Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Sailing Today

In a quiet moment while becalmed in the Irish Sea an uncomfortable thought crossed my mind, not helped by a dull and nagging ache in my thigh. The pain was from my wallet which was still smarting having shelled out a large proportion of the National Debt for a tankful of diesel back in Falmouth. I watched the numbers on the diesel pump clicking round, every click a day’s wages when I was but a lad. And now I sat in the middle of the Irish Sea, becalmed, drifting backwards on the spring tide and wondered if I should start the engine. Oh, the costly pain of it. I used to be scornful of people who switched on their engine if they weren’t doing full hull speed, but these days…

Big shifts, wind holes, tidal complexities, planing conditions, bright sunshine, groundings, short-tacking off the beach crowded with swimmers, plus the occasional cause to reef – the Solent was at its best for Cowes Week this year. Crews came in from around the British Isles and the world to enjoy exceptionally tight racing and a great atmosphere ashore. The Cape 31 fleet was notable this year, the fastest-growing fleet on the Solent. The newly created IRC Zero class was out in force, while at the other end of the spectrum the new classes for Club Cruisers proved popular. Visit Abu Dhabi came in as Presenting Sponsor earlier this year and plan a winter regatta in Abu Dhabi – details to come. Meanwhile over the next few pages we look back at…

Îles d’Hyères Are you telling me that we will have to swim to and from the boat for the whole trip?” My crew demanded incredulously. I shrugged. “It’s possible, yes.” Sailing trips are beset by minor challenges I find. It’s part of the charm I suppose. That said, I hadn’t anticipated that the problems would present themselves as early as they did on my recent trip to the Îles d’Hyères on the French Mediterranean coast. Just to kick off, I was only able to start the trip by swimming to the boat because my tender had been stolen. Me and my crew were therefore forced to decant all our belongings into waterproof bags and take the plunge into chilly waters before a sail had been raised in anger. But let's…

Testing a Hanse boat was always relatively simple. The German manufacturer worked for many years with the design team of Judel/Vrolijk and the result was a line of yachts that all looked and performed pretty similarly. They all had striking lines with a plumb bow, rounded transom, decent freeboard and a low coachroof that made them look rather modern, sleek and stylish. The steering was always inexplicably better than almost all rivals; finger light and sensitive. They were all clearly built to cost and this was reflected both in a very competitive price and the quality of the fit out. You could also count on them to have a big main with a self-tacking jib. End of story. It was a successful formula and, to be fair, one that Hanse…

If you’re leafing pensively through the pages of a winch manufacturer’s catalogue, you’re likely to fall into one of two camps. Either you are looking to switch from manual to electric, for the sake of convenience, comfort and safety. Or your old winch is beginning to perform erratically, making it time for a change. In either case, the simplest and cheapest solution is to replace like with like. By sticking to the same winch size and brand, the deck footprint remains the same and, unless your existing unit is very elderly, the all-important fixings are identical. Just be aware that some prices have increased by 20 per cent year-on-year. On smaller cruising boats where you want to stick with a manual winch, you can often find a good deal by…

HANSE 455 | EQUITY The Hanse 455 has become one of the most sought-after models in the award-winning Hanse range. It is a solidly built, fast, and easy to sail cruising yacht with great looks. ‘Equity’ is one of the last examples built and is in really great condition with plenty of upgrades. She has bow and stern thrusters, electric winches, furling gennaker, full navigation suite and much more. She was delivered and serviced from launch in 2018 by Inspiration Marine Group – UK Hanse dealership. Year: 2017 Length: 14.04m (46’6”) Beam: 4.38m (14’37”) Draft: 2.25m (7’38ft”) Displacement: 11,600kg Engine: Yanmar (57hp) Designer: Judel/Vrolijk Accommodation: 6 berths in 3 cabins Location: Swanwick, Hampshire Contact: michaelschmidt.co.uk craftinsure quote: £878.05 BALTIC YACHTS 61 | CALASJAN This Judel/Vrolijk-designed carbon-fibre performance cruiser from…

UKHO to withdraw paper charts There was dismay from UK sailors as the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) announced it would be stopping paper chart production by 2026. The “sunsetting” process will begin this year, starting with larger scale charts. The plans affect the UKHO’s portfolio of Admiralty Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and Thematic Charts “in response to more marine, naval and leisure users primarily using digital products and services for navigation”. The UKHO said its digital charts could be updated “in near real-time, greatly enhancing safety of life at sea (SOLAS)”. “Today’s world is unrecognisable to the one that existed in 1795, when our organisation was founded. Back then, mariners navigated by the stars using a magnetic compass and surveying with a leaded line marked in fathoms. They could fix…

Golden Globe Race It seems strangely fitting that when previewing the 2022 Golden Globe Race I should chat to a 2018 entrant who has only just completed the course… just in time to take part in the 2022 edition of the race. After all, the whole point of the Golden Globe is that you are looking backwards to go forward. This is a ‘race’ around the world that pays homage to the original iteration of this competition when, in 1968-69, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Bernard Moitessier and many others vied to be the first person to sail singlehanded, nonstop around the world. The race was already somewhat retro, given that in 1969 the Americans would put a man on the moon. Now, it is even more so. The rules pay further…

Baltic Sea Race This summer saw the inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race take place, organised by RORC together with the Ocean Racing Alliance. The 630nm course started and finished in the historic capital of Helsinki, tracing the picturesque Finnish coastline before rounding the Swedish island of Gotland and returning north-eastwards. It drew nearly 30 teams from across the region and from as far afield as USA. Among them was the sole British entry, 'Dawn Treader', a JPK 1180 owned by keen offshore racer, Ed Bell. More usually based on the UK’s south coast, Ed had his sights set on a fresh challenge this summer, and the Roschier Baltic Sea Race provided exactly that. It took a crew of two just seven days to deliver 'Dawn Treader' to the region, sailing…

There is still time to bag a late season holiday and learn to sail at one of the many tuition-based charter holiday companies in Europe. A late summer sailing holiday is, in many respects, an ideal time to learn the basics of how to handle a charter yacht not least because it’s generally less busy in the marinas and ports, and temperatures are not quite so intense. You’ll also find some companies offer special late season deals, particularly out of school holiday season, so it is possible to sign up for a good package. Whether you are travelling with friends, family or solo, there are plenty of options available with most companies happy to accommodate your needs, often with bespoke packages. For those who are less keen on long haul…

Old boat or new boat, power or sail, glassfibre or wooden we all have to deal with the dreaded leaks. And I’m not referring to a poorly maintained vessel with structural issues, springing a leak below the waterline. Not at all. I’m talking about all of us who have boats that we use regularly and take good care of, ones where we pride ourselves on dry bilges, and install rain awnings or cockpit enclosures. Yet all it seems to take is one rainstorm hitting from a slightly different angle, or with unusual intensity and suddenly you notice a brand-new leak you’ve never seen before. The down side to sailing in the tropics is that when thunderstorms and rain hit, they do so with astonishing force. It’s a lot like being…

Elan Impression 43 Slovenian boatbuilder Elan has enjoyed something of a split personality for many years now; on the one hand it turns out quite flashy cruiser/racers and on the other it produces solid, reliable cruising yachts as part of its Impression range. The company’s new Impression 43 is definitely the latter and this Rob Humphreys design is big on volume and cruising comfort. Like its predecessors, the 43 features the distinctive curved coachroof, which Elan describes as a ‘semi deck saloon’. The boat features twin rudders and, to add to internal volume, the beam has been increased compared to previous models. ● elan-yachts.com Aventura 44s Aventura Catamarans is based in Tunisia and has a long history of producing small, relatively affordable cruising catamarans. The Aventura 44s is its latest…

Solent Saturday Days spent out on the water are precious and need to be nurtured with care if we are to make the most of them. In previous articles I have suggested itineraries for long weekends based on different states of tides between neaps and springs, but what if you only have a single day? For this series I suggest options for a specific Saturday a few weeks after the date of publication. Whereas the ‘weekends’ concentrated on passages and destinations, for these specific Saturdays I will concentrate on building skills and fun activities for all the crew to enjoy. The activities will be those that I would consider for a day of a sailing course and are pitched at Day Skipper candidates as well as aspiring Yachtmasters. With just…

Tom Cunliffe Recently, the United Kingdom Hydrographic office (UKHO) announced that it was now policy to withdraw their official paper charts by 2026. It seems that NOAA in America and SHOM in France have made similar decisions. For the record, I am advised by Norcom (Meridian Chartware), that the Admiralty Raster Chart Service (ARCS) is also to be discontinued. As a man whose navigation pre-dates GPS by decades, I suppose my knee-jerk reaction to this was predictable. ‘Speechless’ was the quote my wife posted on her Facebook page. The response showed the benefits of social media when used responsibly and informed comment flooded in on both sides of the argument. We navigators float on what might be described as an ever-flowing river of time. At the source, we have seen…

Greek Wine Greek wine is terribly misunderstood. Both by sailors and restauranteurs. For many years, every taverna owner would only serve cheap local village wine in jugs and any tourist would, knowing the price of a jug, cheerfully hold their nose and postulate “It’ll taste better after the first glass”! That wine would come in at least two, and sometimes three, varieties. Red, white and pink. And, if you were really unlucky, the ‘pink’ was actually just a mix of red and white. The hangovers in those days were legendary. Many a charterer would cut short the next day’s sailing. At least, I think this was just a misunderstanding. The taverna owner, being a local island bloke, believed that the tourist just wanted a cheap drink. Besides, the wine was…

Southampton Boat Show 1 It’s bigger, again! The show was given fresh impetus last year and won a universally warm reception from visitors and exhibitors. An impressive 98 per cent of exhibitor space was filled around six weeks prior to the event, even with a bigger footprint this year both on land and on the water. Covering 70,000+ square metres, there’ll be around 550 exhibiting brands, and 650 craft. The bigger layout stretches from the purpose-built show marina (the largest in Europe!) across Mayflower Park and into the heart of the city, with zones for every kind of boating and watersport. British Marine has again agreed the use of land stretching inland towards the Westquay shopping centre, offering a central main entrance and bringing visitors into the…

Coach boat view Approaching the final windward mark of a short training race, the two leading yachts have a comfortable gap behind. It is a one-sided run to the final port hand rounding mark: it is clear that the first boat round the mark with the option of an early gybe will control the race. Yellow tacks and ducks Blue, (see Fig 1, p89), to avoid being pinned out to the layline: Blue then tacks safely to windward. The wind heads: that’s a gain to Yellow, who opts to minimise tacks and continue to the starboard layline. It’s a long layline call with some wind-blown current making the judgement tricky: Yellow opts for a comfortable layline: they really don’t want another two tacks. Once Yellow tacks, Blue has a good…

Change of Course My love affair with sailing began during a short stint in South Australia. One date with the ocean and I was hooked. I loved the feeling of the wind relentlessly pushing our boat through the choppy seas. It was breathtaking to witness the waves breaking on the bow, washing all the way back to the cockpit, then smashing into our faces and drenching us entirely. To this day, I have never felt quite as alive as I do at sea. Learning the ropes With my sights set firmly on the high seas, I signed up with the local sailing school and took part in an RYA accredited introductory course to keelboat sailing. During quiet periods, I mentioned my plans to crew on yachts overseas to our instructor.…