Innehållsförteckning för March 2016 från Sailing Today

Transatlantic cruisers are experiencing a new hazard at sea – giant floating mats of seaweed. The Caribbean nations of the Dominican Republic through to Barbados and down to Tobago were affected by enormous blooms of sargassum weed last summer and a few months later the mats had spread to Mexico and even Texas. It reached mounds 10ft (3m) tall on some beaches, covering the sand completely and forming a sulphurous stench as it rotted in the sun. There were reports of holidaymakers cancelling their trips and authorities used emergency funding to clear away truckloads of the weed. For sailors, the impact can be far worse than turning the ocean an unattractive, murky brown. Sargassum weed is a form of brown algae. Unusually, it does not attach to the seabed, but…

It is 1986. Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson, Chris de Burgh’s Lady in Red is number one for three weeks, a surprising plan to build an underwater tunnel linking England and France is announced and prime minister Margaret Thatcher opens the M25. In the Canary Islands, 203 yachts of assorted sizes, from 16ft to 62ft get ready to jump off across the Atlantic Ocean, bound for Barbados, corralled together for the first time in an organised group by keen cruising sailor Jimmy Cornell. Jimmy, a journalist, had travelled to the Canaries to interview skippers about to set off on transatlantics. Their stories gave him an idea – to form a rally that focused on fun but gave sailors a feeling of security and confidence, especially if it was their first…

Blasting along at eight knots with a gunwale nearly under and a full press of sail, I’m prepared for a bit of a battle to keep the boat on track. The wind across the deck is above 20 knots and gusting higher, and even Stuart Abernethy, of X-Yachts’ Hamble Point office, suggests dropping in a reef or two. Astonishingly, though I am supporting myself on the foot blocks by the helm and hanging on to the guard wires, the boat requires no more than a couple of fingers on the helm. She shows no desire to round up in the gusts, and there’s no weatherhelm. Off Calshot in Southampton Water, the wind funnels into stronger gusts and we heel to 35-degrees. Stuart shoots me an anxious look. Now the photographer…

On the approach to the bay from the south, Nimara/Y›ld›z island is conspicuous, with its 400m peak. Boats must pass to the west but can go either side of the smaller Keçi Adasi, which is next to it. There’s plenty of water either side. You might want to pass to the west of the smaller island if you are heading for the anchorage at Içmeler before moving on to Marmaris town; otherwise it makes more sense to pass between the two islands. Rocks to the south of Keçi are marked by a light (Fl R 2s) and anchoring is not permitted in the channel between Keçi and Nimara. There’s another, white light (Fl 3s) at the channel’s exit, marking the northwestern-most point of Nimara. Once past the islands you’ll want…

Gone are the days when falling overboard on passage was a death sentence. It’s still dangerous, of course, and the best guarantee of survival is to be wearing a lifejacket. But there is now a huge range of gadgets and beacons designed to pinpoint a casualty’s whereabouts and make the job of rescuing them easier. They range from simple proximity alarms that alert the mother ship when a radio signal is broken to Personal Locator Beacons that send a distress signal and GPS position via satellite to a Marine Rescue Coordination Centre who will co-ordinate a rescue. PROXIMITY ALARMS These maintain radio contact between the crew member, who wears a fob or beacon and the base station on board. If contact is lost an alarm is triggered and the position…

GRAND SOLEIL 50 | EMMA CLAIRE A Doug Peterson-designed fast cruising yacht built in Italy by Cantiere del Pardo for Grand Soleil. She looks almost like a classic, with a reverse transom to add waterline length and a rounded shape to help improve stability downwind. The coachroof is low-profile, making her sleek to look at and great to look out from, with excellent visibility. There’s an aft cockpit, small companionway cockpit and an access hatch forward in the teak deck to the sail locker, which can also be reached from below and has enough room to store fenders. Because of Peterson’s America’s Cup pedigree, she’s a fast cruiser built along racing lines, so there’s rod standing rigging, running backstays and a solid lead fin keel. Below are three…

45 TH  BVI SPRING REGATTA 28 MARCH-3 APRIL Cruising and racing in the special anniversary edition of this Caribbean sailing regatta and festival. Two days of warm-up racing at Nanny Cay, followed by three days of regatta racing. Nightly beach entertainment and food at Nanny Cay resort and marina and fireworks on the closing night. bvispringregatta.org RONA TRUST FUNDRAISING DINNER 11 MARCH, GREENWICH, LONDON Enjoy a black-tie reception and dinner at the Cutty Sark and help send young people sailing on Rona II in the Rendezvous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta, from Greenwich to Sines, Bermuda, Boston, Quebec and Le Havre. Tickets £150 each including a Champagne reception, talk, tour and dinner with wine. gareth@atlantic2017.org WEYMOUTH LEVIATHAN MARINE LITERARY FESTIVAL 12-13 MARCH, WEYMOUTH, DORSET The UK’s first maritime literary festival…

Sailing barge Juno displays some festive, strictly non-nautical lighting in her rigging on 21 December. Standing on a jetty among the marshes at Morston, north Norfolk, the photographer has captured the sand close to low water, and the Northern Lights glimmering in the distance. The steel-hulled barge was launched in 2000 by Charlie Ward Traditional Boats, and despite her size, draws just 2ft 6in. This makes her ideal for nosing in here, among the creeks and shallows behind Blakeney Point with its famous seal colony.…

Pointer 25 c£38,000 The Pointer 25 is one of a growing fleet of fast, handy daysailers that Dutch boatyards seem to be turning out at present. This latest addition to the fleet features decent levels of comfort and roominess combined with sparkling performance. She’s easily trailerable and comes with an inboard diesel. She stands out from the crowd thanks to the builder’s approach to customisation. By breaking up the interior into removable modules, a prospective buyer can tailor the yacht to their requirements cheaply and easily. This is a concept adopted on some mid-range cruisers such as the Bavaria Easy 9.9, but is not usually seen on smaller yachts. pointeryachts.com Saffier SC 6.50 Cruise £tbc Dutch yacht manufacturer Saffier has made a fine name for itself producing seaworthy daysailers that…

‘WE WERE MOVING TOWARDS A REEF PASS WITH SHIRTS, TOWELS AND BEDDING FLAPPING ALL AROUND US’ I have never been a neat freak, nor was I very messy in my landlubber life. However, living on board a boat does teach you the advantages of being that bit tidier. But it’s a lesson that you learn only by getting it spectacularly wrong to start with. Our yacht is really a kind of tardis as, once you empty out all the cupboards, drawers and bilges, you’d be amazed at simply how much stuff can be crammed into our floating home. The key to stopping it from becoming chaotic, however, is that everything has to have its own place to stow away into so that it can be both found at a moment’s…

ARCONA 430 PRICE: £239,000 Another stiff, sporty hull, the Arcona combines slippery performance with a rich, woody interior. Designed to “race at weekends”, she accommodates six easily in three cabins. One of a new breed of fast cruisers, she won European Yacht of the Year in 2009. arconayachts.com SWEDEN YACHTS 42 PRICE: C£295,000 Boldly billed “the best 42-footer ever built”, the SY42 is more cruiser than racer, but she boasts a turn of speed and easy handling. She makes a capable long-distance mile-eater, with a comfortable, traditional interior. swedenyachts.se CONTEST 42CS PRICE: £315,000 Contest specialises in larger semi-custom yachts finished to a high standard. The 42 is the smallest in the range, but she is designed to fulfil a racing brief as well as an ambitious cruising one. Options abound…

Netsel is Marmaris’s town centre marina (there are three others in the bay – Marmaris Yacht Marina, Albatros and the charter base Pupa). There is berthing for 720 yachts up to 90m and 2.5m draught on the water and space for 130 on the hard. Berthing is Med-style on long pontoons, stern-to with lazy lines out at the bow rather than anchors. Cruise ships dock alongside just outside the marina. There is water and electricity to every berth, toilets, showers and a fuel dock and waste station near the entrance. Wi-Fi is included in the rates and there is a swimming pool (extra charge applies), fitness centre with Turkish bath and sauna, beauty salon and hairdresser, and an ATM on site. Customs and immigration are located in the southeast corner,…

With 4,500 miles of coastline, there’s plenty to choose from in Turkey, the land where West meets East. From Marmaris you have miles of Aegean cruising. To the northwest you have the famous Carian coast, home to Datca, Knidos, with its ancient Greek ruins, and, farther north, Bodrum. To reach the Gokova Gulf it’s little more than 10 miles by land but you have to go the long way round by sea (c70nM) – no bad thing, since there are plenty of anchorages along the way. You’ll come within spitting distance of Greek territory as you go (Simi and Nisiros islands) and you’ll be on a beam reach for the majority of the way, but there’ll be no escaping some beating into the prevailing NW meltemi at times. Going the…

A yacht heading offshore is more than likely to encounter some heavy concentrations of shipping, in traffic separation schemes, other shipping lanes, deep water anchorages or approaches to major ports. Using AIS and radar can be a great help in these sorts of situations. Charts mark Traffic Separation Schemes (TSSs) as well as deep water routes and sometimes use dashed arrows to show non-TSS shipping lanes. The shipping lane in the English Channel, for example, is only a TSS at the Dover Strait end and off The Casquets. Other heavy traffic areas you may need help interpreting are deep water anchorages, which can be confusing, particularly at night. Of course, large ships still exist outside marked shipping lanes, and often still follow regular routes. If you look at an AIS…

‘ABOARD, THERE WERE INEVITABLY SOME SIGNS THIS YACHT HAS BEEN BUILT TO COST’ Superficially the modern cruising yacht ends up seeming like much of a muchness: one mast, two triangular sails, a cockpit. Sometimes the boat is a different colour and that really ramps up the excitement. Now and again, however, a yacht has some feature on it that pulls you up short: gives you that ‘bloody hell’ moment and often leaves you lingering, glancing back at the yacht with wonderment. One such yacht for me was the Viko 30. I wandered past it at the Southampton Boat Show and saw little more than a fairly smart 30ft (9.14m) cruiser/ racer. Then I saw the price tag and that pulled me up so sharply I nearly ended up with whiplash.…

UK MARINE INDUSTRY POSTS GROWTH The UK marine industry has grown for the fourth consecutive year, figures show. Information released by British Marine during the London Boat Show stated that industry revenue in 2014/15 was £2.97bn – up 1.1 per cent on the previous year’s market. Sailing yacht manufacture counted for £75m of that - but was down 7.2 per cent on 2013/14. The strength of the domestic market helped overall growth, including charters in Britain, which generated £131m, and sales of secondhand boats, particularly by British-based brokers selling yachts kept overseas, British Marine said. Charter “performed particularly well... capitalising on the increasing popularity of the UK with international visitors”. It added: “Strong results were also seen in insurance, financial and brokerage services, as domestic and international customers continue to…

Salmon skin cases Salmon leather to house your computer This has got to be the most distinctive laptop case ST has ever seen. The Orno LAX Brown case is made out of organic salmon leather from Germany, with a conventional leather lining and integrated foam material that acts as a shock-absorber. Designed to fit a Macbook snugly, in 11, 13 and 15in sizes, it also has a zip closure. The LAX range includes smartphone and tablet cases in white, grey, brown or black. It is bound to draw admiring glances when you pop to the yacht club to check your emails – and more ethical than exotic animal skins, too. • c£260 (€350) • jamesedition.com Capella resort and marina Five-star stay-and-sail facilities for a Caribbean holiday Bringing new…

‘IF I HAD BOUGHT A COTTAGE, I WOULDN’T HAVE KNOWN WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF. A BOAT KEEPS YOU GOING…’ To lose one boat may be regarded as a misfortune,’ Oscar Wilde might have written, had he been a mariner. ‘To lose two looks like carelessness.’ When news first reached ST’s office that a British sailor had to be rescued in the North Sea by the coastguard and that his yacht had subsequently sunk, it was natural to feel sympathetic. Then, when we looked into the story further and discovered that he had previously lost another boat – with the same name – in a shipwreck, it was all too easy to scoff. Discussion on the lines of ‘Captain Calamity’ ensued (remember him?). Yet when I spoke to Julian Mustoe…

The course from our home mooring on the Isle of Bute was set for Kilbrannan Sound, the channel between Arran and the Kintyre peninsula on a bright and sunny July morning with no wind. The batteries got a good charge with the engine running all day, and as I was alone for this part of the trip, free choice of anchorage allowed a stop at a favourite of mine: Carradale Bay. This anchorage is completely exposed to the south so careful attention to weather forecasts is essential, but on this occasion I was able to enjoy the peace of a calm evening, and a dram in the cockpit. An arrangement to meet a sailing friend in Campbeltown meant that the following morning’s trip was a short hop taking only a…

APPROACH CHANNEL Between Nimara/Yildiz (on the left in this picture) and Kecil Adasi (on the right here) CRUISE SHIP DOCK Berth here, on the outside, if Marmaris is your first port of call in Turkey, before heading in to the marina ICMELER Another pretty town to explore, which you can anchor off NETSEL SERVICES Supermarket, boatyard facilities, workshops, ATM and cafes are all on site OLD TOWN Gulets line the town quay, with the old town and castle behind. Restaurants line the street on the walk from the marina Marmaris Liman1 is one of Turkey’s biggest yachting centres. It is a natural bay, a little over 2nM by 3nM in size, protected to the south by two islands, Keçi and Nimara (also known as Y›ld›z), making it a very sheltered…

netselmarina.com +90 252 412 27 08/ +90 252 412 14 39 VHF Ch 06 call sign ‘Port Marmaris’ Open 0830-1900 Nov-Mar; 0830-2100 Apr-Oct Travel lift 100 tonnes VISITOR BERTHING CHARGES Based on m2 boat area (LOA and beam) x duration + 1% stamp tax, eg boat 12m LOA and 3.6m beam: Daily c£48 (€64) Weekly c£335 (€448) Monthly c£882 (€1,180) Annual c£3,653 (€4,887) Water included Electricity on pre-paid card (€0.46 per kW) Blue card c£2.50 (10 lira) – available from marina office Transit log c£57 (250 lira) – available from agents General yacht services Mobile Marine +90 252 413 33 63 ugur@mobilmarin.net; Anker Yatcilik +90 252 412 93 50 nadide@ankermarina.com; Cetin Marin +90 252 413 6461 Engineer Marlin Yatcilik +90 252 412 14 41 marlin.com.tr info@marlin.com.tr; Bogazici Marin Teknik…

Sometimes the most challenging part of a cruise is getting there. In 2010, Máire and I sailed northwards in Young Larry past Cape Farvel on the southern tip of Greenland, or the “Cape of Storms” as it is sometimes known. To avoid the worst ice we sailed 120nM south of the Cape where a gale from the southeast pushed us in the right direction a little too enthusiastically for our tastes. While putting the third reef in the mainsail, I managed to get the reefing pennants tangled up and a wave swept over the deck, washing me along and inflating my lifejacket. Completing the reef Michelin-man style just makes things that much more difficult. To make matters worse, we carried a furling jib at the end of the bowsprit which…

Exposure Marine RAW Pro Exposure brings its top-notch design and performance to the headtorch market with this aero-grade aluminium-bodied lamp. It has a 200-lumen white mode and 50lm red mode, giving between one and 25 hours’ battery life, depending on usage. There’s no external battery pack, and it’s waterproof to 2m. Sublime, but at a price. • £120 • exposuremarine.co.uk Aurora day and night flare Crewsaver has launched a brand new range of pyrotechnics from Pains Wessex, including this nifty little ‘day and night’ flare. With orange smoke at one end and a red handflare at the other, it serves to attract attention at any time of day. Designed to help pinpoint your location once the rescue is under way, the day and night flare is a handy size for…

Whatever your boat is made of, there will be a paint system available to bring it back to its original condition, even if the hull has been dented, corroded, scratched or simply faded by UV. If the colour has just bleached a little, then a range of abrasive polishes will usually restore the finish to a rich deep gloss. But if the damage is more extensive, or you just want a change of colour scheme, then there is a wide choice of paint systems available to do a first-class job. Another alternative, and one that is proving very popular with large luxury yachts, is the vinyl wrap, where the hull is literally encased in a coloured film of self-adhesive vinyl. While marine paints and polishes are more expensive than their…