Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Yachting Monthly

Unsurprisingly, sailing with children on board requires a markedly different approach to cruising. Last year, my wife and I would have relished the long run across Lyme Bay at the start of our cruise this summer, carried as we were by a warm easterly, the setting sun above a billowing spinnaker. The arrival of a new crew member in the spring, however, meant a day of rolling downwind until well past bedtime was rather more stressful than the exhilarating experience we remembered. Our decisions about how much sail to set were also subject to change, since trying to secure, soothe and entertain a baby at any appreciable angle of heel is less than relaxing. As a result we spent much of our time afloat with sails reefed down to little…

Motor boats are dominating the line-up at Boats 2020, which is replacing the cancelled 2020 Southampton Boat Show. The event, which is scheduled to go ahead on 11-20 September at Mayflower Park, will showcase more than 90 boats, mostly power, from 30 boatyards. There will also be over 40 marine equipment exhibitors. Organisers British Marine cancelled the Southampton Boat Show due to the COVID-19 pandemic, replacing it with a smaller, not-for-profit event. British Marine stressed that Boats 2020 would meet Public Health England COVID-19 secure requirements, with social distancing and extensive cleaning routines. Tickets are limited and will cost £12.50 per person. Available at www.boats2020.co.uk British Marine CEO, Lesley Robinson, said visitors would be able to book appointments to see boats, creating ‘a day of quality viewing’.…

Sailors cruising Scotland are being encouraged to shop online for local food and craft. The marketing body, Sail Scotland, has developed the new web-based Shop to Ship Marketplace, which aims to help remote rural and island locations recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruisers are asked to use the pilot initiative to find out about shore-based food and craft producers in the areas they are visiting before making arrangements for safe purchase. This will include selecting a local drop-off and collection point from quays, ports and harbours. Sail Scotland’s CEO, Alan Rankin said the Scottish sailing season had been, ‘greatly impacted by COVID-19 with commercial charter operators and shoreside businesses facing a short period to generate turnover.’ Shop to Ship aims to ‘enhance the sailing experience and offer vital sales to…

Man overboard or a serious medical case on board are the two quite different scenarios that carry enough dread to invade my sleep. Whilst MOB is a sudden frantic horror, a medical issue tends towards a protracted nightmare of unknown conclusion. In medical terms there is a sliding scale of risk that teeters between the severity of the injury and distance from professional intervention. A failed spinnaker pole once whipped across the deck to hit a crew member’s head. A fitting punctured the skull and although dazed the crew was remarkably sanguine. Apart from covering the awful looking wound and keeping him warm and reassured, it was a case of getting him to the hospital as fast as possible. Fortunately we were just off Plymouth and I had him in…

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ocean Cruising Club worked with cruisers crossing oceans to get home, and we’ve become intimate with changeable weather conditions this year. Several lows formed gales that were not predicted in areas where forecasts didn’t agree and boats were caught off guard. Three of the 500 boats we worked with have been dismasted, one struck by lightning, another had deck damage. Such incidents may have been avoided had the skippers hove-to and let the gales pass. Yet few people actually understand what heaving-to is about. Essentially, you reduce sail way down, sheet in the mainsail, then tack without releasing the headsail sheet and secure the rudder. In this situation, the headsail works against the reefed main. A slick forms upwind of the boat as it slips…

When you look at the chart Chapman’s Pool appears to be the perfect anchorage, the one you dream about finding if you are cruising to get away from it all. It is a semi-circular bay with steep sides for protection and little sign of human habitation to spoil the delights of isolation. Located on the south coast between Poole and Weymouth, it is an anchorage that is usually bypassed by yachts cruising this stretch of coastline, but it can be a popular spot for day-trippers on a hot sunny day. Chapman’s Pool looks like one of those places that should have been developed as a small resort or even as a port but it has one fatal flaw: it is wide open to the south and south-west, which is where…

The equipment used to anchor our boats is constantly developing as new materials and designs appear, equipment is adapted from other technologies or existing items are improved. Old ideas are constantly questioned by rigorous testing and field experience. Secure anchoring isn’t just about the anchor itself, however. The whole rode that connects the anchor to the boat, made up of a number of different parts, is arguably at least as important, if not more so, than the specifics of the anchor. If you get your ground tackle set up correctly, with an understanding of its abilities and limitations, you can be confident that the much-maligned ‘weakest link’, is not going to let you down in challenging conditions. First, some clarification, what is meant by a rode? A rode (more archaically…

Renowned Arctic sailor, journalist and environmentalist, Brian Black, has died, aged 77. Brian’s entertaining and insightful writing has graced the pages of Yachting Monthly for years, and inspired many sailors to follow in his footsteps. His passion for high latitude sailing, as well as his regular cruising grounds of the west coast of Scotland and Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland made him a firm favourite with readers and YM staff. YM editor, Theo Stocker said Brian was ‘a hugely valued contributor’. ‘His writing and his pictures brought life and expertise to the magazine, but more than that he was a pleasure to work with and a wonderfully warm person to know. He will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with his family.’ Brian started his journalism career in the…

We got afloat! The day after the government blew the whistle permitting nights away from home, we hared down to Dartmouth resolved to do something. Anything. You had to book your water-taxi 24 hours ahead and otherwise not rely on getting ashore without blowing up the dinghy. Ironically, Dartmouth had previously got so fed up with tipsy yachtsmen meandering around in spring tides impeding everyone that they had actually reduced the water-taxi price. But COVID-19, as ever, caused a limitation. Out with the foot-pump… Destinations? France was as tempting as ever, but with the possibility of a two-week quarantine on returning home: no shopping, no visits, no friends. The PM was still vapouring on about ‘air bridges’ and ‘all over by Christmas’ but who believed that? Old seagoing principle: assume…

If you’ve ever tried to lay a second anchor by rowing it out, you’ll know that if you don’t take the anchor cable with you, it will drag you back and make rowing hard work. In the Isles of Scilly a couple of years ago, we had a perfect little anchorage to ourselves with a nice offshore breeze, but were worried that a change in wind direction could land us close to rocks. I got into the dinghy and my wife Georgie lowered the kedge anchor to me. I attached a trip line and fender to the anchor and then flaked the rest of the cable neatly on top so that it would pay out as I rowed. I could then drop the anchor, row back to the boat and…

We go through an awful lot of mooring lines on our trips. We’re often tying up on concrete walls in fishing ports or commercial wharves in the high latitudes, and the lines take quite a beating. We’ve tried every form of anti-chafe out there, from sanitary hose to extremely expensive ballistic sleeve, but so far old fire hose has been the best. It has just the right balance between being flexible and tough, and at around £1 per metre it is some of the cheapest material around. If you want to make it easier to use you can ask your sail maker to cut it lengthways and stitch a piece of Velcro up the edge to make it easier to wrap around a line.…

‘Don’t ever think about coming back to Madagascar again, you are not welcome!’ proclaimed the angry deputy Port Captain as he reluctantly stamped my paperwork. He had tried to charge me an extra 90,000 ariary (about £18.50), on top of the standard fee for a 60-day cruising permit and even though it was a relatively small amount of money, I had refused. With his boss away, the young, opportunistic junior was clearly trying his luck and I hadn’t fallen for it. His final attempt to justify the ‘gift’ by thrusting some unrelated handwritten terms and conditions in front of me, dated from 1998, was comical. I was well aware that corruption was alive and well on the island and had already been left with no option but to pay a…

Harbourmaster Sailing Challenge progress One man’s quest to visit every harbourmaster in the UK is gaining momentum. Since leaving Dartmouth in March 2019, retired businessman Mark Ashley-Miller, 57, has interviewed 78 harbourmasters and visited 90 harbours. He still has an estimated 222 to go in order to meet all of the UK’s official HMs, deputies and assistants. Post-lockdown, Ashley-Miller is happy to be back sailing his 34ft Nauticat 331 Good Dog, helping boost the harbours’ incomes. Speaking to YM from Scotland, he said: ‘During lockdown, the harbours were devoid of any income. Some, like Tobermory, rely heavily on cruise liners – at least us yachties can get around and do our bit.’ The challenge has so far raised £2,985 for Seafarers UK at bit.ly/HM_challenge. Ashley-Miller is enjoying the adventure’s ‘huge…

S/Y ESCAPADE (LAUNCHED 2006; HULL 149) David and Rosie Hulkin We bought Escapade in 2017 and have now sailed over 4,000 miles in her. We spotted her out of the water one afternoon and I was immediately attracted by her deep forefoot and sea-kindly hull shape. As I explained to my wife Rosie, a sailing widow of many years, such a boat would not slam in a headway as did our existing 35-footer but she would slice through the waves and have a much more comfortable motion underway. After just 15 minutes onboard she was smitten. Smitten by the gigantic owner’s cabin aft, smitten by the safe, centre cockpit and smitten by ‘the quarterdeck’! The 42CC has a quarterdeck larger than most 50-footers. It is our sundeck, our BBQ deck…

Navionics customers were left unable to download charts or log-in following a sustained cyber attack on its parent company, Garmin, in July. The Navionics Boating app, Chart Installer, and Navionics Chart Viewer were all affected. Products couldn’t be bought directly via the Navionics website. Garmin has said it had ‘no indication that any customer data was accessed, lost or stolen’. Rob Watt, who sails the Maxi 95, Peggy Rose, was affected: ‘Navionics still worked but you couldn’t upload or download anything. The chart plotter still worked as a standalone device. I have a Garmin smartwatch which controls the autopilot too, as well as linking into my chartplotter — that still worked but I couldn’t upload or download anything,’ confirmed Watt. Jonathon Sweeney from Red Sky Alliance, a cyber security partner…

Legendary bluewater cruiser, small boat sailor and master boatbuilder Larry Pardey has died in New Zealand, aged 81. Along with his wife, Lin, Larry sailed over 200,000 miles, circumnavigating the world both eastabout and westabout aboard their engineless wooden sub-30ft yachts. Their adventures aboard Seraffyn and Taleisin and their mantra ‘Go Small, Go Simple, Go Now’ inspired generations of cruisers, and their contribution towards nurturing ocean cruising in small boats won many accolades including the Ocean Cruising Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Cruising Club of America’s Far Horizons Award. Originally from Canada, Larry was a professional skipper working in California when he met Lin and they married in 1968. Larry had already started building the 24ft cutter Seraffyn, which was designed by Lyle Hess and based on the long-keeled…

During lockdown we have heard a lot about loneliness, about old folks shut away in their domains unable to see their grandchildren, or even worse, marooned in care homes, denied visitors. Suddenly these people, used to being cherished, at the heart of families are alone, facing an uncertain future. This takes a toll on mental wellbeing. Solo sailors understand this only too well, but at least they are only responsible for themselves and their vessel. The sailor with crew, the skipper, the captain, the master mariner, call him what you will, has a whole lot more on his plate and this adds far greater psychological stress. One of the books I’ve re-read while awaiting the green light from the germ police, to be able to go back down to the…

It is so easy to take your navigation lights for granted. As daylight fades you go down below to switch on the light and assume that all is well and that other ships and boats will now be able to see you in the dark. However, when was the last time you checked them? Navigation lights have a rough life out there exposed in all weathers and if they are not working when you switch them on they can be hard to fix at sea. Walking around a marina it’s surprising how many yacht nav lights are not up to standard. I have seen one light pointing up in the air rather than ahead where it has obviously been knocked at some time. Another common fault is where the electric…

A mid the humid late afternoon, the four of us – owners Marjorie and I, and crew Mary and James – checked ourselves and our Dufour 41 Alexa out at the Customs and Immigration Office at Chaguaramas, Trinidad in the Caribbean. This is always a slightly scary experience as this was – infamously – one of the least friendly immigration offices in the Caribbean. It stank of rum and weed, which we did not find very comforting, and the officials were aggressive: ‘Hey, if the paperwork ain’t right I seize your boat!’ But we got the paperwork done and chugged out of Coral Cove Marina, weaving through the crowded anchorage toward Scotland Bay where we dropped anchor, though this would have made the immigration people deeply upset – you are…

Sailing around the Fastnet Rock Lighthouse is something of a milestone for any sailor. Since 1925, the most southerly point of Ireland has been the focus for thousands of amateur and professional sailors competing in the biennial Fastnet Race. It has also borne witness to the UK’s worst sailing disaster. Gerald Butler was one of the lighthouse keepers on duty at Fastnet on the night of the 1979 Force 10 storm, which claimed 21 lives. As a third-generation lighthouse keeper, Butler has spent much of his life in isolation living on the storm-battered rocks of southern Ireland where he worked as an Assistant Light Keeper for the Commissioners of Irish Lights. He was first introduced to the profession, aged just four, when his father took him to Ballycotton Lighthouse for…

The good times and the bad meld together over the years into a rich tapestry of family sailing The wails of complaints and a sense that the world was a little awry was the first clue that all was not well. Back in the day we had a 26ft Fairey Atalanta, complete with lifting keels, two small children, a large dog and more enthusiasm than experience. We went with the tide to anchor in Lochranza on Arran, expecting to dry out on the shingle at low tide. After a nightcap we settled into our bunks, confident that with the boat high and dry, nothing would disturb our sleep. We were so wrong. Having dried out on a ledge, the boat was at such an angle that the children had slid…

NAJAD 391 Successor to the popular 390, this sturdy, well-built centre-cockpit cruiser from Sweden boasts an elegant look due to her flush decks and streamline coachroof. The 391 is a safe and seaworthy yacht that easily shrugs off adverse wind and sea conditions. Her improved hull, keel and rudder design, plus her generous ballast ratio, meant she was quicker than her predecessor while remaining just as stiff in the gusts. Her deep bilge and finely vee’d forefoot afford her a gentle motion through the chop, and even when the seas are steep, she slices through with little loss of progress. Traditionalists will also be happy with her shaft-drive and the deep skeg helps protect her large rudder from flotsam damage. Her interior is very spacious and the traditional mahogany wood…