Innehållsförteckning för October 2015 från Sailing Today

THE SAILING WORLD is in mourning after renowned yachtsman Philip Walwyn perished as he was on the verge of completing his 17th transatlantic crossing. Grave fears were entertained when his yacht, Kate, was found abandoned in early August off the Lizard just miles from her planned destination of Falmouth. Walwyn was found nearby but died shortly after being airlifted to hospital. Born in Britain, Walwyn spent most of his life in St Kitts. He sealed his reputation as a thoroughly accomplished sailor by winning the 6-M British and European championships in 1987. An eccentric character, he had previously been rescued by the US Coastguard and asked his rescuers to open fire on his yacht in order to finish her off for good. He later built his beautiful 12-M Kate on…

Southampton Boat Show returns for the 47th year, bringing hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors together in one huge celebration of everything marine-related. This year’s event from British Marine runs from 11-20 September. As Europe’s largest outdoor boat show, it is held at a purpose-built marina off Southampton’s Town Quay, with boats on display along 2km (1.3 miles) of pontoons. There will be more than 600 exhibitors, both on and off the water, with cruising brands Contest, Dehler, Discovery, Dufour, Euphoria, Grand Soleil, Hallberg-Rassy, Hanse, Jeanneau, Legend, Moody, Najad, Oyster, Rustler, Solaris, Spirit, Wauquiez and X-Yachts all there. Forty-six boats make their debut, with the Hanse 315 and J/11S as world exclusives. The Legend 31 is seen for the first time in Europe and the Grand Soleil 50, Catana…

Poster-size classics Marine literature printed on a single sheet A book printed on a single sheet of paper and designed to reflect the theme of the story, anyone? Each print, which is either 100cm (c40in) x 70cm (c28in), or A0 paper size, is legible in font size four to someone with 20/20 vision. No words are omitted –they wrap to the edge of the shapes in the design. Nautical reads include Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat, below. Also available: Swallows and Amazons and Moby Dick. • £14.99 – £219.99 • spinelessclassics.com Isle of Wight barn conversion Three-bed design boasts reverse-layout in a prime island location Westhill Barn is a barn conversion home within walking distance of Yarmouth harbour. The layout of this lovely three-bed house…

SOLARIS 58 c£660,000 (€940,000) Fast, good-looking cruiser racer drawn by Soto Acebal. With various configurations along a three-cabin model, there’s lots of room in a very stylish interior. Ideal for prowling the Med richardbaldwinyachts.com EUPHORIA 54 £750,000 New from the emerging force that is Turkey’s Sirena Marine, the Euphoria aims to dazzle with sleek lines, a vast cockpit for outdoor living and sunny sailing, and a lot of luxury below. euphoriayachts.com.tr SLY 54 c£560,000 Italian boatbuilder Sly aims to produce fast, comfortable yachts, so there are a host of carbon-fibre options available for the slippery, GRP-hulled cruiser-racer. Exceedingly light for her size at 11.5t. sly-yachts.com…

If you need a mooring, call ‘Salcombe Harbour’ on Channel 14 after you have passed the bar. You will be answered by a member of the harbourmaster’s staff who will be afloat (between 0730 and 2300 in the summer season) and will, according to your preference, direct you to a swinging mooring (either one of the 23 visitors’ moorings off the town, generally marked ‘V’, or that of a resident whose boat is known to be away) or the 65m long pontoon in The Bag (the more southerly pontoon with yellow-capped piles). Either way you may have to moor four-abreast and this provides sufficient capacity for Harbourmaster Adam Parnell to confidently say: “We will never turn anyone away”. A water taxi operates (all year round including from 0730 to 2300…

With a bit of practice most people can get a boat back to a man overboard but in a real situation this represents only about 10 per cent of the task of getting them safely back on board. Articles and training courses often describe techniques that make an assumption about having many people on board to help, but the reality – when many couples cruise just two-up – can be very different. Here we demonstrate a few methods that I consider will give you the best chance of achieving a happy outcome if you are the only person left on board and are not especially strong. We tried them out with a crew of two, with the woman having to haul a man out of the water. WHAT TO DO…

AQUAGLIDE CHELAN are top-of-the-range inflatable kayaks featuring tough, single-skin (quick-dry & light weight) construction and stable hulls, designed for recreational touring. - High pressure drop-stitch floors for unmatched stiffness & paddling performance. They are leagues different from cheaper kayaks with lower pressure “I-beam floors”. The Chelan kayaks keep their intended shape, and don’t “sag in the middle” even when fully loaded. - Long waterline and fine bow for great tracking ability and “glide”, enabling you to paddle long distances with ease (further or faster for the same effort). - Performance Fin (Skeg) System with foiled blade for excellent tracking. Unique quick release system for easy set-up. SPECIAL OFFER on Chelan Kayaks: - ONE. Single person, 10’6” long, RRP £839 £755 - TWO. Two person, 13’5” long, RRP £899 £809 -…

Ah, the great British summer – you would think we would be used to it, but it still never fails to take us by surprise. The Solent this year seemed to experience all four seasons in eight days (minus the snow) during Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. Grey skies, thunderstorms, shifting winds and flat-as-a-pancake conditions and then, finally, some champagne sailing. None of this dampened the crews’ enthusiasm – shoreside if they couldn’t get out on the water – and racing was as fierce and close as ever. ST was invited to take part on the Tuesday, on a Sunsail Match Fast 40 – sadly, the day all racing was cancelled due to no wind. But the Swan 38 White Heather, skippered by Lionel Miller, fared much better on the…

Toe in the Water signed off in style at Cowes week, with a bagpipe player giving the charity a fitting military send off. The charity was set up to rehabilitate traumatised and injured servicemen and women by taking them sailing, hosting its final crew party as operations wind down ahead of its closure. It has helped hundreds of injured service personnel during difficult periods of rehabilitation when returning from conflicts abroad. Given that Britain’s military involvement in world affairs is vastly reduced at present, the decision has now been taken to shut the charity down.…

Take a round-the-world yacht, a challenging itinerary in the Baltic and north Atlantic and a sprinkling of intrepid sailors. This is pretty much the recipe that has made a success of Rubicon 3’s newly-launched charter operation. The boat, Hummingbird, is a 60ft (18.3m) Clipper Race boat, pushed hard during three circumnavigations and now refitted (she sports radiators, for more comfortable cruising). But the aim of co-owners Rachael Sprot and Bruce Jacobs was always to offer challenging sailing to newcomers and old hands alike. “Our belief has always been that you can combine sail training with adventure at sea. The best training you get is from real-life situations,” says Bruce. Seduced by the thrilling cruising plans to explore the Hanseatic trading ports, the archipelagos of Sweden and the Faroes and far…

We are delighted to be able to announce the first winner in the Sailing Today Awards 2015. Sailing Today’s inaugural awards recognise the best the marine industry and the cruising world have to offer. Thousands of members of the public have voted across 12 categories – including boats, gear, destinations, kit, clubs and personalities. Three further winners, in the categories Lifetime Achievement, Green Awards and Boatbuilder of the Year, have been chosen by an expert editorial panel. Now we can reveal that yacht designer Germán Frers has been chosen to receive the Sailing Today Lifetime Achievement Award. WINNER: GERMÁN FRERS Germán Frers, the legendary Argentinian yacht designer, has built up an almost mythical reputation for turning out stunning yachts. Back in the swinging 60s Frers cut his teeth at the…

SANDHILL POINT Look for a round hill with detached houses on it and a white beacon with a red-and-white, horizontally-striped diamond top mark LEADING LINE Line up Sandhill Point beacon with the red-and-white striped Poundstone rock pole to find the 000­(T) leading line. The deepest water is just to west of the line CHANNEL MARKERS Red Bass Rock (QR) port can and green Wolf Rock (QG) buoy. Keep Wolf Rock close to starboard SUMMER MOTORING During July and August, boats must use engine in the harbour, not sails THE BAR Extends southwest from Limebury Point. Least depth is 0.7m. Usually fine after halfway up the flood tide Salcombe is a wonderfully sheltered, vibrant harbour where there seems to be a sense of pride that its development has not included any…

Gael Force 7x50 floating waterproof binoculars with compass These sturdy binoculars are nitrogen-filled, meaning they won’t steam up. 7 x 50 binoculars are the popular choice for yachtsmen, with seven denoting the magnification and 50 indicating the lens width. A higher level of magnification often ends in blurring if the boat is rolling at all. These binoculars are buoyant and include an illuminated compass with distance calculator. • gaelforcemarine.co.uk • £98.99 Waveline 7x50 waterproof binoculars Floating binoculars that are nitrogen-filled and waterproof for 20 minutes at 0.5m (1ft 8in). • wavelineleisure.com • £79.99 Minox BN 7X50 DCM binoculars Watertight, anti-fogging binoculars which feature a digital compass display. • minox.com • £399.99 Weems and Plath 7x50 Classic binoculars Tough and popular binoculars boasting good low-light…

It is almost 100 years since the great commercial sailing vessels shuffled off our oceans and travelling by sea using the power of the wind became an activity carried out purely for pleasure. During that century, I can’t help but feel sometimes this primary goal – pleasure – has been rather lost amid a desire to clutter up yachts with all manner of paraphernalia that can actually detract from our sailing enjoyment. All right, we may need all manner of kit aboard to cross an ocean, but how often do any of us actually sail across an ocean? Not that often. In reality, most yachts are used sparingly at weekends and owners are frequently lumbered with vessels that are almost a chore to sail and all too often are motored…

SCOTLAND’S BOAT SHOW 9-11 OCTOBER, KIP MARINA, INVERCLYDE The UK’s third largest boat show, with Hanse, Moody, Beneteau and Dehler exhibiting. More than 100 boats plus cars, helicopter flights, craft and artisan trader stalls, a food and drink pavilion and the chance to win a Hartley H12 dinghy. Free entry. scotlandsboatshow.co.uk MARINE PAINTINGS EXHIBITION 5-13 OCTOBER, THE OSBORNE STUDIO GALLERY, LONDON Danish artist Susanne Fournais Grube, wife of the Danish ambassador, exhibits 24 paintings of boats she has loved. Fournais Grube was named Official Belgian Marine Painter in 2004. osg.uk.com MULTIHULL SHOW 1-4 OCTOBER, CANET EN ROUSSILLON, FRANCE Les Occasions du Multicoque is an on-the-water show for 1,000 ‘nearly new’ multihulls, including sail cruising cats and trimarans, plus shore-side exhibitors. Free entry. lesoccasionsdumulticoque.com IN NELSON’S WAKE BOOK LAUNCH…

Mid July, sterling reached €1.44 against the euro, the highest level since 2007. Five hundred pounds would buy €720, whereas 12 months earlier it would have bought €596. Logic dictates that going to Europe to buy a boat will therefore mean bargains galore. A €200,000 yacht would cost £140,845 at the current (at time of writing) exchange rate of 1.42, compared to £180,180 at an exchange rate of 1.11 in August 2011 – saving around a quarter, or £39,335. But is it as simple as that? And what is likely to happen to the pound in the near future? Nicholas Ebisch, analyst at Caxton FX, said: “Over the next few years, the pound is likely to continue strengthening, and in time the euro will eventually begin to grow stronger. UK…

Through the history of maritime exploration no other part of the world has proven to be more difficult and has taken longer to conquer than the Northwest Passage. Since Roald Amundsen’s successful transit of the Northwest Passage in 1903-1906, a total of only 89 sailing boats have been able to follow his example. To put that in proportion: for every sailor who has sailed the Northwest Passage, ten have scaled the highest mountain summit in the world. The reason is quite simple; in spite of all the advances in boat design, technology and means of navigation, the challenges faced by those sailing in the High Arctic have remained basically unchanged. Climate change, whose effects are more evident in the Arctic than anywhere else in the world, has certainly played a…

Arriving into the City of London under sail has to be one of life’s great sailing experiences. Although TS Eliot would possibly disagree with the maxim that it’s ‘the journey not the arrival that matters’, there is something very special about slipping through the lock gates at St Katharine Docks and mooring up in the heart of one of the great capitals of the world. The buzz, sense of excitement and adrenaline rush that landing in the City in a boat produces far outweighs any challenges that may have arisen on the 40-mile passage up the Thames from Southend-on-Sea, Margate or beyond. Despite the strong tidal streams and heavy commercial traffic, particularly around the Tilburyness area, the Thames is navigationally straightforward. Just put together a good passage plan, and stay…

This was one of those boat tests that I had been trying to organise for months. It was originally all set for the spring, but the Mistral put paid to that with 60-knot gusts ricocheting down out of the hills across the Gulf of St Tropez. So mean were the conditions, in fact, that a Wauquiez crew decided not to deliver the boat 160nM west to a boat show in Port Camargue. The boat was up to it, but Wauquiez’s Med representative (a florid fellow called Loic) assured me nobody would have enjoyed it. So… Typically, the day of my second test attempt dawned with a forecast of Force 1-3: conditions at the other extreme. On the quay in the intriguing faux-Venetian surroundings of Port Grimaud, near St Tropez, the…

When a lifejacket is comfortable, you’re more likely to wear it. And, with rules and regulations (largely ISO12402-3) ensuring all proper lifejackets adhere to safety standards, comfort and fit can be what makes one model stand out from the crowd. We took an upper- and a lower-cost jacket from five brands and tried them across three frame sizes: petite female, mid-sized male and bigger male, and over both fair and foul-weather gear. We were surprised to find most fitted comfortably. Detailing, fit and ease in operation, particularly the sprayhood, did, however, raise issues. PRINCIPLES High cost, low cost, feature packed, minimalist/basic, one brand, any brand – how exactly do you choose? As a minimum your lifejacket should, by my reckoning – even if sold without and you add features yourself…

SWAN 59 | CANDELA Candela is Hull 15 of 21 Germán-Frers-designed Swan 59s – but she is a boat with a twist. Most Swan 59s feature a reverse-raked ‘rocket ship’ stern, with LOA of 17.92m, but this boat has an extended transom, taking her LOA to 18.4m. This gives extra deck space and also means she has a lazarette locker that houses a gen-set. Her teak deck, which was relaid in 2012, has also been reconfigured, so she has lost the second, forward well cockpit and instead has an extra deck locker. She is fitted with a 2.2m (7ft 3in) Scheel keel, so she can explore shallower waters than other 59s with the standard 3m (9ft 10in) draught. Despite her length, she is set up for short-handed cruising,…

The vast archipelago of the San Blas islands of Panama is a paradise. As we set anchor in the lemon-drop islands of the Eastern Lemmon Cays the tall coconut palms resemble lollipops in a dream world. Some things have changed since Stewart sailed here more than 25 years ago. Dugout canoes have given up their oars for outboard engines. A fisherman asked us to charge his cell phone. Most anchorages offer deserted islands with beautiful beaches that taper into an aquamarine abyss. The water is velvety and the temperature is perfect. Snorkelling is excellent. The indigenous Kuna tribe call their territory Kuna Yala. Brightly-dressed tribeswomen paddle to the boat to sell their stitched and appliquéd molas. Tribesmen offer red crab, lobster, fish and fruit. It was hard pulling up anchor…