e56hesr

HOW TO: CHOOSING A LIFERAFT

Warm Water

PARADISE THE EXUMA ISLANDS

JANUARY 2016 sailmagazine.com

WEATHER ROUTING Apps for Safe, Fast Sailing

Smitten with a Nonsuch Make Your Shore Power Safer Lifeline Makeover How to Use a Stern Anchor

BOAT REVIEWS Jeanneau SunFast 3600 Leopard 40 Marlow Hunter 31

Following are a fraction of the results achieved by North Sails customers in 2015.

The entire North team salutes you for your accomplishments.

America’s Cup World Series...

1,2,3,4,5,6 TP 52 Super Series...

1,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 Sydney Hobart Race Line Honors...1,2,3 IRC Corrected...1*,2* IRC Div. 0...1,2 IRC Div. 1...2*,3 IRC Div. 2...1* IRC Div. 4...1* Transatlantic Race Overall Elapsed Time...1 Monohull Elapsed Time...1 IRC Class 1 Racing...1,2 IRC Class 2 Racing...1,2 IRC Class 3 R/C...1,2,3 IRC Class 4 R/C...2 Class 40...1 Open Class...1,2 IRC Overall...1,2,4,5 Chicago Offshore Verve Cup J/111...1,3* Beneteau 40.7...1,3* Beneteau 36.7...1 Farr 40...1*,2*,3* ORR 1...1,2*,3 ORR 3...1,2,3* Queen’s Cup Section 1...1,2,3 Section 2...1,2,3 Section 4...2*,3 Section 8...1 Section 9...1 Shorthanded...1 Multihull...1 Helly Hansen St. Pete NOOD Lightning...1,3 Sonar...1,2,3 Ensign...1,2 PHRF 1...1,2 Helly Hansen Chicago NOOD Farr 40...1,2 J/70...1,2,3 J/109...1*,2

FOR THE

RECORD...

ORR Division...1,2 Beneteau First 36.7...2,3,4 Beneteau First 40.7...2*,3 North Rally Cruising...1 Helly Hansen San Diego NOOD Beneteau First 36.7...1*,3 Buccaneer 18...1,2,3 J/70...1,2 J/120...2,3* Flying Tiger 10...1 North Rally Race...1,3 Helly Hansen Annapolis NOOD J/22...1,2,3 J/30...1,2,4,5 J/35...1,3 J/105...1,2,3,4,5* Farr 30...1,2,4,5 Cal 25...1,2,3 Key West Race Week IRC 2...1,3 Melges 32...1,2,5 Melges 24...1,2 GC 32...1, 2,3 HPR Class...1,2,4 PHRF 1...1,2,3 PHRF 2...1,2 Farr 280...1,2,3,4 Bacardi Miami Sailing Week J/70...1,2,3 Marstrom 32...1,2,3 Star...1,2 VX One...1,2,3 Caribbean 600 IRC Overall...1,2,3,4 SDYC Yachting Cup Class AA...1,2,3 Class A...1,3 Class B...1,2 J/120...1,2 J/105...1,3 J/70...1,2,3 Farr 40 West Coasts...1,2 NYYC Annual Regatta CRF 1...2,3 IRC 2...2,3

IRC 3...1 IRC 4...1,2 IRC 5...1,2 IRC Other...1 Swan 42...2,3,4,5 Etchells...1,2,3 Marstrom 32...1,2,3 12 Metre...1,2 PHRF 1 Spinnaker...1 Block Island Race Week J/109...1*,4,5 Swan 42...2,3,4 Whidbey Island Race Week Farr 30...1,2*,4 Farr 40 Midwinters...1,3*,5 J/30 North Americans...1,3*,4* Farr 40 West Coasts...1,2* CanAm Challenge J/105...1,3,5 J/111 Worlds...2 Swan 42 US Nationals...2,4,5 Rolex Farr 40 Worlds...1,4,7,8 Audi Melges 20 Worlds...

1,2,3,4,5,6 Beneteau 36.7 NAs...1,3 Farr 30 Worlds...1,2,3,4 Guilford Cup...1 Overall DIYC Spring Series...1 DIYC Summer Series...1 DIYC Melges 24...1 DIYC Hillsborough Bay Regatta Spinnaker A...1,3 Spinnaker B...1,3 DIYC Keelboat Regatta Spinnaker A...1,2,3 Spinnaker B...2,3 Pusser’s Rum Regatta Spinnaker A...1,2,3 Chesapeake Bay Championship J/105...1,2,3,4,5

Farr 40 West Coasts...1,2 Dubois Cup...1 Overall NYYC Annual Regatta CRF 1...2,3 IRC 2...2,3 IRC 3...1 IRC 4...1,2 IRC 5...1,2 IRC Other...1 Swan 42...2,3,4,5 Etchells...1,2,3 Marstrom 32...1,2,3 12 Metre...1,2 PHRF 1 Spinnaker...1 Round the Island Race Overall...1,2,3 Chicago Grand Prix Farr 40...1*,3* BVI Spring Regatta CSA Racing 3...1 CSA Racing 2...1 CSA Racing 1...2 Caribbean 600 IRC Overall...1,2,3,4 Chicago Race to Mackinac Beneteau 40.7...1,2,3 Cruising 1...1 Cruising 2...1,2,3 Farr 40...2,3 J/105...1 J/109...1 J/111...1,2 Level 35...1,2,3 Multihull...1 Section 1...2 Section 2...1 Section 3...2 Section 4...1 Section 5...1 Section 6...2 Section 8...1 Tartan 10...1,2 Turbo...2,3 Dubois Cup...1 Overall Round the Island Race Overall...1,2,3

1-800-SAIL-123, ext. 487 www.northsails.com #northsails

Charleston Race Week Farr 280...1*,3,4 J/88...3,4 J/111...2 Lake Ontario 300 IRC 1…1 IRC 2…1 J/105 Canadian Champs...1 Suncoast Race Week Spinnaker A...1,2,3 Spinnaker B...1,3 Race to Baltimore PHRF A…1,2,3 PHRF B…1 Governor’s Cup Super Cruising…1 PHRF N…1 PHRF C…1,2 PHRF A2…1,2,3 PHRF A0…1,2 SS/SSSS Sec. 1…1,2,3 Sec. 2…1,2,3 Sec. 3…1,2,3 Sec. 4…1,2,3 Sec. 5…1,3 Louies Last…1,2,3 MYC Wednesday Night Sec. 1…1,2,3 Sec. 2…1,2,3 MAST Season Sec. 1…1,2,3 Sec. 2…1 Sec. 3…1,2,3 AYC Spring Series IRC 2…1,3 Club Swan…1 J/109…1,2,3 Block Island Race IRC 1…1,2,3 IRC 4…1,2,3 PHRF DH…1 PHRF 4…1,2 Spring Off Soundings H-3…1 H-4…1 H-1…1

Marblehead-Halifax Race IRC 1…1 IRC 2…1 PHRF 2…1 YRALIS PHRF/OD Champs PHRF 1…1,2,3 PHRF 2…1 The Vineyard Race IRC 9…1,2 IRC 15…1,2 PHRF DH…1 Boardman Cup Class 1…1,2 Class 2…1,2,3 Leukemia Cup-CT Class 2 NS…1,2 Class 4 NS…1,2 Class 5…2,3 AYC Fall Series IRC 2…1,2 J/109…1,3 PHRF 1…1,3 Fall Off-Soundings H-4…1 H-1…1,3 C-2…1 NS-1…1 SB…1 ECSA Overall 2015 Overall…1,3 Div. 1…1,2 Div. 3…1,2 Div. 4…2,3 Div. 6…1,2,3 Div. 7…2 SYSCO Summer Series A Fleet…1,3 J/105…1 Merit 25…2,3 E Fleet…1 J/24…1,2,3 Cal 20…1,2,3 Catalina 22…1 Cruising B…1,3 Cruising D…1 CYC Summer PHRF A…1,2,3 J/105…1,2,3 PHRF B…1

PHRF C…1 J/24…1,2,3 Cal 20…1,2,3 Catalina 20…1 Cruising B…1,2,3 RCYC Long Distance Class A1…1,2 PHRF Overall…1 Class A2…1,3 Class B…2,3 Cal 20…1,2,3 J/105…1,2,3 Swiftsure Cape Flattery…1 Juan de Fuca…1 A-Scow Nationals…1 Atlantic Nationals…1 Buccaneer NAs…1 Coronado 15 Nationals…1 Day Sailer NAs…1 E-Scow Nationals…1 Ensign Nationals…1 Etchells NAs…1 Fireball NAs…1 Flying Scot NAs…1 Interclub Nationals…1 J/22 Worlds...1 J/24 US Nationals...1 J/24 NAs...1 J/24 Worlds...1 J/70 Worlds...1* Lightning Worlds...1 Lightning NAs...1 MC Scow Nationals…1 Melges 17 Inlands…1 Melges 20 Worlds…1 Melges 24 Nationals…1 Optimist Gulf Coasts...1 Sabot Fall Gold Cup…1 Santana 20 Nationals…1 Snipe Nationals…1 Soling Nationals…1 Star NAs...1 Star Worlds...1 Thistle Nationals…1 420 Worlds...1 420 Worlds Ladies...1 470 ISAF World Cup...1 * Partial inventory

Contact your nearest North reresentative today to discover how our team can help your team GO BEYOND.™ JH Peterson photo

JANUARY 2016 VOL 47, ISSUE 1

FEATURES

IN THIS ISSUE OF SAIL

DEPARTMENTS 14

26 32

4 Setting Sail

24 Gear

From the Editor

38

26

Voices from the SAIL community

ELBOW ROOM IN THE BAHAMAS The beautiful clear waters and white sand beaches of the Exuma archipelago offer everything to love about the Bahamas, minus the crowds

32

THE FALL GUYS A late-fall cruise from Boston to Hampton, Virginia, proves that even the best laid plans can go afoul

LIFESAVERS A comprehensive guide to everything you need to know, and every question you should ask, when it comes time to buy a liferaft

42

HOW TO: CHOOSING A LIFERAFT

Warm Water

PARADISE THE EXUMA ISLANDS

JANUARY 2016 sailmagazine.com

WEATHER ROUTING Apps for Safe, Fast Sailing

Smitten with a Nonsuch

ON THE COVER The new Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 makes knots to windward Photo courtesy of Jeanneau

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Make Your Shore Power Safer Lifeline Makeover How to Use a Stern Anchor

46 On Deck Part 1 of our guide to weather routing

8 Under Sail

Why cruise the secluded northern latitudes of the Faroe Islands? The better question is, why not?

38

The latest gear and equipment from the fall boat shows

6 Feedback

42

BECAUSE THEY ARE THERE

2

46

BOAT REVIEWS Jeanneau SunFast 3600 Leopard 40 Marlow Hunter 31

High flying action in Marseilles with the GC32 class

50 Boatworks 50 KNOW HOW

How to avoid shorepower problems

10 CRUISING

The down side to downsizing; winter reads for the armchair sailor

52 SKETCHBOOK

Anchoring ashore

14 RACING

54 THINGS THAT WORK

Alex Thomson abandons ship; the “triple crown” for François Gabart; a pair of classics sets sail for charity; the latest racing Swan; the Lipton Cup returns to San Diego; Newport set to host the Volvo again

Giving new life to your lifelines

18 EXPERIENCE

Ringing in the New Year with a “bang”

20 New Boats

56 ASK SAIL

Dealing with weather helm; disappearing zincs; an NMEA connection question; how to handle antifouling

63 Sail Away Regatta season in the BVI

88 Waterlines

Reviews of the Leopard 40, Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600, Marlow-Hunter 31

24

Seeing things from your boat will change your perspective

LOVE SAILING?

SAILBOATS | SAILING GEAR & ACCESSORIES | SAILING SEMINARS Progressive® Insurance

Chicago Boat, RV, & Strictly Sail Show® January 14–18, 2016

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Strictly Sail Miami February 11–15, 2016 Miamarina at Bayside & Bayfront Park, Miami, FL

StrictlySailMiami.com

),1' 86 21

FROM THE EDITOR

Are You Comfortable?

T

he question of comfort on board a sailboat is a tricky one.

I spent my early sailing years on boats that either had no modern conveniences (J/24s and the like) or very few; a propane stove, a coolbox, a couple of cabin fans if you were lucky, perhaps a wood-burning stove if you sailed in northern climes.

Marine air conditioning was a futuristic fantasy and refrigeration was still a rarity. Thus my expectations of onboard comfort were, and have largely remained, rather low, rather like camping. As long as I am dry and relatively warm I am happy. Actually that’s no longer true—as long as I am dry and relatively warm and have pressurized hot water and an electric refrigerator I am happy.

Such luxury still makes me something of an ascetic compared to many of today’s sailors, who would throw up their hands in horror at such austerity. It seems no big cruising boat these days is complete without reverse cycle air conditioning, a washer-dryer, a microwave, a watermaker, an icemaker, a wine conditioner. The latest must-have accessory is an onboard espresso maker (which is actually the first thing I’d tick on the options list).

Much as various boat and equipment design has trickled down from high-level racing boats, so these luxuries have trickled down from the megayacht sector. Boatbuilders tell me that today’s customer expects the same level of comfort on his or her boat that they have at home, where these appliances are not luxuries but the essentials of modern life. No longer can you get away with a windscoop on the forehatch for ventilation, an inverted flowerpot on the stovetop for heat and a block of ice cooling your beer; expectations have moved on, and the market has happily accommodated them.

Nor is the desire for such sybaritic amenities exclusive to Americans, who have been long derided by Europeans and others for their addiction to creature comforts, or to the 50-plus-foot market segment. Every year, I see smaller boats from European builders bulging with microwaves, freezers, washing machines and air-conditioners, to say nothing of inner-sprung mattresses, wine lockers and a flat-screen TV that rises majestically from a settee back at the push of a button. Evidently the softening of the sailor is a universal affliction; if you keep your home at 65 degrees in the summer and 80 degrees in the winter, then you have a right to the same on your boat.

All of this gear is wonderful, except for two things—it must be kept in working order, and it devours electricity with the rapacity of a horde of cruise-ship passengers attacking an all-you-can-eat buffet. Along with the escalating maintenance demands come an addiction to shore power and a generator that thrums away all night to the annoyance of anyone anchored downwind of you.

All of this gear can also become a trap rather than a convenience once it goes wrong and you find yourself trapped in a marina because you can’t possibly set sail with no way of cooling your poorly ventilated aft cabin. Imagine it: you’ve cast off the shackles of your landbased life in favor of the carefree joys of world cruising, only to be held hostage by an AC (or engine, or refrigeration) guy who can’t possibly get to you for another week, maybe two.

Meanwhile, you can walk around a boat show looking in vain for boats equipped with really useful things like a backup bilge pump, a wet locker for foulweather gear, a deck wash pump, full-length grabrails on the cabintop, decent handholds down below, mast steps, provision for a stern anchor, and cave lockers in the cockpit coamings to stash your sunglasses, phones and whatnot. Go figure. s Peter Nielsen

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4

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FEEDBACK

From the SAIL community

SAIL Spotlight

@SAILfeed In his story “To wear or not to wear— that’s the question” (posted on SAILFeed on October 29), Brian Hancock took to task the idea of wearing lifejackets at all times when onboard. “I have seen grown men and women, many of them hugely successful in life, wearing their PFD on a boat, at the mooring, as if it was quite normal. It’s not normal. Get a grip. You can swim. You are not going to fall into the water. You have been brainwashed,” Hancock wrote. “OK, so I know I am going to get some heat for this and bring it on, but seriously, it’s time we all stepped back a little and started to think for ourselves.”

Well, heat he certainly did get. Here is a bit of what our readers had to say.

LIVING THE SAILING LIFE Here is a shot from the deck of my boat Intuition taken during a sunset sail on San Diego bay the other night.—Douglas Carrell, San Diego, CA

Pets ON BOARD

MAN’S BEST FRIEND This is Puppers, a rescue dog we just got one month ago—this is his first time on the boat!

He’s helping me fold the sail, protecting the dinghy from seagulls and looking for fish.

Next weekend we’re off to Angel Island for his first sleepover on the boat—wish us luck!

—Michael DiSandro, Oakland, CA

How to reach us

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6

Maybe we should all stop wearing seat belts too because I heard a story once about someone that lived after they were thrown out of their car! This is ridiculous. Yes, I think being made to wear them is wrong, but everyone is different and it’s a person’s choice to wear their PFD when they think reasonable.—@BillTowner Lake Michigan never warmed above 69 degrees off the Southern Wisconsin shore this summer, as measured by my boat’s instruments. That’s a ticket to death after one hour in the water. Wearing a quality, inflatable PFD anytime we’re on the boat outside the marina is cheap insurance, even if it is a beautiful, sunny 85-degree day with a 5-knot breeze.—@GlenPrezembel Agree with the author. Common sense needs to prevail, not brainless adherence to inflexible rules. Use your judgment for heavens sake!—@RafaelHaciski Thanks for the common sense. I couldn’t have said it better myself. No one thinks for themselves anymore, everyone relies on someone else, especially the government, to tell you how to live your life!—@ArtJoseph

Living the SAIL life? Have stories, tips, photos or something else you want to share with us?

Email us at sailmail@sailmagazine.com | Sign up for our e-newsletter | Interact with us on social media.

Letters TAKE ME THERE

WINTER CHARTE

R SPECIAL: BVIS

There’s great snorkeling on Diamond Cay, between Jost van Dyke and Little Jost.

Bottom: the paddleboarding is really good too

I loved the article by Jennifer Rich, “A Life in the Week,” in the October issue. The piece was very readable and such a realistic depiction of the cruising life. I wished I could have been on board for the trip. I have been a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club since 1965, and I really appreciated her insight.

—Roland de Marcellus, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com

a life

in the week

SOUTHBOUND SAILOR

I loved the “Southbound with the Snowbirds” article in your September issue. After reading the “No Boat? No Problem!” sidebar in that article, I signed up to do a catamaran voyage with Captain Mark Thompson from Hampton, Virginia, to New Bern, North Carolina, alongside SAIL’s ICW Snowbird Rally. What a great trip!

—H. Van Acker, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com O CTO B E R

52

CORRECTION: WHAT’S IN A NAME?

UNDER SAIL 14 CRUISING

20 RACING

26 ELECTRONICS

2015

28 EXPERIENCE

While reading and admiring the incredible photo in the Under Sail section of the October 2105 issue, of the refitted Moonbeam, my wife, Debra Grace, commented that Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco were married April 18, 1956, not 1950. Why is my wife, Debra Grace, so sure? Her middle name was given to her by her mom, an ardent fan of the famous actress, when she was born shortly after the wedding, on May 8, 1956. My wife and I also spent part of our honeymoon on a sailboat. We were married in 1988, and spent three days of our honeymoon on my friend’s Tanzer 22. We have since moved up to our 1987 Catalina 34, which we sail and cruise on the waters of eastern Long Island.

—Dave Comando, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com Heads Up

Photo by Guido Cantini/Panerai

A crewmember climbs the mast of Moonbeam IV,, a 95ft cutter built by William Fife & Son in 1920, during the 2015 Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge in Antibes, France. Completely refitted in 2001, Moonbeam IV,, which placed third in the regatta, has quite the history, including playing host to HSH Prince Rainier of Monaco and his new bride Grace Kelly during their honeymoon in 1950.

O CTO B E R 2 0 1 5

12

EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PETER NIELSEN EXECUTIVE EDITOR ADAM CORT SENIOR EDITOR CHRISTOPHER WHITE WEB EDITOR EMME HURLEY CRUISING EDITOR CHARLES J. DOANE TECHNICAL EDITOR JAY E. PARIS ELECTRONICS EDITOR BEN ELLISON EDITOR-AT-LARGE KIMBALL LIVINGSTON CONTRIBUTING EDITORS NIGEL CALDER, DON CASEY, TOM CUNLIFFE, MARK & DIANA DOYLE, DUNCAN KENT, ANDY SCHELL, GORDON WEST, ZUZANA PROCHAZKA, PETER SWANSON

ART & DESIGN ART DIRECTOR CHRISTA MADRID

ADVERTISING PUBLISHER BOB BAUER / bbauer@aimmedia.com MARKETING DIRECTOR SARAH WEBSTER OPERATIONS MANAGER ANDREA BAK HOWEY Tel: 410-647-1656 FAX: 410-647-1716 / ahowey@aimmedia.com EUROPEAN ADVERTISING DIRECTOR ELENA PATRIARCA Tel/fax: +39 0185 723697 patriarca.elena@gmail.com NORTHEAST, UPPER MIDWEST & EASTERN CANADA REGIONAL MANAGER ANDREW HOWE Tel: 617-720-8619 / ahowe@aimmedia.com MID-ATLANTIC, CENTRAL MIDWEST, WEST COAST & WESTERN CANADA REGIONAL MANAGER AMY KRIMM GUILFOYLE Tel: 410-729-0787 / aguilfoyle@aimmedia.com FLORIDA AND THE CARIBBEAN BOB BAUER Tel: 617-720-8605 / bbauer@aimmedia.com MARKETPLACE SALES MANAGER BLAKE CHASSE Tel: 617-720-8610 / bchasse@aimmedia.com

GROUP PUBLISHER, GENERAL MANAGER GARY DE SANCTIS VP, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR GEORGE SASS JR. GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR DAVID POLLARD VP, MARKETING AND EVENTS JENNIFER JONES GROUP DIGITAL DIRECTOR IAN BOWEN PRODUCTION MANAGER SUNITA PATEL GROUP MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER DEREK COUTU EVENT CONTENT MANAGER PETER SWANSON SENIOR PRODUCTION COORDINATOR BRIANA SMITH PRODUCTION COORDINATORS JASON LALIBERTE, JENNIFER WILLIAMS TRAFFIC COORDINATOR CHRIS CIRILLI GROUP BUSINESS MANAGER LINDA CAVANAUGH GROUP CIRCULATION DIRECTOR STEPHANIE FLANAGAN GROUP FULFILLMENT MANAGER NATALE RUSSO CIRCULATION MARKETING MANAGER MATTHEW BOYLES

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

13

WANT MORE SAIL?

UNDERSAIL

WORLD’S LEADING SAILING MAGAZINE

Stay in the know with the latest from the sailing world, the newest boats, gear and electronics, great DIY projects, exclusive multimedia content and much more—5 days a week— with our Under Sail eNewsletter. Head to sailmagazine.com to sign up.

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SAIL (ISSN 0036-2700). January 2016, Volume 47, Number 1. Published monthly by Active Interest Media, 5720 Flatiron Parkway, Boulder, CO 80301. Copyright© 2016 by Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc., an Active Interest Media company. All rights reserved. Periodicals Postage Paid at Boulder, CO and additional mailing offices. Single copy price is $5.99. SUBSCRIPTIONS: U.S. and U.S. Possessions $19.97 for 12 issues. Canadian orders add $12.00 per year and international orders add $24.00 per year (for surface mail postage). Payment in advance, U.S. funds only. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: SAIL, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235.

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SUBSCRIPTION and CUSTOMER SERVICE Call 800-745-7245 or 386-447-6318 (international) for questions, problems or changes to your SAIL subscription. Email sailmail@sailmagazine.com or write to SAIL, Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Include name, address and phone number

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

7

UNDER SAIL 10 CRUISING

14 RACING

18 EXPERIENCE

High Flyers Photo by Sander van der Borch/GC32 Racing Fluky wind made for some interesting racing last October during the Marseille One Design—the finale of the 2015 Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour. And while Alinghi (above left) edged out Sultanate of Oman (above right) during the event in France, it wasn’t enough to knock Sultanate of Oman off the top of the podium, as they still came in first in the overall rankings, with Alinghi right on their heels in second.

First introduced in 2012, the 40ft foiling cats look to bring highperformance racing to both professional teams and private owners.

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8

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

9

CRUISING UNDER SAIL

Bliss (on right) in action

Blissed Out on a Boat B

efore it all went haywire, it seemed like such a simple and straightforward situation: my wife, Patti, and I are sneaking up on our 80s, and our Cape Dory 30 cutter was more boat than we wanted to wrestle with by ourselves. Time to downsize.

I’ve long admired the Nonsuch boats, with the simplicity of a single sail and all the control lines managed from the security of the cockpit.

I always hoped I’d own one someday and even joined the owners’ association years ago to learn all I could about them. And so at this point, a Nonsuch 22 seemed the perfect little craft to enable us to continue our gunkholing around Penobscot Bay without the aid of our strong and agile kids or grandkids to haul in heavily loaded sheets and to go forward on a slippery, bucking foredeck with the staysail boom flailing about to crack our shins.

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10

Money in hand from the sale of the CD30, I immediately checked the brokers on the web, hoping to find a listing for an NS22, of which only 58 were ever built. None were listed there, but wait! One broker had a Nonsuch 30 listed at a bargain price almost the same amount as an NS22 would cost! How could this be?

I leapt into my car and sped across three states to see this bargain boat. The broker drove me to see it, and of course, like all apparently fabulous deals, it was too good to be true. Sitting uncovered on the hard during our last terrible winter in the Northeast, it was a sadly neglected, almost derelict craft that made my heart sink.

Here’s where it all went haywire. Well, actually, it had gone haywire before I even got in my car to go see the boat. In a moment of severe brain-cramp, when reading the bargain price for an NS30, I totally blew right past the age-old

axiom “A bargain is a bargain only if you would have bought it at the regular price anyhow.”

And I had just sold a 30ft boat because what I really wanted was a 22-footer.

But it got worse. As we returned to the broker’s office somewhat disgusted by the wretched mess of a boat we’d just seen, he mentioned that there was an NS30 in his personal slip that would be featured in the upcoming weekend’s in-the-water boat show as the finest possible example of the breed. They had even made up an eight-page color brochure on this particular boat. Would I like to go aboard her?

Well, of course I would. And the moment I stepped aboard I was a goner. Here was a real “gold-plater” whose owner had lavished endless amounts of money to make her literally betterthan-new in every respect, from over-the-top electronics and upgraded rigging to custom

Photo by Matthew PoPP

Sometimes, downsizing is harder than it sounds by Eliot Daley

still stand tall at the wheel and command a serious boat in serious conditions with a satisfying mastery of self and craft; as a guy whose margin for error had not diminished considerably; as a guy who was not in fact experiencing every day the ebbing of capacities ranging from grip strength and hand-eye coordination to balance, flexibility and endurance.

Just a few days into our voyage to Rockland, we sat in the cockpit one evening on a mooring in Mattapoisett Harbor soberly reviewing our experience of sailing this magnificent boat, and there was no ducking the truth: I had made a monumental mistake in buying her.

That was the bad news. The good news is I am still capable of readily admitting when I have screwed up and then responding decisively.

And so, clear-headed for the first time since mindless infatuation and denial blissed out all my critical faculties a month earlier, I rented a car the next day and we continued our “voyage” to Rockland on the hard. A delivery captain would return Bliss to the broker to find a next owner for whom she was the right boat.

We arrived at our place in Maine that night, and I logged onto the Nonsuch owners’ association website where I found a new listing for a lovely little Nonsuch 22 lying in Coconut Beach, Florida. I contacted the owner, made an offer, commissioned a survey, closed the deal and shipped her to Rockland. And finally this last summer, we spent a heavenly afternoon sailing Penobscot Bay. I kept the name my Nonsuch 22 bore upon arrival: Joy. In sharp contrast to the obliviousness that characterizes “bliss,” the definition of “joy” includes heightened awareness of delight and even triumph. Now with a tiller in my hand again, feeling a stress-free, intimate relationship between the water, the wind, the craft and this sailor, an entire lifetime of sailing joy is reawakened, wells up, and fills me like a gentle breeze.

I just had to let go in order to grasp it. s

A joyful sailor

Photos courtesy of eliot daley

Eliot and Patti, blissed out no more

woodwork and eye-popping new upholstery.

My knees went weak. My mind went weaker.

No hormonally turbocharged teenager swooning over an adorable classmate ever displayed more mindless passion and less critical judgment than I did in those seconds just before I turned to the broker and said, “I’ll take her!”

Back in his office I signed the purchase-andsale agreement, scarcely noticing that the price was about double the cost of the “bargain” boat or a really nice NS22. Even the name of the boat described my spaced-out mindset: Bliss. (The dictionary definition includes the word “oblivious!”)

The next few weeks featured a happy campaign of carting our personal belongings aboard and preparing for a 10 to 12 day cruise up the coast to our home port of Rockland, Maine. I charted out all the legs and key waypoints, made plans to visit friends in various

ports along the way including Mattapoisett and Marblehead, and spent endless hours visualizing the wonders of myself sitting at the helm of this magnificent new boat.

All too soon, though, reality set in. We set sail and were barely into the cruise when several difficult situations walloped me with the awful truth: this is not a cozy little Nonsuch 22 just right for two nice folks approaching their 55th wedding anniversary. This is a huge boat, dramatically larger than the Cape Dory cutter I had just sold at a giveaway price in order to scale down.

Sure, both the CD30 and the NS30 were 30ft long, but Bliss was substantially broader in beam, considerably heavier in displacement, and her towering 53ft mast carried a massive sail nearly twice the size of the mainsail on our CD30. Nestling a little 22-footer up to a gas dock would be a cinch for a pair of somewhat (hate the word) elderly sailors; wrestling an 11,500lb displacement NS30 to a hault at a dock in an agitated seaway was an entirely different proposition for a couple who don’t possess the strength, agility or balance they once did.

Of course, I had been drowning in denial up until this point. After 65 years skippering a wide variety of sailboats, my impulsive purchase was surely all about hanging onto my self-understanding as a capable guy who could

Eliot Daley has been a sailor for 65 years, from prams on inland lakes to bareboats in the South Pacific. His home sailing ground is Penobscot Bay and the Maine coast out of Rockland

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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CRUISING UNDER SAIL

Winter Reading Warm reads for cold nights

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kay, I know all our readers in southern parts don’t have to stop sailing over winter, but at least us Northerners get to stoke up a warm fire and sit back for some escapist reading during these frigid evenings.

Thanks to some long flights, I got a head start with a handful of new books.

Perhaps escapism isn’t quite the term for the emotions you’ll experience reading One Wild Song, Paul Heiney’s moving tale of a journey undertaken to come to terms with a grievous loss. After Heiney’s 23-year-old son Nicholas took his own life, the author embarked on an 18,000 mile high-latitude voyage, mostly solo.

The subtitle “a voyage in a lost son’s wake” gives away Heiney’s wish to reconnect with his seafaring son’s memory. It’s a tale of adventure strongly told in a thoroughly British fashion, never maudlin, but always inspiring.

The Box Wine Sailors describes a voyage of a markedly different stripe.

Portland, Oregon, landlubbers Amy McCullough and her boyfriend, Jimmie, decided to buy a cheap old Newport 27, learn to sail it, and head down the coast to Mexico, where they would live on the thinnest of shoestrings for a year.

So they did, and here are the “misadventures of a broke young couple at sea.” The couple had never sailed on the ocean before crossing the Columbia River Bar and pointing the bow south, and the tale of their first encounter with Pacific waves had me in stitches.

McCullough is an uninhibited and engaging storyteller and the book fairly sizzles with joie de vivre. I wish all 20-somethings did something like this—the world would be filled with

better-adjusted human beings.

Which brings me to Voyaging with Kids, a collaboration between three cruising moms— Sailfeed blogger Behan Gifford, Sarah Dawn Johnson and Michaela Robertson. If you’re contemplating lengthy cruises with your offspring, you really should read this comprehensive, profusely illustrated guide. It will answer just about every question you could think of, plus some you’d not know to ask until it’s too late. Even better, it’s a great endorsement for the lifestyle. I’ve known plenty of whiny, entitled land-based brats, but I’ve never met a cruiser kid I didn’t like, and if you read the

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many comments written by the youngsters themselves you’ll know why. I’d give this book an E for Essential for neophyte cruising families.

Joshua Slocum’s enduring classic Sailing Alone Around the World has been published in many formats, but probably none as attractively presented as this “The Illustrated Edition” coffee table book. It is packed with color photographs and period charts and sketches of the many stopovers and landfalls of Slocum’s epic voyage. These really bring the journey to life. Too weighty a tome to pack on a plane or even to keep onboard, it’ll serve you well on a cold night as you sip a glass of Scotch in your armchair while dreaming of oceans unsailed. —Peter Nielsen

THEY SAID IT...

I watched the flight of clouds, the relics of the gale, as they drifted slowly eastward; I should have liked to go with them to see what awaited me fur further on. I wished for the power to amend or to avoid so many errors, to be able to direct lost humanity onto the right path, to achieve something beyond nor mony with the majesty of the normal human capacity … I felt an urge for unity and harmony starlit night around me; and words were pitifully inadequate, almost an insult to the grandeur there unfolded. I sang an Ave Maria.

—Vito Dumas, Alone Through the Roaring Forties

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RACING UNDER SAIL

Jinxed Thomson Abandons Ship Plucky Brit still has his sights set on the Vendée Globe by Adam Cort

‘TRIPLE CROWN’ FOR GABART

Hugo Boss before the trouble started; Thomson swims from his dismasted Open 60 toward rescuers (inset)

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safely we can focus on our Vendée Globe campaign as a team. We have overcome problems before, and I am as determined as ever to succeed.”

Thomson’s brave talk aside, the setback is the latest in a series of bad breaks Thomson has endured, including multiple dismastings (most recently while leading in the Barcelona World Race) and a bout with appendicitis that forced him to miss the start of the BWR before that. Kudos to the man’s determination and good luck to Hugo Boss both during the run-up to the Vendée Globe and the race itself. It’s a safe bet to say that a win, or even just podium finish, would go a long way toward getting that monkey off Thomson’s back.

As for the biennial Transat Jacques Vabre, line honors went to French skippers François Gabart and Pascal Bidégorry, who completed the 5,400-mile course from Le Havre, France, to Itajaí, Brasil, in just 12 days 17 hours aboard the 100ft maxi-tri MACIF (see “‘Triple Crown’ for Gabart”). Taking first in the Imoca class in which Thomson and Altadill were competing, were Vincent Riou and Sébastien Col aboard the Open 60 PRB, who finished the course in just over 17 days. s

Gabart (left) and co-skipper Bidégorry celebrate their win

With his victory in the doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre aboard the maxitri MACIF, Frenchman François Gabart joins sailing legend Michel Desjoyeaux as one of only two men to win the three events comprising the “Triple Crown” of shorthanded sailing: the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Vendée Globe and the solo Route du Rhum.

Gabart won the Vendée Globe in January 2013 on his first attempt and won the IMOCA class in the Route du Rhum in late 2014, also on his first attempt. This was his third attempt at the Transat Jacques Vabre race, after finishing second in 2009 aboard the Open 60 Groupe Bel and losing his rig in 2013 while racing with Desjoyeaux aboard the Open 60 MACIF.

PHOTO COURTESY OF (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT) HUGO BOSS; SPANISH COAST GUARD; TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE

T

he bad luck plaguing British offshore sailor Alex Thomson struck yet again when he and co-skipper Guillermo Altadill had to first drop out of the doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre due to structural damage to their Open 60 Hugo Boss and then had to abandon ship completely after being struck by a rogue wave while hove-to off the coast of Spain.

According to Thomson, the wave completely inverted the boat, but he and Guillermo managed to save her by first securing all hatches to keep her from sinking and then canting over the keel to pop her upright again.

After they were airlifted by the Spanish coast guard, Thomson’s shore team managed to tow the wreck to Coruna, Spain, where they immediately set to work trying to get the hull and rig—which was also severely damaged when Hugo Boss was rolled—back into racing trim for the upcoming Vendée Globe solo round-the-world race, set to begin this November.

“I have never experienced anything like it. I was asleep and woke up to a boat upside down rapidly filling with water,” Thomson said afterward. “Now that my boat’s back

MACIF under full sail in the mid-Atlantic

IN THE BEST SAILING TRADITION In a move reminiscent of the earliest days of yachting when well-heeled owners would often challenge one another to private high-stakes races, the owner of the 104-year-old gaff cutter Mariquita (at left) recently took on the 162ft schooner Eleonora on England’s Solent. In this case, though, the “stakes” were over $100,000 in funds for the disabled sailing charity Wetwheels, which was raised by auctioning off crew spots to the top 25 bidders.

It would be hard to imagine a more magnificent race all around. For more on Wetwheels, visit wetwheels.co.uk.

IMAGES COURTESY OF BEN WOOD; (ABOVE); OF NAUTOR’S SWAN (RIGHT)

The new ClubSwan 50 looks to be a real weapon afloat!

The Latest Racing Swan

O

n a rainy night last October, in the hallowed halls of the New York Yacht Club’s model room a crowd Nautor’s Swan aficionados, naval architects and marine journalists gathered for some conversation, cocktails and the unveiling of the renowned boatbuilder’s latest design—the ClubSwan 50.

Nautor’s Swan Chairman Leonardo Ferragamo said the company held a contest

among the best designers in the world to create “an innovative design that would include new technologies and materials, be stylish and iconic, high performing but easy to sail.”

The winner of that completion, Juan Kouyoumdjian, said, “It is an honor for me to design a boat for Swan. The tradition, craftsmanship and sailing ability of Swan boats is second to none, and they have been

a reference for me since I was young and dreaming of designing sail boats.”

A continuation of Nautor’s Swan’s successful one-design fleet—which started with the Swan 45 that launched 15 years ago, followed by the Swan 42, 601 and 60—the ClubSwan 50 also represents a first step in the company’s celebration of its 50th anniversary this year. For more on the boat, visit clubswan50.com. —Christopher White S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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RACING UNDER SAIL

Twelve strong teams from yacht clubs around the country took part in the 101st running of the Lipton Cup regatta

Lipton Cup Returns to San Diego

Winning skipper La Dow (holding the trophy at left) and the rest of the crew celebrate

Newport to Host Volvo Race Again

F

ollowing one of the best U.S stopovers in the event’s history, Volvo Ocean Race organizers have announced that Newport, Rhode Island, will once again serve as the North American start/finish point for the 201718 running of the offshore classic.

“We’re delighted to be able to confirm that Newport will again be staging the race’s only North American stopover before the fleet crosses the Atlantic to finish in Europe in the summer of 2018,” said race COO, Tom Touber.

“Everything worked brilliantly…and we were delighted with the large amount of spectators J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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from our major fan base in the U.S. and elsewhere, who supported the stopover.”

In addition to being the site of one of the closest finish in VOR history—with eventual overall winner Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam and China’s Dongfeng engaged in a tacking duel for first place right up to the very end in Narragansett Bay—more than 130,000 race fans descended on the race village in Fort Adams over the course of the 13-day event.

As with the 2014-15 VOR, the fleet is scheduled to arrive in Newport in mid-May. Other confirmed stops include Cape Town,

over the years, and now features three days of one-design racing aboard J/105s.

Facing winner skipper Jake La Dow at the 2015 regatta were 11 teams from some of the best racing clubs in the United States, including the New York, Chicago, Annapolis and Larchmont yacht clubs, with the Newport Harbor Yacht Club coming in second, and the St. Francis team finishing third.—AC

Azzam (left) and Alvimedica on Narragansett Bay

South Africa; Auckland, New Zealand; and Cardiff, Wales. As in years past, the race will begin in Alicante, Spain and finish in Gothenburg, Sweden. For details, visit volvooceanrace.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY CYNTHIA SINCLAIR; (ABOVE); OF MARC BOW/VOR (LEFT)

A

fter spending a year at San Francisco’s St. Francis Yacht Club, the historic Lipton Cup is back with the San Diego Yacht Club after its team scored first overall in the 101st running of the Lipton Cup regatta this past November.

Originally deeded to the San Diego Yacht Club by Sir Thomas Lipton himself, the event has been through various iterations

The U.S. men’s 470 team shows the way en route to another podium finish in Abu Dhabi

Short Tacks

by Adam Cort

Photos courtesy of Jesus Renedo/IsAF (toP); of ILCA (rIGht)

U.S. ScoreS 470 Bronze in ABU DhABi For the second consecutive year, the US Sailing Team Sperry’s Stuart McNay and David Hughes won bronze at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, UAE, this past November.

The strong finish at yet another Olympicclass regatta capped an impressive string of results for the pair in 2015, highlighted by victories at ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland, and the 470 European Championships. In Abu Dhabi, the Americans finished behind Australians Mathew Belcher and William Ryan, and Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström of Sweden.

new clASS-legAl lASer SAil The International Laser Class Association (ILCA) has unveiled a completely new classlegal design for the Laser standard rig sail, the first time in 40 years that the design has been substantially updated.

Known as the Standard Mark II Sail, the

laser sailors now have a newer, more durable sail to carry them to victory

new design features bi-radial panels, a heavier 4.5 ounce cloth and optimized reinforcement patches, all intended to maximize the sail’s competitive life. The sail also features tapered battens with Velcro batten pocket closures, a larger window for improved visibility and a patented re-designed luff tube to eliminate wrinkles at the mast joint.

“This is a quantum leap forward for our class,” said ILCA President Tracy Usher. “For several years the number one complaint about the Laser has been the outdated sail design.

We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this new sail design, and we’re really happy with the result.”

The initial run of class-legal Mark II sails went on sale in November, and the class expects distribution to be worldwide by early 2016. Because of the timing of the release, by agreement with International Sailing Federation (ISAF) the Mark II will not be used in the 2016 Olympic Games or any Olympic qualifying events. s

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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EXPERIENCE UNDER SAIL

by Capt. Robert Beringer Illustration by Jan Adkins

A New Year’s Drag

in Nassau

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B

a-boom, boom, boom! The report was deafening, bone-shaking, as though it came from inside of a thunder cloud. I practically jumped out of the V-berth on my Catalina 34 as she lay just south of the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

“Well, hell’s bells!” I yelled into the dark saloon. “What is it now?”

The crossing from Florida had been a rough one. My brother Dan and I had been in a rush to meet our families for Christmas and took on an angry Gulf Stream—not a smart idea, I know. We struggled upwind through large waves, past giant ships, the two of us seasick and regretting our decision.

Halfway across the VHF shorted out, after which we began receiving electric shocks when touching any metal part of the boat. Turning off individual breakers on the electric panel we discovered that the running light circuit was also shorted out, so we shut it down. I looked at my exasperated brother and advised, “Whatever you do, don’t ask what else can go wrong!”

After we transited the south end of Gun Cay, clear skies and the salubrious waters of the Great Bahama Bank stretched out before us. I smiled at Dan. “What a relief,” I said boldly. “Now we can motor the remaining 100 miles and be there by tomorrow.”

I shouldn’t have said that. The following morning we started the engine and discovered that a cable on the steering quadrant had parted.

Can you imagine what that would have been like in the Gulf Stream? The emergency tiller worked, but provided little leverage against the cumbersome rudder, and holding course in the wind and waves was tiresome.

Nonetheless, somehow we made it to Nassau the night of Christmas Eve and had a happy reunion with our wives and kids. After a luxurious week together, I put everyone on a plane and returned to the boat.

The repairs were vexing. The “technicians” spent two hours installing a new steering cable only to discover that they had put it in backward. In all, the repairs took the better part of a week to complete and cost $600, leaving me in no mood for any more surprises.

The cannon shots continued unabated, and the portlights glowed with the blinding flashes. I looked at my watch—it was just after midnight. And then it hit me, it’s was the New Year! I dashed up to the cockpit and was treated to the finest fireworks display I had ever seen. The Atlantis was giving all of New Providence a wonderful show, and I had front row seats.

The glistening water around Ukiyo sizzled with spent shell casings, and I carefully swept ashes off the bimini. It’s not often you feel like you’re actually inside a fireworks display. I thoroughly The author in enjoyed the experience. less stressful times With ringing ears and happy heart I checked the anchor rode and looked around the anchorage before turning in again. The wind had been blowing hard all day from the northeast, and I was concerned about dragging in such a crowded place. But we had held our position for over 18 hours, and in Nassau Harbor, with its strong reversing current, that’s about as good as it gets.

One by one the lights went out on the neighboring boats.

What a wonderful place and what a great way to start the New Year, I mused. The boat was full of fuel, water and provisions. In the morning I would head east to the Family Islands. I turned in for the night feeling positively sublime.

And you know what’s coming next, don’t you?

It began as a dream in the pre-dawn hours. I was being yelled at by a phantasm, and the volume and irritable nature of the voice persisted until I realized it was no dream. “Monsieur, get up, get up! Come get your boat away from us!” I flew up to the cockpit and though groggy eyes saw all I needed to know: the tide had changed and we had dragged down WHAT WE DID RIGHT on a sailboat from Quebec.

I didn’t anchor in the harbor until In intense situations I find the helm, lights and radio were you remember the oddest things. repaired.

The man and woman who were I monitored the anchor for 18 frantically pushing on my boat’s hours before turning in for the stanchions were both stark naked. night.

Both wore LED headlamps that Slipping instead of cutting the illuminated their bodies. It was a anchor rode allowed me to bizarre sight I’ll never forget. retrieve it the next day.

I started the engine and threw I kept calm throughout the it into gear, put on the autopilot ordeal. and trotted to the foredeck to retrieve the anchor. My heart sank WHAT WE DID WRONG when I pulled on the rode. With I should have considered moving to a less crowded part of the the change of tide it had wrapped harbor before dark. around the wing keel, and the anchor had re-set. Hercules himself I should have been aware that we were down current for the could not have pulled it free. Back fireworks. Sooner or later the tide at the helm I put the engine in rewould turn and put us up current verse, attempting to break the set, from the other boats. but the boat bumped again into my neighbor, evoking more frantic shouts. As calmly as I could I explained to them what had happened.

His response shocked me: “Then cut your anchor line!” Followed by some words I don’t think are in the French dictionary. I told him firmly, “No, but I’ll slip the rode. Standby while I prepare.” By now most folks on the boats around us were awake and following the drama. At least two had hoisted anchor and were moving away. I wondered why my friend from Quebec couldn’t have done the same.

I tied a fender to the end of my rode, uncleated it, and off it went along the waterline—right around our rudder. For just a fraction of a second I envied my friends back home with their golf clubs and fantasy football leagues. Surely, there are better ways to have fun than this.

Donning a mask and fins I plunged into the clear dark water and pushed the rode and fender down off the rudder. Our boats drifted apart, and I motored off into the pre-dawn light, leaving the cantankerous Canadians behind. Finding a spot far to the west of the anchorage, I dropped my spare Danforth and collapsed into my bunk.

In the morning I glumly surveyed a deck full of bent stanchions, scratched fiberglass and missing gear swept overboard. Downhearted, but all the more determined to carry on, I patched my boat back together and prepared for the crossing to Eleuthera. s Robert Beringer’s first ebook, Water Power!, a collection of marine short stories, is available at barnesandnoble.com

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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new

boats EASY-TOHANDLE SAILPLAN

WELL-ORGANIZED HELM STATION

GOOD HANDHOLDS ON CABINTOP

VACUUM-INFUSED HULLS

Leopard 40 Small is the new big on this spacious cat by Zuzana Prochazka

S

ize matters—and when you’re working with small boats, creativity matters even more. The Leopard 40 feels like a much larger catamaran because its South African builder, Robertson and Caine, incorporated various owner and charter company feedback during the design process with an eye toward optimizing space aboard.

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION As a first step toward making the most of a relatively compact “canvas,” naval architects Simonis Voogd created a pair of hulls with increased volume throughout. It also leveraged the same forward cockpit concept found aboard the Leopard 40’s larger siblings, the 44 and the 48.

Similarly, the bows are plumb to both maximize sailing length and further increase interior volume; blunt transoms make it easy to board from astern; and the cockpit sole is on the same level as the saloon so that the two living spaces flow together without interruption.

Robertson and Caine’s build process, refined over more than 1,000 boats, features vacuum-infused laminates with a cored hull and deck. Keels are fixed for simplicity and strength. The sailplan is simple—a smallish genoa and a large, fully-battened mainsail set on an aluminum Z-Spars mast.

Double-ended German-style sheeting easily controls the Ullman main.

ON DECK The Leopard 40 has also copied its larger sisters by incorporating a full door that opens forward from the interior. Unlike her big sisters, however, J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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there is not so much a dedicated cockpit up forward, as what Leopard calls a “cocoon,” which includes sizable belowdeck storage and houses the optional genset. Topped by cushions, it still makes for a nice lounge when the aft cockpit is too sunny for cocktails. The helm to starboard is integrated into the cabinhouse and is well organized. A Raymarine chartplotter and instruments are mounted at a good viewing angle; both engine gauges are handy; the Fusion stereo control is at your fingertips; and there is a small shelf with fiddles for stashing personal items.

All lines are led to a set of eight rope clutches. It looks great at the dock, but all those lines create a bit of a snake’s nest underway. The boat’s built-in sheet bin helps, but an additional bag wouldn’t hurt.

A Lewmar electric winch helps in raising the large main. However, when turning the handle on the second manual winch your knuckles barely clear the throttle controls. Bottom line: the area is a bit tight, especially if multiple people are in the mix. On the plus side, the helm pod is only a few steps from the cockpit, so the driver is never far from the boat’s social center.

In a quest to eliminate canvas, Leopard provides a targa hardtop to shield the helm. This is very practical, though the cutout overhead for viewing the sail could be larger. The steps just ahead, which provide access to the cabintop, are angled and difficult to maneuver, especially with wet feet. It’s best to hang on to that hardtop when ascending. Otherwise, there are good handholds along the entire cabintop that will provide safe passage fore and aft. On deck, it’s good to see nice high lifelines that will actually help keep crew aboard.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Leopard 40

As on most cats, the accommodations aboard the Leopard 40 really start in the cockpit, SPECIFICATIONS where crew will inevitably congregate to enjoy LOA 39ft 4in LWL 38ft 1in the indoor/outdoor lifestyle. A dinette to port BEAM 22ft 1in DRAFT 4ft 1in will seat eight close friends or a half-dozen DISPLACEMENT 20,591lb acquaintances. The aft-most seat has a backrest SAIL AREA 1,032ft² AIR DRAFT 63ft 10in FUEL/WATER (GAL) 95/206 that hinges forward, making it possible to sit ENGINE 2 x 29hp Yanmar with saildrive and enjoy the scene astern as well. A dinghySA/D RATIO 22 D/L RATIO 166 davit system comes standard.

A comfortable lounge is to starboard at the What do these ratios mean? Visit sailmagazine.com/ratios foot of the helm station, and a sliding door and window open up the saloon. The cockpit and inside dining settees are back to back, so two DESIGNER Simonis Voogd people can sit and face opposite directions but BUILDER Robertson and Caine, Cape Town, South Africa still carry on a conversation when the winU.S. DISTRIBUTOR Leopard Catamarns, dow is open. This is possible because Leopard Clearwater, FL, info@leopardcatamaran, moved the galley to the forward starboard 954-925-8050, leopardcatamarans.com corner of the saloon and shifted the settee aft PRICE $450,000 (sailaway) and to port. It’s a departure from a typical cat layout, but it works.

Right by the sliding door aft is a two-drawer fridge and freezer that is easily accessed from the cockpit as well. This harks back to the Leopard 38 of 2009, which was an early adopter of The interior of our test boat had an ash-colored textured laminate finish, drawer refrigeration. It’s a feature that is now making its way onto boats which appeared to be quite durable. of all sizes and designs, and does make finding items inside much easier.

The galley has a single sink, an Eno cooktop and lots of storage drawUNDER SAIL ers. The expansive window offers what may be the best view any dishWe didn’t do the boat any favors by packing 14 people aboard for our washing crew could ever hope to enjoy. However, it does not open. Intest sail. However, despite the chaos of over-population and a moment stead, the forward door brings in lots of air, which then funnels through when we actually grounded the boat in Miami’s Government Cut, it was to the cockpit. A tiny desk to port of the door is more for personal busia good way to assess how well this small boat can handle a large crowd. ness than navigation, but there are USB sockets for personal-accessory The good news is that there was space for everyone, and in the boistercharging and storage for cruising guides. ous conditions of the day, we managed to sail at 8.3 knots in 16 knots of The charter layout has four cabins and two heads. The owner’s verbreeze at a 70-degree apparent wind angle. With the wind on the beam sion (shown above) puts the master suite in the starboard hull with we moved at 8.5 knots, dropping to 5.9 knots at a 120-degree apparent an ample aft berth, a good long desk with a vanity in the middle and a wind angle in the choppy 4ft seas in the outside channel. well-proportioned head with a large shower stall forward. Small spaces in the bows could be used either as crew bunks or for fender storage.

UNDER POWER The luxurious saloon belies the boat’s impressive performance under sail

The twin 29hp Yanmar saildrive diesels propel the boat at a 7-knot cruising speed and at 8.4 knots flat out in still water. The engine compartments are tight and the Racor fuel filters, which are mounted outboard in each space, look especially difficult to reach. However, with the wheel all the way over in one direction or the other (depending on which hull you’re in), the tie-rod mechanism is pushed out of the way, which should offer a bit more access to the engines. There is a fuel-transfer system aboard that may add a bit of complexity, but tankage is good with 95 gallons of diesel and 206 gallons of water.

CONCLUSION The compact Leopard 40 packs in almost all the amenities of a cat 10ft longer, but keeps the space at the dock and the demands on the wallet fairly reasonable. For around $450,000, a couple can sail away with just about every option except the genset, and since 40 percent of Leopards go into private ownership, there will be a number of sailors who will find this cat fits the bill—and very nicely at that. s

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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new

boats FLEXIBLE COCKPIT LAYOUT

TWIN RUDDERS & HELMS

Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 SPECIFICATIONS

Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 A performance boat that spans the sailing spectrum

by Adam Cort

I

t’s been written before that sailboats are the stuff of dreams, and few designs support that contention better than the Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600.

With its plumb bow and stern, twin rudders, low profile and powerful, wedge-shaped hull, this boat clearly has a healthy dose of Euro grand prix racer in its DNA. However, it also includes more than adequate accommodations and headroom to make life aboard far less of a trial than it is aboard a pure raceboat. Think a scaled-down Open 60 or Class 40 sloop without all that stooping and head banging as you’re preparing dinner, relaxing belowdecks or hitting the rack.

The boat is also surprisingly friendly topside. On the eve of a delivery from Newport, Rhode Island, to Martha’s Vineyard for the Around Island race, I spent the night aboard on a mooring and had no problem at all getting comfortable in the cockpit while I watched the lights go down ashore.

Later, when it came time to get some sleep, I had my choice of generous mirror-image quarterberths or the two settees, which serve as great sea berths. The head is forward, just aft of the forepeak, and there is a generous nav J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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LOA 35ft 5in LWL 31ft 2in BEAM 11ft 7in DRAFT 6ft 11in DISPLACEMENT 10,362lb BALLAST 4,784lb SAIL AREA 751ft² ENGINE 21hp Yanmar with saildrive BALLAST RATIO 46% SA/D RATIO 25 D/L RATIO 154 What do these ratios mean? Visit sailmagazine.com/ratios

station (for a boat this size) as well as a spare but very adequate galley and saloon table. I am often skeptical when it comes to claims that a performance boat will also serve as fun coastal cruiser. But I could see gunkholing aboard the Sun Fast 3600 being a blast.

That having been said, a boat like the Sun Fast 3600 is all about performance, and with its powerful 751ft² of working sail, 6ft 11in high-aspect deep keel, fixed sprit, and the option of flying either an A-sail or symmetrical spinnaker, the boat has speed to burn. The hull is infused polyester with a balsa core. The deck is also infused with a foam core, and attached to the hull on an inward-turning flange via a combination of adhesive and through bolts. There is a watertight bulkhead forward, and twin tillers come standard, with twin Jefa wheels as an option. Deck hardware is Harken. The standard mast is from Soromap, and a carbon stick is available as an option. The standard navigation package is from B&G. Despite all that power, the boat is no twitchy thoroughbred, but a well-mannered speedster that channels wind energy directly into VMG without any undue dramatics.

Beating down the east end of Martha’s Vine-

DESIGNER Andrieu Yacht Design BUILDER Jeanneau, Les Herbiers, France U.S. DISTRIBUTOR Jeanneau America, 410-280-9400, jeanneau.com PRICE $300,000 (sailaway)

yard in moderate seas and 12 to 15 knots of wind the boat quickly dug in, reducing her wetted surface area by lifting the windward portion of that wide, powerful stern out of the water, and began powering forward at just over 6.5 knots.

Later, when we were suddenly overpowered by a new wind as we were close-reaching off Squibnocket Point under A-sail, I never once lost control of the boat’s helm, due to the fact the leeward rudder remained both fully immersed and fully effective. (Which is not to say we didn’t still make a point of getting the chute down in a hurry!)

Beyond that, the deck layout is such that the boat works equally well when sailing singlehanded, double-handed or with a full crew. For our race we had six aboard and there was room for all. I’d love to try going offshore doublehanded or all alone. Maybe next time. s

EXTREMELY LARGE COCKPIT

2016

WINNER

CLEAR SIDE DECKS

Marlow-Hunter 31 SPECIFICATIONS

Marlow-Hunter 31 A spacious yet surprisingly speedy cruiser by Adam Cort

M

arlow-Hunter has long been a pioneer in the marine industry, creating such innovations as its trademark stainless steel cockpit arch and the easy-to-use backstay-free B&R rig.

However, what really surprised me about the new Marlow-Hunter 31 was its plain-old sailing ability. At the beginning of a sail trial on Chesapeake Bay, the boat had no trouble maintaining a very respectable 6 knots on a close reach in 8 to 10 knots of wind. It also came about crisply in the light seas, so much so that I had to be careful not to bring the boat around too quickly, thanks to its powerful high-aspect rudder.

Then it got windy, and the next thing we knew, we were bombing around doing 7.0, 7.5 and ultimately, 7.8 knots on that same close reach as the wind hit the high teens—with the shoal-draft keel, no less. All the while the boat performed admirably, thanks again to that great rudder below the waterline and the boat’s bit of chine aft. I can say with all honesty, it was one of the more memorable and exhilarating test sails I’ve had.

Of course, this being a Marlow-Hunter design, there’s also plenty in the way of accommodations and lounging space to enjoy when you’re done sailing. Topsides, the first thing you notice when stepping aboard is the boat’s mas-

sive cockpit. This comes as a result of the cockpit coaming having been pushed as far outboard as possible, creating a sailing and lounging space that wouldn’t look out of place aboard a 40-footer. To make sure the space works, Marlow-Hunter has included a pair of hinged footrests in the sole for when the boat is heeled and an (optional) adjustable Lewmar pedestal that swings well outboard to port and starboard, ensuring you have a clear view from the helm.

Belowdecks Marlow-Hunter has cleverly specified an in-line galley to maximize the saloon space so that, again, it feels like you’re aboard a much bigger boat than a 30-footer.

Although there is no nav station, per se, the boat is pre-wired so that a multifunction display can be easily installed alongside the breaker box over the portside settee, allowing the dining table to double as a nav station. Joinery work is done in a cherry veneer, and is first rate. The V-berth forward is a bit tight, but the athwartships double below the cockpit, is nice and big, albeit somewhat limited in terms of vertical space.

Aft, there’s a nifty dedicated power cable compartment to starboard of the drop-down swim platform and another compartment large enough to house an inflatable kayak to port.

Moving forward, the boat’s B&R rig has been configured so that the lowers run inboard, right

LOA 31ft 11in LWL 29ft 8in BEAM 11ft 10in DRAFT 5ft 5in (std); 4ft 5in (shoal) DISPLACEMENT 11,854lb (std); 12,000lb (shoal) BALLAST 3,379lb (std); 3,525 (shoal) SAIL AREA 542ft² AIR DRAFT 51ft 11in FUEL/WATER (GAL) 21/50 ENGINE 21hp Yanmar BALLAST RATIO 29% SA/D RATIO 17 D/L RATIO 202 What do these ratios mean? Visit sailmagazine.com/ratios

DESIGNER Glenn Henderson/David Marlow BUILDER Marlow-Hunter, Alachua, Florida, 800-771-5556, marlow-hunter.com PRICE $156,600 (sailaway)

alongside the cabintrunk, and the uppers run outboard, providing an obstruction-free passageway along the side decks.

The basic construction of the boat has been fine tuned through the implementation of a number of different techniques and materials, including Kevlar in the layup forward for collision protection; Kevlar encircling the hull and deck in the area of the chainplates to promote strength; craze-resistant gelcoat in the deck layup; a stainless steel L-bracket to reinforce the through-bolted hull-to-deck joint; and a moisture-resistant Nida Core honeycomb in the layup. Spars and blocks are from Seldén; winches are Lewmar; and the standard nav package is from Raymarine.

All in all, a well-constructed boat that is as good a sailer as she is spacious—which is why she was judged to be one of SAIL’s Best Boats for 2016. s

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Gear

by Christopher White

In With the New The latest gear and equipment from the fall boat shows

FlIr OCeaN SCOut 640

SIrIuS SIgNal SOS DIStreSS lIght If you’re looking for an alternative to traditional pyrotechnic flares, you’ll like the new SOS Distress Signal from Sirius Signal. this is an leD visual distress light that, when combined with the included daytime distress signal flag, complies with all u.S. Coast guard requirements for day and night visual distress signals. the unit is battery operated, easy to use and visible for up to 10 nautical miles. Since the flare emits no heat, it can be safely tethered to your person, hoisted aloft or held for an extended period of time, no matter where on the boat—or the liferaft—you are. $99.95. Sirius Signal, siriussignal.com

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the Ocean Scout 640 is the latest addition to FlIr’s Ocean Scout line of handheld thermal marine cameras. It generates thermal images that reveal floating debris, boats, buoys and, most importantly, any people in the water at distances of up to 1,200 yards. Whether you’re hunting for channel markers or working your way through a mooring field late at night, the Ocean Scout 640 makes navigating in low visibility easier than ever. additionally, the camera’s Instalert mode highlights the hottest objects in your field of view, making them easy to spot. $3,499. FLIR, flir.com

MANTUS SNAP-ON LIGHT If you’ve ever found yourself in need of a little more illumination in the cockpit or an extra light on the bow when you’re dropping the hook, maybe it’s time to think about picking up the new Snap-On Light from Mantus Anchors. The rechargeable light attaches quickly and easily to your rail, bow pulpit or bimini, and is waterproof and durable, rated to withstand a fall of up to 6ft. The light can snap onto 1in, 7/8 in or 1¼in rails and has a warm LED setting to add a little ambiance to your al fresco dinners. A red LED mode provides light that will not impede navigation. $55. Mantus Anchors, mantusanchors.com

PYI KIWIGRIP NONSKID DECK PAINT KiwiGrip antiskid deck paint is ideal for sailors looking to redo their topsides. Unlike antiskid with fillers such as sand or rubber flecks, KiwiGrip is a one-part paint, which lowers not only the cost but also the amount of time it takes to apply. Depending on the application technique you use, the paint can be rolled for a “pleasure boat” texture or a more aggressive or “work boat” feel. The paint is loaded with a UV stabilizer to ensure consistent color and is available in four standard colors—white, cream, light gray and light blue—in addition to black and glow-in-the-dark.

Starting at $47 for 1-liter can. PYI Inc., pyiinc.com

MAUI JIM MIXED PLATE SUNGLASSES Maui Jim recently introduced three new styles of shades inspired by the islands where they’re made. The Mixed Plate (shown here) has a beachy, rectangular look and fits perfectly on mid-sized faces. The Mixed Plate sports a keyhole nose bridge padded with rubber that provides comfort and keeps the sunglasses in place. Like many of Maui Jim’s offerings, the glasses can be customized with prescription lenses. $229. Maui Jim, mauijim.com

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There’s room and space in the anchorage at Allan’s Cay in the Exumas

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Bahamas Elbow Room in the

If you love the Caribbean’s cerulean waters and idyllic white sand beaches, but don’t like crowded anchorages, the Exumas are calling your name

Story by Eric Vohr

S A I L M AG A Z I N E PHOTO COURTESY OF BAHAMAS MINISTRY OF TOURISM

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T

here are only a handful of villages scattered across the more than 360 islands, islets and sandbars that make up the Exuma archipelago in the Bahamas. Cruising there you’ll have no trouble finding plenty of beaches and bays to explore.

Most likely you’ll only have to share them with iguanas, palm trees and, perhaps, some swimming pigs.

My partner, Michaela, and I recently explored this magical chain of islands, which runs 130 miles from Great Exuma Island in the south to Norman’s Cay in the north. We chartered with Navtours, pretty much the only charter outfit in the region, starting out from the company’s base in Great Exuma and sailing one-way to its other base in Nassau.

The Exumas run along the eastern edge of the Grand Bahamas Bank.

As such, the waters inside or west of the chain are protected, shallow and generally calmer than those outside on the eastern side, which consist of deep, open ocean. However, sailing on the bank side can also be tricky, as some stretches are too shallow for deep-keel boats.

Our Beneteau 39 drew 6ft, so we had to spend our first few days sailing outside in open water. This proved challenging, as conditions were unseasonally rough, with 30-knot winds and fairly big seas.

Needless to say, it was nice to tuck back inside at Lee Stocking Island, our first anchorage and home to the Perry Institute for Marine Science, a large marine biology research center financed by John H. Perry Jr., a newspaper tycoon and avid diver.

In 2012, six years after Perry’s death, the research station shut down, leaving behind laboratories, fish tanks, generators and offices that look pretty much like they did when the place was operational, albeit in disrepair. Lee Stocking also has a couple of very nice beaches for those who want to kick-start their tanning regime. A short hike inland from the beach will take you to the top of Perry Hill, the highest point in the Exumas at 100ft above sea level. It’s not exactly a dizzying height, but it’s high enough to provide some pretty great views.

Leaving Lee Stocking, it was still too shallow to sail on the inside, so we headed back out into the big seas to continue our journey north.

The Bahamas

Abacos Islands

Great Exuma Nassau

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You have to be a little careful navigating the passes between the inside and outside. They can be narrow and shallow, and the waves and currents can get hairy. Whenever possible we tried to hit these at high slack tide to avoid surprises.

After a spirited sail we arrived at our next destination, Rudder Cut Cay. The legendary illusionist David Copperfield owns this island, along with 10 other islands in the region. Musha Cay is likely the best known of these properties, as it’s home to his high-end private resort of the same name. At $30,000 a night (for the entire island), we figured it was beyond our cruising budget.

We did, however, enjoy the long sandy beach on the inside of Rudder Cut Cay. (In the Bahamas, beaches are public up to a little above the high tide mark.) If you ever stop there, be sure to check out the little sea cave. It has a “mini” beach inside that’s just big enough for two and is a perfect shaded lunch spot.

This was only the first of a couple of caves we visited in the Exumas.

On Great Guana Cay, a few islands north of Copperfield’s compound, we found a huge subterranean cavern with fantastic Salvador Dali-esque melted calcium formations guarding a small crystal blue lake of filtered fresh water. The cave is pretty easy to find; just look for some trail markers at the northern end of Oven Rock Beach and follow them up the hill.

After Great Guana Cay, the water inside became deep enough for us to sail on the west side the rest of the way north. Heavy seas and big air can be exhilarating, but it was a nice to cruise in relatively calm water again.

Staniel Cay, our next stop, is a favorite destination for megayachts.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club operates a good-size marina here, as well as a kicking bar/restaurant. You’ll want to make reservations in advance, as

Clockwise from top left: Michaela gets a tan on the deck while sailing; one of many beachside caves in the Exumas; inside Rocky Dundas Cave; hiking down from Perry Hill, the highest elevation in the Exumas, on Lee Stocking Island; a local café and restaurant in Staniel Cay; the swimming pigs of Big Major Cay have become the most popular tourist attraction in the Exumas

Photos by Michaela urban

they do not take walk-ins. There are also some other good dining options, not to mention two much-needed grocery stores.

Staniel is where they you’ll find “Thunderball” Grotto—named after the 1965 James Bond movie of the same name that was filmed here. You can either swim into the cave or jump in through a hole in the roof (literally). This protected spot (fishing is not allowed) is a veritable marine sanctuary filled with colorful tropical fish and beautiful coral. Light filtering through a number of underwater holes that lead out to the sea illuminates the water and the walls of the cave—it’s simply magical.

A word of warning: Thunderball Grotto has some strong tidal currents that can suck you through the cave. I got caught, and it took every bit of strength I had to swim back to the launch—and that was with a very good pair of flippers. This was more than a bit disturbing since at high tide the exit is underwater. For this reason, you might want to visit the cave at low tide.

Next to the Grotto is Big Major Cay, where you can take a dip with the Exumas’ famed swimming pigs. Word has it these were abandoned by merchant ships many years ago and have since taken over this small island. Instead of being a nuisance, they’ve become a huge tourist attraction.

The anchorage on Big Major’s western shore is not for those seeking peace and quiet. It’s packed with everything from small sailing vessels to very large motor yachts. During our stay, a Cessna Caravan seaplane literally cut through the crowded mooring field and landed inches off the beach to deliver a wedding party from Nassau, which had come to see the floating hams. In the evening, we fell asleep to the thumping of loud disco music coming from a couple huge party yachts.

Regardless, you should definitely check out the pigs. Just be careful if you have an inflatable dinghy: they’re not called swimming pigs for nothing. We were greeted by a welcoming committee that consisted of two of the larger sows, clearly in search of food. We heard that these hefty swine do not hesitate to try to climb into your boat if you have food on board, which could easily result in a puncture. Aside from that, they’re harmless and very cute, especially the piglets.

One of our favorite stops heading north was the Exumas Cays Land and Sea Park, just north of Staniel Cay. Compass Cay, in the southern part of the park, has a marvelous pool called “Rachel’s Bubble Bath.”

The “bath” is fed by ocean surf crashing over a ragged reef barrier, giving it the look and feel of a seawater Jacuzzi.

You can also explore Rocky Dundas sea cave, which is west of Compass Cay. The walls of the cave are “painted” with a fantastic palette of purples, greens, blues, yellows and reds that have leached out of the minerals in the rocks.

Farther north is the park headquarters on Warderick Wells Cay, which had some of the best snorkeling we experienced in the Exumas.

The prime spots are marked, and park headquarters will provide you with a map and all the info you need. A high point of our visit was spotting four huge spiny lobsters battling across the coral, which was amazing, as these reclusive arthropods are usually hidden in dark crevices underneath the coral heads.

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Photo by Michaela urban (toP); courtesy of bahaMas Ministry of tourisM (middle & bottom)

Nurse sharks are very common in the Exumas (top); a rare Exuma Islands iguana (middle); relaxing at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club (bottom)

Photo by Michaela urban

A deserted beach on Lee Stocking Island at the start of the hike to Perry Peak

mangrove river that cuts the island in half. On the ocean end it opens out to a long white-sand beach and an old campsite that drug enforcement agents set up in the 1980s to spy on Norman’s Cay just to the north. Back then infamous drug lord Carlos Lehder used Norman’s Cay to smuggle cocaine from Columbia to the United States. Today, you can walk through his abandoned, dilapidated restaurant, bar and villas and try to imagine the crazy Dionysian orgies that took place there back in the day.

In the shallow water of the bay on the southeast coast of the island, you can snorkel on one of the cargo planes Lehder used to fly cocaine under the radar to remote locations in the United States. The plane is still pretty much intact (including the engine and propeller), although the wreck is now filled with coral and tropical fish, not kilos of cocaine.

Our final stop before heading to the Navtours base in Nassau was Allan’s Cay. We had heard a lot of great things about this spot from the base manager on Great Exuma, who literally quit his job and bought a sailboat after anchoring here.

However, while it was remarkably beautiful, it was also one of the smallest and most crowded anchorages we visited. Having gotten used to having anchorages more or less to ourselves, it was a little disappointing to have to struggle to find a safe spot to drop our hook. Not only that, there’s a fierce 2.5 knot current that swings 180 degrees with the tides, which made for some stressful nights.

That aside, the beaches are gorgeous, and you’ll find one of the largest populations of Exuma iguanas here. They number 1,300 in total and are only found on these islands. Just be careful: they can be a bit aggressive. As I was sunbathing on the beach reading a book, one came up and nibbled my foot.

On our last day, we had a very relaxing sail to Nassau across the Grand Bahamas Bank, stopping midway for some snorkeling on Yellow

Bank, which is dotted with coral heads. Most cruisers avoid the area, as there’s the risk of slamming into one of these coral columns if you’re not careful. However, we had no problems, as the coral was easy to spot. That said, you don’t want to turn on the autopilot and start playing cards while sailing here.

After some searching, we found a relatively large coral head that turned out to be a veritable metropolis of marine life. In this vast and sandy, but relatively uninhabited stretch of sea, it was amazing to see the numbers and varieties of fish, rays, arthropods and corals hanging around this little coral oasis.

We did this Exumas trip literally right after we returned from sailing French Polynesia, and to be honest, we thought it would pale in comparison. We were totally wrong.

The Exumas provide world-class Caribbean sailing with lots of elbow room.

Add to that sunken airplanes, Bahamas Tourism swimming pigs, magical bahamas.com caves, countless deserted sand beaches and cerulean bays, Staniel Cay Yacht Club and you’ll have plenty to keep stanielcay.com you busy.

Navtours (navtours.com): With an island for nearly -Bases in George Town, Grand every day of the year, you can Exuma Island (south) and really get lost in the Exumas. s

FACT FILE

Nassau, New Providence (north)

Eric Vohr and Michaela Urban have a travel website and blog at travelintense.com.

-Prices start at $3,500 per week for a 39ft monohull with three cabins (six people maximum)

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What better reason is there to cruise to the Faroe Islands? story & photos by Nigel Calder

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Nada has the anchorage at Miovagar to herself

I wa was born lucky.

This is important if you’re sailing to the Fa Faroe Islands, which lie between 61°21'N and 62°21'N, firmly in the Icelandic low-pressure zo the primary Atlantic gale incubator. The zone, Gu Stream ensures that the weather is never Gulf co really cold—it rarely drops below freezing—but it is consistently miserable, with abundant fog and drizzle, and gales are common even in the summertime. The only other sailors we know who have been there arrived in 40 knots of wind and never saw less than 25, which severely limited their explorations.

The weather problems are compounded by geography: the islands are separated by narrow, glacier-carved sounds, which form a series of slots through which tidal currents sluice, often at 5 or 6 knots and sometimes as high as 12 knots.

Off many of the headlands, winds against current can create life-threatening conditions.

We are in Ullapool on Scotland’s west coast waiting for crew to arrive. Terrie, my wife, has been reading a guide to the Faroe Islands.

James Proctor, the author, cryptically notes, “The combination of wild weather and unforJ A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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giving landscape is like nowhere else.” For the hundredth time Terrie expresses reservations, wonders why we are going. Just because they are there, I say, and just because they are so far north, and just because they have such a challenging reputation. Teasingly, I mention that we also have charts for Iceland and Greenland.

“No way!” Terrie says. What she finds even harder to understand is the fact that we have no shortage of volunteer crew, although—significantly—they are all men. It must be a guy thing.

HEADING NORTH We pick up our crew, my brother, Chris, and our trusty crewmates, Jake and Bob, and sail up the Scottish mainland in a couple of easy legs to the Badcall Islands (I wonder how they got that name?) and the small fishing harbor of Kinlochbervie, the last sheltered port of call south of Cape Wrath. We luck into an internet connection and download updated forecasts from Weather Underground and buoyweather .com, along with seven-day GRIB files for our Nobeltec Time Zero electronic charts. (We are also running Navionics charts on the RayMarine chartplotter, and have British Admiralty paper

charts as a backup. In addition, we have a cruising guide to Faroe, Iceland and Greenland written by Willy Ker and published by Imray.) We have a weather window—light easterlies—for the 200-mile northwesterly passage to Suduroy, the southernmost of the Faroe Islands. We set sail at 0640 the following morning.

We take advantage of the easterly winds to make some westing, just in case the predominant westerlies reassert themselves. Chris and Bob serve up gourmet sandwiches as we tighten the sheets to lay the island of Rona, the last outpost of the Outer Hebrides way out in the Atlantic. The cloud base is low enough to intermittently hide the lighthouse on its southern end as puffins, guillemots and razorbills fly past and swim in the water alongside us. The wind shifts and builds, putting us on a fast, close reach with first one and then two reefs in the main. By evening, though, the wind is down and the reefs have been shaken out. Chris and Bob serve cold roast lamb, new potatoes and salad for dinner. You can see why we like to have them on board—Chris, in particular, is immune to seasickness and likes to cook.

Overnight, the wind is variable and light and

Nada tied alongside a traditional fishing boat in Klaksvik (right); the author calculating the tidal currents (below left); sod-roofed houses in Torshavn (below right)

there is a fair bit of sail trimming and motorsailing, as the engine goes on and off. The following afternoon we make landfall on the southern end of Suduroy, with almost no wind, the island hidden in fog and a 2-knot adverse tide. Then all of a sudden the wind is blowing 15 knots and we are reaching in at better than 7 knots. Later that afternoon we tie up alongside an old fishing boat in Tvororyi harbor, our port of entry, and are drenched by a heavy, cold rain shower as we deploy the mooring lines. It is truly miserable weather—welcome to the Faroes!

Day One: TvOrOryi We have no idea how or where to clear in. We ask a couple of guys on the dock who phone the local harbormaster. He comes to the boat and spends most of his time chatting about the islands, and why he and his wife returned here from Denmark (which technically owns the islands) to raise their family. There is no crime and no one locks their doors. A little later the customs officer comes to the boat to formally clear us in. There are no charges, and in fact, throughout our week-long stay in the Faroes we are charged neither fees nor a single penny for dockage, hot showers (available in most harbous), water or any of our other cruising needs.

The rain abruptly ceases, and the occasional flashes of sunlight through the cloud cover entice us ashore to the local “pub,” an atmospheric 19th century store with all the original shelving and drawers in place, massive beams overhead and an old petrol pump in the bar. We discover alcohol is shockingly expensive and not widely available—the response to severe drinking problems in bygone days. We return to the boat, pull off the dock and anchor out for the night.

Next morning Terrie and I are woken by condensation dripping off the cabin sides and porthole frames above our bed. For most of the rest of the trip, our lightweight rain trousers go on over our jeans first thing in the morning and don’t come off until we go to bed.

The number one task for the day is to obtain local knowledge of the tidal currents around the islands. I find a nautical almanac in a nearby bookstore, but it is in Faroese, a derivative of Old Norse, brought to the islands by the original Viking settlers. The store assistant is a young girl who speaks passable English but

has no understanding of nautical terms, while the store owner has a partial understanding of nautical terms but no English. I can’t make sense of what they are telling me. They call in a local fisherman, who also has no English, but between the three of them we get things sorted.

The tidal current tables become the indispensable determining factor for timing all of our subsequent passages and explorations.

Day TwO: SanDur Terrie is seriously prone to seasickness. She puts up with the passages in order to enjoy the places we sail to. An essential component is a calm anchorage. In the case of the Faroes, there are few all-weather anchorages, but numerous small, well-protected harbours for the Faroese fishing fleet. Our next port of call, Sandur, is one of these. We sail there in light winds on a close reach swept along by 1 to 3 knots of favorable current in a flat sea. The cloud base

lifts to reveal the almost 1,200ft-high cliff faces on the islands of Litla Dimun and Stora Dimun.

The scenery is stunning—we have never seen anything quite like this.

Sandur has a long sandy beach with a snug little harbor behind a powerful rock breakwater. We tie up alongside a classic wooden fishing boat, built in Scotland in the 1930’s. Ashore and in the harbor are numerous small wooden lapstrake double-ended fishing boats, a Faroese derivative of Viking ships, which are used for long-lining cod and other bottom fish. Each has two or three large reels that include torque sensors. When the tug of a fish is felt, the line is reeled in automatically.

Fishing has always been the lifeblood of the Faroese economy, and even today fish-related products and industries account for 95 percent of exports and 50 percent of GDP. In the 1990’s, when overfishing caused a dramatic fall in the annual catch, the Faroes went bankrupt and

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Faroe Islands

Eidi

Vestmanna

Klaksvik

Miovagar Sandur

Tvororyi

were bailed out by Denmark. Since then much of the fishing has been done offshore in factory ships or else around the coast in numerous fish farms. The traditional boats maintain a cultural tradition, but have little commercial relevance.

As in all the towns we visited, Sandur has a Scandinavian feel with brightly painted wooden houses built in the board-and-batten style with a sprinkling of sod roofs, including the little church.

DAY THREE: MIOVAGAR We sail westward to Miovagar in light winds and flat seas, with up to 3 knots of favorable current driving us forward and the cloud base once again above the mountaintops. We pass close by the islands of Hestur and Koltur, with thousands of seabirds nesting on the high cliffs.

The scenery is even more stunning and the anchorage is protected behind a long breakwater.

Miovagar is home to a World War II museum. After the Nazis overran Denmark early in the war, the British moved to secure the Faroe Islands and held onto them for the rest of the war. The Faroese continued to fish, providing an important food source for Britain at a time when German U-boats were decimating Atlantic convoys. The Faroese paid a heavy price in terms of lost boats and crews. They are proud of the role they played—it came up in several conversations with older Faroese.

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young and old residents. Today it consists of driving schools of pilot whales onto the beach and then slaughtering them. The meat is shared equally at no cost between those involved in the capture and local communities. The blubber, fried, is considered to be a particular delicacy.

In a good year, up to 900 whales are caught, but recently few have been seen. The Faroese blame a rise in mackerel, which eat herring fry, which in turn are the principal diet of the squid on which the pilot whales feed.

At an internet café we secure an updated weather forecast: continuing light easterly winds.

DAY FOUR: VESTMANNA The Faroe Islands are formed from layers of volcanic basalt tilted to the south and east.

From the lower southerly and eastern parts of each island’s sheep-dotted grassy slopes, which turn an improbably luminescent green in flashes of sunlight, are interspersed with rocky ledges that culminate in sheer cliffs to the west and north. Miovagar is close to the western limit of the islands. Given the favorable forecast, we feel safe spending a couple of days on the often inhospitable western and northern coastlines, pounded by Atlantic swells, where the sheer cliffs are the highest in the world.

There are few safe harbors.

We set sail early to catch a favorable tide up Vestmannasund to the protected harbour of Vestmanna, which will be our jumping-off point. We are a half an hour or so late in getting

going. Those few minutes are enough to present us with 2 knots of adverse current, rising rapidly, before we make it into the harbor and tie up to another free dock, just ahead of the only other cruising boat we see in the Faroes. It is crewed by Drake and Monique, who have made it here from South Carolina via Greenland and Iceland, documenting their trip in a series of videos that can be found online.

Close by is a Danish warship. Vestmanna is not particularly photogenic so Terrie, Jake and Bob catch a bus into Torshavn, the capital of the Faroes. There are a couple of mountains between Vestmanna and Torshavn. The Faroese have tunneled through these to connect the cities.

They have also tunneled under several of the sounds that lie between the islands, creating a network of roads that link the smallest and most far flung communities. There is even a road that runs the length of the island of Kalsoy, including several miles of tunnels, to the tiny settlement of Trollanes with its less than 80 inhabitants.

This amazing infrastructure is keeping alive 1,000-year-old settlements that have been continuously occupied since Viking times.

DAY FIVE: EIDI Another early departure carries us on the tide out of Vestmannasund to the north, past the renowned “bird cliffs” and along the northwestern coastline. Yet again, the seas are flat and the cloud base above the tops of even the 2,800ft mountains. This is the most spectacular

MAPS COURTESY OF TUBS (INSET), OONA RÄISÄNEN

The crew hikes back to the harbor from the cliffs near Eidi

Clockwise from far left: high school graduation outfits in torshavn; the crew in the pub in tvororyi; the church in eidi

weather. We can sense a change is coming: high cirrus clouds are moving in and our window is closing. If indeed the prevailing westerlies are returning, this will be perfect for the 200-mile southwesterly passage to the Shetland Islands, our next destination.

Day Seven: leirviK

coastline to date: we are running out of superlatives. Every so often there is an off-lying stack, culminating in what looks like a stone giant staggering out to sea, apparently the most photographed feature in all of the Faroe Islands. We duck into the small harbor of Eidi and tie up at a vacant pontoon berth.

We wander into town to see if it is okay to stay on this dock and whether or not we should pay someone. We are directed to the local café which, it turns out, is run by the mayor’s sister.

She calls her brother. We are welcome to stay, and there is no charge.

Dockside, the major business is building salmon pens for the fish farms we have seen all around the coast. From seaward the town had not looked interesting, but once ashore we discover delightful vistas of sod-roofed houses, both old and new. A rather plain church reveals a gorgeously painted interior with ornate woodwork and models of sailing ships hanging from the ceiling. A small park commemorating drowned fishermen makes a big impression with its bronze statue of a sad-eyed lady, her arms around a young boy, gazing wistfully out to sea.

Terrie and I hike out of town up an increasingly steep mountainside that brings us out atop sheer 1,100ft cliffs next to the remains of a British gun emplacement from World War II. It’s a giddy feeling looking over the edge down

to the sea far below, with thousands of nesting seabirds tucked into crevices in the rock face.

To the east and west are astonishing vistas.

Once again I remark, “It simply can’t get more spectacular than this!” And indeed, it doesn’t.

This is to be the high point, both metaphorically and physically, of our cruise.

A moderately strong low-pressure system is predicted to kick up a gale southeast of Iceland in a couple of days. In the meantime, we continue to have light and variable winds.

The trick is to wait until we have enough wind to sail, but to make sure we are safely in a snug anchorage in the Shetlands before the gale hits. We decide to tarry one more day in the Faroes and as such potter over to Leirvik, just a few miles from Klaksvik and a good jumping off point for the Shetlands.

Leirvik has a large commercial harbour which is almost empty. We tie up at a dock alongside a fish processing plant. The town itself is not interesting but a short hike to the south affords us a final set of spectacular views up and down the coastline and over to the neighboring islands.

leaving the FaroeS Day Six: KlaKSviK Today we motor close inshore slowly along the northern coastline of Eysturoy and past Kalsoy, gazing up from sea level at the cliffs from which we looked down the day before. We turn to the south between the islands of Kalsoy and Kunoy, both of them long and skinny with 2,600ft backbones. There are patches of snow at higher elevations. The occasional small settlement is nestled at the foot of glacier-carved valleys.

No matter how many photos I take, as usually happens I simply cannot capture on camera the majesty of the scene.

Another favorable tide carries us down to Klaksvik, the second largest town in the Faroe Islands (population around 5,000), to a berth alongside an old wooden fishing vessel that has been converted to a sail training schooner for the seamanship classes at the local high school.

Klaksvik is not particularly interesting, but it has good supplies and enables us to get an internet connection with which to check the

The following morning we set sail in light winds, initially against a 3-knot adverse current which soon diminishes. We are making decent progress when the Faroese coast guard calls us.

The Danish warship we had seen in Vestmanna is carrying out gunnery exercises directly ahead of us. We are forced to divert dead to windward for a couple of hours before being allowed to ease the sheets for the Shetlands.

The wind gradually dies and moves astern.

We set the spinnaker before finally dropping that overnight and motorsailing the remaining miles to Scalloway. Evening finds us safely tied up alongside the Scalloway Boat Club pontoon.

The next day, July 2, the first gale of the season has Nada straining at her mooring lines. Our Faroe Islands weather window has closed. s Nigel Calder is the author of the Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual and many other books. He and his wife, Terrie, have cruised extensively on both sides of the Atlantic

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An autumn delivery voyage from north of Boston to Hampton, Virginia—what could possibly go wrong? by Peter Nielsen

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ever sail to a schedule if you can possibly avoid it. Thus speaks conventional wisdom, and it is not wrong when applied to conventional offshore cruising. The pressure of a timescale can lead to decisions that might, in retrospect, be considered rash. In the context of a delivery voyage, though, you have to bend the rules some, as long as you don’t knowingly put your boat and crew in harm’s way. There are precious few guarantees in sailing, and fair winds and benign seas are not among them. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and set sail—which is what we did in mid-October.

The mission was clear-cut: deliver our Norlin 34 project boat from Marblehead, Massachusetts, to Hampton, Virginia, in time for the start of SAIL’s Snowbird Rally down the ICW on October 23. It had seemed an easy enough proposition back in the early summer—hey, let’s take the boat south for the winter, find a slip somewhere warm—but as September drew to a close, so did the opportunities for a quick voyage south. An ugly nor’easter immediately followed by the will-it-or-won’t-it-hit-us meanderings of Hurricane Joaquin put paid to our original departure date of September 26, and commitments at the Annapolis boat show, closely followed by magazine production deadlines, meant the following weekend was out of the question too. If a calendar could tick, mine would have sounded like something out of Poe. Then, as such things sometimes do, it all came together. The long-term forecast for the week beginning Saturday, October 17 was for 10 to 15 knot winds from the north and northwest, ideal for a fast passage south, building to 20 knots before turning southwesterly off the Delmarva peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning. I plotted out two alternative passages, one from the western entrance of the Cape Cod Canal in Buzzards Bay direct to Hampton Roads, the other to Cape May, then up Delaware Bay and down the Chesapeake to Annapolis. Easy-peasy, right?

The first day’s run across Massachusetts Bay to the Cape Cod Canal certainly was easy enough. I had been joined by old shipmate Peter Cook (PC) and his friend Chet Bridgeman, and they relished the blustery northwesterly as Ostara, sheets eased, hit high 7s and 8s during her fastest passage yet to

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Above: Plan B, as outlined in the route I’d plugged into my iPad’s Navionics chart app, soon became Plan A. Left, from top: the sun sets as we leave the Cape Cod Canal; PC rose from the dead to pilot us up the Delaware; and sunshine at last as we arrive in Hampton

the canal. We hit the Sandwich entrance with a few hours of favorable tide left, and when we emerged onto Buzzards Bay at sunset our spirits were sky-high.

They did not remain so for long. Those who sail on Buzzards Bay will be smiling knowingly already. There followed a night as miserable as any I’ve known at sea. Darkness fell quickly and completely, leaving us to traverse the 25 miles of the bay in an inky blackness as the tide turned to the east and clashed with the strengthening northwesterly, which before long was blowing a solid 20 knots. The seas grew shorter and steeper, most passing harmlessly under the quarter, but the odd breaker slapped angrily against the topsides, sending showers of spray into the cockpit as the boat corkscrewed with each impact. Ostara’s IOR pedigree stands her in great stead when the wind is forward of the beam, but off the wind she can be a handful in these conditions. At the same time, the temperature dropped precipitously. Our breath J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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steamed as we shivered in the cockpit. (Later, I dug up the local forecast for that night: “Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. Northwest wind around 13mph, with gusts as high as 24mph.” ) Before long both my shipmates had offered up their dinners to Neptune, and I was contemplating the same. To compound our misery, we were taking so much water on deck that several hitherto undetected and inconveniently located leaks were revealing themselves, one right over the nav table, another above my bunk in the saloon. I am here to tell you there is nothing, absolutely nothing, as unpleasant as going below in wet clothing and crawling into cold, damp bedding. Three consolations: we were reaching so the angle of heel was (mostly) mild, it wasn’t raining and we were going fast.

And so it went. The wind (though not the sea state) moderated some the following day as we sailed down the coast of Long Island, enough to sail under full genoa and single-

reefed main in between intense gusts that moaned in the rigging to the accompaniment of despairing beeps from the autopilot’s offcourse alarm. That night the wind increased yet again, blowing a steady 20 knots and frequently gusting into the 30s. PC had by now lost his voice and signaled he was incapable of arising from his leeward bunk (“I’ve never been that sick before,” he said later). He had not eaten for nearly 24 hours; the greenish tinge had left his face to be replaced by a ghostly pallor, making him the very picture of misery. I was beginning to be concerned.

Monday morning’s forecast called for the wind to go into the southwest off the Delmarva peninsula late that night, when—if we kept up our present speed and course—we would still be some 50 miles from Hampton. A 10-hour beat into 16 to 20 knots of wind with a cold, wet and partly incapacitated crew would not be a good idea. After all, we were supposed to be having fun. None of us had slept for more than an hour or two at a stretch, and we’d hardly eaten since entering Buzzards Bay 30 hours earlier. It was time to wave the white flag and head for calmer waters.

We were just a few miles off Cape May as the sun rose on Monday morning, and we all perked up as we crept across the shoals close by the beach and headed in to Delaware Bay.

CRUISING PREPARATION A coastal/offshore cruise such as this one, most of it sailed between 10 and 50 miles from shore, requires a little more preparation and forethought than a less ambitious shore-hugging cruise.

Here’s what we did to get the boat ready.

At least the dull Delaware Bay gave us a chance to dry everything out

I won’t go into the tedious details of our slow passage up the bay—possibly the dullest stretch of water I have ever endured—much less the delay at Chesapeake City while we waited for TowBoat/US to pull us off a mudbank, or the tidal miscalculation followed by a torturous motorsail down the Chesapeake to Annapolis, where my stalwart, uncomplaining crew gratefully jumped ship and fled to their warm, dry beds.

Nor the ensuing 120-mile overnight grind down the Chesapeake into a headwind, the little Yanmar clamoring away for all but an hour of it while my new shipmate, Brian Flanagan, a veteran of SAIL’s 2014 Snowbird Rally, stoically addressed the never-ending AIS alerts as a procession of ships and barges overhauled us. Already plotting to convert my slab-reefing boom to single-line reefing, I added engine-bay soundproofing to my upgrade list, and rebedding sheet tracks and stanchion bases to the maintenance list.

There was a sense of anticlimax to our arrival in Hampton, around noon on Thursday, the day before the rally start. In five days the little boat had covered 570 miles under sail and engine—more of the latter than I’d planned—and endured some pretty rough weather, with no more damage than a missing batten, shaken out of the main during a midnight squall, and some damp upholstery. It had been a good shakedown for the boat, but more of a beatdown for the crew. The trip north in the spring will be a different story ... no schedule, for one thing. s

Engine: I changed the engine oil and alternator belt, lubricated everything that needed it, and gave the installation a thorough cleaning followed by an affectionate squirt of WD40. I was confident in the little Yanmar 2GM20F’s integrity; I had replaced the exhaust elbow in 2014, and earlier this year I had changed out all the hoses, as they were becoming soft, a sign that they were past their prime. The water pump had been overhauled and I’d swapped out the air filter.

The spares inventory included alternator and water-pump belts and three each of primary and secondary filters. Three quarts of diesel oil, one of transmission oil and a couple of gallons of premixed antifreeze rounded out the engine spares. The only thing that gave me trouble was the raw-water cooling pump’s drive belt, which I had neglected to change and which, of course, failed.

Sails and Rig: We were single- or double-reefed for most of the 300 miles between the western end of the Cape Cod Canal and Cape May. We carry an ATN Gale Sail for a storm jib and that reposed under the V-berth along with the spinnaker, which is set on a furler and tacked to an extending sprit. We also have a trysail, not that I would ever carry that on a coastal voyage. In 35,000 miles I’ve never run into weather a triple-reefed main couldn’t deal with. Before leaving, I took down the genoa and checked the stitching. I did not go up the mast but inspected it though binoculars.

AIS: The boat has had AIS for several years, but this year I replaced the separate pole-mounted antenna with a Vesper Marine antenna splitter hooked up to the masthead VHF antenna. This gives us much greater range. I also installed a new ACR AISLink Class B transceiver, which I hooked up to the Vesper Watchmate display at the helm. This combo proved invaluable in judging the movements of shipping along the route, especially overnight down the Chesapeake Bay. For me, it reaffirmed AIS as an essential safety aid. Given the choice, I’ll never cruise without it.

Communications: There is a fixed Standard Horizon DSC VHF radio at the nav station, with a remote mic in the cockpit, something I consider essential for shorthanded sailing. We also carry a handheld VHF, and there were three cellphones between the crew. No satphone, as we wouldn’t be out of VHF range for very long. For the next offshore voyage I’ll add an SSB receiver.

Autopilot: Last summer I installed a new Raymarine EV-100 Wheelpilot, which proved reliable and extremely efficient. I did not expect it to cope as well as it did with big quartering seas, which the boat hates, thanks to its IOR heritage.

Bilge Pumps: Ostara has always had three bilge pumps, one electric and two manual Whale pumps, and I installed a backup electric pump before this trip. If I were venturing farther offshore I would not hesitate to invest in one of the big gallon-a-stroke manual pumps from Edson or Whale.

We also carry several buckets…

Safety Gear: A liferaft was an unnecessary expense for a voyage along such a heavily trafficked coastline, never more than 40 miles from land. I carry a powerful electric pump on a long lead to inflate the dinghy, and in the event of power failure three scared guys would have that Avon ready to burst in no time. In a rare fit of responsibility I had rented an EPIRB from Boat/US, but sent it back when we initially postponed the trip. Instead, I purchased a PLB, figuring its limited transmit time would be more than adequate for these waters. I checked the fire extinguishers and flares.

We carry a Lifesling and a throwable inflatable lifebuoy clipped to the sternrail. For MOB retrieval, I use a tackle hoisted on the main halyard and led aft to a primary winch. Webbing jacklines were rigged from go to whoa, and each of us had an inflatable lifejacket/harness combo and tether, which were worn after dark and during the day as conditions dictated.

Navigation: I borrowed paper charts for the New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland coasts from SAIL’s cruising editor, Charlie Doane. The Standard Horizon CP190 chartplotter at the helm carried a C-Map chip, and I had downloaded all the relevant charts via the Navionics app on my iPad, which gleans its GPS signal via Bluetooth from a Dual XGPS150 GPS antenna.

As a last line of electronic defense we had a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 78 loaded with Garmin’s own Bluechart charts.

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Lifesavers When you’re thinking about a liferaft, imagine the unimaginable by Chip Lawson reflective tape on canopy shows up in searchlights

wide entrance with sturdy closure

tough inflatable frames hold canopy up

OCEAN LIFERAFT: A raft intended to last days or weeks on the open ocean needs to be strongly constructed, highly visible and easy to board

handholds are essential ballast bags fill with water to prevent raft from capsizing J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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boarding ladder must be strong and easy to use

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suspect most sailors don’t really think much about liferafts, until the time comes when they are about to step up into one from the deck of their sinking boat. At that moment, there is no more interesting topic on this earth. Did I get the right type of raft? Is it big enough? What is packed inside? Too late.

What you see is all you’ve got.

When it comes to abandon-ship situations, the typical sailor’s thoughts run somewhere along the lines of “that will never happen to me,” or “I never sail very far offshore, so I don’t need a raft.” And frankly, both of those statements are almost always true. Liferaft deployments and rescues are indeed rare. But ask yourself, how much risk you are willing to accept and how lucky do you feel? I for one don’t trust my luck, and I’ve decided to purchase a liferaft ahead of setting sail on an upcoming ocean voyage I’m planning. That decision led to lots of research and discussions with seven different raft manufacturers in an effort to understand the choices I need to make.

HOW TO CHOOSE A LIFERAFT Liferafts are expensive. Trying to select one at a boat show or online can easily push the worst-case scenario to the back of your mind and potentially cloud your judgment. If you ponder the questions I asked myself, many decisions regarding the best raft for your sailing plans will become apparent.

Photo courtesy of Survitec Group AuStrAliA (far left)

COASTAL LIFERAFT: Close to land you will probably only be in a liferaft for a few hours or a day at the most, so coastal rafts are more lightly built

How long until rescue? The longer the anticipated time until rescue, the more substantial the raft should be, since it will have to include the capacity for all the supplies you need to pack into it. Time to rescue is affected by how far you sail from land (can a helicopter reach you?); how far you sail from normal shipping lanes (determines how long it takes for a diverted vessel to reach you); and the emergency communications and location equipment you carry, like an EPIRB, PLB, SPOT, Sat Phone, InReach or other emergency transmitter.

It’s difficult to accurately calculate how long you might be in a raft, but taking a worst-case scenario approach is best.

What is the water temperature? Hypothermia is a problem even if you are inside a raft and are not immersed directly in cold water. Sitting in a liferaft with an uninsulated single layer floor will quickly lower your body temperature, especially if you are wet. An insulated floor dramatically reduces the speed of hyperthermia onset.

What is the size of the crew? All rafts are rated by crew size; four-man, six-man, eightman, etc. You will probably sail with a set crew size most of the time. But on occasion you may sail with a slightly larger crew, especially on longer offshore passages. Once again, consider the worst case when determining crew size.

Where will you store the raft? While some newer boats have a dedicated raft stowage built into the hull or deck, most production

SERVICING Liferaft inspections should be performed at the manufacturer’s recommended service intervals. All manufacturers I spoke with have a three-year interval for the service and require that the service be performed by either a factory-owned service center or a factory-certified service center. All manufacturers list their worldwide network service centers on their websites.

During servicing, the raft case is opened and the raft is inflated, visually inspected, and pressure-tested for a period of time to detect leaks. The survival kit is removed and all expired consumables, like batteries and flares and some survival food, are replaced. After testing, the raft and survival kit are repacked and then vacuum-sealed in a new Mylar bag to remove air and moisture, and to compress the raft to fit inside its valise or canister.

Many manufacturers encourage owners to attend the servicing and repacking as an educational experience. This most likely is the only time you will ever see what is actually in the survival kit packed with the raft. Some manufacturers allow you to include a few additional articles of your choosing within the kit, such as an extra knife, water or small tools.

The inspection and repacking process generally takes between 4 to 8 hours depending on the size of the raft, the age of the raft and any repairs that might be necessary. You should plan on spending around $825 to $1,200 for the inspection, replenishing, repair and repacking every three years.

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Liferaft stowage is an issue with many monohulls

A valise can be stowed below decks until needed

This raft is protected in a watertight container Cats can have their rafts stowed on the tramp

The triggering mechanism must be failsafe

boats do not. Finding a storage location can be challenging, particularly when you try to balance the need to keep the raft accessible and yet out of the way.

What countries will you visit? A raft should be serviced approximately every three years.

Shipping a raft can be problematic and expensive, since the CO2 canisters used to inflate it are considered hazardous materials. Ideally you want to be close to a raft manufacturer’s factory or certified service center when servicing time rolls around, so you can deliver the raft in person or using ground transportation.

Are you racing or taking part in a rally?

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This raft has a hydrostatic release

ing rallies have specific requirements for rafts and their required certifications or standards.

The most common are: ISO 9560—Type 1, ISO 9560—Type 2, SOLAS and International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Life Raft specifications. If you think you might join a race or rally, check with the organizers and find out what they require.

LIFERAFT CLASSIFICATIONS AND FEATURES Rafts are essentially classified according to their intended use. In general there are two distinct classifications: “Offshore” and “Coastal.” A typical offshore raft is considerably more expensive than a coastal raft, and is designed to protect and sustain the occupants in rough,

Dedicated liferaft stowage is a plus

stormy weather and colder water for more than 24 hours. An offshore raft normally has the following features: • At least two separate flotation chambers • Insulated floors (two inflatable layers or with an insulating material) • An inflatable canopy covering the entire raft • Large ballast bags suspended below the raft to stabilize it in high winds or waves • A boarding platform to make the raft easier to enter from the water • A substantial survival kit to support the rated number of occupants with food and water for more than 24 hours • An automatically deployed drogue or sea anchor.

a coastal liferaft with its emergency kit on display Raft makers put a lot of thought into the boarding ladder

is that you need to find a secure spot on deck for it while you are sailing, and that spot needs to be protected so no one steps on the container or damages it in any way. A larger offshore raft for six people can easily weigh 100lb or more, so moving it in and out of a locker is no laughing matter.

Ultimately, the choice between a valise or canister will be determined by where you can find space to mount the raft. If the layout of your cockpit and deck requires that a raft be mounted forward on your cabintop or even foredeck, then a canister is your best bet. If you can find an out-of-the-way place in your cockpit or transom where a valise can be lashed down, then that is probably the best solution.

time to make youR ChoiCes

the insulated double floor is visible on this offshore raft

A typical coastal raft is designed to protect and sustain the occupants in inshore and warmer waters for up to 24 hours. A coastal raft has the following features: • Often just one flotation chamber • A single-layer uninsulated floor • A partial inflatable canopy covering the raft • Fewer or smaller ballast bags • A boarding ladder made from webbing to assist entry into the raft • A small survival kit to support the rated number of occupants with some food and water for approximately 24 hours A manually deployed sea anchor Note: Specifications vary by manufacturer. These feature lists are simply a guide to “typical” raft features. Consult with the manufacturer or their website to get exact raft specifications.

Raft CapaCity One thing I discussed with all the raft manufacturers involved the rated capacity. At one time ISAF standards called for approximately 4ft² of floor space for each occupant. However, imagine sitting in a 2ft-by-2ft space for any

flop onto this ramp and haul yourself aboard

length of time. Uncomfortable is an understatement. All manufacturers recommended that you purchase a raft that at a minimum is rated to hold twice the number of people you expect to be carrying. If your max crew is three, then a six-person raft is the minimum.

CanisteR oR Valise ContaineR Much to my surprise, this is one area where manufacturers differed. I always thought a hard canister would be the best choice for storing a raft, because it provides better protection. This is mostly true, which is why some manufacturers recommend canisters. But a raft canister needs to be permanently mounted in an on-deck cradle, so it is always exposed to the elements. All fiberglass raft canisters have holes in them to allow water to drain out because, like most everything on a boat, water inevitably finds its way in.

A raft packed in a valise container can be stored belowdecks or in a cockpit locker when not sailing (probably 90 percent of the time) so it is protected from UV rays, heat and moisture. The drawback to a valise container

Coastal or Offshore Raft: If you answered the questions above honestly, your choices should seem clear. If you are traveling far offshore, out of normal shipping lanes or in cold water, then an offshore raft is the correct selection.

In addition, if you plan to participate in an offshore race or cruising rally, the organizers of that event will require you to have a raft with a specific ISO, IASF or SOLAS certification.

If you are only cruising along the coast, never venturing more than 25 to 50 miles offshore, and sail in warmer waters, a coastal raft is a suitable solution.

Raft capacity: Take the largest number of crew you expect to have on any offshore or coastal passage and double it, and that is the minimum raft capacity you need.

Canister or Valise: Your boat layout dictates this choice in most cases. Ideally you want the raft as close to the cockpit as possible to make getting to it easy and safe in rough weather.

Once you have made those decisions, you need to choose a raft manufacturer. I can honestly say that I have looked at rafts from all of the manufacturers and have spoken with them at length. They all have excellent products and well-developed service and support networks and are extremely knowledgeable. I would feel safe with a raft from any of them. The ultimate choice may come down to who has authorized service and repacking centers in the countries and locations you are planning to visit.

Here’s hoping you never see an inflated liferaft. s Chip Lawson, a sailmaker based in Dallas, Texas, is preparing his Pearson 40 for bluewater voyaging

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ON DECK SEAMANSHIP Whether you’re going to encounter gale winds or the dulldrums, high seas or heavy winds, having an accurate weather forecast is key for comfortable cruising

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Photo courtesy of Kurt Arrigo/rolex

Tune in next month for Part II of Donald McLennan’s guide to weather routing

Weather Routing 101 Tools for weather forecasting

by Donald McLennan

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n planning for the upcoming 2016 Pacific Cup—a race that takes sailors from San Francisco to Oahu, Hawaii—I was interested in tools for predicting the optimal route. Depending on the location of the Pacific high-pressure system and El Niño, sailing the rhumb line may not be the fastest course. The old rule of thumb is to sail with the trade winds and then head toward Hawaii. This is an oversimplification of a challenging navigation problem. With laptop computers and tablets, you have sophisticated tools to plan an optimal course. Proper routing can save hours, if not days, on long-distance passages and—more importantly—adds to the safety or comfort of the trip.

WEATHER FORECASTING MODELS The key component of weather routing is the forecast data, which is available from several sources, including the National Weather Service (NWS), NOAA’s Global Forecast System (GFS) and the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). The NWS runs the GFS weather forecast computer model four times a day (at 0000, 0600, 1200 and 1800 hours Coordinated Universal Time) and has up to 15 days of forecast data available. The smallest data grid resolution is 0.25 degrees with options for 0.5, 1.0 and 2.5 degrees. The forecast includes wind speed and direction at 10 meters above sea level, mean sea level pressure, significant wave height, mean wave direction, temperature, precipitation, cloud cover and other information. GFS data is the most widely used source for weather forecasts and is commonly delivered via GRIB (Gridded Binary) files.

PredictWind is a commercial service that, in addition to providing GFS and CMC forecasts, offers two proprietary weather models (PWG and PWC) based on GFS and CMC data. For coastal areas worldwide the company also combines local observations to provide high-resolution GRIB files at 8km and 1km resolution. PredictWind’s free subscription provides worldwide coverage at 50km (1 degree) resolution, with higher resolution data available as a paid subscription.

GFS GRIB files are available directly from NOAA and the NWS, and can be downloaded from their FTP site or by sending an email request, though navigating the NWS’s website and folder structure seems overly complicated. There are several easier options for obtaining GRIB files.

SailDocs (saildocs.com) is an on-demand GRIB retrieval service first developed for requesting weather data over high-frequency radio. Requests are sent by emailing the website with the requested parameters coded in the body of the email. The parameter fields include coverage area, grid resolution (degrees), valid times (hours) and specific weather data elements. SailDocs is very easy to use and is well suited for limited bandwidth connections. Additionally, SailDocs offers a recurring subscription, so the GRIB files can be automatically delivered to your email address.

Global Marine Networks or GMN (globalmarinenet.com) also offers seven-day wind forecasts, available for download or via email, optimized for low-bandwidth connections. To request a GRIB file, send an email to gmngrib@globalmarinenet.com with the request key as the subject line.

GMN is now included in Iridium XGate Satellite Data Service.

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PredictWind Offshore App (predictwind.com) for Windows, Mac OS X, iOs and the Android operating systems is a convenient way to download offshore GFS, CMC, PWG and PWC GRIB files for up to 14 days, high-resolution PWG and PWC GRIB files, GMDSS forecasts, satellite imagery, and optimized weather routes. The downloaded GRIB files can be opened and viewed in various ways. Later this year, the Offshore App will include a GRIB viewer.

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Stand-alone GRIB PRoGRamS There are many stand-alone GRIB programs available. In particular, on the desktop computer, zyGrib (zygrib.org) for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X is a very easy-to-use GRIB downloader, viewer and weather visualization program. The zyGrib program combines NOAA GFS forecasts for up to 10 days in three-hour increments at 0.25-degree resolution. The program also supports high-resolution Numerical Mesoscales Model (NMM) forecasts for up to three days in one-hour increments and global wave data from Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC). The desktop application forms the request with the selected region and data elements, and beautifully animates this data on your desktop.

Another easy-to-use download service and program is UGRIB (grib.us) for Windows. UGRIB supports the download of GRIB data for seven days, at 0.5- or 1.0-degree resolution, and includes wind, rain and air pressure.

On the iPad, Weather4D is a stunning app for downloading and visualizing forecasts for up to 10 days in three hour steps at 0.25-degree resolution. You can also request and import GRIB files from SailDocs.

The Pro version has a weather-routing feature.

There are many other programs available to download GRIB files, though these are the most popular.

Boat PeRfoRmance data

Toll-Free: 1.844.328.7771

To calculate the optimized route, you need your boat’s performance data, typically polars, which are a graphical representation of the target boatspeed at different true wind speeds and true wind angles. Polars are often available from your boat’s designer, US Sailing or, if you are lucky, they may be included with your navigation and routing program. Since polars are theoretical speeds based on wind conditions, they may not accurately represent your true boatspeed in real-world conditions.

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© Copyright Dream Yacht Charter 2016

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Photo courtesy of saildocs.com

Yacht Ownership Made Simple. Own a luxury yacht on your terms.

PredictWind provides GFS and CMC forecasts, in addition to offering two proprietary weather models (PWG and PWC) based on GFS and CMC data

Photos courtesy of predictwind

There is no standard for representing polar data among the various programs. Several programs read a TWA\TWS CSV format. Wind speeds are specified as columns, rows are the wind angles, and the boatspeed is in the cells.

Other programs read a polar file with windangle and boatspeed pairs specified for each wind speed. Using a designer’s polar diagram, you can create a spreadsheet and save the data in a CSV format or text file as required. There are also programs to graphically draw your boat’s polars or estimate your polars, based on displacement, length and other parameters.

MY OBSERVATIONS Weather-routing tools can provide valuable information for the fastest or safest route and options to avoid bad weather. These tools are available on all computers and tablets, and for a variety of operating systems, such as Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android, with most tools freely available. All of the programs I tested worked essentially the same and gave surpris-

ingly similar results. The choice of one program over the others comes down to whether you are using a Windows PC ort Mac computer, or an iOS or Android tablet, and your method for downloading data (either email attachment or GRIB file download), SSB or Iridium Satphone.

Each provider offers the GFS and CMC forecasts with varying levels of resolution and selected weather elements. The size of the downloaded file is proportional to these factors. I prefer GRIB download programs that allow setting these values (e.g., SailDocs, zyGrib).

For any of the programs, there is a learning curve to climb to automate weather routing.

You need to understand the weather forecast models, the boat’s performance data and the isochrone routing model. Each program has its own way of managing routes and setting up the optimization. The optimized results are totally dependent on the quality of the data in the underlying GRIB file.

Many of the programs aim to be an all-inone navigation and planning package, and include tools for managing GRIB files, weather routing and real-time monitoring of the boat’s instruments. This provides a single program to learn how to use.

The most commonly used model is to request a GRIB file from SailDocs is the most commonly used model. Nobeltec, Weather4D, zyGrib, UGRIB and PredictWind also supply forecast data and have built-in support for downloading GRIB files.

As with any navigation program, you need to be careful which time-zone you are working in. Many of the programs allow for selecting a time-zone, while others assume GMT. Once you have the optimized route, it is helpful to load the route into a chartplotter or a computer with a navigation program to track your progress.

All of the programs export the route to a GPX or KML file. A key feature is to be able to rerun the optimization with a new GRIB file, using the boat’s current position and current time. s Application architect, software developer and sailor Donald McLennan reviews apps for SAIL while cruising the waters of Southern California aboard his Tartan 3500 with his wife, Laura, and daughters, Alexandra and Elizabeth

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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BOAT WORKS KNOW HOW

1 Melted or burned plastic means trouble

Power Play How to avoid shore-power problems by Tom Hale

C

old, wet and tired, we had finally arrived in Charleston in late November, five weeks after leaving the Chesapeake. The ebb current in the Ashley River was running against the building easterly wind, and the harbor was a seething mass of waves and whitecaps. We were lucky to get a slip at all without a reservation this time of year. The marina asked if a 50-amp receptacle would be okay—it was all they had available and we were in no position to turn it down. Besides, we had a 50-amp adapter onboard.

We pulled into our assigned slip, took the adapter to the power pedestal, flipped open the receptacle lid and were greeted by a power receptacle that had clearly suffered from heat damage (Photo 1). There was a moment of panic as we contemplated a cold, rainy night without power.

Despite assurances from the dock hand that the receptacle had been fixed, I was not going to hook up to that pedestal. There was a 30-amp outlet available at a nearby slip, so we plugged in there. Crisis averted, at least for one night.

Granted, the damage suffered by the power receptacle in question was excessive, but it shows why you must inspect every receptacle you plug into. Have you ever plugged into an outlet where one of the receptacle’s blade sockets is scorched brown and partly melted? Have you noticed J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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burned or melted plastic on your cord end?

(Photo 2). These are all signs of trouble. A damaged cord is inevitable, and a fire is possible.

Shore-power cords have been fingered as the cause of a number of marina fires. Such fires often occur in winter when heating requirements put substantial loads on electrical systems. As current is drawn through the cord connectors it meets resistance. If all connections and contacts are clean and tight, the resistance is hardly measurable and not noticeable. If, however, contacts are not tight or if connections are corroded, the circuit will have resistance, and this will create heat. This burns and melts the plastic and loosens the contact screws. If it goes unnoticed, the heat will build up until the outlet smolders and may burst into flame.

RESISTANCE IS THE ENEMY Such fires may occur in winter, but the damage begins in the summer. Have you ever dropped your cord end in the water? It happens more often that we care to admit.

We shake the water off and plug it in anyway.

The residual saltwater around the blades is transferred to the power post receptacle. As the water dries out, salt crystals remain. These cause corrosion (Photo 3). Corrosion is like friction in the electrical circuit. It causes

resistance, resistance creates heat, and the corroded connector heats up.

Have you ever connected or disconnected your power cord without turning off the power at the breaker? If so, each time you do this you draw an arc which burns a spot on both the receptacle and blade. Arcing burns are not conductive and also cause resistance, and therefore heat, in the connection. The heating and cooling can loosen the screws holding the wires in the dock receptacle. Loose wires mean poor connections, high-resistance connections and more heat.

Over time corrosion and arcing slowly but surely degrade the electrical contacts. Your first indication of something going on a cord end that feels warm to the touch. If the connections are clean, the end of the cord will run at the ambient temperature of the surrounding material. An infrared thermometer is the best tool to monitor the connection (you can buy one of these online for as little as $20). As time goes by the corrosion gets worse, and the resistance in the cord end climbs to the point that the receptacle is overheated and damaged.

The corrosion-resistance-heat-damage cycle is like an infectious disease. A corroded and damaged cord is plugged into a power post. It overheats and damages the receptacle. Over time, as boats come and go, several corroded cord plugs will be connected to the receptacle.

Eventually the receptacle itself is damaged. You plug in to the receptacle and the resistance in the receptacle causes heat that is transferred to your cord and damages your plug. Your damaged plug goes to another receptacle, and the disease is passed along.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOM HALE

This power receptacle is obviously heat-damaged

2

3 Corrosion leads to resistance, which creates heat

5

4 Scorch marks on the boat receptacle are bad news

6A

6B

SHOREPOWER CORD 101 At the dock: Always turn off the power before connecting or disconnecting your cord.

Inspect dockside power receptacles for damage before you plug in.

Make sure you tighten the cord’s locking rings; this helps keep water out

An infrared thermometer can diagnose poor connections and resistance in the circuit

THE OTHER END OF THE CORD

If any part of the blade socket or contact socket looks burned or melted, talk to the marina about using a different pedestal. Always spray a receptacle with CR6-56 before you plug in to drive out moisture and fight corrosion on the receptacle and on your cord end.

When you use an adapter at a power pedestal, use the connector ring and lock the cable to the adapter so you don’t leave a gap. The gap allows water to get into the connection once more allowing corrosion to get started in your power circuit (Photo 5).

Check the temperature of your cord ends when you are drawing heavy loads, for instance, if you have a water heater and an air conditioner or a heater running. If the electrical connection is 2 degrees above ambient temperature, all is well. If the temperature is more than 10 degreees above ambient, a problem has started. If it is 20 degrees above ambient it is time to act. (Photos 6A & 6B). s

We have been discussing damage to the dock end of your power cord. The scenario is much worse when the corrosion gets started on the boat end of the cord. In this case the damage is completely self-inflicted. Unlike the dock receptacle, boat inlets are exposed to weather and spray. When you take the power cord off to go for a sail, do you close and secure the cap on the hull inlet? Power cords come with locking rings which many of us either don’t use or remove because they are “in the way.” A significant cause of corrosion is failure to use a locking ring on the hull inlet. Whereas a damaged power post may destroy the shore end of your cord, when the failure is on the boat end, the heat, smoke and fire are inside your boat (Photo 4).

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? When you get ready to plug into a power pedestal, be sure to switch the breakers off at the shore power post and at your boat’s AC panel. Then look at the shore power pedestal.

Tom Hale is a former technical VP for the ABYC, and a co-leader of SAIL’s ICW Snowbird Rally

If the cord end falls into the water, wash it with freshwater, dry it and then spray it with a water-dispersing spray such as CRC 6-56.

Spray corrosion-blocking spray into the blade sockets every time you plug into a new power post.

A broken collar allows water to enter the electrical inlet

At the boat: Use dielectric grease on the hull inlet blades.

Always use the locking ring at the hull inlet and on any adapter fitting.

Always screw the hull inlet cover tight when the cord is unplugged from the boat.

Check the temperature of the cord ends several times a year.

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

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BOAT WORKS SKETCHBOOK

Stern Anchoring

by Dick Everitt A

3 or 4 boatlengths

Stern anchors, or kedges, are used to moor bow-to the shore. Drop the anchor three or four boatlengths out and then gently motor in using the stern line as a brake. If you run out of line, try accelerating and dragging the anchor slightly. Step ashore and make the bow fast with a couple of lines. Tension the stern line. To stop your boat from blowing sideways, tie a line from the other quarter and rolling hitch this to the anchor cable, so that they form a bridle.

A

B Ideally, some form of fairlead is needed at the stern to reduce wear and help the anchor cable to pay out smoothly. Some boats stow the kedge cable on a drum, because an amazing amount of line can be stowed in a quite a small space. It should pay out and be retrieved easily, which is handy if you are using the kedge in an emergency situation. Protect the line from sunlight damage with a cover secured by Velcro. Some people don’t use any chain.

B C

C On many boats the line is just flaked down into a big box or onto the cockpit sole. Mind your feet on release.

D E

D On this boat the chain is lowered into a strong bucket hanging on the quarter. The kedge is then hung on the rail. When the kedge is let go, the chain chafe is taken by the edge of the bucket, and the line then snakes out after it.

F

E

G

Some people simply hang the chain over the stern.

F This system has been refined into a special box that fits snugly over a stern fairlead.

H I

G A strong, fold-down, self-stowing anchor roller at the stern combined with a cable locker is a neat idea.

L K J

H Some skippers use a very strong tape wound onto a reel to pay out the anchor rode.

J&K A mooring ring or chain prevents damage to trees.

L Some no-anchoring signs can be hard to see.

In some places, it is common practice to swim or ferry the kedge cable or stern lines ashore and secure them to trees.

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Dick Everitt has sailed thousands of miles in various parts of the world. He has been an illustrator, journalist and engineer for more than 40 years

ILLUSTRATIONS BY DICKEVERITT.COM

I When attaching lines ashore, look out for any cut lines that may have been left behind. These can indicate a very hurried exit that may, in turn, have been caused by poor anchor holding off shore.

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BOAT WORKS TIPS THAT WORK

Got your own tips? Send them to us at sailmail@sailmagazine.com

A few simple tools and some patience are all you need

Use a utility knife to cut the old plastic back

Once the lines have been stripped soak them in Ospho rust treatment

The finished prodouct—clean and shiny lifelines

New Life for Old Lifelines

N

othing makes a boat look more tired than cracked and yellowed lifelines. But replacing them can cost thousands of dollars. Here’s another option. All you need are a few afternoons, a utility knife, needle-nose pliers, a plastic storage container with latching lid, a gallon of Ospho rust treatment, plastic gloves, wire ties and a toothbrush.

Strip Safely & Slowly: Use a sharp utility knife and pliers to cut and peel back the old plastic. This task takes hand strength and concentration. It’s a 10ft-a-day, 3in-at-a-time battle. You’ll know when it’s time to take a break. If you start to slip, you’re done for the day!

Soak in Batches: Once all the lifelines are stripped, set up your etching container. Lifelines are not identical port and starboard, and many are very similar in length, so remove them in an organized way. Depending on lengths, coil one or two in the plastic container and secure them with wire J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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ties to stay fully immersed. Keep the container covered when possible. Soak in Ospho rust treatment, occasionally brushing any heavily rusted sections.

Oooh-Ahhh: After a few hours of soaking your stainless wire, pelican hooks and toggles should look like new. But take it easy on the fittings, which can be over-etched. Be sure to rinse with plenty of freshwater before inspecting carefully and assuring wire and connection integrity, then re-install.

Last step: Kick back with a beer and admire your work—now that the razor blades are stowed! s Mark and Diana Doyle are leaders of the SAIL Magazine Snowbird Rally and publish cruising and anchoring guides for the Intracoastal Waterway, which can be found at onthewaterghartguides.org

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARK & DIANA DOYLE

How to take years of wear off your lifelines by Mark & Diana Doyle

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BOAT WORKS ASK SAIL

BRIAN HANCOCK IS A SAILMAKER, WHITBREAD RACE VETERAN AND CREATOR OF ALLABOUTSAILS.COM

NIGEL CALDER IS AN AUTHOR AND EXPERT ON BOAT SYSTEMS AND DIESEL ENGINES

DON CASEY HAS WRITTEN MANY BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON MARINE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS

GORDON WEST IS AN ELECTRONICS EXPERT WHO SPECIALIZES IN RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

Weather Helm and Wire-color Woes August, and the zincs were already gone. I relaunched with new zincs and by October those were 40 percent gone. The keel was perfect.

Coincidentally, three other sailboats in the marina (two adjacent to me and one on a different dock) also had no zincs left when hauled in October. I have a galvanic isolator and seldom use shore power. What are the probable causes?

Drop the traveller in gusts to maintain control while retaining good sail shape

TOO MUCH WEATHER HELM Q: When the breeze builds above 16 or 17 knots my 31-footer gets hard to handle and has significant weather helm. The autopilot does not like breezes above 10 knots. Recently it was brought to my attention that the boat has an offset backstay and this could be contributing to the problem. The dealer says it’s just a matter of sail trim and that the backstay has no effect.

Do I need sailing lessons or a new boat?

Mark Otis, Janesville, WI

BRIAN HANCOCK REPLIES: The offset backstay will have little or no effect on your helm. It does skew the tip of the mast slightly in one direction, but if you are experiencing weather helm on both tacks then it’s not the backstay and is instead a matter of sail trim. As soon as a puff hits you should drop the main traveler. You want to keep the back end of the main working, so easing the traveler rather than the mainsheet is the way to go. If you don’t have a traveler, make sure that you have good vang tension so that the leech stays quite straight without a lot of twist.

J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

56

Don’t forget that because of the wedge shape of a monohull, the boat tends to head up as soon as it heels. The more it heels, the more weather helm you have. I like to say that it’s the mainsail trimmer who is really steering the boat when sailing upwind. A good trimmer picks up and eases the traveler with each change in wind speed, making it hardly necessary for the helmsman to move the wheel at all.

DISAPPEARING ZINCS Q: The prop shaft zincs on my Cal 33, which I keep in a marina on Long Island Sound, have been disappearing rapidly for a number of years. Prior to 2013, when the boat was hauled the lead keel exhibited numerous round “pops” where epoxy and bottom paint had lifted off and whitish corrosion appeared. Repeated reapplication of epoxy did not help. The zincs were usually nearly gone by October. In the spring of 2013 I broke the connection between the keel/mast/rigging bonding and the bonding for the engine/prop shaft. That fall, the keel was fine (no more “popping”), but the zincs had disappeared. In 2014, I hauled the boat in late

NIGEL CALDER REPLIES: The blistering paint can be symptomatic of what is called “cathodic disbondment,” which can result from too much galvanic protection (i.e., too much sacrificial anode relative to the metal area being protected), but I doubt this in your case. Stray current corrosion can generate much higher currents in the water than any galvanic current, and stray current is agnostic with respect to metal composition. Whatever metal is discharging the current into the water gets corroded regardless of its composition. Stray current can emanate from your boat or from outside it. It’s possible the zincs and keel have been in such a circuit, and when you disconnected the bonding wire to the keel you took the keel out of the circuit.

The fact that the neighboring boats are having a similar problem suggests that the stray current is not coming from your boat, but from some other source, and your boat, and the other boats, happen to be in the path to ground. If you have bonded your underwater metal, your bonding wire is the lowest resistance path in this part of the circuit. The stray current will enter through one underwater fitting, which will not corrode, pass through the wire, and exit through another underwater fitting, which will corrode—for instance, your keel, before it was taken out of the circuit, and your zincs.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DUFOUR (LEFT); OF GORDON WEST (FACING PAGE)

Elizabeth Wagner, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com

Got a question for our experts? Send it to sailmail@sailmagazine.com

Depending on the age and construction of your galvanic isolator, it may not be providing much protection when you are plugged in.

Many older galvanic isolators do not incorporate a capacitor (a round cylinder, typically about 4in or 5in long), and as a result are easily “biased” into conduction, at which point they are effectively useless. You should check the isolator to see that it complies with recent ABYC standards. Even if it doesn’t, given that you rarely plug in I doubt this is your problem.

I would go on a stray current hunt.

DON CASEY REPLIES: I am a confirmed skeptic when it comes to “paint-on performanceenhancing” coatings. I have no direct experience with Sea-Slide, but I can only urge caution. I do note the company’s literature reports no reduction in drag at 3 knots, suggesting

there’s little if any “enhancing” of light-air performance. As for removing the bottom paint, the manufacturer of Sea-Slide does not recommend that. It does not claim that this coating will reduce fouling, only that “waterline organic growth may be sponged off.” Stick with the VC17 and the CSC for repelling critters. s

NMEA 0183 wiring is confusing

16” 3-blade

TRUE COLORS Q: The electronics at my nav station rely on the old NMEA 0183 protocol for sharing data. I can’t seem to find my original wire-color codes for NMEA 0183. Can you help?

W. Alber, San Francisco, CA

GORDON WEST REPLIES: Try these: WHITE = Talker A BROWN= Talker B YELLOW = Listener A GREEN = Listener B BLACK = HS – C BARE = Ground If you have further questions or problems, your best bet is to go direct to Steve Spitzer through the NMEA.org website. If you’re making new installations, NMEA 2000 will greatly simplify adding and subtracting equipment.

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ANTIFOULING ISSUES Q: My boat is on a freshwater lake four months of the year and on the hard in a cold winter climate the rest of the time. I have VC17 on the bottom. My friend’s boat has Micron CSC. Is it a good idea to roll Sea-Slide on over the VC17 and the Micron CSC, or should the VC17 be removed first? Should the Micron be removed first? Also, if Sea-Slide does prevent adhesion of algae, slime, zebra mussels, etc., in freshwater, why not just cover the bottom with Sea-Slide instead of putting on any antifouling?

Morris Yachts M46

Bernard Toews, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com

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SAIL CHARTER NEWS AWAY Team Merlin pushes hard to windward at the 2015 BVI Spring Regatta

Hot Spot

Regatta Time in the BVI

Photo courtesy of Todd VanSickle, BVi Spring regaTTa

T

here’s no bad time to charter in the British Virgin Islands. You’ll get your dose of sun, sea and breeze whatever time of year you visit. To me, though, the BVI are at their best around the end of March—just about when the Northeast, where I live, is emerging yawning and stretching from its blanket of winter snow. There is nothing that gets you in the mood for a new season’s sailing at home more than taking part in the BVI Spring Regatta.

The BVISR isn’t just for high-ticket raceboats crewed by pros and semi-pros, though there are plenty of those around. It also has a thriving bareboat class, where everyday sailors can charter a boat for a week and indulge in some warm-weather racing around the islands.

Bareboat racing can be as serious as you want it to be, or as relaxed.

The serious guys pack light, run the boats with empty water tanks and scrub the bejasus out of the boat’s bottom. Under class rules you have to keep the anchor and chain aboard, and cannot modify the boat beyond removing the bimini and stowing it down below. You can de-rig your boat’s mainsail stack pack, but it has to remain attached to the boom.

The crux of bareboat racing is to make your tubby cruiser, complete with (usually) tired sails, go faster than your rivals’ equally tubby boats.

Boats are split into classes according to size, and races are run under a handicap system that, like all such systems, always seems to penalize

whatever boat you’re on. Knowledgeable bareboat racers tend to book boats that are known to be fast, or ones numerous enough to be given a class of their own.

One of the best things about bareboat racing is that it’s a truly international affair. We’ve had knock-down-drag-out battles with crews from the Netherlands, Russia, the Ukraine, Germany and Puerto Rico, as well as fellow Americans. Some we’ve lost, others we’ve won; either way we’ve had a hell of a lot of fun.

Last March, our crew, Team Merlin, won all our eight races in the regatta and the sailing festival that preceded it on a Sunsail Jeanneau 44i. These have long been the preferred weapons of the serious bareboat racers; they have their own one-design class at the Heineken regatta in St. Maarten that precedes the BVISR. The Moorings 43 class is another strong one. You can have fun, and a chance at the podium, on just about any boat if you sail it well, though.

Not all charter companies will let you race their boats, for obvious reasons. However, boat-on-boat collisions are rare, thanks perhaps to the requirement for a hefty damage waiver deposit. SAIL has campaigned boats from Sunsail, the Moorings and Marinemax; check with your preferred company to see if they’ll let you race their boats. The BVISR website (bvispringregatta.org) is another good resource.— Peter Nielsen

CHARTER CHAT The Moorings has introduced the Beneteau Oceanis 38, winner of a SAIL Best Boats award, into its BVI fleet. The Moorings 38.2, as it’s known, provides spacious accommodations for two couples or a small family, combined with good sailing performance. You might get a deal on it in the Moorings New Year’s Eve Sale; go

to moorings.com on January 4 to check out the specials. moorings.com ‘Tis the season for new boats. Horizon Yacht Charters has commissioned a new Bavaria 51 in its BVI base, along with a Bavaria (Nautitech) Open 40 catamaran.

And a Beneteau 37.2 has joined the

Grenadines fleet, at Horizon’s Grenada base. horizonyachtcharters.com BVI Yacht Charters has welcomed two new catamarans into the Tortola fleet. The Nautitech Open 40s are quick and easy to sail, with selftacking jibs making life simple for the crew. bviyachtcharters.com

S A I L M AG A Z I N E

63

A YEAR FOR MAKING MEMORIES

We believe the best part of memories is making them. Don’t let this year pass you by. Now’s the time to start new traditions while embracing old ones.

Come and experience one of over 30 new additions to our ever-expanding fleet, from our classic Sunsail 38 and graceful 47 to the spacious 51. We’d also love to introduce you to the new star of our fleet, the 404 catamaran – putting in an appearance all over the Caribbean this winter. Pack them full of family and friends (or just a cruise for two!) and set sail on our modern, spacious fleet.

SEE THE WORLD, DIFFERENTLY. 877.798.0617 SUNSAIL.COM/SAILMAG Caribbean | Pacific Northwest | Mediterranean | Southeast Asia | Indian Ocean | South Pacific | United Kingdom

Bring Your New Year to Life...

Make a New Year’s resolution you’ll want to keep; see a new part of the world and leave winter cold in your wake.

Whether it’s taking the helm of a traditional monohull; sailing with ease on a state-of-the-art catamaran; or relaxing as a Moorings skipper makes the voyage virtually effortless—vacations come to life in a whole new way when you charter with us.

U N F O R G E T TA B L E M O M E N T S

on the water

Call 866.558.5380 or visit moorings.com/spinsheet

Call 877.794.9129 7 794 912 or visit moorings.com/sail

The Right Place, The Right Time, The Right People...

CYOA has been helping people make the most of their vacations for over 30 years with beautifully maintained yachts, sensible prices, and a friendly, professional staff.

We offer…

• St. Thomas’ exclusive catamaran fleet – luxury and privacy above and below deck.

• Exciting late-model monohulls.

• More time on the water – we’re just 10 minutes from the St. Thomas airport.

• A guaranteed payment yacht ownership program.

• All boats are enviro friendly – 100% holding tank equipped.

RESERVATIONS US & Canada +800-944-2962 International +386-210-4155 3562 Honduras #4 Frenchtown Marina St. Thomas USVI 00802-5741 E-mail info@cyoacharters.com

Visit cyoacharters.com today!

US VIRGIN ISLANDS Sail Cats | Monohulls | Bareboat | Skippered

www.cyoacharters.com | info@cyoacharters.com

At a time when sound advice is priceless... Ours is Free.

B

oats look new and crews seem friendly online, but a picture never tells the whole story, so why risk your vacation on the unknown?

For over 30 years Ed Hamilton & Co has used their firsthand knowledge to arrange Bareboat and Crewed Yacht Charters Worldwide.

See why Ed Hamilton & Co has been named one of Conde Nast Traveler's Top Travel Agents for 9 years running and remains the most respected Caribbean brokerage in the industry.

www.ed-hamilton.com 800-621-7855

&Co.

Ed Hamilton Yacht Charter Agents

B a r e b o a t & C r e w e d C h a r t e r s Wo r l d w i d e

Immaculate yachts, stunning islands and you Sail the British Virgin Islands www.horizonyachtcharters.com/bvi res@horizonyachtcharters.com Tel +1 (284) 494 8787 Toll Free +1 877 494 8787

Antigua

British Virgin Islands

Grenada

St Vincent

"THE NEXT SPORT WE COULD DO TOGETHER" After almost twenty years of skydiving together we wanted to find the next sport we could do together that would be exciting and fun. We “fantasized” about learning to sail but never took ourselves seriously until some friends encouraged us to look into ASA. Since then, we’ve turned our dreams into a reality thanks to the excellent courses and instructors we discovered through our local ASA sailing school. In the last eight months we have completed the ASA 101, 103, and 104 courses and have bareboat chartered to Catalina Island for a wonderful 3 day sailing trip. Next we are planning a bareboat vacation with our friends in the British Virgin Islands.

Thanks to the fantastic learning programs we found by enrolling in the ASA courses, we are truly living the dream!

Heather and David Nissen

30 0 W O R L D W I D E A FF I L I AT E S

SailTime - Newport Beach, CA

LESSONS | FLOTILLAS | CHARTERS

The Fun Starts At ASA.com

Leader in Sailing Education Since 1983

Start by finding an ASA School, go on a Flotilla, or book your dream charter vacation at asa.com

Operating 42 Bases Around The Globe, Featuring Over 700 Boats The Americas • The Bahamas • The Caribbean • United Kingdom • The Mediterranean • Asia • The Indian Ocean • The Pacific 3 Bases In Croatia 8 Bases In Greece As well as Spain, Côte d’Azur, Corsica, Turkey

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Be Our Guest In Croatia And Greece — Live, Play And Relax. Dream Yacht Charter offers 17 bases (wow) in the best locations throughout the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean. Discover the world on a Dream Yacht Charter, and live your life to its fullest.

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We Operate 42 Bases Around The Globe with over 700 yachts, including the largest eet of Catanas as well as the brand new line of Bali catamarans. Our bases are intimate and inviting, and you’ll enjoy ďŹ rst-class service with the friendly, personalized attention you expect and deserve.

Dream Yacht Charter, everywhere you want to sail™ Call 1.866.469.0912 Toll-Free or E-mail infona@DreamYachtCharter.com Americas • Bahamas • Caribbean • United Kingdom • Mediterranean • Asia • Indian Ocean • Pacific Ocean Bareboat Charters • Fully Crewed Luxury Charters • By The Cabin Vacations • Yacht Sales and Management Š Copyright Dream Yacht Charter 2016 • Photo courtesy of the Croatian Tourist Board &RS\ULJKW 0DULR 5RPXOLß 'UDüHQ 6WRMÞLß 'DPLU )DELMDQLß 6HUJLR *REER DQG WKH &URDWLDQ 7RXULVW %RDUG

Escape the cold and explore the British Virgin Islands at an unbeatable value with Footloose Yacht Charters. It’s an adventure at sea you’ll have to experience to believe.

877.427.0253 | www.footloosecharters.com

Since 1989!

Photo courtesy of Leopard

FEATURING • • • •

Mainsail Furling Hauling a Cat Speed Sailing Latest Boats & Charters

Available at sailmagazine.com/store

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Brokerage

Brokerage

SAIL'S SAIL'S FEATURED FEATURED LISTINGSLISTINGS

1993 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 59 ENDIVE is a 1993 dark green Hinckley Sou’wester 59 centerboard. She is a lovely yacht with impeccable hull paint and varnish inside and 2008 Jeanneau Odysseybow 36i thruster - Savorand thesails. unique of sailing aboard 36i. service You willbybe seduced by the out. She has newSun electronics, Herpleasure leather interior is very nice;the sheSun has Odyssey had excellent a very knowledgehigh performance hull, the powerful sail plan, the deck designed for security, the generous cockpit with oversized, leather-wrapped able owner. ENDIVE has 3 private cabins, reverse-cycle air conditioning, and the electric winches and mainsail (stowaway) make for easy steering wheel and deep storage lockers. and Stepsafety belowfeatures on themake Sun Odyssey and you will appreciate the space, lighting for anda shorthanded sailing.

Hinckley sturdiness this yacht36i, an excellent choice for long distance (ornatural short) cruising comfortable atmosphere of a large sailboat.

On the interior, thoughtful design and high-quality materials lend both tranquility and family or friends with or without a hired captain. warmth this beautiful sailboat. ‘Tropical Escape’ is located in Road Town, BVIs, and priced at only $79,000.

Located to MAINE, Asking $695,000 Hinckley Yachts The Moorings Yacht130 Brokerage | 850| 3Southwest NE St., Suite 201, ME Dania Beach, Florida, 33004 Shore Road Harbor, 04679 Call: 1-954-925-4150 | Email: info@mooringsbrokerage.com | www.mooringsbrokerage.com Phone: 207-244-5531 | Fax: 207‐244-9833 | www.hinckleyyachts.com

Custom David Mix 55’ 2014 Ketch JEaNNEaU “Myth” 409 - Very fast. Very cool.

“Deerfoot Three cabins, style” two offshore full heads, cruiser bow built thruster, by the autopilot, designer for dodger, personal biuse. mini, “Myth” full electronics has made many with radar, offshore deluxe tripsmain to thesalon Caribbean table,crewed microonly wave,byvhf, a couple, radio/TV, but isand also more.

ICW capable.

Sold new Epoxy forsaturated $282,569,tri-axial lightly cloth used over one season, Klegecell looks foam new, withstill carbon with fiber. warranty Center asking cockpit, $219,000. hard dodger, aft owner’s cabin. Cruising kit includes solar, wind-gen, water-maker, MonitorBluenose wind-vane, Yacht dinghy Sales on davits, new sails etc.

Offered at $195 000. Phone: 401-855-4355 BluenoseYachts@gmail.com Annapolis www.BluenoseYachts.com Yacht Sales South 274 Buck’s View Lane, Deltaville, VA 23043 Call: 1-804-436-4484 Email: jonathan@annapolisyachtsales.com www.annapolisyachtsales.com J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

72

Immaculate ‘owners 45’ version’ CaPE2004 DORY Beneteau KETCH50 - Original owners Completed took meticulous in 1984 as care a display of “No model Doubt”for and Cape completed Dory, ‘Fiona all routine Rois’ maintenance is beautifullyper appointed, manufacturer comfortable, recommendations. and functional Withfor a shoal both draft, living65’ aboard mast and loads extended of upgrades, cruising.she Sheis has perfect a powerful for the ICW easy or to Ocean handlesailing. ketch rig.

Complete Her present refit 2011-12. owner Crewed has made charter continual business imincluded provements in sale. and upgrades Motivatedtoo sellers numerous just reduced to list. She the price, is in heated don’t miss storage thisand opportunity! a comfortable Offered showing at $289,000. may be arranged at any time.

Must be seen to be fully appreciated. Offered for $250,000.

Annapolis Yacht Sales 7350 Edgewood Classic Road,Boat Annapolis, Shop MD 21403 PO Box 74, 369Call: Tremont 410-570-8533 Road Bernard, ME 04612 Email: dan@annapolisyachtsales.com Phone:207-244-3374 Email: www.annapolisyachtsales.com Dave@classicboatshop.com www.ClassicBoatShop.com

2001 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 59 CC

1993 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 59 CC

Leave it all and go sailing - ZANETIA is your ticket. Back in the US for the first time, seriously for sale by original owner. Designed and built for world cruising with all the best gear.

Captain maintained, ready to go. Call for details. $795,000 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, ME

ENDIVE is a very highly recommended. Flawless hull paint, excellent varnish in/out. New electronics, bow thruster, sails, mast paint. Leather interior. Ready to go! All amenities of quality yacht this size + Hinckley safety/sturdiness. $625,000 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, ME

1992 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 52

1989 CHERUBINI 44

DIANA, a highly customized, one owner 52. Hinckley maintained, 2 reverse-cycle AC systems, watermaker, electric winches, teak galley countertops, 10-seat salon table, 6’6” hdroom, raised cockpit bridgedeck, custom storage cradle. $498,000 STUART, FL

SILHOUETTE is a Cherubini built ketch designed for blue water cruising/racing. Racing pedigree shows owner spared no expense in her fantastic condition – multiple Firsts in Class include 5 Marion-Bermuda Races. Truly a lovely yacht. $388,000 DUXBURY, MA

2013 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 42 MK II

1994 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 42

Want a new SW42 but don’t want to wait a year to build one? INTEGRITY is your boat.

Extremely well equipped, appointed and available now. Used only seasonally in Maine, always captained, 100% Hinckley maintained. $1,100,000 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, ME

HERA is a beautiful example of the classic Hinckley SW-42. Well taken care of and nicely equipped, HERA is in great shape and will bring her new owners many years of enjoyment on the water. $365,000 MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA

1985 HINCKLEY SOU’WESTER 42 BLUE RIDGE is a 1985 SW-42 yawl which is very reasonably priced. She is in perfect running and sailing condition, used actively every Maine summer season out of Rockport.

Mahogany and dinette interior layout. $230,000 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, ME

SOUTHWEST HARBOR, MAINE SOUTHWEST HARBOR, MAINE PORTSMOUTH, RHODE ISLAND ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND HARBOR SPRINGS, MICHIGAN STUART, FLORIDA NAPLES, FLORIDA

(207) 244-5531 (207) 664-8111 (401) 578-2919 (401) 418-2188 (231) 526-4378 (561) 262-3900 (205) 389-0944

1966 HINCKLEY PILOT 35 BIJOU is a 6-berth S&S design with low hour Yanmar 38-hp diesel. Flag Blue topsides, nice varnish on teak exterior. White bulkheads with varnished mahogany trim. Numerous upgrades over the years. One of the best Pilots. $115,000 SOUTHWEST HARBOR, ME

BOB POOLER - BPOOLER@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM WYTHE INGEBRITSON - WINGEBRITSON@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM JOE DWYER - JDWYER@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM JACK ERBES - JERBES@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM MARTY LETTS - MLETTS@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM TRIPPER VINCENT - TVINCENT@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM WHITNEY BRACKIN - WBRACKIN@HINCKLEYYACHTS.COM

TheHinckleyCompany.com Since 1928

bYs

Bluenose Yacht Sales

SPARK M A N

S T E P HE NS

New - Improved - Open 30, Classically Elegant This new model has many exciting upgrades and improvements such as: ∙ Efficient, quiet, no maintenance Electric Drive ∙ 42% larger cockpit - wider and longer. ∙ Similar interior arrangement - enclosed head. ∙ Sleeps four. ∙ No maintenance, faux teak toe rail and hand rails.

sistership

2009 Catalina 387

67’ 55' 55’ 54' 53’ 53’ 52' 50’ 47' 47’ 45’ 45’ 44’ 43' 43' 42' 42’ 42’ 42’

2014 Jeanneau 409

1953 Abeking & Rasmussen Yawl ...............................$450,000 1994 Oyster 55 Pilothouse 55.................................... .$395,000 1984 Baltic 55 ...............................................................$319,000 1993 Pilothouse Cutter (Launched in 2004) ..............$149,500 2012 Jeanneau 53....four staterooms, well equipped, never chartered $439,000 2003 Amel Super Maramu...$90,000 upgrades; sails & electronics, mint .$358,800 1981 IRWIN 52, completely refit in past 5 years.. ........$178,900 1999 Bavaria 50 ...........................................................$169,500 1973 Cheoy Lee 47 ........................................................ $95,000 1987 Alan Warwick Custom Offshore..........................$339,000 2005 Majorca Flybridge Trawler....REDUCED PRICE ..........$325,000 2005 Jeanneau 45 .............................................................. $179,900 1989 C&C 44................................................................. $115,000 2006 Jeanneau 43DS...well equipped.. .................... ..$254,900 1989 Cheoy Lee PEDRICK 43 ....................................... $157,500 1930 Rhodes 42.....famous in Chicago race circles ................ $89,000 2000 Bavaria 42...........................................................$148,000 1994 J Boat J130...........................................................$174,900 1990 Hunter 42 Passage................................................$89,900

1987 J 40

39’ 39’ 38’ 41’ 41’ 40’ 40' 40’ 40’ 38’ 37' 37’ 36’ 36’ 36’ 36’ 34’ 33’

2006 Hunter 41DS

2011 Hunter 39............................................................................... $147,500 1991 Catalina Morgan 381.............................................$139,000 2006 Hunter 38.............................................................$139,500 2000 Hunter 410..........................................................$120,000 2006 Hunter 41 Deck Salon.....excellent condition............$159,900 2015 Jeanneau 409 NEW fully loaded at $272,000 now reduced to $247,600 1999 Beneteau FIRST 40.7 ....Shoal keel, AIR/CON, Genset ..... $129,800 1987 J 40....blue hull color, very good condition ...........................$104,000 Jeanneau 40DS....one owner, clean .........................................$99,000 2009 Catalina 387....mint condition ................. now only $145,700 1990 J 37C - shoal draft, new engine 2008 ... .. ...........$65,000 2006 Beneteau 373 .................................................... $139,000 1985 Omega 36 ............................................................. $54,000 1994 Hunter 36.............................................................. $44,500 1984 Catalina 36 ........................................................... $44,900 2001 Beneteau 361.........................................................$75,000 2014 Jeanneau 349..low hours, nicely equipped, still warrantied only $139,800 1981 Stonington Odyssey 33.................................................................$59,500

PLEASE CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE QUALITY LISTINGS AND NEW BOATS TOLL FREE: 877.695.6538

www.BluenoseYachts.com EMAIL: bluenoseyachts@gmail.com

401.855.4355

One Commercial Wharf, Newport, Rhode Island

facebook.com/BluenoseYachts

bYs

Bluenose Yacht Sales

Jeanneau 409

NEW, award winning Jeanneau 349 - now in stock in RI

The Jeanneau 409, three cabin, two heads, full electronics, bow thruster, autopilot, in water ready to go with a $49,000 discount. Or our new Jeanneau 349 judged as one of the best new models in Europe and USA. We have one in stock that has nice performance package and test sails have shown she is fun, easy to sail with one person and fast. We have some other new models, so call and come visit.

NEW JEANNEAU 64

SALONA 38

NEW JEANNEAU 54

Warwick, RI 401-300-2988

Boston, MA 617-331-8140

1987 50’ Gulfstar - $86,900 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

2002 47’ Beneteau - $206,900 Rob Dorfmeyer - 216.533.9187

1987 47’ Bristol - $225,000 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1979 46’ Brewer - $93,900 Barbara Burke - 904.310.5110

1980 44’ Cherubini - $225,000 Rob Dorfmeyer - 216.533.9187

1978 38’ Seafarer - $29,500 Michael Martin – 440.781.8201

1972 37’ Irwin - $32,500 Michael Martin – 440.781.8201

2005 37’ Nordic Tug - $349,900 Curtis Stokes - 954.684.0218

1995 36’ Catalina - $68,500 Greg Merritt – 813.294.9288

1989 33’ Siltala Nauticat - $94,750 Michael Martin – 440.781.8201

1980 30’ Seidelmann - $5,500 Rob Dorfmeyer - 216.533.9187

1978 28’ Pearson - $9,900 Rob Dorfmeyer - 216.533.9187

To see more details about this and all other yachts around the globe, please visit our website at

www.curtisstokes.net

Worldwide Yacht Sales Yacht Charters New Yacht Construction

SOLD

SOLD

1996 51’ Little Harbor

2002 56’ Atlantis

SOLD

1998 42’ Catalina

SOLD

1987 38’ Cabo Rico

SOLD

1999 42’ Hunter

SOLD

SOLD

2006 39’ Bavaria

1988 39’ Corbin

SOLD

1976 43’ Gulfstar

SOLD

1992 42’ Catalina

1988 40’ Hans Christian

SOLD

SOLD

1985 35’ Ta Shing

SOLD

è 5FHNąH 8JFHWFKY

Thinking of selling your boat?

List with us and add your boat to our sold list!

1.855.266.5676 | 954.684.0218 | info@curtisstokes.net

It isn’t real until the shoreline disappears. When I can’t see a single stop sign or asphalt-paved road or concrete structure.

When my course depends only on lines and rudders and the churning waves ahead. That’s when I know I’m truly free.

Our Marine Lending Specialists have up to 30 years of experience. To learn more or apply, call 855.282.6564 or visit suntrust.com/marine.

Lending subject to normal credit criteria. SunTrust is a member of the National Marine Lenders Association.

SunTrust Bank, Member FDIC. © 2014 SunTrust Banks, Inc. SunTrust is a federally registered service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc. How can we help you shine? is a service mark of SunTrust Banks, Inc.

The Moorings Yacht Brokerage has the world’s largest selection of pre-owned charter yachts.

T

he Moorings Yacht Brokerage sells over 200 pre-owned charter yachts from the world’s best manufacturers each year. A fleet yacht purchase includes the same “blue-water” ready equipment used to safely sail the boat from the USA, France, or South Africa factory to one of our many global bases. You too can take advantage of the same proven value realized by every other satisfied buyer worldwide whether you plan to sail locally or internationally. Call or email for more details on our select opportunities to own today. #FTU #PBUT r #FTU &RVJQNFOU r #FTU -PDBUJPOT r #FTU 4FSWJDF

2011 BENETEAU 50

Loaded: Gen, aircon, bow thruster, electric winches, much more….

Located Tortola, BVI and St. Martin Prices starting at $239,000

2009 BENETEAU 43

Oceanis 43.3 and 43.4 3 & 4 Cabin available. Well equipped.

Located BVI, St Martin, St. Lucia Starting at $119,000 Reduced Price

2010 BENETEAU 40

Oceanis Series - Fully equipped 3 Cabins / 2 Heads - Belize-BVI-STL Great sailing cruiser. Sail away now.

Asking only $115,000 Reduced Price

LEOPARD 46

Fully Cruise Equipped – Gen & Air Multiple Models – Limited availability BVI, St. Martin, St. Lucia, & Belize Starting as low as $349,000

2010 LEOPARD 384

Great family cruiser. Spacious living space. Full size SS drawer refrigeration/freezer. Aircon. Solar panels.

Asking from only $219,000

Following Models Specially Priced Starting at Only...

‘12 Leopard 39-3 cab... $269,000 ’12 Leopard 44 ........... $399,000 ‘13 Leopard 48 ....….... $579,000 ‘11 Jeanneau SO 409.. $123,000 ‘04 Beneteau 50 ......... $199,000 ’11 Jeanneau SO 53 .... $300,000

2009 JEANNEAU 44I

3 & 4 Cabins - Performance & comfort Nice electronics & bow thruster Located Tortola & St. Martin Asking from $129,000

2010 JEANNEAU 42I

Great layout. Owners stateroom with en suite head. Twin wheels.

3 Cabin / 2 Head -- Well equipped From only $120,000 Reduced Price

2008 JEANNEAU 36I

Great Cruiser / Racer 2 Cabins /1 Heads Available in Bahamas, St. Lucia & BVI Asking from $59,000

www.mooringsbrokerage.com | 800-850-4081 | info@mooringsbrokerage.com

Xc45

2015

WINNER

www.x-yachtsusa.com

Cruising in Ultimate Comfort X-Yachts’ world renowned Xcruising range was launched in 2008, with the Xc 45. Since then, the range has been established with the launch of the Xc 38, Xc 42, the Xc 50, and nally the Xc 35, with multiple wins in the European Luxury Cruising Yacht of the year awards. The Xc range offers true X-Yachts sailing qualities; the standard ttings, systems and detailing offered by X-Yachts truly set them apart from the competition.

Selected Brokerage: 1980 Baltic 51......................................... $299,000

1985 Jonmeri 40 ..................................... $155,000

2007 Finngulf 46 ..................................... $349,000

2002 Tartan 3700 .................................... $175,000

2003 X-Yachts X-442...........................$239,000

1998 Tartan 3500 .................................... $120,000

2001 Finngulf 44 ..................................... $175,000

1997 Quest 30 ..........................................$70,000

1926/2006 Alden Schooner 43 .................. $650,000

1996 Buzzard’s Bay 25 ............................. $115,000

2007 X-Yachts X-41.............................$210,000 2014 Hanse 415 ...................................... $279,000

Rodgers Yacht Sales +1 (860) 536 7776

|

www.rodgersyachtsales.com

TRUE CRUISING CAT FOR SALE Manu Kai is a 57 Perry Passagemaker launched in 2006 and meticulously maintained and upgraded, ready to sail anywhere in the world with luxury, safety and performance. $695,000

manu-kai.com

Inquiries to Peter Cohen • peter@caribbean-multihulls.com • +590 (0)6 90 71 82 41

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Waterlines

by Charles J. Doane

A Comet Named Elvis All things are new and wonderful when viewed from the deck of a sailboat

B

I have always believed it is best for watches on long passages to come at the same time every day, so a body can get used to them, and set the schedule accordingly. To save any argument I took for myself the worst of the night watches, in the earliest hours of the morning before the sun was even thinking of rising. The first several nights I was barely able to stay awake as the tropical Atlantic hissed its lullaby along our hull, but then on day seven of the passage, halfway through my dog watch, a comet appeared in the sky overhead.

This wasn’t some barely noticeable glimmer of an astronomical event that lay people might only discern if forewarned. This was a smackyou-in-the-eyes brightest-thing-in-the-sky kind of comet that even had a long tail on it so you knew for sure what you were looking at. I couldn’t believe it! I had been fascinated by astronomy as child and had waited my whole life to see something like this. And now, at last, under the most sublime circumstances, during a passage in mid-ocean, my moment had come.

I named the comet Elvis and described it in effusive terms to my dubious shipmates. Now I keenly anticipated my dogwatch each night and was even a little jealous, as the miles rolled on beneath our keel, when Elvis started rising early enough for the others to see him too.

We were a total of 18 days on passage and sailed the entire time on starboard tack, running off either dead downwind or on a broad reach, with the main on a preventer. Only on our last day out did we have to gybe over to lay English Harbor, at the south end of Antigua, at which point the main instantly split in two with a percussive snarl. I had often mended this frail sheet of Dacron by hand and now saw at glance I J A N UA RY 2 0 1 6

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“Elvis” streaks across the night sky

must spend money I could ill afford having a new sail built.

Worse yet, soon after we got ashore I learned from the newspaper, the first I had seen in more than three months, that Elvis (not surprisingly) had been anticipated and had actually been given the very uncool and not at all dignified name of Hale-Bopp, after the two astronomers who first detected him.

By now Elvis was rising so early he could be seen as soon as the sun set each evening. As I waited day after day for my new mainsail to arrive from England, I toasted his advent in the eastern sky with rum sundowners as we lay in the crowded anchorage at English Harbor. And soon there appeared in the south another amazing sight: the volcano on Montserrat, next island over, had just gone active and was spewing smoke into the sky. At sunset its volcanic plume was a gorgeous vivid purple color.

The things you see and experience on a boat belong to you in a way that nothing else can. Even when you know what’s coming, but most especially if you don’t, your appreciation of novelty and sense of discovery is honed to a razor edge. And I was witness now to something I knew I would never forget—the best sundown anchorage view ever.

The fearsome volcano, quite rightly, belonged to everyone on all the boats in the anchorage who could see it with me. But I felt very certain, and still feel, that the comet belonged only to me. s SAIL’s Cruising Editor, Charles J. Doane, sails his Tanton 39 on the Maine coast and down in the West Indies whenever he gets the chance. He is the author of The Modern Cruising Sailboat, published by International Marine, and is a contributing blogger at SAILfeed.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHANNES-KEPLER-OBSERVATORY

ack in ancient times, long before the Interweb polluted the lives of bluewater sailors, I found myself late one winter in the Cape Verde Islands preparing for a transatlantic crossing to Antigua on Crazy Horse, my three-decades-old 35ft fiberglass yawl. I had spent the previous two months cruising the West African coast with no access to any news reports, so had no idea what was going on in the world outside my boat. With two other crew, I loaded on provisions in Praia, on the isolated island of Santiago, then hoisted anchor and sailed forth into the northeasterly trades.

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