Innehållsförteckning för August/September 2017 från Cruising World

Sometimes, you just need a day off the boat. My family loves a good road trip, and at more than 110 miles long, Eleuthera, in the central Bahamas, definitely qualifies as a road-trip-worthy size. With our boat, Lyra, safely anchored in Rock Sound on the southern end of the island, we thought it was the perfect time to rent a car and drive the Queen’s Highway. Having spent time on quite a few islands in the Bahamas, I thought I knew what the landscape would be like — plenty of limestone and scrub bushes — and there was that, but there was so much more. Rolling hills, huge trees that arched over the road, and periodic views of both the Atlantic and Great Bahama Bank made it like no other…

IT WAS as if cruising dreams came true. We would swing the boat behind an island into a smooth creek. The forest between the ocean and the anchorage muted the sound of the breakers to a distant sighing. In the morning, a short row brought the din ghy ashore. It took a walk around the end of the island to reach the Atlantic shore, foaming wavelets on one side and dunes on the other stretching for maybe 10 miles with only bird footprints on the sand. Add sea turtle tracks during nesting seasons. It might sound like a dream, but at least 10 major barrier islands fit this description — most of them uninhabited and protected from development as state or national wilderness areas — on the Atlantic coast of Georgia.…

SEAMANSHIP For as long as there have been cruisers, there have been snowbirds — those who sail south toward the tropics for winter, and back north again for summer. Good common sense motivates the migration, but so too do the mandates of insurance companies. Yacht-insurance policies have traditionally set latitude limits connected to the calendar, particularly around hurricane season: the policyholder agrees to move the boat north of some agreedupon boundary line by June 1 or July 1 each year. On the U.S. East Coast, that line could be Jacksonville, Florida, or Beaufort, North Carolina, or even Norfolk, Virginia. Some policies propose a latitude “box” that allows cruisers to sail farther south in summer to avoid the greatest hurricane risk: to Grenada or Trinidad or the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire,…

As far as test sails stack up, a ride on Elan Yachts’ new GT5 late one sunny morning this past spring proved memorable. First and foremost, of course, was the boat. The GT5 — GT stands for Grand Turismo — is the first in a new Rob Humphreys-designed range that melds the Slovenian builder’s race-tested performance hulls with all the creature comforts and space that a deck-saloon cruising layout can afford. With twin wheels and rudders, and a sporty T-shaped keel that carries the weight where you need it most — down deep — the boat handled like a sports car on mountain roads. We started the day in relatively calm conditions. Still, in about 7 knots of breeze, we sailed upwind at 5 knots, and gained another couple on…

Early January isn’t Puget Sound’s sweet spot, but when one is beholden to invitations to sail on other people’s boats, sometimes there’s no choice but to pack a few extra layers, a positive attitude, a piping-hot thermos and maybe something a little stiffer for après-sail time. So when an offer came to join some friends for an all-day outing that would involve a post-nightfall return (read: anytime after 1615 hours at 48 degrees north) to Seattle’s Shilshole Bay Marina, I packed my warmest gear and two FLIR handheld thermal-imaging cameras that I was testing, and I did my best to hoodwink myself into believing it wasn’t 27 degrees when we departed. Flash-forward 12 frigidbut- fun hours and the sun had slipped below the Olympic Mountains as we were searching for…

We were cruising north along the coast of Australia, and rarely had we experienced seas this peaceful — the surface all silky, heavy and smooth, disturbed only by delicate patterns of tiny ripples, the very beginning of waves born from a gentle gust. And never before had we sailed with dolphins surfing within a perfect reflection of Dream Time, two very different worlds separated only by a bubbling white wake — our reality above; a peaceful enchanted world below. One where two dolphins, companions, danced closely together, twisting and weaving within the shadows and reflections of our bow, each taking turns to impress us with their grace and ability before rolling to the side. Since we left New York in 2007 to cruise around the world, my wife, Catherine, and…

1. NAUTICAL SCOUT PET BOWL • $15 • NAUTICALSCOUT.COM Perfect for small places, this silicone bowl is only 1.5 inches high when collapsed, yet can hold 6 cups of pet food or water when fully expanded. 2. DOGGLES PET SUNSCREEN • $20 • WOOF.DOGGLES.COM Heading to the tropics? Pets need sun protection too! This handy spray-on sunscreen is non-toxic for pets and is ideal for light-skinned dogs and the tips of cats’ ears. 3. RUFFWEAR SWAMP COOLER • $60 • RUFFWEAR.COM Keep your dog cool when the temperatures climb. Whether you’re out for a long sail or a hike ashore, the Swamp Cooler vest can keep your pet more comfortable. Your dog wears the vest after it has soaked in water, and the evaporative cooling pulls heat from the dog.…

Over the years, I’ve witnessed and covered a lot of America’s Cups. I was on the water in 1983 in Newport, Rhode Island, when an upstart crew of Australians knocked off the American boat skippered by Dennis Conner, thereby ending the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year winning streak, the longest in sporting history. Four years later, I watched as Conner’s Stars & Stripes exacted revenge off wild Western Australia, wrestling the Auld Mug back from the Aussies in what many still consider the greatest regatta ever sailed. Years later, I flew to Auckland, New Zealand, in 2000 for the Kiwis’ successful defense of the trophy, led by local hero Russell Coutts, and was back three years later when Coutts won it again – only this time as the skipper of…

PROJECTS Between fall 2015 and summer 2016, I conducted a major refit of a Pearson 36 named Snoek after a fish I used to catch while growing up in South Africa (see “The Snoek Chronicles, Hands-On Sailor 2017; “Plumb Crazy,” April 2017; and “Deck, Mate,” June/July 2017). My first article was an overview of the project; the second focused on plumbing; the third on deck layouts. Going forward, I’ll delve into other parts of the boat to present a detailed record of the work involved. This month, we’ll take a better look at the sails and rigging. Nautical photographer Onne van der Wal (vanderwal.com) lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Check out future issues of Cruising World for more editions of The Snoek Chronicles. For the complete work list on Snoek,…

Fields of wildflowers and snowcapped peaks greet a visitor to the headquarters of Elan Yachts, a division of the Slovenian manufacturing company whose skis and snowboards are known worldwide, and which also manufactures components for wind turbines and sports-stadium equipment. It’s a setting that would be picture-perfect for a production of The Sound of Music, but a boatbuilding mecca? Well, actually, that works too. Elan began life during World War II as a shop that turned out skis for Yugoslavian troops fighting in the mountains surrounding its facility located in Begunje na Gorenjskem, a small town near the city of Ljubljana. Production continued after the war as the wintertime alpine vacation industry took off , and in 1949, the company began to build canoes and kayaks, in part to keep…

For many sailors, the words America’s Cup conjure up images of the graceful J-class yachts that raced for the Cup in the 1930s. If you’ve ever wanted to see these magnificent boats compete, head to Newport, Rhode Island, for the J Class World Championship, hosted by the New York Yacht Club, August 21 to 26, 2017. The J-class boats range from 120 to 140 feet, and seven of these giants will be sailing in the waters of Rhode Island Sound and Narragansett Bay. To learn more about the event and the boats, visit the J Class Association’s website (jclassyachts.com).…

Sailing into Vava‘u’s open waters, the anemometer pushed 35 knots, and our 14-ton, full-keeled 38-foot cutter clocked a record 8 knots through the water. Weather helm turned my triceps to cinders, but I was too distracted to feel the burn: Nearby, 35-foot Alkira crashtacked to avoid being jackknifed by 55-foot Dreamcatcher. Though I held my first tiller at 6 months old, I didn’t take the helm for my first sailing race until I was 31 and passing through Tonga en route from Mexico to New Zealand. Sponsored each year by the Island Cruising Association, the racecourse was 17 nautical miles and began in the main harbor, Neiafu, before looping around Vava‘u’s central bay and ending in an anchorage on the eastern side of the island. Given the specifics of our…

The weather comes through this anchorage in waves. First it’s a scene of summer idyll, the water and sky purest blue. Then dark clouds gather, making us wonder if there will be another hailstorm. The wind pauses here for an hour, or half a day, and then it comes again, screaming and running from the west. The two islands protecting this spot are covered in low heath. Even in December, the middle of Southern Hemisphere sum mer, the vegetation is strangely the colors of Christmas — blood red and conifer green. No trees grow anywhere. There are sheep ashore, and cattle that run at the sight of us, and penguins that bray like donkeys. My wife, Alisa, motions at the scene around Galactic, our 45-foot cutter — the thick beds…

As with other members of the Groupe Beneteau family, Jeanneau became one of the largest builders of production sailboats in the world by designing fine-sailing boats that appeal to a wide audience of sailors. At the top end of its Sun Odyssey line, the 519, for instance, can be ordered with three to five cabins, two to four heads, multiple styles of woods and fabrics, and even an in-line or aft galley, all of which fit within the same hull and deck. Depending on the layout below, the boat appeals to families, groups of friends, racers, cruisers and those looking for a waterfront home, or it can even go into business as a charter boat. But the French builder took a different tack with its recently launched Jeanneau 51, a…

INDUSTRY VETERAN LAUNCHES CHARTER VACATION SERVICE Proteus Yacht Charters is a new charter vacation firm offering clients online reservations and customized service. The company is led by Scott Farquharson, whose background includes years directing global charter companies as well as regional bases. “We’ve combined technology with personalized service,” says Farquharson. “Our website features in-depth travel information, an expansive selection of yachts and locations, and practical tips for sailors.” The firm sources competitively priced packages from local and international fleets of more than 200 charter companies, and passes on incentives and seasonal discounts directly to clients. For details, log on to the website (proteusyachtcharters.com). ADVENTURE AND EXPLORATION CALL Pangaea Explorations, known for marine conservation work and scientific research in the far reaches of the world’s oceans, has opened its sailing expeditions…