Table of contents for December 2015 in SAIL

The 51st edition of the Rolex Big Boat Series was held this last September on San Francisco Bay, with the TP52 Bud, sailing in the ORR A class, taking home the St. Francis Yacht Club trophy along with a shiny new Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner watch. “Excellence is the rarest thing in the world,” said Bud’s owner and skipper Victor Wild, addressing the hundreds of sailors at the Rolex Awards Ceremony. “We came here for that, and we found it. I’ve never seen boats sailed better or better boats sailed. It’s a wonderful thing for us to have the honor of sailing with you.” For more on this year’s event, go to rolexbigboatseries.com.…

In an effort to accommodate a growing number of local racers, the Geneva Lake Keelboat Club (GLKC: glkcsail.com) and Gage Marine/Pier 290, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, have created a “virtual-yacht-club/virtual-regatta” program that employs some clever technology to keep its fleet sailing. According to GLKC commodore Patrick Evens, the club supplies the race committee, committee boat and all other racer-facing elements in the regatta equation, while Gage Marine/Pier 290 supplies the shore-side resources, including a marina and restaurant (read: a waterfront clubhouse environment). “The alliance allows the GLKC to raft up after races and enjoy awards, camaraderie, terrific food, drink and the private beach at Pier 290,” Evens says. Sailors register for races online and make their payments ($10 per race) via PayPal at least 48 hours in advance, so that…

As the United States and Cuba develop a new relationship, we are hearing voices of gloom from other Caribbean cruising destinations, including the Bahamas. They have studied the projections: once the U.S. travel ban is lified entirely, tens of thousands of U.S. boats will surely cross the Florida Straits to Cuba. We should all rejoice when Cuba’s 3,000-mile shoreline is once again open to U.S. sailors, but that’s no reason for Bahamians dependent on cruiser dollars to fear devastation. Many skippers may choose Cuba over the Bahamas initially, but opening Cuba also creates an enticing new cruising route that incorporates both destinations. Let’s call it the Bahamas-Cuba Loop. The popularity of America’s Great Loop among power cruisers—the route that takes boaters around the eastern portion of the United States through…

As sailors, every day we survive school, our jobs, the monthly bills—and some of us may eventually face disease, crippling accidents or some other crisis. Still, nobody wants to obsess about surviving at sea. Nobody wants to spend a fortune on a liferaft or other safety equipment that they hope to never need. Of course, back in 1982 when I drifted across 1,800 nautical miles of the Atlantic, I found none of those investments a waste of time or money. Good equipment and lots of luck were essential when my mothership went down, but my physical survival was as intricately linked to psychology as it was to gear or luck. Writers routinely evoke “the will to survive,” but what does that actually mean? Is the will to survive something genetic—you’re…

We bought a boat, and she’s pretty much the perfect boat for us—comfy, quick and beautiful. However, the name on her transom was not “our” boat’s name. So after much deliberation and discussion, we decided on the right name for our boat. After the appropriate ceremonies were performed, it was time to apply her new moniker. As on most boats today, the old name had been applied with stick-on vinyl lettering, and I knew getting it off was going to be a pain in the neck. I consulted with Bill MacGowan of Mac Designs in Newport, Rhode Island, who made the boat’s new name out of vinyl, and he provided the answer—hot air and a plastic scraper. I’m pretty good with a heat gun, so I used that to heat…

Surfing about the internet recently I stumbled upon an image of the cover of Life, then the most successful weekly magazine in the world, from June 9, 1967. Sailors of a certain age will know exactly which one I’m talking about: it features a photo of an older British gentleman leaning against a mizzen mast while taking a sun sight with a sextant. His name was Sir Francis Chichester. Finding that old cover inspired me to reread his book Gipsy Moth Circles the World, and what struck me most on revisiting the story of Chichester’s great one-stop solo circumnavigation is what a godawful boat he sailed it in. Gipsy Moth IV was custom-designed by Illingworth & Primrose, one of the better known firms in Britain at the time. Th ough…

THE SAILING SCENE Are you out there sailing, cruising and living the sailing life? If so, send your sailing photos to sailmail@sailmagazine.com for a chance to have your sailing memory featured on these pages. Here are a few of images from our readers’ latest cruising adventures. How to reach us Living the SAIL life? Have stories, tips, photos or something else you want to share with us? Email us at sailmail@sailmagazine.com | Sign up for our e-newsletter | Interact with us on social media…

The dream of high-performance full-foiling racing has become that much more attainable with the introduction of the Waszp, a massproduced one-design that sells for under $12,000, about half the price of a Moth. The Waszp comes from the drawing board of Aussie designer Andrew McDougall, creator of the cutting-edge Mach 2 foiling Moth, and features the same basic technology, including a wand system that links to the forward foil and an adjustable tiller to control lift aft. The Waszp has also been made a bit more user friendly, thanks to the addition of some volume in the bow and stern, in the event the boat falls off its foils while maneuvering. Beyond that it features a hinged winged system that can be adjusted to suit a skipper’s particular sailing style…

Tis the Season The holiday season is upon us. What are you going to get the sailor in your life? SIP AND BE MERRY Whether you want to keep your morning coffee hot or that last nightcap cold, a good thermal cup is a great addition to your boat’s galley—and the Yeti Rambler Lowball might be the perfect fit. The 10oz cup features double-wall vacuum insulation to keep your beverage at the ideal temperature, now matter what that might be, and a No Sweat design keeps rings off the dinette table. Also, no worries if this tumbler takes a tumble, as the Rambler is made of durable 18/8 stainless steel. $24.99. Yeti Coolers, yeticoolers.com DRINK UP Depending on how much time you spend at sea, there is a chance that…

Many sailboats are constructed with a fuel tank in the keel. Often these fuel tanks are installed early in the boat’s construction and are surrounded by foam. The Whitby 42 is a typical example, and corrosion in these tanks is a common problem. When this occurs and a tank begins leaking, it becomes unusable. Some owners condemn the tank and simply ignore it if they have adequate alternative tankage to meet their needs. However, one of the reasons we purchased our Whitby 42, Allegria, in 1994 was because of its large fuel capacity, so we embarked on a plan to replace our keel tank when we found it was leaking badly. We had noticed water intrusion in the aluminum center tank early on, and after finding several small holes in…

Big things often start small, and so it has been with many developments in competitive sailing. The biennial Mini Transat race, from Douarnenez, France, to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe via a pit stop in the Canary Islands, is a case in point. Contested in 21ft monohulls, the race’s prototype class has been a proving ground for many once-outlandish ideas that have since become common—think twin rudders, hard chines, water ballast, canting keels, deck spreaders, articulating bowsprits and soft wingsails. Now the otherwise ungainly looking scow bow is proving itself a force to be reckoned with. In the current edition, French sailor Davy Beaudart aboard his scowbowed Flexirub arrived first in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. Beaudart made a smart move by heading west early on to catch the freshening…

COURAGEOUS (AND THE 12S) PREVAIL AGAIN This past fall it was déjà vu all over again off Newport, Rhode Island, as two-time America’s Cup winner Courageous defeated defending class champion Victory ’83 at the 12-Meter North Americans. In notching yet another win—Courageous successfully defended the America’s Cup in 1974 with Ted Hood at the helm, and in 1977 under Ted Turner—Courageous, and the fleet as a whole, continue to build on what has been a remarkable class resurgence. Though seemingly relegated to the dustbin of history when they were displaced by the International America’s Cup Class in 1992, the storied 12s have proved amazingly resilient, growing ever more popular with the passage of time. Not only are many of the old warhorses still competing and sailing in day-charter service or…

Every year’s Best Boats competition brings at least a few surprises, but the class of 2016 has provided more than any other. For one thing, multihulls have figured more prominently than ever before. Whether it was by dramatically revamping the way space is defined both above and belowdecks or literally taking flight through the use of lifting foils (aboard not one but two of our winners) the multihulls in this year’s class illustrate a willingness to push the envelope that is nothing less than courageous in terms of commitment. Not that their monohull counterparts are any less exciting. Whether it’s developing what may well become a new market niche—the minisuperyacht— or creating a platform that puts true grand prix sport boat performance within the grasp of mere mortals, today’s monohull…

“Not a human being but ourselves for miles; and no sound heard but the pulsations of the Great Pacific.” Richard Henry Dana wrote these words 175 years ago in Two Years Before the Mast, his epic chronicle of the life of the average seaman, eating weevil-infested hardtack and working the exposed Southern California coast. The Northern Channel Islands, just a daysail from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, haven’t changed much since Dana’s era. They remain a pristine and rugged cruising ground that, although just 30 miles from “civilization,” transports you to what feels like a whole other world. Visiting the islands of Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel often makes me feel like I’ve crossed an ocean and gone back through time. Minke, finback, sei, blue…

Sampling some goat roti may not rank high on your culinary bucket list, but I’m here to tell you it’s a very underrated dish—especially when eaten off a tin plate, with a tree stump for a table, at a street kitchen beside a winding mountain road in St. Lucia. Besides being blessed with one of the Caribbean’s most iconic views—the twin peaks of the Pitons towering over a gorgeous blue anchorage on the island’s west coast—St. Lucia is an underrated charter destination-cum-starting point. From the big marina complex in Rodney Bay at the island’s northern tip to the laid-back surroundings of the hurricane hole that is Marigot Bay, St. Lucia embodies the mystique and beauty of the Lesser Antilles. You aren’t likely to want to beat 100 miles to windward…