Innehållsförteckning för June/July 2023 från SAIL

It’s not uncommon to spot a rainbow after a squall when the sunshine breaks through the clouds—a marker of hope and fairer weather ahead for sailors throughout the centuries. If you’re sailing around Chicago in August, though, you might happen upon a lot more than one rainbow on the water. Rainbow Races, an LGBTQ+ sailing organization, will host its third annual Pride Flotilla, inviting sailors with under-represented sexual orientations to take center stage out on the water for a day. “It’s one of those things where people see people in their community doing something and realize ‘I can do that too,’ ” says Charles Szymanski, president of Rainbow Races. “Until people know what they can do—until you expose them to things and they see what’s possible—we will never know the…

Sometime later this year, construction is expected to begin on a 704-megawatt offshore wind farm called Revolution Wind in southern New England waters. Inevitably with a project of this magnitude, there is much to learn, and that’s a primary driver behind an unusual new partnership between Revolution Wind and Shields Class Fleet 9, based in Newport, Rhode Island. “This partnership represents an entirely new type of alliance for a regional one-design fleet for the benefit of both its members and clean-energy advocacy,” says John Burnham, Fleet 9 immediate past captain. “We believe that recreational sailing and the Revolution Wind project can safety coexist in and around the waters of Rhode Island. As sailors, we support efforts to harness the power of wind to bring clean energy to the region.” Revolution…

As the push for more renewable energy grows, the need for high-capacity, long-life battery storage becomes more essential. Everybody and their uncle seems to want to transition to lithium batteries onboard, and in most cases, it’s a done deal that lithium is what’s needed to power all of the goodies on new boats. Until now, though, there was little serviceability or recyclability in the life cycle of these batteries, making the claim that they’re “greener” for sailing a rather dubious Catch-22. Enter the Aceleron Essential battery, which won the first-ever citation in the environmental design category at the DAME Design Awards announced at the annual METS show in Amsterdam last fall. Unlike other lithium batteries, which must be completely replaced when a cell fails, this cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate battery…

In an alternative universe, I might be writing about how I test sailed the new X4.3 performance cruiser in a super-scary thunder squall, and the boat handled great. For it is true that when I sallied forth onto Chesapeake Bay with X-Yachts dealer Bob Rodgers aboard his new X4.3 Ringle (his, as in personally owned by him), and we spied said squall bearing down, we did consider for a moment that we might raise sail and carry on anyway. But then we noticed that the U.S. Navy’s offshore sailing team, in their squad of battle-hardened 44-footers, was dropping sail ASAP and scampering for cover. We reckoned if it was scary enough for the U.S. Navy, it was scary enough for us. Our discretion was rewarded. When Bob and I reconvened…

Are you happy with your boat? Few of us are, at least not 100%. There’s always something that could be improved or altered. There are also many things you can do to make your boat easier and safer to sail. If you have trouble finding crew, or perhaps you’re not in the first flush of youth and find the boat a little more difficult to handle as each season passes, following are some ways to make life easier on yourself. Gear Up There are plenty of ways to make a bigger boat easier—and safer—for a couple to handle. Few issues on boats cannot be solved by either hard cash or ingenuity. I started off by replacing all the 30-year-old blocks and deck organizers on board with new plain or roller-bearing…

ARE YOU OUT THERE SAILING, CRUISING AND LIVING THE SAILING LIFE? Share your experiences with other readers. Send your photos to sailmail@sailmagazine.com And don’t forget to sign up for our free eNewsletter, Under Sail, at sailmagazine.com/newsletter Letters Mooring Under Sail Adam Cove shares good advice on anchoring/mooring under sail (“On and Off the Hook,” March 2023). Years ago, I suggested to a friend that he try approaching his mooring under sail. The response was something like: Why would I ever do that, I’ve got an engine. I replied: In case you lose power, you might need that skill. Later he reported practicing and developing the Adam Cove slow approach to picking up a mooring pennant. My friend was met at the dinghy dock by the harbormaster as he had observed…

Researchers have announced the discovery of the wreck of the schooner barge Ironton in Lake Huron, sitting upright with masts and rigging still intact, and with the lifeboat that could have saved her crew still lashed to the ship’s stern. It was this mistake—failing to untie the painter—that led to five men’s deaths on September 26, 1894, when the ship sank so quickly it dragged the lifeboat down as it plunged hundreds of feet into the frigid water. The Ironton is the latest discovery in the maritime archaeology treasure trove of NOAA’s 4,300-square-mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, whose cold, fresh water has made its hundreds of shipwrecks among the best preserved in the world. Taken as a whole, the schooners, steamboats, steel freighters, and other vessels that rest in…

In 2020, 30-year-old Clarisse Crémer set off on one of the most ambitious feats in sailing—the Vendée Globe. Alongside 32 other competitors, she left Les Sables-d’Olonne to race around the planet alone without stopping on a 60-foot monohull. Among the fleet were some of the greatest offshore solo racers of the modern era: Alex Thomson, Sam Davies, Jérémie Beyou, and Kevin Escoffier just to name a few. Of the 33 competitors, only 25 finished. As the field winnowed down, Crémer held fast. For nearly three months, she fought to finish, ultimately setting a new course record for female competitors at 87 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 25 seconds. The record had been in place for 20 years, since Ellen MacArthur’s historic 2001 second-place finish. A 12th-place finish was enough…

The new VPLP-designed Outremer 52 is something of a natural hybrid between its enormously popular predecessor, the 51, and the more recent 55, expanding upon design innovations from the latter. It’s also a response to owner feedback, representing four key design priorities—performance, safety, quality of life, and simplicity of navigation. Notably, Outremer designs its boats for customization, using modular layouts to make it easier to accommodate owners’ specific needs. A particular highlight of this approach is the 52’s “My Free Space,” a convertible cabin in the port hull that can be fitted with different layouts including a workshop, an office with bunk beds, a storage space, and a double cabin. Outremer has borrowed structural technology from its sister brand, Gunboat. This has created a lighter boat for better performance, with…

Technology and disposable income are changing sailing and making luxurious boats available to more people than ever. The Hanse 460 is a perfect example. Not many years ago, a 46-foot production model performance cruiser with electric winches, apartment-like accommodations, and a simple rig that a typical middle-aged couple could handle easily was a wish. Now it is a reality. Hanse went to Berret-Racoupeau for this fast, modern design with its reverse bow, wide, stable underbody, and rounded chines. The hull form permits a low ballast ratio while producing a spacious vessel that likes to sail flat, qualities that both sailors and guests appreciate. And it’s fast in the moderate conditions where we choose to cruise. On our test sail at Annapolis in 12 knots of breeze and smooth water, 7…

You know you’ve nailed the start of a race when, after just one tack, you’re crossing the rest of the fleet’s bows. That’s a familiar story for Chris Maas and his brother, Alex, when they race Slipper, a tantalizingly elegant and wickedly fast 27-foot wood- and-carbon daysailer that Chris designed and built. Yet, she is far more than what meets the eye and the boat speed. Maas, 65, a retired boatbuilder from Seattle who now makes his home in Washington’s San Juan Islands, did not just conceive a fleet little boat with modern features that include a lifting keel, retractable electric auxiliary propulsion, and high-aspect-ratio appendages. He also made a statement about respectful and efficient use of finite resources by employing sources including driftwood, a neighbor’s felled cedar tree, recycled…

Whatever you call it, green, clean, or eco-friendly, the move toward carbon-free sailing has begun to take center stage in the conversation. Putting an ambitious stake in the water, French catamaran builder Fountaine Pajot (FP), which has built 4,000 cats in its 45-year history, has unveiled efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030. “We don’t have all the solutions yet so there are still a lot of unknowns in the plan, but this is exciting,” Deputy CEO Romain Motteau said at the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis last fall, where he outlined the multi-pronged industrial plan called Odysséa24. “Part of the aim of this project is to energize innovation.” FP’s first step was to assess the company’s existing carbon emissions, using 20 years of data and the international…

The ubiquity of smartphones means we all have a powerful tool for protecting the environment right in our pockets—if we stock them with the right apps. Ghost Gear Reporter is one app that sailors would do well to have on hand. It allows folks to log the location of derelict fishing gear discovered along the shoreline, on the water, or on the seabed via a simple, user-friendly form. The app relays that information to local conservation organizations for clean-up, where possible. An estimated 800,000 tons of commercial fishing gear winds up in the ocean annually, and it routinely ensnares sea life. The app lets users specify the location, type, and details of the gear, including simple diagrams and definitions to help users provide the most clear and useful assessment information…

Most of the multihull world seems driven by the concept that bigger is always better. But with its new 38-foot Catsmart, Bali Catamarans is taking a refreshing step in the other direction, presenting the smallest boat in its model range for a market that Catana Group Sales and Marketing Director Boris Compagnon says has been yearning for better choices in a more reasonable size. “It’s an entry level boat, so we are trying to attract newcomers and maybe new people coming from the monohull sector,” Compagnon said at the International Multihull Show in La Grande Motte, France, in April, where hull #1 made its debut. “This segment is quite poor at the moment, meaning there is not much offered.” Designed by Olivier Poncin and architect Xavier Faÿ, the Catsmart’s Bali…