Innehållsförteckning för December 2019 från Sailing Today

The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust – Sailing Today’s 2019 Charity of the Year – will be the subject of the BBC Radio 4 Appeal during Christmas week. The programme highlights the work of a charity each week and asks for donations. The EMCT appeal will be broadcast on Sunday 22 December at 7.54am and 9.25pm, and on Boxing Day at 3.27pm on BBC Radio 4 (92.4-94.6 FM and LW 198). By following the Trust across social media – Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram @emctrust – and sharing, you will help more young people who have been treated for cancer experience a life-changing sailing trip. The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is a national charity that supports 8- to 24-year-olds in rebuilding their confidence after cancer. For many young people, picking up where…

Amel 60 French manufacturer Amel raised a few eyebrows when it launched the Amel 50 without a mizzen mast as the ketch rig had become synonymous with the brand. Its latest model is also sloop rigged and looks like an enlarged version of the 50. It therefore promises to be extremely comfortable and is definitely geared for long-term cruising. An interesting feature is the carbon rig, which promises to reduce pitching in addition to offering performance benefits. €1.65mamel.fr RM 1180 French boatbuilder RM has always stood out from the crowd thanks to the company using epoxy/ply in the construction of its yachts. The 1180 is no exception to this rule and she is a smart new design that boasts beamy aft sections with a pronounced chine plus a distinctive dreadnought…

Before we get into our adventures we felt it best to touch on the anchoring situation in the Canary Islands. There are plenty of really great anchorages but mostly people don’t use them because they’re not marked as anchorages or they’re worried about it being too rolly. As such it means that you can find peaceful places to drop your hook and often be the only one there. There are two islands north of Lanzerote that make particularly nice anchorages, namely Graciosa and Alagranza. The former is a perfect landfall after a long passage from Portugal. We arrived in darkness and woke up to an amazing volcanic wonderland. We landed on a deserted beach to find interesting plants, birds and rock formations, as though the lava had flowed from the…

Let’s get this straight, the Excess remains first and foremost a comfortable cruiser, albeit one with enhanced performance. Lagoon should be applauded for trying to move its brand back to its roots – a manufacturer of fast, fun boats. There is also nothing wrong with trying to appeal to a younger audience. That said, it’s an idea that is constrained somewhat by the fact that the base for the design remains the original Lagoon 40. Nevertheless, the performance gains are significant compared with the original Lagoon 40. The greatest for me was that the steering on the 12 had greatly improved feel and, when it comes to cruising multihulls, the more feel you can get, the better. So while the benefits are incremental, they are also significant. COMFORT PERFORMANCE LOOKS…

If you want to take the strain out of raising the main or trimming the genoa, consider powering your winch. In reality, this will usually mean switching from manual to electric, as there is considerable cost and complication to installing an entire hydraulic system from scratch. Luckily, Lewmar, Harken and Andersen supply ready-made conversion kits to switch their winches from manual to powered. The advantage is that it halves the cost of buying a whole new electric winch system. Antal units need to be replaced altogether. The first consideration is whether there is space below the existing winch to mount a horizontal or a vertical motor. Most electric winches use a horizontal. With a current draw of 125 amps or more, your winch motor will need pretty hefty electric cables…

It’s not always easy being an innovator. Take early automobile designer EL Cord, who, in the 1920s, introduced front-wheel drive, pop-up headlamps and a plethora of other revolutionary touches. Unfortunately, Cord did not survive the economic vagaries of the 1930s, leaving manufacturers such as the more conservative Ford, who continued to flourish. Boatbuilding – particularly in Europe – can also be fairly hidebound. Customers identify a yacht with a single mast, fin keel and two triangular sails as the yacht of choice and manufacturers generally are willing to work within those parameters. It’s therefore refreshing when someone takes a look at things from a slightly different angle. Working within many of these constraints, Matt Newland of Swallow Yachts has nonetheless managed to produce a yacht that is really rather wild…

When our two beagles – Cap’n Jack and Scout – first stepped aboard our 43ft (13.1m) steel ketch Seefalke, they walked around the small vessel and sniffed every corner. Then, tails wagging, they looked up at us, and it was as if they shrugged their shoulders and said: “I guess we live here now.” Then they curled up on the settee in the main saloon and settled in. After sailing to more than 12 countries on four continents and across eight significant bodies of water, including the Atlantic Ocean, we are convinced that dogs just want to be with their humans. Having now experienced sailing with dogs in heavy, offshore conditions, we have learned many lessons about how to keep them comfortable, healthy and safe. We have also learned all…

JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 42I | SKUA Our middle-sized pick, Skua, is one of Marc Lombard’s popular designs for Jeanneau’s Sun Odyssey range, a fractionally rigged sloop with classic main (with stack pack and lazy jacks) and furling jib, which had a new drum fitted in March. She has a white GRP hull with teak cockpit floor and seats. Winches are by Harken, and nav equipment by Raymarine. Power comes from a 54hp Yanmar. The broker says: “She sails well, is easy to handle and has a practically laid-out interior, with three double cabins and two heads.” She’s a comfortable boat, with at least 1.95m (6ft 5in) headroom below throughout. The three cabins are doubles, with all berths 2m (6ft 7in) at the widest point, and there’s a convertible…

The Jubilee Sailing Trust’s accessible tall ship Lord Nelson has returned to Portsmouth for decommissioning, in spite of recent emergency fund-raising activity that boosted the charity’s coffers by £1m in a week. STS Lord Nelson has become a familiar sight around the Solent and beyond, but there’s no word yet from the charity on where her future lies. The JST’s dire financial straits were exposed over summer, when a £1m black hole in the accounts threatened the charity’s immediate survival. Over 3,500 individuals and businesses responded to its plea for a cash lifeline, and the sum was donated in just one week in June. The Trust’s second tall ship, STS Tenacious, continues in service, and crew members pre-booked onto Lord Nelson will be offered refunds or a place aboard Tenacious.…

The British entry into the next America’s Cup competition, INEOS Team UK, has launched its first new AC75 Class racing yacht. It’s a state-of-the-art 75ft foiling monohull designed to race at speeds of 40-50kts while balanced on three hydrofoils. The team, owned by INEOS chemicals tycoon Jim Ratcliffe and led by Olympic sailor Sir Ben Ainslie, has named the yacht Britannia in homage to the famous 1930s royal yacht, which was built in 1893 for the Prince of Wales and raced by George V. Britannia’s launch was a landmark moment for the British America’s Cup challenger, coming after 18 months of the design, build and development of one of the most complex America’s Cup class boats in the 168-year history of the event. The team is up against some serious…

NAUTIC PARIS BOAT SHOW 7-15 DECEMBER PORT DE VERSAILLES With no London Boat Show, get a winter fix in Paris instead. You’ll find all kinds of sailing and motorboats, watersports and equipment. salonnautiqueparis.com INTERNATIONAL MODEL BOAT SHOW 9-10 NOVEMBER WARWICKSHIRE EVENT CENTRE LEAMINGTON SPA Marine modelling exhibition. Over 600 models on display from nearly 30 clubs. Live action on the indoor pool. modelboatshow.couk PHUKET KING’S CUP REGATTA 30 NOVEMBER – 7 DECEMBER ROYAL VARUNA YACHT CLUB PHUKET, THAILAND Asia’s biggest and the most prestigious sailing regatta will be held at its traditional home on the popular resort island of Phuket in Thailand kingscup.com. CRUISING ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 20 November CA House, Limehouse, London Elections for candidates standing as council members. theca.org SAILING & CRUISING ASSOCIATION LAYING UP SUPPER 30…

As part of our longterm plans to get to Senegal and then onwards to Patagonia, we made for the Canaries. See Sailing Today [March 2019] for our passage via Brittany and Galicia. For us, the Canaries conjured up images of apartment blocks, hordes of tourists and expensive marinas. Without wanting to sound too snobby, we’re looking for nature, anchorages and adventure, and so the Canaries was planned to be little more than a quick provisioning stop. Jump forwards 12 months and we’re still here… In this article, we’ll to try to dispel a few myths we’d heard about the Canaries and share some of our adventures. The negatives we’d heard were: too few anchorages, too many tourists; bleak, barren landscapes; and challenging, stressful sailing. It turns out we were wrong…

‘I’m always taken aback when people say to me that I must be terribly brave’ I suppose it must be true that sometimes it takes seeing yourself and your life through another person’s eyes to admit and accept certain facts. I don’t consider myself to be a particularly brave or intrepid person. Ten years ago I had never even set foot on a sailboat. And yet I have now lived on one for over eight years. I’ve crossed two oceans, sailed three quarters of the way round the world and given birth on three different continents. Yet, though it may not surprise you to hear it, I’m always taken aback when people say to me that I must be terribly brave. I think that learning to sail is a lot…

The term ‘focus groups’ is not the most fascinating way to open a review of a new yacht, but it’s too late... I’ve gone and done it. Focus groups are, essentially, gatherings – groups of people thrown together in a meeting room, slowly losing the will to live and finding their thoughts turning to the bigger questions, such as the futility of human existence and whether they left the iron on when they went out to work that morning. Will they return home to the charred wreckage of what was all they had to show for a life of toil? Along the way there are generally more abstruse thoughts, such as whatever happened to Kellogg’s Pop Tarts and the like. Of course, the original intention of the focus group is…

‘The genoa is usually the most demanding sail in terms of the force it puts on the winch’ Among the most stalwart and least loved pieces of kit on any boat must be the winch. If you’re like me, then servicing is a rare event, discouraged by the quantity of grease involved and the propensity of small parts to leap over the side in protest. Fortunately, winches are built to withstand harsh punishment and will keep going for 10 or even 20 years. At some point, however, the time will come to replace the winches. Even if they’re not worn out, you might want to compensate for waning muscle power by up-rating them. Or perhaps you’d like to cut out the elbow-grease altogether by switching to a powered system. When…

It’s a cruel fact that UK-based sailors can have a pretty lean time of things over the winter months. Some love the hardship of a bracing thrash in crisp winter gales, but let’s be honest, it’s not for all of us. Even the magnificent playground that is the Mediterranean turns rather savage over the winter, even if you are cowering in one of its most southern environs. All this means that November to March are, for most of us, all about either dreaming of far-flung destinations or actually getting on an aeroplane and chartering in them. Before we get to the meat of this article, a few caveats: this is a sort of ‘greatest hits’ rundown of winter-sun destinations, but we have steered clear of both the Caribbean – covered…

When two currents collide, they wrap around each other and a whirlpool is formed. The most common place for this to happen is near a structure like a rock, bridge leg or island – the theory goes that a fast current will hit the obstruction and flow around it, leaving an area of low pressure immediately downstream. Nature’s response is an eddy circulating water against the prevailing current to ‘fill the gap’ of low pressure. The edge of the eddy, where the two currents collide, is called the ‘eddyline’ and is where whirlpools are generally found. On a small scale, I recently watched this happen when a 4-knot current collided with a groyne, creating little vortices along the eddyline, the size and shape of funnels used for pouring oil into…

Some 71% of recreational boats in the Med host alien marine species not yet present in the marina they are visiting, claims a new study. Researchers from the University of Pavia, Italy, found that boats travelling to new marinas were likely to be transporting alien species in the biofouling: living growth on submerged areas of the vessel. The Mediterranean is a marine biodiversity hotspot, having the highest number of species for its size on the planet as well as the highest number of alien species. Invertebrate spawning occurs in the summer months, coinciding with the annual peak in recreational boating, making boats ideal carriers. “Boats which have visited Eastern Mediterranean marinas had an especially high risk of spreading alien species due to the closer proximity to the Suez Canal, where…

RYS Bicentenary Regatta art Commissions by a leading marine artist This fabulous original artwork shows Lionheart leading the way, albeit very briefly, at the start of the RYS Bicentenary Regatta ‘Round The Island Race’ in 2015. Velsheda very quickly overhauled her and never looked back, taking the race and the overall regatta. The 18in by 27in (46cm x 69cm) oil on canvas is by Jamie Medlin, an artist renowned for his photographic style – indeed, Christie’s has declared him ‘one of the finest living marine artists’ and a creator of ‘modern masterpieces’. He’s been painting maritime subjects for over three decades and, after several years working as an illustrator in London and Australia, now lives in his native Cornwall, which provides inspiration for many of his pictures. ● jamiemedlin.com An…

Sailing in the Canaries is diverse. We obviously cannot write this article without mentioning the acceleration zones – areas where the wind is often multiplied by a factor of two or three. They are well documented but also feared by many sailors. In reality they are nothing to really worry about since they’re localised to a maximum of 5-15 miles and unlikely to build a dangerous sea. In most of the acceleration zones you’ll experience 20-30kt winds where the forecast is 10kt, but you’ll pass through relatively quickly. When you reach them you’ll see the change in sea state ahead, so reef early. In some cases they can be extreme. Off Gran Canaria we experienced 65kt gusts but the sea state was more akin to a Force 5 in the…

In the days of plenty before the Financial Crash, I met a man sitting in a boatyard skip sorting through its contents. I lobbed my bag of mixed rubbish clear of him and we fell into conversation, as one does with strangers in dumps. ‘Looks like rain again,’ I observed neutrally. ‘I think you’re right. I’d better get a move on - can’t let all this stuff get soaked.’ His accent was cultivated, his weatherbeaten face was full of character and I noticed he had the hands of a deep-sea sailor. ‘Which stuff’s that?’ I continued, hoping for a breakthrough. He was eyeing up a piece of metal poking out from under the usual mishmash of polystyrene packing, cardboard boxes and galley rubbish. ‘I’ll just see if I can wrestle…

When I found out that my friend was sailing across the channel and up the coast in a ‘very small’ boat, I was excited for him and his chosen companion, but very jealous. When he told me he needed a return partner and asked if I’d like to come, I didn’t hesitate to accept – the only catch... I’d never sailed before. “Not a problem, I’ve done sailing courses. I’ll teach you as we go,” Steve replied. Great then, let’s do this... Both of us were up in Utrecht with some friends filming for the first week. During this time I started to ask how small the boat was. However, no information was being disclosed and I was told to wait until we arrived in Zeebrugge. We hitch-hiked down from…

NAUTITECH N40 OPEN The Nautitech N40 is getting on now, but the concept here was definitely a cruising cat with something of a performance edge to it. Like the Excess, she features twin helms on the sponsons for greater involvement with the elements. nautitechcatamarans.com LAGOON 40 It might seem a bit obvious, but this probably is the closest thing to the Excess 12 – given that the hull is identical. It’s slightly cheaper, but the trade-off is a smaller rig, less feel on the helm and a slightly less snazzy interior. If, however, you’re more of a pure cruiser it’s still a great product. cata-lagoon.com DRAGONFLY 40 Something rather different here, but if you are going to take the fun, performance theme to its ultimate conclusion, here it is. The…

WALES 53° 17.5’N, 003° 50.3’W With the mountains of Snowdonia as a backdrop, and set within in an area of outstanding natural beauty, Conwy Quays Marina is an ideal base from which to cruise the North Wales coast. You need to be ready for the tides: the tidal range here can be more than 8m, and streams strong, especially the spring ebb across the channel when leaving Conwy marina. Sailing-wise, this is a sheltered spot to form part of a cruise of North Wales, or to act as a staging post for a trip to Ireland, the Isle of Man or the west coast of Scotland. There are plenty of local spots to be explored around Anglesey, which can be circumnavigated in a long weekend. In fact, Admiral Nelson allegedly…