Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i Sailing Today

Electric avenue Torqeedo and Spirit Yachts enjoyed a joint celebration after the 100,000th electric motor produced by Torqeedo was fitted into Spirit’s flagship 111. Virtual art show Marine photographer and berthing master at Portland Marina, Steve Belasco, has launched a virtual art show. https://theexhibit.io/exhibition/ sailing-away-from-the-lockdown World Sailing As the financial impact of the Olympic postponement is gauged by the sport’s governing body World Sailing, it has placed almost all staff on furlough leave and has asked staff earning more than a certain amount take a 20% pay reduction until the end of the year. Topper Fusion Topper lnternational Ltd and Fusion Sailboats Ltd have joined forces. Part of the collaboration will see Fusion Sailboats’ Fusion and Maverick models integrated as part of the Topper Topaz range. Gold anchors A number…

Sport England has announced a £195 million package to help sailing clubs cope with the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. This includes a £20 million emergency fund which is now open for clubs to bid for grants between £300 and £10,000. RYA Director of Sport Development, Alistair Dickson, said: “The Community Emergency Fund could be especially useful for clubs and Sailability groups who have recently closed their doors during the Coronavirus outbreak and who have ongoing financial obligations which they are struggling to meet. Those who work with underrepresented or disadvantaged groups in their community are likely to be looked upon particularly favourably by Sport England. “As the fund is open until 31 July 2020, our advice to clubs and other organisations is not to rush an application but to…

Among a host of 11th Hour Racing initiatives to advance sustainable sailing, the organisation is working with official kit supplier Musto to develop a new product line. “We have had a relationship with Musto over three races now,” says Enright. “A lot goes into a campaign like this and it is great to be able to tick a box with confidence. Musto is a very reliable product. That said they’re not ones to rest on their laurels. You can always do better and we’ve done a lot of work with them on the reduction of plastic packaging and now we’re working on a sustainable product line.”…

Swanwick Marina on the river Hamble is set to expand after permission was granted to build a new complex for marine businesses plus cafes and restaurants. The building will include a new bridgehead entrance structure, additional car parking and trolley storage at the marina, owner Premier Marinas said. General Manager Graham Bristowe said: “In these most testing times, this is great news for Swanwick Marina. We know that our tenants and berth holders alike will be happy to see the continued investment on their site.” The latest plans augment the recent expansion of the marina which has added 59 extra berths to the overall capacity. Another key innovation has been the introduction of innovative finger pontoons which are set 700mm above water as opposed to the industry standard 500mm, to…

Brokers and boatbuilders have been launching online iniatives in an attempt to keep the marine industry moving during the crisis. Ancasta held a successful virtual boat show in April, saying: “Unlike normal boat shows, there were no queues, no need to remove shoes, or even leave the comfort of the sofa.” Visitors could compare and contrast different models, take time to view details or “jump onboard” to take a look around via 360-degree tours. Ancasta’s staff were on-hand via live chat to answer questions and offer quotes. French yacht manufacturer Dufour has launched its own virtual marina, where clients are greeted by staff and ushered aboard a selection of yachts. “It’s the best way for us to continue to inspire you, to make you dream, and to share our common…

‘You will be living a lonely life, depending on your wits and falling back on your instincts’ Many tides ebb and flow between my writing this and your thumbing through the pages of this magazine, and possibly ignoring it. In any magazine, there’s always the bits you skim, or the pages you quickly scan and move on. But I bet you’re devouring every word now. We are all seriously boat deprived and will go to any lengths to get our fix of it, even down to reading me. As I write, there’s a lot of pseudo-legal twaddle about where we can and can’t travel to, and what we can do when we get there. But the truth is, we are stuffed. If we get any cruising this year we are…

When you’re watching live coverage of sailing, wouldn’t you love to know what the athletes are thinking? Of course the role of live commentators like me is to try and put ourselves in the wetsuit boots of the protagonists, although sometimes we can get our assumptions wildly wrong. I’ve taken the opportunity of the lockdown to do some Zoom interviews with sailors around the world, and walk them back through a recording of one of their world championship races. Australian legend Nathan Outteridge was kind enough to get on a call with me from New Zealand. Bearing in mind Nathan and his sister Haylee had only recently missed out on winning the Nacra 17 Worlds by a single point from Great Britain’s John Gimson and Anna Burnet, and subsequently missing…

Ardglass is easy to spot from offshore. A water tower is skylined to the south of the harbour; it’s the second opening north of St John’s Point and the first opening south of Strangford. Head straight into the harbour heading for a small white tower on the old harbour, which shows a sectored light at night. You may experience some swell off the entrance. Leave the main harbour to port and an isolated beacon to starboard, then head for a cluster of buoys - green and red lateral and an east cardinal - to the east of the inner breakwater. Because of rocks, do not attempt to cut between the cardinal and the breakwater; leave the cardinal to the east (port) before entering the marina fairway. Phennick Cove Developments had…

It is known as “the cruiser’s race” and indeed for many cruising boats it is the only race they do all year. Yet, at the front end it is a fiercely competitive contest between cutting-edge yachts crewed by top professionals. For all those who take part and the millions who watch the event worldwide, it is an unrivalled spectacle and a glorious celebration of sail. The Round the Island Race is postponed this year until 26 September and the Island Sailing Club, which organises it every year, has grand plans for shoreside entertainment, as well as the sailing itself. As well known as it is, there remain some misconceptions about the race, and there are many cruising sailors who might be wondering what it’s all about. We met race director…

BENETEAU OCEANIS 38.1 Originally launched in 2013 as the Oceanis 38 and reconfigured in 2017, this design offers three different interior layouts and the option of a stub keel with integrated centreboard for creek crawling. Beneteau.com JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 389 This Marc Lombard design has been a firm favourite with clients since it was launched in 2015. She features striking lines and comes with the option of either two or three cabins. Jeanneau.com HANSE 388 Hanse’s Judel/Vrolijk-designed 388 has proved to be a hit with the sailing public and combines good performance with bags of internal volume. It comes with Hanse’s ubiquitous self-tacking jib. Hanseyachts.co.uk…

Electronics never stand still. Somewhat like mobile phones, the major manufacturers of marine electronics try to update their offerings every year. It means the multifunction displays that now form the nerve centre of a boat’s instrument network are mini supercomputers. And just as your 1980s IBM may have trouble talking to your mobile phone, so old and new instruments may no longer be readily compatible. There are ways around this, but the safest bet is to renew instruments at the same time as installing a new display. The current NMEA2000 communication protocol allows for a bus system, whereby all the instruments are connected to a central backbone, rather than to each other. The backbone relays messages between all its constituent parts, and provides them with power. It means that you…

Legacy Raymarine equipment on Mike’s Malo 34 was becoming harder to keep in good working condition. “The anemometer at the top of the mast kept causing me trouble – the bearings went so I sent it off to be repaired. It’s hard work to get old instruments reconditioned. Then the wind direction was pointing 180 degrees in the wrong direction.” At first he thought he’d replace the anemometer alone, but he found out new Raymarine units don’t read at the same rpm, so a correction factor had to be applied. Talking to a local B&G fitter in Portland, the idea of replacing the whole system with the latest NMEA 2000 standard began to take root. “I was surprised by what old equipment could fetch on the secondhand market,” Mike says.…

When considering which inflatable lifejackets to select from the huge range available, potential purchasers should probably initially decide on one of four basic options: manual or automatic, and with a harness or without. Sailors will tend to go for automatic as there is always a risk of a man overboard casualty being knocked unconscious, while RIB owners, for instance, or people indulging in other watersports in which an automatic lifejacket could be inflated without there being an emergency, may opt for manual (for which servicing is also more straightforward). With automatic lifejackets, another choice will need to be made regarding the method of activation. Most are activated when a salt tablet comes into contact with water but for boats on which significant quantities of water routinely sweep the deck, the…

Adapting your sail trim or course to a windshift is often seen as the preserve of racing folk, and it is, but don’t underestimate the value of doing so on a cruising passage between, say, Southampton Water and Cherbourg, where a tweak here and there as the wind veers left or right can greatly speed your passage and maintain comfort on board. Whatever kind of sailing you do, knowing how to spot a windshift is crucial, and it’s a knack you never lose. Here are some tips to help cruisers and racers spot windshifts and use them. Oscillating shifts There are four types of shift – oscillating shifts, a wind bend, a persistent shift and a permanent shift. Let’s start with oscillating shifts. I like to break these down into…

Cowes Week organisers are pressing ahead with plans for the 2020 regatta, which is due to take place from Saturday 8 August to Saturday 15 August. Despite the current restrictions, the small regatta team is continuing to organse the event from home. Regatta director Laurence Mead said: “We continue to move forward with plans for the event and remain hopeful that by the time we get to mid-August, still four months away, the necessity to socially distance ourselves will have reduced sufficiently so that we can run some great boat racing in Cowes. “We can react quickly to changes in the Government restrictions and guidance, switching on or off various components with the minimum of lead time, and allowing us significant leeway - perhaps until the beginning of July -…

Thousands of sailors have been going online to expand their cruising skills and take part in virtual races. Sailing simulation and racing games, RYA theory courses and e-books are all experiencing vastly increased interest. Our feature on page 94 looks in detail at what is on offer for cruisers and racers. The RYA’s new eSailing Spring Club Championship was overrun with entrants as lockdown forced clubs to close and saw regattas cancelled. The championship allows entrants to compete for a national sailing title from their own living rooms. “We’ve been receiving lots of amazing feedback from clubs up and down the country about how great eSailing has been for the club while we are all on lockdown. We are all really excited to see the championship unfold,” said Alistair Dickson,…

Eleva 42 The Eleva 42 is another addition to a rapidly growing fleet of fast, stylish cruisers built by this Italian manufacturer. In common with the rest of the range, this Cecarelli design features an unusual truncated sheerline, which should look awful but somehow doesn’t. In many ways this is your classic stylish Med cruiser. Yet Eleva has sensibly opted to open up its market and therefore offers this boat with two distinct specifications ‘Med’ and ‘Ocean’, the latter being specced for bluewater cruising. elevayachts.com Hylas 60 Hylas Yachts isn’t terribly well known in the UK, having carved itself a niche in the US market with a range of high-quality bluewater cruising yachts. The hulls are built in Taiwan, which keeps costs low, but the focus of the marketing has…

‘We noticed that the wild ocean around us was punctuated by jumping, diving dolphins’ It doesn’t matter how many years I have lived at sea, what oceans I’ve sailed or the lands I’ve visited – I will never, ever tire of seeing dolphins. I’ve encountered them in flat calms, when the very surface of the water is so still that it’s merely a window into their world, and the ripples of their leaps and splashes are the only thing to break the mirror image. We once sailed right into a superpod off the coast of Costa Rica. With literally hundreds of individuals spinning, leaping, hurling, jumping and diving all at the same time, so that water became a mass of writhing movement. We’ve also met them when a storm hits…

Regular readers of Sailing Today will recall that Captain Barry and I had sailed Bella Rosa, our Oyster 545, along the Mediterranean to Sicily, and then on to the Ionian Islands, before turning up the Adriatic to Albania and Montenegro. We had headed home to the UK for a break but now returned to the port of Kotor in northern Montenegro, eager to resume our summer adventure by sailing north to Croatia before finishing in Venice. From the port of Kotor, after purchasing supplies, we motored into the sun at 7pm. Behind us, the peaks bathed in a lavender glow and we headed to the nearest customs port, at Tivat, for Barry to check out. Upon arrival in July, our clearing agent had arranged our cruising permit and said we…

Foiling at 40 knots in the beautiful, flat waters off Cagliari, Sardinia, Freddie Carr allowed himself a smile. The British attempt to win the America’s Cup was going well. Carr and his crewmates on board Britannia, skippered by Sir Ben Ainslie, were getting to grips with their new 75ft charge and with the first pre-Cup regatta looming, the atmosphere in INEOS TEAM UK was upbeat. Just a few days later, however, Carr and his colleagues were back in Britain, isolated at home amid Covid-19 restrictions, while a skeleton shore team hurriedly packed up the base and dismantled the boat, ready for delivery back to Portsmouth. What now for INEOS TEAM UK and what now for the Cup? Carr is training several hours a day on a grinder set up in…

I’m going to get political here and say that Dufour Yachts has always reminded me slightly of the Liberal Democrats. Nothing to do with wanting to leave or remain, it’s just that they are somehow polite, inoffensive... but at the same time striving to be a little bit different from what are perceived as ‘bigger’ rivals, such as Hanse, Bavaria, Beneteau and Jeanneau. This is no bad thing, as mainstream production cruising yachts can get a bit unremitting and repetitive, so it’s good to do something to make your product stand out from the crowd. To this end, Dufour has committed the ultimate no-no as a French designer and perversely worked with an Italian designer, Umberto Felci. This, again, is no bad thing, as Felci knows how to draw up…

Yacht broker Chris had been looking for a Nic 55 for many years and was about to give up hope, when one of the first ever built suddenly popped up for sale. She had been well maintained – latterly in America – but the electronics were looking rather outdated. “They had rubber scroll buttons and so on - not very new,” he says. “I wanted touchscreen units. I saw a friend’s Garmin gear on his Axopar [powerboat] and liked that.” Installers Greenham Regis stripped out every trace of the old system and put in two GPSMap 8400 series displays – one 16in at the chart table, the other 12in in the cockpit. They include SailAssist tools, which help sailors to track wind and tide, as well as laylines and prerace…

Furuno TZT3 Perhaps best known for supplying fishing boats with electronics, Furuno also has a very capable suite of instruments for cruisers, focused around its fast new TZtouch3 display. Available in 12in, 16in and 19in formats, the 12in screen has useful hybrid controls, making it responsive to wet fingers. With a new quadcore processor, the display updates instantly and is compatible with both C-Map and Navionics charts, plus all the usual transceivers, including wind, speed and radar. Furuno’s FI-70 repeater is a flexible digital display, and there is also a capable autopilot. • furuno.com Humminbird Angling and outdoors industry giant Johnson manufactures the Humminbird line of displays – primarily pitched at the fishing fraternity. The units are powerful, look good and are packed with market-leading sonar features to find fish.…

Tourist information: visitguernsey.com; herm.com; sark.co.uk; Castle Cornet museums.gov.gg +44 (0)1481 721657; German Occupation Museum germanoccupationmuseum.co.uk +44 (0)1481 238205 Restaurants: Christies Brasserie thechristiesgroup.gg +44 (0)1481 726624; The Old Government House theoghhotel.gg +44 (0)1481 724921; Le Nautique lenautiquerestaurant.co.uk +44 (0)1481 721714; Old Quarter Restaurant oldquarter.co.uk +44 (0)1481 727268 Yacht clubs: Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club ryiyc.com; Guernsey Yacht Club gyc.org.gg…

MAXI DOLPHIN 65 | KALAO During these uncertain times, we can dare to dream. At more than 65ft, the Maxi Dolphin 65 is a bit of a stretch for Sailing Today, but we can make an exception for such an eye-catching beaut of a boat. The contemporary lines and clean aesthetic make Luca Brenta’s Maxi Dolphin 65 a real head-turner, with acres of wide, smooth teak deck. The MD65 is a medium-light-displacement yacht designed for high-performance sailing while not compromising on interior space. The hull is of core sandwich construction and the rig is a sloop, set up for short-handed sailing. So as not to ruin those beautiful lines or sacrifice performance, the bimini folds into the glossy low-profile coachroof and there’s a garage for a tender. The…

For ocean racers and even for some adventurous cruisers, the jury rig is something you never want to have to employ, but you probably have an idea of how you might go about it if the worst happens. The dinghy sailor, however, sails happily around his or her local reservoir without giving the idea a single thought. Why, after all, would you need it, when the safety boat is on hand? On the kind of windy day which might lead to a dismasting, though, relying on the safety boat can leave you in a pickle. You may not be the only one calling for help. The latest guidance advises that we all do as this sensible sailor is demonstrating above, and learn how to jury rig our Laser, 420, Fireball…

Blue water cruisers have been barred from entering some foreign ports amid Covid-19 restrictions. One sailor was met with a cocked rifle, while another described the situation as a ghastly game of musical chairs, with boats scrabbling to find a port where they could tie up and provision. At best new arrivals are being told to anchor in quarantine for 14 days before being allowed entry. From east Africa, British sailors Terry and Mike, who are on a world cruise, reported: “On trying to enter Djibouti the navy demanded we leave and go back to India [across the Indian Ocean]. We said we have insufficient supplies. They pulled out an AK47 and cocked it. Mike said ‘you may as well shoot me’. The official lowered his gun. “We cannot go…

The British America’s Cup team led by Sir Ben Ainslie is manufacturing PPE face shields for key workers in its local Portsmouth area. Sailors, sail-makers, designers and other INEOS TEAM UK employees were rushed home from training in Sardinia (see page 50) amid Covid-19 restrictions, but they are now working round the clock to support the fight against the virus by using their manufacturing resources, which include 3D printers. The team has additional resource via its partnership with Mercedes-Benz Applied Science and will initially be producing more than 100 PPE face shields a day. The aim is to supply more than 5,000 face shields free of charge to its local Portsmouth hospital. Additional face shields will be distributed to local ‘red-zone’ surgeries. INEOS TEAM UK doctor Dr Mark Coombe will…

The 2021-22 edition of The Ocean Race will stop in 10 cities including for the first time the Cape Verde islands, Shenzhen and Genoa. The event, previously the Volvo Ocean Race, will start from Alicante in Spain in October 2021 with professional crews racing two classes of boat, the ‘traditional’ VO65s and the IMOCA 60s that are normally seen in the Vendée Globe. The 38,000 mile route will finish in Genoa in the summer of 2022. Newport, Rhode Island, is one destination that the race has visited many times since its Whitbread days and there to support the Newport announcement was local man Charlie Enright, who has announced his plans to skipper the 11th Hour Racing Team in the event. “In some places around the world, you walk down the…

The 15 sailors already named to represent Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics will retain their places, despite the postponement. The Games will now take place from July 23 to August 8 next year and there was some doubt as to whether sailors would be forced to win selection again. The British Olympic Association (BOA) and RYA confirmed that will not be the case and the team remains: Giles Scott: Finn Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre: 470 Women Luke Patience and Chris Grube: 470 Men Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey: 49erFX Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell: 49er Elliot Hanson: Laser Alison Young: Laser Radial Emma Wilson: RS:X Women Tom Squires: RS:X Men John Gimson and Anna Burnet: Nacra 17…

New research has revealed that English beaches located in conservation areas are just as prone to litter pollution as those in unprotected areas. England has over 100 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along its coastline. These are made up of 91 Marine Conservation Zones, 256 Special Areas of Conservation and 89 Special Protection Areas. Yet research carried out by Nature England, the Marine Conservation Society and the University of Exeter reveals that the special status is no deterrent to litterbugs. Dr Hazel Selley from Natural England said: “As we continue to research the impact of plastics on our marine life and move to eliminate avoidable plastic waste, we all have a role to play keeping our beaches and ocean clean.”…

‘My boat is tucked away in a shed in Denmark and I’m in embattled Blighty’ Last night I strolled into my back yard to view the setting moon with Venus chasing her down into the trees. The birds were off watch, the quarantined traffic was non-existent, no noise escaped the kitchen door and the thick silence was tangible. I’ve been watching the moon wax since the clocks went forward. As the growing crescent has put on weight, Venus has been sailing further north. She’s left Orion for dead and by tonight she’ll be halfway to the Pleiades. My Almanac tells me she’s another five degrees to go before her declination hits 28° north. That’s about as far as a planet can rise before it spins out of control beyond the…

“I suppose it is a bit like wanting to organise Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in Calais!” Real figures for the value of ocean racing sponsorship in France are hard to come by, but for sure between 2017 and 2021 sponsors and owners will have spent €120m in building new race boats. A figure I saw quoted recently for the gross sponsorship attached to the upcoming Vendée Globe alone was €100m. By comparison you might point out the gigantic budgets for the America’s Cup teams, but suffice to say the lockdown is hitting French ocean and offshore sailing very hard and they want a way out, and soon. We have just received some kind of assurance that the Vendée Globe is likely to go ahead on 8 November, as things stand in…

Since buying a 1988 Victoria 34 in 2017, we have been refitting her in stages. Having worked our way through the most important issues – standing and running rigging, engine, stern gear and so on – we moved down the list to leak hunting and more minor tasks, which, as any yacht owner knows, is very pleasing. We also ordered a new suit of sails and were ready to sail quite early in the season. Unfortunately, pressing family issues and the weather pushed back our departure date so it was gone mid-August before we sailed. With a reasonable forecast, we sailed from Conwy to continue cruising the east Irish coast. Previously we had visited Glenarm, Bangor, Ardglass, Howth and Dun Laoghaire, and we liked them all, but if we had…

“It really started over some cocktails after a race one night,” says Tony Rainold. So many stories originate in a pub, the birthplace of countless dreams – and this was exactly how everything began in the late-1960s for Tony and Charlie Cary. Over those cocktails, ordered to celebrate winning a sailing race, the pair came up with a rough plan to start a yacht charter business. The close pals had met sailing, when Tony did foredeck crew to Charlie’s skipper, and had gone on to work for the same oil and gas company in the Southern States of the US. They didn’t really have a lot of money; it was mainly a hunch, and the potential to turn a passion project – sailing – into a business opportunity. They had…

Dufour knows what it is about. The new 390 is a relatively conservative yacht with plenty of stress placed on boosting internal volume while also maintaining strong performance courtesy of a powerful sail plan and clever design characteristics. This is a boat that would do well in both charter and private ownership. It won’t pull up any trees, but it won’t put a foot wrong either. This is a competitive sector of the market, with all of the other big manufacturers providing similarly versatile boats so it will come down to personal preference. That said, Dufour’s offering is strikingly modern. PERFORMANCE: LOOKS: COMFORT:…

Saskia Tidey was 23 when she faced a decision that she admits was “the hardest and probably one of the most controversial things I’ll ever do in my life”. Tidey, born and raised in Dun Laoghaire by an Irish mother and English father, had represented Ireland in the 49erFX at the Rio Olympics, finishing 12th. Following the Games, however, she found herself in a quandary. Her helm, Andrea Brewster, had decided to become a coach, and the Irish sailing team held nobody else suitable for Tidey to partner with. “For such a small country, Ireland is impressive in most sporting disciplines and I had a fantastic foundation with the Irish Sailing Association,” she says. “We just struggle with numbers coming through the system, especially female helms. There really wasn’t an…

After retiring as a company CEO, Bill was planning to ‘give’ himself three months off to cruise around Britain this summer. But at the end of last season, his 10-year-old Raymarine e-Series plotter had given up the ghost. “I’m very pleased it went down when it did because at the end of May, I was planning to embark on a cruise, and certainly wouldn’t want to be around the Western Isles when the display gave up.” He looked at alternatives, but in the end plumped for Raymarine again because of the system’s familiarity. “I’m used to the old one, it’s really a step up – I don’t have to learn or relearn something as I would have done with the others.” He took the chance to trade up a bit,…

GUERNSEY 49°27.19’N, 002°32.00’W French food, English-speaking locals, sandy beaches, clear waters and idyllic, car-free islands – no wonder thousands of yachts visit the Channel Islands each year. Less than 30nm from Normandy, Guernsey is the second largest and furthest west of the Channel Islands, and the Bailiwick of Guernsey (a bailiwick is a territory administered by a bailiff) comprises Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, plus smaller islands, including Brecqhou, Jethou, Little Sark and Burhou. It is a Crown dependency, but not part of the UK, and has its own currency, the local pound, which is 1:1 with sterling. Guernsey is not car-free, but other islands in the bailiwick are: there are no motorised vehicles on Herm or on Sark, so all you’ll see are bikes and the odd tractor, or horse…

You would be forgiven for assuming that young Frenchman Stan Thuret, who completed the Mini Transat in 2017, was born into a sailing family and could handle a tiller before he could walk. Yet Thuret’s route into the sport started in front of a screen. “I learned rules and principles by playing online,” he says “That’s where it all began for me. Later on I felt like trying the real thing, so I bought a Mini, which is an active class in the part of France where I live.” A few years later he was a semiprofessional sailor with a serious ocean race to his name. Thuret’s story is impressive for his having gone from computer screen to the Mini Transat, a gruelling event that often leads to the highest…

As satellite communications have developed, so too have the ever more ingenious devices that can save us if we fall overboard. It is a world of tech that is worth understanding for obvious reasons, but for the beginner, abbreviations proliferate. The term PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) is often incorrectly applied to any type of MOB electronic device. It should be used only when referring to the type that works on the same principle as an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon), which will then distinguish it from two others, the AIS (Automatic Identification System) and OLAS (Overboard Location Alert System) types. What, you might ask, is the difference? Personal Locator Beacons A PLB has always worked on the same principle as an EPIRB – that when it is activated it…