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Multihull Issue

The

PA G E 3 0

Madagascar

by Cat

New Life for an Old Foiler

PA G E 5 4

PA G E 4 8

UPGRADING YOUR PROP?

You Have Choices PA G E 6 3

Yo u r P a s s p o r t t o t h e S a i l i n g L i f e

LITHIUM BATTERIES?

Do Your Homework PA G E 6 9

A GROWING CREW

SPREADS OUT O N A M U LT I H U L L PA G E 3 8

LEOPARD 42 Off Cape Town

J U N E / J U L Y

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c r u i s i n g w o r l d . c o m

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Contents J u n e / J u l y

2 0 2 1

FE AT U R ES

54 CO L U MNS

“

8 Editor’s Log

12 Underway

24

june/july 2021

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30 Waypoints

”

34

FLY, FOILER, FLY! PAGE 48

Special Report

74 Charter News

98

B O AT S & G E A R

Off Watch

70 Cat Power The Leopard 42 is right at home in big wind and waves.

by Herb McCormick

HANDS-ON SAILOR

63 Choosing the Proper Prop Fixed, feathering or folding propellers present options.

by David Schmidt

67 Head Games A sailor finds a new composting head much to her liking.

by Heather Francis

69 Supercharged Lithium-ion batteries present benefits, along with a downside.

Monthly Maintenance

by Steve D’Antonio

38 FREE BIRDS A growing family living aboard an Open 40 raceboat-turned-cruiser can finally stretch their wings when they move aboard a big bluewater trimaran and set sail.

B y So mira Sao

48 FLY, FOILER, FLY! This is the story of l’Hydroptère, the big French foiling multihull that was conceived of a half-century ago to set records crossing oceans, and that’s now getting a new lease on life on the West Coast.

73 Lively Living For a full-size cruiser, the new Excess 15 sure can sail.

By Mark Pillsbury

By Ro n n ie Si mps on

54 MAGIC OF MADAGASCAR On the back half of a circumnavigation aboard their Fountaine Pajot Helia, a couple stops to explore the attractions of this Indian Ocean island nation.

B y Amy Al ton

ON THE COVER The Leopard 42 is out for sea trials off Cape Town, South Africa.

Photo courtesy Leopard Catamarans

FROM LEFT: AMY ALTON; COURTESY LEOPARD CATAMARANS

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On Watch

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E d i t o r ’s L o g Getting the kids together and thinking about how they get the boat back safely and work together is something that’s really unique.

M A R K

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D O T H E Ma t h

june/july 2021

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W

ant to talk about a coincidence?

When I first spoke with Spike Lobdell, president of New England Science & Sailing, he’d just accepted US Sailing’s Outstanding Community Sailing Program Award for 2013. We met during a break at a US Sailing summit in San Diego and chatted about the program he helped launch in Stonington, Connecticut, how it had begun as an idea for a different sort of inclusive yacht club, and how it had evolved into a community sailing center with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math education for kids, as well as learnto-sail programs for adults.

Then this spring, out of the blue, I got an email from him offering an update on the program, which this summer will mark the 20th season of community sailing in Stonington. And when we chatted again—this time via Zoom, of course—local papers were reporting that

NESS attracts a diverse array of students with its variety of programs.

he’d just been named Citizen of the Year by the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce, which represents business communities along the Rhode Island-Connecticut border. It was yet another feather in his and NESS’s already feather-heavy cap.

Funny, huh? But the real story is about NESS and the remarkable course it has steered.

It all began when a small group of sailors in Stonington got together in 2002 to create the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club.

The founders envisioned a clubhouse and bar, of course, but also a community-focused sailing program. That first season, 14 kids set sail in a fleet of eight secondhand Optis.

Lobdell took over as commodore of the club two years later, and the New England Science and Sailing Foundation was created to accept donations. From there,

P I L L S B U R Y

let’s just say that things took off. NESS soon moved into its own quarters down the street from the SHYC, renting the space at first, and later buying it in 2011, thanks to a couple million dollars in gifts. From the start, Lobdell says, the core belief was that being on the water is an excellent platform for teaching kids STEM skills, along with people skills such as teamwork, communication, leadership and self-control.

“Getting the kids together and thinking about how they get the boat back safely and work together is something that’s really unique,” he says.

By the time I met Lobdell, NESS had expanded its programs, and was working with a school in nearby New London.

During the school year, NESS staff went into the classroom, and summers, inner-city kids came to NESS, many to go sailing for the first time. All told, Lobdell says that in 2013, some 2,700 people got out on the water in one of the center’s 140 sailboats.

As it turns out, Lobdell and his team were just warming up. By the end of the decade, NESS had expanded its programs to include STEM classes taught using surfboards, powerboats and fishing expeditions.

Year-round staff included 27 full-timers, and swelled to 75 or so during summer. In 2019, some 9,000 people took part in NESS programs, and the center was partnering with 70 schools and organizations.

Then COVID-19 came calling. Thinking back to March 2020, Lobdell says that he wasn’t sure they could

survive. With schools closed, funding disappeared. But rather than throwing in the towel, the team began a little problem-solving of their own.

By May, they came up with 18 online courses that kids could pursue at home, including two involving the US America’s Cup team, American Magic.

Soon, students were researching, designing, and launching homemade boats in their bathtubs and sinks. Or they were pacing across the room, learning how to calculate speed using time and distance.

And come summer, kids were sailing. Though numbers were down—Lobdell reports that about 1,400 took part in summer camp, community programs, and in-school and online learning—NESS was able to avoid any staff layoffs.

So what’s up for season No. 20? Lobdell says he and the team are hopeful that numbers will return to 2019 levels. NESS, he says, became a more agile and adaptable organization because of the pandemic, and now has an online platform to add to its quiver of educational services.

Looking ahead, they are in the early stages of figuring out how to work with other community sailing programs that would benefit from adding a STEM curriculum in conjunction with their local schools.

And they’re planning a party. Not for this summer, but for 2024, when NESS officially celebrates its own 20th anniversary. Lobdell stumbles a little when he explains how the anniversary math works.

“Maybe I should take one of our courses,” he says.

COURTESY NEW ENGLAND SCIENCE & SAILING

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J U N E/J U LY 2 0 2 1

U N D E RW W AY NEWS and NOTES from the CRUISING COMMUNITY E d i t e d b y Je n n i f e r B r e t t

INTO THE BLUE

S cruisingworld.com

un rays beamed down into the deep blue water, illuminating the faded rope that ended in a small weight, hanging just barely in sight in the clear Fijian sea. I held onto the buoy the rope was tied to, floating at the surface and staring at the weight 20 meters below me. I was familiar with this depth as a concept; I’d scuba-dived around it and Cayuse could anchor in it, but I’d never thought about sending my body down there unaided, willfully.

I’d been sailing with my parents on Cayuse, an Outremer 51, for a year at this point; we were circumnavigating with the World ARC. After graduating college

HALEY HALTOM

june/july 2021

12

I had joined them, and while sailing itself took up most of our time, I needed a new hobby to give myself a sense of purpose. Matt, my boyfriend and our other crewmember, and I had signed up for an SSI Freediving course at Mantaray Bay; I wanted a challenge, and Matt saw it as fun and a useful skill for cruising.

A siren wailed from shore after we dropped anchor in deep water off the Mantaray Island Resort, an The author on the bow of Cayuse, an Outremer 51, as they approach the Yasawa islands of Fiji—a place known for manta rays.

june/july 2021

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cruisingworld.com

june/july 2021

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eclectic hostel and hotel next to a narrow cut between two islands in the Yasawas. It was the manta ray alarm, which went off daily when manta rays were spotted swimming through the channel. The strong currents whipping through made it an ideal feeding ground for the gentle giants, and the namesake of the resort. We dinghied ashore as guests frantically gathered rented snorkel gear and rushed to fiberglass runabouts manned by locals to take them out to glimpse the graceful rays.

We walked over to the dive shack and were greeted by a tall, suntanned Australian man in a tank top and mirrored sunnies. A little weathered around the edges, he had long hair that was blondstreaked and shoulder-length; he could have been 35 or 50.

“Bula! Are you guys the yachties here for freediving?” he asked, staggering a little.

“Yeah, we’re here for a few days, so we thought we’d try it out,” I said.

“Well good on ya! My name’s Ryan, and I’ll be your instructor. Here are a couple of workbooks, and let’s get started!” he said, tossing us two worn Scuba Schools

With her new freediving skills, the author could spend more time with the mantas.

International textbooks.

We soon learned that he was the co-owner of the resort, which he had built from the ground up in 2002 with his then-girlfriend.

Ryan instructed us to lie down on the sand so we could practice “breathing up.”

Breathing up is a one- to two-minute

period of breathing before a dive that focuses on relaxing the body and mind in order to spend a period of time without breath underwater. I breathed in and out for several minutes with my eyes closed; lying under the palm trees on a beach in Fiji, I immediately felt pretty Zen. Then Ryan told us to breathe in deeply and

HALEY HALTOM

cruisingworld.com

U N D E R W AY

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U N D E R W AY

hold it, starting a timer once we stopped breathing. I gasped for breath after a measly 45 seconds, while Matt held his for one minute, 15 seconds. He told us how if we focused on breathing every day, we’d increase our lung capacity and ability to hold our breath for longer; Ryan was up to five minutes.

Over the next two days, we did more breathing exercises and swimming challenges, and studied the science of freediving. We learned about the mammalian dive reflex, which happens when the human body submerges underwater; the body responds by slowing down the heart rate, redirecting blood to vital organs to preserve oxygen, and releasing red blood cells from the spleen. Humans were built to swim underwater.

All of our studying and exercises were leading up to the final dive, in which we had to freedive down to 20 meters.

Ryan reiterated that the key to successful freediving was being utterly calm, making slow movements with elongated fins, and not rushing. Overexerting yourself underwater could lead to losing oxygen and having to surface sooner, or even blacking out. It was hard to imagine not freaking

out while swimming slowly into the deep, away from fresh air and sunlight.

Floating next to the buoy, I timed myself for a two-minute breathe up, breathing normally until taking three final deep breaths before I duck-dived down.

I kicked my legs slowly, trying to maintain a leisurely pace following the rope down, seemingly into oblivion. I couldn’t see the bottom. My thoughts drifted to how I could check the anchor at new depths, rescue lost items overboard, or swim next to sea creatures without spooking them with oxygen bubbles.

Within seconds, I reached the weight and looked down at the seafloor, now within sight. What if I kept going? I looked all around me, blissfully surrounded by pure blue. Time slowed down as I undulated with the ocean, neither sinking nor floating. I felt the first urge to breathe and turned around, taking deliberate strokes toward brighter water, Matt and Ryan floating above me. I slipped through the water to the surface, elated, gasping for breath and squinting in the bright equatorial sun. I felt my need for a new purpose slipping away, down into the deep blue depths. —Haley Haltom

BE A BETTER DRIVER I really enjoyed the tools article by Marga Pretorius (“What’s In Her Bag,” April 2021) and appreciate her insights.

Without question, I picked up a few hints, so in the interest of sharing, let me offer one. Never, never, ever use a Phillips screwdriver for anything! This tool was developed for one-time screw installations by unskilled labor. The head is designed to slip if too much torque is applied. Fine for putting a screw in, not so good for removal.

After years of stripping screw heads while restoring Japanese and European motorcycles, I finally learned of JIS drivers. These look like Phillips and come in the same sizes, but the crosshatch is just different enough to keep them from stripping the screw head. All those years when I thought Japanese screws were made of cheese, it turned out it was the drivers that got it wrong. —Alan Singer, MotoEuro Garage, Jacksonville, FL

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with 2020’s racing season. But Mark Souza was part of the solution, not the problem.

He deserves praise, not criticism, for his professional management in 2020 that resulted in a safe and enjoyable sailing season.

John C. Doub Via email FOR THE RECORD Your April 2021 issue is enjoyable, as the magazine always is—I’ve been reading it since 1976 or so—and I’m in agreement with Herb McCormick’s Off Watch column “What the Hall?” on the National Sailing Hall of Fame. The first sentence of the piece threw me though. Bill Pinkney served as the first skipper of a vessel named Amistad, not La Amistad, and this vessel is more reasonable facsimile than replica, its lines having been taken from an oil painting and extrapolated from other topsail schooners. The original, La Amistad, was not a ship transporting hundreds of people from Africa, where they’d been kidnapped, brutalized, and enslaved, to the West Indies and Americas to be sold, but a coastal cargo schooner carrying several dozen enslaved people purchased in a slave market in

Havana to a plantation in Cuba. Today’s Amistad was built to commemorate not the slave trade but the rebellion of La Amistad’s cargo of enslaved people and their long, ultimately successful fight to regain their freedom. Since its launch in 2000, Amistad has served as a platform and resource for education in and exploration of this and related history.

Jamie Baldwin Redding, CT KEEP IT SIMPLE As a longtime CW subscriber, I want to tell you how much the subject of the column “A Wake-Up Call” (January 2021) resonated with me. As someone who has been sailing since 1966, I welcome the trend toward simple rigging and reduced headsails as a way of enhancing singlehanding. Currently sailing in northern Lake Huron, I am in a constant quest for a different boat, and that includes my own list of simple rig, uncomplicated sail plan, stout rigging, and centerboard or extreme shoal draft. It’s a surprisingly narrow field.

Dave Deatrick Sault Ste. Marie, MI

cruisingworld.com

SET STRAIGHT IN MARBLEHEAD I sail and race a Swan 38, Blue Pigeon, out of Marblehead, Massachusetts. I’m also a member of Marblehead’s Harbors and Waters Board that oversees the harbormaster’s department. I read with interest your editorial in the April issue (“Around the Sound”). I think your comments about the Marblehead Harbormaster were based on faulty information, and so I wanted to correct the record. The incident that you related regarding stopping a pickup race between Lasers was an action by the Salem harbor department. They were following the Massachusetts guidelines at the time.

Mark Souza, Marblehead’s harbormaster, was very proactive in developing commonsense COVID-19 safety rules that permitted Marblehead sailing regattas to occur earlier in the 2020 season than most other areas. This led to Wednesday-night racing, offshore racing and one-design racing, all beginning in mid-July.

Souza’s leadership in working with all the Marblehead yacht clubs and sailing associations was appreciated by all. I’m sure that if you talked to any of the Marblehead race committees, they would confirm these positive results. I share your frustration

17

Catana 53 Further, faster.

U N D E R W AY

RUNNING FROM AN ASH CLOUD

At anchor, 20 miles away in Bequia, watching the growing ash cloud from St. Vincent’s La Soufriere was surreal.

As the St. Vincent residents living in the red zone were under a mass evacuation, residents and tourists in Bequia continued with their normal routines with little apparent reaction to the intense scene unfolding on its close neighbor.

The atmosphere shifted at 5 p.m. as

the second eruption sent a mushroom cloud of thick ash into the air. There was a feeling of fascinated excitement as the cloud grew, yet few of us who were able to move took action. Of the three dozen boats in the bay, only a few cruisers pulled up anchor and sailed away. There were

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ANN MONTGOMERY; KIA KOROPP (OPPOSITE)

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aying quiet on the northern corner of St. Vincent is La Soufriere, a volcano that has been dormant for more than 40 years. Dormant, that is, until the morning of April 9, 2021, when intense pressure built up and sent hot ash rocketing up into the atmosphere.

At the time, my family and I were sitting blissfully on anchor 20 miles away aboard Atea, our 50-foot Ganley Solution, in Princess Margaret Bay on the southern end of Bequia, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Windward Islands. The island offers a relaxed Caribbean atmosphere that draws in tourists and cruisers alike. Its large protected bay is lined by a collection of beach bars, restaurants and quaint hotels—all quieter this year due to the reduced tourism brought on by COVID. The first eruption at midday did little to disturb the atmosphere in Bequia.

no public announcements or any official communication, so the rest of us simply waited to see what would unfold.

What unfolded was an umbrella of volcanic ash that spread a layer of fine gray dust across Bequia through the night.

We woke to an eerie white haze in the air and a covering of sootlike ash on every surface. The air was stinging to the eyes, and hair and even teeth were coated with a fine layer of grit. Luckily pandemic face masks were quickly available for anyone up on deck. The bay emptied out as a mass exodus of boats sailed out, and by midmorning there were only a handful of vessels remaining. The chatter on the radio was continuous as cruisers tried to determine where to go or how far they would have to travel to get clear air. There was additional discussion over whether the volcanic ash would ruin the sails if unrolled or do damage to the engine if turned on. Fortunately, neither option seemed to result in damage; the majority did a combination of both in order to get as far as they could as quickly as possible. As St. Vincent is the northernmost island within the Grenadines and COVID-restrictions meant that we could not spread out to

Wearing masks and eye protection was critical while the volcanic ash filled the air in the Grenadines.

neighboring countries, everyone headed south for Mayreau, Union and the Tobago Cays, but no one was able to escape the continuous deposit of ash.

We headed for the Tobago Cays and hunkered down with a dozen other boats.

Conditions, however, weren’t much better; the air was hard to breathe as the ash settled in our eyes, noses and mouths.

Every morning we would wake up to a

thick, white haze that hid any surrounding detail from view, and everyone would be out scrubbing down their decks from the new layer of ash that had accumulated overnight. By the end of the fifth day, we saw our first sunset and scattering of stars in the sky, indicating that conditions were starting to improve. Finally, a wind shift redirected the ash, and sent the plume away from us. Seven days after the eruption, we were finally able to look out on the surrounding islands that make up the Tobago Cays and appreciate that they were finally visible again. Our white bubble of ashy haze had finally broken.

It has been an exceptionally unusual week, and for many people, it has resulted in a significant disruption. Entire families have been evacuated from St. Vincent to other islands throughout the Grenadines and beyond. Canceled flights, disrupted ferry schedules, and confusing entry and exit procedures are presenting significant issues for cruisers and tourists. Those who are in transition must rush to find alternate options, and those of us who remain can only hope that La Soufriere settles and the winds continue in our favor. —Kia Koropp

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Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World By Andrea Pitzer (2021,

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Scribner; $29) Ice. Desolation. The sea. For some people like me, this collection of words attached to a story makes it irresistible.

Icebound is about William Barents, a Dutch explorer who at the end of the 16th century tried to go over the top of the world to reach China via what was then thought to be a warm polar sea. He and his small crew sailed from Amsterdam in a 60-foot wooden sailing ship with a 16-foot beam stuffed with trading goods, and the food, tools and clothing needed for a voyage, only to end up at a desolate, rocky island hemmed in by ice and lousy

with polar bears. Their exploits were recorded for posterity in a mate’s journal.

Though he failed to find a trading route, his name is assigned to a northern sea and to the astounding feats of his men, who ultimately made their way 1,600 miles in open boats to get back home after being shipwrecked well beyond the edge of where humanity lived, pre-dating the accomplishment of Ernest Shackleton’s men in their open-boat journey out of Antarctica by more than 300 years.

Beyond being a sailing disaster story, Icebound is about using tools of navigation such as the astrolabe to measure the sun’s height above the horizon, and an hourglass and a ship’s clock to record time passing above the Arctic Circle, where the sun can’t be depended on to measure it.

Barents and his men started out with more understanding about Earth’s shape and movements than I would have thought, and the careful, in-depth observations of the world they made during their travels, coming on the cusp of Europe’s great scientific awakening, helped them survive and led to their being confirmed as heroes even though they failed in their ultimate quest. —Ann Hoffner

The Hitchhiker in Panama by Liz Alden (Liz Alden, 2021; $14.99) Looking for an escapist read that even includes some sailing and will make you long for the cruising life? This debut novel by circumnavigating sailor Liz Alden covers all those bases, and is a really fun (and steamy!) read. The story follows a young Aussie woman on a backpacking trip in Panama. With a goal of catching a ride through the Panama Canal, she connects with the cruising community and scores a line-handler position aboard a yacht that’s heading to the Pacific. Will the handsome sailor aboard that boat convince her to stay?

Or should she continue on her planned solo adventure? —Jennifer Brett

© Photo Arnaud Rizon

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proposed Trans-Isthmus Corridor project across Mexico would connect the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean by rail and highway, which could serve as an alternative to the Panama Canal. When completed, cruisers could potentially haul out and truck their boat the relatively short distance from one side of the isthmus to the other.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is urging approval to build transportation along the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Nearly 190 miles across, the isthmus is the narrowest landmass in Mexico. Cargo companies and private-vessel owners view the proposed project as an overland alternative to the Panama Canal, which many cruisers know can be intimidating, expensive, lengthy and sometimes dangerous.

Mexico sees the Panama Canal as

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a monopoly, and this project as an opportunity to help customers with a new route to save time, distance and, potentially, money. By avoiding the canal route, the distance saved could be up to 1,000 nautical miles in either direction, although any cost savings is undisclosed at this time.

The project would include a modern railway and highway to connect the Port of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca’s state on the Pacific with the Port of Coatzacoalcos in the state of Veracruz on the Gulf.

Mexico envisions this project as a source of new jobs and increased competitiveness for its economy; it includes wind energy, business parks, telecommunications and services for the region.

However, it is not without its critics, which include human-rights groups and environmental organizations. President Lopez Obrador cites a focus on helping the Indigenous people and the economy while protecting the environment—a tall order for a project of this size and complexity. If approved, the world will

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be watching to see that construction treads lightly because this region has one of the highest concentrations of biological species on Earth.

Historically, the isthmus was first used to haul ships by rail in 1907 when the American Hawaiian Steamship

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A PANAMA CANAL ALTERNATIVE

Company pulled its cargo vessels across on the Tehuantepec National Railway, carrying passengers and sugar from Hawaii to New York. This use ended due to politics between the US and Mexico, the Panama Canal opening in 1914, and World War I. If this project is right for Mexico’s people and economy, let us hope that it will set a standard for major projects globally by also protecting Indigenous people and the environment. —Michael Manchak

3 2

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A PRE-PROVISIONING MEAL

LYNDA MORRIS CHILDRESS

I’m not sure which I prefer more: organizing and stowing food supplies after a major provisioning run, or trying to make a fabulous dinner from meager supplies the night before a restock. Either way, the only thing better than eating dinner on the boat, surrounded by stunning water views, is cooking a tasty meal on board. § Summer dinners are always better on our Hunter 31, Katie 3, when we’re cruising Canadian waters from Burlington Bay to Rockport, Ontario. One evening when provisions were low, the dinner dance began. I searched every storage locker as well as the bowels of the icebox to see what Katie 3 would surrender for one last pre-provisioning meal. I placed the seemingly incompatible ingredients on the counter and contemplated the best course of action. In the end, grilled vegetables and pasta seemed the most palatable possibility.

Who knew this quick and easy dish would become one of our regular favorites? —Colleen Ellison-Wareing

Cook’s Note If your galley gives up a leftover cooked protein, you can add sliced beef, pork or chicken to the mix.

Just add to pan for long enough to reheat the meat.

Fill a large pot with water for pasta, and heat. Meanwhile, slice the red pepper into 1/4-inch strips. Slice jalapeño or banana pepper and onion into rings. Peel and smash garlic, and cut cloves into 4 pieces. Lightly oil a grill pan or large, nonstick sauté pan, and turn heat to medium-high.

When pan is hot, place the red pepper strips, jalapeño/banana peppers, and onions on first.

Allow to cook and char slightly, for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, and sauté. Put pasta in boiling water to cook. Move peppers, onion and garlic to the side of the pan, and place artichokes in the center. Cook, turning 2 or 3 times, until lightly browned.

Drain pasta. Immediately add the uncooked spinach, stir to wilt, and then salt and pepper to taste.

Swirl with olive oil, to taste, and toss. Add hot sauce, if using.

Add pasta to grill/sauté pan, and toss with grilled vegetables to combine. You can serve this right from the pan. Plate and then top with grated cheese, if you have any left.

P R E PA R AT I O N : AT A N C H O R TIME: 30 MINUTES D I F F I C U LT Y : E A S Y

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Olive oil ounces dried penne pasta medium red pepper 2-inch jalapeño pepper or 1 small, mild green banana pepper small red onion cloves garlic 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained Handful fresh baby spinach Salt and pepper, to taste A few dashes hot sauce (optional) Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

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COLORFUL PEPPERY PASTA

O n Wa t c h Crimping on a connector and saying ‘good enough’ doesn’t cut it if you want the electrical connection to still be conducting when you return to safe harbor.

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thinking of getting a holster for my ohm meter. I’m surrounded by bad electrical connections.

Part of the problem is that Ganesh, our 43-foot French-built ketch, grows ever more complicated electrically, with burglar and bilge alarms, automatic anchor lights, and 5-volt USB charging outlets springing up from the bilge like weeds. Yes, I attempt to keep our vessel simple. Despite this, we now carry 12 computer hard drives and three DSLR cameras, each of which is stowed in a humidity-controlled environment. Worse, we have more Apple products than a floating orchard. But our laptops, tablets and mobile communication equipment, along with our cameras and digital-storage devices, allow us to be digital waterborne sailing nomads, as Carolyn likes to

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T Armed with instruments, tools and fasteners, the Cap’n is ready for whatever havoc Ganesh’s electrical system is ready to dole out.

here are two situations that accelerate vessel maintenance: one, using your sailboat too much, and two, using it too seldom. For the past six decades of living aboard, I’ve erred on the too-active side of this equation. During the past 20 years of our cruising lives, my wife, Carolyn, and I have averaged between 5,000 and 8,000 ocean miles annually. That’s a lot of wear and tear on our sails, chafe on our running rigging, and hours on our Perkins diesel. Now, totally unexpectedly, we find ourselves staying put, tethered to a mooring at the Changi Sailing Club in Singapore due to the new normal of COVID-19 international-travel restrictions.

The result is, simply put, electrical issues. That’s right—I used to wear a rigging knife, but now I’m

say. Not only are we able, but we’re required, to keep in touch in order to earn our living daily in the far corners of our planet.

Another contributing factor electrical-wise is our abhorrence of marinas. We just don’t like the trailer-park lifestyle, even afloat. Plus, the meanest trailer park in America doesn’t pack its residents toe-rail-to-toe-rail as tightly as a posh marina in Monte Carlo. Thus, we’re always on our own hook or hanging on a mooring ball, which has the additional benefit of being able to pivot into the wind, eliminating the need for electrical air conditioning. (Thank God for wind scoops!)

Needless to say, we have to share our natural resources. Currently, in Singapore, we are joined in our Changi anchorage—actually, it’s just a bulge in a constricted commercial waterway—by moored yachts, passing fishing boats, cargo ships, ferries, entire fleets of government craft, cruise ships, and international warships from numerous nations. My point? We regularly get wakes—big ’uns. Often they slop on deck, and more than once we’ve had salt spray bound aboard through our fore, midship or aft deck hatches.

We regularly roll from rail to rail. This is the price we pay for living almost for free in the most expensive, most sophisticated city nation on our planet.

CAROLYN GOODLANDER

I used to wear a rigging knife, but now I’m thinking of getting a holster for my ohm meter.

salt continually, but they’re occasionally struck by exploding seas as well. And they come from the factory with short wires but are mounted a long way from our batteries. This means that they have to be connected to each other and the vessel’s electrical system in such a manner that they (hopefully) function for long spans of time.

And whose job is this? Well, at our income level, it’s mine, and over the

Crimping on a quality connector is a good first step, for instance, but sealing it is the real challenge. Don’t forget: When two pairs of wires are joined, not only is a firm connection necessary, but each crimp needs to be moisture-proof, and negatives and positives must, of course, be kept separated.

Think about this real-life challenge: When I bought her, all of Ganesh’s mast wires had been cut to remove the main

I’ve used a variety of ways to keep power flowing: marine-grade crimp connectors, soldering and, occasionally, twisting and taping. boil them in a mild acid solution as well.

The unfortunate result is, as my wife Carolyn jokes, “Christmas year-round.”

Our cabin lights blink on and off—and then don’t function at all.

Luckily, I’m a regular Sherlock Holmes of bad electrical connections. I can sniff them out either by testing for voltage or checking for continuity. The trick is to remember that electrons don’t just have to arrive at our 12-volt devices, but they also have to return to the other post of the battery to complete the circuit. To put it another way, it’s not just the two wires that deliver power to, say, our depth sounder that must be in solid contact with our main battery bank; it is the entire circuit that must be making contact. Think battery terminal, monitor shunt, main battery switch, terminal block, panel switch, fuse or circuit breakers on the positive side, plus any surprises on the negative ground side as well. (Note: This is a best-case simple example; many branching and rebranching circuits on Ganesh are far more confusing!)

Of course, a circuit, like an anchor chain, is only as good as its weakest link.

Let’s consider our nine mismatched solar cells. Obviously, they’re outside.

That means they’re not only misted with

In port, a regular maintenance routine includes a weekly check of engine fluids before starting the diesel to see how it’s running.

years, I’ve used a variety of ways to keep power flowing: marine-grade crimp connectors, soldering and, occasionally, twisting and taping. The latter is crude but cheap, and works—for a brief while.

But the problem isn’t connecting the wires; it is keeping them connected or, to put it another way, to prevent the intrusion of those dreaded salt crystals that lead to corrosion.

and mizzen spars. I could have spent the time and money to fix this correctly, but I sailed around the world instead. Am I sorry I did this? Not really. I have only a few dollars and a limited amount of time. I don’t want to squander too much working on a boat that I could be sailing.

But back to my wiring example. Mast wires are located in a very active and very damp part of the boat. The masts

CAROLYN GOODLANDER

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Here, there’s a long fetch to both the west and northeast, and a strong tidal current is a factor as well. And while the winds are generally light, the nor’easterlies during winter are brisk and the summer squalls severe. And we’re often tide-bound and sitting sideways to the seas in a heavy haze of tropical salt spray.

Actually, as challenging as this sounds, we love this place. It’s like living in a three-ring aquatic circus. Something exciting is happening every second, day and night, just outside our portholes.

However, as much as we’re enjoying our salt-laden environment, our electronic doodads aren’t. The aforementioned haze of tiny specks of sea salt eventually settle on every surface of Ganesh. Worse, salt is hydroscopic, and the warmer the temperature, the greater the effect. Not only do these drifting salt molecules attract water to all our wires and electrical connections, but they also bathe and

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Wire, wire everywhere, and still, Carolyn needs to find more of it to keep up with Ganesh’s ever-more-complex electricity needs.

dancy of techniques. So, back to the mast wires again. If I’m using a crimp connector, I use liquid tape to seal each wire into the connector once crimped. Then I add a heat-shrink tube over the top of that, and another, longer heat-shrink tube to cover the first. Thus, I have three physical barriers against moisture absorption. Enough? Probably. But on certain critical wires, I don’t stop there.

Of course, I attempt to use quality marine components such as tinned, double-insulated marine-grade 12-gauge stranded wire. But I’d be lying if I told you that I’m as careful wiring a cabin fan as I am our GPS, bilge pump or starter motor.

While in cruising mode, I find it relatively easy to keep everything humming electrically. I just slowly fix, fix, fix

until it is all good, then immediately deal with anything that ceases to function.

However, if I’m not in cruising mode, things gradually deteriorate without me realizing it.

The way I deal with this is by having a weekly, monthly and quarterly maintenance routine, in addition to our normal haulout-work checklist. Every week as I wind my eight-day ship’s clock, I also run the engine and bilge pump, and physically look into the bilge. Before I crank the engine, I check all its fluids, and feel under the transmission and pan for any early signs of leakage.

The moment the engine starts, I check to see if it is pumping raw water, and then I stare at its flow for a while. Does it appear to be pumping the same amount as last time? Is the exhaust gas invisible? If not, white smoke has a different meaning than black. I allow the engine to get up to temperature, then shift it into forward and reverse under mild temporary load to lube the transmission and keep the rear seal moist.

Next, I exercise my electronics by turning them all on and, for example, keying the mic of our SSB, etc. This not only keeps the copper surfaces of the switches clean, but the heat from each device dries out the electronics as well.

On a monthly basis, I spin the anchor windlass and steering wheel, and momentarily engage the autopilot. Ditto our burglar alarm (which is useless in zero-crime Singapore). On a quarterly basis, I check the lower-unit lubrication on our tender’s outboard and basically spin or move everything on the boat, specifically all 12 winches and Monitor self-steering gear. I move and rotate the sheave of every block on board, paying particular attention to aluminum masthead and boom sheaves that can freeze up in the blink of an eye. I also confirm that my bilge float switches are working and check my life rafts for water intrusion.

There’s a great irony here: After a lifetime offshore, not sailing my boat is the only thing I’m uncomfortable with.

But we cruising sailors must embrace change. In a sense, that’s what our lifestyle is all about. An avid sailor by the name of Charles Darwin agrees. To paraphrase his writing: “Adaptation is more important than intelligence.” On a warming planet, while anchored directly below the equatorial sun, this is a life lesson I cannot afford to forget.

Cap’n Fatty Goodlander’s most recent project is to figure out how to remove the bilge pump from the sump under his engine, which he installed when the diesel was out.

GARY M. GOODLANDER

I coat the heat-shrinks with silicone seal, wrap the whole gooey mess with plastic wrap, and then tape it.

Crazy? Yeah. But effective. I’ve had exterior connections such as this last more than a circumnavigation.

Why not solder? I often do. However, soldering on deck in a breeze isn’t easy.

Temperature is critical. If a connection is not hot enough, the contact isn’t good; too much heat, and the insulation melts.

cruisingworld.com

vibrate, the deck flexes, the sun beats down, the rain pours. Yikes! So here’s the bottom line: Crimping on a connector and saying “good enough” doesn’t cut it if you want the electrical connection to still be conducting when you return to safe harbor.

Personally, I live in a practical world with only a handful of pennies, so throwing money at the problem isn’t practical. My solution is to use a redun-

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Way points When we sailed into little Newfoundland outports, folks would come down to the whar f just to stare at our vessel. This was a little disconcerting at first, but we quickly got used to it.

A M Y

F L A N N E R Y

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Re a l l y BEING THERE

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well-traveled friend once told me, “If you haven’t eaten with locals in their home, you haven’t fully experienced a place.”

I used to think all that was required to check a country off your list was to exit the airport for more than 24 hours or step off the boat onto land.

But my friend had a point.

Could one really claim to have been somewhere after simply sightseeing and eating in restaurants? I started ticking off the places I’d visited, and was shocked to realize that by my friend’s standard, I’d hardly been anywhere.

But one can’t just cruise into a new port, knock on someone’s door and declare, “I’m here for dinner!” In most towns, you’d have to spend considerable time and make yourself available to folks for such an opportunity to arise.

However, there is one spot my husband, Ken, and I have cruised where practically all you have to do is show up: Newfoundland (accent on the “land”). It is Canada’s most eastern province and the world’s 16th largest island. It is a mere day’s sail away from the northern tip of Nova Scotia.

We cruised Newfoundland twice over five years, and fully enjoyed really getting to know the people and the place.

From the sea, at a distance, Newfoundland appears to be an impenetrable rock.

Located on a picturesque fjord, the outport of Grey River features a trail to an impressive overlook.

Approaching closer, one can perceive the odd settlement at the base of cliffs, or a great fissure leading to a fjord. It is immense, foreboding, lonely and breathtaking. Sailing up the fjords and then hiking to their tops to take in the view is heavenly. Although Newfoundlanders are often shy at first, they are curious and extremely generous. It doesn’t take long for them to reach out.

During our initial visit, we’d barely stepped off the boat in Channel-Port aux Basques on the southwest corner of the island when Ken and I were offered a giant bagful of mackerel. When we sailed into little outports—the term used for small coastal communities throughout the province, with most of them accessible only by boat—folks would come down to the wharf just to stare

at our vessel. This was a little disconcerting at first, but we quickly got used to it. I’d poke my head out of the companionway and greet whomever was coming to have a look at our “yacht,” Mary T. She’s an old Morgan 38, but we soaked up the moniker. After answering a few questions, mostly related to where we came from and where we were headed, the curious onlookers would launch into soliloquies about their own lives. Nothing inspires storytelling like a new set of ears! One man told us about the open-heart surgery he’d just undergone and even lifted up his shirt to reveal the scar. our first invitation transpired in the town of Francois, pronounced “Fransway.”

Sailing into this outport on the southwest coast is truly magical. Brightly painted homes

are nestled in a semicircle at the base of towering red cliffs.

We had arrived in time for their five-year “come-home” celebration. A party was to be held in the community center that night for all those returning home. The exodus to work in the Alberta tar sands, on merchant ships in the Great Lakes, and in larger towns in Newfoundland emptied these small villages. But no one ever forgot where home was. And here we were, two complete strangers invited to join in the celebration. There was live music, dancing and plenty to drink. The parties don’t really get started until midnight, and we had shown up way too early, but it definitely gave us a taste of local color.

Another encounter of note on that visit occurred in the town of Isle aux Morts (Island of the Dead), just 6 miles to the east of Channel-Port aux Basques. We tucked ourselves behind a sturdy governmentconstructed wharf and set out a spiderweb of lines.

Hurricane Bill was coming, and it seemed the best place to hide. It was only a Category 1 and weakening, so the locals weren’t terribly concerned; they are frequently battered by 60-knot winds in the winter. A man named Tom Harvey pulled his large power cruiser up to the wharf in front of Mary T. He was the descendant of a local family who, in the 1800s, rescued many shipwrecked souls clinging to the jagged rocks littering the waters just offshore.

We gratefully accepted when Tom offered us hot showers at his house. Then we were

KEN KURLYCHEK

B Y

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provided with drinks and snacks. His wife even gave us a jar of pickled herring to go.

Although we didn’t share a full-blown meal, I think that counts. Another local, the dockmaster, drove us to Channel-Port aux Basque for diesel, and shared the town gossip. We were sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell what he said, but there was more controversy in that little port than we’d imagined. He presented us with a jar of stewed moose meat before we parted ways.

We felt embraced.

whatever else I could fit on my plate. In addition to the cornucopia of pork treats, there was a large sheet cake boasting a Photoshopped image of Nate with two scantily clad Brazilian women in carnival garb. I think we were more surprised by it than Nate. As soon as the band struck up, the dancing began. One man played the accordion, and another was on guitar and vocals. Their repertoire ran the gamut from country to polka to zydeco to rock, and it was impressively loud.

on our return to Newfoundland five years later, we sailed along the southwest coast to the town of Grey River. It is up a narrow fjord, the opening of which is invisible until you’re practically on top of it. We spotted a wooden dock at the edge of town and pulled Mary T alongside. At some outports, a dockmaster will appear and collect a small fee ($5 to $10 per night), and sometimes it’s free. It’s all very casual. Eager to explore, we ventured up a path, which led us past the dump and through the cemetery to a platform overlooking the fjord. It was a beautiful sunny day, but eventually the flies won out, and we hightailed it back down.

On our way back to the boat, we encountered some townspeople, and a few minutes into chatting, we were invited to Nate’s 60th birthday party at the lodge that evening. “Of course we’ll come,” I said. Nate didn’t know us from Adam, but that was of no concern to anyone. We cleaned up as best we could and arrived at the lodge earlier than most.

Before the party really got started, one of the lodge members took us upstairs to see the inner sanctum. It was a large, barren, wood-paneled room with a sort of altar at one end containing photographs of important members. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?” he asked. We didn’t know quite what we were looking at nor what to say. With his thick Newfoundland accent, we found it difficult to understand his explanation of the lodge’s history.

Then Ken said brightly, “Well, we have been to an Elks lodge in Maryland.”

The man laughed and asked, “You mean like the Flintstones?”

Downstairs at the party, there were chairs around the periphery and a table at one end for the potluck dishes. John at the general store had told us to be sure to try the pork buns, which are biscuits with salt pork and raisins. I tried one of those and a pork rib, some ham, a chicken wing and

because it was five years since our last visit to Newfoundland, Francois was having its come-home celebration again

Even though we were just visiting, we were invited to a birthday celebration in Grey River (top). A weather station is perched on the rocky southwest coast of Newfoundland (above).

(timing!). When we pulled up to the wharf, the whole town was down by the water for dory races. I tried to sign up, but I was a little too late and couldn’t find a partner because Ken wasn’t interested. A lot of the folks were not accustomed to rowing, so it was a great source of amusement to all.

That afternoon, we attended a talent show in the community center. People sang and read poetry. One man sang a song about how everyone was moving away from the little Newfoundland outports in the wake of the declining

fisheries so the towns were closing down.

I looked around and saw most of the audience wiping away tears. One woman near me who couldn’t stop crying nodded at me and said, “That’s how it is.”

I was in the small grocery store a little later, scouring the aisles and pushing one of the tiny carts that no one ever seemed to use. Most people just shopped for a few items at a time. A young couple looked at me with the cart and laughed. I smiled.

They asked where I was from. “We used to live in Washington, D.C., but we’ve been living on our boat for several years.”

“That’s cool,” the man said. “I’m from Halifax, but my girlfriend is from Francois. I bought a house here with another friend.

The purple one down by the water.” He made a gesture in the general direction. “We’re having a party tonight, before the big one at the community center. C’mon over.”

“Thanks! We will.”

I couldn’t wait to tell Ken. We were invited to a pre-party with all the cool people! It was being held in the fishing shack behind the purple house, which had been transformed into party central with festive lights and a bar.

Wow! We learned from our host, Greg, that he’d paid only $7,000 for the house and fishing shack. I couldn’t believe it. Now I wanted to buy a house in Newfoundland!

Everyone was having such a good time catching up with old friends and relatives that it took a lot to get us all motivated to go to the big party at the community center. It was bustling when we arrived. We drank and danced with many partners until 2 a.m., which is way past our bedtime.

Finally we dragged ourselves out, wended our way back to Mary T, and climbed into the V-berth. We did not want to get up in the morning, which is how everyone else in Francois felt that day. We knew because we were really there.

Thank you, Newfoundlanders, for giving so much of yourselves and allowing us to know you. Now it’s no longer enough to sail into a new port and just provision, sightsee, and meet other cruisers. A new bar has been set. We mustn’t leave until we’ve dined with the locals. So set your tables, folks. Ready or not, here we come!

Amy Flannery and Ken Kurlychek are currently sticking close to home in Bradenton, Florida, and cruising the Gulf coast as they await an end to the pandemic. They hope to return to Newfoundland in summer 2022.

KEN KURLYCHEK (2)

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Special Report They have won, defended, lost, and re-won the America ’s Cup—an astounding record for a nation with fewer people than Minnesota.

B Y

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t is a common misconception that the first America’s Cup—a race around the Isle of Wight way back in 1851—was a fair-minded head-to-head contest between Great Britain’s single-best sailboat and the schooner America. In fact, Great Britain fielded 14 vessels—sloops, schooners, and cutters, large and small—in the belief that certainly one of the fleet would excel in whatever the day’s conditions and send the Yanks home properly humbled.

A L V A H

S I M O N

A S P E C TAC L E Li k e No O T H E R On the appointed day, the Royal Yacht was positioned to watch Britain’s champion steaming toward the swelling crowds at the finish line.

Queen Victoria asked her tender, “Are the yachts in sight?”

“Only the America, may it please Your Majesty.”

“Which is second?”

“Ah, Your Majesty, there is no second.”

With those historic words, the defining nature of the America’s Cup was cemented: winner-take-all, all advantage to the defender, and no hold be barred.

For the next 132 years (the longest winning streak in sporting history), the New

York Yacht Club, through various (some would say nefarious) means, maintained its hold on the coveted Cup both in court and on the water.

It wasn’t until 1983 that upstart Australian Alan Bond arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, with a controversial winged keel to burgle the cherished chalice away. After the Aussies successfully won the Cup but then lost it to Dennis Conner in 1987, there were some radical changes. A rogue challenge in 1988 from Kiwi

COURTESY ACE/STUDIO BORLENGHI (2)

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before the team and Cup went on a national ticker-tape tour.

They have since won, defended, lost, and re-won the America’s Cup—an astounding record for a nation with fewer people than Minnesota.

But the reason for this is not solely their sailing and tactical skills. From the beginning, the America’s Cup has been a contest of innovation, a point that its critics continue to misunderstand. Huddled in their secret lairs, each team, within broad guidelines, develops and constructs what they believe to be the fastest craft possible.

As Conner once said: “The America’s Cup has always been a design contest. We race because that’s the only way to keep score.”

Sometimes guidelines are too broad; we have witnessed giant monohulls pitted against sleek catamarans, tris versus

cats, alloy opposing the first GRP hull. In the end, simply put, the fastest boat wins.

There can be up to four years of suspense as to which boat that is, only to be revealed at the first cross of the first race.

The New Zealanders have become notorious for thinking outside the box. This is best illustrated by the 2013 San Francisco AC, which featured 76-foot catamarans specifically designed to preclude foiling.

The Kiwis discovered that if they handled their vessel just so, they could pop up on the foils and dash away at speeds best left for the highway. Alas, they couldn’t keep the cat in the bag, and their competitors too soon emulated that innovation.

Next came the AC50 class in Bermuda in 2017, where they turned tradition upside down with thick-thighed cyclers replacing the bulging

Riding high on their foils, Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa engage in high-speed, close-quarter jousting in the starting box (opposite). Seemingly every boat in Auckland is on the water and ready to serve as escort to Team New Zealand and their support boats.

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better than your Kiwis.”

To the average Kiwi, the America’s Cup is not a matter of life and death. It is far more important than that. Unlike campaigns that arrive with a billionaire sugar daddy in tow, Team New Zealand has had to go hat-in-hand seeking funding from the government, small private businesses, and even the general public via bake sales and sausage sizzles. Their 1995 Cup challenge was substantially funded by a national movement to buy and wear red socks, all proceeds going directly to the nation’s campaign.

After a couple of tutorial attempts, in 1995, Team New Zealand’s Black Magic, led

by Sir Peter Blake, bettered Dennis Conner’s Young America to finally guzzle celebratory champagne from the Auld Mug. The nation shut down for days of celebration

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banker Sir Michael Fay led to a crazy Cup match between Fay’s 90-foot “Big Boat” and Conner’s zippy catamaran.

The cat prevailed, but the Cup would never be the same.

Enter the mouse that roared: New Zealand.

This is a small nation that, as they proudly claim, “punches above its weight.”

The entire country’s sense of well-being rises and falls with the fortunes of its rugby players and sailors. And those fortunes have been amazingly good. If not herded onto the rugby pitch for a battering, the average Kiwi child was launched into wind-churned waters in clunky little P-Class dinghies to learn the ropes of sailing. This cultural penchant has produced so many sailing superstars that the boast for the past several America’s Cups has been, “Our Kiwis are

Henry, was on the hard, and I did not want to stop work for even a cup of coffee. But on the first day of the Christmas Regatta, which would feature that first cross mentioned before, I dropped tools and rushed off to the nearest yacht club to bear witness. From that first starting gun on, for the next three months, the racing schedule dictated mine.

And I was not alone. The national television station, TV1, aired every race live, and

throughout the city.

It was an event highlighting great sport, but perhaps more important, great sportsmanship—not a quality often associated with the AC. During the Prada Cup, when American Magic’s Patriot shot up into the air and crashed down wounded and sinking, one might have heard the screams and groans from coast to coast. Luna Rossa’s chase boat dashed to the scene. Team New Zealand launched several boats full of

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biceps of the grinders.

That shock paled against their winning declaration that the next AC would feature foiling monohulls. The international press went apoplectic.

“It can’t be done,” they opined. “It is too dangerous having sharp foils protruding like blades on the wheels of a Roman chariot.” “It will be a one-lane drag race and the death of match racing.” “Stick a fork in it. The America’s Cup is done!”

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Boisterous crowds swarm Aukland’s waterfront to watch the racing—and then to cheer on Emirates Team New Zealand when they successfully defend the Cup.

Had it indeed been “done,” it would have been COVID-19 to blame, not the class design or format. With tens of millions of dollars invested, the organizers found themselves in the situation best described as “build it and they can’t come.” International warmup races in Italy and England were canceled in 2020. The New Zealand government, desperate to mitigate the financial losses to themselves and Auckland businesses, took plenty of political heat by easing border restrictions for all the incoming teams and support crew, as well as their families, superyachts, and sponsors.

And so, in December, it was finally game on—and, oh, what a game it was! My boat, Roger

it was free to view. They hung in with filler commentary through every wind delay, and however long those pauses, the nation did not turn away.

Flags of support for American Magic, INEOS Team UK, Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand rippled across the land. Personalities loomed large or laconic, with nicknames such as Pitbull Jimmy Spithill and Pistol Pete Burling.

In short, it was a sporting spectacle, offering joy and relief to a pandemic-beleaguered nation and, I suspect, large portions of the world. A world that could have only marveled at the mass of unmasked yet safe crowds that were spilling out of Auckland’s Viaduct basin into bars and restaurants

pumps, flotation devices, tow ropes and restraining nets in a desperate attempt to save Patriot. A thoughtful Team New Zealand shore hand sent out a boatload of hot pizzas to warm and nourish the shocked and exhausted crew of the damaged yacht. It was a long and harrowing night for all the teams.

The next day, American Magic’s leader, Terry Hutchison, almost broke into tears of gratitude as he thanked his competitors for their selfless and sporting gestures.

Patriot did manage to get back out on the water, but sadly, not in a competitive condition.

My Kiwi wife, Diana, and I went down to the Viaduct basin in Auckland to soak up the electric atmosphere. When

Luna Rossa exited its base bay to head out for a day of competition, massive speakers bellowed out melodramatic opera music. The crowd went wild as banners proclaiming “Italia, e il nostro destino” waved.

Then Emirates Team New Zealand slipped their lines.

The cheers were deafening as they weaved their way through a spectator fleet that would have rivaled the Dunkirk evacuation. Modern gladiators, departing for battle, a field of flags fluttering, deafening cheers, stirring music, with the spectacular Hauraki Gulf as a modern Colosseum. Then all eyes turned to one of the many Jumbotron screens, anticipating a day of drama.

And the racing itself? Well, fear not for the death of match racing. In one edge-of-yourseat race, there were nine lead changes. The traditional dial-ups were frightfully aggressive. A smugly comfortable lead of 4 minutes turned into a humiliating defeat of the same duration for Luna Rossa. These amazing futuristic machines rose up out of the ocean and reached speeds that seemed to defy the laws of physics, topping out at an astonishing 53 knots. And yet we never got to see the top end of their potential because the winds remained frustratingly light until the day after the final race. Old advice to any entertainer: Always leave them wanting more. And I do.

With Team New Zealand successfully defending the Cup, they have declared that the next regatta will be held in further iterations of the AC 75 monohull design. We can’t know exactly where or how far we are to go on this foilingdesign path. But I end with the notion that the old song by Rod Stewart prophesied this era with these paraphrased words: “We are sailing, we are sailing,” which segues into, “We are flying. We are flying, ’cross the sea, to be free.”

Alvah Simon, now a New Zealand transplant, and his wife, Diana, are CW contributing editors.

COURTESY ACE / STUDIO BORLENGHI

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AFTER TWO DAYS of air travel from Port of Spain, Trinidad,

WHERE TO BEGIN? So many amazing life experiences had

a layover in Paramaribo, Suriname, then to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, our motion finally came to a halt. The airport shuttle stopped in the arts district of Amsterdam Noord on a quiet street that ran between the former NDSM shipyard and a waterfront canal. My husband, James Burwick, our five kids, and our driver off-loaded bags out of the van onto a sidewalk next to docks adjacent to the Rhebergen Multihull Yachts yard. Sweet-smelling summer wildflowers taller than my three youngest children stretched along the verge; the sun was shining, butterflies fluttered, and bees were buzzing.

On the ground next to us, our entire lives were packed into four duffel bags, one tool bag and a camera bag. The kids each carried a backpack with their personal belongings. We told them they could bring from our former boat, an Open 40 called Anasazi Girl, to our new yacht—a completely different one in almost every way— anything they could fit into bags and carry on their backs.

We looked through the chain-link fence. All of us were wild with excitement as we stared at the big white trimaran floating on the canal with blue Victron Energy logos on the amas and the name Sound of Silence on the hull. There before us was our new home and sailboat.

It was late June 2019 when we’d found her: a Peter Bosgraafdesigned Gaviota 49 cruising tri. The seven of us had been living aboard Anasazi Girl like sardines at Crews Inn Marina, in Trinidad’s port of Chaguaramas. Over a year had passed since we had made any significant sailing passages.

On so many fronts, things were about to change dramatically.

unfolded in the five years since breaking Anasazi Girl’s mast in the Southern Ocean in 2014. After more than two years of hard work in the high latitudes of South America, we’d successfully earned the funds needed to pay for the replacement rig and cost of the epic transport from Watsonville, California, to Puerto Williams, Chile. During our dismasted period, we became residents of Chile, formed a Chilean LLC for our marine services, yacht brokerage and photo business, and I gave birth to my fourth child, Tarzan.

Miraculously, Buzz Ballenger’s alloy rig and two pallets of equipment and sails had arrived safely and undamaged. With the help of the Armada de Chile—the Chilean navy—we successfully stepped the replacement rig on the existing carbon mast stump in November 2016.

After sea trials in the Beagle Channel and completing our voyage prep list, we were ready to depart. In March 2017, we sailed with our family along the entire Atlantic coast of South America from the Beagle Channel to the Caribbean Sea. Our four kids—Tormentina, Raivo, Pearl and Tarzan—were ages 8, 6, 4 and 11 months, respectively, when we departed.

While en route from Rio to the Caribbean, we crossed our old track from 2011 off the coast of Recife, completing our circumnavigation with our two oldest kids. A milestone.

From July 2017, when we arrived in Grenada, to March 2018, we did a refit and delivery, as well as a brokerage project that allowed our family to keep sailing on a bigger boat: a Kiwiowned, Chuck Paine-designed Bougainvillea 62. We took the

Daughter Tormentina, the eldest of six very active children, commanding the dinghy off the coast of Brazil.

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Bougainvillea halfway down the coast of South America, from the Caribbean Sea to Rio de la Plata, off the south coast of Uruguay. The vessel was sold underway to a buyer we showed the boat to in Salvador, Brazil. Our bags were rolling down the dock two days after arriving in Punta del Este, Uruguay, and we were soon en route by buses and planes back to Chile.

Our kids are exceptional athletes, so after the delivery, we invested in private rock-climbing and surfing lessons with pro instructors. The kids climbed in the mountain towns of El Chalten, Argentina, and Puerto Natales, Chile, and learned how to surf the waves surrounding the famous Chilean break at Punta de Lobos. We dealt with residency papers, Chilean taxes, drivers’ license renewals, our LLC, and reporting Tarzan’s birth to the US Consulate so he could get a US passport in addition to his Chilean one.

By the end of May 2018, business was in order, we were back in the Caribbean for hurricane season, and I was pregnant with our fifth child. We stayed aboard Anasazi Girl, now tied up at Camper & Nicholson’s Port Louis Marina in St. George’s, Grenada. The marina’s high-speed, on-the-dock cable internet made working in our virtual offices efficient. We carefully lived on the income from the Bougainvillea and my photo sales, keeping constant watch on any tropical systems that might force us to move south to Trinidad.

Port Louis Marina facilities were clean and secure, with an

always interested parties, nothing serious materialized. With no sailing voyages planned and our funds slowly disappearing, it was not long before we began mentally rotting in port.

In October 2018, James flew to the Netherlands and France to help a client from Brooklyn inspect several boats, one of which he purchased. The funds from the sale provided us with just enough of a budget to fly to Chile and back for the birth of our daughter Jade that December. Like Tarzan, she held dual US/ Chilean nationality. Afterward, James got a job managing the refit of a Chris White-designed Atlantic Cat 55 in Chaguaramas, and we returned to Trinidad.

The project was estimated to take two months. We were totally unsure how we could pull it off aboard Anasazi Girl with seven people—after all, the boat had originally been designed for solo and shorthanded adventures—but decided we would make it work.

On arrival to Trinidad in February 2019, we relaunched the boat and got a monthly berth at Crews Inn Marina. Trinidad’s crime statistics seemed worse than two years previously. Despite many invitations from local friends to do activities outside the marina, we stayed mainly in the marina bubble. The facility provided us with on-site security, a pool, a fitness center, a couple of restaurants and a grocery store.

That year, there was also a drastic increase of Venezuelan immigrants seeking refuge in Trinidad. With sadness, we read

There’s no question that our son Tarzan has a very fitting name (left). Here, at age 3, he bounded over Thunderbird’s crossbeam at the Rhebergen Multihull Yachts’ dock in Amsterdam. Brother Raivo, at 9, was already an accomplished sailor, shown here showing off his Dyneema ropework (middle) and tending to the mast on the Netherland’s Makermeer Lake (right). Eleven-year-old Tormentina, with 8-month-old Jade, enjoyed the street art in Amsterdam’s art district (opposite).

ATM, bakery, restaurants, shops and various marine businesses on the property. Six on the boat was tight, but after caring for someone else’s vessel and renting funky short-term housing in South America, it was nice to be back in our own space. We appreciated the low-maintenance and functional simplicity of Anasazi Girl. Lack of indoor space was balanced with a full-time, active outdoor life.

The kids wanted to surf bigger waves and climb higher-grade stone routes. They got strong, lean and fit, swimming laps in the pool, in inland freshwater holes, and snorkeling and freediving at Grand Anse Beach. The island was an excellent backdrop for creating outdoor and active kids’ imagery aimed at the photo department of a longtime supporting client, Patagonia Inc. Because we had one more on the way, James was constantly working and scouring the internet for a bigger boat. Our circumnavigation was over. Thanks to the kindness of the owners of the Bougainvillea, we had been fortunate to prolong the gift of sailing with the family a bit longer, but now our sailing days seemed finished. Anasazi Girl was on the market, and though there were

about the desperation and exploitation they experienced on both sides of the border. We met many Venezuelans waiting outside the port’s immigration and customs clearance offices.

With delicacy, we asked what was happening. Some were more open than others about sharing their experiences. We watched as they stocked up on basic life necessities such as rice, flour, toothpaste, diapers, toilet paper, salt and sugar before heading back to Venezuela with supplies.

All these encounters made us feel grateful. Despite whatever hardships we personally experienced in our lives, the reality was we were so fortunate and privileged. Lack of personal space was nothing. We had work, freedom and the ability to feed our kids.

BY THE END of June 2019, the first phase of the Atlantic 55 refit

was coming to a close. And we were all ready for a change. The seven of us living in a such a small space was bordering on ridiculous. I am sure the other marina guests thought we were nuts.

We loved our Finot-Conq Open 40. She had allowed us to make a truly memorable circumnavigation with our older kids, especially

Peter Bosgraaf designed the custom-built cruising trimaran for a Dutch businessman named Willem Woestenburg, who fanatically sailed a Farrier 31 trimaran with his son, Rob. When Woestenburg hit the jackpot in the stock market, he decided to build a bigger tri with the same folding principle.

Bosgraaf had just designed two smaller trimarans, so Woestenburg commissioned him to design his 49-foot tri.

A Dutch woodworker/boatbuilder named Fred Winter built the boat at Woestenburg’s metals and hydraulic factory. Woestenburg’s factory team fabricated all of the hydraulics and metalwork for the boat. Winter, along with Rob Woestenburg, worked on all the construction and interior. The folding system works just like the small Farrier systems, but due to the weight, hydraulic cylinders were added to control folding from behind the wheel.

The boat was built out of strong plank, which was widely being promoted by a boatbuilder in the Netherlands at the time.

Strong plank uses PVC foam-cored strips

A FREEDOM MACHINE CALLED THUNDERBIRD with fiberglass sheathing around those strips.

Due to the stiffness of the battens, it takes the minimal amount of building frames to set up the hull. Once the hull is sheathed with the strips, only one or two layers of fiberglass cloth is sufficient to obtain a stiff hull.

After the boat was launched in 1998 and named Gaviota, Woestenburg did not get to sail much, but his son, Rob, logged some miles on the boat. Financial problems forced him to sell the boat to Reinout Vader a year after it was launched.

Vader is a Dutch physicist who developed a pure sine wave inverter. He is the founder of Victron Energy and developer of the WhisperGen Stirling generator. He renamed the tri Sound of Silence, or SOS. Over the course of 20 years, he sailed to the Caribbean, through the Mediterranean, and in the North Sea. Thunderbird sails fast but is a cruising tri, so she’s a little on the heavy side. She needs approximately 12 knots of apparent wind to really get going. She sails upwind super well. We try to maintain 10 to 13 knots on average, but in the Bay of Biscay and going around Brazil’s Cabo Frio, we saw boatspeeds of up to 17 to 20 knots. James is working now with Bosgraaf to offer for sale a modernized, stripped-out racing version of the boat as a new construction.

FREE BIRDS

the legs in the incredible high latitudes. But the reality now with so many people aboard was that we no longer had the capacity to carry enough food and water to make any long passages.

We were done with being nonsailing liveaboards tied to marinas. We wanted to get our family off the dock, on the hook, and sailing again in a completely different cruising mode.

Because we were seeking minimalism, creature comforts were not so important, but we did want the ability to carry a few things, such as a dinghy, surf boards, a small sailboat, or a couple of kayaks. Adequate water, fuel, food and off-grid capacity were necessities. Pubescent teen years were just around the corner for our oldest kids; more space and privacy would soon be critical.

We mentally struggled. With the refit funds we’d earned, we could instead invest in an undeveloped parcel of land or make a down payment on a fixer-upper commercial property in Chile. It would be a practical thing to give to our kids for the future. We thought hard about it but just could not do it. It did not feel like this would be choosing to live la vida loca.

James was 65, and it felt like our window for sailing together would soon close. For him, there was no “later.” If we did not go now, then maybe we would never voyage as a family again. If we went now, then there was hope that he could pass on whatever

knowledge of seamanship he had to the kids while he was still mentally and physically sharp.

We stopped looking at real estate and dived into an intensive search for a new boat. James found a trimaran in Madagascar and a proa in Australia. The proa was not a vessel we could imagine circumnavigating aboard, but we did see a plausible project of sailing between Australia and Indonesia, a workable scenario where our kids could be full-time surfers.

With the trimaran in Madagascar, we saw the potential for having a really wild cultural experience. I was turned off by the idea of bringing my kids to a place where child-prostitution tourism was prevalent, but the Malagasy history, culture, landscape and unique fauna were all positives. With that vessel, we could do a South Atlantic loop between South Africa, St. Helena and Brazil.

Either way, the reality was that the current condition and seaworthiness of the boats were unknown until we committed to going and looking. Both felt like somewhat of a gamble—in time more than money—and a step down from the incredible sailing machine that we already had. But we had to do something.

Time was ticking; the moment had come to make a change for our family.

Thanks to the Farrier folding ama system (opposite top), the beamy Thunderbird (opposite bottom) is fairly manageable.

Cheaper by the half-dozen? Ha, we wish. The kids gather for a group shot while cruising the coast of Brazil (below).

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Before crossing the Atlantic, Tormentina and Jade chased the waves on Playa del Pozo, Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands (above). Opposite page (left to right): James and I made a conscious decision to give our family the gift of sailing, and Thunderbird is now the vehicle of our dreams. Surf ’s up! Pearl rips across a wave on Famara Beach in the Canaries to celebrate her 7th birthday. Two-hundred bowlines later, Tormentina had the new netting on the tramps all laced up.

JAMES’ FRIENDSHIP WITH SAILORS and marine-industry

pros around the world has always been a great sounding board for problem-solving, ideas and advice. One friend in particular, a Dutch solo multihull sailor named Henk de Velde, told him that he honestly didn’t like either of the boats on our wish list. He knew we did not want a full refit project, that we just wanted to go sailing.

He asked James to wait on moving forward. He thought there might be a boat in the Netherlands that would work for our family. He was sure it was a strong, seaworthy, go-anywhere vessel. He believed we could make a circumnavigation on it, and there would be enough space that we could stretch into it at least for a few years. It was not on the market yet, but he had a hunch that it might be soon.

We waited to hear from him, and true to his word, Henk soon sent us information about a 49-foot trimaran called Sound of Silence (aka SOS). Immediately after seeing photos and reading the specs, we felt like it just might be the perfect boat.

She was a 1996 design but had great lines and appeared to be a

super-sexy-looking sailing machine. Dutch-built, she was made of fiberglass, epoxy and strong plank. Beams were constructed of carbon, glass and aluminum, and she had a carbon mast with Navtec rigging. The tri was just shy of 50 feet long and very wide, over 36 feet, but she had a Farrier folding ama system that shrank the beam to a little less than 20 feet, allowing for ease of haulout, storage and maneuvering in tight spaces.

All living space was in the center hull, and there were three cabins that could fit a total of six crew—still a bit tight for a family of seven but palatial compared with an Open 40. All the systems had top-of-the-line gear, and for certain it felt like we could potentially make a smooth transition from one incredibly cool boat to another.

We were unsure that we could financially pull it off, both in the initial purchase price and the ongoing maintenance. But we had an undeniably good feeling about her. We decided to follow our instincts and pursue it, figuring we had nothing to lose by trying. We asked Henk to go to Amsterdam to inspect the tri for us. Upon returning, he reported that it was in excellent

condition and just needed a little TLC. He sent us updated photos and was certain it was sound enough that we could get on board and start sailing right away.

Trusting him, we made an offer on SOS sight unseen, with the funds from the refit project as a down payment and a loan from the owner of the Atlantic Cat for the remainder (secured with Anasazi Girl as collateral). We were incredibly nervous to live beyond our means but believed somehow we could pull it off until Anasazi Girl sold.

Unbelievably, our offer was accepted. It would be binding, contingent on James’ personal inspection of the boat.

The first week of July 2019, James flew to Amsterdam for two nights to see the boat. He hauled her out, called me, and told me that all the sailing gear looked excellent, functional, and in good condition. The systems on the boat were much more complicated and required a lot more maintenance than Anasazi Girl, but he felt confident we could manage the work or simply not use the systems that were not critical for sailing. After all, we had been “camping” aboard Anasazi Girl for the previous eight years. The well-maintained vessel had only two owners for the past 20-plus years and had been sitting in a freshwater canal most of its life when not at sea. The four separate compartments of the amas were for storage but could potentially become in-port berths for the older kids.

With my approval, he signed the final purchase and sale contract papers, then flew back to Trinidad.

found the boat for us, our friend Colin Dykstra (the owner of the Atlantic 55 who loaned us funds), Bosgraaf for his brilliant design, and to Reinout Vader (founder of Victron Energy and the owner of Sound of Silence) for giving our family the gift of sailing.

Vader allowed us to move aboard before the transfer of funds was complete and offered to go out for a daysail when we were ready. A few days later, funds were dispersed, papers signed and in order, and we were officially the new owners. We renamed the boat Thunderbird. Our first night aboard, my oldest son, Raivo, was so used to sleeping on a hard surface that he got out a camping pad, laid it down and slept on the floor! Not only did we have mega cushions, but we had space, both inside and out.

The creature comforts were a bit overwhelming: a microwave, two-burner induction cooker, freezer and fridge. Hydraulic systems folded and unfolded the amas; lowered and lifted the boom, centerboard and rudder; and controlled the bow-thruster, windless and several winches. Three sources of power generation charged the boat’s lithium batteries: an alternator on the 51 hp Yanmar, a WhisperGen DC generator (serving also as a hotwater and space heater), and eight Solbian 50-watt solar panels.

Wiring was 24-volt, and Thunderbird had a Victron Multiplus inverter for controlling charging and converting to 220-volt AC. We were now in serious pump land, with a big Spectra watermaker, indoor and outdoor shower, 110 gallons of water,

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FREE BIRDS

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We dropped the price of Anasazi Girl to cover the balance of the loan we had taken, and spent a week preparing for haulout, decommissioning and long-term storage. We packed our bags, then booked flights to Amsterdam via Suriname. Our lives were about to seriously change.

NOW HERE WE WERE, teleported from the Caribbean tropics

to the Northern European summer. I’d spent the previous couple of weeks looking with excitement at photos from Henk, the broker, and even an old Google Earth satellite image of the vessel on the dock. Our plane landed two days before my 42nd birthday, and this was an amazing present.

My stomach was filled with joyful anticipation as we walked through the gate. The kids ran down the docks, jumping in pure bliss on the trampolines.

She was impressive. Despite being an older design, Bosgraaf ’s lines made her a classic and timeless beauty. Having no experience with a trimaran, I had no idea how we were going to sail the boat, nor even any idea of how we would move the massively wide beast out of the canal. SOS looked as though she had been parallel-parked like a compact car on a one-way city street into her berth at Rhebergen’s.

All of this we would figure out with time. The reality was we had been given a true gift. We were so grateful to Henk who

158 gallons of diesel, and more than 50-gallon holding tanks.

The navigation system included two modern B&G Zeus 3 chart plotters with AIS and radar; an older B&G processor; and Hydra 2 autopilots, speedos, compass and depth sounders. In our sail quiver was a 968-square-foot main and 538-square-foot jib from North Sails, and a spinnaker and gennaker from Incidences.

We spent the next month in Amsterdam waiting for reflagging, servicing and learning about all the systems of the boat.

Henk gifted us his Rocna 72-pound anchor, which never failed him on his voyages with his trimaran, Juniper. New lettering and graphics were made for Thunderbird. We made our pre-voyage checklists and dived full time into our new project.

We did little tourism, only a token trip to the Rijksmuseum to see all the classics. We ate amazing Dutch bread, baked goods and cheeses, tried bitterballens (a deep-fried Dutch snack) and local beer. Our kids helped us with the workload, balanced with recreational time rowing around in a small dinghy in the canal, climbing fences in the boatyard, running wild on the docks, picking wildflowers, swimming in the canal, foraging for summer berries, and exploring the surrounding neighborhood.

We were most definitely in Amsterdam. Across the canal from us was a cannabis cafe. Along the wharf was Rhebergen’s yard and the NDSM shipyard, which was now converted into a space for a hundred artists of all disciplines. Twice a month, the biggest

flea market in all of Amsterdam (IJ-Hallen) was set up in the open-air outdoor spaces surrounding NDSM. Spray-paint art was encouraged, and we watched artists creating epic murals on the old shipyard buildings, the walls of which were sometimes completely transformed daily.

Though there was a marina in Amsterdam Noord and canal boats everywhere, our location was not within walking distance of all the yacht services and chandleries we needed. For this, we rented a vehicle and went to the port of IJmuiden at the end of the North Sea canal to get needed parts and new netting for our trampolines.

James met with Bosgraaf at his floating design office—a canal houseboat—in downtown Amsterdam. A couple of weeks later, Bosgraaf drove through the canals in a small powerboat he had designed to visit us aboard Thunderbird. He spent an afternoon answering questions and talking about the history of the boat.

Henk visited us weekly at Rhebergen’s and became a surrogate grandfather to my children, always bearing chocolate and local treats. We spent time with Laura Dekker—the Dutch sailor who was the youngest to sail alone around the world, at age 16—who we knew from New Zealand back in our Auckland days; we met

her family, and she taught the kids how to sail a Pico.

Vader took us through the locks and bridge canals to the inland lake of Markermeer for a daysail. We learned the history of how he started Victron Energy, and watched in amazement at how he sailed the tri. “No using hydraulics,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. Tall, fit and lanky at 75, he was still grinding winches with joy and making sail changes.

The US Coast Guard Documentation Center at last emailed us our paperwork, and we were ready to depart after five weeks.

We set sail from Amsterdam in August 2019, making our way through the English Channel to the port of Caen, France. In September, we crossed the Bay of Biscay to the port of La Coruña, Spain, and got approved for a Schengen visa extension.

In October, it was on to the Canary Island of Lanzarote, where the boat was hauled out in preparation for crossing the Atlantic.

Two days after Christmas, we were again on the move, bound for Cape Verde, arriving in São Vicente just after the 2020 new year.

Departing from there the last week of January, we crossed the Atlantic in 10 days, arriving in the port of Cabedelo, Brazil, where we learned we were expecting our sixth child. We sailed south to Salvador de Bahia, Caravelas, and then Vitoria, when

The swinger: Raivo shows no fear whatsoever as he takes a halyard for a spin off the coast of Brazil (below). For now, at least, Thunderbird has enough room for the clan to grab a collective nap, as Tormentina, Raivo, Pearl, Tarzan and Jade did in the English Channel on their first passage aboard from Amsterdam to Caen, France, in August 2019 (opposite).

FREE BIRDS

time with us, to choose their teachers and offer rich life experiences, to expose them to inspiring people, give them a practical understanding of the world, and support their passions.

Sailing is an excellent platform for all these things—and much, much more.

Saving for college educations, lucrative financial investments or a pile of material things is not part of our life goals. All of which would be wonderful to have, but we are just not savvy investors. For us to achieve even some of these things would require both of us working full time plus overtime, a sacrifice of time with each other.

Working really hard and then “gambling” all of it into impossible sailing dreams for the opportunity to experience the world is something we can do, and do together. It feeds our souls. We

Following the birth of Atlas last year, photographer/writer Somira Sao and her family are continuing to explore the coast of Brazil. She writes: “As a family of eight, we participated in the 70th Santos to Rio Race and the 2020 Ubatuba Troféu das Ilhas Race. For us, there are no shortcuts when it comes to learning about sailing. We are doing the miles, moving to a different anchorage every single day.”

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OUR AIM IN RAISING our kids has always been to give them

work and sail and do everything together. What we have is time to invest in our kids now, before they choose their own life paths.

We don’t know everything, but we can teach them what we know and seek out teachers to show them the rest. The hope is they will have the confidence to follow their own outrageous dreams, and understand how to navigate the steps needed to achieve them.

Here in this voyaging life, we operate in our mode of feast or famine. We departed the Netherlands in a state of financial famine, but we felt positive and hopeful. Somehow things have always worked out, much of it having to do with our amazing friendships, leaving a clean wake in every port, and a lot of serendipitous moments.

With Thunderbird, we feast on the sea, the world’s oceans fully open to us. We are officially a family of “rafters” with the ability to cross oceans, now able to live at anchor and get into shallowdraft spaces. What an unreal feeling to once again give our family the gift of sailing, taking with us all the rich things that accompany the life of a voyager.

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the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. We stayed there for almost two months in self-quarantine, doing repairs and maintenance on Thunderbird, awaiting the arrival of a used sail to replace the 20-plus-year-old delaminated main, watching as the early stages of the pandemic unfolded. We then decided to continue south, seeking isolated areas to cruise safely with our family.

While awaiting the birth of our next child, we explored the region between Ilhabela and Ilha Grande. Our son, Atlas, was born in late August of last year.

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F LY, FOILER, JEN EDNEY

Some 50 years after she was originally conceived, the rangy 60-foot trimaran l’Hydroptère’s long journey has brought her to a new home on San Francisco Bay.

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It’s a boat! It’s a bird! It’s l’Hydroptère! Over the course of her long and eventful life, the 60-foot foiling trimaran has endured dramatic highs and lows. Now, under the command of a fresh group of fanatic sailors, she’s gearing up to soar once more.

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the sport of sailing in 2021, foiling is all the rage and has completely revolutionized our game. Catamarans have been foiling in the America’s Cup for nearly a decade and have since spawned an entirely new breed of foiling monohull (see “A Spectacle Like No Other,” page 34).

Partially as a result of these unprecedented investments in foiling technology, the trickle-down has been rapid, widespread and eminently consequential. From the explosion of the foiling Moth dinghy and foiling beach cats and monohulls to the adaptation of hydrofoils on everything from surfboards and SUPs to Vendée Globe solo offshore rockets, kiteboards, and one-design racers—and even some cruising yachts—foiling has touched every aspect of yacht design. However, long before foiling went mainstream, there was one famous French foiling trimaran blazing its own bold path well above the ocean’s surface: l’Hydroptère.

THE HISTORY When the 60-foot l’Hydroptère was originally conceived in the 1970s, she more closely resembled a far-fetched futuristic concept of what a racing sailboat might one day look like than an actual boat.

Compared with the heavy-displacement keelboats of the day, l’Hydroptère appeared to be something off the TV show The Jetsons. Conceived by the godfather of French offshore racing, Eric Tabarly, the initial concept of l’Hydroptère was simple.

With wings riding under the water, the boat could achieve lift and then rise above its surface, thus greatly reducing the boat’s hydrodynamic drag while exponentially increasing its speed potential.

Simply put, the idea was to marry sailing and flight; appropriately, l’Hydroptère’s name is a combination of the Greek word hydros, for water, and the French term, ptère, for wing.

To pioneer the concept of a flying boat isn’t easy, and the many failures—and hard-earned victories—of l’Hydroptère are a testament to this fact. Working in conjunction with the now-dominant design firm VPLP and some of France’s top boatbuilders, project manager Alain Thébault, Tabarly and their collaborators worked through several evolutions of the basic l’Hydroptère concept before

building the boat that would eventually crush world sailing speed records, inspire legions of sailors, and become the subject of sailing folklore.

After beginning with a simple wooden version of the concept in 1976 using a Tornado catamaran hull as the main central hull, by the mid-1980s, the team moved on to small, remote-controlled prototypes, followed by a one-man, onethird-scale flying boat by the early 1990s.

In 1994, the dream literally took flight when a full-scale prototype was hovering well above the water off the coast of France. But in 1995, while sailing at close to 30 knots of boatspeed, l’Hydroptère suffered the structural failure of a port crossbeam and quickly crashed down to the water’s surface. Fortunately, the boat was salvaged and brought back to port.

Half a dozen years later, in 2001, the fourth and final iteration of l’Hydroptère was launched. Almost immediately after hitting the water, its increased speed

TO PIONEER THE CONCEPT OF A FLYING BOAT ISN’T EASY, AS THE MANY EARLY FAILURES PROVED. potential was evident. In 2005, l’Hydroptère sailed across the English Channel at a sustained average speed of nearly 40 knots, eclipsing Louis Blériot’s first record for flying across the English Channel in an airplane in 1909. Two years later, in April 2007, l’Hydroptère sailed into the record books as the fastest sailboat over both 500 meters and 1 nautical mile, earning its first (but not last) World Sailing Speed Record.

RONNIE SIMPSON (2); COURTESY L’HYDROPTÈRE

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IN

With one World Sailing Speed Record firmly in hand, l’Hydroptère now aimed toward an infinitely larger racetrack: the Pacific Ocean. In May 2012, the boat arrived in the port of Long Beach, California, on a container ship to undergo further optimization before embarking on an ambitious record attempt to sail some 2,215 miles to Honolulu, Hawaii.

With consistent trade winds and the long, groomed swells of the Pacific, the Transpac Race course was identified as the best potential venue to prove the concept of flying across an ocean—a goal

well-primed to fly to Hawaii in record time. Unfortunately, the 2012 record attempt was scrapped, and l’Hydroptère was instead moved to the San Francisco Bay area. On the hunt for sponsorship dollars there and in nearby Silicon Valley, l’Hydroptère began preparing for another assault on the Transpac course record the following year in 2013. The record, held by Frenchman Olivier de Kersauson and his crew on board the maxi-trimaran Geronimo, was set at just 4 days, 19 hours, 31 minutes, 37 seconds—certainly a very quick time to cover over 2,000 nautical miles, but it was well within the scope of a big, modern foiling trimaran.

However, the 2013 record attempt was also aborted. Perpetually strapped for cash and seemingly swimming against the tide in many respects, l’Hydroptère wouldn’t set sail for Hawaii until 2015.

That year, with meager funds and their high-profile, rock-star sailors back in

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Now and then: A bird’s-eye view of l’Hydroptère, taken from a drone in Hawaii two years ago, showcases her massive beam (far left). The boat looked like something from another planet in 1994 (below). The saviors (left): Frenchman Gabriel Terrasse and Californian Chris Welch have teamed up to write the tri’s next chapter.

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F L Y, F O I L E R , F L Y !

In December 2008, Thébault and his men peaked at more than 56 knots, briefly, before breaching l’Hydroptère’s foils and then immediately pitchpoling into a capsize. Undaunted, the team came back in 2009 stronger than ever and set another World Sailing Speed Record, this time covering 500 meters at an average speed of more than 51.3 knots of boatspeed with a peak of nearly 59 knots; it was an incredible achievement, and marked the first time a boat officially crossed the near-mythical 50-knot barrier for a sustained period of time. Coincidentally, this 50-knot barrier represents the current speed limit for the America’s Cup and Sail GP catamarans. Any faster, and foil ventilation and cavitation begins to rear its ugly head.

HIGHS AND LOWS Entering a new decade in 2010, Thébault and his men secured another injection of funding for an entirely new adventure.

that l’Hydroptère’s visionary, Tabarly, who had since passed away, had been pursuing since before the early 1980s when he sailed one of the world’s first ocean foilers, Paul Ricard, across the Atlantic and into the record books.

With a crew that included Vendée Globe legends Yves Parlier and Jean le Cam, as well as round-the-world multihull ace Jacques Vincent, l’Hydroptère was

France, l’Hydroptère crossed the starting line with a crew of lesser-known, lessexperienced sailors. Both the team and the weather window proved suboptimal.

Attempting to run downwind in light air, this hydrofoiling reaching monster was relegated to drifting toward the islands at a relative snail’s pace, firmly stuck to the surface of the water. No foiling equals no fun. And certainly no speed record.

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THE BIG TRI WAS ABANDONED IN A SEEDY HARBOR, ON A SAD, DOWNWARD SPIRAL TOWARD DEATH.

on the boat. Owner of the Spencer 65 Ragtime—a veteran of more Transpacs than any other boat in history, and not coincidentally purchased from a police auction—Welsh had some history with massive multihulls as well. He owned Steve Fossett’s old maxi-catamaran Playstation, which had been converted to a powerboat named Cheyenne. Welsh clearly wasn’t afraid to take on an ambitious project with a famous and historic old boat. A prominent West Coast yachtsman who also owns Point Richmond’s commercial Sugar Dock marina, Welsh had both the resources and the vision to bring a boat like l’Hydroptère back to life.

But he wasn’t the only one.

“It was always in my heart to follow this boat,” Frenchman Gabriel Terrasse says.

“I had discovered l’Hydroptère at the Paris Boat Show in 1998, and then I went on the internet to learn more and I could not find anything, so I built a website about the boat. A few months later, the l’Hydroptère team had me build their official web page.” Fast-forward nearly two decades, and Gabriel’s interest in the boat had not dwindled. “In 2016, when the boat was first abandoned and for sale in Honolulu, I thought to buy her, but I was not quick enough. I knew l’Hydroptère had more

right beneath the flight path to the international airport, Keehi is loud, dusty, smelly and incessantly windy. Notorious for its derelict boats, floating meth labs and gross mismanagement, it’s a place where once-great boats go to die. Way in the back, just astern of the two submerged rigs of a sunken ketch, lay one of the fastest sailboats the world had ever seen, on its own downward spiral toward an ignominious death. To a passionate racing and cruising sailor like me, this was about as sad as it gets No doubt about it, l’Hydroptère had hit rock bottom. Which meant there was only one way to go: up.

THE DREAM RENEWED For l’Hydroptère to be rescued and resurrected at this juncture, a savior was required. Luckily for the down-and-out vessel, not one but two such souls miraculously appeared.

“I had first seen l’Hydroptère several years earlier in Southern California while preparing for a Transpac race, and she certainly piqued my curiosity,” says Chris Welsh of Point Richmond, California.

In June 2019, the abandoned l’Hydroptère went up for public auction, and Welsh was on an airplane to Honolulu to look her over more closely and place a bid

New beginnings: a successful Pacific crossing brought l’Hydroptère under the Golden Gate Bridge to her new home (left). Her next mission? To bring smiles and thrills to a fresh, eager crew of speed disciples (above).

inside her, more to accomplish, so when I heard that the boat was up for auction in 2019, I flew to Honolulu to buy her.”

The two competing bidders met the night before the auction. “That is when I first met Gabriel,” Welsh says. “We were both there to buy l’Hydroptère. After talking, we shook hands and decided to team up.” This would prove to be the beginning of a very special, if unlikely, friendship. Welsh says, “With my yard in the Bay Area, it would just be so much easier and cheaper to refit the boat there, so we figured out what she needed to

make the trip, hired a delivery captain, and then spent most of the summer getting the boat ready to sail back to San Francisco.”

A professional racing sailor on the West Coast, Hawaii and Asia, Mike Price was the delivery skipper tasked with getting l’Hydroptère back across the Pacific. “At its worst, l’Hydroptère was in very poor shape,” he recalls. “The coffee grinders had been stripped, the clutches and winches were removed, and the steering system, which was hydraulic, was ripped apart on one side but left intact on the other. Someone had bashed in the entry hatch and stolen the chart plotter, GPS

JEN EDNEY; COURTESY L’HYDROPTÈRE

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After an unsuccessful and embarrassingly slow Transpacific record attempt that took nearly 11 days—well over twice their goal—l’Hydroptère was left unceremoniously tied alongside a dock in Honolulu’s Kewalo Basin. The French program, already severely underfunded, eventually abandoned the tri in Hawaii.

After a prolonged spell at Kewalo Basin, she was eventually moved to a state mooring ball in Keehi Lagoon. For most boats, this is akin to receiving a slowly implemented death sentence featuring no shortage of cruel and unusual punishment along the way.

Of all the seedy harbors in the state, perhaps no place is worse than the Keehi Lagoon mooring field. Located

and electronics. They left in place most of the hydraulics for the flight-control systems, but the sails and everything else were gone.”

A lesser sailor might’ve walked away, but even in her dilapidated condition, for Price, the sheer brilliance of l’Hydroptère shone through. “Structurally, the boat was very well-intact,” he says. “The hull was built a long time ago, and it was uncharacteristically overbuilt out of carbon. There were no breaks or cracks in the laminate or between structures. Being made completely out of carbon and titanium, everything seemed very solid. The mast and the standing rigging looked fine.”

Even so, before embarking on the trip to California, l’Hydroptère underwent a Honolulu refit that included a new diesel engine, some cobbled-together delivery sails, fresh deck hardware and winches, new backstays, and a lot of new lashings for the sail controls and rigging.

Then, Price says, “we brought a ton of diesel fuel, lashed it down everywhere we could find room, and left on the most benign weather window that presented itself. We had very flat seas and light air for the first 800 miles. We motored for six days at 5 to 6 knots, and it was nice for most of the passage. But it’s a very wet boat! At some point, every piece of electronics crapped out and had to be rewired at sea. The most wind that we ever saw was 25 knots, and we sailed the boat super conservatively with the foils all the way decambered to keep l’Hydroptère firmly in nonfoiling mode. We cruised under jib only when it was windy and made the passage in good shape. But it was something like science fiction, man.

What a cool boat!”

Shortly after the boat returned to California, the COVID-19 pandemic brought much of the world to a halt, though this would prove to be a blessing

Offshore cruiser and racer Ronnie Simpson is a CW contributing editor.

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in disguise for the newly reassembled l’Hydroptère team. “It was strangely good fortune that we ended up with five people all stuck together for 90 days,” Welsh says. “We got a lot done because we didn’t have a lot of distractions, so we just made the most of it. We cleaned up the boat and got everything out of it. It needed to be disassembled in a way that you could inventory the condition of things and restore them before putting it back together. In doing so, we were pleasantly surprised that the boat had survived the sun in Hawaii better than we expected.”

Unfortunately, due to visa restrictions, Terrasse had to return to France, where he’s pursued new technical partners.

“L’Hydroptère is a big, tough boat,” Welsh says of the vessel he’s still learning about. “She is not some delicate wallflower that takes 25 guys to run. She was solidly constructed out of carbon and titanium, and is built for real sailing. She’s strong enough to try other foils, and there are some clear pathways to making her lighter. And l’Hydroptère is an interesting platform to move forward with, and there is still potential for some record breaking, particularly with point-to-point passages.”

Likewise, Terrasse insists that there is a lot more left in l’Hydroptère’s tank and that there remains a world of possibility.

“We want to make her fly again,” he says. “To improve her. I’m working on the R&D to make her faster, with new technology. L’Hydroptère was built with 20-year-old technology. With rigid sails (a wing), with new foils for higher speeds, with more weight reduction…. There is a long list of possibilities. We have a big wish list. It is a nice and crazy project!”

Sailors are, by nature, dreamers. It’s one of the qualities that makes this sport so beautiful and keeps us all coming back.

As well, the boats themselves, and the adventures that those vessels have inspired, have an uncanny ability to bring people together. From the forward-thinking sailors and engineers who first dreamed up this magnificent flying boat nearly 50 years ago to the unlikely cast of characters who are today bringing it back to life in Northern California and in France, l’Hydroptère has inspired legions of sailing fans for decades and continues to do so to this day. In a world in need of some good news right now, the unlikely renaissance of the world’s first famous flying boat—and the new bridges that have been built as a result—continue to remind us that anything is possible. What will l’Hydroptère’s next chapter bring? We don’t know. But we can’t wait to find out.

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F L Y, F O I L E R , F L Y !

M a g i c cruisingworld.com

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of

by Amy Alton

M a d a After crossing the Indian Ocean on their Fountaine Pajot Helia, a couple finds all they were looking for in the remote landfalls and friendly people of this island nation.

gascar A pair of traditional dhows reach along on a sea breeze.

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The baobab trees at Moramba Bay are a must-see (left). We found lemurs on Nosy Komba (above). New meets old as Starry Horizons encounters a dhow underway (opposite).

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“P LON G ÉE ,” the man in the canoe said to me. § I flipped through the pages of my French sailor’s dictionary, hoping to stumble upon an explanation of what this man wanted. It had been years since we were in a French-speaking territory, and I was woefully unprepared to figure out he was talking about diving. § But I was motivated.

In his small little dugout canoe was my prize for a successful negotiation: two large spiny lobsters and a moderate-size grouper.

We had stumbled through delivery negotiations the day before.

“Langoustine?” he had asked me.

“Oui!” He held his hands up: big or small?

“Gros.”

And then fingers: one, two, three?

“Deux.”

He nodded and sat in his canoe.

“Poisson?” I asked him.

And there we were, 12 hours later, and all that stood between me and a seafood extravaganza was my horrible French.

I had no ariary, the local currency, and when I offered euros, he shook his head.

I stepped inside our 44-foot catamaran, Starry Horizons, a Fountaine Pajot Helia, and pulled out a few items from

a designated “trading” bag. Prior to our arrival in Madagascar, cruising friends who had come before had advised us that the Malagasy people prefer trade over commerce.

I handed the man a few items, which he looked over—some he kept, some he gave back. “Plongée,” he said again, tapping an open hand on the surface of the water.

Finally, I pulled out a snorkel mask, and he became excited. With a big smile, he accepted the mask and handed me over his catch.

I was proud of myself; it was our first morning in Madagascar, and I’d just had a successful interaction with a local and acquired some delicious seafood.

My husband, David, and I had come over the top of the island from the Seychelles, a passage that had taken us a little less than four days, and the previous night had been a whopper. Cap d’Ambre had proved to be challenging, with the swells and currents hitting us in the black of night. Starry Horizons climbed up waves, barely making any speed over the ground, before surfing down the other side at 10 knots.

We’d hastily thrown on both engines and cut toward the shore—land that we couldn’t see under the cover of clouds and a new moon. The chop and wind lasted longer than we thought it would, even while trying to tuck in along the shore to get under its lee. Finally, we dropped anchor at Nosy Mitsio, a small island off the northwest coast, where we were well-protected and not alone; three other cruising boats were in the anchorage just off the village.

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MAGIC OF MADAGASCAR

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This was our first true glimpse of Madagascar. It was dry and brown with sparse vegetation, and cows—or maybe zebu, the horned and humped cattle— wandered along the shore.

Since we hadn’t officially cleared in yet, we rested and moved on quickly, taking a day to sail down to Nosy Be, the hub for sailing activity in Madagascar, and one of the busiest tourist centers in the country.

Madagascar, once known at the Malagasy Republic, has always intrigued me. Even before other sailors had told me that the island nation was on their list of favorite places, I pictured it as an opportunity to explore a world completely different from my own. We were on the home stretch of our own circumnavigation, and had been to many places where the cultures were vastly different from ours. But these places didn’t seem as authentic. For instance, tourists flock to Thailand by the millions (35 million in 2017), whereas Madagascar, only slightly

larger than Thailand, saw fewer than 100,000 tourists in the same year.

There’s a reason: It’s hard to get there, and once you reach the former French colony, travel within the country is a challenge too. A majority of the roads (some estimate 90 percent) are unpaved and wash out during the rainy season.

Trains and buses are cheap but cramped and unreliable.

Travelers can overcome these difficulties by visiting Nosy Be, however. It’s a small island on the northwest coast. Direct flights arrive from Europe, bypassing the capital, Antananarivo, and there are a variety of activities available when you get there, whether as a tourist or cruiser.

TOURI NG THE TOWN We arrived at Hell-Ville, the capital of Nosy Be, with vague advice from friends to “find Jimmy with the red hat.” And despite the thick traffic of tour boats, ferries and traditional Malagasy dhow

fishing boats, we did find him. It turns out that he’s at the dock every morning keeping an eye out for the few sailboats that wander into Hell-Ville’s unattractive port to complete their formalities.

Jimmy spent all day with us. We visited the required offices, paid fees and filled out paperwork. He took us to the ATM, where we stuffed our wallets full of 20,000 ariary bills, each the equivalent of $5 back home in the US. With our newfound cash, we bought a SIM card, connected to the internet, and then hired a tuk-tuk to take us shopping at a store called Shampion, which was stuffed with French imports. I had thought that Madagascar would be one of the harder places to provision based on its economy, but happily, I was wrong; the shelves were full of Western foods.

Besides Bio- and Carrefour-branded items, I found Tsara Malagasy dark chocolate. At no other time in my life have I experienced such a startling departure

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From atop Antanimora we could see the sand spit and anchorage (above).

Paddling an outrigger canoe to Lokobe Park truly was an adventure (right).

from a familiar taste. Malagasy chocolate is rich and fruity, made of a bean variety rarely grown elsewhere.

Next, Jimmy took us to the Hell-Ville Market, a building stuffed to the gills with local food. I bought small shelled peanuts, roasted and salted to perfection; smoked and dried bananas that are ubiquitous to French territories; and giant, succulent Malagasy tiger shrimp, caught that morning by the local fishermen. (I avoided the red hunks of zebu meat that were sitting out and covered with flies.)

When our day with Jimmy was done, we’d paid officials over $200 to visit Nosy Be. Without negotiating, we also paid Jimmy his requested fee, a paltry amount for spending the entire day with us. We’d done the same with our tuk-tuk driver and at each stall at the market. The prices were low, the economic gap wide, and I gratefully handed over the fees.

SE T TL I N G I N Sailors in Madagascar learn to time their days with the breeze: offshore in the morning, onshore in the afternoon. In between, it’s either dead-calm or the breeze is light. We chose afternoon to move to Nosy Komba, an island 6 miles southeast of Hell-Ville. We raised sails and coasted along in 7 knots of wind, dodging the traffic in and out of Hell-Ville. By sunset, we were anchored on the northeast side of the island, fairly unprotected from the swell but next to our buddy boat and friends Kimi and Trevor, who had been in Madagascar for more than a month.

In the morning, the four of us went to the park-ranger office in the village and hired a guide to take us on an ambitious

trip to the top of the island. Our ranger, John, grabbed a fistful of bananas before we started the climb.

As we walked, John told us about the local village, and we passed through stalls where women sell hand-carved wooden lemurs or traditionally woven linens. Most were unattended because it was still early.

John stopped us. “Look,” he said, pointing to the tree. “We have company.”

Climbing through the branches were lemurs. The females—the bosses—were brown; the males, black.

“Stand right here,” he directed me, “and turn around.”

A moment later, I was startled when a small weight hit my shoulder from behind. My cheek brushed against delicate fur, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw an inquisitive face and a paw reaching out

for John’s offered banana.

We all took turns standing by the tree as lemurs leaped onto our heads, shoulders or backs, and climbed down our arms. They were lighter than we expected, and softer. Several of the females had babies clinging to their bellies, with large round eyes staring at us.

When the bananas were gone, so were the lemurs.

“In the rainy season, when the fruits are ripe, they don’t come to feed with us.

There’s too much good food for them in the trees,” John told us as we continued on up the path.

Then John stopped us again five minutes later. He pointed to a small tree just to the left of the trail, and I strained my eyes trying to see what he saw. As happens when viewing an autostereogram, my eyes

MAGIC OF MADAGASCAR

adjusted, and a chameleon appeared in the leaves before me. And then I saw them everywhere. The others saw them too, and we watched their tall but extremely narrow bodies as they slowly, haltingly climbed the branches.

As we climbed, we saw a ground boa, various lizards and insects, and we passed a religious memorial and cemetery for French soldiers. At the top, overlooking Nosy Be, we found a bamboo shack on a manicured plot of land. The lawn was dotted with picnic tables and the view was spectacular, the flat-calm waters around the islands reflected the clouds above. At the shack, a young man sold beverages. John ordered a hot lemongrass tea, while the rest of us asked for cold lemon juice; Trevor got his with a shot of local rum.

was over, we were given time to wander through nearby handicraft stalls selling ylang-ylang oil, carved wooden lemurs and traditional woven linens. Then it was back to the outrigger for our paddle back.

To finish our day, we took the easy walk to the top of Mont Passot and watched the sun set over the crater lakes.

Sunsets in Madagascar were exceptionally beautiful. The air quality was clear, and we could see mountains 50 miles away as the sun turned a deep red and dropped behind the islands.

MA NY STAR S We had one last adventure in store for us in Nosy Be. With our other cruising friends Carlos and Linda, we hired a dive shop to take us out to look for whale sharks. David and I have tried, unsuccessfully, to swim with them for years in various places around the world, and this time, we were exceptionally lucky. Our captain pointed the motorized outrigger toward open water, and a young boy climbed up on the bow to spot. The boy scanned the surface of the water looking for schools of jumping tuna. Whale sharks don’t eat tuna, but the tuna feed on smaller fish, which, in turn, feed on plankton.

Where you find leaping tuna chasing their food, you’ll find whale sharks too, basking and sweeping up the plankton in their wide mouths.

We spotted the first school of tuna and approached. A whale shark was just below the surface of the water, and with the crystal-clear view, we could see his constellation-riddled hide. After all, the Malagasy name for whale sharks is marokintana, which translates to “many stars.”

“Go,” our guide said quietly, and we slipped into the water less elegantly than we’d have liked. The shark floated diagonally, its mouth on the surface while surrounded by beams of sunlight. It tolerated a few moments of our attention but then moved on.

Our guides had a tough job trying to predict where the whale sharks would be found. They tried to drop us in the water where we wouldn’t disturb the fish too much, but also near where they expected the whale shark to swim in order to maximize our time with each one. By the end of the day, we’d been in and out of the water dozens of times, and some whale sharks approached close to inspect us, while others veered off quickly. We were euphoric, having finally taken that amazing swim we’d dreamed of for years.

SAILING ON Our time in Nosy Be had come to an

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Back in Nosy Be, we anchored in Crater Bay off the yacht club. In the morning, we sipped our wake-up beverages and watched the local fishermen. All day, every day, they paddled by in dugout canoes to lay out fishing nets before hauling up shimmering silver fish by the hundreds.

Meanwhile, traditional Malagasy dhows glided around us, with their patched sails making use of the light winds.

“What exactly are we doing on the tour today?” David asked me.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Lokobe Park, I think?” It’s the top attraction in Nosy Be, according to Trip Advisor, which meant we could expect an adventure.

Our guide, Achim, picked us and Kimi up at the yacht club, and we headed off to the other side of the island. The road was mostly unpaved, and our big van bumped along, passing men and zebu plowing fields together, and ylang-ylang trees bowing down in vast groves.

In Ambatozavary, a small village, Achim changed out our driver for one of the men from the village, a local guide named Joe. It seemed as though the whole village was there, and everyone walked down to the beach, through the mangroves and mud, to where outrigger canoes were anchored.

The local school children stripped down, swam out and brought in the boats.

Joe and Achim instructed us—the only tourists—to climb into a canoe, and Achim handed us a paddle. We set off before the other boats were loaded.

After 20 minutes, I asked Achim, “How far are we paddling?”

He pointed vaguely out over the horizon. “Across the channel.” The next island was more than 10 miles away, and I was glad I’d kept up a workout routine while sailing.

We took turns paddling, but Joe and Achim were our ringers, rowing strongly and steering us around the reefs. Before long, boats started to fly by; not just the outrigger canoes we’d left behind, but also small powerboats with tourists. Some even towed canoes behind them.

To our relief, our guides steered our canoe to the beach after about 45 minutes—our destination was not the distant island. We disembarked and set about exploring the Lokobe National Park. Joe led us on a walk through the forest, where we spotted tree boas, leaf-tailed geckos and more lemurs. These lemurs were feeding on jackfruit, sticking their heads into the insides of the fruit from beneath and feasting.

When we returned, lunch—a variety of Malagasy dishes—was prepared: green mango salad, crab curry, and bananas cooked in coconut milk. When the meal

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younger men, who introduced themselves as the crew of one of the fishing boats.

Their English was excellent, and our local guide’s English was good enough for me as he led us up a beaten path, pointing out medicinal plants and an ancient burial site.

After 90 minutes, slipping and sliding on the tall grass, we made it to the top.

Below us stretched the whole island: the sand spit pointing straight out, and our two boats bobbing in the anchorage to our right. I pulled out my phone, and the five of us made a short video, in which our guide enthusiastically whooped and hollered for our achievement.

Back at the dinghy, he graciously asked for a tip, which we gave him, and then he explained that the village needed medicine, especially for digestion troubles. I had some over-the-counter pills in my small first-aid kit, and he was thankful when I pressed them into his hands.

OFF TO SEE THE GIANTS We departed the next morning for our last big stop in Madagascar. We sadly said goodbye to Carlos and Linda, and spent two days sailing to Moramba Bay, a popular cruiser hangout. The river had a narrow entrance that feeds into a big natural harbor, wide enough to fit a dozen boats, but mostly we had it to ourselves.

Throughout the day, several dugout canoes approached us, offering to trade limes and bananas for milk, clothes or medicine. But the draw to Moramba Bay for sailors is access to another famous Malagasy resident: the baobab tree.

From our boat we could already see dozens. Following our friends’ directions, we drove our dinghy as close to shore as we could, anchored, and slogged through the calf-high water and mud to the beach, where we followed trails and found ourselves standing among the giants. The baobabs are distinctive, with their wide trunks devoid of branches for hundreds of feet before a cluster of foliage at the top.

We stayed for days, and when we departed Moramba Bay, it was with trepidation of the many trials that lay ahead. South of us, there were few protected anchorages, and then the treacherous Mozambique Channel. And behind us, we were leaving a country so different from our own, but one filled with opportunities we would have never found elsewhere.

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Amy Alton and her husband, David, finished their circumnavigation in March 2020. Her stories of adventure and advice are available at outchasingstars.com.

MAP BY SHANNON CAIN TUMINO

Nosy Mitisio

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Chartering in Madagascar is a tiny industry, but exploring Nosy Be on a charter boat can be greatly rewarding. There are a limited number of boats in the charter market, meaning guests can find themselves completely alone if they desire.

The charter companies are based out of the Yacht Club De Nosy Be in Crater Bay. The marina is the only place to plug into electricity and top up water tanks.

Provisioning from Crater Bay is best at Leader Price, a 30-minute drive from the marina, though local fruits and vegetables are freshest at the roadside stalls or in Hell-Ville at the market.

The peak time to charter is winter—May through October—when the temperature is cooler and the weather more consistent.

The summer is monsoon season, and rainstorms become more frequent while the temperature peaks. Cyclones are active from December to March.

Various itineraries are available, from four to 14 days. Anchoring is easy, and winds are often light, making for comfortable, lazy sailing. The four-day itinerary covers the nearby Mitisio Islands, just north of Nosy Be. Longer itineraries include much of our route sailing south down the coast.

The spectacular wildlife, above and below the water, plus the friendly people and stunning geography will make a charter in Madagascar the memory of a lifetime.

Charter companies operating in Nosy Be include: Dream Yacht Charters (dreamyachtcharters.com) East Africa Yacht Charters (eastafricayachtcharters.com) Madavoile (madavoile.com) Ulysse Explorer (ulyssexplorer.com)

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honey from a jerry can. Around her sat a collection of 1.4-liter plastic bottles of honey, which I belatedly realized were a better price. But our deal had been struck.

She poured the sweet liquid into my jar through a sieve, and when it was full, she lifted the sieve and licked the drop of honey off the bottom before placing it in a bin. There were certainly no health inspectors around!

Linda and I visited the library and donated school supplies. The kids swarmed around us. They are used to cruisers and charter guests popping in with gifts, and they have learned to be persistent. They asked for books, candies, even the hats and sunglasses off our heads, and we eventually had to shoo them away.

Honey bought, donations made and village explored, we returned to our boats.

Our next stop, with Carlos and Linda following, was the beautiful island of Antanimora. This is typically the last stop for charters, and for some reason, when we arrived in the afternoon, the vacationers were all anchored on the north side of the little sand spit that stretches out at low tide. The wind blows from the north later in the day, so they were experiencing a rigorous chop. We ducked under the south side of the spit, and even when the wind shifted in the morning, the anchorage wasn’t too bad.

After breakfast, Linda and I set off on a girls-only adventure. The island has a prominent hill, and, we thought, surely there would be a trail. We walked through the village, Linda asking in French about a path up it. The Malagasy people looked at us as though we were crazy. Finally, we met an older gentleman, who beckoned to us to follow him. We were joined by two

M o z a m b i q u e

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end. We had an ambitious few months ahead of us: crossing the Mozambique Channel and sailing around South Africa.

As do most cruisers, we made our way down the west coast of the big island, ducking into protected waters and making progress toward the narrowest part of the Mozambique Channel.

The sailing was an exercise in frustration. The morning wind was light and from forward of the beam. It died midday, then picked back up again from the opposite direction.

When we arrived in Honey River, only our friends Carlos and Linda were there, but as the day progressed, the charter boats filed in. Still, there was plenty of room for everyone.

A small village sits on the north shore, and it was possible to buy the namesake honey there. I went ashore with Linda, who speaks French—a good thing because the locals didn’t speak English.

At one shop, we agreed to the price, and the woman started to fill our jars with

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s sailors, it’s romantic to think that our locomotion comes from the wind, but most skippers, when pressed, admit to motoring a fair portion of the time. Like it or not, your boat’s propeller is a key element of the propulsion system, and just as there are myriad considerations involved when ordering sails, decisions abound when selecting the prop that best suits your wallet and sailing plans.

FIXED-BLADE OPTIONS As the moniker implies, fixed-blade propellers are typically cast out of an alloy such as manganese bronze or nickel, bronze and aluminum. Individual propeller blades stem from a central hub, which in turn attaches to the sailboat’s prop shaft or saildrive. Depending on the manufacturer, these blades typically are pitched in a way that propels the boat forward or backward when the transmission is engaged.

The term “pitch” refers to how far forward or reverse a

This fixed-blade propeller (painted with Pettit Prop Coat) fits well in the small aperture of this full-keel sailboat.

propeller will theoretically travel through a solid material (picture a screw twisting into a wood block). For example, a prop with a 12-inch pitch will theoretically move through 1 foot of solid material with each full rotation.

Sailors have choices available when buying a fixed-blade propeller, with the biggest variables being the diameter, the number of propeller blades, and the pitch. Just as sailboats create “dirty air” that spills off their sails, propeller blades push water against the hull, which then reverberates back (call this “dirty water”).

When the transmission is in forward, this dirty water is sent back toward the rudder, which can influence steering.

An important rule of thumb for all propeller designs and types is to ensure that the propeller has a tip clearance (the amount of space between a blade’s tip and the hull when the blade is in the 12 o’clock position) that’s at least 10 percent of the length of the prop blade (hub to tip). If you don’t have enough tip clearance, the next step is to spec

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P R A C T I C A L

relatively inexpensive, and easier to have repaired in remote locales, they do affect sailing performance.

Moreover, they’re more likely to foul a lobster pot or other fishing gear than a folding prop when the boat is sailing.

If you care about sailing performance, especially in the light stuff, or if you’re planning a long-distance cruise, purchasing a folding or feathering prop is a wise investment. But if you’re seeking maximum power or punch for your buck,

transmission is engaged.

The slipstream action of the passing water acts to fold them closed when sailing, and their gear mechanisms hold the blades in their closed position even in light airs. As with fixed-blade props, sailors can choose between models that feature two, three or four blades. Unlike fixedblade props, however, folding propellers create far less drag when the boat is sailing.

“For the same diameter and number of blades, folding

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a smaller-diameter propeller with an extra blade. Fixed props are available with two, three or four blades.

While this can be an easy fix, additional blades create additional drag when the boat is sailing. Because of this, sailors who opt for a fixed-blade prop are typically best served choosing a screw with the fewest number of blades that can properly fit their boat and their engine (see “Choosing Screws,” right). That said, additional blades equate to more

CHOOSING SCREWS Choosing the right propeller is complex, but the most important variables for selecting the correct prop are your boat’s make, model, LOA and displacement, the engine’s horsepower rating and its maximum rpm, as well as the transmission’s reduction ratio. While most of this information is easily ascertained, determining the reduction ratio can be challenging.

But, Prior says, “the best method to get the actual ratio is to use your cellphone camera and take a photo of the plate on the transmission,” adding that this beats hanging upside down and trying to read this information using a mirror and flashlight.

For the DIYer, online calculators exist that can help crunch the numbers.

“After that, it gets into the art,” Hutchison says. His advice: Ask an expert.

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A folding propeller, like this one from Gori, is less likely to snag seaweed when under sail.

power when motoring into a stiff headwind, current or big seas. Additional propeller blades can also accommodate a more powerful engine at a given diameter. These latter points are important if you’re planning on cruising unfamiliar waters and might find yourself negotiating a lee shore under power.

While fixed-blade propellers are strong, simple,

and you sail on breezy waters such as San Francisco Bay, where extra drag isn’t a huge concern, a fixed-blade prop could be the way to go.

FOLDING PROPELLERS Folding propellers employ a series of gears (situated around the prop’s central hub and on the inboard end of each prop blade) and centrifugal force to open when the engine’s

propellers have 85 to 100 percent less drag than a fixed prop, depending on the fixed propeller’s blade area and the folding propeller’s make and model,” says Geoff Prior, owner of AB Marine, the Newport, Rhode Island-based importer and distributor for Gori folding props and AutoProp, Variprofile, and Variprop feathering propellers. “Geared folding propellers stay closed

or folded when the boat is sailing, so a blade cannot drop down to be exposed to the water flow, and does not catch lines and weeds like fixed and feathering propellers can.”

Others agree. “Most sailboats will gain 0.5 to even 1 knot of speed by using a low-drag folding propeller,” says Keld Willberg, Flexofold’s general manager. “Many boat owners don’t look just at the speed gains, but also the ability to sail in very light wind.”

Also, he says, when tacking, a boat that’s equipped with a low-drag prop won’t lose as much momentum.

This latter point is critical to anyone who sails in places with typically light breeze.

“The folding propeller’s drag reduction and increased sailing speeds produce less turbulence over the rudder, enabling you to point higher, steer easier and more precisely, and tack and jibe the boat easier,” Prior says. “The biggest speed difference is in light or medium air and with clean water flow over the rudder—the boat is a

lot more responsive, especially when fine sailing on the wind.”

One important consideration when selecting a folding prop is ensuring that your boat can physically accommodate the length of the prop when it’s folded. This is especially important on full-keel boats that have an aperture between the keel and rudder.

For anyone who cruises with a saildrive(s), Prior advises that saildrive propellers must be approved for use by the saildrive’s manufacturer

critical factor in determining the amount of power that a propeller absorbs and transmits into the water,” Prior says. “It’s the most important single factor in determining the amount of thrust delivered. The larger the diameter, the greater the efficiency. A small increase in diameter dramatically increases thrust and torque load on the engine and shaft.”

Blade count is also critical, but Willberg cautions that it’s overly simplistic to think that

you get more power from a three-blade prop.”

Blade shape also matters.

“Propellers with flat, planar blades are like a paddle,” Prior says. “The flat shape is not efficient at producing thrust because a flat blade is overloaded at the tip and underloaded at the blade base, whereas a fully shaped airfoil blade shape has a constant loading over its whole surface.” Much like fixedblade props, most folding propellers employ an efficient

says Prior, who added that Gori’s three-blade prop presents identical leading-blade edges in both forward and reverse, negating this issue.

Willberg advises that folding props require slightly different operation than fixed-blade or feathering props to ensure that they stay open. “For more stopping and reverse power, it’s just a matter of giving more revs on the throttle,” he says.

As with all props, folding propellers must be kept clean of marine growth, and anodes must be regularly changed to ensure cathodic protection.

“One millimeter of growth on a blade and your propeller loses approximately 12 percent efficiency,” Prior says, adding that this applies to any make, model or design. And, he notes, “folding propellers are water-lubricated, so they do not need to be greased.”

CALLING THE PITCH

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COURTESY THE MANUFACTURERS (2)

A feathering propeller, like this Max-Prop, can offer the same thrust in forward and reverse.

to ensure that the prop is electrically isolated from the saildrive’s leg and shaft; also the prop’s hub must incorporate a rubberized bushing to absorb shock and inertia, as well as an easily changed and streamlined anode.

As with all props, selecting the diameter, number of blades, and pitch of the propeller are all key decisions.

“Diameter is the single most

additional blades equate to additional power (see “Calling the Pitch,” right). “What matters is to get the right combination of blade area and pitch for the engine and gear box,” he says. “On flat water, a two-blade propeller can be just as efficient or even slightly better than a three-blade. However, when motoring against wind and waves, and when maneuvering,

blade shape, while feathering props use flatter and more planar-shaped blades.

One drawback of most (but not all) folding props emerges when the transmission is put into reverse. “In reverse, the suction side is on the back or aft side of a blade, and with the typical folding propeller design, the blades are trying to close in reverse, giving low thrust and lots of prop walk,”

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Unlike fixed-blade propellers, feathering and folding propellers are often designed so that the pitch can be adjusted, perchance it doesn’t perfectly match your vessel, engine and transmission right out of the box. Depending on the prop, this adjustment is typically made by changing a screw(s) or swapping out the prop blades. These adjustments can usually be done by a diver while the boat is in the water. Some general rules of thumb as to when to change the pitch involve engine rpm: If the prop doesn’t meet the engine’s ideal rpm, the blade’s angle needs to be reduced; conversely, if the prop is exceeding the engine’s rpm metrics, the blade’s angle of attack needs to be increased.

As a cautionary note, overpitching a propeller can cause the engine to overheat, and it can also lead to injector-choking problems and create excessive internal engine pressure, so be sure to stay within the engine manufacturer’s lines.

VENDOR I N F O R M AT I O N EWOL: ewoltech.com, 410-317-8104; from $2,120 Flexofold: flexofold.com, 781-797-0809; from $980 GORI: gori-propeller .com, 401-847-7960; from $650 J Prop: betamarinenc .com, 252-249-2473; from $2,500 Kiwiprop: kiwiprops .co.nz, 877-549-4872; from $1,350

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Max-Prop: pyiinc.com, 425-355-3669; from $1,900

hub and rotate through 180 degrees, depending on if the transmission is in forward or reverse (more on this later); this articulation is governed by machined stops inside the hub that prevent the blades from overrotating. When the transmission is engaged, the blades present their broad sides to the slipstream, but when the boat is under sail, the blades rotate 90 degrees to align with the flow of the water.

“Feathering props work off torque from the shaft or saildrive,” says Fred Hutchison, at PYI, which distributes Max-Prop feathering propel-

percent compared with fixedblade props.

As previously mentioned, feathering-prop blades rotate through 180 degrees, which is a big advantage when operating in reverse compared with most folding props. “A feathering propeller gives reverse thrust with the same efficiency as in forward, as the leading blade edge in forward is turned 180 degrees, and without prop walk,” Prior says.

Another advantage of feathering props for boats with full keels or with tightly spaced skegs or rudders is that they “can fit in a small

Michigan Wheel: miwheel.com, 800-3694335; from $550 Variprofile: spw-gmbh.de, 401-847-7960; from $800 Variprop: spw-gmbh .de, 401-847-7960; from $1,200 Volvo: volvopenta.us, 800522-1959; call for pricing

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The final consideration is cost. Folding props are roughly four to six times more expensive than a fixed-blade propeller for a given diameter and blade count. While this is a big difference, the gains are huge, and—for bluewater cruisers—can translate to significantly faster passage times (potentially measured in days) and happier crews.

This Flexofold folding prop is specific for saildrives.

FEATHERING PROPELLERS As do folding propellers, feathering props greatly reduce drag when the boat is sailing; however, the way that they achieve this gain is significantly different. Moreover, the physics behind how the prop transitions from its sailing mode to motoring mode is also different.

Feathering props are available with two-, three-, four- and five-blade configurations. A central hub attaches to the prop shaft or a saildrive, and it features a series of internal beveled gears. Geared propeller blades attach to the

lers. Because feathering props use torque—not centrifugal force—to open, it’s “instantaneous,” says Hutchison, who points to this as the design’s biggest advantage.

“It takes a feathering prop only three-quarters of a turn to go from full forward to full reverse. In that time, the blades rotate 180 degrees, and it doesn’t generate much shock load.”

Prior adds, “In the sailing position, the water flow turns the blades to the feathered position when the engine is off for vastly reduced drag.”

He estimates that this drag reduction is approximately 85

aperture as they have shorter overall lengths compared to folding propellers, which have a greater length when folded,” Prior says. “If there is a diameter constraint, the feathering prop can easily be designed and built with a higher pitch to make up for the loss of diameter and blade area.”

Most feathering props are machined out of a nickel, bronze and aluminum alloy, which, Hutchison says, makes them easy to repair. Unlike fixed or folding propellers, feathering propellers employ flat-shaped blades to reduce drag when the boat is sailing.

“Feathering propeller blades

are foiled and aren’t as efficient as the helical twist found on most fixed-blade or folding props,” Hutchison says, adding that manufacturers compensate for this less-efficient shape by increasing each blade’s surface area. “Blade surface area and shape make a big difference in how efficient it is,” he says. “No low-drag prop will be as efficient under power as a fixed-blade propeller.”

Lobster pots and fishing nets are common concerns when operating under auxiliary power, and feathering props are not snag-proof. “When motoring, feathering props are the same as fixed-blade and folding propellers,” Hutchison advises. “But when sailing, a folding propeller has less of a chance of catching a pot or fishing net than a fixed-blade or feathering propeller.” This is a consideration for anyone who cruises extensively in, say, Maine or in heavily fished waters off the West Coast.

As with all propellers, feathering props require basic care and maintenance to ensure their efficiency and the engine’s longevity. This starts with a properly spec’d and regularly refreshed anode, and the prop blades must be kept clean.

Unlike folding props, which typically use exposed selflubricating gears, the internal gears of feathering propellers need to be greased annually.

While this adds an item to an owner’s yearly to-do list, Hutchison says that this can be tackled by a diver.

Finally, while feathering props are a great upgrade, they don’t come cheap.

“Feathering props are more expensive than folding props,” says Hutchison, who advises that a feathering prop is roughly 10 to 15 percent more expensive than a folding prop with the same blade count and a comparable diameter.

“This is primarily because of machining costs,” he says.

David Schmidt is CW’s electronics editor and also writes about topics ranging from sailing gear to environmental issues from his home in Bellingham, Washington.

COURTESY THE MANUFACTURER

HANDS-ON SAILOR

2 H E AD G A M E S Af t e r a d e c a d e o f t ro u b l e - f re e u s e , t h e co n v e n t i o n a l m a r i n e t o i l e t o n t h e i r 4 1 - f o o t e r d e v e l o p e d i s s u e s . Wa s a co m p o s t i n g h e a d t h e a n s w e r? B Y H E A T H E R F R A N C I S

However, our next stops were Borneo and Malaysia, where marina stays would be possible and regulations are reportedly followed. A functioning holding tank would be necessary. As we drew straws to decide who got the job of jumping overboard to snake

type of sanitation system that does not use water to dispose of human waste. This “dry” system promotes decomposition through controlled aerobic conditions, or composting.

Unlike a port-a-potty or chemical toilet, composting toilets separate liquid and

THE INSTALLATION Installing our Air Head composting toilet was extremely easy. Due to its compact size,

HEATHER FRANCIS (6)

A composting marine toilet like the Air Head we installed aboard our 41-footer (top left) differs from the usual onboard head most sailors are familiar with. Perhaps the biggest difference is the coconut coir that lines the solids tank, seen here (top right) in both brick form and slightly hydrated. Bottom row (left to right): The urine tank, removed for emptying, has a sight glass on top and also a handy carrying strap. Likewise, the solids tank is also emptied separately and has a transport lid on top that makes the job straightforward. A ventilation fan comes with the unit, which we installed in the space where the previous solar fan had failed. Our only stumbling block was that our former ceramic toilet had been mounted on a raised pedestal, but we solved the problem of perching on the throne with a simple folding stool.

The undersize 5-gallon holding tank may have been compliant, but it didn’t have the capacity to keep up with everyday use.

Since none of the authorities in the 13 countries we have sailed to ever inquired about our holding tank, this hadn’t been an issue.

the discharge through-hull, and hopefully free the blockage, we decided it was finally time to find a solution to our toilet troubles.

A COMPOSTING TOILET? So what, exactly, is a composting toilet? Simply put, it’s a

solid waste, which speeds up decomposition and reduces odors. To control moisture content and further aid in odor elimination, urine-diversion dry composting toilets (UDDC) line the solids tank with a naturally sourced medium such as coconut coir or

we were able to place the unit where our original toilet had been mounted, without modifying any cabinetry. Our only stumbling block was that our traditional ceramic toilet was mounted on a raised pedestal to bring it up to a standard user height, 14 inches from

cruisingworld.com

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first got a whiff of the composting-toilet trend a couple of years ago when my Instagram feed exploded with stories of cruisers replacing their regular marine toilets with modern composting versions. It didn’t even occur to me that one day we would join the composting-toilet movement too. Then, after 10 years of trouble-free use, we started getting blockages in the head.

This new development, along with a pervasive “toilet funk” in the cupboards—not so much stale salt water but an odor more like a dirty public bathroom—led us to believe that after a decade, the hard sanitation hose that connected the toilet discharge to the overboard seacock had deteriorated. But we also needed to address another fault in the system: the lack of a reasonable-size holding tank.

When we bought Kate, our 1973 Newport 41, in 2008, the seller had recently installed a holding tank to comply with US Coast Guard regulations.

peat moss. As well, most units vent to the outside via a small extraction fan and ductwork.

The two most popular brands of UDDC toilets on the market today are Nature’s Head and Air Head. Both are constructed from ABS plastic and are similarly priced ($925 and $1,030, respectively, online) but vary slightly in overall design. We decided on the Air Head for two main reasons. First, the toilet seat is both the same size and shape as our previous marine toilet. We hoped that this would give the user a feel that we were accustomed to.

Second, the design of the Air Head makes it possible to remove the liquid tank without opening the solid tank. This thoughtful design feature alone makes it preferable to the competition. Add the smaller footprint and a lack of sharp corners, and the Air Head seemed like the perfect fit for our boat.

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floor to seat. To accommodate the built-in solids tank, the Air Head measures 19 inches from floor to seat. This “comfort height” is installed in wheelchair-accessible stalls in public bathrooms. When we placed the Air Head on top of our raised pedestal, it measured 25 inches from floor to seat. This elevation made it feel more like you are perching on the edge of the toilet rather than sitting squarely atop it. We investigated removing the pedestal but quickly discovered that it concealed the curve of the hull. Removing it would give us a few inches but not a level surface. We continued with Plan A and waited to see if the toilet height would be a pain in the butt. Literally.

The Air Head toilet is held in place with four simple stainless-steel brackets. Screwed down to the floor, the brackets capture bolts on the sides of both the solid and liquid tanks, which tighten down with simple wingnuts to secure the toilet in place. The only other thing to do is run the ventilation hose and wire in a small fan.

Included with the Air Head is a short length of flexible hose and a ventilation cam, which houses the fan. To avoid cutting more holes in the boat, we chose to repurpose the solar vent in the cabin top, which had failed the season before. It was still necessary to run wires to the 12-volt fan, but with the exterior housing of the solar vent in place, the exhaust fan was weather-protected.

Our installation isn’t winning any design awards, but it took less than an hour and didn’t require any structural modifications—a rare bragging point when discussing boat projects. Besides, when it comes to toilets, function is more important than aesthetics. After installation, there is only one thing you need to do to prep the Air Head for use: Add the coconut coir to the solids tank.

PREPPING FOR USE Coconut coir is a natural,

renewable product made from coconut husks. Sold at garden centers mainly as a growing medium, it is readily available worldwide. Coconut coir comes in dry, compressed blocks that are reconstituted with water, making them easy to store. A single 10-by-4-by-2-inch block will fluff up to about 8 liters of mulch. The Air Head comes with one coconut coir brick, but we have found that using one and a half bricks creates a better starting volume. Add too little coconut coir, and there won’t be enough to cover the waste when you “stir” it after use; add too much, and you are taking up valuable space in the tank.

When working with a natural product, it’s important to remember that no two bricks will be the same, so it is difficult to state the exact amount of water needed. However, the instructions say that the coconut should be hydrated into a “moist sawdust-like consistency” that resembles “damp crumbly earth” but should not look “muddy.” It is also important to consider that the coconut coir will absorb moisture from the solid waste when the toilet is in use. So, as we found out the hard way, erring on the side of dry is preferable.

USING THE TOILET The Air Head toilet bowl looks strangely small and shallow, and we wondered if it would work as claimed. Not surprisingly, the designers put a lot of thought into the shape and function of the toilet, and I am happy to report that we’ve had no troubles at all after six months of daily use.

Other than remembering to flip the handle to open the trap door to the solids tank before use, and to stir the solids after use using the crank on the side of the tank, the Air Head functions the same as a standard toilet. There is no splash back when you pee, and the urine is neatly diverted into the liquids tank. Similarly, the size of the opening to the solids tank worked fine. No mess, no fuss.

After use, I usually wipe down the basin with a bit of

toilet paper and use a little spritz of diluted vinegar every couple of days just to keep things tidy. Between uses, keep the gasketed lid closed.

Easy. The only trouble we encountered was a noticeable odor for the first week or so of use. This was not the “pleasant earthy” smell as often described in reviews of composting toilets, but rather a definite manure stink wafting from the vent. Happily, adding a handful of dry coconut coir to the solids tank remedied the issue. Less moisture equals less odor.

EMPTYING THE TOILET A composting toilet is a closed system that requires the solids and liquids tanks to be emptied regularly. The liquids tank has a small, opaque sight glass at the top, which indicates when it is full.

Removing the liquids tank is as simple as backing off two wingnuts and slipping out the tank. A screw-on cap is supplied to ensure a dry run to the dump location. The amount of people on board and frequency of use will dictate how often the tank needs to be emptied.

As expected, urine that sits in a tank for a few days will be a bit smelly, so a good rinse after emptying is necessary.

Do not use bleach to clean the liquids tank because chlorine and the ammonia in urine combine to create a very toxic chloramine gas. A simple soapand-water wash will suffice.

After several weeks of use, the tank can accumulate crystalline deposits. Adding a handful of rice or dried beans to the wash cycle is enough to knock off any scale.

I must admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time I prepared to empty the solids tank. The manual describes it as the “highlight of the tour,” and although I think that’s a bit of hyperbole, it was not completely unpleasant. We did get the estimated 60 uses into the tank before it needed to be emptied, but even when full, it did not smell when opened and was more loamy

compost than toilet tank.

The seat is removed by easing off four wingnuts, turning the top slightly, and separating the bowl from the solids tank.

A flat lid, which locks in the same way, is included to seal the tank for transport. The whole tank is removed from the mounting brackets and taken to a dump site. Because all the solids are organic, they can be dumped into a sewage system or disposed of like a soiled diaper. There is no need to rinse the solids tank.

In fact, it is good to have a little organic matter clinging to the sides because this will kick-start the next composting process. As well, Air Head includes a small packet of enzymes that can be added to the solids tank to boost decomposition if things seem slow.

FINAL THOUGHTS We installed the Air Head toilet in February 2020 while we were on the hard in the Philippines. Weeks later, before we had a chance to relaunch, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world. At press time, I have been stranded in the boatyard, alone and on board, for several months and counting. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate having a private, functioning, odor-free, comfortable toilet that works while the boat is out of the water.

The Air Head is considered a Type III Marine Sanitation Device, which means that we are now compliant with the international IMO MARPOL 73/78 regulations. Between the ease of installation, maintenance-free use, and peace of mind knowing that we can use the head anytime and anywhere, our composting toilet is one of the best upgrades we’ve ever done on board.

Heather Francis is from Nova Scotia, Canada, and has lived and worked on boats throughout the world. Since 2008, she has been sailing aboard Kate, a Newport 41, with her Aussie partner, Steve. They are currently in the Philippines. Follow them at yachtkate.com.

M ONT HLY MAI NT EN ANCE

L

ithium-ion batteries are a hot topic in the sailing community these days, and many sailors wonder if they’re a practical option. They actually come in a variety of chemistries, each with its own set of advantages and potential pitfalls; lithium-ironphosphate, or LFP, options are getting the most traction in the cruising-under-sail and powerboat ranks. While there are other lithium-ion batteries that offer greater

period of time without suffering the ill effects of sulfation.

In fact, it’s best to avoid leaving them fully charged, a condition most LFP battery management systems (BMS) intentionally avoid. In addition to being able to endure deeper discharges, LFP batteries can be cycled many more times than lead-acid batteries. Finally, lithium-ion batteries are significantly lighter than their lead-acid brethren.

As a result of the increased energy density, converting from lead-acid to lithium-ion

batteries, depending on the size and type, cost several times more than lead-acid.

However, with the extended cycle/life span and faster charge times (this assumes more charge current can be brought to bear)—which equates to shorter engine or generator run time—the difference in cost over the life of the battery bank is diminished, potentially even to the point of parity.

Then, of course, there’s the safety factor. Who hasn’t seen the videos of exploding

STEVE D’ANTONIO (3)

LFP batteries—along with their associated management system—present the safest lithium-ion option (left). Dedicated, high-output, continuous-duty alternators are integral, and must be linked to the battery management system to ensure safe charging (middle). The brain of the setup is the BMS, which ensures safe charging and operation (right).

efficiency and energy density, the LFP variety represents the greatest balance of safety and performance.

When compared with AGM (absorbent glass mat) lead-acid batteries, the primary advantages of lithium-ion are efficiency-based, especially the ability to be charged very rapidly, several times faster than AGM chemistry. They can also be deeply discharged, down to 10 or 20 percent state of charge (compared with AGM’s 50 percent state of charge), without shortening their life span.

And they can be left in a partial state of charge for an extended

yields either greater amp-hour capacity in the same footprint with less weight, or the same energy capacity for a smaller footprint and even less weight.

Thus far, then, lithium-ion seems like a win-win option, so why wouldn’t any boat owner or builder make the switch to this seemingly miraculous electrical technology? As is often the case, there is a price to pay for improved performance, and lithium-ion is no exception, both literally and figuratively.

Perhaps the most noteworthy difference between lithium-ion and lead-acid technology is cost; lithium-ion

cellphones or smoldering electric cars? While it’s true that these examples involved lithium-ion batteries, none employed the LFP chemistry.

Once again, LFP is among the safest of the lithium-ion chemistries; when comparing the Material Safety Data Sheets for LFP and AGM batteries, the distinction is clear, and it might come as a surprise to many that the warnings associated with the latter are direr.

The final distinction involves complexity. While advanced, high-output lead-acid charging systems can be complex, lithium-ion batteries rise

Steve D’Antonio offers services for boat owners and buyers through Steve D’Antonio Marine Consulting (stevedmarine consulting.com).

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T h e re’ s p l e n t y o f b u z z i n t h e c r u i s i n g c o m m u n i t y a b o u t l i t h i u m - i o n b a tt e r i es . Are t h e y a n o p t i o n f o r y o u r b o a t? B Y S T E V E D ’ A N T O N I O

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to a higher level of complexity, for one primary reason: safety.

While overcharging a lead-acid battery can, in rare cases, lead to overheating and fire, overcharging a lithium-ion battery can also have the same effect (there are many online videos that illustrate this issue well).

Lithium-ion batteries are also susceptible to issues when charged at especially high or low temperatures, which could make tropical or winter use problematic. It is, therefore, essential that lithium-ion batteries be “managed” by the aforementioned BMS. These management systems, which can be either external or integral, ensure that a lithium-ion battery cannot be overcharged or overdischarged (the latter can also damage the battery, or lead to overheating).

Most BMS are designed to be fail-safe, meaning that they will prevent harm to the batteries, as well as avoid battery overheating and fire.

Perhaps the most important caveat of all concerning lithium-ion batteries is the value of opting for an integrated system, designed specifically for marine applications, and supplied by a reputable manufacturer. The internet is rife with examples of inexpensive, “homebrew” lithium-ion systems, used both ashore and afloat. While the users of these systems are free to do whatever they wish, the risk associated with these is substantially greater than vetted, properly engineered, BMS-controlled systems.

Finally, the American Boat and Yacht Council recently released a technical information report called “TE-13, Lithium-Ion Batteries,” which is a guide for manufacturers and installers of lithium-ion battery systems. If you are considering installing such a system, or purchasing a vessel that has one, make certain it— and the installation—complies with this guideline.

B O A T S & G E A R N E W T E C H N O L O GY, R E V I E W S a n d PRODUCTS for the CRUISING SAILOR

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Cat P OW ER

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No, we’re not talking about the popular singer/songwriter, but rather the new L E O PA R D 4 2 , and the forces that propel this versatile cruising catamaran.

BY HERB McCORMICK

M

ick Jagger was not singing about boat tests and wind speeds when he belted out the title lyrics to the classic Rolling Stones tune “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Far too often during many years of conducting sea trials on new boats—when you’re locked into a tight, nonnegotiable schedule for getting on the water—I’ve shown up just in time for a languid spell of very light air or, even worse, zippo breeze whatsoever. Definitely not what you want.

But there are also those lucky afternoons when you get what’s required for a sweet sail. Which pretty much describes the conditions this past spring when I rolled into a marina near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a test run aboard the new Leopard 42 catamaran, and was greeted by windswept palm trees and a stiff 20- to 25-knot easterly whipping up whitecaps on the deep blue Atlantic.

What’s the line, “When you try sometimes…you get what you need”? Exactly. And in this instance, then some.

Generally speaking, cruising cats are different than their spindly racing siblings: more tankage, more machinery, more furniture, more stuff. Which means they don’t maximize sailing performance in lighter conditions (nor are they attempting to…that’s why they’re cruising boats). But give a well-designed,

well-built cat with liveaboard capabilities some legitimate air pressure to play with, and the results can be eye-popping. (Or not, frankly.

Lots of wind can be too much for some lesser vessels.) Which was most certainly the case with the latest Leopard under sail in the doubledigit gusts. Where she thrived.

Naval architect Alex Simonis— based near the wild, windy waters off Cape Town, South Africa—is the longtime designer of Leopard cats, and a man who relishes drafting solid boats that sail and perform exceedingly well (for proof, have another look at this month’s cover shot of a Leopard 42 hauling the mail in the shadow of iconic Table Mountain). His willing partners in this crime of nautical passion are the artisans at Robertson & Caine, the boatyard that in 2022 will build approximately 120 to 130 sailing cats ranging in size from 42 to 50 feet.

It’s true that the company could probably expand production based on the current and ongoing demand for Leopards, but that would run counter to the builder’s very ethos: Quality is the aim here, not quantity.

As we motored out of the inlets and into the open sea for the trials, I’ll admit that I was so relishing the sail that it never occurred to me to jot down the relevant statistics— speed, high and low RPM, etc.— for the twin 45 hp Yanmar diesels.

My bad. Let’s just say we got out there smoothly and quickly.

Leopard was conducting a mini boat show at its docks in Dania Beach that upcoming weekend, so there was an all-star crew of sailmakers and company reps aboard, including Franck Bauguil, an executive at travel conglomerate Travelopia, whose brands include the privately owned Leopards, and chartering giants Sunsail and the Moorings, and whose duties include product development—a fancy title that actually means he spends a lot of time hanging with Simonis while sailing around and dreaming up cool boats.

As we powered into the chop, I mentioned something about a reef, and Bauguil gave me a sidelong look of disappointment, like a resigned parent inspecting a horrible report card.

Full hoist it was. As the full-battened, deeply roached, square-topped mainsail was raised, I had a brief thought about singer/songwriter Cat Power, for it was abundantly clear what was powering this darn cat.

It’s interesting to note the difference between the Leopard’s sail plan and, say, the current approach from one of the big French production-cat builders like Lagoon. In recent years, Lagoon, as a brand, has made a conscious decision to slide the entire rig aft, depending more on an expansive foretriangle for drive and grunt, and taming the entire arrangement with a self-tacking headsail. With the Leopards, including the 42, the rig remains comparably forward, and it’s the mainsail, with a relatively longer boom than a Lagoon, that supplies the muscle (we’re talking basically a low-aspect main and rig on a Leopard versus a high-aspect one on the Lagoon), aided and abetted by an overlapping 110 percent headsail that’s tacked like a traditional sailboat. I honestly can’t say if there’s a right or wrong answer here, but it’s fascinating to recognize and compare the differing philosophies.

Back in the real world, I’d ascended the four steps to the starboard helm station, which is where you’ll find the wheel on every Leopard; in such matters, these guys are unabashed creatures of habit.

The surrounding view was expansive but, more pertinently, within arm’s length I had everything—and I mean everything—required to sail and command the boat: a trio of electric winches (two of which are standard), mainsheet and jib sheets

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The palatial owner’s cabin on the Leopard 42 is to starboard, and along with a sumptuous berth, it includes a vanity and other features (top). As with all Leopards, the raised helm station is to starboard in the roomy cockpit (above).

and rope clutches, a nifty traveler setup, dual engine controls, chart plotter and related sailing instruments, and so on.

For the most part, across the board, catamaran designers these days lay out decks with the notion and objective that it takes only one sharp sailor to run the whole bloody show, and the Leopard 42 certainly perfects that concept.

After motoring off the coast for sea room, we hardened up to a close reach, and matters became extremely interesting, not to mention noisy and blowy. Which was great. The cat trucked along at a solid 8.5 knots, but what struck

me the most was how solid and steadfast she felt as she cleaved through the chop; the sensation of the twin hulls of a fine cat in exquisite balance really does feel like a freight train on its rails.

But the real fun happens when you crack off and free up the wind angle, and the Leopard leaped at the course change and eased sheets, flirting with 10 knots on a screaming reach. We did have a bit of a fire drill when a blast of wind caught the corner of the furled code zero—which then, of course, started to totally unfurl—and I got my day’s cardio helping drop and corral

the beast on the trampolines.

Extremely good times.

Back at the dock, all systems once again calm and shipshape, I had a chance to wander the decks and interior.

The look and feel of the features and accoutrements are totally modern, as in ultracontemporary (more than once in my notebook the word “angular” appears). The profile is enhanced by tinted, continuous side windows in the hull, and the coach roof segues into the hard Bimini that’s carried aft and canopies the cockpit.

Up top—on the penthouse, so to speak—there’s an inviting lounge space. There’s a marvelous afterdeck and swim platform, features for which I have an extremely soft spot.

The cockpit has a fine-dining area to port, opposite the helm.

The galley is forward in the roomy central cabin, with the dining table aft to port. The 42 doesn’t have the forward cockpit employed on larger models, but there is a watertight front door that leads to a pair of sun lounges, the tramps, and an optional fixed bowsprit if you’re going with the performance package that includes the code zero.

Our test boat had the pretty awesome private owner’s cabin to starboard (with desk, vanity, flat-screen TV, huge head, etc.) and a pair of staterooms to port, but you can spec out the interior in multiple ways: three or four cabins, three or four heads, six or eight berths, three or four showers. The four-cabin, four-head configuration is likely what you’ll find if you charter one; about half the production run is bound for the bareboat fleets.

The Leopard 42 replaces the Leopard 40 in the brand’s quiver, and is certainly a more substantial ride in every notable way. The only problem, really, is that as the world emerges from these pandemic times, they’re going fast. The 42 might be quick, but if you want one, you need to be even quicker.

Herb McCormick is CW’s executive editor.

S P E C I F I C AT I O N S L E O PA R D 4 2 LENGTH OVERALL 41'7" (12.67 m) WATERLINE LENGTH 40'10" (12.4 m) BEAM 23'1" (7.04 m) DRAFT 4'7" (1.4 m) BRIDGEDECK CLEARANCE 2'6" (0.75 m) SAIL AREA (STANDARD) 1,217 sq. ft. (113 sq. m) DISPLACEMENT (LIGHT SHIP) 27,485 lb. (12,467 kg.)

DISPLACEMENT/LENGTH 179 SAIL AREA/DISPLACEMENT 21.4 WATER 174 gal. (660 L) FUEL 158 gal. (600 L) MAST HEIGHT 67'10" (20.7 m) ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS Twin 45 hp Yanmars with saildrives DESIGNER Simonis & Voogd PRICE (FULLY EQUIPPED AND DELIVERED) $689,000 954-925-8050 leopardcatamarans.com info@leopardcatamarans.com

SEA TRIAL WIND SPEED 20 to 24 knots SEA STATE Choppy SA ILING Closehauled 8.5 knots Reaching 9.8 knots M OTORI NG Cruise: N/A Fast: N/A

For a complete guide to Cruising World’s extensive online boat reviews and to request reprints from our older print archives of reviews, go to cruisingworld.com/ sailboats/sailboat-reviews.

COURTESY LEOPARD CATAMARANS (2)

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B O AT S & G E A R

Outfitted with a powered-up sail plan, the E X C E S S 1 5 ’s amenities and performance prove you just can’t have too much of a good thing.

BY MARK PILLSBURY

COURTESY EXCESS CATAMARANS

R

ight up front, let me say three things about the new Excess 15, which I got to sail with my Boat of the Year colleagues this past fall in ocean waters off Fort Lauderdale, Florida: It’s a big, roomy cruising cat that’s super easy to handle and really fun to sail. OK, make it four things: We all liked the boat.

A lot.

Excess Catamarans is a new brand, just two years old, launched by French builder Group Beneteau, and designed to reach a segment of the multihull market where it saw an opening: namely monohull sailors who appreciate the actual sailing aspect of cruising but who are open to the creature comforts a multihull has to offer.

Hey, that’s me!

I do the majority of my sailing on a single hull. I appreciate the thrill when the rail occasionally dips into the

water. I like the feedback that I get from the wheel, the water rushing past, a little spray in my face from time to time. But then again, some of my favorite adventures have taken place on two hulls. Lounging on the tramp in a pretty anchorage, power reaching from island to island, plenty of room to take family and friends along, private cabins and multiple spaces to gather—what’s not to like about those aspects of a cruising cat?

I found that the Excess 15 borrowed liberally from both worlds. It is spacious, can be loaded up with options, and everybody aboard is going to want to take a turn at the wheel. Trust me on this; the 15 is downright sporty to drive, especially with the code zero unrolled.

The boat’s standard configuration is a square-top main and self-tending jib, but Excess also offers what it calls its Pulse

package, with a 3-foot-taller mast, bowsprit and code zero set on a continuous-line furler. We got to sail this powerpacked solent-rig version, and it’s the one I’d consider if I were writing a check.

Upwind, the self-tending jib makes the boat simple to singlehand. In 10 to 12 knots of wind, the speedo hovered in the high 7-knot range, and tacking required only a turn of the wheel and adjustment of the Harken electric traveler.

When we bore off onto a reach, we lost a knot or so of speed, but conditions were perfect to furl the jib and deploy the big reacher. Immediately, the speedo jumped to 10 and change, and off we went.

I found that the locations of the twin wheels—aft and outboard on either transom— were also a value add. I’ve sailed aboard cats with the helm on a flybridge or raised seat adjacent to the aft bulkhead, and I’ve

Mark Pillsbury is CW’s editor.

73 june/july 2021

LIV ELY L iv i ng

felt disconnected from the water, and sometimes the rest of the crew if they’ve wandered off to some other corner of the boat. On the Excess, the interaction with others on board seemed more monohull-like, with everyone in the cockpit and within earshot.

Said cockpit features an inviting dining table to port surrounded by an L-shaped couch, a large lounge opposite, and a padded bench seat across the transom between folddown helm seats. Overhead, the center of the Bimini slides open to let the sunlight pour in, and provides an excellent view of the mainsail while underway. On the boat we sailed, cockpit gatherings were further encouraged by adding a sink, fridge and ice maker to the amenities.

In the saloon, glass windows all around and a large slider door aft offer a 360-degree look at the world, while also providing relatively good visibility forward from the helms.

An L-shaped galley with sink, stove, oven and microwave is located in the aft port corner of the main cabin; opposite is a drawer-style fridge and freezer, with more counter space above them. A second large table and another L-shaped couch are forward.

The boat we sailed had a traditional three-cabin layout, with the owner’s quarters occupying the starboard hull; two en suite guest cabins filled the port hull, along with another freezer amidships. The boat can also be configured with four en suite berths, or with six cabins and six heads (two additional crew berths are available in the forepeaks), which should prove popular with the charter crowd.

The base price for the 15 is $737,000, but the boat we sailed, delivered to the US and loaded with options—including a bow thruster and FLIR cameras—is right around $950,000, reflecting the benefits and costs of living and sailing to excess.

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B O AT S & G E A R

CRUISING WORLD’S

CHARTERING N EW S a n d N OT E S o n S A I L I N G -VACAT I O N O P P O RT U N I T I E S

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Waypoints Annapolis has added two Dufour performance monohulls to its fleet.

CHARTER GROUP ADDS ANNAPOLIS Cruise Annapolis has joined the Waypoints charter network of the Atlantic Cruising Yachts.

The rebranding expands the Annapolis, Maryland, company’s bareboat and skippered chartering and brokerage options, aligning it with Atlantic’s presence throughout North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

Waypoints Annapolis continues to offer vacationing sailors destination charters throughout Chesapeake Bay aboard new-model monohulls, catamarans and motoryachts.

Brands include Fountaine Pajot and Dufour.

Incentives for Chesapeake departures in sailing season 2021 include the Healthcare Hero special of 10 percent off charters booked by healthcare professionals. The offer applies to new and direct bookings only; other restrictions apply.

Waypoints Annapolis is also expanding its schedule of

sailing classes taught through the curriculum of the American Sailing Association and conducts women-only and Spanishlanguage ASA courses. Recent fleet additions in Annapolis include two new Dufours with three cabins and two heads. The course schedule is posted online (cruise-annapolis.com/charters/ asa-sailing-instruction). For details, contact the company (cruise-annapolis.com).

Aside from the Annapolis base, Atlantic Cruising Yachts has offices in Charleston, South Carolina; St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Kemah, Texas; and La Rochelle, France. For more information about the Waypoints network, Atlantic Cruising Yachts or any of the affiliated charter bases, visit the Waypoints website (waypoints.com).

SAIL LAKE MICHIGAN AND SAVE Great Lakes Sailing Company in Traverse City, Michigan, has

CROATIA FLOTILLAS Jean and Mila De Keyser’s Med Sailing Adventures will conduct several flotillas in Croatia in late summer 2021. The schedule for the trips, which are conducted by the De Keysers in conjunction with the American Sailing Association, is: Trogir/ Split to the Sibenik and the Krka waterfalls, August 21-28; Central Dalmatian Islands, September 4-11; one-way Split to Dubrovnik, September 11-18; Dubrovnik to Mljet and Korcula, September 18-25; Dubrovnik to Montenegro, September 25-October 2.

For details, contact the company (medsailingadventures .com).

calculated for charters three weeks or longer. When five or more yachts travel together, receive 5 percent off each boat, and 10 percent off each boat for groups of 10 or more yachts. For details, contact the company (anacortesyachtcharters.com).

NEW MULTIHULLS DEBUT New power multihull models launched in spring 2021 include the Aquila 70 luxury power catamaran and Leen 56, a hybrid power trimaran.

Aquila models are available for charter through MarineMax Vacations (marinemax.com/ vacations). The Leen is available through Trimaran Yacht Charter (trimaran-yacht-charter.com).

—Elaine Lembo C O MPA N I ES ADVERTISING T H IS M O N TH CHARTER C O M PA N I E S Conch Charters 877-521-8939 San Juan Sailing 800-677-7245 Southwest Florida Yachts 800-262-7939 Tortola Marine Management Ltd. 800-633-0155 Waypoints 443-225-4355

p. 78 p. 79 p. 79

p. 76 p. 75

SAILING SCHOOLS

PACIFIC NORTHWEST INCENTIVES Join the Anacortes Yacht Charters captains’ and admirals’ club, and earn exclusive benefits.

Take 5 percent off a second (or third) charter with the company. Clients who book for two weeks also receive a 5 percent discount. Rates are individually

American Sailing Association 310-822-7171 p. 79 Blue Water Sailing School 800-255-1840 p. 78 Offshore Sailing School 888-454-7015 p. 77 This directory is a list of companies advertising in this section; it is not an endorsement by the editors.

Classified advertisers not listed

COURTESY WAYPOINTS ANNAPOLIS

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responded to client interest in extra days on the water in the 2021 season with several incentives. Early- and lateseason charter discounts from 10 percent to 25 percent are available.

Discounts and time frames in 2021 are 10 percent off June 5-18, 10 percent off September 7-19, and 25 percent off September 20 to season’s end. Fleet additions include a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 469, two Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440s, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 and a Gemini Legacy 35x catamaran. For details, contact the company (greatlakessailingco.com).

“It was so cool to learn something new with my dad.”

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2018 HYLAS H56 ‘SERENITY 2’ Of the Hylas 56 series, SERENITY 2 unmistakably stands apart from her sisterships. Commissioned by a knowledgeable sailor and experienced Hylas owner, SERENITY 2 incorporates a wide array of unique features, design options, and aesthetic elements. She features a custom hardtop, lithium-ion 24V electrical system, bow and stern thrusters, and an exquisite interior arrangement. For the discerning buyer with an appreciation for thoughtful design, SERENITY 2 will be sure to impress.

In addition to her extensive equipment inventory, she is among the few Hylas 56 that has been under the diligent care of a full-time crew since new. They have been under the employ of the owner for years and were intimately involved in her construction. Such attention is evident upon inspection of the yacht.

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Vie En Rose - 4 cabin / 5 head Located in BVI Asking $435,000

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LITTLE HARBOR 58’ Magnificent shoal-draft bluewater cruiser. Generous salon, 3 staterooms with owner’s private cockpit aft. Recent Awlgrip, new decks and running rigging.

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SHOAL DRAFT MASTERPIECES Little Harbor 78 ............................... FL Little Harbor 70 ................................RI Little Harbor 60 ..............................MA Little Harbor 58 .......... Mallorca, Spain (4) Little Harbor 54s ............. CT, RI, VA S&S CUSTOM 53’, 2004 Sparkman & Stephens pedigree, built in New Zealand.

Award-winning raised pilothouse design. Modern construction yields lighter, stronger offshore hull with increased performance.

CHERUBINI 48’ SCHOONER Major mechanical/electrical refit 2013/14 complements gleaming topsides on this iconic design. Indoor heated storage. Bring an offer!

(2) Little Harbor 53s ................. MD, VT

All available in beautiful condition.

OYSTER 46’, 2006 Oyster fit and finish. Recent upgrades include new electronics and solar. Set up for long-distance cruising and living off the grid. Safely operated by a couple.

HOOD/LITTLE HARBOR 54’ Shoal-draft passagemaker, in-mast furling + elec. ST winches at helm. 3 staterooms with queen aft. Updated sails, rigging, machinery.

MORRIS M42X, 2015 Built with an emphasis on performance. Features include carbon sprit, tall rig, deep keel, North 3Di sails, EC6 rigging and excellent PHRF record.

Rhode Island (401) 683-6070 | Info@WellingtonYachts.com | Florida (954) 527-4230 TED HOOD 2 CHRIS FAIRFAX 2 BILL HAYNIE 2 CHET HARTSHORN MURRAY LORD 2 BOB MARSTON 2 JOHN PERKINS 2 JIM WETHERALD

SEE MORE AT WELLINGTONYACHTS.COM

ANNAPOLIS HYLAS PREVIEW DAY June 11th - 12th | Port Annapolis Marina Step aboard the new Hylas H57 and H60 at the 2021 Hylas Preview day.

Hylas Owner’s gathering on Friday followed by tours and demonstration sails on Saturday!

2022 Delivery Exhilarating New Frers Design

2022 Delivery The Ultimate Luxury Cruising Yacht

2022 Delivery Ideal For The Cruising Couple

Hylas H63 2016 $995,000 - HotLabs Interior

Hylas H56 2018 $1,250,000 - Best-Equipped H56 Built!

Hylas H49 2020 $699,000 - In Like New Condition!

Hylas H56 2011 $910,000 - Carbon Fiber Rig

Hylas H54 2001 $535,000 - Upgraded - Ready to Go!

Hylas H46 2010 $400,000 - Exceptionally Maintained

NEW & BROKERAGE HYLAS SALES www.davidwaltersyachts.com sales@davidwaltersyachts.com (954) 527-0664

DISCOVER THE NEW HYLAS H57 Scan the QR code for more photos, videos, and specifications on this exciting new Dixon design.

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2022 1988 1996 1988 1985 1981

15,900 49,000 49,000 19,500 15,900 22,500

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W ^ ĂŶĂ Ϯϰ Ψϰ ϬϬϬ ϯϭ Catalina 315 2014 ϯϮ EĂƵƟĐĂƚ ϯϮ ϭ ϭ ϯϯ Prout Quest 1985 ϯϰ Morgan 34 1970 ϯϰ Tartan 34-2 1988 ϯϰ Hunter 1983

79,500 55,000 Sold 34,900 19,500

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2007 1991 1983 2003 1995

106,000 Sold 26,000 89,970 59,000

ϱ 'ƌĂŶĚ ^ŽůĞŝů ϯ Ψϳ ϬϬϬ ϯϳ Beneteau 373 ϯ Grand Soleil ϰϬ Catalina 400 ϰϯ Shannon ϰϲ Brewer Custom

2006 1985 2004 1986 2007

^ƉĞĐŝĂůŝnjŝŶŐ ŝŶ ^ĂŝůďŽĂƚƐ dƌĂǁůĞƌƐ ĂŶĚ ŽǁŶ ĂƐƚ WŽǁĞƌ YƵĂůŝƚLJ ƌŽŬĞƌĂŐĞ >ŝƐƟŶŐƐ tŚĞƚŚĞƌ LJŽƵ ĂƌĞ ďƵLJŝŶŐ Žƌ ƐĞůůŝŶŐ z^ ĐĂŶ ŚĞůƉ ŵĂŬĞ LJŽƵƌ ďŽĂƟŶŐ ĚƌĞĂŵƐ ĐŽŵĞ ƚƌƵĞ

Hingham, MA 781-749-8600

Scituate, MA 339.236.2950

New London, CT 860.772.0800

Sold 79,000 143,000 134,900 345,000

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www.x-yachtsusa.com The X56 joins the hugely successful Pure X Range with emphasis on providing owners with a superb and comfortable sailing experience, blending luxury and style with performance and cruising capability.

Selected Brokerage: 100’ 1989 Georgetti & Magrini Ketch................. SOLD

36' 2014 Eagle 36 ............................................. SOLD

57’ 1980 Swan 57 ........................................ $325,000

33’ 1989 Nonsuch Ultra 33 ............................ $69,900

50’ 2001 Farr Pilothouse.............................. $479,000

31’ 1987 Pearson 31 ...................................... $26,500

44’ 2012 X-Yachts’ Xp44 ............................. $475,000

30’ 1985 Nonsuch 30 ..................................... $49,000

44’ 2001 Finngulf 44..................................... $139,000

27’ 1926 Herreshoff S-boat ........................... $55,000

43’ 1981 Mason 43....................................... $130,000

23’ 2000 Tofinou 23 ........................................ $48,000

40’ 1985 Jonmeri 40 .................................... $115,000

- See our site for more listings -

Rodgers Yacht Sales, LLC +1 (860) 536 7776

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Phone 1 401 846 8404 Email sales@berthonusa.com

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WITH BOAT SHOWS CANCELLED, GET IN TOUCH WITH US DIRECTLY TO ARRANGE INSPECTIONS!

SISTERSHIP

FPB 78#3 IRON LADY II (2015, LAUNCHED 2017): Nonstop passages from New Zealand to French Polynesia, onward to Costa Rica, the Galapagos, then Chile to Cape Horn and onto the Antarctic Peninsula. After further exploration of the Chilean Fiords, nonstop to Panama and then through the Canal to the US. She has been beautifully maintained with many refinements. Lying Beaufort NC at $5,500,000.

HANSE 458 (2019): Hard to find recent model, with in-mast furling, electric winches, bow thruster, generator, air conditioning, French Oak interior – three cabin interior, self tacking jib, B & G electronics. This is a fast, modern Judel Vrolijk, easily sailed, state of the art cruising boat. A lovely yacht with full Bimini and swim platform. In Boston at $399,000.

SC 37 (2009): Racing season is back and THREE BEANS is SO ready. Brand new rudder just installed, and she has been tricked out to the max with upgrades and a sugar scoop transom, square top mainsail, carbon hull, in CT at $185,000.

SWAN 60/001: First of the incredibly popular Nautor Swan 60 class. Designed to perform at top levels in the Swan Regattas, etc. In stunning condition, leather upholstery, new genset / air-conditioning / Yanmar engine, lying Annapolis at $475,000.

SWAN 40 (1999): Pristine, sold by us new and since then. Fresh blue Awlgrip, new electronics and has spent every winter of her life, except two, in a shed. Great sailing, with 2 heads/cabins, single cockpit, fold out bathing platform, nonskid decks. Offered at $220,000.

OYSTER 725 ROSINHA (2016): Specified for a serious world cruise, carbon V boom, genoa and staysail are automated, managed with a small crew, with excellent performance. Teak interior, Raymarine electronics, with full communication & audio visual. Lying Palma de Mallorca at GBP 1,995,000 (plus VAT).

MOODY 41DS FOR 2022: Yet again, Moody has hit the sweet spot with a new design, with this new model.

Perfect size for a couple or family for extended cruising, with amazing space below, never mind the view from the main level with 360 deg view and fantastic cockpit.

Full video on YouTube.

MOODY 45DS FOR 2022: Two new boats just arriving so easy to see and sail, standard with a three cabin layout, twin rudders, huge cockpit storage lockers, choice of interior wood, and of course, laid out with an uncluttered deck with self tacking jib, and numerous available options. Call for details.

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* Estimated APR (Annual Percentage Rate) based on 5 year loan term; individual rate may vary based on loan amount, loan term, vehicle use, model year and type of boat. Subject to consumer loan program requirements and credit approval. Rates and terms are subject to change based on market conditions and borrower eligibility. Certain fees, closing costs, and restrictions may apply. APR applied to the loan is the APR in effect on the date the application is received and is valid for 60 days. Boat must be 2001 model year or newer; for boat model year 2001 to 2010, add .25% to above rate. Maximum loan term based on loan amount. Maximum loan amount is calculated using an advance percentage determined by FICO score and multiplied by NADA guide base wholesale value with add-ons; if not listed in NADA guide, then multiplied by 80% of BUC low retail value. Other rates with different loan terms are available. Example of a refinance recreational use boat loan: A $65,399 loan (includes a $399 processing fee) for 5 years with a fixed interest rate of 4.047% would have an APR of 4.29% and 60 monthly payments of $1,205.81. This is only an example and the APR and processing fee may differ for your specific transaction. Loans with longer terms may have higher rates.

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Of f Wa t c h Always a handsome lad, hardworking Steve has grown to be a true waterman—a sailor and a fisherman—with a good job and a beautiful girlfriend. As happy an ending as one could hope for.

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june/july 2021

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t’s a gorgeous day on Longboat Key, a sliver of a barrier island off the west coast of Florida sliced between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, all of it straight out of a chamber-of-commerce brochure. The breeze has filled in from the southwest, but not too much, hovering at 10 knots or so. Which is just great, because the sandwiches are made, the cooler is packed, and we’ve got just the right activity for this sunscreen afternoon. We’re going sailing.

Skipper Steve Spurr is at the helm of his Pearson 365, August West—so named for the protagonist of an old Grateful Dead song called “Wharf Rat,” significant of nothing, slapped on the transom by a previous owner—and he backs her out of a tight slip with the easy nonchalance of a man who knows precisely what he’s doing. Which is probably no coincidence, and might in fact be a skill he’s inherited; his old man, Dan Spurr, is a longtime sailing writer, accomplished cruising sailor and a former editor at this very magazine.

Seated to my left in a cockpit full of happy, expectant guests, Dan is also one of my oldest, best mates, a friend with whom I’ve sailed many a mile and enjoyed (or survived) countless adventures…talk about a pair of ol’ wharf rats.

I’ve actually sailed August West previously, back in Newport, Rhode Island, soon after Dan purchased her a few years back. But my longtime pal has since moved on, to

Two of a kind: author Dan Spurr and his son, Steve, both know their way around a well-found cruising boat.

the proverbial “dark side”—a pretty cool, I must admit, Grand Banks trawler parked in the same marina as August that we pass as Steve motors us into the bay. Dan’s boat swap gave his son the opportunity to upgrade to the 365 from his previous Pearson 30, and here we are.

Good old Pearson yachts, and my hometown of Newport, are a couple of threads that tie this whole story together, and sadly, it’s a tale not without a stiff measure of tragedy. It was almost 35 years ago (good God, how is that possible?) that Dan and his wife, Andra, were readying to set sail from Newport for points south aboard their 33-foot Pearson

Vanguard (having moved up from, yes, a Pearson Triton), a time that Dan recalls well in his excellent memoir, Steered by the Falling Stars. It was an August night, and the Spurrs were on their boat in the harbor when I got word that back in Dan’s former Michigan stomping grounds, his son, Pete—the sweetest 12-year-old imaginable, even more so for the intrepid way in which he charged through life despite his cerebral palsy—had been struck dead on the tracks of an Amtrak train. It was my job to go fetch my buddy.

Steered by a falling star? You can say that again, brother.

Allow me to cut to the chase. Within a few months, Dan and Andra’s plans for

an extensive, open-ended cruise came to a complete and sudden halt when they learned they were…expecting. One son can’t replace another, of course, but a son it was. Steve.

The subsequent journey, like all of them, hit a few potholes.

Growing up ain’t easy, man.

But fate and love and serendipity has now brought them all back together, living in Florida, their respective boats just a few slips apart. Always a handsome lad, hardworking Steve has grown to be a true waterman—a sailor and a fisherman—with a good job, a beautiful girlfriend, a new house. As happy an ending as one could hope for.

On top of all that, he’s taking us for a nice ride on his pretty, well-kept boat.

We cut across busy Sarasota Bay to the city front, passing the gaudy and palatial mansion once owned by the circus impresario John Ringling. It turns out that Steve is a fairly excellent tour guide, and he knows his local history. We see a few dolphins. Everyone gets to steer. The chow is tasty, the beverages icy. The breeze shifts, and we relish a sweet reach back toward sun-splashed Longboat.

So, yes, we’re enjoying our sail on this lovely day, in the fine company of the sailor and his son. Well, two sailors, really. It’s about as perfect as it gets in a thousand different ways.

Herb McCormick is CW’s executive editor.

HERB MCCORMICK

SON of a SAILOR

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