Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Sailing Today

Boat test – Lagoon 60 Lagoon catamarans is without doubt the biggest cruising multihull manufacturer in the world and its yachts are ubiquitous be it in the South Seas or the South Coast of England. The manufacturer states that there are around 7,000 Lagoons bobbing around on the oceans. The secret of its success could probably best pinned on its consistency of purpose; the Bordeaux based manufacturer has never really tried to produce anything other than comfortable cruising catamarans. Sure, it has always looked to improve performance and internal volumes but it has always kept the faith with the idea that it knows what it wants to produce, and believes that it is in tune with the buying public. The results speak for themselves; nobody is ever going to win…

How to Win Firstly, what is the medal race? Well at least in theory it is the race which decides the medals at important regattas like World Championships or Olympic games. It is a short (maybe half the length of a fleet race) double points scoring, compulsory race (that sailors must race unless injured and must count in their total score) that in theory decides the medals. Although a standout performance could mean if there is a big enough points gap between places then a medal(s) is decided before the final race. For some, the medal race will be the most important race of their lives. In many classes the standard of competition is so high that people winning with a ‘day to spare’ is becoming increasingly unlikely but it…

Buyers Guide – Furlers There is an unusual amount of choice on the market when it comes to fitting or replacing a jib furler. Where much of the sailing industry has seen brands consolidate, furlers are still made by some smaller entrepreneurial suppliers alongside the bigger names. Costs for a manual furler typically run from around £500 to equip a dinghy, and up to £2-3,000 for a 40ft cruising boat, although some premium brands are closer to the £6,000 mark. Some also price the luff foil, furling line and fairleads separately, so take care to compare like with like when looking about. Options include a specific Ocean variant for Harken, race variants for several brands, and through-deck systems. While the idea of a through-deck unit nicely tucked out of sight may…

NAJAD 420 | STARGAZER Najad 420, Stargazer is a lovely quality cruising yacht from the Island of Orust, Sweden. Compact enough for coastal cruising, yet with long legs should you wish to go a lot further. She comes with a spacious saloon, practical galley, and sleeps up to six people. In great shape, Stargazer has been much updated by her current owner, including bow thruster, plotter, batteries, new hatches, sprayhood, cockpit cover, and more. Plug and play for family cruising. Year: 1996 LOA: 13m (42’8”) Beam: 3.82m (12’6”) Draft: 1.90m (6’3”) Displacement: 13,000kg Hull Construction: Glassfibre Keel: Fin Engine: 1 x Volvo Penta, 78hp Designer: Najad Accommodation: 6 berths in 2 cabins plus saloon Location: Lymington, Hants Contact: berthoninternational.com craftinsure quote: £848.68 HANSE 388 | SCRIBBLE Scribble, this 2021 Hanse…

Spain reign supreme at Sail GP final showdown in San Francisco Spain’s summer of sporting triumphs continues as the Spanish Sail GP team scooped its first Sail GP title by defeating heavyweights Australia and new Zealand in a dramatic winner takes all Grand Final race in San Francisco. Driver Diego Botin delivered when it truly mattered, hitting the start line at the perfect time and then driving home his advantage over the Kiwis and the Aussies. Post race, Botin enthused: “Beating the Kiwis and Aussies in the Grand Final - it’s amazing. We’re over the moon. It’s been a big grind and we’ve been through a lot in this League - last season we were last in the scores, and look - this season we win! I think we have…

I am writing this in a snug anchorage up the east coast of Sweden. The local met outfit, SMHI, give first-class forecasts of wind and weather, but for the vital overall picture, my favourite is still the UK Met Office and its excellent surface pressure charts. These show you what’s coming, what’s happening and even what you’ve had. Studying them makes for a stimulating half-hour comparing your own conclusions with today’s forecast and the facts of life going on all around you. I’ve been watching the charts with some trepidation recently. First off the blocks two days back was a big cold front which swept in from the North Atlantic. That arrived just after I’d dug in the pick for the afternoon in a suitable hidey-hole. The Swedes had been…

Cruising – South Atlantic When our friends asked if we’d help them sail Tourterelles, their brand-new Knysna 500SE catamaran on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic from South Africa, we jumped at it. We’d sold our own catamaran a year previously in Australia and were missing the cruising lifestyle and the challenge of sailing into pastures new. The trip was also the perfect opportunity for Fergus, my husband, to complete the practical part of his RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualification. He’d already passed the theory, but the final requirement was to do a passage of a minimum of 600nm, using the ancient art of astro-navigation. Sailing as part of the crew, instead of his usual position of skipper, meant he could complete this task without monitoring the GPS. Having never been…

UK Charter choice The UK yacht charter business has diversified significantly over the last few years to meet the demand for more adventurous style holidays, as well as racing and cruising in general. You’ll also find that in addition to the mainstream charter companies that operate in the UK as well as globally such as Prometheus Sailing (Sunsail), LV Yachting, and an influx of specialised charter options, there are over 1,500 RYA-recognised training centres in the UK. These are located around the coast and inland, and many also offer bareboat, and skippered/crewed charter. Prometheus Sailing is, as far as we are aware, the only UK based company offering flotilla sailing holidays around the UK. Specialised charter As the name implies, specialised charter covers a huge range of adventurous style holidays.…

Have you ever had the Greek Gods of Anchoring displeased with you? I have. I once spent a week on charter with a wonderfully nice father and daughter, on board Sail Ionian’s brand-new Bavaria C50, and it was an absolute nightmare. What’s more, the yacht had just had a new 30kg Rocna fitted, so I couldn’t even blame the ground tackle! Everywhere I went that week I had to have three or four attempts at dropping before the anchor would catch. By the end, I was in tears with frustration, and still don’t know what I was doing wrong. The next time I took her out on charter I had no problems whatsoever. In the Ionian we rely heavily on our anchor. It can make or break a week on…

Things have changed quite a lot since the Polynesians first came up with the idea of strapping two canoes together to make a catamaran. These days, multihulls are big business and, while the monohull market remains quite static, the multihull market grows year on year. The reason behind this massive expansion has involved multiple factors but the key is that, for cruising, a catamaran or trimaran can provide a stable, spacious platform for living aboard while also delivering impressive performance. It is this performance factor that has really unlocked the potential of the cruising cat. Where previously upwind performance could be questionable, the new generation of yachts generally point well, while those with daggerboards are often pointing as high as many of their monohull sisters. In recent years, the market…

“It was great to have Keith Musto out on the water watching us and even offering tuning tips” The last time I competed in a Musto Skiff World Championship in Weymouth was in June 2012. It was the last major event before Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy went into security lockdown a month before the London 2012 Olympic Regatta was due to take place. This year I again competed at a Musto Skiff Worlds in Weymouth just before an Olympic Games, with just four days’ rest before jetting down to Marseille for the sailing events of Paris 2024. It was a little incongruous to see some of our Olympic stars like ILCA 7 sailor Micky Beckett and the Nacra 17 duo, John Gimson and Anna Burnet, putting in some…

Olympics The sporting spectacular that is the 2024 Paris Olympic Games is about to begin – (and yes, it has come round fast, thanks to 2020’s pandemic postponement) – with sailing one of 32 sports, set to contest 10 medal events. The Olympic waters lie over 400 miles south of Paris off Marseille, with its €50m newly re-developed marina, banks of stadium seating, and sandy beach backdrops. Tricky conditions await, with wind and sea state both highly variable thanks to an unpredictable range of Mistral winds, sea breezes and, of course, the sweeping topography of the bay, which can all variously come into play. The addition of kiteboarding (men’s and women’s Formula Kite) and foiling windsurfing (men’s and women’s iQFOil) means five of those medals will now be fought for…

Interview Martin is sailing around the world with his wife Ilke and their kids (11), Jurre (10), and Hidde (8), on their Bavaria 50 Cruiser. They left home in the Netherlands in August 2022 and, since then, they have sailed through the English Channel, Bay of Biscay, and across the Atlantic. They took their time to discover the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Suriname, the Caribbean, and a host of other interesting and exotic locations along the way. Currently they are cruising around the San Blas archipelago and preparing for the next phase of their journey through the Panama Canal and into the Pacific. Having known Martin since primary school, I couldn’t wait to interview him. How long did you dream about this trip, and prepare for it, before you cast…

Vancouver On the intricate, sometimes challenging 300nm passage north from our home waters, inside Vancouver Island, we’d made only one stop at anywhere resembling civilisation: the rough-and-ready logging village of Port McNeill (Proud Home of the World’s Largest Burl). We’d splurged on junk food at Gus’s Pub, which was packed with raucous hockey fans there for the Stanley Cup finals on TV. Now, at anchor on a quiet evening at remote Bull Harbour, off the northern tip of the Island, we paid the price. “I can’t believe it. It says I’m positive!” Jenny had thought she might be suffering the after effects of an undercooked hamburger at Gus’s, but – just in case – she tried one of the three Covid test kits we were carrying on board. A second…

‘...The mosquitos, also uninvited, are less-welcome additions’ I am not alone. I sat down at my desk in our aft cabin intending to write on another topic altogether when I spotted a tiny figure peeking out at from the bookshelf. There is a small, speckled gecko who stopped, mid-movement, as soon as he realised there was a human sharing his space. He is one of many little crewmates that we’ve unwittingly hosted onboard. Our very first batch of geckos arrived when we were sailing in Panama, and we rejoiced when we caught a glimpse of the odd one darting out to attack a mosquito. The mosquitos, also uninvited, are less-welcome additions. Their presence fluctuates according to whether we’re tied to a marina, or anchored too close to mangroves. Portlight screens…