Innehållsförteckning för Yachting Year 2020 från Sailing Today

What a dreadful season – and what a magnificent summer. For many of us, when we could eventually get afloat, the weather was glorious, anchorages were empty and an afternoon under sail was savoured more than ever before. After the weeks spent under peerless skies in lockdown, the pleasure of being at sea again was great, but going sailing wasn’t straightforward, even after lockdown measures had been eased. Boaters in Guernsey were the first back afloat, when a Notices to Mariners ruled that from Saturday 2 May, recreational vessels could go to sea for two hours at a time. Of course, that was subject to boat skippers being accompanied “only by persons permanently residing at the same address or, where the vessel is sufficiently large to maintain social distancing, with…

If sailing was restricted over 2020, the silver lining is that boatyards, by and large, could remain open. It seems more than a few were able to steal a march on time by working on projects through a quiet summer, where those project boats might otherwise have been out on the water. The diversity of these projects is, simply, without parallel in the history of the modernday classic boat movement. A decade or two ago, we would have been looking at prestigious yachts like Fifes, Nicholsons and so on, some noble workboats generally scraping by on a caulking iron and a prayer, and a load of smaller yachts in restoration, usually by the owner, some excellent, some passable, some abandoned to the mud and the gulls. Since then, some of…

There have been moments this last year where the idea of a leisurely cruise around the Med seemed as likely as Richard Branson taking you on a trip to the moon. Nice idea, but unlikely. Yet things have changed and – at least as this magazine goes to press – it is once again possible to travel across Europe (even all the way to Greece!) in order to go sailing. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed many things. The charter industry has responded with a subtle shift in operational focus. As an example, Sunsail, aware that many were less inclined to fly, redistributed resources to areas that could be more readily accessed by car, train or ferry. By the same token, Dream Yacht Charter’s announcement of a new base in La…

As our horizons have shrunk, so our appreciation of what lies on our doorsteps has grown. The lure of a blue water anchorage and warm trade wind sailing will always be there, but the opportunity to inspect our own coastline afresh is no bad thing. It’s fair to say that when UK-based yachtsmen think about chartering options across the world, they often overlook the fabulous cruising grounds at home. The UK provides one of the richest and most varied cruising grounds in the world. Whether you’re threading your way up some tranquil creek and discovering the magic of the east coast swatchways, exploring the varied ports and rugged headlands of the West Country or seeing with enchanted eyes the purple hills and wine dark seas of Scotland, there is something…

B&G Zeus³ S The fastest and most responsive B&G sailing system yet, a SolarMAX HD IPS Screen, offering claimed best in class visibility from all angles, with or without polarised glasses, and the full suite of B&G sailing features, in a package designed especially for sailors. POA bandg.com Vintage-style sextant “Navigation has changed a lot over the years,” the Austalian company behind this vintage-look sextant tells us. “The maps on your phone might be convenient, but they sure do take some of the fun out of it.” This handmade brass/alloy sextant is apparently “fully functional” and comes with a heavy, felt-lined wooden case. Price $129.99 (approx £72) YellowOctopus.com.au Zhik Apex This range of jacket, high-waisted trousers and shorts recognise that many sailors, especially cruisers, do not need full salopettes and…

The articulation of blocks is more important than is often realised. If they are not perfectly aligned with the load, both friction and chafe are increased, potentially significantly. This is part of the reason behind the on-going trend of utilising rope attachment instead of metal shackles, using either a spliced loop, or a soft shackle. The strength and reliability of this has now been proven by the most high-tech, long distance racing boats, which effectively have now returned to the old methods once used on gaff-rigged working boats.…

Allures 45 Catweazle  LOA: 48ft 5in (14.75m) Beam: 14ft 6in (4.43m) Displacement: 12.6t The boat is cutter rigged and we simply replaced sheets, halyards etc, as the old rigging was about seven years old when we purchased the boat. It was all fine for Med pootling, but an ocean is a different ball game altogether. We also replaced the old sails with Tri Radial Hydranet bluewater sails. They are much heavier duty and, although they don’t perform quite as well in light winds, it is a minimal difference and a small price to pay. We also bought a Tradewind sail from North, which furls on a roller. It looks just like sailing with twin headsails, but is one sail, and I can’t speak highly enough of it. It…

Yasmin Steel, of Melbourne, Australia, was five days out of Tristan da Cunha on the tall ship Europa, when with hurricane-force winds battering the rig and waves roaring past the hull, she decided it was time to get her camera out. Her show-stopping image, ‘50 degrees south’, was voted Photo of the Decade in the National Historic Ships photo competition. With some restraint, judges praised the image for its “sense of drama and level horizon under testing circumstances”. For more stunning photography and stories from the classic boat world, have a look at our sister title Classic Boat or visit classicboat.co.uk…

In the end it was a one-line email that changed everything. “It said something like: ‘We’re interested in sponsoring if there are still opportunities available’,” recalls Pip Hare. It came from Medallia, a Silicon Valley software giant headed by a down-to-earth Scotsman who loves sailing. For Poole-based sailor Hare, it was the biggest and most elusive part of the puzzle she had been piecing together for the past decade. A title sponsor meant the realisation of a long-held dream, to pit herself against the best offshore sailors in the toughest race on earth, the Vendée Globe. It would give Hare the necessary funds to get to the start line off Les Sables d’Olonne on 8 November – and from there sail the small matter of 28,000 miles around the world…

The story of When and If began in a time of great uncertainty. It was 1937, war was imminent, and American George S Patton, a US Army Colonel at the time, was recuperating in hospital. His injuries were the result of an accident aboard the 67ft (20.4m) schooner Arcturus while en route to San Diego. In an effort to boost her husband’s downcast spirits, Beatrice Patton called in naval architect John Alden to design the couple a new yacht. Alden, renowned for schooners built for speed and grace, designed the couple a vessel that would also prove sturdy, comfortable and safe for long-distance voyaging. In January 1939, papers were signed authorizing FF Pendleton of Wiscasset, Maine, to build the 63ft 5in (19.3m), 43-tonne vessel. According to current owner Seth Salzmann:…

Ino-Blocks range This Breton company has a range of excellent lightweight blocks that run on a Dyneema axle, including snatch blocks, models with a becket and the Ino-Ending, designed for use with backstays. All are long-lasting, easily inspected for damage, simple to repair and are very lightweight. Ten sizes are offered, for boats from dinghies to IMOCA 60s. The smallest model weighs just 8 grams. Even the largest, the Poulie Ino-Block 18, is only 410 grams, yet is rated for working loads of up to six tonnes. ino-rope.com Ropeye range This young Estonian company also produces a range of blocks that rotate on a textile axle and have a rope attachment. The growing product range caters for boats as small as a Moth, to IMOCA 60s and larger. At the…

Hanse 370 Gertha IV  LOA: 37ft 3in (11.35m) Beam: 12ft 4in (3.75m) Displacement: 7.2t I bought her as close to basic as I could, because I knew I could do many of the extras cheaper myself, and then refitted her over three ARCs. Here are the key improvements: 1 Second forestay on a Highfield lever for a hanked-on genoa 2 Upgraded the hook for the pole to a track 3 Bought a storm trysail 4 Installed a permanent boom preventer 5 Added two extra winches on the cockpit coaming 6 Carabiner on the third reef to lower friction 7 Improved cars on mainsail battens for easier downwind reefing 9 Installed an Icom 701 SSB and a satphone for emails 10 Simrad 7in plotter at the helm – I…

Midnight in the middle of the Bristol Channel, a stretch of water renowned for sandbanks, shipping and big tides. Tonight, to make matters worse, thick fog has descended. Skipper Timothy Long, navigating a yacht solo across the channel north to south, can’t see his hand in front of his face. It’s a situation to test the nerve of any yachtsman, however experienced, but Timothy is just 15 years old. He is making the crossing from Milford Haven to Padstow as part of a solo sail around Britain, a personal challenge that somewhat to his surprise, later in the summer, will see him make headlines around the world. Timothy doesn’t know that yet and he certainly doesn’t want to make any headlines now – he is focussed on the shipping movements…

Set against a glorious Caribbean sunset, the VO70 I Love Poland drifts through the Barbuda race mark on day 1 of the RORC Caribbean 600, back in February 2020. In normal times, the annual race sees a fleet of more than 70 boats, ranging from cutting edge multihulls to vintage classics, compete over four days on a course around Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, Anguilla and Guadaloupe. I Love Poland eventually finished fifth in class. The next RORC Caribbean 600 is due to start on Monday 22 February 2021. For the latest news from the performance racing world, have a look at our sister title Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting, or visit yachtsandyachting.co.uk…

There are plenty of reasons for cruising sailors to look forward to 2021. Our pursuit is by definition one that takes us away from the madding crowd and into a state of voluntary isolation. As restrictions are slowly lifted and borders reopened, the cruising sailor’s horizons should broaden considerably. However, for UK-based sailors, there is something else looming – Brexit. This could have an effect on some aspects of cruising from now on. We’ll look at the possible ramifications in this article. RALLYING ROUND I’m always deeply reluctant to talk about the year ahead for cruising sailors as if there is some sort of rigid framework we must stick to. Deep in the DNA of cruising sailors is a mistrust of schedules, which has been garnered by many years of…

After cancelled World Series events (Cagliari, Sardinia, and Portsmouth, UK) denied the four America’s Cup teams the chance of any warm-up, boats and equipment were hastily re-routed and attention directed towards to New Zealand and 2021 instead. Not even the Kiwis were immune to pandemic disruptions, with their AC75 stuck on a needless voyage by ship to Italy and back. As The Yachting Year goes to press, the sole remaining World Series event lies at the end of 2020 and the Prada Cup (the knockout series that decides which nation will sail against the Defender for the America’s Cup) is due to begin shortly afterwards. We can certainly expect an exciting few weeks in store out on Waitemata Bay and the Hauraki Gulf. Auckland action The first boat to join…

A27 In the UK it’s all to easy to associate this yacht with a rather congested section of road between Sussex and Hampshire, but German manufacturers A-Yachts have produced a yacht that is quite possibly the opposite of that painful experience. The A27 is a boat that promises high performance courtesy of slippery lines, a big rig with fat-headed mainsail and a lightweight carbon hull. Styling is Italian, another bonus. a-yachts.info Arcona 345 Fitted with a powerful fractional rig, the Arcona 345 sports a tapered, twin spreader, keel-stepped mast. For strength and stability, the bulb keel is made of antimony hardened lead. The transom is open with an integral bathing platform and a decent – although not extreme – amount of beam aft means that twin wheels are an option.…

Readers of our sister title Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting will be familiar with the challenge that the adventurous octogenarian Jimmy Cornell is undertaking. For the uninitiated, he has opted at the age of 81 to attempt a round the world trip following in the footsteps of Ferdinand Magellan. Jimmy won’t be the first man to circumnavigate the globe via the Magellan Straits, but what makes this challenge a little different is that he selected a boat, Elcano Zero, which was entirely powered by electricity (and of course the wind); no back-up diesel generator and nothing of that sort. I was fortunate enough to go out sailing with Jimmy and, as such, run the rule over Elcano Zero. This is handy, because the boat is the prototype of a…

WINDELO 50 The Windelo 50 probably comes closest to matching the Outremer. This is a high quality fast cruising catamaran. The hull features basalt laminates which reduces the carbon footprint while hybrid power gives the boat impressive range. Hull number one due for completion in November. SPIRIT 44E A different concept in some respects but ultimately this is a 44’ cruising yacht that is fully electric with no generator. Two large solar panels are integrated into the back deck and hydrogeneration further increases the boat’s range under power. VAAN R4 Still more in the prototype stage, the Vaan R4 is a 42’ catamaran that is electrically powered. The hull is made out of 50% recycled aluminium and extensive use is made of circular materials, including recycled aluminium, cork, and plant-based…

In many cases poor deck layouts mean a winch that appears to be underpowered is simply being put under unnecessary strain. Alternatively it may be overdue a service. To keep them spinning freely, professional race teams frequently service winches after every regatta. If yours are hard work to operate but haven’t been given any attention for a couple of seasons, a quick service can make a big difference. It’s also worth looking to see whether loads can be reduced through minimising the angles through which lines have to turn. In addition to increasing friction, each deflection of a line increases the load it must carry – the bigger the deflection, the greater the increase in load. On many boats it’s possible to reposition deck organisers to reduce the angle through…

Moody 419 Summerwinds  LOA: 41ft 9in (12.73m) Beam: 13ft 2in (4.01m) Displacement: 9.3t We bought Summerwinds in 2014 and spent a couple of years kitting her out for bluewater sailing. We left the UK in 2017 and the boat spent a winter in La Coruna, then two winters in the Azores before heading down to Las Palmas. While in the Azores we shipped out various items such as a new liferaft, solar panels, sails etc and fitted them while en route. I put on a new mainsail from Kemp which we had a fourth reef point put into – something we also did with our old boat. We had a new 115% headsail made and used this with our existing headsail in both luff grooves on the furler…

Timothy’s father Nick says: “Looking back, I think it’s more worrying now than it was at the time, thinking about the enormity of the passages he was undertaking. Seventeen hours in thick fog is not something anyone would want to do. “He certainly had nothing like as much sailing with his boat as he was hoping to have before setting off. “He and I sailed the boat together from Ipswich to the Solent before he set off, and on that trip I was a silent partner. The only time Timothy had actually sailed her alone was the day before he left, about a mile from Hythe to Hamble Point. “So he set off on a vertical learning curve in terms of getting to know the boat and in terms of…