Practical Boat Owner April 2019

To receive the editor’s monthly email newsletter, go to our website: www.pbo.co.uk Extraordinary performance Finishing the Golden Globe falls into the category of ‘extraordinary’, but even those who had to withdraw from the race did an amazing job to even get themselves across the startline. Find out a bit more about what it takes to get all the way around, non-stop, solo ahead of the rest on page 32. And there are some other extraordinary performances in this issue. Emrhys Barrell has been testing 12V lithium batteries – 60Ah-120Ah capacity – and describes their performance thus: “We went into the test sceptical about some of the claims for lithium batteries, but ended up quite amazed. In simple terms, all the batteries on test delivered within 3-4Ah of their claimed maximum…

French solo sailor Jean-Luc Van Den Heede has won the Golden Globe Race, and become the oldest person to complete a round the world yacht race. The 73-year-old crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne in France on 29 January 2019, with an elapsed time of 211 days, 23 hours, 12 minutes and 9 seconds. This is 100 days quicker than the time set by Robin Knox-Johnston in the 1968-69 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Van Den Heede was one of the best prepared entrants in the event, which saw 17 sailors cross the start line on 1 July 2018. He bought his Rustler 36, Matmut in 2015 and completely refitted her over six months, replacing the sails, mast, rigging, ropes and engine. Crucially he spent the winter months…

■ RYA Dinghy Show 2019, 2-3 March, Alexandra Palace, London, rya.org.uk ■ Open Day Shropshire Union Canal, 2 March, North Gate Locks, Chester, canalrivertrust.org.uk ■ Kent Boat Jumble, 3 March, The Hop Farm Family Park, Paddock Wood, Kent, boat-jumbles.co.uk ■ The Friends of Gloucester Waterways Museum Talk by Graham Hobbs on The Golden Valley, 26 March, National Waterways Museum, Gloucester, gloucesterwaterwaysmuseum.org.uk ■ Sailing Round Britain seminar, with Paul Heiney and other experts, 27 March, Royal Harwich Yacht Club, Suffolk.royalharwichyachtclub.co.uk/events ■ Introduction to cruiser racing seminar, 6 April, Chichester Cruiser Racing Club, www.ccrc.co.uk/seminar-interest/ ■ Carrickfergus Boat Jumble, 7 April, Carrickfergus Sailing Club, County Antrim. Tel: 07747 002 411 ■ Drifters National Open Day, 7 April, at 19 locations across England and Wales. Try canal boat free, drifters.co.uk/openday ■ Norfolk Boat Jumble,…

Send us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Katy Stickland at pbo@ti-media.com, tel: 01252 555213, or write to the address on page 5 SOUTH COAST AND CHANNEL ISLANDS SALE TO SECURE FUTURE The Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club (RPCYC) has put its club house on the market for £750,000. The reason for the sale is to secure the long-term future of the club. Overlooking Plymouth Sound, the property is part of the Royal Citadel, and has been used by the RPCYC since 1896. The sale of the freehold title includes a waterfront dinghy park, slipway changing facilities and the sailing office. The club will be looking for alternative premises, or to continue in some capacity in the existing building if possible, and will continue to trade during the…

Email pbo@ti-media.com or write to us at the address on page 5. Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. AIS on Android I always enjoy David Berry’s very informative articles in PBO but must take issue with him when he says in ‘See and be seen’ (Feb19) that ‘it is currently impossible to overlay AIS data from a marine VHF onto any Android chartplotter’. The set-up on my own boat is a Standard Horizon Matrix AIS/GPS GX2200E DSC VHF Radio which provides AIS data from the same masthead antenna as used for VHF reception and transmission, I presume through a built-in active splitter. The information can be viewed as a quasi radar display on the radio’s small screen or be sent via a separate wired output to a standalone chartplotter…

We are family As we wait for Delos to return with their next ‘season’ a brief update informs us that Brian and Kazza will have tied the knot in Antigua over the Christmas holidays, and the Brady brothers have decided to focus more on family in the future. Will their audience hang around after the party ends? We’re getting MARRIED! youtu.be/ujhkIITrjzs The family vibe is also increasing on board Sailing La Vagabonde. We see pregnant Elayna (pictured above) fretting about pains after freediving. An ultrasound reassures everyone that the Vagababy is fine, and I’m pleased to say that baby Lennon was born in Australia in early December. The delighted parents say they can’t wait to get back to the US and their Outremer 45 to resume their voyaging as soon…