Table of contents for November 2016 in SAIL

Day Two at this year’s Audi Hamilton Island Race week proved to be a bit of bust when the wind failed to cooperate, resulting in delayed starts and frustrating sailing. One of the fun things about sailing among Australia’s famed Whitsunday Islands, though, is that you’re surrounded by an abundance of flora and fauna—including, in this case, a humpback whale that decided to check out the start of the trailerables division off Dent Island. In fact, the Whitsundays serve as an important humpback calving ground from May to September, with the proud mothers and their young off spring heading off in search of other feeding grounds around the beginning of the Austral spring. Hey skipper, watch your helm. You’re racing!…

HEAVY GOING The yacht on the left is beautifully reefed. Even her half-rolled headsail is setting a treat. The trouble is, she’s carrying all she can, and it isn’t very windy. If your standard suit of sails can’t really stand up to a heavy breeze and you intend serious cruising, there’s no choice but to invest in a trysail like the one on the facing page. Set with a dedicated storm jib, either yacht would then take a lot more wind in her stride. What’s more, because the storm sails see little use, they’ll never blow out. CHECK THE WAYPOINT “Rubbish in, garbage out,” was one of the first maxims to stick when GPS came onto the scene, and it’s just as true today. Datum shift s aside, the…

After being shut out at the 2012 Olympic regatta in Weymouth, England, the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team had nowhere to go but up at the recent 2016 Games in Rio. And while it still has a way to go to catch up to such powerhouses as Great Britain (which took two golds and a silver) or Australia (which took one gold and three silvers), the team definitely seemed to turn the corner, with top-10 finishes in six of 10 classes and a bronze medal going to U.S. sailor Caleb Paine in the hyper-competitive Finn, heavyweight dinghy class. Paine’s podium performance, in particular, was a dramatic one— coming from behind in the the final race thanks to a savvy call on a wind shift midway through the first beat, to win…

The growing popularity of catamarans for bluewater sailing has spawned a number of designs aimed at sailors who want some speed along with their comfort, yet either don’t want, or can’t afford to go down the high-tech carbon-fiber route. Builders like Catana and Outremer are the best-known companies that cater to this market, but there are a number of others, many of them based in South Africa, which is tied with France as the current hotbed of multihull development. One of the newer entrants into this competitive field is Balance Catamarans, whose second model, the Balance 526, we took for a spin on a sunny day off Fort Lauderdale. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION Balance is the brainchild of veteran multihull broker Phil Berman, who wanted to distill his decades of experience…

On July 28, 1999, my wife, Debbie, and I cut the dock lines on our Bob Perry-designed Baba 40 ketch, Sailors Run, at the Long Branch Marina in Washington’s South Puget Sound, and sailed away to explore the world under sail: an ambition I had nurtured since I first set foot on a sailboat nearly 30 years earlier. At last, at age 53, and having quit work after saving enough money for us to live comfortably, I never looked back, but only forward, to what might lie over the horizon. With no time constraints or any of the other restraints that come from owning things on land, the feeling of our new-found freedom was totally intoxicating. Over the next 16 years, Debbie and I voyaged to more than 30 different…

Am I the only one confused by all the different names for headsails these days? When I first started sailing, things were pretty simple. A non-overlapping headsail set on a boat’s headstay was called a jib. An overlapping headsail was called a genoa. You might differentiate between different sizes of jibs with simple numbers or by the percentage of overlap in the case of genoas. A very small jib, for example, was called a storm jib. A jib with a high-cut clew might be called a yankee. A secondary headsail set inside of a jib or genoa was called a staysail, but that was pretty much it. I was reminded recently of how complicated things have become when I was showing my Tanton 39, Lunacy, to a prospective buyer. The…

The Sailing Scene Are you out there sailing, cruising and living the sailing life? If you are, share your experiences with us. Send your photos and a brief description to sailmail@sailmagazine.com with the subject: SAILING SCENE for a chance to have your sailing memory featured. Wake-up call while on the hook in Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington, on board Wings, a 55ft Chuck Payne-designed cutter ketch, and we find ourselves in a friendly “face-off” courtesy of Kenmore Air. — Jimmy Clark This is a recent picture from our cruise to Casco Bay, Maine aboard our Catalina 320, Jaben. In this picture we were leaving Kennebunkport on our way to Casco Bay. My wife and kids were still asleep below as I pulled out of the harbor around sunrise along…

Living aboard has its challenges, whether you do it full-time or part-time in the Caribbean or the North Pole—which, I imagine, is not too different from living aboard through a Boston winter. I’ve lived aboard through two New England winters. The first, the notorious winter of 2014-15, was a tremendous learning experience. The conditions were extremely harsh, my boyfriend, Phil, and I were new to the liveaboard scene, and the boat belonged to someone else. (We were caretakers for a family that traveled to Costa Rica.) Plenty of things went wrong, but we learned a lot and developed a newfound appreciation for a lifestyle we would come to adopt permanently. Now, going into our third winter afloat, we’re finally starting to feel prepared. The first thing we think about each…

Forty-eight hours aft er having my appendix removed, and I was in a daze. I was stiff. I was sore. I hadn’t had a good poop in over half a week. I was bored. My beautiful boat was at sea without me while I was stuck recovering at my cousin’s house in Boston. The whole thing felt rather surreal. Here’s what happened. 800 MILES TO LUNENBURG We left Annapolis on a beautifully clear Saturday morning, July 2, with a brisk northwesterly blowing cooler, drier air behind a strong cold front that had passed over the night before. Isbjorn, the Swan 48 we use as a charter boat for taking paying passeners off shore, sailed all the way north on the Chesapeake to the entrance of the C&D canal on one…

To the untrained eye a sailboat is a sailboat; they all look pretty much the same. Even to an experienced sailor, it can be difficult if not impossible to truly judge how a particular design will perform just examining it at the dock. Nonetheless, when it comes to boats—sailboats in particular—as soon as you cast off lines, it becomes immediately apparent that no two are the same, even if they appear superficially similar. Some, for whatever reason, don’t feel quite right. Others, through some strange alchemy, just work. The Jeanneau 54 is an excellent example of the latter. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION The success story that is the Jeanneau 54 starts with solid construction, and a tried and true canoe body that doesn’t necessarily break new ground, but works well in…

I’m not gonna to lie to you. When Rich said he wanted us to plug in the A3 I could have killed him. It was the middle of the night, raining cats and dogs, blowing like hell and gusting into the mid-30s. We had just unrolled the Code 0, and the entire crew was hot and cold and sweaty and sleepy and soaked to the skin inside its foulies, all at the same time. Oh, and it had only been about 10 minutes since we’d blown up the A2, our only other spinnaker. I often tell my shore-bound friends I’ve almost never been on a long passage or offshore race where there wasn’t at least one moment when I’ve sworn I’ll never do something like this again. Well, at that…

The manufacturer lists the following fuels. Always read the cautionary labels on any products that you use. Charcoal briquettes: A 12lb bag costs about $10.00 and produces a big smoky flame at first but dies down to the long-lasting glow of a July barbeque. Kindling: A $2.50 bundle gives a romantic yellow flame, but burns away quickly. Saw the sticks down to about 4in. The aroma is reminiscent of a camp fire. Pellets: At about $3.00 for a 25lb bag these make for the cheapest and hottest fire. Start with a soup-ladle-sized pile and add small amounts later. The flat and perforated firebox tray allows the pellets to spread out, but some drop through the holes to the ash drawer. More effective would be a cup-like affair to hold the…

It seems that every time I walk into a boatyard I inevitably find myself smitten by some under-loved (read derelict) classic beauty sitting forlornly off in a corner. Hmmm, I think, I could buy her for a song and with a little elbow grease and some TLC, she will be ready to go. Of course, all too often such thoughts represent the kiss of death, the beginning of bankruptcy, and may even lead to divorce. Thankfully, I usually get over my infatuation as soon as I leave the yard. However, on four occasions I’ve succumbed to temptation and ended up buying one of these orphans in pursuit of “the deal of the century”—in theory, at least. The first two were lemons, with one simply being cut up and hauled off…

What to make of the Vendée Globe solo, nonstop round-the-world sailboat race set to start off Les Sables d’Olonne, France, November 6? Is it the ultimate expression of France’s insatiable appetite for all things off shore sailing? The ultimate in monohull sailing technology? The ultimate sailboat race? The ultimate sporting event, period? Truth be told, the quadrennial classic, first held in 1989-90 with only seven of the 13 starting skippers making it to the finish, is all those things and more. At press time, 30 skippers planned to take on the 24,000-mile course, down the Atlantic, around Antarctica and back, aboard their heavily canvassed IMOCA 60s—10 more than for the 2012-13 running of the event. Among this year’s competitors are no fewer than 15 sailors for whom this is not…

The market for high-end, high-performance catamarans definitely falls within the definition of “niche,” but it’s fun to follow nevertheless. Big carbon-fiber multihulls packing laminated sails on towering rigs capable of 30-plusknot speeds and 300-plus-mile daily runs in the right conditions, yet equipped with comfortable cruising accommodations: what’s not to like? California-based Morrelli & Melvin has been in the vanguard of fast cat design since catamarans were still a dirty word in the minds of many sailors; co-founder Gino Morrelli, for example, was on the design team for Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes in 1988, the first catamaran to win the America’s Cup. M&M’s performance ethos runs strong in the HH66. Built in Xiamen, China, the HH range comprises three boats at 55, 66 and 88ft . Hull #1 of the…

LIVING LARGO The continuing evolution of LEDs has led to some breakthroughs in boat lighting, making it possible to illuminate boat interiors in new and exciting ways. Imtra’s Largo lights are a case in point. The Largo can be switched between white, red and blue light, and also has a built-in dimmer switch. The red and blue are ideal for night sailing, since neither color will rob you of your night vision; at full brightness the white is equivalent to a 30w halogen bulb but draws a fraction of the power. Input voltage is from 10-30WDC, and installation, with just two wires to connect, is a snap. $219. Imtra.com END OF THE TAIL Having your halyards led aft can make your boat easier to sail shorthanded, but this comes at…

For the 1D48 WhoDo it wasn’t even close to being the first broach, having already blown out both a spinnaker and a pair of tack lines the night before. But it was definitely the last. The crew of 10 was just entering the Manitou Passage midway through the second day of the race in a 20 to 25-knot breeze under overcast skies, when the boat went over on its side again. This time, though, when it popped back up onto an even keel, the helmsman immediately called out that he’d lost steerage. Worse yet, looking below the crew saw water gushing in through a 10in hole where the rudder post had been only moments earlier. “I really don’t know why it broke loose,” crewmember Russell Madsen said afterward, dismissing the…

In previous articles I have looked at electric cable sizing procedures, and the proper selection and location of fuses and circuit breakers (see sailmagazine.com). Now it is time to put this stuff in the boat. Here are some key points to remember. CABLES AND TERMINALS Solid-core household cable is not acceptable for any boat wiring projects. All wire that goes into a boat must be stranded and tinned—no exceptions! The insulation must also be stamped with the rated voltage, the insulation temperature rating and the type of insulation. Ideally the cable will be labelled with one or more of the following: “UL1426,” “BC5W2” and/or “Boat Cable.” You will most likely only find this cable in a marine chandler. The price will be depressingly high. But it’s worth it. Similarly, crimp-type…

I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to refer to peer-to-peer (P2P) boating as pier-topier— it’s irresistible. The proliferation of the sharing economy has birthed P2P boating and with it, more players in the field of direct boater-to-renter vessel chartering. So I wanted to know, does the concept float? Most of us have successfully Ubered (a new verb in our lexicon) and some have used Airbnb. So it’s only natural to see numerous services popping up offering P2P boat rentals. However, the complexities of boater education, and things like insurance and taxation provide a different dynamic in this marketplace, one that doesn’t compare to getting into, say, someone else’s car or renting a bedroom in their apartment. At last count, there were four fledgling boating P2P…