in Suffolk offers a host of fascinating but not insignificant restoration projects

for £70 on a searchable memory stick. The tireless association is now turning its hand to digising The Yachtsman and old issues of The Field. Both will yield fascinating results.

Meanwhile other digital archive projects are ongoing worldwide, from the British National

Awards 2019

has been bought by a discerning owner and a restoration is underway in time for the boat’s 100th birthday in 2020. Jo is a First Rule 6-Metre yacht built for the Ostend Olympics of 1920. She’ll be a fine sight afloat again. Now, are there any takers for the rest of the ‘field of dreams’?

Yachting Archive, to work carried out by the Yachting Heritage Centre in Germany.

THE MISSING LINK

FUTURE AWARDS WINNERS

Europe is crying out for a dedicated wooden boat show, I

One thing I love about the Classic Boat Awards each year is

wrote in the November 2018 issue of Classic Boat. The

how they show the vast spectrum of what a ‘classic’ boat

USA has events in Port Townsend and Mystic Seaport, the

can be. In 2018 we had a clinker larch-on-oak rowing boat,

Aussies and New Zealanders have an event in Tasmania

used by one woman as a ferry on an east coast estuary. We

– each a glorious celebration of timber craft big and small,

had an aluminium J-Class with state-of-the-art fittings and

attracting visitors and exhibitors from across the world. Us

electronics, crewed by a small battalion. We also had a

Europeans have some wonderful shows, not least the

jaw-dropping mahogany runabout that can do 60 knots. In

Thames Traditional Boat Festival and the Beale Park Boat

between there were amateur builds and professional jobs,

& Outdoor Show, both in the UK, and we have the

all launched after months or often years of graft and care.

beginnings of a good event in the Antibes Classic Boat

Each of the boats on our shortlist, published in our

Show, launched last summer. But these are relatively small

February 2019 issue, deserves the highest commendation.

scale affairs. Of the mainstream events, The YachtMarket.

The winners are chosen by public vote online via our

com Southampton Boat Show has a selection of modern

dedicated website awards.classicboat.co.uk.

classics and smaller wooden boats, and Düsseldorf’s ‘boot’

In the May issue of Classic Boat 2018 we featured the ‘field of dreams’, a field in Suffolk owned by Demon Yachts in Aldeburgh in which sits a mouth-watering collection of decrepid old classics, just waiting for somebody’s love and finance. Any one of them, I wrote at the time, would be a monumental commitment, but it would be nice to think they all would have their moment at Classic Boat Awards ceremonies of the future. Since then, one of those boats

34 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

“

Europe is crying out for a dedicated wooden boat show

”

has a traditional section too. But in a continent that sees dedicated classic regattas taking place all around its coast virtually every weekend over the summer, the audience for a single show devoted solely to wooden and classic craft is surely there. Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing how the events I mention above grow in 2019. If you’re a wooden boat lover or not, I highly recommend each of them as a great day out.

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THE

CLOSEST EVER FINISH After 45,000 miles, Dongfeng won by minutes. How did this extraordinary edition of the Volvo Ocean Race unfold and what legacy has it left for sailing?

WORDS ROB KOTHE 36 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

PHOTO: ELOISE STICHELBAUT/DONGFENG RACE TEAM

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 37

T

he 2017-18 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race was undeniably one amazing race, beginning from Alicante and spanning 45,000 action packed miles to the closest finish the race has ever seen, in The Hague. In all, seven teams battled against some of the planet’s most extreme conditions, through highs and lows – tragedy at times and jubilation at others – in a gripping race that has without doubt won its place in the history books.

From the off, Xabi Fernandez and his Mapfre crew came out of the blocks fast, with a second and two leg wins.

Then from Auckland onwards eight times VOR veteran Bouwe Bekking’s Team Brunel sailed brilliantly with a win, then a second and two more victories, while Charles Caudrelier and his French/Chinese crew on Dongfeng was a podium player leg after leg, but kept the best to last.

Caudrelier began racing the Volvo Ocean Race in 2011-12 as part of Frank Cammas’ winning Groupama crew. He says: “We have been campaigning since 2013, but much of our time before the last race we were teaching the Chinese sailors. This time we started our serious training early, then did a big one-on-one training block with Mapfre.

“We discovered a new way of positioning the keel which gave us a significant speed advantage from the race start.

Unfortunately, one Volvo Ocean Race race expert looking at our race telemetry realised what we were doing and shared that with the world via their Twitter account; that allowed others to copy our technique.

“Leg after leg we sailed well. We were very disappointed to have been leading into Newport (at the end of the 5700nm Leg 8 from Itajaí, Brazil) with 15 miles to go and then to finish fifth, but we kept pushing hard.”

Danish coast with an unfavourable angle cost them significant miles.

Carolijn Brouwer, Donfeng headsail trimmer, takes up the story: “As we came towards the finish, we couldn’t see any other boats on our AIS. After the one o’clock positions report, it seemed the western leaders would finish two miles ahead of us. But then we had more breeze than the GRIB files had been showing at the last routing and the wind direction was a bit better for us, and a recomputation showed if wind strength and direction stayed we would win by a mile.

“About 12 miles from the finish with binoculars we could see three little dots on the horizon. When we passed the last mark with seven miles to go, and they were still in the middle distance, we realised we had won!”

Caudrelier says: “We had a powerful team with a wonderful spirit both on the boat and shoreside. Our experience from the last campaign helped us to know where we could improve.

“The quality of the sailors was the best it has ever been: multiple Volvo Ocean Race winners spread across the fleet, five or more Olympic gold medallists, the winners of the America’s Cup... You don’t need to say more than that.

“This race is part of my life. A great race, the toughest one but the best one,” he concludes.

So near

PHOTOS: AINHOA SANCHEZ; JEREMIE LECAUDEY; MARTIN KERUZORE/VOLVO OCEAN RACE

Crucial decision

With just the final leg to be sailed, Dongfeng, Mapfre and Brunel lay equal with bonus points attributed. The winner of Leg 11 would be the overall race winner, and AkzoNobel still had a slim chance to make the podium.

Dongfeng and Mapfre sparred against each other along the Danish coast. Then came the most crucial decision of the entire 45,000 nautical mile race. Dongfeng’s navigator Pascal Bidégorry explains: “The Traffic Separation Scheme decision – whether to go east or west – was critical because you could not cross back.”

Caudrelier adds: “Our shoreside navigator said we should take the inshore route. Pascal pushed a lot too and said, ‘we must go there’, and we backed ourselves, knowing it would cost us early but we expected to gain at the end.”

After a wind shift the Mapfre afterguard decided they should sail the westerly course to which AkzoNobel and Brunel were already committed, but to sail wide from the LEFT: Blair Tuke on board Mapfre just missed out on claiming the triple crown of Olympic, America’s Cup and Volvo wins

38 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Mapfre skipper, Xabi Fernandez, recalls how overall victory slipped from their grasp in the very final stages of the nine-month long race: “The last leg was played out on just one card. It was one of the best legs Mapfre sailed until we made a decision that didn’t work out.

“We won three of the legs and had the chance to win the race right up until the last few hours. I think that it has been the best campaign since we began with Movistar in 2005, then our two campaigns with Telefónica and Mapfre in the last edition. If we can, we will do it again.”

Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Brunel, gave an honest reflection after settling for third place overall, saying: “The first half of the race was very tough for us. We had started late, just two months before the race start, with a small budget and that meant little shore navigation support. But from Auckland on, we had great results and it was great to have a winning chance going into the final leg.

“Had the wind direction changed as it was forecast in the last few hours, our dreams would have come true. But that did not happen.”

And with a rueful smile, Bekking concludes, as he has so many times before on this race, “but that is yacht racing.”

For Simeon Tienpont, skipper of fourth placed AkzoNobel, looking back at the race brought mixed emotions: ‘‘We broke our mast track in the Southern Ocean, and that meant we could not win the overall race. But from Melbourne onwards we sailed podium positions in six legs of the seven legs. We set a record for the fastest monohull in the world under 100 feet and the fastest boat in Volvo Ocean Race history, and of that, I am incredibly proud.”

And despite not walking away with a podium spot, AkzoNobel watch captain Chris Nicolson sums up the excitement that this closest-ever race has presented, as he says: “If we hadn’t damaged our mast and Vestas not had a terrible run of bad luck, you could have seen maybe four or five boats able to win at the end, and we have never seen, in offshore racing, that level of competitiveness.”

TOP: Dongfeng with as much cloth up as possible ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Close racing has been a feature of the last two editions; Vestas 11th Hour Racing had a run of bad luck, finishing fifth; Caudrelierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s predominantly French/Chinese team hard at work on a sail change LEFT: Mapfre was the star performer over the first few legs.

RIGHT: Brunel excelled at tight reaching and in big breezes THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 39

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What future for sailing’s toughest race?

The Volvo Ocean Race has a new team in charge and changes have already been announced, with more to follow for the next edition

R

ichard Brisius is the new Volvo Ocean Race CEO. His background was as manager of Team SCA, and he and Johan Salén have been running this edition since Mark Turner stepped down in 2017. They will head up the event with their Atlant Ocean Racing Spain taking ownership.

First of the changes under this new stewardship has been the swift confirmation of a much-rumoured switch to IMOCA 60s for the 2021 edition of the race onwards.

“We have been consulting with skippers, crews, current and potential sponsors on how we should reshape the race,” Brisius explained. “We will continue that process to reach the critical decisions in the next three to 12 months, on the crew rules and routes.”

The two Swedes have been very supportive of women in the race and say they want to keep the gender rule in place.

The VOR 2021 Notice of Race including the Crew Rules is expected to be public this year, and with smaller crews overall likely following the change of class, just how that will be achieved will be a strategic challenge.

As such, a committee has been set up to manage what are expected to be compromises on the rules for the IMOCA 60 fleet and from the Volvo Ocean Race side.

While the VO65 has provided close racing, it has not delivered bigger fleets, with one of the purpose-built boats unused in this edition due to lack of a crew and sponsors,

ABOVE: An early render of the proposed IMOCA 60 made suitable for the crewed race RIGHT: The Volvo Ocean 65 has provided very close racing, but could IMOCA 60s withstand being pushed so hard?

which surely counted against it when looking to the future.

The Vendée Globe, however, regularly sees a 30-boat fleet of IMOCA 60s – though these are predominantly French-backed teams. In an ideal world the move could increase the numbers for the next Volvo while increasing the global appeal of IMOCA 60 racing.

Re-design?

There were several diverse opinions doing the rounds at the end of this edition of the race, when all the talk dockside was of the potential move to the IMOCAs in the coming months.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 41

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the world. The reason we adventurous thrill-seeking guys and girls race as a team 24/7 for nine months, is that it’s the ultimate challenge physically and mentally.

“I’ve heard suggestions of autopilots on the boats reducing the crews to five. That for me is a no go.”

Brouwer adds that it will be interesting to see how the solo sailing events such as the Vendée and the short-handed events will be incorporated.

Shaping the future

Six-times race veteran Chris Nicholson, says: “The race is addictive for both sailors and spectators. In the existing format, I think the return on value for the sponsors has never been better. Our flyby into Aarhus [during the final leg] was fantastic: to come right to the audience, that’s the future.”

However, Nicholson feels there will need to be substantial changes to any current IMOCA 60 to make it suitable for a fully crewed race where the stresses on the boat are naturally higher.

“While the attraction of the IMOCA 60 is a bigger fleet, it is going to have to be a structural redesign, new rig, possibly new foils to withstand being a fully crewed boat, around the world, under reduced sail, surfing down waves at 35 knots.”

Ian Walker, four-race VOR veteran and 2014-15 winner, agrees that structural integrity will be key. “Times have changed, they need a bigger fleet. But I suspect a Volvo race team would break an existing IMOCA 60, because we push the boats hard, in a way the single-handed sailors can’t afford to do.

“In theory, going with IMOCAs is a way of almost guaranteeing a bigger fleet because you have got a readily available boat, which could potentially be used either fully professionally or on a more amateur level. But it is a different type of sailing. Even if you sail with six, that’s not fully crewed as we know it.

“It is almost certainly going to be furling sails and a lot of sailing from the shelter of the cabin or even down below, and that’s not what the Volvo Ocean Race has been about; you have got your kit on, and you have taken what’s been thrown at you, and you have pushed as hard as you could for your four hours on deck, and then someone else has taken over and done the same.

“Part of the move to IMOCAs is to get with the foiling generation but you can’t have too many crew (to keep the boat foiling) which takes you further away from the original Volvo Ocean Race. That’s the difficult balancing act.”

Carolijn Brouwer from Dongfeng, who first sailed the race in 2001-02, says that for her, the worry is that the two types of racing cannot easily be reconciled. She says: “The Volvo Ocean Race is the toughest fully crewed race around

ABOVE: Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking took the race as a learning curve, despite being an eight-time veteran; the IMOCAs will present entirely new challenges BELOW: Charles Caudrelier raises the trophy that has been his focus since 2013

It seems that the intention is for compromise from all sides, as one of the most prolific current-generation IMOCA 60 designers, Guillaume Verdier confirms: “We’re trying to make a boat for the future that is capable of doing both short-handed and fully-crewed races.

“My opinion is that it is do-able with a bit of compromise from both worlds to meet in the middle.”

Dee Caffari, skipper of Turn the Tide on Plastic has already stated that she wants to lead another team in 2021.

For her, the future of the race is a question of balance between moving forwards and retaining elements of tradition that are synonymous with the race. She comments: “As a sailor you want innovation, and you want the chance to open up some elements so that you can be creative; it attracts technology, innovation and sponsorship as well.”

“This change is very exciting,” comments winner of this edition, Charles Caudrelier, who had been an advocate of moving the race to multihulls, but says: “The IMOCA 60s are just amazing boats. I really enjoy sailing on these boats and I think when people see it, they will enjoy it. If the two best offshore races in the world are going to join the same class, to me it’s good news.”

Simeon Tienpont, AkzoNobel’s record-setting skipper, believes shaping what the race needs to look like first should be a priority. “A strengthened IMOCA 60 could bring us 20 boats, smaller crews and way more nationalities and a bigger audience. We need an innovative boat; that is what excites me as a sailor and a professional.

We sailors will sail the boats as fast as we can, but the shape of the event will determine if we want to be there.

“When I arrived dockside in The Hague, I looked at my wife without speaking, and she looked back at me, smiled and said: ‘I know, I already know, you don’t have to ask, yes, you can do the next race!’.”

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 43

Women top the podium...At

last

Carolijn Brouwer, Marie Riou and Justine Mettraux were part of the winning team, making them the first females to win the race. In all, 23 female sailors sailed thanks to a crew rule which rewarded teams who sailed with women

Dee Caffari The only female skipper in this race, sailing with five female sailors – more than any other team – on board Turn the Tide on Plastic: “With the new women-in-crew rule, we had at least two females on every crew and we now have female winners of the Volvo. If we didn’t have the rule a lot of the guys wouldn’t choose to have girls in the team going forward, so I think without that rule we would end up stepping backwards, which would be a massive mistake.”

PHOTOS: RICHARD EDWARDS; MATT KNIGHTON; ELOI STICHELBAUT; AINHOA

Ian Walker Three-time Volvo veteran and 2014-15 race winning skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, now RYA Director of Racing: “The rules of this race have helped spread the experience for women, and that’s been [previous race CEO] Mark Turner’s legacy. He drove that through, despite a lot of criticism from the stalwarts of the race.

“You only get better by sailing with and against the best people. I got better by sailing with the likes of Justin Slattery, Neil McDonald, Damien Foxhall – and up until this race female sailors haven’t had that chance.

“Now they have had that chance, and that’s the key thing to getting better – not whether you are a man or a woman.”

Carolijn Brouwer One of the first female sailors to win the Volvo Ocean Race as three-race veteran and trimmer on Dongfeng: “The Volvo has started to roll the ball in the right direction, but it is a heavy ball. To keep it moving, you need to keep giving it a push, and I think maybe it will take more than one edition, maybe two. After all, the difference between crew languages, culture and ages are much bigger on the boat than the differences between men and women.

“We are counting on the new race owners Richard Brisius and Johan Salén who worked with Team SCA in the last race to keep supporting us there.”

44 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE LEFT: Dee Caffari was the only female skipper in the race and already wants to go again in 2021 ABOVE RIGHT: 49er FX Olympic gold medallist Martine Grael set a new race distance record as part of the AkzoNobel crew

Charles Caudrelier Skipper on board the winning boat Dongfeng and three-times race veteran: “If there were only men in the world there would be a lot more wars! Women, I think, are always crucial in the world to provide balance. I think we are complementary and it is good to have women on the boat, and for me, it was a pleasure to sail with our girls, and I would be happy to do it again.

“Up to now when you picked a team, you don’t think about girls, because of the small number who have the Volvo Ocean Race experience. This rule will eventually change that.”

Abby Ehler Boat captain on Team Brunel and three-time race veteran: “If one of the girls had not worked out in this race, whether due to injury, character or skill set, there are not hundreds of other experienced women to draw from for a replacement, whereas if it was a guy who had to be replaced that would be the case.

“The rule must stay for another edition or two until we have a talent pool, which will only happen if opportunities are created, in a slightly forced way. I think it’s essential to run a successful mixed team in the upcoming race, not looking for either men or women, just looking for the best of the best for specific roles.

“There is so much to be taken from diversity in the commercial world, in terms of why it’s such a strength, and that should translate across to sailing.”

Simeon Tienpont Skipper of AkzoNobel, fourth overall and record setter as the fastest monohull under 100ft: “I enjoyed having women on the boat a lot. We communicated better. We had fun, and there was more openness. The rule should remain for the next race or two; it’s providing chances for the top professional sailors to show their skills and for them to be watch captains or skippers in the next race and we grow the sport in that way.”

THE

YEAR AHEAD FOR CRUISING SAILORS

Editor of Sailing Today, Sam Jefferson, on what he is looking forward to in the cruising world in 2019

2

Y

acht cruising is by definition a formless activity.

RALLYING ROUND

Fluid, you could call it. A yacht cruise need

Because of course, there is some sort of form to yacht

neither have a fixed destination or timetable. In

cruising and generally it is driven by the seasons. Many

fact, a schedule of any sort on a yacht cruise is

cruisers, like the darting swift, head south for the winter

generally the sort of damned nuisance that mother nature

and these days that natural migration has become an

rapidly sees off with a persistent headwind. Anyway, the

‘event’ in the form of rallies. The World Cruising Club are

thrust of my meanderings is that to write about the year

the maestros of the cruising rally and they have an

ahead, scheduled events and so on, is to many of us

impressive selection of options available. Of course, the big

cruising sailors the very antithesis of what we are here for.

one is the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, which kicks off every

Barring the scheduled events of spring, summer, autumn

November. This is the granddaddy of all the rallies that

and winter, we like to see ourselves as free spirits,

really got the ball rolling and it has become something of a

unfettered by such vulgar words as schedules and events.

mass movement – an exodus if you will – although in this

But needs must: schedules and events are out there. I think

case, Canaan is the Caribbean and the need of the wage

it was Bernard Moitessier who once said: “Quand les

slaves looking to escape the rat race is slightly less pressing

mouettes suivant le pecheur c’est parce qu’il y a des

than it was for the Israelites. Anyway, this is widely viewed

restes.” Anyway, having scored that superb own goal to

as the best way to make the long hop across the Atlantic in

open proceedings, here is a look at the year ahead.

company. It doesn’t end there though as the rally planted

46 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

2013 DESTINATIONS

OSCAR JACKSON

the seed that has led to a rich crop of offshoots including

ABOVE: Another

distilleries that pop up with pleasing regularity among the

the World Rally which caters for those who wish to expand

gruelling stopover

highlands and islands. So that’s a range of rallies distilled.

their horizons yet further after making the Atlantic crossing.

on the Oyster World

Some may find them preferable with warm water, others

Another option is ARC Plus which allows yachts to deviate

Rally

not.

from the traditional course straight from the Canaries to St Lucia in order to enjoy a fascinating detour and explore the

UNCHARTERED WATERS

Cape Verde Islands. Other events organised by the World

When Sir Christopher Columbus clapped eyes on the new

Cruising Club that you can look forward to throughout the

world in 1492, he turned to his mate, Romeo and uttered

year include the ARC Baltic, held over a six week period in

these words: “Romeo (for ‘twas he) we have discovered a

July and August and giving you the opportunity to explore

land that is perfect for bareboat chartering.” And, of course,

this cruising ground in company. In fact, the World Cruising

he was right (an observation all the more impressive given

Club almost holds too many events to list, but before

that he thought he was looking at Japan). This great

slipping anchor and moving on, it’s worth giving a special

pioneer of yacht cruising had spotted a gap in the market

mention to the Malts Cruise, held in July and allowing

and, over the centuries, his prophecy has been proven

cruisers to explore the enchanting cruising ground of

correct. What is even better news is the just like old Chris

western Scotland with the added benefit, not to mention

back in 1492, charter operators keep pressing forward into

motivation, of an enticing stopover at one of the numerous

the unknown in their quest to provide you with the perfect THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 47

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ABOVE Beneteau

Pilsner and gaze in wonderment at the vast array of

just opened up a new base in Belize for your yachting

Oceanis 46.1

nautical paraphernalia on offer.

pleasure. It’s pioneering stuff but there is more closer to

INSET Southampton

home, where Sunsail have set up an all new base on the

and Cannes boat

disappearance of the London Boat Show – much maligned

often overlooked island of Mallorca in the Balearics and are

shows

in recent years, but increasingly mourned by many in the

enticing people to this beautiful cruising ground with the promise of an extended sailing season, anchorages aplenty and a warm Balearic welcome.

The big hole in the yachting calendar has been the

industry.

On a more positive note, the yawning hole in everyone’s January is being filled by the brand spanking new British

Switching back to the Caribbean, the good news this

Yachting Awards. This is an amalgamation of the Yachts

year is that the BVIs are back in business after the dreadful

and Yachting Awards and the Sailing Today Awards and

walloping the island got by Hurricane Irma. Everyone knows

makes for a bigger, better event which is being held

the BVIs is one of the finest cruising grounds known to

annually at the Royal Thames Yacht Club – so pack your

humanity and the fact that it is back on its feet is good

blazer and tie and prepare for an awards ceremony that is

news not only for cruising sailors but also for the people of

packed with fun and laughter, trials and tribulations. Keep

the BVIs themselves. There has never been a better time to

your ear to the ground too as this year there will be a

visit the islands and show your support of these islands that

mystery host.

have given sailors so much over the years.

Elsewhere, Sail Grenadines moves to Bequia, making exploring the Grenadines that much easier.

BOAT SHOWS

NEW BOATS And, of course, no boat show would be complete without new boats and there are some fantastic new models this year. Innovation is not always the watchword of modern

Another great marker in a sailor’s calendar is boat show

designers, but It has to be said that Beneteau’s Oceanis 51.1

season – in many ways it’s the harbinger of winter for us

was a bit of an eye-opener last year. I tested the boat when

UK-based sailors. Things kick off in Cannes in the blazing heat and Southampton generally enjoys warm September breezes, but by the time Düsseldorf comes around in

it first came out and was impressed at the French manufacturer’s willingness to innovate. The company presented a yacht with

February, the chill has set right into the bone and the best

unusual ‘champagne glass’ sections

thing you can do is tuck into a Bratwurst and a hot stein of

forward that allowed for greater THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 49

internal volume at the bow without compromising the need

Falmouth and is due for launch in spring 2019. She

to keep wetter surface area low in light airs. The good news

promises to be an absolute beauty. Third up in an increas-

is that Beneteau is now unveiling the next yacht in the

ingly crowded market is Kraken Yachts’ new 50 which also

range – the Oceanis 46.1 – which follows a similar concept. I,

looks like a great yacht. These blue water cruisers have

for one, am looking forward to test sailing her. Elsewhere,

been developed by two Brits who were intent on building

Hanse continues to revamp its range and there are

their dream cruising yacht. They decided that the most cost

mutterings about a new Moody too which would be

effective method of putting such a yacht together was to

interesting after all these years. Things are also looking up

build it in China, so the company is based in Hong Kong.

on the boatbuilding front after a pretty turbulent 2018

Their yachts are very interesting and having tested their Kraken 66 in extreme conditions in Cape Town, I can assure

which saw both Bavaria and Oyster Yachts both stumble.

Happily, both are now back on their feet with new backers.

TOP The new

you they are very much the real deal. The new Kraken 50

Both were developing brand new lines when they got into

Oyster 595

looks the business too and features what her builders term

financial trouble and the good news is that both have been

INSET Rustler 57

a ‘zero keel’ – a fully encapsulated keel that has no bolts

able to carry on with the development of these new boats.

ABOVE Richard

whatsoever – so there is zero chance of it falling off.

The arrival of Richard Hadida at the helm of Oyster Yachts

Hadida, at the helm

has certainly reinvigorated the marque and, when I caught

of Oyster Yachts

up with him earlier this year he was deeply enthused about

RIGHT Kraken 50

his new acquisition and was talking about developing a smaller ‘baby’ Oyster in the sub 50ft bracket which would be very interesting indeed.

BLUE WATER FEVER The Brits are seeing a bit of a blue water cruiser revival at present. First up Discovery Yachts has hit the ground running since new CEO Sean Langdon took the reins and under his stewardship the range just keeps expanding. The latest model is the Discovery 54 but watch this space as there might well be another one along any minute. Another powerful symbol of the market for serious blue water cruisers is the new Rustler 57 which I saw in build in

50 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

There is a great deal to look forward to this yachting year and I, for one, can’t wait for it to get started.

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BIG CLASSICS

TODAY We take a look the stunning big designs from yesteryear still sailing

I

t used to be the case that a big boat was a classic boat. The large gaff cutters and schooners of the first part of the last century, and the sloops that followed in the 1930s, were a pinnacle of yacht design and build that was only reached again when the modern superyacht world caught up in the 1980s and 1990s. Even today, the Big Class and J-Class yachts are far from dwarfed by the latest carbon and aluminium megayachts, but their elegance is if anything even more pronounced.

You have only to see one Med classic regatta, and the crowds gathered on the quay as the big schooners tie up, to know that our fascination with the ‘big classics’ is as 52 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

strong as ever. There are so many elements to these boats’ stories that make them interesting, from their design, to their first owners, to their race results, to their restorations and current status quo. Each has a story to tell of high life and low life, of being feted and being abandoned. Today, with many of them lavishly brought back to life, these boats are at the pinnacle of their world once again and are a magnificent showcase of what yacht building once was.

Over the next few pages we look at some of the big classic designs sailing today, some originals, some replicas.

We hope you enjoy a taste of life at the ‘big’ end of the gloriously varied classic boat world…

What is it about the great classic

jibs, traditional spars and rigging, and

yachts that remains so impressive?

so on. I would like to see even more

In a word I would say ‘power’. The

penalties in the handicap system for

sight of a large two or three-masted

non-traditional additions to rigs, gear

gaff schooner powering along in a

and sails.

stiff breeze is, to coin an overused Below decks, generally, have these

word, awesome.

boats been adapted for the modern How regularly do the big classics

charter market?

change hands?

Again, very difficult to generalise. In

From a broker’s point of view, not

the 1960s and 1970s old yachts were

often enough! It varies hugely.

‘modernised’ for the charter market,

Mariette has changed hands twice in

with Formica being king, but

24 years and is unlikely to do so again

thankfully we now see them as

soon; Thendara three times in the

classics and appreciate their innate

same period, and looking for a new

qualities for what they are – a

owner now; Moonbeam IV three times

reminder of the days when boats

in 17 years, most recently last year;

were built by hand, by craftsmen.

Moonbeam III seven times since 1979, twice at auction; Shamrock V once in 20 years; Mariquita once in 14

Q&A

Even so, en-suite heads and showers are a must these days and the need for freezers, fridges, washing machines and

years.

dishwashers have Is the cost of owning

transformed galleys.

and maintaining a big classic greater today

Do you have a

than it was in the

favourite ‘big classic’?

1920s/1930s?

Mariette of 1915 has

There has been a trend

topped my bill since

towards greater

the day I sold her to

professionalism in the industry, making the cost of permanent crew greater than in the days

Mike Horsley, Edmiston

when they were mostly

Tom Perkins in 1994, when he restored her to gaff rig and started campaigning her on the regatta circuit, and

east coast fishermen. The level of

again when I sold her to the current

maintenance is a lot higher today. It

owner, who continues in the same

has always been a sport for the

great tradition. She’s not only fast and

wealthy and will remain so.

beautiful, but also has the loveliest

JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

saloon of any of the classics. After a Are most still sailed as they were?

comprehensive refit at Pendennis

Luckily there has been a move in the

finished this year [see January issue

Med for greater authenticity in rigs,

of Classic Boat for full feature], she is

sails, appearance and so on, led

ready for another century. A tribute

largely by the CIM (Comité

to the owner, captain and crew.

Internationale de la Mediterrannée) and encouraged by sponsors such as

How are these big boats used?

Prada and now Panerai. In the US it

Some owners prefer to remain low

has taken slightly longer to take hold,

key. Altair is off on a round-the-world

but with authentically restored yachts

cruise and Mariette has had a couple

As the first of the bermudan-rigged Big Class, launched in

such as Spartan now on the scene,

of years cruising. But there has been

1928, Cambria led an extraordinary period of design and build

the message has been taken on

a general increase in racing these big

that gave birth to some of the most famous large yachts of all

board. There are of course owners

classics. The lure of Saint-Tropez or

time. Today, she is in immaculate condition, with a new mast in

who will push guidelines to the limits

Antigua Classics is hard to resist.

2005 and a full refit at Southampton Yacht Services completed

in order to win (I shan’t name them

three years ago. She is a staple of the Med circuit, privately

here!) but that is racing. The

Is the market changing in any way?

owned and crewed by a long-serving team under skipper Chris

restorations of such impressive

Since the famous crash of 2008, the

Barkham. Designed and built by William Fife for press baron Sir

vessels as Mariquita and Moonbeam

market in brokerage generally has

William Berry, her vast proportions are still a magnificent sight

IV were done with great respect for

been quieter. There has been an

the original deck layouts – no

increase in the construction of

winches, only handybillies, balloon

replicas, such as Elena, Eleonora,

CAMBRIA

on the water and a great affection remains for Cambria.

Undoubtedly one of the best-loved of all the big classics.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 53

BIG CLASSICS Atlantic, Germania Nova and Naema, which gives new blood to the market,

FOR CHARTER, FROM

EROS Launched in 1939, her maiden sail

although there is no doubt that actual

from Lowestoft was cut short as

selling prices are lower than 10 years

she was commandeered by the

ago. It is a good time to buy.

Royal Navy to assist in the war

$35,000

effort as a coastal patrol boat.

In terms of charter, how popular are

Later she was owned by Stavros

big old yachts?

Niarchos and played host to King

Surprisingly enough, some of these

Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of

charter quite well, although

Spain on their honeymoon. Today

sometimes it is the replicas that outshine the ‘real’ classics in terms of weeks sold. Clients expect endless hot water, room to store ‘toys’, fast and comfortable tenders, and impeccable service from the crew.

she has been thoughtfully refitted for high end charter work and is a keen competitor in many New England and Caribbean regattas, while logging up some impressive cruising miles. sy-eros.com

But for standing out from the crowd, there is no doubt that a large gaffer is better value pound for pound than say a Mangusta, a Sunseeker, or some other ‘plastic fantastic’.

FOR SALE

€12.8m

Looking back to 30 years ago, what were most of these boats doing?

That would be 1988. Moonbeam III had just finished what is generally considered to be the first of the authentic restorations from 1979-88.

Altair had just been purchased by Albert Obrist and underwent another Yacht Services, very faithful to the original. The ‘modern’ philosophy of restorations had begun. In 1984 Elizabeth Meyer bought and saved Endeavour, during another landmark restoration. Over the next 20 years or

FOR SALE

so, many large classics were restored,

€17.5m

or in some cases replicas made of no-longer existing yachts.

ENDEAVOUR Nat Herreshoff called her “the perfect boat” and this ground-breaking Nicholson design came close to

Are there more big classics out there

reclaiming the Cup for Britain,

awaiting restoration?

in 1934. The 1980s rebuild by

There are one or two, but not with

Elizabeth Meyer kickstarted

many original features left. The big

the classic boat revival. Today Endeavour is lying in France,

sistership to Mariette, Vagrant, is

awaiting a new owner, but she

undergoing a restoration at the Royal

remains one of sailing’s most

Huisman yard, but I don’t know how

treasured possessions.

faithful to the original it will be. The ones left in Asia and the US have no or little original features and will need deep pockets to bring them back.

RAINBOW The original Rainbow Rainbow, designed

How long will they be around?

by W Starling Burgess, won the

There is no reason why it should not

1934 America’s Cup against

be for ever. With the right ongoing

Endeavour but was scrapped in

maintenance, the shape and soul of the vessel will remain. It may be like your grandad’s original hammer that has had three new heads and four new shafts, but it is still your grandad’s hammer.

54 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

FOR SALE

€8.75m

1940. Then after years of backroom negotiations, another Rainbow, based on Burgess’ lines Rainbow and optimised by Dykstra for the modern J rule, was launched by Holland Jachtbouw in 2012. See interview opposite for more.

INGRID ABERY

INGRID ABERY

famous restoration by Southampton

HANUMAN A nail-biting second in the inaugural J-Class World Cup last year, Hanuman is a modern take on the lines for Endeavour II, challenger against Ranger in the 1937 America’s Cup. Not that One of the so-called ‘super-Js’ for her 138ft 1in (42.1m) LOA, she has won classic and superyacht regattas worldwide. Less than 10 years old and having been given a complete overhaul of all her racing and sailing systems for

RICK TOMLINSON

Hanuman’s crew are used to coming second.

the historic 2017 season, she is now on the market, lying in the western Med. She may not have won the America’s Cup, but her modernday triumphs place this Nicholson design as one of the fastest Js ever built.

Q&A

MARIETTE OF 1915 One of nine legendary steel schooners designed and built by Nat Herreshoff, of which only two remain, Mariette of 1915 is fresh from a major refit at Pendennis and after a cruise of Norwegian waters was back in the Med for the late season regattas in 2018.

How’s Rainbow doing?

crew and insurance, but then there

right. I think there’s an attraction for

We’ve just had a price drop on her, so

are huge variables like fuel, dockage

some of them in being at the top of

from the new breed of aluminium

and your regatta programme. As a

their game – you have to be to race a

hulls she’s now the most

management company we can advise

J competitively. That’s why new Js

competitively priced J on the market.

owners of different running costs on

are still being built. There is no more

She’s got a particularly light

a case-by-case basis.

competitive racing unless you get

displacement compared to the

Will Bishop, Sales & New Construction Broker, YPI

into the likes of the TP52s.

others, the design won the America’s

Is a modern J really a classic yacht?

Cup back in the day and she has

I would call them modern classics.

This world is often perceived as

great pedigree.

The design is from the original lines

separate to the everyday classic

plan but Rainbow has been heavily

scene. Is that the case?

Do these boats get much use away

optimised, with carbon spars and

They are all classic designs but to

from the big regattas?

carbon rigging, so consequently it’s a

some extent it is a budget-driven

Rainbow is fully outfitted for racing

different experience from the days of

world. We all enjoy sailing a smaller

but the present owner has used her

sailing Shamrock. Regardless of the

boat with friends. But when you get

primarily for cruising the Med and

different materials, when you have

into racing a big classic at the top

Caribbean. She’s been a family boat.

the likes of Svea, Lionheart and

end, you need professionals and that

The minimum crew you need to run a

Rainbow on the start line, there isn’t a

is a different league to sailing a small

J is seven, unless you change the

more beautiful sight on the water.

gaff cutter out of Falmouth.

Js have done to make handling easier.

Is there an ‘average’ J owner?

How important are classics to YPI?

She can accommodate seven guests.

All of the J owners are passionate

Immensely important. Owners like to

about sailing, either about the history

deal with knowledgeable individuals.

How about running costs?

of the class or about the boats

That’s what we focus on providing at

You can’t put a single figure on it.

themselves and how they sail. They

YPI and consequently our fleet has

You’ve got fixed running costs, like

are all capable sailors in their own

gone from strength to strength.

forestay to a roller furler, which some

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 55

BIG CLASSICS

ORION OF THE SEAS

FOR SALE

€POA

This 1910 Charles Nicholson schooner, launched as Sylvana, is described as a ‘cult’ boat by broker Barney Sandeman, less well-known than some of her ilk but a magnificent design that reflects Nicholson’s standing at the time. Recent years have seen her restored to gaff rig and a modern refit brought with it a host of 21st-century amenities, while retaining the original pre-war aesthetic and feel. She has used her 90ft 3in (27.5m) waterline to good effect on the race course, but Orion has been used as much as a private cruising boat in the Med, her highly atmospheric period interior well suited to the task.

SISTER SHIP FOR SALE

$18.9m COLUMBIA The original Columbia was one of the great New England fishing schooners of the 1920s. To recreate her impressive Starling Burgess lines was a boyhood dream of one Brian d’Isernia, a dream he realised in 2014 when his yard, Eastern Shipbuilding in Florida, launched the replica. She is sailed widely in the US and Caribbean as a family boat. Meanwhile a second hull has been built and awaits completion.

SOLD!

€2.5m (asking price)

MOONBEAM IV One of the more memorable sights of any Med regatta is Moonbeam IV leaving or coming onto the dock, her crew dressed in white smocks and often with a piper on the foredeck as a nod to the Fife design’s Scottish heritage. Sold last year through Mike Horsley at Edmiston after an asking price of €2.5m, the largest in the Moonbeam

NICO MARTINEZ

series, once owned by Prince Rainier of Monaco, was launched in 1914 and commissioned after WW1.

56 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

FOR SALE

ATLANTIC

€POA

Dutch yachtsman Ed Kastelein has been the driving force behind numerous replica builds and restorations of big classics. His minutely faithful 2010 recreation of Atlantic, legendary winner of the 1905 Transatlantic Race, stands among the most extraordinary projects of the classic boat revival. She flies a staggering 18,836sq ft (1,750m ) of sail, positively dwarfing that of the J-Class, and measures 183ft (56m) on deck.

NIGEL PERT

MARIQUITA

FOR SALE

The iconic Fife 19-Metre that is held

€3.5m

by many to be world’s most beautiful yacht has spent the last two years under covers in Lymington Harbour, her owners awaiting serious offers.

Famously saved from a domestic fate as a houseboat and brought back to sail with block and tackle again, her modernday race results from the Med to Cowes are testament to Fife’s BEN WOOD

talent and a skilled crew who have kept her in top condition. Those who see her underway never forget it.

ELEONORA In 1910 the Herreshoff schooner Westward swept across the Atlantic under Captain Charlie Barr to take 11 firsts in 11 starts

FOR SALE

€7.9m

against the pride of Europe. Ed Kastelein’s replica, launched 90 years later and named Eleonora, recreated the magic. Current JAMES ROBINSON TAYLOR

owner Zbynek Zak has continued to race her widely in authentic fashion, as Tom Cunliffe’s article about sailing the RORC 600 on her in Classic Boat #356 attested.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 57

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58 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

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CRUISING PACE A keen racing sailor heads to the northern Ionian to see if she is suited to sailing at a more leisurely pace WORDS JODIE GREEN

60 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

M

y friends and I, having raced competitively for numerous years in various dinghy and yacht classes, have always wondered what it would be like to go on a yacht charter holiday.

Previously, we had never found the time to do so due to busy racing schedules, until this year when we decided to bite the bullet and book a week with Dream Yacht Charter.

The first step to booking a yacht charter holiday is choosing when and where you are going to charter from. Probably the most important things to consider when making this decision are the prevailing conditions you will face and any

particular sights you would like to see on land. Not everyone wants 20kts each day and a constantly heeling and bouncing yacht is not conducive to tanning, younger kids or people who get seasick. For us the decision was easy in selecting Corfu, as we were heading to Greece for a wedding and we had heard many great stories from friends having sailed in the Ionian.

Once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve settled on a charter base the real planning can start. This is where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll work out a rough plan for the week. Many charter companies and online blogs will give you a few suggested itineraries. For the lazier among us THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 61

there’s no need to go much further than these itineraries, a quick Google of the locations, and a couple of emails to friends who’ve visited before. All you really need is a list of a few “must sees”.

ABOVE: Village scene on the island of Paxos

Avoiding the crowds

However, if you’re travelling in peak season, want to avoid crowds, or, like us, have people in the group who like to pre-plan in meticulous detail, then getting hold of the local pilot book is a great place to get further information. For the Mediterranean, Ionian Islands included, Rod Heikell’s guides are the perfect place to start (so good, that there are usually copies on the charter boats themselves). These guides are great for those useful details. Think depths, shelter in prevailing conditions, shore-side facilities, and general travel tips. It’s particularly useful to know where tavernas (restaurants) or shops are so that you can plan your all-important meals and refreshments.

PASSAGE PLANNING We chartered from Gouvia, Corfu, and in fairness we could have easily spent the week simply exploring the island and nipping down to Paxos and Antipaxos. There were, however, a few people in our party who were keen to explore further afield and Lefkas was well within reach from Paxos. There was a choice of sailing around the western side of Lefkas or heading through the Lefkas Canal. We decided it was probably going to be quicker and more relaxing to go via the canal and were rewarded with an enjoyable sail south.

If it had been a case of motoring all day then it would have felt like a bit of a slog but we were very fortunate and were rewarded with the chance to explore Meganisi

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 449 Capri Built in: 2013 Designer: Berret/ Racoupeau

and Lefkas itself. To be honest, if you had two weeks or

Length: 13.7m

ten days then I would definitely recommend this.

Draught: 4.24m

It is tempting to head NE from Corfu and explore the Albanian coastline, which lies tantalisingly close and looks very beautiful with huge mountains plunging down to the coast. Unfortunately, the requirement for a visa and other documentation means the country is off-limits for charter yachts by and large.

62 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

On arrival at the Dream Yacht Charter base in Gouvia Marina after a smooth and stress-free booking process, the team was very welcoming and spoke numerous languages.

You run through all the usual paperwork as you’d expect and receive a thorough introduction to your boat, on deck and down below. Our home for the week was Capri, a virtually new Sun Odyssey 449 – she was well thought out and equipped with everything you need. We had a sailor in our group that has his ICC qualification, which is the minimum qualification required for insurance purposes.

Without this, you will require a skipper for your charter.

Depending on your experience, and certainly if it’s your first charter, being briefed on everything from electrics, to the rigging and plumbing certainly puts your mind at ease (top-tip – get at least two people to listen. It can be quite a lot to remember but is also all repeated in the boat’s documents).

Being the competitive and slightly overexcitable sailors we are, we rushed through a supermarket to stock-up (Gouvia Marina has a small supermarket onsite that has everything you need and offers free delivery to your boat) and set off from the dock keen to see what Capri was capable of under sail.

We had originally planned to stay in the marina overnight, but with the bonus of our boat being available earlier than the standard collection time of 5pm and facing sunshine, 15kts of wind and 25 degrees, we decided to push on for the afternoon and into the sunset to get a head start.

A new routine

We headed 12NM south, down the beautiful east coast of Corfu island and past the old town and fort to a small fishing village called Petriti. You’ll probably have worked out during your planning that mooring in the Mediterranean is often quite different to the UK. Abundant marinas and mooring buoys are replaced by anchoring and “med mooring”. For the first night we elected for the easier option, dropping an anchor on the electric windlass and setting the anchor alarm. All that was left was to settle into what would become a familiar, but no less enjoyable routine. Dinner, drinks, conversation and games into the small hours of the morning around the cockpit table. It hadn’t taken us long to find the appeal of warm weather cruising, certainly something we could all make a habit of!

‘

As soon as we lifted anchor in the morning our racing instincts (at least for the boys) kicked in

’

Gouvia

GREECE

TOP LEFT A shady hideaway in Lakka, Paxos

Petriti

TOP RIGHT Loggos on the island of Paxos is an idyllic place to stop for lunch

Mongonissi Antipaxos

ABOVE A quiet anchorage on the east coast of Antipaxos LEFT Moored stern-to outside a taverna in Gaios Port, Paxos

Kapali Sivota

Abelike

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 63

‘

By now we’d truly settled into the cruising life of late mornings, frequent swims and plenty of relaxing

That being said, as soon as we lifted anchor in the morning our racing instincts (at least for the boys) kicked in. Halyard tensions, jib cars, and sheets were all played with. We soon worked out that cruising yachts don’t point very close to the wind and about 6kts of wind is needed to make reasonable headway without the engine.

Our next stop was Paxos. This island and it’s diminutive neighbour Antipaxos, are absolute must-sees. We stopped for lunch in Lakka (13NM from Petriti), unassuming as you enter, it opens into a stunningly beautiful sheltered harbour with clear blue waters, great for swimming and snorkeling. The depth is shallow throughout, so yachts can anchor with ease, making this a very popular spot. Ashore, there are a couple of electric plug-ins on the front, and the picturesque town has plentiful tavernas and food and gift shops. Lakka has a real ‘wow’ factor and we recommend adding this to your

’

TOP: The rugged fortifications of Corfu old town RIGHT: The quayside at Lakka

USEFUL THINGS TO PACK 12V charger You don’t get power from the two pin sockets unless plugged into power

WHEN IN GREECE...

3 tips to help you enjoy the islands

onshore Clothes pegs For drying clothes and

DON’T DRINK RETSINA

towels on guard

Retsina is a Greek speciality, a white

rails

wine flavoured with pine resin. It’s

Pilot book We

delicious, but it gives you a killer

used ‘Ionian’ by

hangover!

Rod & Lucinda Heikell (9th

SAIL IN THE AFTERNOONS

edition)

Summer mornings in the Ionian are

Goggles and

calm with a sea breeze building over

snorkel We were

the day and generally peaking around

fortunate enough

4pm. It’s often still blowing at 6pm

to have been

when you are trying to moor but by

provided these by

7pm things are calm again.

DYC – the Ionian is beautifully clear

DINE AT THE TAVERNA YOU

Mosquito spray

MOORED NEXT TO

Say no more

The Greek islands operate on a policy

Torch For getting

of Baksheesh when it comes to moor-

back onto the boat

ing. It’s generally free but you are

after an evening at

expected to dine at the taverna in

the taverna

exchange.

64 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

itinerary when chartering in the Ionian. After a few pleasant hours in Lakka, we made the 5NM short hop down the coast to Mongonissi, another lovely, sheltered anchorage with a small and popular taverna ashore. It is worth getting there at a reasonable time to get a good anchorage spot, especially in peak season.

Lefkas bound

Day three and we’d made the decision to make the longer passage towards Lefkas. There’s easily enough to occupy yourself for a week in the Northern Ionian, and if conditions don’t look suitable, you are less experienced, or you want to spend more time ashore then this is what we’d recommend.

Nonetheless we’d heard enough about Lefkas and the “inland sea” to push the 32NM south to the Lefkas canal (situated on the north coast of Lefkas). Flat calm turned into a gorgeous E-SE 15kts with Capri pushing a consistent 6-7 knots at 60o AWA. We could see mainland Greece in the distance on our left, but soon lost sight of Paxos over the horizon. It’s at times like this that you really appreciate the joy of cruising in such a wonderful area. After a few hours, each taking a turn on the helm, we pass over to the autohelm. Modern autopilots are great for navigation, simple to use and relaxing for longer passages. However, for the speed obsessed, nothing quite kept up with human steering when trying to go close to the wind, so the boys took back the helm. That extra 0.5kt of speed made all the difference and the VMG to waypoint data on the Raymarine Axiom chart plotter can provide endless hours of competitive fun.

Through the floating bridge that opens once an hour, the view from the Lefkas canal opens into the stunningly beautiful and breathtaking inland sea. We were full of anticipation of what the inland sea would bring, and we were not disappointed. Favouring the quiet overnight stops we headed for Abelike Bay on the northern shores of

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MED MOORING Although experienced UK sailors, this was something new to us but we rapidly developed a method that may help others.

‘

Prepare fenders Prepare the fenders on both sides

Lakka has a real ‘wow’ factor and we recommend adding this to your itinerary

’

Meganisi – another quiet, pretty and sheltered spot. This was also our first experience of med mooring, whereby you anchor with lines from the stern to the shore, stopping you from swinging. We enjoyed a long evening swim in the crystal-clear water admiring the fish followed by first experience of local Greek taverna ashore. Many small bays and harbours in the area have a taverna or two lining the shore. Not haute cuisine, but gorgeous local food and exactly what we were after. The Greek people are extremely friendly and could not do enough to ensure we had a lovely evening.

The next two days were spent exploring the wonderful inland sea, principally the islands of Lefkas and Meganisi. We sailed round the east coast of Meganisi down to the southernmost point and up the west coast to explore the stunning Papa Nicolis’ Cave on the way round.

Our overnight stay this time was in Sivota, situated on the south coast of Lefkas. Sivota, slightly larger than our previous overnight stops, but no less beautiful, and was a perfect place to re-stock the galley for the second half of the week.

66 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Have steerage in reverse Reverse and make sure you have steerage while moving astern slowly towards your spot on the quay.

Drop anchor at five boat lengths When roughly five boat lengths from the shore (more if particularly deep water) start to drop your anchor.

ABOVE: Plenty of room to anchor in

Reverse toward crosswind If there’s a crosswind,

the bay outside

reverse towards it, before turning sharply towards

Lakka on the island

the shore at the point where you drop your anchor.

of Paxos BELOW: Papa

Stop anchor When just over a length from the

Noicolls

shore, stop dropping the anchor so that it begins to take up tension.

Two sternlines Take the two sternlines from both quarters ashore.

Tension anchor chain Take up the tension on your anchor.

Don’t rush That’s where the accidents happen, and don’t worry if you don’t get it first time, many don’t!

more. With more time, we certainly would have.

We’d adjusted our original plan and aimed for Lakka (48NM motor/sail from Kapali), as it was too gorgeous not to spend our final evening out of a marina there. A happy consequence of the early start was the chance for an afternoon swimming in the crystal waters.

The final day had arrived all too soon, and we were still 27NM away from our base – not too bad when you consider that as four and a half hours sailing at 6kts.

Mildly more annoying when it turns into motoring due to lack of wind, although the sunshine, heat and beautiful scenery do somewhat make up for that.

A short queue at the fuel pontoon, followed by a quick check over the boat and final meal at a marinaside restaurant brought our holiday to an end.

Homeward bound

By now we’d truly settled into the cruising life, late mornings, frequent swims and plenty of relaxing. The next morning involved a quick trip west to see what the dinghy holiday mecca of Vassiliki was like, before a trip back east and up the Meganisi passage, linking the zephyrs along the way to avoid using the engine.

We popped into Nidri, which was very sheltered and perfect for bad weather, but a little busier than we tend to like. So then decided to head back east a couple of miles to the more isolated bay of Kapali on Meganisi. The sail across saw our top speed under sail at 8kts on a beam reach. By our estimations, not a bad effort for a white sail cruiser in no more than 15kts of wind!

Another relaxed evening was followed by a distinctly less leisurely morning. The side effect of our decision to push south to Lefkas during the trip was a need to push back north to return to our charter base. This involved a 6am start heading northbound through the Lefkas canal and back towards Paxos, stopping at the tranquil Antipaxos on the way for a spot of lunch. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule, so could not explore the area

and a larger fender to the stern.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Useful contacts

Jodie Green lives

CHARTER

and works in London

We chartered with Dream Yacht Charter which has a base

and is a keen racing

in Gouvia, Corfu: dreamyachtcharter.co.uk

sailor. She campaigns a Merlin

NAVIGATION

Rocket dinghy over

Navigation by day is relatively simple but we found Rod

the season

Heikell’s book Ionian invaluable: imray.com.

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68 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

How to Build a Boat

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The Complete Yacht Security Handbook

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THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 69

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barging legend when he decided to turn his

PAUL BROWN

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 71

Boats of

NOTE From blue water cruisers to wooden dinghies, 2019 promises a bumper crop of exciting boats. We take a look at recent launches and what is to come

SELECTED BY THE EDITORS OF SAILING TODAY, CLASSIC BOAT AND YACHTS & YACHTING

ENDEAVOUR More 40

Hanse 508

More Yachts is a Croatian outfit demonstrating that the country

Hanse’s upgrade of its range continues with the 508. The yacht

is about more than just stunning islands and footballing excel-

features a combination of a powerful rig married to a self-

lence. The boat builder is unafraid to innovate and the 40 is the

tacking headsail. The addition of a second stay for a genoa also

second in the More range behind the larger 55. What makes her

adds another string to her bow. The addition of an innovative

fascinating is that the yacht was designed specifically to cater

mast-keel connection combined with a carbon composite main

for the requirements of More Charter. They were after a fast

bulkhead should increase stiffness. Down below, the theme of

yacht that you could race off-season, but also use for charter

innovation continues and this is the only Hanse in the range

in the summer. She boasts slippery lines and internal volume.

to feature a longitudinal galley. There is also a utility room.

£161,000 more-boats.hr

£244,000 hanseyachts.co.uk

72 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Beneteau Oceanis 46.1

Southerly 435

Cruising yachts are rarely game-changers but last year’s

Southerly Yachts always had a sterling reputation and many

Oceanis 51.1 came with an unexpectedly radical hull form. The

welcomed the news that the marque had been bought and

‘Champagne glass’ hull sections with a huge step out just above

revived by the Discovery Group in 2017. The 435 has therefore

the waterline provided loads more volume forward without

made a welcome return as a bit of a development of the South-

increasing wetted surface area in light airs. The Oceanis 46.1,

erly 420. Design-wise it’s a case of ‘brand new second-hand’

designed by Finot/Conq, has the same hull sections which allow

as the new owners have taken the best features from the range

for class-leading volume in the forward cabin. Early renderings

and honed the product with an exceptional interior and a swing

ENDEAVOUR hint at a remarkably roomy 46-footer. Price: £tbc Beneteau.com

keel for ultimate cruising versatility. Price: £tbc Southerly.com

Swallow Yachts Coast 250

Jeanneau 410

Pembrokeshire-based Swallow Yachts is known for innovative

Jeanneau’s hugely successful Sun Odyssey range is now in its

weekenders combining crisp performance and classic looks. Its

eighth iteration and it’s fairly clear they must be doing some-

latest offering is Coast 250, which moves away from classic styl-

thing right. The 410 follows on from the launch of the 490 and

ing with a Dreadnought bow and chined hull. The principle of

440 which were both very well received due to their innova-

performance with practicality remains and the yacht has a swing

tive approach to design. As such, the hull is heavily stepped

keel, carbon rig, is trailerable and displaces only 1400kg. She

out above the waterline which makes for an easily driven hull in

can be motored at up to 15kn without her sailing performance

light airs combined with masses of extra internal volume that is

being compromised. £39,000 swallowyachts.com

particularly noticeable at the bow. £tbc jeanneau.com

ENDEAVOUR

Ofcet 32SC

Arcona 435

Even their name marks out French manufacturers Ofcet as

Sweden’s Arcona is a byword for comfort, quality and blistering

being a little bit different and their 32SC is part of a stable of

speed. The new 435 promises to reinforce that; she’s a develop-

innovative, sporty yachts that could sit in their very own genre.

ment of the Arcona 430 and should be a polished performer.

Taking a lead from makers such as Pogo and Django, Ofcet’s

This is not a simple MkII either; she has a wider stern which

32SC is lightweight but still offers light, roomy accommodation.

increases her sailing abilities, also giving her a more spacious

In terms of hull design, well-known racing man Marc Lombard

saloon and a larger cockpit. An efficient sail design in combina-

has drawn a radical shape with a slightly bulbous bow similar to

tion with optimised weight will ensure a higher performance.

Beneteau’s Figaro 3. There is a hard chine and a deep bulb keel

The Arcona 435 made a successful debut at the Southampton

combined with twin rudders. £126,000 chantier-ofcet.com

Boat Show 2018. Price: £poa arconayachts.com

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 73

X4 (6)

Rustler 57

X Yachts makes beautiful boats but the branding can be confus-

Slowly but surely Rustler Yachts has been assembling a very

ing. The X4(6) is part of the new line of cruiser/racers that sits

impressive fleet of blue water cruisers and the new 57 will be

between the Xc range of cruiser/cruiser (racer) and Xp range of

its flagship. Like all Rustler’s recent boats she’s been designed

racer/cruiser. She follows on from the X4(3), X4(9) and X6(5).

by Stephen Jones with predictably pleasing results. There’s no

All clear? Never mind, she’s lovely looking and like her prede-

pandering to fads in her relatively narrow lines and she retains

cessors should offer the best of both cruising and racing in one

the fully enclosed cockpit and single helm position. In fairness,

ENDEAVOUR bowsprit. £388,500 x-yachts.com

sleek package. The hull is 44ft 3in long without the integrated

her lines look pleasingly slippery and, although she displaces 56,000kg she should perform well. c£1.2m rustleryachts.co.uk

Bavaria C65

Discovery 54

Bavaria’s new C65 is the biggest yacht the company has ever

Discovery Yachts has added the lovely 54 to its growing range.

built. She is sleek with a long waterline length off-setting the

She makes an interesting contrast with the evergreen Discov-

generous freeboard. She has twin rudders and a decent rig,

ery 55. While this staple of the Discovery range was designed

while the cockpit features twin tables, bar and barbecue area.

by the venerable Ron Holland, the lines of the 54 were penned

Sail controls are push button and there is a dinghy garage

by Ed Dubois. So no shortage of yacht design legends there,

underneath. The four layout options include a plethora of

then. Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that the yacht bears

choices. The master bedroom is huge and she has all the bells

a similarity with the Southerly 540. That is because she uses the

and whistles you’d expect. c£1.1m Bavariayachts.com

same hull, but no swing keel. £tbc discoveryyachtsgroup.com

Kraken 50

Privilege Signature 510

Hong Kong-based Kraken Yachts produces boats for blue water

Those who keep an eye on industry news may already be aware

cruising. The yard has already launched a Kraken 66 and next in

that French multihull manufacturer Privilege has been acquired

line is the 50, which has similar features, including a skeg hung

by German giant Hanse. As such, production has been stepped

rudder, narrow, easily driven hull, keel with a huge chord width

up and the 510 is one of the latest additions to a swelling range.

and lead ballast to ensure integral stability. The key feature is

Privilege states that the Signature 510 is bult for blue water

the Zero Keel, which has zero bolts and is fully encapsulated

cruising and also that she boasts the largest state room in her

into the hull. The yacht is designed for couple’s sailing with

class which also affords excellent all round visibility. The price,

controls led aft to the cockpit, while the comfortable quarters

meanwhile, is remarkably competitive and she looks like a very

have many clever touches. from £567,000 krakenyachts.com

smart and purposeful yacht. from £1.28m hanseyachts.co.uk

74 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

McConaghy MC50

Baltic 67

McConaghy Yachts is generally noted for racing monohulls such

There was a time when Finnish Baltic yachts was a staple of

as Wild Oats and ICAP Leopard. It’s therefore rather interesting

the solid, high-quality, mid-range cruising yacht market. These

that they are putting out what is essentially a fast 50ft

days the company is generally associated with top-end carbon

cruising catamaran. She’s designed by Jason Ker and she

custom yachts in the 70-100ft plus category. The announcement

looks very purposeful in a sort of brooding way. Naturally she’s

of the new Judel/Vrolijk designed 67 is a bit of a step down in

towards the performance end of the cruiser spectrum and con-

terms of size but it will be semi-custom and feature extensive

ENDEAVOUR extremely luxurious. c£1.12m mcconaghyboats.com

struction has been kept light. On the other hand the interior is

use of carbon in construction to keep weight down. The hull shape is modern but not extreme. £poa balticyachts.fi

Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42

Solaris 68

Fountaine Pajot’s all new 42 is designed to be the ultimate

Solaris Yachts has developed a reputation for top end, classy

cruising catamaran and features a high level of comfort com-

yachts and its 68 is the latest example. Like all of the really big

bined with a thoughtful deck and cockpit layout that makes this

yachts in the Solaris range, she’s very much on the custom end

an extremely easy yacht to handle short handed. Inside, she is

of the spectrum and can therefore be tweaked extensively to

available with two different layout options: owner and the some-

meet an owner’s requirements. In common with most of the

what intriguingly named Quatuor. Whatever this may mean, the

yachts in the Solaris range she is designed by Soto Acebal and

boat offers a remarkable 12 different layout options so owners

he has penned a set of suitably pleasing lines with a dramatic

really are spoilt for choice. from £308,000 multihull.co.uk

Dreadnought bow. £poa Solarisyachts.com

Outremer 51

N-Fun 30

Outremer’s range of multihulls offers a combination of cruising

The N-Fun 30 has been around for a couple of years now. We

comfort and performance with the intention of opening up the

tested it in Yachts & Yachting and found it to be a great IRC

horizons of a cruising sailor by substantially shortening passage

racer, which could also offer comfy cruising for the family. The

times. The 51 is a step up in size from the very popular Outremer

raisable keel, and a mast which can be lowered on its own

4x and certainly doesn’t want for comfort, featuring a well

A-frame gantry, make it a real ‘go anywhere’ yacht. Now the

appointed saloon and generous accommodation plus a nicely

boat has finally found a dealer in the UK. There have also been

enclosed yet spacious cockpit area. Yet this is a purposeful look-

a number of additions to the boat in the last couple of years

ing yacht and performance has certainly not been neglected.

including better fit-out below and improved racing sail options.

She features twin daggerboards. £635,000 multihullworld.com

The boat is heavily customisable. £POA nfunyacht.com/en

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 75

RS21

Mayfly 16

The RS21 keelboat was developed primarily for clubs and other

Designed by Andrew Wolstenholme and being built by the

organisations wanting to buy a fleet of boats. Key requirements

Landamores Yard in Norfolk, she’s a 16ft (4.9m) six-seater,

were simplicity to minimise gear failure through misuse, to max-

transom-sterned river launch, and the yard, the founder builder

imise durability and for forgiving, yet exciting, sailing for a broad

of Oyster Yachts back in the day, are building it anew, to what it

spectrum of people from newcomers to top-level match racers.

calls “Oyster quality” standard. The elegant form and tumble-

It’s easy to see it gaining popularity among both experienced

home towards the stern give this boat a great river style and

ENDEAVOUR From £24,980 rssailing.com

sailors and those taking their first steps on a performance boat.

the details seem to be well thought out too. Drive is electric as standard. Price from £23,450 landamores.co.uk

Grand Soleil 34

Cockle

The Grand Soleil 34 is intended as a model that will help take

The Cockle design came to be when designer Andrew Wolsten-

this well-known Italian yard back to its roots and attracted

holme was looking for a tender to his Broads yacht and the late,

much admiration from successful racing sailors when it was first

famed builder Jack Chippendale was looking for a pram dinghy

unveiled in 2018. The company’s first boat, launched some 40

to build and sell. Most prams are a length of ply [8ft/2.6m] long.

years ago, was a Grand Soleil 34, successful as a racing design

This one is 9ft (2.7m), meaning she can take three adults under

and capable cruiser. The new boat was conceived with the same

oars. The rig fits in a canvas bag and the boat is light enough

ethos, while incorporating modern design knowledge, materials

(100lb/45kg) to be “cartoppable”. Plans for Cockle £110 + P&P.

technology and sail handling systems. £POA keyyachting.com

wolstenholmedesign.com

J/21

Koalen 26

The latest 40 footer from J/Boats is a clear development of

The trailable cabin sailing yacht range from Francois Vivier has

the company’s existing successful ideas, but with a twist. It’s

now grown, with the addition of the Koalen 18 and 26, pictured.

intended to be easily handled by small teams – anything from

The look of these craft is derived from the traditional fishing

one to five people – and, as would be expected of the J/Boats

boats of Northern Brittany. The boats can either be ordered

stable has impressive performance. It’s the company’s first boat

from a professional builder (Icarai and Grand Largue in France

with water ballast, with capacity for a hefty 400kg each side,

are both approved builders) or built from kit, in which case the

the equivalent of five average size crew. 22 boats had been sold

home-builder buys the CAD les and has them sent to someone

worldwide as of early 2018. It’s clearly a boat that will be very

with a CNC cutter (jordanboats.co.uk would be one option).

quick and fun. £POA keyyachting.com

Cost of CNC FILES €1,250 vivierboats.com, jordanboats.co.uk

76 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

The multi-season anti-foul

Coppercoat® is the most long lasting anti-foul coating available, with a treatment commonly remaining effective for a decade or more.

“The Clipper Race fleet has been exposed to a vast variety of conditions during the 2017-18 circumnavigation.

After over 40,000 nm of racing the Coppercoat ® remains well adhered and the hulls have been noticeably cleaner, a major contributor to performance. Coppercoat ® has surpassed our expectations and as our preparations commence for the 201920 edition, we have every confidence that the anti-foul will allow superb performance of our race yachts for many circumnavigations to come.”

Image: Clipper Race

Mark Light Clipper Race Director

+44 (0) 1258 861059

www.coppercoat.com

Custom designing, Custom interiors, Restorations, Custom built spars, Custom built Bronze hardware, Building your Dreams cold molded or traditional construction

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Tel. 207 359 4455

MADE IN HONG KONG

The Grand Banks 32 Freya was built in a world that no longer exists, and restored in Brighton WORDS STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES PHOTOS MIHOW KOSAKOWSKI

78 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

T

he Americans have a tradition of designing transportation vessels that combine a casually robust style with high utility and, above all, long production lines, to the point where many go on to become global icons. Just think of the Model T Ford, B52 bomber and Harley Davidson motorcycle. The list includes seemingly half the world’s man-made objects of the last century or so, in every field of endeavour from space exploration to art, where Andy Warhol toyed with the idea of art as commodity.

It’s the same on the water: no nation has created so many craft with such distinctive silhouettes, including the mahogany runabout, famously copied in Italy by Riva and the trawler yacht: we are talking of course, of Grand Banks, instantly recognisable, and lusted after by anyone who wants to go places slowly, economically and in comfort. And even the smallest in the range, the ship-like 32-footer, has proper liveaboard potential: it’s the perfect ‘bug-out’ boat.

Derek Stubley found Freya in Brighton Marina, being used as a liveaboard, settling in for her last voyage to a new life as a boxy houseboat... or dereliction. He made a bid of £9,000 to the owner, a man living in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, who had received an offer twice that from a buyer who wanted to strip out the strong, 2in-thick mahogany hull and rebuild her as a houseboat. But feeling ran deep, and he chose Derek to be the next owner, on the promise that Derek would put the ‘grand’ back into her and revert her to original.

That process began two years ago, in a boatshed in Britain’s first and largest marina at Brighton on the East Sussex coast, not a place you associate with the classic boat movement, but it’s a place that is mellowing, and growing a bit of character as it gently ages into its surroundings, with a community of bohemian liveaboards, and Brighton just a walk away along the esplanade.

When we visited in 2016, the scale of work was

ABOVE: the inside helm is mostly original but the Rototherm cabin thermometer and Ford badge are owner’s touches. ‑ builder’s plate showing that Freya is the 112th GB32 built, just four years after production began. She was launched in 1969

clear to the eye. There was not much wrong with Freya’s hull, but on a boat like a GB32, the hull is the least of it.

There is a truism about buying tired wooden boats that revolves around the supremacy of “a sound hull.” The reverse is frequently true; it’s everything else on a boat that takes the time and money to renovate, and of nothing is this truer than a Grand Banks motoryacht, with its massive superstructure and full interior. This must be the biggest 32-footer there is, and it’s obvious to see, stepping aboard, how even the baby of the range might make a good liveaboard for one or two people.

Budget restoration

Derek’s challenge was to restore the boat on a budget, using freelancers and friends, while project-managing the restoration himself. His current job as a buildings surveyor specialising in demolition and his time in the Navy gave him a grounding in practical matters, but the project was daunting, probably overwhelming, at times.

The main challenges were rot from freshwater ingress that ran through much of the superstructure and into the bilges, destroying everything in its path. The problem was not the quality of the original build, by American Marine in Hong Kong, but what Derek calls a “DIY-quality refit” by a previous owner. The main problem with that refit was the use of mild steel screws that had rusted out, letting the fresh water in. Apart from the hull “everything was shot” remembers Derek. There were mushrooms growing under the deck and the wardrobe was coated with an inch of the stuff. The port side upperworks were “like Weetabix” and the rear deck had sagged down five degrees, thanks to the leaky water tanks rotting out the supporting timbers, a common problem on old wooden Grand Banks, remedied by a new bulkhead.

Derek started work afloat and soon realised Freya would need hauling out and partially rebuilding on land. Planning it alone took six months, but it was clearly time well spent, as the THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 79

restoration, once started, only lasted a year and three months. As well as managing the project, Derek acted as “dogsbody,” while running his surveying firm. It meant 80-90 hour weeks and a few moments of doubt.

“The hardest decision,” Derek says with no hesitation, “was to keep going. I was chasing payments due to me to keep on top of the bills.” Carpenters Pat Martin and Tim were working six day weeks at one point and various friends did what they could, among them Kevin Martin, who took on the job of painting the large, under-sole engine compartment, but died just before the boat’s re-launch in September 2017. The compound-curved canopy that now sits over the rear deck was one of the biggest jobs, taking three weeks to build in a custom jig. It’s a common aftermarket addition on Grand Banks boats, and a sensible one for someone spending a lot of time aboard in British weather. The boat’s new timber is mostly American white oak, balal, marine plywood and century-old reclaimed mahogany from the staircase of a hotel. The mast, which is designed with a steadying sail in mind – although few Grand Banks owners use one – was built anew from the template of the rotten original.

The engine parts and stainless steel exhaust system were refurbished or rebuilt to original by Mike from West Marine, a principal agent of Freya’s renaissance. The engine is the original six-pot, 120bhp Ford Lehman diesel running through a Borg-Warner Velvet Drive gearbox. The Lehman is known for its reliability, and runs as well now as it did 49 years ago. The restoration of Freya has been the biggest refurb project at Brighton Marina for years, and the marina staff rallied around with enthusiasm, help, tea, chatter and a real concern for the boat that made Derek feel at home. In the end, the restoration cost £65,000 – half the boat’s current value.

At sea

It was a mad September day as Freya bucked over the steep chop past the forbidding marina caissons, the motion exaggerated by the pendulum effect on the high flybridge helm, where I sat with Derek and Mike from West Marine.

At sea, she settled into her groove and trucked. It was one of her first sea trials, in readiness for her first proper trip to Yarmouth to show the last owner what became of his tired boat. The Ford purred smoothly, not that you hear it up top. Seagulls gathered around and we ran along the coast, the white cliffs of the South Downs rising to port.

Steering Freya takes just two fingers on the wheel: nothing happens fast and the long keel keeps her tracking, but she still has her 1960s electro-mechanical autopilot in the deckhouse below. It’s easy to imagine steaming for miles with the choice of indoor or outdoor helm for all weathers, a teak swim platform and that 1,000-mile range.

Below, she’s just as homely and spacious. Where possible, Derek has left things as they are to preserve patina, a light bubbling on the chrome here and there and the teak sole gently worn; she’s one of the more original GBs out there, inside and out. Derek plans to use Freya as his floating, roaming home when he retires. Or as Freya’s compatriot, country rocker Alan Jackson, once put it: “If the phone’s for me, you can tell them I just sailed away.”

Turn the page for the history of builder American Marine 80 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

MAIN PICTURE: motoring out of Brighton Marina on a bumpy autumn day.

ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: outside helm; original teak parquet sole; double cabin; original door handle; characteristic Grand Banks scrollwork in the wooden guard rail; bronze lifting rail gate BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT: saloon and cockpit/rear deck; on the hard showing hull form; owner Derek Stubley

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 81

LEFT: Grand Banks production manager Mr Kong left and Robert Newton centre.

RIGHT: Spray, the first Grand Banks, designed by Kenneth Smith.

LOWER LEFT: factory in Junk Bay. LOWER RIGHT: boats in build in one of the 12 sheds.

American Marine: the greatest builder of all?

Hong Kong in 1956: the time and date alone brim with overtones of

popular of all, sold 1,560 boats. An aerial photo of the time shows

colonial glamour and the port, then under British rule, was a hive of

twelve large, metal waterside sheds, and in those sheds, an army of

immigration and manufacturing. One man, the American Robert J

skilled Asian shipwrights worked with adze, handsaw, hand-drill

Newton, was running a soft drinks bottling plant and decided, in

and hammer to build an armada of yachts the likes of which had

1956, to start building boats in the factory’s outdoor yard. You

never been seen before and never will again. Hulls were in

might be excused for assuming it would turn out to be a glorified

mahogany, and most of the rest of each boat was in Burma teak.

hobby for a man with an established business in the late summer of

The 32, according to the marketing literature of the day, was

his life, but you’d be wrong. At first, the fledgeling yard

designed as a “1,000-mile range, dependable diesel cruiser

concentrated on custom builds; yachts and motorboats built to

designed specifically for comfortable cruising with five aboard.

designs by the greatest designers of the day, like Olin Stephens and

Her generous beam, hard chine, 3ft 6in (1.1m) draught and

Ray Hunt. But in 1962, one design would turn American Marine, as

17,000lb (7.7-tonne) displacement create a degree of stability and

the yard became known, into probably the biggest production

performance unmatched in any other boat of her size.” The

builder of wooden boats, by mass, that the world has ever seen.

brochure goes on to talk about the outside spaces, like 88sqft

The design, from Kenneth Smith, was for a 36ft (11m) semi-

(8.2sqm) in the cockpit, same again on the flying bridgedeck, and

displacement motor yacht powered by a single diesel, with the

the broad side decks. The GB32 is unfathomably large for a yacht

appearance of a fishing trawler. These had a similar appeal to the

of her length, thanks to the broad hull that carries its beam along

‘MFV (motor fishing vessel) yachts’ that had captured England’s

most of its length and the towering superstructure that, as well as

imagination a generation earlier, but in a much bigger way.

the outside space, gives a very good saloon with galley and inside

That first boat, Spray, was launched in 1963 and caused an

helm, and a double cabin and heads in the forward, lower part of

avalanche of demand. To respond to it, American

the boat. Economy and comfort are good (5-6 litres of

Marine moved to new premises in Junk Bay, still in

diesel per hour at a cruising speed of 6 knots) as is, by

Hong Kong, abandoned the custom builds, and

all accounts, rough-weather capability. The

concentrated solely on building their range of

compromise, for the Grand Banks, was the

motor cruisers – the Grand Banks trawler yachts.

displacement single-figure speed (Freya will hit nine

Official production started in 1965, and American

knots, which is more than hull speed), but speed was

Marine launched a new wooden trawler yacht

clearly irrelevant for the purposes of a Grand Banks,

every other day for eight years straight – totalling

and it seems the world agreed, voting not least with

around 1,400 boats. In 1973, they switched to GRP

their chequebooks. The trawler yacht is now a

and over the next 35 years built another 2,600. The

recognisable type, built to this day by Grand Banks

GB32 was one of the most popular, with 831 built in

(ex-American Marine and under new ownership), not

total. The GB36 sold 1,124 and the GB42, most

to mention a host of other pretenders to the throne.

82 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

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Located at very center of East Coast’s sailing motor boating.

Within a radius ofthe ten nautical you canthe visit theand ports of Ipswich, Mannigtree and Harwich, Within a radius of ten nautical milesmiles you can visit ports of Ipswich, Mannigtree and Harwich, Within a radius of teninstant nautical milesto you can visitStour, the ports of Ipswich, Mannigtree and Harwich, The marina provides access the rivers Orwell and open sea.

Rivers Alde and Deben, the Walton Backwaters (Swallows and Amazon country), ancient Pin Mill thethe Rivers Alde and Deben, the Walton Backwaters (Swallows and Amazon country), ancient ancient Pin MillPin the Rivers Alde of and Deben, themiles Walton Backwaters (Swallows and Amazon country), Mill Within a radius ten nautical you can visit the ports of Ipswich, Mannigtree and Harwich, and numerous beautiful creeks and inlets. and numerous beautiful creeks and inlets.

Showers, Laundry andToilets, Disabled Facilities Showers, Laundry and Disabled Facilities Showers, Laundry and Disabled Facilities Electricity, Modern � Water, Showers, Laundry and Disabled Facilities

Stores Stores Stores � Ships � Ships � Ships WiFi Internet Access Ships Stores Access WiFi Internet Access � WiFi� Internet � WiFi Internet Access

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15/01/2014 13:41:41

SEXTANT A replica vernier sextant dedicated to the memory of Royal Navy Captain John Campbell, who developed this model in 1757. Hardwood handle and protective box. Instrument 20cm x 16.5cm. £149 force4.co.uk

BREGUET WATCH The Marine Équation Marchante 5887 is new from the prestigious watch manufacturer and bears a host of nautical features. £172,800 for the Platinum version, or £161,300 for the Rose Gold version

SPOIL YOURSELF

marine.breguet.com

Treats for you and your boat

YOWZAH! A colourful addition to the Sperry range, with canvas upper and all the bits you need in a yacht-bound deckie. £115 peterchristian.co.uk

CUTTY SARK CUFFLINKS These brass cuffinks are inlaid with reclaimed wood from the Cutty Sark restoration and are available exclusively through the Royal Museums Greenwich shop. £100 shop.rmg.co.uk

MUSTO BR2 OFFSHORE There are a lot of sailing jackets out there and many of them do exactly the same thing but some do it better than others. Musto is definitely one of the best, and their new BR2 Offshore is a perfect example. Constructed from breathable, waterproof and windproof BR2 fabric, it features double cuffs, adjustable hem, double storm flap with a drainage channel over the zip, and roll-away fluorescent hood so you’ll stay dry and visible on the wettest of days and in the highest of seas. £275 musto.com

84 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

OVERBOARD BAGS

PROPELLER LAMPS

Perfect for active racers, these

After graduating from the Boat Building

Pro-Sports Waterproof Backpacks

Academy in Lyme Regis, the man behind this

protect your gear from all the stuff

propeller lamp (right) formed Hollygrove

you want to stay away from your kit,

Woodworking to design and make bespoke

with welded seamless construction

products. Each is individually hand-made

and a two-way roll top sealing

using vintage propellers which have reached

system. There is also a ventilation

the end of their working life. This one is gunmetal

system for comfort, and D-rings for

bronze, 14in in diameter and weighs 6kg (13lbs).

multiple attachment options.

By feathering the blades you can change the

£49.99

lamp’s look and reflect light elsewhere. Each

over-board.co.uk

product is bespoke so woods can be specified.

From £225 hollygrove.woodworking@gmail.com

ANDERSEN WINCH Andersen stainless steel winches are renowned for their high quality and elegant appearance. Two models have recently been launched. The 34ST is dimensionally the same as the 28ST but with a low first gear ratio for fast trim.

The 50ST, shown, replaces the 48ST model, which is the same size as the 46ST, but provides more trimming power in second gear, an ideal option for genoa sheets on 10-12m yachts or halyards on 12-14m boats.

Price for manual winches from £435 improducts.co.uk

ROOSTER THERMAFLEX We tested the new Rooster Thermaflex range at Merlin Rocket Week in Salcombe. The longjohn and top were extremely comfortable to wear and

STAR OF DAVEY

felt like a second skin due to their soft material

These ‘good fortune stars’ are

and 1.5mm thickness, which also helped prevent

produced by Davey & Co in

overheating on warmer days. This, paired with

three sizes, either polished

the longjohn racer shaped back allowed for

bronze or chrome-plated. Is

greater freedom of movement and mobility

your boom-end looking a

around the boat and the front zip makes it easy

little bare.

to get on and take off.

From £12.43

£115 longjohn; £70 top

davey.co.uk

rooster.com

PAINTING OF YOUR BOAT Artist and experienced sailor Anna Boulton displays her latest oil, of Velsheda racing at the J-Class World Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, last summer. Anna has painted many modern and classic boats and takes commissions for portraits of private yachts. Prices for drawings start at around £800, oil paintings £2,000 to £30,000. annaboulton.com THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 85

DOCK STEP This foldable teak dock step is made by East Passage Boatwrights in Bristol, RI. When collapsed it can be stowed in the tightest quarters on board. Watch a video of it in action on the Classic Boat website. $2,950 epbws.com

B&G WIRELESS WIND SENSOR The WS320 is a new wireless wind sensor aimed at yachts with masts up to 25m. B&G have worked to keep the new sensor as low weight as possible while offering no compromises when compared to a wired unit. The wind sensor offers high

SAILOR’S SMOCK

performance, improved aerodynamics and accuracy, and the company says the smart rechargeable solar power management

Made from tough

system ensures that data is always available to your instruments

natural sailcloth, it

and autopilots, no matter what the weather.

won’t mind a splash of

From c£530

varnish, it has a loop

B&G.com

for a lanyard, an inside pocket for glasses or phone, outside pockets for tools and it features a tiny red ensign.

FUSION RA770

£45 arthurbeale.co.uk

Fusion Entertainment was showcasing its latest range of marine audio entertainment systems at the 2018 TheYachtMarket.com

GARMIN GHS 20I REMOTE VHF

Southampton Boat Show. Included in the range on display was the Fusion RA770 marine stereo – the flagship product of the

This new remote VHF will come in handy in lots

company’s new Apollo Series. Featuring a one-piece glass

of situations, particularly when approaching a

touchscreen display, built-in wifi streaming, Digital Signal

marina. The GHS 20i allows full remote control

Processing Technology (DSP) and PartyBus capabilities, the

of your VHF radio. It has a backlit LCD display,

RA770 marine stereo promises to take marine audio

soft keys and volume control, squelch and

entertainment to the next level. To keep the Apollo Series of

channel selection. A Channel 16 softkey

products totally up-to-date, over-the-air software updates are

automates distress calling, while a large

available from a smartphone or compatible device via the free

rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides

Fusion-Link app.

quicker charge and a longer range.

£799

£340 garmin.com

fusionentertainment.com

POWERBOATS OF YORE A handsome poster showing

Made in Essex by Bruntons, the

the winners of the Daily

Autoprop debuted in 1987. The hub

Express International Cowes-

uses a system wherby each blade

Torquay Offshore Powerboat

swings independently from the rest

Race from 1961 to 1978, as

depending on the power being

drawn by the talented Charles

applied, resulting in a self-adjusting

Lawrence, who also offers

pitch. Bruntons says this returns better

other posters including one of

fuel economy due to reduced RPM and

Fairey Marine sailing boats.

reduces drag under sail by 85%.

£25

From £1,380

charleslawrencechiswick.co.uk

86 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

BRUNTONS AUTOPROP

bruntonspropellers.com/autoprop/

DECKIES IN COLOUR This colourful array of deckies forms Chatham’s summer collection, under the banner of ‘Made in Britain’, and it is suggested that you mix and match contrasting colours for a real impact on the pontoons this season.

From £120 chatham.co.uk

BAG OF STYLE 2019 sees another edition of biennial event Monaco Classic Week. The ‘Monaco’ will carry your kit there in style. Navy canvas with a citrus orange

ZHIK WATERSPORTS SHOE

leather trim for added zing. £425 pickett.co.uk

Zhik’s first shoe, the ZKG trainer, was a popular choice for many and won plaudits for its performance on deck and trainer-like

BOOTS

styling. Now the company has launched its new edition ZKG

Simple but chic, these rubber sailing

watersports shoes. Again, these have trainer styling. The quick-drying mesh inner and outer fabric is combined with a

boots are from global sports kit

neoprene upper that has larger perforations to promote air flow

department store Decathlon and are

and water drainage. The inner shoe also has anti-bacterial

significantly more affordable than

treatment, which should prevent bad odours.

some branded ‘marine’ options.

Decathlon offers a full range of sailing

£92 zhik.com

kit. Blue ladies boot £26.99.

Red children’s boot £6.99

GILL NAVIGATOR JACKET

decathlon.co.uk

A combination of thermal insulation and two layers of waterproof material make this jacket ideal for winter sailing.

Yet Gill has designed the jacket to be breathable, comfortable and

TOUGH STUFF It is quite nippy in the

lightweight. Waterproof seams,

northern hemisphere at

adjustable cuffs and a rollaway hood

the moment and this

with adjustable neck have been built

Endurance jacket from

into the design to allow the wearer

new brand Shackleton will

plenty of freedom to perform whilst

ward off the winter chills.

staying warm and dry. The jacket

Your foulies can enjoy

comes in a number of striking colours.

some time off.

£150 gillmarine.com

£1,425 shackletoncompany.com

DIVE WATCH Like the finest boat fittings, the bronze on this handsome timepiece begins to oxidise on contact with moisture in the air, so each watch develops its own patina over time. The C65 Trident Bronze SH21 Limited Edition (only 150 will be released) is new from British watch manufacturer Christopher Ward, offering a retro look with the latest technologically advanced timekeeping. £1,850/ $2,110 christopherward.co.uk

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 87

CREWSAVER LIFEJACKET Launching to the public at The Yachtmarket.com Southampton Boat Show in September was this lifejacket from Crewsaver. The Crewfit 180N Pro is available in two colours - black and red, and white and red.

From £95 crewsaver.com

RONSTAN CAM CLEAT Adding to Ronstan’s long-standing line of composite cam cleats, these new aluminium cleats are built to provide impressively high levels of grip and to handle the high loads and small rope diameters which are increasing in high performance small boats at a significant rate. They are available in two sizes, with the RF5510R (pictured) for 3-12mm ropes. £39.95

sailtek.org.uk

HARKEN PROTEXIT BLOCK This new Protexit sheave blocks from Harken have been designed to prevent damage from side loads when hoisting or dousing a spinnaker or other free flying sail. The block’s allaluminium, hard wearing, water resistant housing has been meticulously shaped to help deflect lines onto the sheave, preventing halyard wear and increasing the longevity of the block itself. They are available in 30, 40, 50, and 60mm sheave size in single block configuration, with a 30mm double block option also available. £71.86 harken.com

MOB LIGHT Exposure Lights has launched the OLAS Float-On, a pocket-sized floating torch, which when immersed will automatically set off a 24-hour strobe for visibility in the water and meanwhile will trigger a piercing alarm on a smartphone app on board the yacht.

The app then gives clearly readable, visual directions back to the point of the incident, using large arrows and numbers. The strobe is visible from more than three nautical miles away. The app sends an alert when the yacht is within 20 meters of the incident spot.

The screens walk the crew through the MOB emergency process and provide the MOB position and boat data the coastguard needs when you call them.

ROOSTER KNIFE This safety knife from Rooster features a moulded body with a replaceable stainless steel blade. The slope of the blade combined with the shaped plastic top part reduces friction resistance, which enables a smoother and more effective cut. The blade can easily be changed and the

£84.95 (€99.95 or US$109.95)

whole design has been

exposurelights.com

created to be as light as possible to fit easily into a pocket when heading out

LIFE CELL

chance of accidentally cutting

Life Cell Marine is changing how safety

yourself. £9.95

equipment is stored on boats and creating a

roostersailing.com

new category of equipment. The Life Cell is in essence a buoyant device that can be used to much like a grab bag. The main difference here

HARKEN CUFFLINKS

though is its ability to float, which turns

A scaled-down Harken

it into a combination of both grab bag

block as a solid silver

and life ring. It was designed by a

cuffink. Size 8 x 12mm.

survivor after a rapid sinking off the

£90

coast of Sydney, Australia.

cestlaviejewellery.com

store all essential marine safety equipment,

£249.95 force4.co.uk

88 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

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MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN

Winners of The Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18

ELECTRIC WINCH HANDLE The Ewincher electric winch handle has three modes: assisted, manual and combined. The latter allows you to add your own power to that of the winch. Racers should note, however, it would be banned during racing in some circumstances, so check your class rules! £1,800

ewincher.com

KIAMA COAT

ZHIK DRY UV TOP

Waterproofed in and

ZhikDry LT is a lightweight, quick drying range

out, so it can go on

of performance tops for summer sailing and

over a damp shore

watersports. Styles include T-shirts and polo

jacket or wet sailing

shirts in short and long sleeves for maximum

gear, preventing

cover-up, in a range of smart colours. The

chilling between

ZhikDry LT fabric provides UPF50+ protection

races or if de-rigging

from the sun, and is treated with an anti-

in a cold boat park.

microbial finish to reduce any post-sailing

£195

odours. The moisture-wicking fabric keeps you

zhik.com

cool and dry during peak activity and hot conditions. Water and moisture quickly evaporate, leaving your skin dry. £52 zhik.com

SERVING MALLET An increasingly sought-after product at our friends Classic Marine is this serving mallet. Wooden boatowners will need no telling that this traditional tool is used to help get the outer twine wrapped around rope or wire as tight as possible. Despite the name (arising from its shape) the serving mallet is not used to hit anything; it forms a guide and tensioning lever for applying the twine to the rope. The serving mallets sold by Classic Marine are made in Norfolk as ash handles and oak heads and then they are assembled in the workshops at Classic Marine’s parent company, Suffolk Yacht Harbour, on the River Orwell. They are

SEAGO RESCUE SLING The rescue sling does exactly what you would expect it to do. Simply inflate it by pulling a tab, before throwing to the person in distress. This new version features flaps to reduce water entry and has a new cover with webbing tab for for quick and easy use by the MOB. A webbing handle sits on top of the float. £56.95

seagoyachting.co.uk

available from either the Classic Marine outlet at Suffolk Yacht Harbour or its online shop.

From £44.10 inc VAT classicmarine.co.uk

STEEL GAFFER Stainless steel sculptures hand-made by Richard Vasey

ON DECK TIPPLE

of Cornwall can be ordered online or at Michael Wood

Shatterproof Govino glasses, with a ‘thumb

Fine Art in Plymouth (tel:

notch’ to aid grip in those moments when you

01752 225 533.

have to take the tiller in one hand and a glass

Prices from £1,200

in the other. Use responsibly.

astins.co.uk

7.50 per glass (available as tumblers or tall) devonbeachcompany.com

90 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

USA

ROAD TRIP As Independence Day weekend looms each year, the eastern seaboard of the USA rings to the sound of hammer and saw as traditional boats are readied for a summer afloat. We visited some of the key yards ON THE ROAD WITH STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

LOUGHBOROUGH MARINE INTERESTS, RHODE ISLAND

Bermuda winner

For English émigré Joe Loughborough, who runs LMI Marine Interests in Rhode Island, the big project right now is Kirawan, pictured. She's not a famous yacht by a designer with the kudos of Herreshoff or Stephens, but certainly she deserves to be. She was drawn in 1936 by Philip Rhodes, one of the most prolific and diverse of all naval architects who designed as many as 50 one-design classes, motor yachts and military and cargo vessels of all sizes. His triumphs include Carina II, a 1955 yawl that won two Transatlantic Races, two Fastnets and a Bermuda. The only Metre yacht he ever designed, the 12-M Weatherly, won the 1962 America's Cup. Kirawan herself won the 1936 Newport-Bermuda Race in 45 knots of of wind, beating the S&S Stormy Weather boat for boat. The 53ft (16.2m)

EM CROSBY, CAPE COD, MA

Catboats and Cotuits

fractional-rigged cutter, built by Jakobson and Peterson of Brooklyn, NY, has had a difficult history of half-completed restorations, the first of which Joe describes as "lots of lipstick on a pig", and the second of which, a replank, was good, but the owner ran out of

In a sleepy side road by a farm shop and surrounded by caged

money. She was found recently by a new, local owner, who has sent

peacocks, we found Karen Crosby, eighth generation of a family

her to LMI for the full works. As for the new interior, he showed Joe

who have built boats here from 1744. EM Crosby is one of only two

a photo of the 1937 Alden yacht Sonata, featured in our December

yards offering new Wianno Seniors (pictured above) and when we

2017 issue, and said simply: "I want that!" He aims to take Kirawan back

visited the yard was busy finishing more than a dozen boats for

to the scene of her former glory, in the 2020 Newport-Bermuda

summer, among them a large, cabin catboat and at least two of the

Race.

crazy Cotuit skiffs, a local class that falls between a sharpie and a

Next to Kirawan is Belle, Joe’s own Luders 24. Joe has had her for

catboat. These 14ft (4.3m)-long, century- old boats are "out of

more than 29 years and done much work in that time. She is now

control" downwind, says Karen, who races one. In two years, the

nearly complete.

yard will move back to the sea at nearby Osterville.

Among the dozens of boats in storage is the next big project: a Clinton Crane First Rule 6-Metre. Joe also has an 80ft (24.4m) Alden schooner project for anyone with $10 million or so to spare.

92 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Kirawan, returning to form for another stab at the Bermuda Race

“She won the 1936 Bermuda Race in 45 knots of wind. She beat Stormy Weather, boat for boat!”

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 93

ABOVE Head boatbuilder Steve Schaefer (left) RIGHT Name on door of pickup truck BELOW Rare Concordia 28

BALLENTINE'S BOAT SHOP, MASS

Rare Concordia 28 in rebuild "Let's go!" said head boatbuilder Steve Schaefer (above, wearing braces) excitedly, waving a large hammer at Classic Boat's Hugo and I as we pulled up at Ballentine's Boat Shop in Cape Cod. Steve and his colleague Tyler Fields were on hand to show us around the large yard, with its various hangars where more than 100 boats winter every year. It's like a museum of American classics: Herreshoff 12.5s, Doughdishes (the GRP equivalent that Ballentine's is well known for), Haven 12.5s (Joel White's centreboard take on the 12.5), Stuart Knockabouts (28ft day sailers), and larger yachts. A Herreshoff Bullseye in a corner here, a Lyman-Morse runabout there.

The most arresting sight, however, was the Concordia 28 underoing major surgery. The photo above centre shows its new keelson, deadwood and some new frames. She's been at the yard for 15-20 years and this winter was completely refastened and reframed. The boat is typically American in build, in cedar planks on white oak frames, and unlike the later, larger Concordia Yawl that came to define the builder and designer (Waldo Howland and Wilder Harris) she is a bermudan sloop with a self-tending jib.

94 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

FIRST LIGHT BOATWORKS, CHATHAM, MASS

RIGHT Yard co-

34ft double-ender

owner Jim Donovan

There is a palpable feeling of activity at the First Light

ABOVE Empress of

Boatworks yard, which runs out onto a jetty over the

Blandings

picturesque Mill Pond. Much of that activity is above our

BELOW Painting

heads, where three boatbuilders are putting the last-minute

the Monomoy

beside the latest Monomoy 26

touches to a stunningly unusual yacht called Empress of Blandings, a name with more than a whiff of PG Wodehouse. She's a 34ft (10.4m) double-ended dayboat, ketch-rigged with a full keel, custom designed jointly by owner and shop with some inspiration taken from Danish workboats. It’s been an 18-month build and by the time you read this, she will be afloat and sailing. More on this to follow.

Inside, we see a Monomoy 26, the new name for the yard's First Light 26 series, which won a Classic Boat Award for powered vessels under 26ft last year. This one is hull number 11. The Monomoy 26 is a clinker, firplanked, open motor launch on a ply bottom with a teak transom. The 140hp inboard/

“Some of the inspiration is from Danish workboats”

outboard engine will give you more than 30 knots.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 95

Orca Bay +44 (0) 1249 750 785 www.orcabay.co.uk info@orcabay.co.uk

Solent rubber sailing boot RRP

£60

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EAST PASSAGE BOATWRIGHTS, BRISTOL, RI

A rare and very original Elco launch "Make sure you nominate this one – I want to come back to

RIGHT The

London!" says East Passage Boatwrights boss Carter

Saskonnet OD

Richardson with a laugh, as we admire the motor yacht he

INSET Luci's

and his team are working on. Carter made the trip to

still-original helm

London last year to pick up a Classic Boat Award for

station

Restoration of the Year – the boat was the S&S yacht

BELOW Carter

Santana, restored jointly by East Passage and LMI (previous

Richardson

page). This boat, Luci, is not nearly as famous as 'Bogey's Boat' (Santana belonged to Humphrey Bogart) but she's a rare and lovely thing, built in 1932 by the Elco Motor Yachts (formerly the Electric Launch Company). She's a very original example of her type, the popular, interwar 26ft (8m) Cruisette, albeit these days powered by an Isuzu diesel – "it'll run forever," says the surveyor. The boat belongs to new owners, a young couple who are having her put right over a five-year plan. This is year one, and the main job has been refastening about a third of the bottom.

A third more fill follow in autumn, then topside fastenings will be done. The couple are sensibly leaving the almost entirely original interior until they know the boat better, and intend to keep it as original as possible.

Next door is Batchelor Button, a Saskonnet OD, named after the nearby Saskonnet River. She is an 18ft (5.6m) keelboat designed by Alden and this one was built in the 1950s. The boats are keenly raced. BB has had a new deck, deckbeams, frames and more.

AREY'S POND BOAT YARD, SOUTH ORLEANS, MA

Scores of catboats

The award for the most picturesque boatyard on our trip goes to this one. The scores of boats on Arey's Pond (we counted 50) give the impression that the whole pond is a living museum to Arey's-built catboats. Apart from its catboat activity, the yard is busy with sail-making, steel fabrication and many other on-site services. Meanwhile a timber 22-footer is in build, which yard owner Tony Davis (inset) showed us, due for launch this summer.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 97

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN Beautiful beaches, bright blue waters, incredibly strong rum and knife-wielding maniacs. An all-female crew gets a taste of the Grenadines WORDS EMMA BAMFORD

98 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

W

e are going to the Grenadines,” the email from my friend Vic declared. “It’s Colette’s birthday and she’s trying to get a flotilla together. Come and join.”

When I arrived in St Lucia in mid-April I was told the plan: Vic’s 40ft yacht Papagayo, two charter catamarans we would pick up in St Vincent, and another private St Lucia-registered monohull, Breeze Away, would spend a week cruising the islands of the Grenadines. In total we would be a giant party of 25: six men and 19 women.

Vic’s partner, Ben, with whom she co-owns Papagayo and Rodney Bay-based sailing school First 4 Sail, would need to skipper one of the charter cats once we reached

St Vincent. So, after the crossing, for a week Papagayo would have an all-female crew: skipper Vic, me as first mate, Jo, Sam and, for the last few days, Yvonne. We had a mix of experience: Vic sails most days in the Caribbean and is a Yachtmaster Offshore, I’ve got a fair few sea miles under my belt and the others had all done some sailing.

Apart from the odd day in the Solent reporting on events for Sailing Today and Yachts & Yachting, I have never sailed with an all-female crew for an extended period and I had my own private theories about what the issues might be: would everyone be too polite to say what they really felt? Would we feel comfortable enough to be able to give orders? Would we have enough physical strength?

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 99

We set off from Rodney Bay with a heavily laden boat, both in terms of crew (we had our crew plus Ben and friends Barb, Monique and Christina on board for the passage down to St Vincent) and booze – we had stocked up well on rum and Prosecco for the birthday celebrations.

After clearing out at Rodney Bay marina, we followed the west coast of St Lucia until it was time to leave the Pitons behind and point our bow towards St Vincent, which lies slightly to the south west. Winds varied from 15kts to 28kts. (A note in the log reads: “Emma – waves and spray, very wet”). Our average speed for the passage was 6.1kts and our peak was 9.6kts.

We were quite close to St Vincent before we could see the 3,000ft peak of Soufrière volcano and make out through the haze the landscape of steep and rumpled, rich green lands punctuated every now and then with white houses. Once we were past the zones where the wind whips around the peak and well into the lee of the island, a pod of 60 dolphins came to play.

We arrived at Cumberland Bay at 6pm, just before sunset. A local boat man, Ivor, came in his dinghy and told us where to drop anchor. The beach shelves steeply here so he brought us a long line to tie to our stern – the other end was fastened around a tree. We spent a quiet night at anchor enjoying the country and western music that

100 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE Decent shelter and azure waters at Tobago Cays BELOW LEFT Long lining to a palm tree at Cumberland Bay BELOW RIGHT The author at the helm of Papagayo in fresh conditions (right)

floated out from the small village into the still bay.

It was a windless morning as we left Cumberland Bay at 9.30am so we motored out. An hour or so later we had 22kts. Once more we passed very few houses until we got nearer to Kingstown, the main city. We headed past Young Island towards Blue Lagoon marina, where Ben, Barb, Monique and Christina were jumping ship to join the charter catamarans.

The lagoon is fringed by reef and there is an entrance channel marked by tall red and green posts but it is recommended that you pay a pilot $20US (£15) to take your yacht in. It is worth it as the breakers on the reef are huge. The depth inside the lagoon is 7ft 6in max (tidal range is less than 2ft) and Papagayo’s draught is 7ft so we anchored just outside. It was very rolly outside the lagoon – and rolly inside it, also.

Rollyness aside, Blue Lagoon is a very nice little spot, with a restaurant, small supermarket and bar/cafe. It is a port of entry and clearing in was very quick, with customs and immigration at the same office (charges were $35EC (£10) per person for a month, though extensions are possible). We met the rest of our party here, including the Away.

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Rodney Bay

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Kingstown

TOP Landing the dinghy at the Barada Cay turtle sanctuary ABOVE Anchored off Blue Lagoon,

Admiralty Bay

Kingstown, St Vincent LEFT Mayreau, and another perfect landing with the

Saltwhistle Bay Chatham Bay

Petit Rameau

ubiquitous beach shacks in the background

The next morning, as Ben was now skippering one of the charter cats, Papagayo and her female crew of four set off for the 32nm journey past Mustique and Canouan to Mayreau.

Getting the anchor up was very hard (Papagayo doesn’t have a windlass) but we managed in the end and headed out early, setting two reefs in the main and half the jib and still making an average SOG of 7kts on a beam to broad reach. By that evening we were also adept at getting the dinghy on and off the deck and into the water and the outboard off the pushpit and onto the dinghy and I felt proud of how quickly we all gelled as a team.

Mayreau (pronounced My-rohw) is a gem of an island: small, at 1.6 miles across, with a steep peak and a choice of two anchorages; we chose Saltwhistle Bay in the north west. On our approach we had made sure to leave Baleine rocks well off to our port side.

There were lots of local boatmen vying to be the one to guide us in to the bay – and none seemed surprised to come across an all-female crew. Alex came out to help us take a mooring, which cost $60EC (£17) and some of our wider group booked a lobster barbecue at his beachside 102 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

restaurant. Along the beach sit low shacks selling cold drinks, ice creams, tropical fruits, sarongs and, of course, beer and rum (we went ashore in the evening and tried the local Sunset Very Strong Rum. At 85 per cent ABV, it really is). Half an hour’s walk away, up a steep incline, is the characterful village of Mayreau, with a great lookout point behind the church across to the Tobago Cays. Even from two miles away the water looked a vibrant, shimmering turquoise.

After lunch the next day we departed for Chatham Bay at Union island. With the wind behind us and only 4.2nm to go, we motored. It was easy line of sight navigating and we were guided into the bay and anchored where we were told to in 15ft in a quiet spot where turtles swam around the boat.

The birthday celebrations began in earnest with a meal for all 25 of us at Sunset Cove, a spread of local fish, chicken, lambie (conch), sides and salad all enjoyed with a beer, a glass of wine or a rum punch (or two).

In the middle of the night, back on Papagayo, we were jolted awake by a bang. Had we dragged? Surely not in these light winds?

ABOVE Our flotilla anchored off Tobago Cays in the Grenadines

Up on deck, in the dark, it was hard to make out what was going on but we were definitely still anchored, although our nose had turned the other way. A small French-flagged 20-odd foot yacht was much closer to us than it had been the previous afternoon – our very light GRP yacht and this heavy steel boat were swinging very differently in the light wind and current. Its occupants didn’t seem to be bothered by the clipping of hulls and there was no damage.

With everyone still sleepy (and tipsy) it was too risky to mess about leaning over the rail, manually hauling up the anchor, so we did a rough fix to make triple sure we hadn’t dragged, moved the dinghy round to act as a fender, then went back below.

Just after dawn there was another bang. And this time the after-effects were very different.

The husband from the French boat was standing on the deck, shouting over, asking to speak to the captain.

“I’m the captain,” Vic called over.

“Not you. Get the guy! Get the guy!” the man repeatedly shouted back (together with a lot of other more vitriolic things that I won’t repeat here). He must have seen Ben on THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 103

First 4 Sail’s top tips for sailing the St Vincent Passage Going south, be careful that the lee of St Lucia (or if going north, St Vincent) doesn’t lull you into a fall sense of security – winds could be 15kts here but 30-40kts in the channel (we had 28kts). Sail or motorsail under a reefed main and be ready to furl the jib away once you get into the channel. You might have to motorsail in heavy winds and lumpy seas for a while; it can be unpleasant.

The southern end of St Lucia and the northern tip of St Vincent are marked by mountains, and the channel is only 22 nm across, but you can quickly lose sight of land, which can be disconcerting.

Going from St Lucia down, your heading will be about 200-210 (T). If chartering or new to the region, be aware of variation, which is 15 degrees west. You might feel that you are pointing too high but the westwards current will take you down and if you don’t you might miss the island There is shipping and ferries but the channel isn’t too traffic-heavy and there are no other hazards.

board at some point and presumed he was the skipper.

Papagayo’s crew of women did not take kindly to being told that a woman could not be a captain and a heated discussion fitting of historic Anglo-French relations ensued.

“I give you one hour to go,” the man said, wielding a large knife above his head. “One hour. Then I cut your line.” He said it enough times that we started to wonder if he was being serious.

As a temporary solution and to humour him we pulled in some of our anchor line to readjust our position relative to his boat and once he had eventually stopped shouting and waving his knife, Ben went over to talk to him, “man to man”, and eventually both parties agreed that there was no damage done and these things happen in busy anchorages.

104 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE Three different snapshots of life on Bequia

As we motored out of Union our female egos were a little bruised by the chauvinist experience, but we concentrated on our 7nm passage back up the western side and over the top of Mayreau to reach the Tobago Cays via the northern approach (the southern approach is closer to Union but heavily littered with reef) – and all was forgotten as we entered the breathtaking waters of the Tobago Cays.

I’ve been lucky enough to have sailed in some of the world’s loveliest waters – the gin-clear Tyrrhenian, the teeming-with-life Celebes, the bright blue Exumas. But I’ve never seen water quite the colour of the Tobago Cays, where it is a cross between turquoise and bright aquamarine, just as beautiful in reality as in any picture.

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between Petit Rameau and Petit Bateau ($45EC (£13) per night) and we were itching to get the dinghy into the sea before we’d even finished tying off the lines on the bow cleats.

We dinghied out to Barada Cay, passing turtles, and dragged the dinghy up a soft white beach dotted with the odd conch shell and, in the shallows, some pretty green stones that can only be found in the Grenadines. From here we could see the other mooring field south east of Petit Bateau and there were a lot of boats there – not Mediterranean-in-August numbers, but an amount that surprised me considering it was April, and not exactly peak season. A lot were private boats carrying flags from all kinds of countries: cruisers, come to see the famous Tobago Cays for themselves.

There are no facilities here and if you need anything you have to buy it from a local boatman who has brought it over that morning from Union in his fast skiff – and you’ll pay handsomely for it, so be prepared. A 500ml bottle of drinking water, for example, costs $10EC (£3.30); a bag of ice $25EC (£6.50). A couple of companies run beach barbecues ($100EC (£29) a head) on Petit Bateau at night, bringing all the food, drinks and ice over each time. Well, not all – one local guy, swimming naked, pulled a lobster from the mangrove right next to our boat.

106 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ABOVE Another beautful beach!

It was a lazy couple of days we spent here, swimming, relaxing, paddleboarding, reading – even hanging off coconut palms for Instagram-worthy photos. The wind made dinghy rides a little wet but also kept the inside of the boat cool. Yvonne joined us, coming over in a water taxi from Union, swelling our ranks on board from four women to five.

Our last stop was to be Bequia, with the 23nm passage there, back past Mayreau and Canouan, taking us a chunk of the way back home to St Lucia. Port Elizabeth at Admiralty Bay is a pretty and proper working harbour, with boatbuilders repairing wooden launches by the water’s edge, a sailing school for local children, a string of cute cafes and restaurants along the shore, as well as facilities such as a supermarket and a bank. We stopped for amazing ginger ice-cream and coffees at the Gingerbread Cafe and walked along the coast to Jack’s bar, a chic day club where you could happily spend an afternoon alternating between taking a dip in the sea and ordering a drink at the bar.

It was almost a shame when Ben climbed back on board Papagayo the next morning as we headed back to St Lucia.

Not only because I could have happily spent a week on Bequia, and I would have loved to have carried on down to Carriacou, but also because our all-women crew had worked together so well. My earlier worries had proved unfounded: we were definitely able to say what we really felt (and not to take offence at it), we were all happy to give and take orders, and when we struggled with a physical task we improvised and found a way round the problem.

I’d definitely be happy to sail with a group of women – especially this lot – again. Women make just as good (if not better) skippers and crew as men.

If only certain sexist, knife-wielding French maniacs could see that.

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CLASSICS A wooden boat is a great way to get afloat. Here are 10 of our favourites, each available for less than £10k on the used market SELECTED BY STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

Stella

The Stella is the archetypal, small post-war British cruising yacht and in many ways it has it all – great looks, proven sailing ability, good for racing and for cruising, solo or with a family, for a day or for much longer, with proper accommodation below. There is a steadily growing fleet, with many in restoration (both professional and amateur) and a great owners’ association. The Stella was drawn by the English naval architect Kim Holman as a ‘bigger Folkboat’ and the first, La Vie en Rose, was launched in 1959. Just two days later she swept the board so thoroughly at Burnham Week that some questioned her rating!

The Stella was, according to our late technical editor Theo Rye, “a careful piece of work”, with a fairly full waterplane, higher than average beam and near 50 per cent ballast ratio, creating a winning formula. They have a reputation for being slippery in light airs as well as standing up to the heavy stuff, yet that waterplane carries enough buoyancy aft to take a full cockpit load without squatting. The Stella has bags of freeboard, which is not immediately apparent, as the clinker planking breaks up the topsides visually.

This is a pretty boat and although it gives a little away to the extreme elegance of the Scandinavian Folkboat that inspired it, the gains in accommodation

EMILY HARRIS

will be a bargain many will settle for happily.

108 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Blackwater Sloop

The Blackwater Sloop story starts around 1930, when boatbuilder Dan Webb received an order for a two-berth cruising sloop for an owner who wanted a capable coastal cruising yacht. The result was an 18ft sloop of traditional appearance and build, good freeboard, two settee berths, a place for a heads bucket forward by the chain locker and a cooking shelf for a primus stove close by the after bulkhead.

An early devotee was sailor and author Francis B Cooke, who wrote a number of books detailing his experiences in the boat he had built for him in 1938, the gaff-rigged Iolanthe. He relates that the gaffer beats bermudanrigged variants “good and proper” to windward. The interior, he tells, is “not very large, but there was room for a Lloyd’s Yacht Register and a dozen

VANESSA BIRD

Penguin books”.

Memory 19 The Memory 19 belongs to a very specific and popular genre: the 19ft (5.8m) GRP-built, traditional-looking, trailable, gaffrigged yacht, exemplified by the Cornish Shrimper that has sold more than 1,100 boats since its inception in GRP in 1980. The Memory 19 was the first of the genre, launched in GRP in 1976.

She was designed by Tony Robinson for his own use, then built

by Eric Bergqvist, then Liverpool Boat Company, and in more recent years by Salterns Boatbuilders. Collars is now the builder, but the cost of a new one (over £30,000 by now) against the very good and plentiful examples on the used market, means none have been built in years.

You wouldn’t buy the Memory 19 for long-distance cruising, but for daysailing and weekending it will come into its own with its huge cockpit and ample rig. The Memory 19 is a fast boat – in fact, they have won more races than any other design in OGA

ENDEAVOUR

racing. The big rig means these boats go in very little wind and reach hull speed in as little as 10-12 knots with the right sails up.

“It’s quite easy to sail,” says Greg Dalrymple of Salterns, “but you do have to keep reefing it down.”

You will find the Memory 19 in various guises. The early boats, built by Eric Bergqvist and then the Liverpool Boat Company, were sold as bare hulls with deck and centreboard case for the buyer to

VANESSA BIRD

complete, with varying results. Besides their long (9ft) open cockpits, they offered two full-length berths under the foredeck, once you had crawled in. Some had sliding hatches to improve access. Liverpool Boat Co added a very small cabin to some boats, giving sitting headroom.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 109

Z4 Tonner If all you knew about the Z4 Tonner is that it was designed by an amateur to be as cheap as possible, then built on a production basis by a door and window frame manufacturer in Essex, you probably wouldn’t picture the yacht you see to the left here, with its heart-shaped transom, spoon bow and big sheer.

But the yacht designer was the well-regarded Dr T Harrison Butler (‘THB’ as his followers call him); and the door and window manufacturer, Alfred Lockhart, proved to be competent, fast, and innovative, turning out good boats, whose longevity is proved by the high percentage of them still sailing today. And the era – the 1930s – was arguably the pinnacle of beautiful small-yacht design.

No one would seriously call the Z4 a fast boat (some have, of course, tried). But if your objective is mainly coastal cruising with good accommodation for two, and the enjoyment (and kudos) of a boat with serious classic status, seakindly ways and drop-dead looks at a very good price, the Z4 is hard to beat.

The story started in 1937, with THB’s Zyklon design, an evolution of his 1919 Cyclone design. The sheer on the Cyclone, THB felt, was too flat, which might explain the joyfully perky sheer on the Zyklon. Also, THB was then an ardent believer in the (now MARCEL VAN COILE

discredited) metacentric shelf theory, and the Zyklon was built to satisfy its requirements, which included minimal overhangs.

Today, we might associate that look with a workboat aesthetic, but the full hull shape and resultant good accommodations are the happy legacy of his thinking at the time.

Contessa 26 Like the Stella featured on the previous page, the origins of the Contessa 26 lie in the famous Nordic Folkboat of 1942, the most popular cabin yacht of all time, but one with limited accommodation. The Contessa story starts with boatbuilder Jeremy Rogers of Lymington, who was, in the early 1960s, building modified Folkboats in wood, but with masthead, rather than fractional rig. One owner, the engineer David Sadler, raced particularly successfully with his boat, Contessa of Parkstone, named after his wife, Tessa. The Folkboat Association, however, took a dim view of this, so Jeremy moved away from the class identity and tooled up to build the boats in GRP in collaboration with David Sadler and thanks to the backing of grocer Vernon Sainsbury, who paid up front in full, for the sixth boat, to be sure of having one with the teething issues ironed out. The first boat, Contessa of Lymington was followed by nearly 350 sisterships over the next 11 years, and later spawned the Contessa 32. The 26 is heavier than the Folkboat, with a rig set up for a lower centre of effort, so the mast is 2ft (60cm) shorter, and the upwind sail area slightly lower. But with the more modern topmast rig, the

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Contessa can set more sail area before the mast. The Ports-

110 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

mouth Yardstick favours the Folkboat (1067, with 1166 for the Co26), but this is from data derived from round-the-cans racing.

Where the Co26 really excels is off the wind and in heavier conditions, with her higher freeboard, vastly improved accommodation and greater beam. These little yachts have been regularly used for grand bluewater feats like round-Britain and transatlantic voyages, and more than one global circumnavigation.

South Coast One Design

The SCOD is typical of many of the boats on this list: she is a product of middle-class, post-war England, of Cowes and the Solent, and of the wish for a craft capable of cruising with the family or racing. Designed in 1953 by Charles Nicholson, the nephew of the great Charles E Nicholson, and proved immediately popular. Compared to its peers, like the Holman-designed Stella, it was heavily RICK TOMLINSON

built, spacious with its deep draught, and although intended to be “affordable”, was considerably costlier than other boats of the era.

It didn’t stop people queuing to own one. They were very successful in racing on the Solent, taking the top six spots in the 1956 Round the Island Race. They race keenly to this day, as a one-design fleet, but also under the ISC handicap, where their good rating makes them as competitive in the annual Round the Island Race now as they were back in the 1950s.

The clinker dinghy One of the entries listed in the recent BBC and British Museum’s ‘History of the World in Objects’ starts with this sentence: “Boats are the single most important objects in the history of the world.” The photo they chose to back up this grand and true statement was one of a bright-finished, clinker, wooden rowing dinghy, an implication that this sort of vessel has come, at least in the western mind, to embody the word ‘boat’. The clinker planking recalls the most pivotal moments in waterborne history, from the Vikings to the first International Class dinghy in the world (the 1913-designed International 12) while the simple form, with its open interior, perhaps a small foredeck, wooden thwarts or benches, a pair of bronze oarlocks and a simple sailing rig, is instantly recognisable to all. A two-horse on the transom (preferably a Seagull or similar guts-on-show old-style outboard), and you have a light, strong craft that can be propelled by three means (four if you use a scull through a transom cut-out) and capable of traversing lake, river, estuary or coast. The delight of these sorts of boats lies not just in their timeless good style, but in their comfort. They are, as they say, boats you sit “in” rather than “on” and the sound of a clinker dinghy splashing through waves, accompanied by the creaking of wooden mast, boom and tiller, has to be experienced to be understood.

NIC COMPTON

These are very usable boats: a typical 12ft (3.7m) example will weigh around 100kg (220lb), so they are a bit much for two to handle out of the water, but very easy on a trolley and towable by any car. The 12-footer will comfortably accommodate two adults and a child or two.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 111

Nordic Folkboat It has been described as a nautical Volkswagen Beetle. It has been hailed as a rare example of a good thing designed by a committee. The Folkboat is the most popular, successful and influential sailing yacht of all time. It comes in various guises and has Scandinavian Sailing Federation launched a design competition for a cheaply built boat that would be easy to sail. No entry satisfied the judging committee, who nevertheless saw admirable traits in six different entries, and commissioned the yacht designer Tord Sunden to draw these elements into a unified whole. The result was a clinker-built fractional sloop with a simple rig (two shrouds each side, jibstay and backstay) and a small, low-profile cabin, on a lively sheer with a raked transom stern. Our late technical editor Theo Rye described the Folkboat as “approaching perfection”. The boat is suitable for almost any role, offering one of the best one-design

SHANE HOADLEY

racing classes, with active fleets worldwide, it has been sailed across oceans and it serves as a pocket knockabout for a young family.

TIM WRIGHT/PHOTOACTION.COM

spawned several derivatives, but the Nordic Folkboat is the original. The Folkboat story started life in 1941 in neutral Sweden when the

Dauntless

The Finesse 21 and 24

The Dauntless’ chief attraction was its price. Again, the era was

You don’t buy a Finesse for racing. These are not the quickest

post WW2, when the Dauntless Boat Company of Leigh-on-

boats, although the 24s have regularly averaged 4.5 knots on pas-

Sea in Essex speculatively put a basic cabin over one of its 16ft

sage and 7 knots on occasion. But with their huge, and very cosy,

(4.9m) clinker power launches and gave it a gaff rig. It sold imme-

ship-like accommodation, bags of headroom, an easy nature, the

diately to a local customer, who took it apart and started build-

fairly seaworthy shape with the weight to punch through typical

ing a series, much to the vexation of the Dauntless Company,

Thames Estuary conditions (they are popular elsewhere too), and

who responded by offering a 20ft (6m) version. This evolved

the fact that most are kept in very good condition, they attract

into the standard 22ft (6.7m) boat, with gaff or bermudan rig.

fierce owner loyalty. They change hands very seldom, so examples

Everything about it was low-key, built to a price by a team of 22

don’t often come to the market but when they do, they are some-

apprentices managed by two boatbuilders. Sailing performance

times single-owner boats. Decent 21s run from £3,000 to £7,000

was as you might expect, leading most owners to later add a

while good 24s run from about £3,500 to £13,000, occasionally a

bowsprit for better performance. But the low price (a brochure

little more. There are no particular vices on the Finesse boats to

from the late 1940s quotes £491 – about £15,000 today) put a

report because they are relatively young and because, in the words

whole generation of sailors on the water.

of builder Alan Platt, they were “intended to last a lifetime”.

112 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

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FLYING

FRENCHMAN With a Vendée win, a singlehanded round the world record and a new foiling Ultime trimaran in build, François Gabart’s sailing career is going from strength to strength WORDS TOBY HEPPELL

F

rench offshore sailor François Gabart shot to international fame when he took victory in the Vendée Globe in 2012, then aged just 29 years old.

For most offshore sailors, a Vendée victory would be the pinnacle of their career but not so Gabart, who in 2017 went on to top his achievement with a new solo round the world record, sailing his Ultime Trimaran Macif. His final time from Ushant (in the southwest Channel) round the great capes and back was a mere 47 days, 16 hours and 40 minutes. Stunningly that’s the third fastest lap of the planet either crewed or singlehanded, only just slower than Loïck Peyron’s 2012 crewed record (45 days) and Francis Joyon’s 2017 crewed record (40 days).

Dinghy beginnings

Gabart didn’t start out doing his serious sailing in big boats, however. “In my very early years I have happy memories of sailing with my family on little cruising yacht that we had,” he tells me. “But my main racing was in smaller boats. Like a lot of others, I started out racing in Oppies when I was a kid and then carried on dinghy racing for many years.”

So it was a childhood messing around in boats with his parents in a cruiser and racing his Optimist. But things started to get more serious when in 2003 Gabart started to sail the Tornado, training with the French team with the 114 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

ultimate goal of the Olympic Games in mind.

“I was very lucky to be sailing the Tornado with the French national team at a time when it was a really strong boat for us. So I was learning so much,” Gabart recalls. “It was great to get to learn so much but it also was bad luck for me, as I don’t think I was ever likely to get to the Olympics.”

Heading offshore

At the same time as sailing the Tornado, Gabart was also able to take part in the Tour de France à la Voile, initially competing with a university team. Here he got a taste of racing on longer legs, sailing at night and navigation – all of which appealed to his analytical nature.

“I moved over to offshore sailing a little more than 10 years ago now. I had done some time in the Tour de France but it was when I moved into the Figaro that I was actually moving over to a different type of sailing.

“I would also say that that is the time I really became a professional sailor. For an offshore sailor the whole programme is non-stop, whether you are on or off the water, and it requires you to be full-time.

“I always knew that I enjoyed studying the weather when I was dinghy sailing and I was doing a lot of that back then. Once I moved into offshore sailing that side of me clicked and I realised then that I am probably better

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 115

suited to offshore sailing. I seem to work at my best when I am managing the fleet and managing my sleep and navigating. It is still sailing obviously, but there is a lot that works well for me.

“If you look at a solo offshore sailor compared with an Olympic sailor, then the Olympic sailor is probably sailing 250 days in a year and the offshore sailor will be doing much less than that, as there is lots of shoreside planning and managing to do. I really enjoy that part of it too. Don’t get me wrong, if I didn’t get to go sailing then I would not like it – but an offshore sailor’s life feels like it fits me better.”

I ask Gabart whether, given his dinghy sailing background and specifically the time spent sailing two-up in a Tornado, he gets lonely at sea by himself, particularly when record-setting with no one else out there, even to race against. “I don’t think lonely is the right word. I am by myself but I am not alone. I think I am very privileged to be able to do what I do and I don’t think I have the right to feel lonely.

“And anyway, what do we really mean by that? When I am out at sea by myself I often think about people in Paris or in London who are getting the Tube into work every day. They can be surrounded by other people but not speaking to or interacting with anyone. That person can be lonely, but I do not feel that when I am at sea; there is the sea and me, and I know there are people following me ashore so I am not lonely, even if I am alone.”

Looking ahead

Currently Gabart is in the midst of a particularly busy time on shore. Following his record-breaking lap of the planet, his Ultime, Macif, went into the shed for a refit ahead of a busy programme for 2019. The Macif team is also launching a new IMOCA 60 for the next Vendée Globe – a project Gabart is involved with even if, ultimately, he will not be skippering the boat.

If these two major undertakings were not enough already, Macif have recently confirmed they will be launching an entirely new Ultime, the building of which was due to start late in 2018 – this new boat should be Gabart’s boat for the 2019 World Tour, which will see a number of Ultimes competing in a solo round the world race, departing from Brest, France.

The refitted Macif has been widely reported to be receiving lifting foils like those currently on display on Banque Populaire IX and Gitana 17. Is there truth in the rumours? “Yes we will be fitting some lifting foils, or at least, foils that will give us greater lift; our current [C-Board] foils do lift us out to skimming and sometimes more, but these should get us out the water for more of the time.” He goes on to clarify, however, that although merely adding the foils will improve the performance of the boat,

ABOVE: Macif can be fully sailed from within her covered central pod BELOW LEFT A headsail change while solo at sea BELOW RIGHT: The scale of the 35m mast is shown during a spot of rigging work while ashore

to really take advantage of the very latest foiling technology merely replacing the boards is not enough and the boat needs to be designed from the ground up with foiling in mind – as the new Macif Ultime will be.

Though there some out there who remain unconvinced about fully foiling offshore trimarans, Gabart is convinced this is the future of the sport. “The feeling [of foiling] is just amazing in these boats, just incredible. I think my best day setting the record was 35 knots [average over a 24 hour period]. It can be tricky but it feels safe, like the boat is designed for it. It’s a really good feeling because speed is like a drug. You adapt after a while to going that fast all the time.

“The feeling of flying is difficult to describe but you feel the faster you go, the more control you feel to keep going faster in the future.

“I was able to sail 35 knots for a whole day on the current Macif but I am quite sure that it will be flying 40-45 knots soon as an average. At the moment, the boats with foils are not flying all of the time and it can be difficult to fly down and then over big waves, but I think we feel we can overcome that barrier in the coming years.

The revolution we are living now with flying, I feel like it is a very big revolution and is going faster than many people realise right now.”

Sailing ambassador

Offshore sailing in France is very big business indeed and big names in the sport are typically household names. As such Gabart’s profile in France is pretty huge. The Frenchman says he is very aware that his profile can be used to help encourage others into, or back into the sport.

116 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

I don’t think lonely is the right word. I am by myself but I am not alone. I think I am very privileged to be able to do what I do

“I remember that even when I was very small sailing on a cruising boat with my parents, I would see those boats left being unused and think it was so sad that people have these boats that could be sailed on and yet they were just left there, unused.”

It was in part this frustration that recently led Gabart to invest some money in (and more importantly put his name to) a start-up in France, called Click&Boat. “When I read about what they do, it seemed like a great idea to get those unused boats sailing even when the owners do not have the time to sail them,” Gabbart explains to me. “It was also practical for me. I still like to go cruising and have a boat for that. If I have time off work, I go out. It reminds me of sailing with my parents when I was young. I like that sometimes you can look at the weather and think ‘this is a day for staying at anchor and relaxing in the sun’. But as my racing takes up so much time there are long periods of time when I am not able to sail it, so it is just another one of those boats sitting there unused. Having invested in Click&Boat, I can make sure that if I am not on the boat then other people can hire it out, maybe people that do not want to buy their own boat; it helps more people get out sailing and stops my boat just sitting there not being used.”

Ultimately, speaking to Gabbart, whether discussing encouraging others into the sport, Olympic sailing or offshore records, what stands out the most is the absolute passion with which he talks. At the time of our conversation his focus was on relaunching Macif Ultime with her new foils and preparing for the Route du Rhum in November, 2018. If you followed the race, you’ll know he came second – another gong for the trophy cabinet!

ABOVE: Displaying his new solo record time 42 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes, 35 seconds.

RIGHT: Rounding the Cape of Good Hope (Le Cap de Bonne Esperance) after just 11 days at sea

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 117

.

HALSEY HERRESHOFF

Keeper of the flame The grandson of Captain Nat talks boats, family, sailors and the Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cup

WORDS STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES PHOTO C/O HERRESHOFF MUSEUM

118 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

R

hode Island in late June is not the worst place to be kicking your feet at the end of a week’s driving tour of New England’s boatyards. On Burnside Street, just up from the seafront, a wide workshop door hangs open. In the still darkness inside, an old-timer is busy fixing up a modest plywood skiff laid out on workhorses. On closer inspection, it is Halsey Chase Herreshoff, naval architect, America’s Cup sailor, philanthropist, grandson of Captain Nathanael Green Herreshoff – the wizard of Bristol – and holder of the Herreshoff flame. Over the next three hours, Halsey shows colleague Hugo and me his yacht Rugosa, the Herreshoff museum, and grandfather Nat’s model room within it, where Herreshoffs from the wizard onwards have worked on their ideas and built models for some of the most famous vessels the world has known.

We sit in the cockpit of Rugosa, moored on the waterfront in early summer sun. Rugosa is Halsey’s New York 40, the yacht that won the biggest regatta of the classic boat movement: the America’s Cup Jubilee in 2001. After that event, Halsey took a revolving crew of family and friends on a grand cruise that took in Scandinavia, Russia (“we were the only US boat there and everyone was so friendly in St Petersburg”), Norway, Scotland, Ireland, the western Med, the Greek Islands (“I loved Greece”), the Canaries, the Caribbean, and finally the eastern seaboard of the USA. In total, 160 different people crewed on the five-year voyage. Halsey pauses at the end of the itinerary and says: “It was about the nicest thing I ever did, that cruise. I love cruising in Maine, but the Baltic and Greek Islands are better!”

It’s hard to know where to start with someone like Halsey: he’s a Bristol, RI, native born in 1933, who learned to sail aged in a Herreshoff 12.5 and started racing at the age of five. He went on to read naval architecture at degree level and mechanical engineering at MIT as a post-grad, and whose entry in the Encyclopedia of Yacht Designers tells us that more than 10,000 boats have been launched to his designs. He was instrumental in the founding of the Herreshoff Museum, just yards away from where we are sitting, and founder of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame. He crewed in four America’s Cups from 1958 to 1983. But perhaps the most obvious question is what memories Halsey has of grandfather Nat. “I have one,” he says brightly, as though no one has ever asked. “I was four, and my grandfather was 90 and ailing. He called for me and produced a globe on a wooden stand, for my brother and me.

He wanted to inspire us to travel the world. The press always portrays Nat as a stiff, technical man, but he was happy and fun, had children, played with them, sailed every day.”

These days, Halsey is a grandee of American sailing himself, not to mention a great public servant to the town of Bristol: the park behind us has just been named after him, for his “tireless, unprecedented” advocacy of its improvement. But we’re not here to talk parks.

“The finest seaman I ever met was Rod Stephens [19091995, Halsey’s crewmate on the 1958 AC campaign aboard the 12-M Columbia]. The other was Irving Johnson,” he says.

Irving Johnson (1905-1991) was the man who went to sea in 1929 aboard the full-rigger Peking, after training for it by

climbing telegraph poles on the family farm. His film Around Cape Horn is perhaps the greatest documentary about the days of sail. Halsey also has a great affection for Olin Stephens (1908-2008), whom he describes as “the finest man you could ever meet...he was always ready to admit his mistakes”.

Turning to offshore sailing in general, he says: “With ocean sailing, you need a combination of boldness and caution. The biggest hazard is falling off.” Peeing overboard while on watch is a particular risk, Halsey says, so he has installed a draining funnel for that purpose at the aft end of Rugosa’s cockpit.

Other than that “the two most dangerous things on a boat are Highfield levers and wire winches”. In general terms “races and passages succeed very much on preparation. After that, the essential thing is the crew”.

Favourite boats? “Bambino, 1904, built one year before the NY30s, but even better, stiffer, with more ballast. Then the New York 32s – I raced these with Rod Stephens. And the schooner replicas Eleonora and Elena.”

Rugosa is obviously very dear to Halsey, but after decades of ownership, she’s for sale. “She’s been a tremendous pleasure racing and cruising. These NY40s are much stiffer than the 30s or 50s, great sea boats. You don’t reef often.”

Halsey is about to start restoring his S-Boat yacht for the class centenary in 2019. And aged 85 he has gone into a new business partnership with Tyler Stafford, 21, to build fast, modern motorboats (CB363). He would also like to travel more, the legacy of his boyhood globe perhaps. “I would like to see those parts of the world that I’ve not yet seen.... like Pitcairn Island near Tahiti.”

“The press portrays him as stiff, but Nat was happy and fun”

MODEL ROOM

Halsey walks us to the Herreshoff Museum and we stand in the hushed shade, beneath the hulls of some of the most famous yachts ever built. Capt Nat’s first, last and favourite boats are all here. They are, respectively, Sprite (20ft catboat, 1860), Belisarius (last large cruising yacht, a 40ft LWL yawl of 1935) and the Buzzard’s Bay 25. We marvel at the 24ft scale model of the 1903 AC yacht Reliance, the largest gaff cutter ever built, at 145ft on deck. “She was such a fine yacht that even her cleats were hollowed for weight saving.”

In the model room, where Halsey works to this day, using the same tools that belonged to Captain Nat, we look at the model of Gloriana, the boat that launched Nat’s career.

On the room’s walls are the first torpedo boats for the US Navy, steamers, catamarans, even NC4, the brusquely named aircraft that was first to cross the Atlantic in 1919 with a Herreshoff-designed and built hull. There is also a model fishing boat by Karl Friedrich Herreshoff, the first Herreshoff emigre, who came from Potsdam to the USA in 1795. “Horrible model,” says Halsey with a chuckle. Young Tyler has joined us at this point and Halsey jokingly picks up an old megaphone and shouts: “Stop slacking!” After nearly three hours of Halsey’s time, it is time to leave. As we walk out of the model room, two tourists wander in through the open door. “I’m John and this is my wife Susan,” the man says, clearly unaware of who he is greeting. “I’m Halsey Herreshoff,” says Halsey, shaking his hand warmly and turning back to show hem round.

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 119

EVENT GUIDE 2019 Don’t miss these highlights of the next yachting year

boot Düsseldorf

RYA Dinghy Show

Antigua Race Week

19-27 January

in association with Yachts & Yachting

27 April – 3 May

One of the world’s leading boat shows, boot

2-3 March

Following directly on from the classic regatta,

Düsseldorf spreads 1,800 exhibitors across 17

Organised by the RYA, this London show is a

thousands of modern race boat sailors

vast halls. Almost every boatbuilder under the

must for anyone interested in dinghy sailing.

descend on Falmouth Harbour for another

sun will be here, along with gear manufactur-

rya.org.uk

serious week of racing and fun ashore.

ers, charter companies and more. It’s easy to

sailingweek.com

get around, dynamic, and all in a city famed

Cherbourg race

for its hospitality. boot.de

19 and 21 April

London on Water

Opening Channel race for Junior Offshore

9-12 May

Group members, departing Cowes. The

Event in the capital with boats, cars and

18 February

excitement continues with a return Cherbourg

entertainment ashore at St Katharine Docks.

Top Caribbean offshore race. The varied fleet

to Cowes race on the Sunday 21st April.

londononwater.com

sails out of Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, for a

jog.org.uk

RORC Caribbean 600

slalom course round the Leeward Islands.

Cowes Spring Classics

Attracts some of the world’s most exciting

Les Voiles de St Barth

boats, modern and classic.

14-20 April

Second year for new event after a successful

caribbean600.rorc.org

Now in its tenth year, this event is for serious

launch in 2018, with a strong fleet of classics

racers in yachts of all sizes.

big and small and a fun atmosphere ashore.

lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com

Dress for the age of your boat!

St Maarten Heineken Regatta

17-19 May

cowesspringclassics.com

28 February - 3 March

Antigua Classics

Sailors from more than 35 countries gather to

17-23 April

Northern Boat Show

race maxis, monohulls, performance multihulls,

Classic Boat magazine is official media partner

31 May - 2 June

holiday-makers on charter boats, live-aboard

for this quintessential event in the classic

Held in Liverpool Docks, this show forms part

families cruising the Caribbean and classics.

calendar.

of the International Mersey River Festival.

heinekenregatta.com

antiguaclassics.com

northernboatshow.co.uk

120 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Rolex Fastnet Race 3 August Entries open on Monday 7 January 2019 for the biennial race which takes place before Cowes Week this year. rolexfastnetrace.com

RORC Easter Challenge 19-21 April Racing from Cowes with highly competitive amateurs and pros. rorc.org

Falmouth Classics 14-16 June Amazing display of classics from old working boats to smart Metre yachts. A sea shanty festival runs as well. falmouthclassics.org.uk

Antigua Classics 17-23 April Legendary racing and partying with yachts big and small. antiguaclassics.com

One Ton Cup 19-22 September Given yet another lease of life, the event is now fought for in the Fast40+ Class and has proved a significant draw. fast40class2018.com

THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 121

Med classic circuit Until October The greatest show on earth, as some of the most stunning yachts ever built gather for regattas in Italy, the south of France and Spain. paneraiclassicyachtschallenge.com puigvelaclassica.com lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

Les Voiles dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Antibes

Lendy Cowes Week

5-9 June The Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge (see

10-17 August

photo above) kicks off in style with this

Cowes is packed with

photogenic French regatta which now boasts

sailors, boats, live bands

a concurrent classic boat show held in the old

and much else besides

stone arches quayside.

for a glorious week of

voilesdantibes.com

6 June Talls ships gather in the atmospheric town of Rouen on the River Seine for the first of the summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tall ships events, this one a feeder event to Aalborg in Denmark, where the Tall Ships Races proper begin. sailtraininginternational.org

Falmouth Classics

THIERRY MARTINEZ

Tall Ships Festival

racing in many classes. lendycowesweek.co.uk

Olympic test event Japan 9-16 September A great chance to see

14-16 June

how the Olympic

Coincides with a sea shanty festival held

hopefuls are shaping

around Falmouth town. Magical atmosphere

up on the water.

with everything from family-owned pilot

sailing.org

cutters to gleaming Metre boats. falmouthclassics.org.uk

122 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Round the Island Race 29 June One of the biggest yacht races in the world, as competitive or as relaxed as you want. roundtheisland.org.uk

Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic Regatta 22-23 June

Southampton Boat Show 13-22 September

Friendly event from the marina that is a real

Now the only major boat

hub of classic activity on the River Orwell on

show in Britain, the

the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idyllic east coast, with a wooden

event welcomes

boatyard and classic chandlery on site.

hundreds of boats, many

syharbour.co.uk

new launches and you can test sail lots of them. southamptonboatshow.

Youth Sailing World Championships

com

13-20 July The best sailors aged 19 and under head to Gdynia in Poland for the 49th edition. sailing.org

Falmouth Week 9-18 August Cornwallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s answer to Cowes Week, dating back to 1837, with great racing as well as evening entertainment ashore including live bands and

Solitaire du Figaro Aug-Sept, dates TBC The most competitive solo series in the world, breeding ground for the best offshore sailors. lasolitaire-urgo.com

a legendary fireworks display on the Friday night. falmouthweek.co.uk THE YACHTING YEAR 2019 | 123

Brest Oceans Departs 29 December At least six of the 100ft Ultime trimarans are due to set off in this newly introduced round the world singlehanded race. At least four will be fully foiling craft, pushing the very limits of boat design and build technology. Will they be reliable enough to make a lap of the planet unscathed? brest-ultim.fr

Mersea Week 11-16 August Competitive family and friends racing on the

Cowes Classics Week

sheltered River Blackwater in Essex.

27 July - 2 August

merseaweek.com

The Royal London Yacht Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual regatta for

Dartmouth Royal Regatta 29-31 August

oldies has grown into one of the biggest, with

Including a passage race and a cruiser race, as

multiple keelboat and

well as a river procession and fireworks.

yacht classes.

dartmouthregatta.co.uk

cowesclassicsweek.org

Mersea Oyster Dredging Match

J-Cup

8 September Unique event for smacks and bawleys, where

18-20 July Hosted by Key

the winner is the boat to dredge the most.

Yachting exclusively

Lovely atmosphere amid east coast mud.

for yachts of the

mersearegatta.org.uk/dredgingmatch

J/Boats brand in

Cannes Yachting Festival 10-15 September Global event for all kinds of new boats, held in the old port. cannesyachtingfestival.com

124 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

Hamble. keyyachting.com

www.boatbuildingacademy.com

Why not learn a new skill?

Boat building, woodworking and more

La Semaine du Golfe du Morbihan 27 May - 2 June Major international festival of sailing and culture in the picturesque and not unchallenging waters of the Morbihan. semainedugolfe.com

Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez 28 September - 6 October Saint-Tropez’s heady mix of modern and classic is sure to set pulses racing again, on shore and in the gulf’s cobalt blue waters. The Med season closer and one to remember for anyone lucky enough to be there. lesvoilesdesaint-tropez.fr

British Classic Week 13-20 July The British Classic Yacht Club’s annual regatta always sees an impressive fleet with entries from across the world.

Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

britishclassicyachtclub.org

10 November Every November since 1986 the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has set sail from Las Palmas, bound westward to the Caribbean. Three routes are now available. worldcruising.com

Rolex Sydney Hobart Race

Transatlantic Race Departs June 25 From Newport to

26 December – 2 January

Cowes, with a gate

One of the great offshore yacht races, starting

off the Lizard so

on Boxing Day every year and attracting top

world speed records

competition for tough racing, often in heavy

will be up for grabs.

seas.

transatlanticrace.org

rolexsydneyhobart.com

126 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2019

CONSIDERING AN ELECTRIC OUTBOARD MOTOR? Epropulsion Spirit vs Torqeedo 1003

FEATURES COMMON TO BOTH: - 1kW Electric Outboards with removable lithium ba eries.

Roughly equivalent to 3hp petrol (more torque less power).

- Easy to Use. No fiddly starter cord or choke; just switch on, twist �ller and go. Forward & reverse on handle.

- Easy to Store. Even in cabin, won’t leak oil or petrol.

- Easy to Pass into the Dinghy. With ba�ery removed, what’s le� (sha�/motor) weighs less than 10kg.

- Cheap to Own. No Servicing for Eight Years!

- Confidence Inspiring. LCD shows ba�ery state.

They’re also Waterproof (actually submersible), Quiet, and Pollu on-Free at point of use (no fumes etc).

If you’re considering an electric outboard - a genuine propulsion system that is, rather than a slow speed “trolling motor” - there are now two choices in the market.

E-Propulsion has a direct-drive brushless DC motor

In many ways they are similar, but beneath the skin there are marked technology differences, the most notable (but least obvious externally) being the motor type: - Torqeedo has a smaller, faster-turning AC motor (which is efficient, and light), with the propeller sha� speed reduced by use of a gearbox.

- Epropulsion has a larger, slower-turning, brushless DC motor, which is heavier, but has direct drive to the propeller (ie there is no gearbox) Because of the different motors, they also make a different noise. The Epropulsion is quieter, and has a deeper pitch/tone. Both are much quieter than petrol outboards!

Neither will get a boat on the plane, but both are very efficient in the 4-6 knot range.

The Epropulsion - due to its bigger ba�ery - has an advantage in terms of range, but most yacht owners find both plen�ful for use as dinghy motors. You should get 5-6 miles flat out, and 10-12 miles at half power (which isn’t that much slower).

Features Ba�ery floats GPS range/speed Removable �ller Cables to connect 12V charging op�on

Epropulsion Spirit

Torqeedo 1003

1kW (1000W) 1018Wh ~ 5.5 hrs or 2 hrs 19kg 10kg 9kg (1018Wh) DC direct drive 3 (XS, S, L) 2

1kW (1000W) 532 or 916Wh ~ 10 hrs (916Wh) 15kg (916Wh) 9kg 6kg (916Wh) AC with gearbox 2 (S, L) 2

Yes No No, folds 1 Yes

No Yes Yes, fully 2 Yes

PRICES (if you find cheaper please tell us, we’ll try our best to price match!) £1699 £1540 (916Wh) £1529 Complete motor £899 (1018Wh) £749 £670 (916Wh) Spare ba�ery £250 n/a Fast charger £89 £35 12V charger £149 £179 Carrying bag set

Torqeedo has a smaller, lighter AC motor, driving through gearbox

COME & SEE BOTH IN CHRISTCHURCH, DORSET BH23 4FN

Specifica on Power Output Ba�ery capacity Charge Time (approx) Weight - TOTAL Weight - motor Weight - ba�ery Motor type Sha� Lengths Warranty (years)

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

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HONEY I SHRUNK THE FIFE

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ABOVE: sailing the new model 15-Metre yachts on Frensham Pond in Surrey

hey call themselves the Romeos, but you’d have to be out of your mind to imagine Graham Hetem, Rodney Evans, Peter Mitchell and Paul Brooks serenading below a balcony. But sit them around a long table in the pub with good, local beer and hot baguettes (brie and bacon, since you ask), and the the Rotten Old Men Eating Out come into their own. In fact, they’re probably much better company than Shakespeare’s tragic hero. The Romeos speak not of unrequited love but of cricket, life and sailing. “The only thing that stopped me being swept overboard was that my backside was too fat to break free from the guardrail,” one of them relates, to good-natured guffawing all around.

It’s clear that the four Romeos are also pretty serious sailors – of full-sized boats, that is. But we’re not here for the real world, we’re here to enjoy the Lilliputian world of remote-controlled yacht sailing, and after lunch we make our way to nearby Frensham Pond in the pretty Surrey Hills to see the quartet’s new class of R-C pond yacht.

It’s a lovely spot on a sunny, August day, and so windless that big dragonflies are hunting in the tall grass by the water’s edge. Here’s one advantage of model yachting over real yachting: model boats can sail in dragonfly conditions.

A few feet off the jetty, four miniature Fife 15-M yachts are enjoying hot competition, nodding their masts lightly to the tiny gusts, then taking off on new tacks as they

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match-race their reflections. The reflections are there because the water is totally unruffled, something else that could never occur with ‘real’ boats. These tiddlers are gunning along in wind that, on the bank at least, would not even worry a dandelion clock.

Rodney Evans, who first came up with the 15-M idea a couple of years ago, hands me the control to his yacht. The left-hand control is on two axes: ‘up’ sends the mainsail out, ‘down’ pulls it in. ‘Left’ winds the port sheet winch, pulling in all three headsails (staysail, jib and jib topsail); and ‘right’ does the same on the other side.

The right-hand lever controls the rudder. The rudder is, frankly, the only thing I get to grips with over the next hour.

It is like real sailing, but much, much harder, combining as it does the cognitive challenge of trying to learn a new video game with the difficulty of having no feel for what the wind is doing. And half the time, when the boat is sailing towards you, everything has to be done in mirror image.

On a real boat, facing the direction of travel, you feel the wind on your face or in your ears and everything flows from that elemental knowledge. Here, you need to work out what the wind is doing by the boat’s attitude. It feels very academic, particularly when the wind, as it is now, is shifting.

The upsides, of course, are a lack of personal risk or discomfort and the fact that these boats sail so easily that they will forgive almost anything, going where you want just on rudder control, giving you time to sort out the sail trim later. It takes a while to sail them well, perhaps a couple of years of weekly racing (R-C pond yachts are for competition; you’d hardly send one out for a cruise).

These mini 15-Ms are strict OD classes, modelled on a roughly 1:20 scale after Fife’s 15-M The Lady Anne, built in 1912. The other details – rig and deck lay-out – are an amalgamation of the other three Fife 15-Ms still sailing today: Hispania, Tuiga and Mariska. The class was born from a want of an attractive class of classic R-C boats, and as a tribute to the beauty of Fife’s designs.

The class builder is Graham Hetem, lifelong sailor, surfer and boatbuilder. He builds the models in GRP, with the traditional long keel built into that unitary mould. The near-4kg lead bulb is held to the body of the yacht with a single, long keel bolt that is easy to remove for transportation in a car. It also means that the boat can be displayed as a static model at home when it is not being sailed. The boats cost about £2,500-£3,000 and a fifth is now in build for a new Romeo.

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