Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Cruising World

My husband and I are proud owners of one-third of a 2006 Jaguar catamaran. How does that fraction add up to happy cruising, you might ask? Perfectly, for our family of four. Our journey toward fractional ownership started in 2018 during a two-week trip to the Exumas on a 22-foot open-cockpit Sea Pearl (see CW June 2021 ”Sailing a Sea Pearl in the Exumas”). Seduced by those otherworldly seas, Rob and I began brainstorming while we were on the trip how we could spend a chunk of time in the Bahamas each winter. But after the eighth night camping amid swarms of sand flies and mosquitoes, I vowed we would never again sleep on the sand in the tropics. The next year, we chartered a much bigger boat with berths:…

Of all the tweaks and changes in the design and layout of large cruising catamarans, surely the most innovative has been the addition of the flybridge steering station and “upstairs” lounging space. To be perfectly honest, the feature took a while to grow on me. At first, it was a matter of aesthetics: What in the name of Herreshoff was that mainsail gooseneck doing a story or two up in the sky? But as I sailed a few flybridge-equipped cats, particularly the Lagoon 620—the predecessor to the brand’s latest rangy cat, the Sixty 5—it dawned on me that my issue was a matter of perspective. The beauty of the flybridge isn’t obvious when you’re looking at it. The brilliance becomes clear when you’re experiencing the wide-open waters and 360-degree views…

When we cruised into Banjul—the dusty, bustling capital city of Gambia, on the western coast of Africa—the customs agent knew exactly what he wanted. “The office has run out of coffee, and the team doesn’t have enough money to buy any—ahem, ahem,” he said as we tried to clear in. My first thought was that he at least had different taste in palm-greasing than the port captain, who was required to view our onboard stores but didn’t think he’d have the time if we bought him a Coke. At immigration, it was a $5 “donation” they needed from us to help the department buy its own boat. Yes, this was our welcome after deciding to trade cruising amid coconut trees and tropical fish for cruising up a muddy river full of…

MONTHLY MAINTENANCE It comes as a surprise to many boat owners that the only thing transmitting thrust from the propeller to the vessel’s hull, moving the hull forward, is the motor mounts. And, that the only connections between the prop and the hull are four ½-inch or 5 ∕8-inch studs. A great deal of faith must be placed in those studs, so it’s worth making sure they are properly installed and maintained. And not just because they transmit thrust. A motor mount also absorbs vibration and torque, using a rubber or synthetic material as the medium. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to design and construct a motor mount that does all three tasks equally well. Absorbing vibration requires a softer durometer, while transmitting thrust and contending with torque requires a…

When Cruising World’s Boat of the Year judges step aboard a new sailboat, the first thing they ask the builder for is the boat’s design brief. Racing? Bluewater voyaging? Coastal cruising? Chartering? Daysailing? What’s the boat built to do? In the case of two new Bali Catamarans, introduced to North America this past fall during the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, the manufacturer’s intent seemed perfectly clear: These cats were built for hanging out on the water with family and friends, or perhaps for owners interested in putting them into a charter fleet to help pay the bills. “Pampered crew” were two words that came immediately to mind when I stepped aboard. Both cats—the Bali 4.6 and Bali Catspace—were conceived of by Olivier Poncin, founder of the Catana…

JAN REYERS TRIED TO TAKE IT IN stride when his father started calling him “my deviant son.” After all, his father had sailed until he was almost 70 years old, and Reyers had spent countless years sailing a Columbia 22 on Lake Superior. This was a family that lived by the wind. The mere thought of buying a boat without sails made Reyers, well, a wayward child. The thing is, Reyers wasn’t a kid anymore. He’d spent years working for 3M, and when he took on a new role with the company in Minnesota, the job required dinners with clients. He wasn’t too keen about that—but, he thought, meeting with clients could be a lot of fun aboard a boat. There was just one problem. “On a sailboat, that wouldn’t…

I know what you’re thinking: a week to cruise around one little island? Having run charters on my Lagoon 410 Guiding Light for nearly a decade, my answer is: You bet! With the pandemic came a renewed interest in the US Virgin Islands, especially for US citizens, who found the nearly 20 square miles of St. John to be as ripe as ever for a fun, easygoing experience. Here’s a taste of what a week around St. John looks like. Day One: Pick up or meet your boat. I prefer to start in Red Hook because it is on the east end of St. Thomas and a good jumping-off spot. If you start in Charlotte Amalie, simply add a two-hour upwind motor to get to the east end. The first…

A lone catamaran rests in a gentle breeze near Thunderball Grotto off Staniel Cay in the Bahamas. The Exumas’ gin-clear water, calm conditions and soft white sands make for days and days of relaxing and exploring. During this summer’s Leopard owners flotilla, a few cruisers slathered themselves with sunscreen, hopped into the dinghy, and set off to find the grotto’s hidden entrance. Inside, the small cave revealed vine-strewn rock walls and a cool, deep pool, home to dozens of tropical fish and vibrant coral. The bright, sunny mornings in these islands flow into lazy afternoons cooled by summer rains. Sunset arrives with its own rendition of spectacular. —Theresa Nicholson It was the start of another sunny, hot afternoon when we dropped the hook near a thatched-roof raft in pretty Dickenson…

If there’s one thing that Betsy Alison, director of adult sailing at US Sailing, wants people to understand about the qualifications required to charter, it’s that “prior planning prevents poor performance.” With the rapid influx of newcomers to boating during the past several years, competency in boathandling and safety at sea have never been more essential. It’s true for boat owners and for anyone planning to borrow a boat for a week or two in the rum-soaked Caribbean or any other charter hotspot. The thought of rigorous classes and certifications might dissuade some people from chartering, thus missing out on one of the best-kept secrets in travel. So, we sat down with Alison for a deeper dive into the qualification process: what students need, what to expect, and what the…

With a length overall of 61 feet, 7 inches and a beam of just over 31 feet, Fountaine Pajot’s Samana 59 is a big boat. As I wandered fore and aft, upstairs and down, while sailing on a sun-splashed morning on Chesapeake Bay with Cruising World’s Boat of the Year judges, I found multiple places to stop and take in the surroundings. The view from the flybridge was expansive; in the cockpit, the gurgle of the wake passing by was hypnotic. It was a little early in the day to kick back on the foredeck sun cushions, and besides, my feet kept taking me back to the owner’s stateroom in the starboard hull, where an athwartships queen berth sat amidships. Leaning on its edge, I could look directly out the…

“AWW, C’MON MAN, DON’T LET US BE THAT BOAT!” I shouted at myself as I cranked the wheel and goosed the throttles, sending the Lagoon 42 Sjevernjaca into a wide, lumbering 360-degree turn. We had to get out of the path of a powered-up race boat that was bearing down on us. Standing next to me at the raised helm station was my old sailing mate Dave Robinson. “Oh, that one’s going to be trouble too,” he said three-quarters of the way around the circle, pointing at a sailboat that tacked close to shore and was now headed our way. I spun the wheel hard again and searched for an open path through the oncoming traffic. The seas were lumpy off the rocky entrance of Antigua’s English Harbour. It was…