Innehållsförteckning för March 2023 från Sailing Today

Neo 515 Neo Yachts is an Italian company that has made its name by designing very sporty cruiser/racers. The 515 certainly fits into that template and is a yacht that has been designed by Ceccarelli Yacht Design to serve both as an extremely fast cruiser and a boat that can rapidly be converted into a racer. The styling is striking featuring plenty of beam, a very pronounced dreadnought bow and a coachroof that runs right forward to the bow. The construction is carbonfibre, while the beam is substantial and carried right aft. This makes for a 50 footer that could make an ocean passage in very rapid time. ● neoyachts.com Saffier SE24 Lite Dutch manufacturer Saffier has always had a philosophy that sailing should be fun, fast and uncomplicated. The…

Boat test - Balance 482 There was a time when, if you were searching for a cruising catamaran, your choices might end up being a bit limited -this is certainly not the case any more. Cruising multihulls are the fastest growing sector of the boatbuilding industry and the result is that there is now a vast range of boats to choose from. An exploding market has also meant that designers are pushing the boundaries in many different ways in order to make their product stand out. Balance Catamarans is a fine example of this. The South African company is the brainchild of its President, Phillip Berman, an American who set up the company in 2013. Berman, a former Hobie world champion racer, has written many books on multihull sailing in…

Revolve Boat Hook Marine Components International (MCI) has been appointed UK distributor for Revolve-Tec. In essence this is a lightweight carbonfibre plank that can be rolled up or flung out into shape, in a similar action to that of a child’s roll-up bracelet. The end of the product has a fitting that can turn it into a boat hook or emergency VHF antenna. • RRP Boat Hook £84.95 Award for savvy navvy Good news from savvy navvy, where founder Jelte Liebrand has won Scale-Up Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2022. The navigation app, which offers charts, GPS tracking, weather, tides and more info for sailors and other watersports users, has this year almost doubled its users in more than 100 countries around the world. Download…

BoatLife There are just two weeks to go, as this issue of the magazine goes on sale, before the doors open to the second SBS BoatLife show, running from 16-19 February at NEC Birmingham. Sailing exhibitors include RS Sailing, Hartley Boats, Drascombe, Rooster, Topper, with electronics from B&G, Garmin, Navionics, Raymarine and the SM Group. There will be clothing from Mustang Survival and OceanR and activities from SailingHolidays. The activity pool will feature kayaks and other boats managed by Rockley Watersports. Ellie Driver, voted Sailor of the Year at our British Yachting Awards in November 2022, will be speaking on the stage on 19 February at 2pm. Our columnist Tom Cunliffe will be on at noon, on the same day. The previous day, 18 February, will see the winners of…

Coach boat view Having watched Holcim PRB sail from first to last in one short beat in the Ocean Race last month we came to two key conclusions: IMOCA’s are not optimised for short-course racing, and “take the long tack first”-the first strategic rule of thumb that we all learned as juniors - is not the gilt-edged sailing stock that many textbooks suggest, even for the pros. In this feature we’ll look at the meaning of “long tack first”, when it might be appropriate as a strategy, and some of the situations that it might be more of a hindrance than a help. What is the ‘long tack’? We teach the youngsters to luff head to wind at the start line. If their bow is pointing to the left of…

When asked why it is that we are still sailing, now in our 12th year of what was meant to be only a two year trip, I often say “it’s so fulfilling”. By which I mean that our way of life is one of constant learning and stimulation. And probably the single greatest thing that I have learned in this time is the art of flexibility, not only accepting but positively embracing change. I am often told in an offhand way that “people dislike change” a phrase so clichéd and tabloidesque that few doubt it’s fact or accuracy. But change in itself is nothing to be fearful of. Fear of change really comes about when the reason for the change is not understood or is disliked, which causes resistance. People…

French enter America’s Cup After months of rumours, a French team entered the 2024 America’s Cup led by Bruno Dubois and Stephane Kandler. The organisers of the 37th America’s Cup officially welcomed the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez and their representative K-Challenge Racing team as an additional challenger over the New Year period. The 37th America’s Cup will take place in Barcelona next year in the summer, with the French up against established rivals, the British Challenge of Record INEOS Britannia (whose test boat is shown right), the Italian Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team, the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic and the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing team based in Barcelona. The Defender is Emirates Team New Zealand. CEO of K-Challenge Racing, Stephane Kandler said: “Bruno and I are very…

Aegean It had been a frantic few days. Beduin, my partner Aleko’s Nicholson 32, had been out of the water for the first time in six years but Aleko had been busy all winter. So there was a last minute rush to get the essential jobs done, most importantly fixing the leak around the rudder stock and replacing skin fittings. The actual launch from the boatyard in Milina was a fairly relaxed event, involving a tractor with a trailer on a long bar, and a coffee break in the middle. The previous autumn we’d been down to the Cyclades and Peloponnese from Aleko’s home in the Pagasetic Gulf, so now planned to cross the Aegean to the Dodecanese and eastern Cyclades. The Sporades being familiar territory, we didn’t linger, and…

“Back then, one of the yachts even had a full-time chef who served up roast dinners” Doing the live commentary on board a VIP guest boat, I watched six VO65s and five foiling IMOCAs depart Alicante, Spain, as the fleet set out on the 32,000 nautical miles of The Ocean Race. How this event has changed over the past 50 years since the first edition of the Whitbread Round The World Race in 1973. Back then, one of the yachts even had a full-time chef who served up roast dinners which the crew washed down with bottles of wine. If anyone was rude about the food, the irascible chef was sometimes known to chase the offending crewman around the dining room table with a knife. On board the new breed…

Tom Cunliffe I don’t know how you feel about having a yacht delivered across an ocean by ship. I always considered it a bit of a cop-out until a decade or so ago when an unexpected hand of cards led me to a different point of view. In fact, shipping can sometimes make sense, even for those of us not embarrassed by our wealth. The ARC Atlantic rally is a case in point. Back in the day, we used to refer to a trip to the Caribbean from Europe at the right time of year as ‘The Milk Run’. In the Brave New World of GPS and boats that don’t leak, it’s easier still. The hardest part is getting to the Canaries, but given a reasonable break in the Portuguese…

Charter Guide - Greece The short haul charter flights and package holiday revolution back in the 1970s led to the introduction of flotilla sailing holidays in the Greek islands and, by the 1990s companies like Barrie and Heidi Neilson’s Sailing Holidays was, and still is, one of the key players. There is no doubt that companies like this, as well as others including Sunsail, Wildwind and Nautilus Yachting are not only responsible for introducing thousands of newcomers to sailing every year, but also keep the fun aspect of sailing alive. With so many reputable sailing holiday companies now operating in this desirable area of the Mediterranean, choosing a holiday that suits your needs can seem a bit daunting. The first thing to consider is the wind conditions that vary considerably…

Noss on Dart Marina and Boatyard, owned by Premier Marinas, offers an ideal southwest retreat in which to base a yacht. With easy transport links to and from Dartmouth, this safe and secure Premier environment is a popular permanent solution for those wishing embrace the delights of west country cruising and beyond. It is also an excellent option for short term visitors or those who wish to leave a boat berthed there for the season. Premier offers a choice of either marina berthing or river moorings with 240 fully-serviced berths for boats from 9m-25m. Annual berth holders benefit from Premier Advantage, a rewards scheme, which not only offers reciprocal berthing arrangements at other Premier marinas, but also other benefits that include discounts on services (see Factfile p.75). As well as…

Boat test - Oyster 495 Most manufacturers don’t like you ‘helping’ delivery crew move its boats between various boat shows – I would assume that this is because a) journalists are a thundering pain who ask too many questions, and b) an extended trip gives said journalist much more time to familiarise him/herself with any niggles or defects a boat may have that may be hidden by a shorter test format. I was therefore quite impressed when Oyster invited me to help move its all new 495 from Palma to Cannes ahead of the boat show. It spoke of a confidence in the product often lacking from more pragmatic manufacturers. So I duly signed up as crew/minor irritant for the trip and I write this comfortably ensconced in the master…

Novice delivery trip Last week, I found myself on a 12-hour night bus to Dundee, wondering about my life choices. Sitting at my desk at my stuffy office job in Trafalgar Square earlier that day, I had received a message from a friend who needed a crew to sail his yacht from Dundee to Portsmouth. He knew I had no experience but asked would I consider helping, and did I have any friends who could likewise help. A light went off in my head and I realised, life was too short for tech sales. I quit my job, called a friend of mine called Luke who also jumped at the idea, and headed for the bus station. On the way I stopped for a final pint in Hackney and met…

The Ocean Race Since it was announced five years ago, the introduction of the IMOCA 60 has created a pivotal point in The Ocean Race’s 50 year history. With it have come major changes that made for an atmosphere of high anticipation among the teams and fans gathered in Alicante, Spain. Dockside, all five skippers are quick to admit they are taking a step into the unknown, with ‘full’ crews (of four, plus one on board reporter) about to push cutting edge foiling boats to their limits in the dangerous environs of the Southern Ocean for the first time; how they overcome those challenges will have a huge impact. Human limits too will be tested in new ways, with the old-school hierarchical skipper-crew dynamic set aside as a new generation…

Buyer's Guide – Insurance nother year of climate extremes has done nothing to reduce the cost of insuring your boat. That and the rocketing cost of raw materials and labour are pushing up premiums this year. But the main story for insurers was a surge of eager sailors returning to the water after on-off Covid restrictions came to an end. “2022 saw a welcome return to full sailing activity and inevitably that contributed to an increase in claim numbers,” says Rod Daniel, underwriting manager at online insurer Craftinsure. “In the excitement of having all shackles lifted, it seems some threw caution to the wind in a few cases! We did see a significant increase in racing incidents as well as groundings during the past year.” Buoyant demand for new and…

JEANNEAU SUN ODYSSEY 45 DS | AMATHUS ESPRIT The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 DS was hugely successful, combining a capable Philippe Briand hull with a stylish deck saloon design offering a class-leading interior with excellent headroom and natural light, ideal for comfortable cruising and longer periods afloat. This excellent example has the more popular twin aft cabin, owner’s cabin forward layout offering three double sleeping cabins, a generous galley, owner’s en suite forward, and an easily accessed heads aft. Amathus Esprit is one of the last of her kind built in 2011, is presented in very good condition, and has the standard draft keel (a sensible 2.05m) for improved performance. Her impressive inventory includes a bow thruster, air conditioning, diesel-fired warm air heating, electric windlass, electric halyard winch, recent nav…

I have solo sailed quite a bit but my wife, Christina, is not so keen on allowing me to go off alone because, first, she always wants to be where the action is and second, she thinks there are women out there hunting an old boy with a good pension. But, for various reasons, I was off – Granton (in the Firth of Forth) to Holy Island on my own. Sailing solo is safe enough but needs everything done in plenty of time and plenty of planning. I left late afternoon just as the tide allowed with a forecast of Force 3-4 from the southwest. Instead, getting out the harbour I found it was Force 5-6 and westerly – letting me bowl down the Forth. The plan was to anchor…

ARC Arrival Two hundred and twenty-nine boats carrying more than a thousand sailors crossed the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Eastern Caribbean in two of World Cruising Club’s 2022 yacht rallies. Start day for the 91-strong ARC+ fleet, sailing to Port Louis Marina in Grenada via a stop in the Cape Verde Islands, was 8 November. The ARC fleet, sailing direct and nonstop to Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia, departed on 20 November. Most of these boats and sailors arrived without mishap, or with only minor breakages or injuries. But stuff happens at sea, and when it did, sailors dealt with it. Two notable examples were Karen Parker on Mistral of Portsmouth, sailing in the ARC+, and the Wennberg family sailing in the ARC on Take Off. Family…