Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2024 från Yachting Monthly

Intrepid 27-year-old sailor Ella Hibbert has made the difficult decision to delay her departure to sail solo around the Arctic circle until next year, but will instead depart this summer on a training expedition to Norway and Russia in preparation. ‘Yeva is just a couple of short weeks away from being ready – but to leave for the circumnavigation this year would mean to leave within the next month, and I haven’t yet had time to trial and test Yeva offshore and in heavy weather,’ Ella told Yachting Monthly. ‘To set sail for such an expedition without doing my due diligence of training could be a huge mistake. So, I’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the circumnavigation until next year. However, that doesn’t mean everything just stops. Yeva and…

The 1930 America’s Cup challenger Shamrock V, known as ‘The Queen of the J Class’, was relaunched in May at Saxon Wharf, Southampton, after the most comprehensive restoration and rebuild of her storied 94-year history. Racing at the America’s Cup J Class regatta in Bermuda in 2017, Shamrock V sustained significant structural damage and was laid up ashore. Seven years later, following a change of owner and a complete strip down, literally to the last bolt, the work of some of the industry’s best shipwrights, engineers and project teams has restored Shamrock V to concours condition. The launch will be followed by re-masting, sea trials, commissioning, sail testing and race training. Shamrock V will grace the Solent waters until July, when she will move to the Mediterranean to take part…

Many very competent and highly experienced yachtsmen and women don’t have any qualifications at all and are content to keep it that way, but for some reason, not being a Yachtmaster bothered me. I was pretty sure I was up to the standard, but I didn’t know. Once you’ve got the ticket, you become an RYA Yachtmaster, something I’ve wanted to do for years. My friend Andrew and I have been talking about doing it since before his son Daniel, now 16, was born. Perhaps it was time to finally get on with our RYA Yachtmaster Offshore. Every course I have done up to this point, from RYA Dinghy Level 2 all the way up to Coastal Skipper (some 20 years ago) has been one of the RYA’s ‘course-completion’ qualifications…

With the boat and crew ready to go, it was time for our first go at ‘pontoon bashing’. It’s always going to be a little nerve-wracking handling a boat you don’t know well in the confines of a windy and tide-swept marina, so it’s a useful tool for the instructor to quickly get a gauge on your level of confidence and ability. As someone who normally keeps a boat on a mooring and anchors at every available opportunity, tricky marina berths are something that I rarely visit, so this was a skill that needed a little more attention for me. ‘Parking’ can sometimes look a little boring to the outside observer, but serried ranks of expensive boats and vicious bow rollers and anchors makes this an exercise to really focus…

There’s nothing quite like losing one of your senses to sharpen your use of another. While the traditional ‘blind navigation’ exercises known and loved by sailing instructors are less ‘blind’ than they used to be, they are no less challenging than they ever were. They are also the best way to learn how to use one method of navigation that you might otherwise avoid if at all possible. Over the four days, we conducted various exercises, all within a pretty small area at the bottom of Southampton Water, finding arbitrary spots of water given to us by Matt to locate. He would pick spots on the chart, and ask us navigate from one, to the next, to circle another and to stop at another. Even on deck with all the…

1 Secure to the downwind buoy on the way past, pay the line out and motor forwards to secure to the upwind buoy. This method is often used for pile moorings: slide past the leeward buoy, securing to it whilst you go, and maintain way to reach the upwind buoy. This could work well if you have a long enough line to pay out and a single rudder which can maintain steerage at low speed. On a twin rudder vessel, if you lose the bow you won’t be able to recover easily. 2 Lasso the upwind buoy then drop back to the downwind buoy. This approach would have worked well if the wind had been in perfect alignment with the buoys. In a cross wind, it would be tricky to bring the…

1 HEED THE FORECAST We were so keen to get going that we ignored the warning of an impending storm. Using modern communications, today’s sailor will probably never find themselves without a reliable forecast, but we should have listened to the advice we were given and not simply trusted to current conditions and our keenness to be off. 2 CAST A KEEN EYE Heavy weather will find any weak points. Pacific Express’s headsail roller furling line ran a relatively thin rope through an eyelet that took it around a slight bend. This created a chafing point. It was obvious after it failed, but the problem didn’t occur to us beforehand. It would definitely pay to cast a critical eye over the whole boat, asking yourself, will this stand up to…

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Luggers take centre stage in Ullapool The first Ullapool Lugger Festival was held in May to celebrate the great herring fleet of sailing fishing boats that once frequented the Scottish port during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the renewed interest in these gaff-rigged workboats. It was a huge success, attracting some 25 historic boats from as far away as Cornwall and from across the Hebrides. The stars of the show were undoubtedly the 38ft 6in pilchard driver Barnabas, built in 1881, now maintained and crewed by a group of enthusiastic volunteers from the Cornish Maritime Trust, and two recently restored herring boats, the 49ft Zulu herring drifter St Vincent, built in 1910, and the 1911, 36ft Loch Fyne skiff Clan Gordon. The local restoration of luggers St Vincent…

Barton’s test used a 25kg barrel of water suspended from two blocks on a 2:1 purchase, and calculated how much effort was required in kilograms to hold the line. With all block types, the effort required to keep the load static was 12kg and the load on the top sheave was 37kg (25kg weight plus 12kg of pull). The varying force required to get each system moving reveals the amount of friction. Barton’s blocks use a hard-wearing polymer called Delrin for the bearings, but there are even lower-friction options, too, for more demanding applications. ‘If you start putting Torlon bearings in then the efficiency is much higher,’ says Webber. ‘But there’s a three-fold cost difference vs Delrin as well. If you are a high-end racer it’s worth going for Torlon.’…

Backstay load is different for every boat. An Arcona 340 with its fractional rig needs around 1,000kg in the backstay under normal conditions, while a Beneteau Oceanis 45 needs around 1,300kg. If you can’t find the figures for your boat, speak to a rigger. It’s harder to gauge the power you need to sheet in a sail. Most of the effort goes into fighting the wind, especially for the last few turns of the winch, as the sail is powering up. Harken has an online calculator which gives a ballpark guide to sheet loads. The load will be doubled if your mainsheet is fastened to the mid-point of the boom as on many modern cruisers, rather than to the aft end. And it could be higher with a newer or…

The Greek government on 24 May changed the Transit Log rules for non-EU vessels after lobbying by the Cruising Association, which has been in touch with the European Commission, the Greek government and the British Embassy in Athens. The 27 European Union Member States form a single customs territory. The UK is not part of this customs territory, therefore when you take a boat to the EU you import it. Import VAT and duty may be payable unless you are eligible for relief. If you are not established in the EU (if that is not where your habitual residence is), provided that your boat is not registered in the EU, and it is intended for re-export and for personal use only, it should be able to enter the EU for…

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published its report into the grounding of a passenger ferry off the Orkney Islands in July, 2022, injuring 41 passengers and crew when the master fell asleep. At 1400 on 5 July, the Pentland Ferries’ roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry MV Alfred grounded on the east coast of Swona Island, Pentland Firth. The impact also caused damage to Alfred’s port bulbous bow and almost all the vehicles being transported on board. The RNLI evacuated 45 people. The ferry subsequently refloated on the rising tide and continued to St Margaret’s Hope under its own power. ‘On the afternoon of 5 July 2022, the master almost certainly fell asleep and allowed the ferry to swing towards land. Crew should always be sufficiently well rested when coming on…

There have always been yachts that claim to offer the best of all worlds. They lure you in with the promise of being able to luxuriate in spacious opulence after a day of exhilarating sailing. The message is that there’s no need to compromise. Of course we know that’s not really the case. Any boat is a compromise. It’s just a matter of which elements are compromised more than others. Time was when we had the cruiser-racers: race with the lads, cruise with the family (no doubt considered a politically-incorrect message these days). By and large, race boats are now race boats that make no pretence at being anything else. Cruisers, on the other hand, have become more performance-conscious in recent years, reflecting the reality that more speed allows you…

Q When trying to eliminate boat smells, fresh water flushing can’t be the answer. The water from the sink in our boat’s heads developed the ‘anaerobes’ smell this summer, for the initial draw of water, each time we boarded the boat after an interval ashore. This is obviously a fresh water system. Last winter we did not use sterilising tablets in the tank because we never take drinking water from the boat’s tank and they taint cooking water for the initial few weeks. This could have been a factor but is hardly relevant to a heads. What else can you suggest? Hilary Whitelock A Ben Sutcliffe Davies replies There are a few questions to ask up front. What is your water tank made of? Could it be the hoses rather…

Andrew and I are experienced sailors and boat owners. I gained my knowledge with my Sadler 29 and before that the family Hallberg-Rassy 31, and Andrew with his Dehler 31, in which he regularly crosses the North Sea. Neither of us were short of sea-miles. If we failed, both of us had some pride to lose, Andrew as an RYA dinghy sailing centre principal at Fellowship Afloat in Tollesbury, and me with, well, the editorship of these pages. But most of all, we were motivated by wanting to know if we were up to scratch as skippers, and to discover what bad habits we’ve developed over time. We wanted to be better sailors. With just two of us taking the exam, our prep could be condensed into four days with…

The forecast for the week couldn’t have been much better. Typically, the only day there wasn’t sunshine and a decent breeze was the day we had the photographer on board, but the rest of the time there was enough wind to get our teeth into – there’s nothing like trying to sail onto a mooring if there’s no wind, and it’s often a stiff breeze that makes marina manoeuvring tricky. The aim for day one was to run through the full gambit of skills that would be tested in the exam for Matt to get an idea of where Andrew and I were at. With the food and kit stowed, the day began with the usual safety briefings, engine checks and discussion regarding firefighting. SAFETY BRIEFS A good skipper will…

Fancy going to Polperro next weekend?’ I asked my partner Chris on New Year’s Day. ‘We’ve finally got some high pressure coming in.’ I needed to visit Polperro as part of my research for the next edition of the Shell Channel Pilot, but the autumnal Atlantic batterings had been relentless. ‘Sure,’ he replied, ‘I need to try out my new winter sailing outfit.’ Having been instructed to visit the chandlery for his first set of foulies, Chris had, instead, been to the eclectic army surplus store in Plymouth, Bogey Knights, and returned with a two-piece flotation suit made from 3mm neoprene. ‘It only cost £70,’ he declared proudly. It wasn’t quite what I’d envisaged. On a small-scale chart Polperro barely registers, it’s just a wrinkle in the coastline. The tiny…

Not knowing just how far apart the buoys were, we set up for an Option 1 approach, intending to lasso the stern line and continue on to the windward buoy. However, it soon became apparent that the stern line wasn’t long enough for the job. By this point, though, we were committed to the approach. As always, what seems like plenty of space on the chart, felt very tight in reality. The granite sides of the inlet add a dramatic backdrop to the proceedings. It was too late to reverse out, so we continued on to the second buoy and did a tight, starboard-hand turn around it using the port prop kick to keep it within touching distance. We lassoed it using a line from the starboard quarter and shortened…

Mary and I are very fond of the Isles of Scilly. In fact, we regard the archipelago as the most delightful cruising destination to be found anywhere around the British Isles or North West France. We often encounter other cruisers who have been making regular, annual pilgrimages to this Atlantic outpost, drawn by the clear water, golden sands and oceanic scenery. We also know sailors who never quite get there, possibly deterred by the location and by published warnings to the effect that there is no place with all-round shelter against bad weather. Scilly enthusiasts accept that they may have to move between different moorings and anchorages, according to the wind direction. Even so, under certain conditions it can be difficult to decide on the best course of action, particularly…

Friday’s dinner topic in late September, 2022: ‘I don’t want to go to French school. I don’t even speak French.’ ‘You will make friends,’ I argued, but the hoped for enthusiasm did not shine in his eyes. ‘It will soon be your birthday,’ Theresa broke into the conversation. ‘Shall we prepare a big beach party this year?’ Vetle’s eyes sparkled immediately and he started to talk about games, food, bonfire and all the good things that come with a big beach party. ‘Who shall we invite?’ Theresa asked. A huge question mark hovered over our dinner table. Silence fell. On Monday morning, Vetle gave each of us a hug under the mango tree outside École primaire publique de Taioha’e before straightening his cap and with firm determination entered the gate…

I got the call while sitting in a little cafe in Horta in the Azores. Say ‘hell, yes’ first, think about the logistics second. So that’s how I became First Mate on board the iconic yacht Maiden with our record-breaking all-female crew, racing like it’s 1973. First I had to complete an Atlantic crossing. I then joined the team in Hamble in July 2023 for the final preparations ahead of the start. I also had to get my GMDSS GOC (general operator’s certificate) radio licence. Little did I know that the HF radio would become a huge feature of the days on board. It was often our only access to weather information but also our social network, with jokes or ‘quotes of the day’ with the other boats at the…

www.yachtingmonthly.com/books Sandy Winterbottom was sailing to Antarctica on the tall ship Bark Europa, when she noticed the grave of 18-year-old Anthony Ford who worked on a whaling ship and committed suicide in 1952. On her return to Scotland, she researched his story with the help of former whalers and interleaves it with her own. That evening the Southern Soldier comes alongside the factory, and a line is strung from the winch boom over to the catcher. Hanging from the line, a wicker basket, transfers supplies and men. The catcher bounces in the sea alongside the more stable factory ship, so a dead whale is slung between them to soften any collision. You’re glad to see the other boy winched across to the factory first. The basket is guided in, landing…

What does lifting a sodden MOB out of the drink and tensioning the backstay have in common? Well, unless you’re sailing a very small dinghy, they both make use of mechanical advantage to multiply the force of the human arm. Also known as purchase, there are several ways to turn a small force into a big one without having to resort to electrical power. Our boats are full of such systems. Even dinghies have a system of multiple blocks to help trim the mainsheet, for instance. If you sail a larger boat, you’re likely to have the same thing to move the sheet travellers. Winches are nothing if not an age-old mechanism to gear down for extra power, as is the big wheel on the backstay tensioner. Hydraulic power achieves…

After months of preparation, quadriplegic adventurer Geoff Holt MBE has set sail on a month-long trip from St. Katharine Docks, London, in a record-breaking challenge to circumnavigate the UK coastline. Holt, aged 58 from Fareham, Hampshire, will drive his Wetwheels power catamaran 1,500 miles around the coastline, calling at 17 accessible ports across the country. He aims to raise £1.2 million for his Wetwheels Foundation charity. Holt was paralysed in a swimming accident in 1984 and has spent 40 years in a wheelchair. In 2007, he became the first disabled person to sail single-handed around Britain. Holt founded Wetwheels in 2011 and he hopes to raise funds for four new boats, offering life-changing experiences to disabled people. His challenge is being sponsored by RS Marine Group, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation,…

A group of sailors are calling on members of the public and the government to help save the tall ship Tenacious, sailed on by thousands of disabled and non-disabled people. Tenacious is laid up in Sharpness dry dock and hasn’t sailed since October 2023. The Jubilee Sailing Trust which owns Tenacious has stopped trading and does not have the funds to get her back to sea. She was built in the UK by volunteers under the guidance of master craftsmen, and started service in late 2000. www.tenacious.org.uk…

As the RNLI celebrates its 200th anniversary this year, more than 40 rescue vessels formed a flotilla more than a mile long in Poole in May. The flotilla comprised more than 20 historic RNLI lifeboats, including the current lifeboat fleet, inshore lifeboats and the inshore rescue hovercraft. International lifeboats were welcomed as part of the two-day event having travelled from France, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. The oldest rescue craft taking part was a Swedish rowing lifeboat from 1868. RNLI chief executive Mark Dowie said: ‘As we commemorate the RNLI’s 200th anniversary this year, it was very special to be able to invite supporters, volunteers, historic lifeboat owners, and international search and rescue partners to this event, showcasing our lifesaving work and providing a glimpse behind the scenes. ‘The parade…

Sailing with Pip Hare last week reminded me of my father’s sailing mantra: ‘It’s all about drag.’ I have many memories of fine-sanding the bottom of my dinghies and the excitement of discovering graphite paint. As crew on my Mirror dinghy, my father was incredibly patient in demonstrating its effect, from lifting the centreboard where we could, healing the boat to reduce wetted area and lying in the bottom during light airs to reduce windage. During last week’s trip with Pip, her yacht Medallia suddenly came to life and erupted into another dimension. She had reached that sweet spot where the foils lift her nose and she enters an upward speed spiral of diminishing drag and increasing apparent wind. The grin-inducing power surge is remarkable and I’m mesmerised by the…

Q Gerry is regretting taking three novice crew across the North Sea. They are on board Bellatrix, a 12m standard production yacht. They started from Stavanger in Norway and are on passage to Hartlepool – a total distance of 350 miles. They are about half way there with 170 miles to go. Gerry would have preferred to give his inexperienced crew a short shakedown passage before the long trip, but a favourable easterly forecast for two days persuaded him to set off as soon as everyone was on board. They have made excellent progress; in just over 24 hours they have averaged about 7 knots on a broad reach and are now sailing past some of the numerous oil and gas rigs. However, the quick passage has come at a…

As I prepared for the week, I quickly found I’d had significant ‘skills fade’ in my detailed knowledge of the Collision Regulations, particularly lights, shapes and sounds, and buoyage light characteristics. You’ll need a good working knowledge not just of the most common parts of the rules, but of the whole lot, including some of the more esoteric corners of the rule book. Professional seafarers are expect to know every word verbatim; Yachtmasters need to be getting at least 80% of the lights and shapes right, and importantly be able to demonstrate that they understand them, to pass. The lights shown by trawlers shooting gear, towed vessels of the bizarest dimensions and sizes, and the sound signals of vessels in all sorts of pickles were initially, at best, a little…

Getting a boat from A to B safely and effectively is still at the heart of the RYA Yachtmaster qualification, as it has been from its inception. The tools available to help us navigate have changed dramatically since 1973, however, and even in the last decade have been transformed. GNSS, chartplotters, AIS, smartphones and internet access have resulted in a revolution. Many sailors have ditched paper almost entirely these days, so have the traditional navigation skills of the Yachtmaster scheme become irrelevant? PLANNING On our first evening, Matt set us homework; Andrew would take us from Hamble into the Beaulieu River and I would bring us back. Hardly a challenging trip, and one I’ve often done with little more than cursory planning. That’s not the point though, as if these…

I’m a reluctant lassoer, but sometimes it’s the only way to temporarily secure to a buoy until you’ve got a line attached. The problem in Polperro is that with 75ft between the buoys, you need a very long line to lasso one of them and pay out enough to reach the other buoy. The smaller the boat, the longer the line, because there’s less boat to bridge the gap. Joining two lines risks snagging the knot where the line passes around the chain on the buoy. Old halyards aren’t suitable as long-term mooring lines as they don’t stretch, but they might be the only line long enough for this kind of job.…

Sammy, my sister, was ready to go. She couldn’t wait to put on her skipper’s hat and head off on a great adventure. It was 1998, when offshore sailing was off-grid, whether you liked it or not. There were no fancy chart plotters and weather apps to tell us the conditions; we relied on the basics: radar and depth sounder and the SSB radio for weather updates. Sammy plotted our course hourly on a paper chart. Back then, we simply had to rely on long-range, low-tech information. Standing on the pontoon saying our goodbyes in Auckland harbour, four of us made a solid crew. I was the least experienced. My sister had worked for Ocean Youth Club, sailing 70ft offshore yachts around Britain with youngsters on board. Her then husband,…

Our way of life on board is best described as ‘Vi tar det lugnt’, Swedish for ‘we take it easy’. We travel without a specific plan or target; it’s the voyage that is important, not necessarily the destination. After a crossing we slow down, explore the environment and enjoy the local atmosphere and culture. We anchor a lot and prefer to moor at small fishing quays, which is a great way to meet local people and to get a feel for the island’s way of life and living. Travelling without a schedule allows us to adjust our plans and enjoy the moment, especially in these waters. The Faroe Islands are situated about 150-200 miles from either the Hebrides, Orkney or Shetland. The Faroes are a self-governing nation under the external…

1 TARAVAI, GAMBIER Sunday BBQ visiting Hervé and Valerie. Good food, beautiful walks, welcoming hosts and socialising with all cruisers. 2 AUKENA, GAMBIER Small settlement, vanilla farm and the nicest church in the Gambier. Good for small hikes and snorkelling. 3 BAIE HANAMOENOA, TAHUATA The best anchorage in the Marquesas with no swell, clear waters, a nice beach and only a dinghy ride from the nice welcoming village in Vaitahu. 4 ANAHO, NUKU HIVA We loved Anaho as a getaway from Taiohae Bay. Anaho is clean, with a nice beach, beach restaurant and excellent hike through ‘mango valley’ to Hatiheu village. We bought vegetables and fruits from the local farms. 5 HAKAUI VALLEY A nice family hike through the valley, gobbling wild mangoes and learning about former settlements in the…

‘Why do we go to sea for such long times and cross oceans? I think it has to be the freedom the ocean brings. There is a lot of time for deep contemplation and there is nothing more bonding than late night chats in the dark, looking out at the stars as the boat slices her way through the waves leaving a glittery wake and it’s all quiet except for the sound of the waves. ‘On off watches, I love to listen to the musical hum as the water rushes along the hull, signalling we are making fast speeds, often accompanied by the whoops and cheers of the on watch as we surf down waves. ‘Maiden is like a racehorse chomping at the bit ready to take off at the…

Mainsheet: Even 30-40ft boats will often have a winch-free mainsheet that relies instead on an arrangement of triple blocks giving 6:1 purchase. Backstay: Stay terminates well before the deck with a block, through which a line is run, itself terminating in an ever-decreasing cascade of blocks. In this way you can achieve enormous purchase – I found an example of 48:1. Vang: With its job of pulling the boom down and flattening the main, the vang has to be able to exert a lot of force. Typically reeved as 4:1 or 6:1, you’ll get extra purchase by using it with the halyard winch. Main halyard: On larger boats, this can run via a block at the head of the sail to give a 2:1 purchase, plus the winch gearing. Sheet…

All mechanical systems are subject to efficiency loss through friction. Gears stick, bearings load up or get clogged and rope sheaths get fuzzy with time. But even brand-new blocks are subject to friction, which varies depending on the materials they are built from and the loads to which they are exposed. ‘Every time you put a block or a friction ring into a system, you’ve got a loss of efficiency,’ says chief commercial officer Jeff Webber of Barton Marine. ‘It depends whether it’s a deflection or a turn, then on the bearings in the block. A block where you’re deflecting the line has lower losses than a 90-degree or 180-degree turn.’ Barton Marine put some of their own products to the test to illustrate this, with some eye-watering results. Whatever…