Innehållsförteckning för October 2016 från SAIL

One of the most dynamic new classes in Europe is the Fast 40+, which allows a number of cutting-edge designs around the 40_ mark to compete against one another. Comprised of such red-hot boats as the Carkeek 40, Ker 40, Farr 400, Soto 40 and GP42, the fleet has grown to the point where it had its own start at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week this year. Among the fleet were boats from Sweden, South Africa and even Texas, from where Bill Coates had his Ker 43, Otra Vez, shipped to England for the season. The Fast 40+ circuit includes five rounds and sailing to the IRC ensures tight competition; the boats can be modified within class rules to ensure the fleet is as equal as possible. The result—tight racing,…

In the summer of 2015 Jim Clark and Kristy Hinze-Clark’s 100ft super-maxi Comanche set a new one-day speed record, clicking o_ 618 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 25.75 knots midway through the Transatlantic Race. This past summer, the boat—which Clark built for the express purpose of knocking off as many offshore monohull records as possible—was at it again, this time smashing the record for the entire trip across the pond, mere weeks after also setting a new record in the Newport-Bermuda Race. Comanche’s historic passage, from Ambrose Light off New York Harbor to the UK’s Lizard Point, began on July 22 when navigator Stan Honey identified what he hoped would be a good weather window in front of a low-pressure system that would then follow the…

This past summer the Maine Windjammer Association marked the 40th running of its Annual Great Schooner Race, an iconic event launched in 1977. Fifteen schooners took part in this year’s race, which began in Islesboro, Maine, and finished 23 miles to the south in Rockland, near the mouth of Penobscott Bay. Clearly Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, is a schooner fan—or at least was in a good mood this year—granting the fleet a 15-knot fair breeze. For more on this year’s race or to look into even possibly taking part in next year’s event, go to greatschoonerrace.com.…

Though it has now been eight years since company-founder Richard Matthews sold off Oyster Yachts, the brand has worked hard to sustain the intense owner-centric culture he created there. Sailors are attracted to these boats as much for the exclusive social scene that has grown up around them—which includes, among other things, Oyster-only round-the-world rallies—as for the quality of their design and construction. Though its line of boats has grown dramatically over the years and now runs up to superyacht-sized vessels that have reached up to 125ft in length, Oyster has also continued tending to its “entry-level” boats. Case in point: the new Oyster 475, now the smallest boat in the range, which has been adapted and upgraded from its predecessor, the successful Oyster 46. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION The molds…

Though never really long enough for a decent vacation, a week is a longer time in some Caribbean destinations than others. In the compact BVI, for instance, you can go a lot of places in a week. It’s the same in the Grenadines. In St. Lucia and Martinique, not so much. Anchorages are a little farther apart, the variety of lunch stops and snorkeling destinations is not as great, and there’s a sizeable gap between the islands. All of which goes a long way toward explaining that after a week sampling the manifold delights of Martinique, and a little taster of St. Lucia, I was left wanting more—much more. The four of us—Dan, Tim, Nat and me, all presently or formerly of Marblehead, Massachusetts—picked up our Sunsail Leopard 44 catamaran…

Many production boats come equipped with undersized cleats and poorly designed line chocks. The 10in aluminum cleats that came standard on my Pearson 40 have served satisfactorily for more than 30 years. But as I have outfitted the boat for extended offshore passagemaking, I have upgraded from ⅝in dock lines and anchor rodes to ¾in for an extra margin of safety. I also wanted the ability to secure more than one line on a cleat to give me more mooring and docking flexibility. The original cleats were insufficient to handle two ⅝in lines, let alone the new ¾in docklines. I needed to replace them. After reviewing the various cleats available, I decided to install Schaefer Marine’s investmentcast 12in stainless cleats. Not only are they much stronger than the aluminum cleats…

After persistent lobbying from daughter Lucy, who is crazy about animals of all sorts, we recently adopted a dog, and I’ve been confronted with the problem of introducing it to the boats in my life. Thinking about this, I realized there are long strands of both boats and dogs in my family line, but in alternating generations. My great-great grandfather was a crazy boat guy, of whom it was once said he’d buy a boat as thoughtlessly as he would a morning newspaper. His daughter, my great-grandmother, in her prime kept more than a hundred dogs and today most likely would be branded a criminal animal hoarder. My grandmother always had boats, even lived aboard for a while, but kept no dogs. My mother meanwhile raised me in a menagerie…

The Sailing Scene Are you out there sailing, cruising and living the sailing life? If so, we’d love to see it. Send your sailing photos to sailmail@sailmagazine.com for a chance to have your sailing memory featured in these pages. Here are a few pictures from our readers of their latest cruising adventures. This picture was taken during our four-day cruising in the San Juan Islands, Washington, during the Fourth of July weekend. We tied up in the north cove in Jones Island State Park for the second night. This small island can be only accessed by boat, so it’s very quiet. I woke up in the morning and had a short hike along the beach, which is when I took this picture. —Ziying Zheng I took this picture in October…

There is an unequivocal principle in maritime hierarchy—a ship can have only one captain. On our boat, there are two. As young cruisers, 33 and 28, sailing from Vancouver to Cabo aboard MonArk, our 1979 Dufour 35, we have learned not only how to cross bars, manage Santa Ana winds and dodge tankers, but also how to navigate our relationship. THE MEANING OF ‘TWO CAPTAINS’ Having two captains, in essence, means sharing the responsibility of making decisions. Every decision we make is a discussion. There are no autocratic decrees about how things will be on our boat; to do so would be almost mutinous. Most of the time, we agree on what is to be done and how to do it. For example, the boat needs to be cleaned, so…

In what is being described as a return to the Volvo Ocean Race’s roots, the route for the 2017-18 will feature almost three times as much Southern Ocean racing as the previous running. No longer will crews have to contend with an often light-air slog north through the Indian Ocean (and, incidentally, through some of the most pirate-infested waters in the world) into the bathtub-warm Persian Gulf. Instead, after departing Cape Town, South Africa, the fleet will blast due east until it takes a left-hand turn just past Australia toward Hong Kong—a truly epic leg that will push both boats and crews to the limit. After that it’s a brief jaunt up to Guangzhou, China, before sailing back down to Auckland, New Zealand, where the fleet will jump off for…

Offshore racing remains an adventure to this day, and the first leg of this year’s Atlantic Cup Class 40 regatta was no exception. Shortly after leaving Charleston, South Carolina, the eight doublehanded crews found themselves battling strong winds sufficient to propel leg winner Tales II to New York City in just under 73 hours—a new course record—but not before the team had to anchor briefly near the Verrazano Bridge to avoid being swept out to sea as the wind fell light just shy of the finish. Tales II went on to take the overall win, following another doublehanded leg to Portland, Maine, and a two-day fully crewed inshore series. For details, visit atlanticcup.org.…

There’s always a temptation to buy big when looking at sailboats. However, just about everyone I know—myself included—wonders at some point if a smaller boat wouldn’t have been easier to manage, both physically and financially. That is why it’s good to see a “couple’s boat” under 40ft that provides not only a good turn of speed but comfortable accommodations as well. Dufour, builder of uniquely styled yachts up to 56ft, drew on its experience with three previous under-40 models when it created its 382 Grand Large. The result is a boat that does just about everything two to four people could want in less length. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION The hull of the Dufour 382 Grand Large is hand-laid in polyester with an ISO/NPG outer layer to resist blistering. The deck…

The last time I visited Baja, it was 1972. I was 18 years old and on a road trip from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. There were five of us in a four-seater Jeep with a spare tire on the roof. I was the youngest, so they gave me the ‘fifth seat,’ perched on that spare tire. For four weeks and the length of the Baja Peninsula I sat cross-legged, hanging on for dear life as we bounced along the unpaved roads. _ e entire desert sprawled out on every side of me, empty and vast and so damn hot. It was breathtaking. It was humbling. It was probably really dangerous, and I wondered how long it would take them to notice if I fell off.…

It has been almost a decade since Groupe Beneteau launched the Lagoon 420 catamaran with a hybrid propulsion and energy system. The concept was an instant hit with buyers and dozens were sold, until it was discovered the boats had insufficient power to make headway in tough conditions against wind and seas. Beneteau subsequently retrofitted almost all the boats with conventional diesel drives. Never one to give up easily, Beneteau has experimented with hybrids several times since, but has not brought another to market. Back in those days, the concept of hybrid propulsion systems was a hot topic. I received far more e-mails from people interested in putting a system into their boats than on any other topic I have ever written about. My response was always the same: “Don’t…

I remember once hearing someone refer to Georgetown as “Trail’s End Harbor,” because it’s as close to the Lesser Antilles as many U.S. and Canadian cruisers ever get. Not surprising, really. It’s relatively easy to bring a boat this far, playing the wind shifts and weather systems, island hopping all the way. But to continue southeast and east from here mariners face the full brunt of the trade winds. Powerful, relentless and—if you’re heading for the Lesser Antilles, right on the nose—they will quickly teach anyone brazen enough to oppose them the true meaning of “beating” to windward. Few among the complacent Georgetown fleet ever attempt it. Even fewer seem inclined to take the “delivery skipper’s” route offshore, which takes you east-northeast into the Atlantic Ocean until the Virgin Islands…

While windage has long been a concern aboard high-performance sailboats, racing a full-foiling catamaran at 40-plus knots takes the question of streamlining to a whole new level. Same thing with safety: when sailing in gale-force apparent winds, every little bit helps. It was with this in mind that Spinlock, working in cooperation with Sir Ben Ainslie’s UK-based Land Rover BAR team, has created what it calls “the most technologically advanced lifejacket in the world,”a flotation device device that is designed to both minimize drag and maximize safety. On the performance side, the BAR T2 vest has—we kid you not—been subjected to “rigorous wind tunnel testing” to ensure it creates as little wind resistance as possible when it’s blowing over the 40 knots. On the safety side, in addition to the…

XANTREX FREEDOM HFS Xantrex has added two new Freedom HFS models to its lineup of small, lightweight inverters/chargers. The HFS uses true sine wave output to operate everything from entertainment systems to appliances and laptops, and the unit has a quick connect AC terminal on both the input and output for easy installation, along with an ignition control feature that limits unintended battery drain. The HFS meets all CSA and UL458 marine supplement standard requirements, has a detachable remote panel so you can easily monitor the system’s status from anywhere onboard, and also features a user-programmable Smart Battery Management system that you can customize to extend battery use and life. The Freedom HFS comes in either 1,000 watts with a 55-amp charge, or 1,000 watts with a 55-amp charge. Starting…

For years I’ve been hearing about the Spanish Virgin Islands, as they’re called, on the eastern edge of Puerto Rico: how they’re like the U.S. and British Virgin Islands once were before being discovered by the charter and tourist trade, with their wide-open anchorages, sleepy port towns and nearly deserted beaches. Imagine my surprise then when the taxi driver who’d picked us up at the airport in San Juan dropped us off at the truly vast boating complex that is Puerto del Rey Marina, where we were to charter the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349 Seven Saturdays from Sail Caribe Yacht Charters. Built in 1988 and remodeled in 2014-15, Puerto del Rey Marina is one of largest marinas in the Caribbean, boasting 700 slips with plenty of room for a megayacht…

Radar remains the single most important collision-avoidance device available to both leisure and commercial sea-going vessels, and now that a clutch of high-performance, instant-on solid-state radar systems have come onto the market, sailors can buy high-definition radar at a reasonable price. Out go the heavy, power-hungry magnetron pulse scanners, to be replaced by lightweight, low-power solid-state technology. Using sophisticated electronic filters and high-tech features such as beam sharpening and Doppler target speed recognition, the resolution and intelligence of these modern radars is astonishingly good. What’s new? Older magnetron radars output a crude, highpower pulse and then wait for it to be partially returned before emitting a second pulse. This time delay leads to a blurred echo being pasted onto the screen, and sometimes no echo at all in rough sea…

Chartering with people who have never done it before? No problem, so long as you consider their needs, interests, fears, budgets and passions. It’s also important to remember that it’s their vacation too. Even if you’re an old pro with multiple charters under your belt, new people have no idea what to expect, and you’ll need to make accommodations to keep a happy boat. CONSIDER THE LOCATION Discuss your crew’s expectations and choose a location together. If they hate to be cold, hot, seasick or stuck solely aboard a boat, you’ll have to choose cruising grounds that make sense for the guests aboard. If the priority is sightseeing and shopping, remote anchorages with little opportunity to go ashore will not work. If they get seasick easily, long upwind passages will…