Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2026 i Yachting Monthly

There is a nugget of wisdom in this issue that stuck with me more than any other words I’ve read in putting this issue together. It has to do with good seamanship, and comes, perhaps surprisingly, from the world of racing. Including anything about racing in Yachting Monthly, this proud bastion of cruising, is a bit of a risk. The two articles on the topic this month aren’t telling you how to win races, however. They are instead examining how putting your sailing skills into the crucible of racing, even fleetingly, can transform your cruising. Improved attention to detail, sail trim, sailing in a wider range of conditions and improving sail-and boat-handling are among the edifying effects, but it was a matter of approach towards maintenance that struck me. Servicing…

Sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, 86, was honoured with the Pindar lifetime achievement award at the International Association of Cape Horners’ annual dinner in Portsmouth in November, writes Dick Durham. Sir Robin told 125 members of the association, including Sir Chay Blyth, Mike Golding, Skip Novak and Jean-Luc Van Den Heed, that 800 ships and 10,000 sailors had been lost off ‘Cape Stiff’ over the years. Sir Robin then inaugurated six top yachtsmen and women into the Cape Horn Hall of Fame: Paul Standbridge, from Hamble; marine photographer Rick Tomlinson; ocean racer Samantha Davies; French Vendée Globe Race winner Charlie Dalin; Catherine Chabaud, the first woman to complete a Vendée Globe; and fellow French sailing heroine Isabelle Autissier. Also honoured were the Chilean lighthouse keepers based on Cape Horn. Captain…

Well, we seem to have arrived in paradise,’ Tom exclaims as we sail smoothly through the shallow channel and drift into the anchorage. Green turtles pop up to breathe, one then two close by, and a third in the distance. A lively gathering of terns wheel over the water ahead, dropping in succession to snatch at fish. We’re surrounded by a sparkling sea and the island’s beaches blaze scorching white under a high sun. The realisation that we’d sailed ourselves here from our home port of Milford Haven in west Wales struck like an arrow. It was a profound moment, particularly for Tom who’d captained our well-provisioned little ship on some serious passages to get here. But we’d made it. The pinnacle of a hard-won voyage was arriving in tropical…

Send your questions to our experts at yachtingmonthly@futurenet.com THIS MONTH’S EXPERTS JUSTIN MORTON is a former RYA instructor. He went from full-time sailing to a career in the Marines, and didn’t buy his first yacht until he retired. ANDREW GEDDES has sailed 40,000 miles since he started sailing, aged six. He keeps his Jeanneau 43ds between Bari and Croatia. ANDY DU PORT is a Yachtmaster Offshore. He edited Reeds Nautical Almanac for five years and now sails a Hallberg-Rassy 34 with his wife Kate. HARRY DEKKERS is an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. He was Commanding Officer of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s sail training vessel. SOLENE GIRAUDEAU-POTEL began her voyage around the North Atlantic with her husband in 2023 aboard their Rival 32 Maalie. Play with your radar at anchor Unless you…

As a committed cruiser of 30 years, I often wondered what the point of yacht racing was. There seemed to be a lot of expensive looking boats, some shouting, confusing rules and uncontrolled course alterations. I was quite content to set the sails, put the tea on and not to touch the bottom. However, with an early retirement and the onset of Covid my cruising days were over and to get on the water I bought a small racing yacht and began racing at my local club. It was a great fix to get out on the water for a couple of hours, when we couldn’t go for longer. Racing has changed everything I knew about sailing. It does beg the question – what can a cruising sailor learn from…

The afternoon sunlight had the sharp clarity of spring in the Baltic. Low shafts of warmth cut through cold winter shadows as we drifted out past the church spire, the lighthouse on the harbour mole, and the basket-chairs deserted on the white sand beach. The mirror-flat water ruffled into a soft carpet across which the boat glided silently. Gradually, the breeze shifted and tumbled over the town, fluctuating from 5 to 17 knots. My eyes were glued to the telltales, but in such an unsteady breeze, our wake was that of a drunkard. I was in Eckernförde, where Germany teeters on the edge of Scandinavia, to sail the new Saare 47, the luxury flagship of this small-volume boat builder. If you’ve not heard of Saare Yachts, that’s because they only…

The handsome clubhouse of the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club is a great place to start/finish any passage. The museum trawler Mincarlo is nearby. The Ore gives access to the ancient port of Orford, overlooked by Henry II’s castle. Ferry across to the National Trust nature reserve and historic military site at Orford Ness with its sobering blast test buildings. Further upriver are the cultural and heritage meccas of Aldeburgh and Snape. From the Deben at Woodbridge visit the Anglo-Saxon royal ship burial ground at Sutton Hoo. Harwich, on the Stour, is an old port town with a fort, lighthouses, lightvessel, and Electric Palace cinema – one of the oldest cinemas in the world. All within walking distance of Halfpenny Pier. The Colne leads to Roman Colchester. The Blackwater…

Turn to Starboard and Invictus Games unveil veteran-crewed UK voyage Falmouth veteran sailing charity Turn to Starboard is partnering with Invictus Games Birmingham 2027 for the Full Circle expedition, a 2,000-mile tall-ship UK circumnavigation crewed by 70 wounded or sick veterans. The 12-week voyage will be split into five legs. Its two tall ships, Pellew and Spirit of Falmouth, both skippered and crewed by Turn to Starboard, will depart from Falmouth in March 2026 and travel anti-clockwise around the UK before returning to Falmouth in June. The expedition aims to show the healing, transformative power of teamwork and how an epic adventure can help veterans rebuild confidence and develop community. ‘This remarkable expedition is more than a voyage – it’s a powerful story of courage, service and renewal – a…

The world of marine equipment, as showcased by November’s Marine Equipment Trade Show (METStrade) in Amsterdam, continues to develop at a relentless pace. The very best new products were recognised at a lavish awards ceremony for the DAME Design Awards. The overall prize went to a diminutive 4in circular instrument display that is in fact a fully functioning chartplotter which is able to display the full range of information a normal, larger plotter would show. Category prize winners included twin asymmetric spinnakers designed for downwind tradewind sailing from One Sails; a plug-and-play refrigeration unit from Dometic; titanium mast steps from One Palma; a high-resolution thermal imaging scope from Flir; a bilge pump activity sensor and recorder from Digital Yacht; an AC electrical distribution panel with remote switching from Simarine; and…

Entries are pouring in for the first edition of the Island Offshore Race to the Arctic, a spectacular race from Lindesnes on Norway’s southern tip, to Svolvaer in Lofoten, starting 26 June and ending 5 July. The initiative comes from Shorthanded Sailing Norway, who, after a poll among sailors in Scandinavia, decided on a competitive race over four legs combining competition with the unique experience of sailing into the midnight sun. Former CEO and two-times skipper in The Ocean Race, Knut Frostad, said: ‘This must be the most exciting and challenging race ever in Northern Europe. The racers are in for a truly unique experience of nature, as they sail the Norwegian coast from south and into the midnight sun.’ Due to capacity constraints in the harbours along the coast,…

LXNAV E360 ROUND CHARTPLOTTER www.marine.lxnav.com Chartplotters are meant to be rectangular like our charts, aren’t they? Not anymore. Slovenian company LXNAV specialises in instruments for gliders, but have been growing their marine instruments line up for the last decade. This may appeal to motorboat owners more than sailing boats, but if you sail a small boat or a sports boat, the prospect of a 4in instrument display for any or all of your data that can also display proper navigation charts is really quite appealing. It’s NMEA 2000 and touch-screen, or you can add on a separate flywheel controller, much as you would in a car. It has built-in Wifi and GPS, as well as OpenSeaMaps charts as standard, or you can view Navionics charts via the SD card reader.…

Gazing out of the window at 36,000ft, with a glass of bubbly in hand, is the perfect time for reflection. Were we really in the Southern Ocean glorying in the elegance of a soaring albatross a few days ago? An elegance that puts this great but comparatively cumbersome piece of aeronautical technology in its place. Wandering albatross have been recorded completing three circumnavigations of the Southern Ocean in a year! At 12kg with a 3.5m wing span they can reach 73 knots and all without jet fuel. They are truly mesmerising and as I watch them I wonder if I’ll return to the Southern Ocean again. A privilege that I have had the pleasure and pain of four times now. Each time was in a different boat and, like the…

My friend Claire told me there was no such thing as a slow race, but that’s exactly what I got – twice. The first in Uproar, a Hunter Impala, with Mandy, a very easy-going skipper and her capable crew of six. The second with Guy and Lizzy English in Hustler 25 Tahini. To say that Guy and I couldn’t be more opposite may be quite true, but in a round-about way, that is precisely why our paths cross. So why did we find so much in common? Guy’s manner is a little brusque to start. He insists on paying for the coffee because ‘joining his crew is only a prospective proposition’, at this point, thus, keeping a lid on any assumptions – and leading me to deduce that he takes…

www.yachtingmonthly.com/books 18-year-old soldier Craig Wood was on patrol in Afghanistan when he was ambushed and blown up. He lost both legs, an arm and his face. Over the next four years he endured more than 50 major operations and innumerable procedures. A piece of his scalp had been used to reconstruct his nose. It kept growing and had to be regularly cut back. During one of these cutting back procedures, the doctor asked me what I was doing that weekend while he sewed seven stitches across the new wound. ‘Sailing in Weymouth,’ I grinned. ‘I’ve been invited to train with the Paralympic team.’ I was itching to get back on the water again. I’d watched the team training throughout my recovery from my wheelchair, and I was now finally able…

Scotland is far more than just a destination, it’s a living, breathing classroom for anyone eager to learn the art of hands-on sailing – wild, remote and endlessly fascinating. Carved with deep sea lochs and scattered with islands large and small, it’s a place where every tide opens a new chapter and every anchorage feels like it’s yours alone. Our home for the month was Big Blue of Lorne, a graceful 16m Beneteau, perfectly suited to the northern waters. Well-equipped and comfortable below deck with solid heating and space to unwind, she handled the elements with ease. We began our journey at Craobh Haven Marina (pronounced “Croove”), just south of Oban, ready for four weeks of hands-on adventure sailing through some of the most spectacular cruising grounds the UK has…

FINNGULF 41 It’s no surprise that most of the closest equivalents to the Maxi also come from Scandinavia. The Finngulf 41 is a more-than-worthy competitor despite being rather less well-known because of Finngulf’s relatively brief history, which included a bit of stopping and starting along the way. The absence of a UK dealer for many years further contributed to the limited number sold on these shores. As a fast, responsive, well-balanced 41-footer that’s easy to sail, carefully engineered and beautifully built, the Finngulf is about as good as they come. Designed by Karl-Johan Stråhlmann, who took over as designer of the Finngulf models from Håkan Södergren, she was the second of his designs after the 28, and was followed by the 33 (later the 331), 46 and 37. This era…

To master the practical aspects of knotting and ropework, it is important to learn a little about the materials, tools and terminology used, as well as allowing you to converse with others about knots and ropes with confidence. Let’s start with brief notes on the materials used for making ropes and how stranded, braided and plaited ropes, are made up and marked. MAN-MADE FIBRES POLYAMIDE (PA) (Nylon) Discovered in the 1930s by the Du Pont company. A very strong, smooth white rope that has the ability to stretch. Prone to going hard with age, Nylon ropes need UV protection and lose a little strength when wet. Uses: Mooring lines, safety lines. POLYESTER (PES/PET) (Dacron™, Terylene™, Vectran™) White fibres, retains its strength when wet and does not stretch like Nylon –…

The Famous Project CIC, an all-women challenge for the Jules Verne Trophy, the non-stop around the world record, departed on Saturday 29 November, aiming to become the first all-female crew to complete the record. The team is chasing one of the all-time great sailing records, the non-stop, around-the-world record time, which currently stands at 40 days and 23 hours, set by Francis Joyon in 2017 aboard the same maxi-trimaran, Idec Sport. The team is skippered by French former Vendée Globe skipper Alexia Barrier and was set up together with British record-breaking yachtswoman Dee Caffari. They are racing with Annemieke Bes, Rebecca Gmuer, Deb Blair, Molly Lapointe, Xiquita Etchegoyen, and Stacey Jackson. The crew must sail around the world, passing Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin, and Cape Horn to port…

A 74-year-old skipper died after becoming entangled in a powered winch aboard his 57ft steel yacht Mollie while sailing off the Isle of Wight in August, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) concluded in a recent report. New Zealand national Lyall Babington was sailing 2.8 miles south-south-west of the Needles Lighthouse off the Isle of Wight with crew when the fatal accident happened shortly after midday on 5 August. He lived on board Mollie and had left New Zealand three years ago, intending to sail her around the world. Earlier in the day, Mollie had departed from West Wittering for a passage to Poole with the skipper and three crew on board. Mollie was the skipper’s permanent residence and he had engaged crew in the various ports he visited to…

Electrical fumes and smoke billowed out of my computer the other day, and soon after my busy screen turned BIOS black. A full-on fire was only prevented when I switched it off at the plug. Reasonably dramatic, but not too much damage was done and the critical hard drive turned out to be recoverable. It could have been a whole lot worse. But it got me thinking. Not just a reminder about backing up data, but also about how we cope when things go wrong at sea. Most sailors consider a comprehensive sail repair kit, rigging gear and engine spares as a necessity, and many of us also carry a smörgåsbord of parts for plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems. Whether we start out having the knowledge to use them may…

Why do accidents happen at the most inopportune times? Occurring when you least need them and potentially putting a crew member out of action or more. Accidents vary from the most minor, needing no more than a sticking plaster, to challenging situations requiring Coastguard or RNLI search and rescue. Common injuries range from sprains, burns and minor cuts to deep wounds, head injuries and fractures. ‘It will never happen to the crew or myself,’ attitude may well result in a big wake up call. ‘Be prepared’ is a sensible philosophy when it comes to yachting, not only in the most extreme and isolated of environments that cruising sailors frequent, but anywhere we are afloat and away from the rapid assistance available on land. Even a modest cruise takes us beyond…

The school flagpole at Dumaga Bay on Sudest Island was the mast of a wrecked yacht. This should have been a warning to us on our fourth sailing aid project to the Louisiades islands of Papua New Guinea. We knew that this would be our last time and, in a way that we didn’t anticipate, it very nearly was the end of our sailing days as well. The Louisiades islands are a stunningly beautiful string of more than 90 islands stretching over 80 nautical miles, starting 100 nautical miles from mainland Papua New Guinea and a seven-day passage from Australia. There are no flights or ferries and transport there is mostly by sailing or paddling a canoe. There are a few open dinghies with an outboard though the islanders often…

1 MARINAS AND CREW CHANGES On the East Coast, there are marinas with rail links for crew changes at Lowestoft; Woodbridge on the Deben (HW +/-1hr 30min); Ipswich on the Orwell; Burnham-on-Crouch; London on the Thames (HW -2hr to +1hr 30min also check for Thames Barrier closures); Gillingham (HW +/-4hr) or Chatham on the Medway; and Ramsgate. A seasonal foot ferry runs between Shotley marina and Harwich for ferries to Hoek van Holland or trains to Manningtree. At Lowestoft, and also Great Yarmouth, there is lifting bridge access into the Norfolk Broads. From the Thames there are a number of mast-down access points into the more extensive inland waterway network. Low air-draught vessels may also explore up the Medway to Allington lock and beyond. On the continental coast there is all-tide…

When we think of yachts built in Sweden, most of the names that spring to mind are from the west coast: Najad, Malo, Hallberg-Rassy and Regina af Vindö, for example. We tend to think of these as epitomising Scandinavian build quality: boats that are beautifully finished and, perhaps, traditionally erring towards the strong and steady rather than the light and sprightly. Some west-coast yards, on the other hand, such as Sweden Yachts, Arcona and CR Yachts, have placed more emphasis on performance, so wherever you set your marker on the cruising/racing spectrum you can find a boat that’s dripping with the hand-crafted joinery for which Swedish yards are famous. Then, of course, there’s Maxi. Based on the opposite side of the country, near Stockholm, Sweden’s biggest boatbuilder adopted more of…

Efficient use of power is rarely far from a skipper’s mind, so building in capacity to flush toilets using battery power when the tried-and-tested mechanical option is so much less expensive might seem wasteful. However, there are a few cogent reasons for spending the extra cash and complicating your boat’s plumbing – one of which is reduced water usage. This would lead to improved holding tank efficiency and the possibility of using fresh water instead of raw water for flushing, thereby reducing corrosion and odours in your pipework significantly. Push-button systems are also more convenient, less time-consuming and make it more likely that guests and new users will feel comfortable and relaxed on board with fewer possibilities that they could make a mistake trying to flush the toilet. And if…