Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Sailing Today

Cole Porter always had a reputation for being a bit flaky and was unwilling to give a definitive answer as to the best time of year to visit Paris – spring, fall, winter or summer were all alright with him. If only Mr Porter had been a sailor, as December becomes the default month to visit Paris if you are a sailor. The reason for this is that the Paris Boat Show is taking place from the 2nd to the 10th of that month. It’s a great excuse to head to this magical city and it’s definitely a show that seems to be growing year on year. This is no great surprise, as we all know how passionate the French are about their sailing and with the EU’s economy resurgent,…

ENTRANCE The marina is situated in a narrow channel with entrances to the north and south CERTOSA The island is also a nature reserve DEPTH Depth in the channel is maintained at 3.5m CITY OF VENICE The main city is just a short water taxi ride away from Certosa Venice stands as one of the iconic waterside cities of the world and, arguably, the most beautiful. For centuries it was also the richest port in the world, operating as a republic in its own right, acquiring a great empire of its own and trading extensively throughout the Mediterranean and enjoying strong trading links with Constantinople. At the peak of its power in the 13th century, Venice employed 36,000 sailors and operated a fleet of 3,300 vessels. The construction of the…

‘CAD-inspired blade design has significantly helped to reduce ambient noise levels’ Today’s cruisers carry so much electrical equipment that wind turbines, solar PV arrays and hydro-generators are becoming more and more common. The marine wind turbine has been around for several decades now and has gradually been refined to give a much higher degree of efficiency. Better alternators, CAD-designed blades, life-sealed bearings and smart charge controllers make the latest devices more reliable, quieter and safer. HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL AXIS? The majority of marine wind turbines are horizontal axis devices, either upwind or downwind driven. These are powerful and as such need speed and/or charge output limiters or they can burn out the batteries and self-destruct in storm-force winds. Vertical axis turbines are more suited to trickle charging – usually connected…

Brompton Marine bike Bikes are not usually seen as ideal for yacht stowage. They’re awkwardly shaped and bulky. The solution is a folding bike and Brompton’s Marine bike has been specifically designed for packing away on your boat, or in storage lockers at the marina. All frame parts of the bike are e-coated – a process of chemical cleaning and then an electro-painted undercoat, applied before the final powder colour coat - so it’s well protected from the elements. • £ varies depending on spec • landauuk.com Soft Shell Gilet This gilet is another perfect option for those between-season months. It can be worn over a base layer or fleece to keep out the wind and insulate your core, and under a coat when the temperature really drops. It’s fleece-lined…

When: 10-14 January 2018 Where: ExCel London Usual Ticket price: £20 Sailing Today offer: 2 for £15 The London Boat show is the first in the 2018 calendar and, as such, sets the standard for the yachting year. As we emerge from the excesses of Christmas and New Year celebrations, the prospect of springtime back on the water is a welcome distraction for sailors, and the boat show perfectly timed. The now five-day show is set to shake things up as organisers, British Marine, make big changes to the previous format. The show is debuting new events some, which have already been announced, and some set to surprise visitors as they walk the vast exhibition hall. PREMIERES 300 exhibitors will be showcasing the very best that the marine world has…

LONDON BOAT SHOW 10-14 JAN – LONDON The London Boat Show returns with a new look for 2018. The slimline show is now just five days long, but we’re promised lots of surprises from organisers, British Marine, alongside the usual modern yacht launches, classics and celebrity sailors. londonboatshow.com WINTER BIRDWATCHING CRUISES 1-31 JAN - POOLE Join the birdwatching cruise from Poole Quay up through the harbour toward Brownsea Island to see Avocet, Spoonbill, Grebe, Scoter, Long tailed duck, Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser. You might see a seal too. visit-dorset.com BOOT DUSSELDORF 20-28 JAN – DUSSELDORF This world famous boat show, known affectionately by regulars as the boot, is one of the biggest in the world, with an average of 250,000 visitors a year and exhibitors from 68 different countries. boat-duesseldorf.com…

ARC 2017 LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL The bustling city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria played host to the start of the 32nd edition for the ARC and ARC+, earlier this month. Over 1600 sailors from all over the world congregated in the port city for their transatlantic voyage to the Caribbean shores of Saint Lucia. Almost 300 boats will sail under the ARC banner this year, with family cruisers, professional racers, retired couples, competitive crewmates and thrill-seeking amateurs, all on the start line for an epic sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Reconnecting Ephesus to the sea The ancient city of Ephesus is set to once again have a harbour on the Aegean coast, thanks to an ambitious new project announced by Turkish State Hydraulic Works. Ephesus, today one of Turkey’s top…

Grand Soleil 34 £122,000 The original Grand Soleil 34 was launched in the 70s and became a hugely popular little cruiser/racer, with production hitting over 300 hulls before production was discontinued in the 80s. The new 34 harks back to the original pocket rocket and is a smart cruiser/racer. Her design features masses of beam carried well aft combined with a hard chine. She has twin rudders and there will be the option of tiller or twin wheel steering. Despite her evident racing pretensions, the interior is smart and stylish with two cabins. Keyyachting.com Malango1088 £143,000 The Malango 1088 is a new 36’ fast cruiser from the drawing board of French naval architect Pierre Rolland and built by IDB marine. To date arguably their most popular models have been the…

‘He just quietly said, ‘That’s it then,’ and drifted away seawards on a ripping ebb’ If you follow this column regularly, you’ll remember that last month I described the first part of a delivery to the French Riviera. I’d made a poor start by running aground in the dark on the way out of Poole Harbour, and things didn’t get better as the night progressed. My crew, Mick and Percy, although young, were not typical mileage-hungry unpaid delivery hands. Percy was a trawlermen and Mick brought along his merchant seaman’s discharge book. Mick was a tall, well-set-up sort of chap. Percy was smaller and came complete with curly hair (freaky) and a character which, while entertaining when sharing a watch, appeared to have suffered adjustment by the temptations on offer…

‘Arriving at dusk, the sun setting over a new skyline, a new port and a new country to explore’ That first sight of new terrain, the initial glimpse of green, a form taking shape above sea-level is significant. Perhaps it is accompanied by birds wheeling overhead and the distinctive pattern of land clouds cresting at the peak of a mountain. Land signals the end of a journey after days or maybe weeks on the ocean. It is both longed for and somewhat feared in equal measure. Living underway at sea sets up rhythms and routines that come to an abrupt halt once you approach the coast again. Shorelines are full of rocks, wrecks and reefs, nothing but spikey things to avoid and dodge. Winds get fluky; suddenly evaporating or blasting…

Boat testing can be a hugely rewarding and enjoyable pursuit but there are times when it can lead the protagonist to slump into a spell of existentialist angst. This generally coincides with indulging in too much of a good thing. I must confess I may have reached that point; in the last month I have tested two Hanses, three Beneteaus and one Dufour. I now sit here trying to write this epistle with a growing sense of impending doom and my main issue is that they were all simply rather too good at what they did. What you’re looking for when testing a yacht are obvious defects and the problem, these days, is that yachts simply lack that: it’s not like in the 1970s and 80s where, once in a while…

When the wind drops, the first reflex is to fire up the engine to keep passage times up. The ‘iron topsail’ enables us to outrun bad weather, point a bit higher and stem the tide. We’re generally a conservative bunch when it comes to features as fundamental as the engine. But it wasn’t so very long ago in seafaring terms that putting a combustion engine in a small boat and punching a hole through the planking for a prop shaft seemed like a risky novelty. Better, more reliable engines, gearboxes and stern seals have all contributed to making powering a boat a nobrainer. Only a classic purist would eschew an engine these days – even race boats obsessed about every extra gram will install one. Now, I see something of…

Venice Lagoon is a vast, sprawling inner sea which contains hundreds of islands, islets and mudflats. The Adriatic is not noted as being a particularly tidal sea, but the enclosed nature of Venice lagoon intensifies any tidal action, particularly at springs. This means that currents can run strongly, particularly through the three main harbour entrances where speeds of up to 4kn are not uncommon. This is something worth bearing in mind for Mediterranean cruisers who have forgotten about the vagaries of tidal sailing. As already mentioned, there are three main entrances into the lagoon and Certosa lies just off the Porto di Lido. This is the principal entrance to the lagoon, closest to the city and is therefore naturally the busiest. Caution must be exercised when making your approach from…

If you Google ‘Lee-bow effect’ you will find hundreds of articles and contradictory statements and anecdotal stories that will leave you more confused than when you started. Some are helpful but many are just plain wrong. The confusion is partly caused by the term being applied to a number of very different situations, as this article will show. BEATING TO WINDWARD WITH A CROSS-TIDE Lee-bowing has the greatest impact when the target destination is dead upwind and the tide is at right angles to the wind and pushing the boat sideways. In the illustration, the green and red boats are both heading at 45° to the ground wind and are making 6 knots through the water, however the green boat has two knots of tide pushing against the leeward side…

With October unseasonably warm this year, we arranged an autumn sail We set off with our friends to the Isle of Wight, making the most of the last sailing weeks in 2017. The forecast of 15-20knot winds and overcast conditions would have put many boaters off, not us. After sailing across the Solent, the calmness and serenity of Newtown River on a spring tide was a welcome sight and we met up with fellow sailors who’d sailed over the night before. The river has a row of visitor buoys, which, perhaps unsurprisingly for the day in question, were empty. After a lively tender ride ashore on the RIB, intrepid boaters were greeted by Sloe Royale Cocktails and a pleasant, scenic stroll to the New Inn pub at Shalfleet for a…

‘Despite the fact that we are far from a deal, the immediate changes are already being felt’ Regardless of where you stand on the issue of Brexit, the fact remains that the UK is now committed to leaving the European Union and the question is not if, but how, the result will impact the sailing community. With this in mind, the June 2016 vote was immediately countered by the mobilisation of major British sailing organisations in order to protect the interests of British sailors across Europe. As the national body for all forms of boating in the UK, the RYA has taken a leading role in negotiations, with Jeanette Hopkins, Director of External Affairs, saying: “We are continuing our work with members, other marine bodies and the Government to understand…

We didn’t initially intend to sail around Britain. Motivated by a desire to get better at sailing, have adventures, and not work for five months, we devised three plans, all starting from Cowes and heading west. Plan A was to make it to Cornwall and find beautiful anchorages away from the crowds. Plan B involved getting to Scotland with a return down the west coast. We had spoken in hushed voices about Plan C, to keep going around, until we arrived back at our starting point. We knew this would take us way beyond our comfort zone. Previous trips had only taken us as far as Brixham and The Channel Islands. The boat was seaworthy and ready enough for a round trip, but were we? Our planning for this trip…

There is rarely anything normal about solo sailors: it takes a different sort of motivation to want to sail across oceans on your own and a chat with Adrian Flanagan quickly illustrates this. I caught up with him as he reflected back to his 2005-8 voyage where he became the first solo sailor to complete a ‘vertical’ circumnavigation of the globe, taking in both poles. This is extraordinary in itself but the circumstances surrounding it are even more so. Which takes me back to the circumstances of this interview. I’m sat with Adrian and his ex-wife Louise in the comfortable surroundings of her home in Lymington. Louise was a key coordinator of the expedition despite the fact the pair were getting divorced at the time and it is clear that…

Before getting started I should probably explain that I am from Slovenia and until recently worked for Elan Yachts. Deliveries and boat shows mean that I frequently have to sail the coast between Slovenia and Biograd in Croatia. In fact, I usually do this trip three or four times a year, sometimes more. If it’s a delivery, we are in a rush to deliver a boat for the Biograd Boat Show or to a customer that is usually a charter operator, so it’s all very businesslike. Nevertheless, a couple of times I did it purely for the fun of it, or had a bit more time to stop in a few towns along the west coast of the Istrian peninsula. Slovenia has three marinas on the 35 miles of coastline.…

Alternative boats for the 460 HANSE 455 PRICE: £161,000 Another manufacturer unafraid to pump up the volume has been Hanse and its 455 is a proven performer both in the private and charter market. This Judel/ Vrolijk design looks suitably purposeful out on the water, but is also chock full of creature comforts. inspirationmarine.co.uk BENETEAU OCEANIS 45 PRICE: £186,000 A popular model from the French giants and one which boasts plenty of cruising refinements. The Finot/ Conq designed 45 features the very distinctive arch over the cockpit and a modern and light interior. beneteau.com JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 449 PRICE: £186,000 Another smart and purposeful cruising yacht from the drawing board of Philippe Briand. The 449 has been around for a while now, but remains a strong performer with a decent…

‘The concept behind the rudders was borrowed from humpback whales, whose flukes are serrated’ Back in 1755 a chap called William Cullen had the first stab at creating what became the modern refrigerator. Quite frankly, although it was clever it was ruddy awful and the whole concept was put on ice. Fast forward 250 years or so and I do believe we have reached refrigeration perfection. There are billions of options out there and they all perform their primary purpose of keeping things cool admirably. Some are a different colour, some are large, some are small but they rarely break. They are also not particularly good for the environment. Despite this, It is going to take a brave designer to rip up the rule book and try to revolutionise the…

Venice lagoon itself is a spectacular cruising ground with over 30 inhabited islands to explore in addition to the city itself. The lagoon has a labyrinthine quality to it, and there are areas of shallows married to tidal currents, yet the main channels are both deep and well marked. From Certosa, the port of Chioggia is good sail away at the southern end of the lagoon and offers a good basis for exploring the lagoon with an interesting port at the end of a day’s sail. For those planning a longer trip, Venice is in a decent strategic position to be used as a winter base before heading down the Adriatic to Croatia to enjoy the delights of the islands of that magical coastline. The area around the Velebit channel…

‘Few need persuading about the merits of losing the grease, diesel and weight of a conventional engine’ For all the talk and the hype around electric boats, there are relatively few boatbuilders that have adopted the technology yet. And of those few – Saffier, Bente – the majority are niche high-end, small boat producers. Except for one: Hanse Yachts. The world’s third largest production boatbuilder, responsible for Moody boats, the muscular Hanse line and the sportier Dehler brand, surprised the sailing world last winter by unveiling an entirely new concept for electrical propulsion on its entry-level yacht, the Hanse 315. Hanse’s innovation was to encase an electric pod drive in the rudder itself – a world first. The 10hp equivalent motor is basically a Torqeedo 4.0FP drive, connected up to…