Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Yachting Monthly

When the wind goes light and boat speed drops off, most of us reflexively reach for the ignition key. Passages planned at five knots, limited time afloat and a desire to get into harbour in time for dinner and a drink mean that we have little patience for ghosting along in zephyrs or simply making anything less than hull speed. There’s enjoyment to be had, however, in coaxing your boat to keep moving in the light stuff, free from the fug of diesel fumes and noise. How well your boat does this will be down in part to its character, bestowed on the designer’s drawing board. While heavy displacement boats with conservative sail plans might be less responsive that an over-canvassed race machine, a little adaptation of how you sail…

From 30 June 2021, recreational boat owners in Northern Ireland will be banned from using red diesel for the propulsion of their vessels. Instead, they will have to use white diesel. The change will come into effect as part of the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol. The Cruising Association (CA), the RYA and British Marine have all raised concerns, especially as there are no marine white diesel pumps in Northern Ireland. Demand is also insufficient for commercial operators to make provision. Instead, sailors will have to use jerry cans for refuelling. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has said that owners in Northern Ireland with only one fuel tank on board will not have to pay a higher rate of duty on their non-propulsion use of diesel than they would otherwise…

Council mooring holders on the River Hamble say they’re relieved the Crown Estate has rejected plans by Universal Marina to extend its finger pontoons and take over the lease of the J Pontoon run. The Crown Estate, which owns the river bed, operates around 650 mid-stream moorings on the river, including the J Pontoon run, which are administered by Hampshire County Council’s River Hamble Harbour Authority. The moorings are significantly cheaper than the cost of a full service marina berth, making them popular. There is a waiting list of 15 years for a mooring for a 32ft-40ft boat. Julian Bessey has been a berth holder on a council mooring for over 20 years and objected to Universal Marina’s plans during the consultation by the Crown Estate. Council moorings are like…

Time was when many people, who’d never been to America, visualised Mickey Mouse rather than Mount Rushmore, when they thought about the US. That’s because its neo-colonial impact has, in the past, been more successful via trash culture than the principles of the Founding Fathers. Thanks to a new wave of American sailors that image is beginning to change forever. The internet is full to bursting with – mostly – US yachtsmen and women taking video selfies of their global voyages and ‘sharing’ them with us. Some are even getting us to pay for it. The overwhelming characteristic of these continual summer-hunters is that of positivity. To a rain-soaked, gale-tousled Englishman, dripping with new season antifoul, the seamless happiness of these high seas hedonists strumming guitars on the beach, filming…

A job worth doing is worth doing properly, so the saying goes. There’s no doubt that Bavaria have committed wholeheartedly to the concept behind their new C38 and the result is a boat fully confident in its identity. That’s a good job, given the level of competition the C38 will be up against in the 37-38ft production cruiser market. This boat aims to do three things: create the absolute maximum amount of space on deck and below from the available waterline length; be enjoyable and engaging to sail, if not a race boat; and give a potential buyer the maximum bang for their buck. In practice, the design has added significant volume in both the bow and the stern, introduced a deeper, rounder forefoot to reduce slamming, and has deepened…

Coming home was a good reminder of some of the particular features of sailing in British waters. For local sailors, the strong tidal flows and the large rise and fall are the norm, but for others coming from non-tidal areas this is a big change. Of all the places in the world we have sailed, the UK has some of the more challenging tides. Failure to take this into account can, as a minimum, make passages difficult to impossible and, at worst, downright dangerous. There are excellent pilot books for the waters all around the British Isles with good guidance on passage planning taking account of tides and weather. Marine traffic around the north coast of France and in the English Channel was higher than we had seen for a…

Roger owns the Sigma 38 Plane Sailing, a 11.6m powerful fin-keeled cruiser racer. He and six crew are sailing back to the Solent from the West Country. The wind is southwesterly Force 5 and Plane Sailing has made fast progress under spinnaker. Roger reckons the sea will be quite confused at the Needles so he has opted to enter the Solent via the North Channel. This involves sailing on a beam reach for a short while so Roger has dropped the spinnaker and hoisted the number 2 genoa. Although the sea state is calmer in the North Channel it puts the yacht only a cable or two from a lee shore, so it is not a place to experience gear failure. The crew have raced and cruised together regularly and…

The first person to look systematically at hull drag was William Froude who, although he had a first class degree in maths from Oxford, seemed more interested in ships and engineering experiments. Some of his early work helped him persuade the Admiralty to pay for the first ship model towing tank to be built in the grounds of his house in Torquay in 1872. Here he did experiments on different size models of the same ship and also on flat plates towed along on edge. This allowed him to demonstrate that hull drag (or resistance as naval architects generally call it) can be split into two parts – that due to friction and that which he called residuary resistance, which is largely due to wavemaking. He also came up with…

Send your sailing gossip, diary dates, cruising news and club or owners’ association updates to Laura Hodgetts laura.hodgetts@futurenet.com Farewell to Solent landmark The iconic structure of Fawley Power Station, at the entrance to Southampton Water, is being demolished for redevelopment. The 650ft chimney has been a distinctive navigational aid since 1970. So here, Dave Jones, Fawley engineering manager from 1998 to 2006, shares a little more about it: The site near Calshot was part of a 13-strong network of 2,000MW power stations, developed some 50 years ago by the national utility company, Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), across England and Wales. Only two ‘cathedrals of power’ remain operational: at West Burton and Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Fawley’s was among the last to be decommissioned and closed in 2013. Like Pembroke, Fawley was oil-fired…

A couple of miles south of Tenby lies the monastic island of Caldey, separated from the mainland by a relatively shallow sound. Its history dates back to the 6th century, though Viking raids disrupted monastic devotions until the 12th century when a cell of Benedictines arrived, remaining until Henry VIII’s 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1906 an Anglican Benedictine community built the present abbey and restored St David’s Church, and the Cistercian Order took up residence in 1929. This group of monks still uphold Caldey’s monastic heritage, but this has not prevented residents gaining financial independence by welcoming 50,000 tourists a year, and developing a perfume, cheese, and chocolate industry. The main Caldey anchorage is in Priory Bay on the north coast. It is well sheltered in westerly and…

If you have a news story to share, contact News Editor Katy Stickland Email Katy.Stickland@futurenet.com Tel 0330 390 6738 Changes to ship radio licence likely UK ship radio licence holders will soon be expected to carry proof that their licensable radio equipment, including Class A AIS, radar and DSC VHF complies with electromagnetic field (EMF) emission exposure limits and doesn’t pose a risk to the public. OFCOM consulted on its plans last year before contacting all licence holders in March to give notice of the proposals to vary licences, which are expected to come into effect from 18 May 2021. New licensees must comply immediately, whilst those with licence renewals will have between 6-12 months. OFCOM’s changes followed public concerns about the risk of exposure to EMF emissions from the…

UK owners with boats in Europe have been given an additional six months to qualify for Returned Goods Relief (RGR). At the end of last year, the HMRC announced that owners of boats which have been in the UK under present ownership and were in the EU at the end of the Brexit transition period, could avoid paying a second VAT payment if the vessel returned to the UK before 31 December 2021. This applied regardless of when the boat left the UK. Now, following lobbying by the RYA and British Marine, HMRC has announced a six-month extension to the one-year grace period. This means cruisers have until 30 June 2022 to bring their boats back to the UK from Europe to avoid a second UK VAT payment. Both the…

Two adults and two children escaped uninjured from a Sadler 34 after it caught fire shortly after leaving Conwy Marina in North Wales on 3 April. The crew noticed smoke from the engine compartment and tried to extinguish it before it escalated out of control. They were rescued by the crew of two passing yachts. Due to the risk of explosion, the yacht was allowed to drift in the easterly breeze and incoming flood tide, which pushed the yacht upriver towards town quay. It was eventually pinned onto a pontoon opposite the quay, where it set another yacht on fire. Firefighters were taken via the Harbour Office’s barge to extinguish the fires. The Sadler 34 was burnt down to the water line and sank.…

A fundraising campaign has been launched in Cornwall to offer NHS workers the chance to go sailing following months of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Project ARGO, which is run by volunteers, has teamed up with Turn to Starboard, the Forces’ sailing charity in Falmouth, which offers RYA sailing courses to support those affected by military operations. Initially, £12,000 needs to be raised to offer Project ARGO sailing to 50 NHS critical care staff. Project lead Kaylie Buytenhuys said she had no doubt that ‘Project ARGO will have the same profound impact on our NHS heroes, that Turn to Starboard has had on veterans. It’s a model that has successfully improved the mental wellbeing of veterans, so why not offer the same opportunity to our NHS?’ Project Argo: www.yachtingmonthly.com/projectargo…

The adult version of a child’s delight at popping a jelly out of its mould is the wonderful moment when a hull is finally turned. What had the appearance of a beached whale suddenly takes its true form and is gifted the wonder of life and a character of its own. Our moment of magic was in early March and Oddity found an immediate place within our hearts. We had hoped, after much tweaking with a pencil, wakeful nights and a rough tank testing model that she might have something and I’m delighted to say she does. Different and deserving of her name but endearing nonetheless. You can never be quite sure and I confess to niggling doubts that we might have overcooked the scow in her bow. Even upside…

Unfortunately, the WSA is not generally quoted among the particulars for many yachts, and very few Owner’s Manuals include it. For any yacht designed in the last 25 years or so the WSA should be available at the touch of a few computer keys to the designer or builder. For older boats it is an hour’s calculation (for a naval architect) if the lines plan is available. With a yacht ashore, a laser scanner can be used to get the WSA and all the other hydrostatic particulars very quickly given the software most naval architects now have. The Offshore Racing Congress have scanned over 12,500 boats including most standard production boats. If you can’t get the WSA any other way you can always measure it yourself when your boat is…

If I hadn’t been able to cut the safety line, I would have drowned After my wife died from cancer, my life imploded so all I wanted was to get away from home, from our life, to heal. Once I had sorted out all of the paperwork, her funeral, the will, it was time to sail away. I found my floating home not too far away at Philip Island; a Duncanson 34 called Bison, and brought her back to Queenscliff, then set about starting a new chapter, with my elderly cat Stinky. After a rather adventurous voyage along the bottom of Australia then up the east coast, crossing every nasty bar, entering some dubious anchorages and some quite stunning places, I experienced the crazy tides of the Torres Strait, and…

Having just walked from the boat’s mooring in Paraggi to ritzy Portofino, Ivar drily commented, ‘I’m glad we’re staying around the corner.’ From the town’s historic church, we looked down on the small natural harbour around which the famous colourful town is built. Superyachts, fishing vessels, and boats ferrying tourists occupied every square inch of water. ‘Even if there was space, we couldn’t afford it,’ I pointed out. A mooring here for our 47ft classic Buchanan ketch Lucipara 2 would cost ?300 a night. But the joy of our first and free Italian anchorage was short-lived. Early the next morning, the coastguard paid us a visit. In firm Italian, they explained that we were not allowed to anchor close to the beach and told us to move immediately. We complied…

I had recently retired, wanted an adventure and to develop my sailing experience. I had skippered yachts many times in the UK, sailed to France and the Channel Islands, chartered in the Mediterranean and helped deliver a yacht from Mallorca to Naples. After being inspired by reading about what Britain’s coast had to offer, it was clear that a circumnavigation by yacht was what I had to do. Was my wife, Diane, up for it too? Not a chance. I thought it might have to be a solo exercise, but then my sailing friend, Roger, declared that he was ‘in’ too. We resolved to buy a boat together, share costs and skippering duties; the boat would be sold at the end of the exercise. After several viewings, we bought a…

£149 If you’re heading away from a guaranteed mobile phone signal, letting those at home track your adventure can be a challenge without shelling out on expensive satellite communications equipment. Spot Gen4, by Globalstar, offers a cheap and simple way of doing just that. The small unit (88mm x 67mm x 24mm, 142g) is powered by four AAA batteries, which should be adequate for even long trips, depending on the tracking frequency selected, though it is non-rechargeable. It is IP68 waterproof (up to 30 minutes at 2m depth). While this isn’t a GMDSS safety device, you can issue an SOS distress alert (to local emergency services via the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center) by pressing the covered distress button. There’s a non-emergency help button for mechanical breakdown situations. Using…

The 2021 Southampton Boat Show will be the biggest edition to date with a new entrance and festival area located outside the city’s Westgate shopping centre. Running from 10-19 September at Mayflower Park, the event will also feature new zones to cater for specific marine interests, including a classic boat and day boat zone, dinghy zone and an area for paddle boards and windsurfers. Europe’s largest purpose-built marina, featuring sail and power boats, will remain the show’s centrepiece. Last year’s Southampton Boat Show was postponed due to COVID-19. The scaled-down Boats 2020 event was cancelled just hours before it was due to open following concerns about the increase in COVID-19 cases. Organisers British Marine, which was assured by the council that Boats 2020 was COVID-compliant, appealed to the Government for…

Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who has organised the Jester Challenge for the last 15 years, is retiring. The former Royal Marine and sailor set up the event with Trevor Leek, running the first Jester Challenge in 2006. Ten solo skippers took part in the Corinthian trans-Atlantic event, which started in Plymouth and finished in Newport, USA. Since then, hundreds of sailors have taken part in 10 events, which are not races but ‘a modern experiment in old-fashioned self-reliance, self-sufficiency and personal responsibility’. Destinations now include Newport, the Azores and Baltimore in southern Ireland. There are no rules for skippers, although boats have to be under 30ft overall. There are no inspections or entry fee, with individual skippers deciding what safety equipment to carry and when to begin sailing after the starting pistol…

Time somebody stood up for yacht clubs. They get a terrible press, really, don’t they? Ripe targets for satirists, they are used as shorthand for entitled wealth and unearned leisure, ridiculously pompous rules, flag-obsession, brass-buttoned blazers, peaked hats and mindless right-wing harrumphing. Now I have no objection at all to flags. Blazers are useful tidy garments – nobody sneers at rugby internationals wearing them, peaks are useful on hats, and, face it, we all need an occasional harrumph these days. Even if it’s just about certain people’s habits connected with ‘personal watercraft’, say no more. But if ever you admit to non-sailors that you are nipping down to the yacht club, some will roll their eyes in scorn. In the hierarchy of general democratic approval they score even below ‘golf…

After four years away from home, the English coast was finally in sight. It was time to celebrate – but it was teatime, and we were under way, so we baked some scones and put the kettle on. Just as they came out of the oven, crisp and golden, a voice came down the companionway. ‘We’ve got company. They look official and it’s not on AIS.’ Popping up to check, there it was: the grey hulk of a military-looking vessel approaching us quickly from astern. Before we knew it a fast rib detached itself and in minutes a very serious looking team of men and women were alongside and boarding Barracuda – no questions asked. Welcome aboard Border Force. They inspected, quite thoroughly, the boat, our papers and our stories,…

Q As surveyors, both Ben Sutcliffe-Davies and Nick Vass must have seen a lot of good and bad boats. I was wondering what their favourites were in the below £20,000, £50,000 and £100,000 price ranges, and which were the most well built, sustainable and best value for money. Paul Kingston A Nick Vass FRINA MSCMS My favourite boat of all time is the Poncin 44, but for value I would say a 1972 Hurley 24/70 is hard to beat, especially as £5,000 will buy you one with a good engine and sails. For £20,000 a rare Sovereign 32 or a Hurley 30/90 would be other well-made family cruising yachts to consider. The Sigma 33 is a fast classic and surprisingly cheap at present, but be aware of accident and keel…

If you saw any of the coverage of the 2021 Americas Cup racing (still available on YouTube) you will have heard the crews continually talking about pressure. It had nothing to do with anxiety levels, but the variation in wind pressure across the race course. The brilliant 18th-century Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli was the man who established a formula linking speed and pressure in fluids. He showed that the pressure in a fluid is directly related to the velocity squared. This is known as Bernoulli’s Principle and gives rise to the fluid force formula (right). Air density, a sail force coefficient, the sail area and the apparent wind speed squared are used for estimating the sail force (second equation, right). Using the velocity diagrams, we see the sail force will…

In all but the very lightest conditions, the overriding consideration for light airs sail trim is making adjustments that develop as much power from the sail plan, and to build and maintain hull speed. Even heavy boats, sailed well can build up good boat speed, and have more momentum to carry them through the lulls. Minimal helm movements and judicious avoidance of waves or powerboat wash will help keep the way on. 1 TELL-TALES These most basic of sail trim aids remain absolutely essential, though many sails lack them. Tell-tales should be fitted to the luff of a headsail and the leech of a mainsail. Without them, you are flying blind. Buy some stick on ones if you don’t have them. 2 BACKSTAY Minimal backstay tension is required as this…

Budget another 20-25% beyond the purchase price for upgrades. There are a few items to focus on to start with: ■ Don’t compromise on safety. Primary concern is ground tackle. Ensure it runs smoothly and is sufficient for the job■ Propulsion, both sail and power come next. Replace tired or worn sails and service engine. Clean fuel is essential so pay attention to the filter system■ Assess where you will be cruising and ensure you have the right gear for the likely conditions■ Battery charging systems and capacity are critical. Replace ageing batteries. Assess your power requirements and ensure your alternator and systems can meet the demand■ Ensure running gear is running freely. Replace genoa cars and blocks if necessary. Change any chafed cordage Once you’ve sorted the essentials, work…

The beacon alert from Nigel’s PLB was received by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), who pinpointed the distress signal 93km northeast from the remote town of Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. AMSA tasked its Cairns-based Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft at around 0930 on 4 January to find the 55-year-old, who was located 23km (14 miles) from his yacht, in the Arafura Sea. Thanks to Nigel’s 121.5 MHz homing signal, and the skilled air crew aboard the Cobham Aviation Challenger jet, a liferaft was dropped just a couple of metres from the sailor in the water. A couple of hours later he was retrieved from the sea by Nhulunbuy water police, who transported him to Gove District Hospital suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, as well as two broken ribs…

This is how my crew-without-a-boat met a solo boat owner with little time and high maintenance costs and formed a solid friendship group, with mutual benefits. I’m relatively new to sailing, having first stepped onboard a yacht in my mid 40s, but I still marvel at the multitude of seemingly lone owners I see at marinas holding a paintbrush, bits of string or an oily rag. It reminds me of the unique situation that has developed for White Mistral’s owner Dave Ardron, which appears to be the envy of our sailing club friends – and their wallets. My three crewmates and I met Dave on a Yachtmaster theory course six years ago. Halfway through, we all went out on Misty, moored in Fareham, to put theory into practice. During our…

FISHER 34 The popular Fisher 34 was first launched in 1978. Designers David Freeman and Gordon Wyatt teamed up in 1969 to produce a range of boats that had the seaworthiness of a North Sea fishing boat and the sailing abilities of a long-distance cruising yacht. The Fishers all had canoe sterns and long keels for directional stability, plus a deep-vee entry and pronounced sheer with high, flared bows and deep bulwarks to keep the waves out. Renowned for their build quality, Fishers are all hand-laminated and incorporate a long keel with encapsulated cast iron ballast. Hulls are solid GRP, while the deck is a balsa sandwich. Bulkheads are laminated to the hull and deck, and the raised bulwarks are part of the deck moulding, topped off with 25mm-thick teak…