Innehållsförteckning för August 2022 från Sailing Today

“I was refused by my local club because I didn’t look disabled” World Sailing is in the midst of submitting its bid to have sailing reinstated to the Paralympics, a process which CEO David Graham is happy to say, in our article on page 11, is involving almost everybody in the organisation. World Sailing is well aware that the significance of the bid, for the sport and disabled sailing in general, could hardly be overstated. That’s not to say that disabled sailing is in a shabby state. Far from it. In the UK, there are charities all around the coast offering places on sailboats for people with varying disabilities. Volunteers do sterling work at hundreds of sailing clubs, offering dinghy rides every weekend to those who would otherwise not be…

Laurence Mead, Regatta Director at Cowes Week likes to call the event “196 years young” and the “world’s most technically advanced regatta”. So, is there truth to that bold claim or not? He likes to say that the goal is “world class regatta racing” and trying to manage 700 boats over 40 different races every day certainly does require a different approach to your average boat race if that goal is going to be met. It was not unknown in the old days for competitors to be sent round a race mark to port whilst other fleets were using the same marks around to starboard. Not ideal! Mead is quick to point out that that type of incident is from a previous century, but exactly what technology does Cowes Week…

‘Niggles are those little things that can completely spoil your day, and your temper’ I suppose that somewhere in the world there is the perfect boat entirely free from niggles, by which I don’t mean major design faults that might imperil your life, but rather little things that make you curse on a daily basis, drive you to distraction, and have you sticking pins in images of the boat builder. If there is such a boat, I have certainly never owned it. Niggles are those little things that can completely spoil your day, and your temper. On my boat for example, I was often driven to distraction by the lazy jib sheet dropping down the leeward shroud into the scuppers to lay there quite innocently until it was time to…

DEHLER 46SQ This Judel/Vrolijk design was launched back in 2015 and is a stylish, pacy boat that shares much with the Elan in terms of its target market. The boat has just been relaunched as the SQ with a brighter, more practical interior. Inspirationmarine.co.uk ITALIA 14.98 Launched in 2020, this Italian yacht is a light weather flier which also has a good deal of panache when it comes to styling. A touch lighter than the E6, probably due to reduced beam, this would make an intriguing match on the race course. grabauinternational.com X4(6) X Yachts has long been one of the benchmarks of the quality cruiser racer and despite their X4(6) coming across as a algebraic headache, the boat is beguiling. Smaller and slightly lighter than the E6, this boat…

1: Anse de Morgat (below, photo, Marit) 48° 13.72' N, 4° 29.72' W Navily rating: 5/5 Characteristics: Mooring buoys available, Sand bed. Beach reachable by dinghy, max length 11.5m. Tucked in to the south of Ushant, this peaceful anchorage earned rave reviews thanks to good access to a nice beach, plus shops at the small village of Morgat. 1= Anse de Combrit (above, photo, Mathilde on Eclipse) 47° 53.77' N, 4° 8.82' W Navily rating: 5/5 Characteristics: Mud river mooring. A picturesque mooring on the river Odet above Benodet. Not too much in terms of facilities but gained a very high score due to excellent protection and tranquillity while also being a tender ride from the town of Benodet. 1= Anse de Saint-hernot (below, photo, Mathilde on eclipse) 48° 12.23'…

Tom Slingsby’s Australia is the team to beat, having won both the inaugural season and Season 2. He faces competition from Sir Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain Team, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s New Zealand team as well as Jimmy Spithill’s USA team. There will also be some new faces this season, with Canada and Switzerland joining the team line-up. Australia Driver: Tom Slingsby Australia enters Season 3 as two-time SailGP Champions, after dramatic victory in the recent Grand Final in San Francisco in March. Undoubtedly the team to beat. Canada Driver: Phil Robertson Having sailed with the Spanish team last season, Phil Robertson is creating history in Season 3 leading Canada’s first-ever fully pro sailing team. Denmark Driver: Nicolai Sehested The Denmark SailGP Team presented by ROCKWOOL, led by multi-time…

Ipswich based Spirit Yachts has been around for almost three decades now, with the unwavering ethos of building fast, elegant spirit-of-tradition yachts in modern epoxy-saturation timber construction – ‘dry boats’ as they are sometimes known in the industry. That consistency of purpose means that today, everyone knows what a Spirit is, and the Spirit name has achieved the almost unheard-of in boatbuilding; it has become a brand. Endorsement in two Bond films has helped with that, in Daniel Craig’s first appearance as 007 (Casino Royale, 2006, in which he sailed a Spirit 54 in Venice) and more recently in No Time to Die, in which Daniel Craig, in his last outing as Bond, sails a Spirit 46 in the Caribbean. The yard has been building bigger and bigger yachts over…

Actisense-i The Actisense-I is a W2K-1 NMEA 2000 wifi gateway offering a suite of diagnostics tools, helping boaters easily see any issues with electronics devices attached to their network onboard, as well as any voltage issues along the network. From checking and isolating voltage issues, to confirming the working status of all devices attached to the network, Actisense-i has been designed to save installers and boaters time and money, by giving them confidence in their electronics onboard. Actisense-i is free to use for all W2K-1 owners. • actisense.com Spinnaker watch The new Cahill 300 Automatic by Spinnaker Watches is as desirable as the brand’s other models, this one offering an impressive 300m of water resistance and a dual time bezel adding “a different dimension of utility”. • £265 • Spinnaker-watches.co.uk…

50.270256N 4.787094W APPROACH The approach is uncomplicated and there are no offshore dangers apart from Gwineas Rock to the SSE. Mevagissey offers good shelter in SSW through to NW winds. In easterly conditions there is considerable surge. Avoid the entrance in strong onshore winds. Nestled into a rugged section of shoreline on Cornwall’s south coast, Mevagissey is a useful stopover for yachts making the trip to or from the west country from the south coast. As an added bonus, it’s also a picture perfect little Cornish fishing village. This, of course, brings the disadvantage of hordes of tourists during the summer but, then again, this means that the best way to see the port during these busy months is by sea. The port itself retains a very authentic tang of…

BENETEAU OCEANIS 361 CLIPPER | PAPILLON The Beneteau Oceanis 361 is a proven, capable and comfortable family cruising yacht. With her spacious and practical interior she can sleep five across two cabins. Perfect for coastal cruising or longer offshore passages she had a new set of Tri-radial cruising sails in August 2021 and is ready to go for the coming season. Year: 2003 LOA: 11.08m (36’3”) Beam: 3.81m (12’5”) Draft: 1.8m (5’9”) Engine: Volvo Penta 29HP Designer: Berret/Racoupeau Accommodation: Location: Inverkip, Inverclyde, GB Contact: michaelschmidt.co.uk craftinsure quote: £238 ARCONA 430 | NIGHTFALL With just one owner since new, Nightfall is a high-specification and extremely well-presented Arcona 430 complete with Axxon carbon mast, boom and spinnaker pole. Boasting a practical and spacious 3-cabin, 2-heads interior layout, finished…

IRC Nationals won by 0.005 of a point The IRC National Championship was won by 0.005 of a point by Niklas Zennström’s FAST40+ Rán, a nail-biting finish to a weekend of perfect sailing conditions in the Solent, the event organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. Rán’s mixed crew nearly let the title slip when they posted a third in the first race of the final day, the only blemish on their otherwise perfect scoreline. Over in IRC Three, Rán’s rival for the overall win, Adam Gosling’s JPK 10.80 Yes!, scored a fourth in the same race. In the longer, round the cans racing that concluded the event, both scored bullets, meaning the title went to Rán by the tiniest margin. “It is fantastic!” said Zennström. “We’ve won our class…

Punch 1270 Speaking of obscure French boatbuilders, anyone out there remember Punch? No, I’m not talking about the long running British satirical magazine but the rather rugged multihull boatbuilder based on the Caribbean island of Martinique. They built fast Alain Mortain designed catamarans out of epoxy ply with, ahem, a certain lack of finesse. Anyway, many models have stood the test of time and are still out there making fast passages. Now the company is back and first off the line will be a Punch 1270, a modernisation of the 1250. To improve the hull bottoms the 1270 will be strip planked, which allows rounded hulls and PET foam and biosourced resin will also be used. multicap-algarve.com Ovnicat 48 French boatbuilder Alubat is best known for its rugged Ovni range…

“To me, one discard would be about right for those ‘acts of God’ you can’t avoid” Ossie Stewart started hounding Russell Peters at least 30 minutes before the starting sequence had got underway. It was the final race of the RS Elite National Championships, taking place in the mid Solent and hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron. Russell, along with his long-time crew mates Greg Wells and Jimmy G, had been the fastest boat in the 42-strong fleet of Elites, a three-person narrow keelboat originally designed by Phil Morrison for short-tacking up Chichester Harbour. In a straight line, Russell and his bunch of heavies were unstoppable although the much lighter crew of Ossie Stewart, his son Tom and the legendary talent of Geoff Carveth were somehow making their Elite point…

This is a fine example of a cruiser/ racer. The boat had excellent pace in varied conditions and is a good compromise between internal volume and comfort with spicy performance. The Pininfarina styling definitely gives the boat a bit of an ‘X’ factor and ensures you will be noticed – in a good way – wherever you go. It would be interesting to see how the boat performs on the race course and Elan are hopeful that they will find a buyer who hits the racing circuit with a fully tricked out and stripped out version. For me, the boat was plenty fast enough and I was beguiled by the blend of style and comfort mixed with a generous helping of speed. PERFORMANCE: BLUE WATER ABILITY: LOOKS:…

For the second year in a row, fans heading to the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth will be able to witness incredible on-water racing scenes and get up close to an impressive line-up of world-class athletes. Plymouth is proud to be known as Britain's Ocean City, and the event will be hosted in partnership with Plymouth City Council. This year's line-up sees Canada and Switzerland joining defending Season 2 Champions, Tom Slingsby’s Australia, home favourites Sir Ben Ainslie's Great Britain, Denmark, France, Japan, Spain, New Zealand and the United States. Absent from the debut Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth last summer, Ainslie will be back in the driving seat at this year's Plymouth event, and looking to give home fans something to cheer about – aiming…

This is a really beautiful little boat that demonstrated how modern and traditional design and building techniques can be blended seamlessly to create a magnificent yacht. Part of the joy of owning a yacht is looking back at it as you leave the mooring at the end of the day and feeling a swell of pride in your vessel. You can't help but do that witrh this beautiful boat. The other big joy of boat ownership is enjoying scintillating sailing and, again, this is a boat that delivers when it really matters. In truly testing conditions, the boat excelled and was a great advert for modern wooden construction techniques given her extremely light displacement. The only real downside is the price. As they say, you get what you pay for.…

Chartering understandably focuses on the Mediterranean, and it is often easy to overlook the plethora of incredible cruising grounds on our doorstep and also to the north east in the Baltic. True, the weather is not so reliable and the sailing is often a bit more challenging, but if you’re willing to put up with that, the rewards are also great. In the UK, the west coast of Scotland is often cited as one of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the world with it’s hypnotic mix of rugged, highland landscape, powdery white beaches and wine dark waters it really is something special. To the west, the emerald coast of Ireland is similarly varied and a wonderful cruising ground. UK charter boomed last year in part due to travel restrictions…

I was recently hanging out on a secluded beach with my sailor friend in Indonesia, ahead of our upcoming Indian Ocean crossing to Africa on our 51ft Beneteau Idyll. We discussed how popular sailing has become post-covid. It seems like everyone wants to sell their house and go sailing! But after the hustle and bustle of land life it can be a big adjustment to just slow down and appreciate a pace less hassled. I have met many sailors who are still rushing about, even after years of cruising. I feel somehow they are missing out on the best part of the cruising experience - a long chat over coffee, a leisurely walk on the beach or a casual get together at sundown. It’s the progression of the day… slow,…

The boatbuilding business is a funny sort of world with more than a modicum of charm and intrigue. For every big manufacturer churning out hundreds of hulls each year, there is a smaller company, often dominated by the dreams and vision of a single individual with a very clear mission; to create his or her perfect yacht. These are the dreamers of the day and generally their aim is not to make their fortune but simply to make the best boat possible. Those dreams tend to snowball – sometimes into a nightmare but more often into a line of yachts that, although in some ways bear relation to – for example – a Bavaria, have taken a route from the builder’s yard to the pontoons that is so wildly different…

Southerly 48 completed Ocean Shipyard Limited was preparing to launch its first new build, the Southerly 48, as we went to press. The company, which took over the Discovery Shipyard site earlier this year, has another Southerly 48 and the first ever Southerly 42 still in build. Pay by the day Burnham Week 2022 (above) is hoping to encourage entries after introducing a pay-by-the-day system. The popular English east coast regatta runs from 27 August to 3 September. burnhamweek.com 11th Hour Racing film Under the Hull, a documentary following the journey of the 11th Hour Racing Team in the Transat Jacques Vabre last year, was set to be released on the team’s YouTube channel on 15 June. Medals for RNLI volunteers RNLI volunteers Alan Forrester (71) and David Leslie (77)…

Ah, the Ionian! Beloved of Brits since the time of Lord Byron. From the bustle of Fiscardo to the tranquility of Kastos, the Inland Sea is as familiar as the Solent to many sailors. And there lies the bane of the local charter skipper’s life! Returning guests at Sail Ionian, where I work as a charter skipper, are always asking for new ideas on where to go. Route plans can be challenging when a guest has sailed in the area every summer for the past ten years! However, if you’re willing to put in a little effort and sail a little further, then a raft of new options opens to you. Mainland Greece is an unexplored paradise compared with the Ionian islands circuit. Quiet harbours and amazing archaeological sites await,…

Having previously planned weekends in the Solent based around neaps (ST October 2021) and springs (ST May 2022), and midway between springs and neaps (ST July 2022), this article is based on a trip roughly mid-way between neaps and springs. I am assuming a prevailing SW wind of F4-F5. The idea is that someone with a berth up the River Hamble arrives at their boat on Friday afternoon, and needs to be back there by Sunday afternoon. With relatively minor variations it should also work for those with berths anywhere within the Solent area. About time The timings of high and low water at springs and neaps are always the same within about an hour, and change predictably each day between springs and neaps – so what follows should work…

Sl ovenian company Elan has a split personality; on the one hand is it’s Clark Kent – producing sober and extremely sensible cruising yachts that make up their Impression range of cruisers and on the other… well I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that their sportier boats have superpowers but they do, to a certain extent, fly. Certainly this was my experience of their new Elan E6 which, in modest flat water conditions on the Adriatic, proceeded to test my credulity by reeling off some really impressive speeds. When I say Elan has a split personality, that’s unfair. It has multiple personalities. Alongside its Impression range of sensible cruisers and the sporty ‘E’ line of boats, there is also the ‘GT’ line of luxury fast cruisers.…

Gales in mid-latitudes generally seem to arrive in two packages. The first is the honest frontal depression cruising past our boats on the side nearest the pole. The wind pipes up as the warm front approaches and pressure falls. It blows hard and we get soaked as the front passes and the barometer levels out. Up here in the northern hemisphere the breeze now veers and hammers along solidly as the so-called ‘warm sector’ trundles through. A few hours later, or maybe longer depending on the nature of the system, the cold front arrives. A lively one can roar like a lion with heavy squalls, ditto rain or hail, a veering wind and the glass going up like the lift in Harrods on a Saturday afternoon, but in its own…

Satellite communications are no longer simply the last resort in an offshore emergency. In our hyper-connected existence, they are increasingly a comfort that we can’t do without when sailing far from land. From the thoroughly modern-day luxuries of posting to social media or sending a video clip, to confidence-inducing measures such as downloading the latest weather data wherever you are, sat comms are ubiquitous for bluewater cruisers and racers alike. The technology required varies according to what you want to do with it, as does the cost of staying connected. It’s all a question of bandwidth. The good news is that prices are falling on the back of major investment by key players like Iridium and Inmarsat, and thanks to competition from terrestrial satcomms providers, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink…

Andrew Simpson Centres: andrewsimpsoncentres.org Dinghy and watersports specialists with UK bases in Reading, Portsmouth, Birmingham and Portland Dream Yacht Charter: dreamyachtcharter.co.uk Huge charter provider worldwide with a base on the south coast of the UK Elite Sailing: elitesailing.co.uk Chatham based sailing scool specialising in RYA training and adventures in yachts Eastwood Whelpton: eastwood-whelpton.co.uk Traditional Norfolk Broads yacht hire Fairview Sailing: fairviewsailing.co.uk Hamble based charter company offering bareboat andskippered charter plus RYA training in yachts Plas Menai: plasmenai.wales Based in Bangor, North Wales, this watersports school also offers RYA courses in yachts and dinghies Rockley Watersports: rockley.org RYA dinghy instruction and self hire in Poole Harbour Sunsail: sunsail.co.uk Yacht charter with a UK base in Port Solent UKSA: uksa.org Based on the Isle of Wight and offering RYA training courses Universal…

“Does it feel like home yet?” I ask, referring to the new Medallia, a 2016 Verdier/VPLP designed foiling IMOCA60 that Pip Hare has recently bought to race solo in the next Vendée Globe. We’re ripping across Poole Bay and Pip has trusted me with the helm; with a casual tap of the autopilot remote control on her arm, it’s over to me. Before I know it, we’re clocking 20 knots of boatspeed in less than half that of windspeed. It’s an incredible ride: the boat glides over the water with astounding power yet the tiller feels as light and responsive as a dinghy. I can’t help but grin; looking up, I see Pip is also beaming, and I realise my question was a silly one. Of course this is 'home';…

Here’s the scenario. The left hand side paid on the first beat: there was much more pressure on the starboard layline. Having rounded the windward mark, the leaders have all straight-set for the downwind and are looking for similar gains on the run. A few hundred metres from the layline, the wind veers (starboard lift) and the leader sets up for a gybe. The second placed runner sees the move, and sails slightly low to set up for the downwind pass. The boats gybe simultaneously: the attacker is high and fast out of the gybe and is instantly affecting the defender’s wind. With apparent wind on its side, the attacker slides down ahead and onto the defender’s line: a perfect set play? The third boat kept sailing into the lift,…

‘How do you keep fit when you’re not out there battling the elements or perfecting your racing sail trim?’ Sailing is an incredible sport. It can tone your body in so many ways. The strength gained from working with the force and power of the wind all the while balancing your own weight, agility and momentum is a fantastic all-round workout. And then, of course, a lot of sailors ruin that by making up for it at the bar afterwards. However, sailing and cruising are very different beasts. Cruisers are not out there on the water, pushing their boats and their bodies every day. Instead, those of us who live aboard and sail worldwide tend to have bursts of activity; busy months, seasons or whole years when we’re covering big…