Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i Yachting

BERMUDA PREMIER MICHAEL Dunkley, shown below, is just one of many dignitaries who couldn’t suppress a smile after the island was named host to the 35th America’s Cup, scheduled for June 2017. “In Bermuda, we have a perfect international venue to demonstrate the excitement America’s Cup boats and teams can generate,” said America’s Cup Commercial Commissioner Harvey Schiller. “The sailing conditions are near perfect. The race course on the Great Sound is a natural amphitheater with room for racing and spectators, amid a spectacular backdrop of islands and beaches.” Skipper Jimmy Spithill of defender Oracle Team USA seems enthusiastic about the choice of location, as he has already spent time racing in Bermuda and thus may have an advantage. Challenger Ben Ainslie of Ben Ainslie Racing also has experience on…

Azimut’s 43 Atlantis fills a gap in the builder’s midsize line between 38- and 50- footers. (The five-model Atlantis line runs from 34 to 58 feet length overall.) This contemporarystyled, two- stateroom yacht is a solid option for cruising families stepping up and for on-the-water entertaining aficionados. She’s well laid out for day-tripping with a large, cupholderequipped sun pad over the tender garage as well as C-shaped seating under the hardtop with its soft, retractable roof. Another leg-stretching lounge area is across from the starboard-side helm. The 43 is voluminous too, offering 6-foot-10-inch headroom under that hardtop and 6-foot-3-inch headroom belowdecks. There is a forepeak master with a step-up berth for Mom and Dad, while aft there are three berths for the kids and friends. Two of these berths are…

In the early morning light off Marsh Harbour, the Abacos, the Lagoon 630 Motor Yacht slices through a wind chop with ease. AS YOU MIGHT GUESS BY LOOKING AT THE SALON, THE LATERAL GALLEY ALLOWS THIS COMMON SPACE TO BE WIDE OPEN AND GENEROUSLY FURNISHED WITH SEATING. A QUICK GLANCE AFT CONFIRMED what we were all expecting. Strong northerly winds of 25 knots, gusting to 30 knots, had whipped the Gulf Stream into a wild washboard of 6- to 8-foot waves, every other one cresting into a white foamy top that approached the stern of our Lagoon 630 Motor Yacht with a growling sound that cut through the rise and fall of the wailing breeze. I watched from my perch on the aft deck as a tall wave rolled up…

AMERE DECADE AGO, a coffee shop commanded attention if it offered Wi-Fi for its tech-savvy customers; today, this same business would be long-since shuttered if it failed to offer this basic ingredient of the digital age for all of its patrons — not just the geeks. The same now goes for marinas, yacht clubs and charter yachts, as today’s boaters increasingly demand more connectivity and higher bandwidth for online uses ranging from social media updates to streaming cloud-based media to making Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls and videoconferencing. Yet while most consumer-facing businesses now provide Wi-Fi, ensuring fast, reliable service on a globe- girdling yacht is far more complex than simply plugging in a modem and wireless router. Mariners have been using Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology…

NEXT-GEN RADAR Garmin’s GMR xHD2 open-array radars are available in several lengths and transmitting powers. The 12 kW GMR 1224 and GMR 1226, and the 6 kW GMR 626 and GMR 624, come in 4- or 6-foot lengths, while the 4-foot GMR 424 xHD2 has 4 kW of power. The radars ($3,999 to $6,599) all feature a 72-mile range, user-selectable rotation speeds of 24 or 48 rpm, dual radar support (allowing you to run two high-definition radars simultaneously) and Echo Trails providing “historical” radar data. Garmin, 913-397-8200; garmin.com HEAT SIGNATURES Iris Corp.’s Nightspotter handheld thermal imaging cameras come in two models, the 241 ($2,795) and the 240 ($2,995), and both offer adjustable focus, choice of color palette (black hot, white hot and red hot) and a built-in “high-bright” LED flashlight.…

IT TOOK JUST FOUR HOURS for 3-D printing to shatter barriers on the International Space Station. In December, NASA engineers on Earth transmitted a design file to astronauts in orbit. The station’s 3-D printer, created by California-based Made in Space, composited 104 layers of plastic into a 4.5-by-1.3-inch ratchet wrench. Commander Barry Wiltmore picked it up and smiled for a photograph that, undoubtedly, will one day hang in a museum describing the start of 3-D printers assisting long-range exploration. “If you can transmit a file to the station as quickly as you can send an email, it opens up endless possibilities for all the types of things that you can make,” said Niki Werkheiser of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. This, of course, left us at Yachting wondering about printing…

THEY WERE TWO average guys, everyday boaters out in their skiff wearing faded jeans with their plaid sleeves rolled up. Each had a line in the water, and the tension in their reels held their absolute focus. I saw them from the shoreline, where I stood awestruck. Towering behind them was the spectacular, snow-capped Mount Baker, creating the kind of backdrop of which East Coast boaters can only dream. These guys didn’t even register the mountain’s presence; they’re locals in the San Juan Islands, and this scenery is everyday stuff . It’s what makes the San Juans so special for cruising. Encounters with grandeur are routine. Just as Newport has Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard nearby, and as Miami has the Abacos, Seattle has the San Juans, whose popular Roche Harbor…

Silver Wind’s diesel-electric propulsion allows her to achieve a top-end speed of 32 knots and have an extended range of 2,600 nautical miles. IF YOU’VE BEEN WATCHING THE SEMICUSTOM MEGAYACHT market in recent years, you may have noticed an interesting development. Increasingly, shipyards are giving owners more input. They’re realizing that some of today’s buyers aren’t satisfied with only having a choice of wood veneers, or whether the master suite will go on the main deck versus the upper deck. Indeed, these buyers are voicing concerns about fuel efficiency, for example, and some want to be as actively involved as their captains and engineers in selecting systems and equipment. As a result, a handful of builders have undertaken studies on leading-edge solutions and put forth proposals to attract these buyers.…

THE PASSAGE FROM Seattle to San Diego was billed as a milk run, but that was before Michael Pack and his crew aboard Caelestis, Pack’s Wauquiez 47, suffered a crash jibe in gale-force winds that shattered their traveler, ending their ability to maneuver easily. By dawn, the wind had lain down to 35 knots, but the seas were still running 15 to 20 feet, and a failed generator made it impossible to run radar in the light fog some 110 miles off San Francisco. Fortunately, Caelestis’ Vesper Marine AIS WatchMate draws only 3 watts, so it was still powered on to warn Pack that Caelestis would pass within 0.1 mile of an outbound container ship roughly 15 to 20 miles away — a serious danger given the busted traveler, the…

THE FRESNEL Hydrofoil Trimaran’s alien, shape-shifting form seems like a watercraft from the future. It’s the first yacht from London-based architect Margot Krasojevic, who has designed functional, innovative structures for decades, including a hydroelectric tidal home in South Africa. The owners of the Holden Manz wine estate in South Africa were so impressed with Krasojevic’s work that they commissioned her to design this 115-foot sailing yacht. “We agreed on a yacht that uses renewable energy in every way possible without compromising on the design,” Krasojevic explains. She conceived a “perpetual motion” machine with a fixedwing sail powered by sun and wind. Three electric motors run on solar-charged batteries. “We’re aiming for the same efficiency with this boat as if it were running on fuel,” she says. In trimaran mode, it…

WHEN YOU blend the best features of a center-console — 360-degree, level-deck fishing space and dedicated stowage for fish and gear — with the creature comforts of an express cruiser, families who love to fish and cruise will take notice. The SeaVee 430 Fish-Around’s deep-V hull (22 degrees at transom) makes short work of rough water, and optional quad Mercury 300 Verados help the boat hit 47 knots. Optimal efficiency is 0.85 mpg running at a 33-knot cruise speed. Triple or quad outboards, twin inboards and twin Volvo Penta IPS drives are also available. Rod stowage is everywhere. Two fish boxes are in the cockpit sole, on either side of the optional fourth livewell, and one more is in the bow. To port, there’s a dive ladder and tuna door.…

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE FROM THOSE IN THE KNOW SUNSHINE FLOODED THE waters separating California’s Catalina Island from Channel Islands Harbor. Capt. Tom Petersen, skipper of the Sea Ray 55 Sundancer Valkyrie, was leading a small flotilla when an unexpected fog bank quashed visibility. Valkyrie carries the latest Raymarine kit (Petersen is a Raymarine Pro Ambassador), including a 12 kW, 6-foot, open-array, high- definition radar, but Petersen’s companions weren’t electronically fortified. “I sat behind the other boats, watching them on my radar and maintaining radio contact,” Petersen said. One boat didn’t have radar or autopilot, and the skipper was ignoring his compass. “I told him to keep [maintaining] a certain angle, but he picked up speed and went in the wrong direction. Then, he got scared.” Staying calm, Petersen advised the panicked…

MY PAL AL was short a cruiser, having sold a lovely, 50-foot, Down East express. He “needed” another. A simple case of seller’s regret? Not exactly. “My wife said I said that we didn’t use it enough,” he told me. “What was I thinking?” Al’s a New York Yacht Club member living in self-imposed exile in south Florida. “A Down East express is a perfect place to hang the club burgee while cruising off -campus,” I said. “Your wife does like visiting the club?” “Sure, but she wouldn’t care for the ride on the express. She’d rather fl y,” he replied. “That’s it,” I said. “You need a faster boat!” I then shared the wisdom of a heavily medicated skipper I once heard blathering after a dif cult passage to…