SAIL -julkaisun February 2016 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

Do you remember how old you were when you first dreamed about running away to sea? Me neither, though I expect it was after some parental discipline regarding tormenting younger siblings or eating all the cake. What I do recall is gazing out to sea during beachside camping vacations, watching ships and sailboats disappear over the horizon, wondering where they were bound and wishing I was going there too. It seems to me that the call of the sea is heard more strongly by some than others. Had I grown up in a Midwest farm town, with the wind blowing ripples across boundless yellow cornfields rather than a blue ocean, would the lure of open water and nameless places over the horizon be as strong? Most of the people I’ve…

When the weather starts growing chilly in the Northern Hemisphere that can mean only one thing: time for the offshore racing community to start eyeing round-the-world record attempts. At press time this meant no less than four different campaigns at sea constituting two distinct match-races reminiscent of the clipper ship races of old, in which two or more captains would set out with the same goal in mind at roughly the same time. The first of these, between the maxi-trimarans Spindrift 2 and IDEC Sport, came as no surprise to anyone. The Sprindrift 2 effort, led by Swiss sailor Dona Bertarelli, has been working its way toward a well-publicized 2015-16 Jules Verne Trophy for years: same thing with IDEC Sport, led by French solosailing legend Francis Joyon. The second round-the-world…

JEANNEAU/HARKEN ASSISTED SAIL TRIM For years the sailing industry has been exploring ways to make sailboats easier to handle. Now Harken and Jeanneau have combined their considerable talents to take ease of use to a whole new level with their Assisted Sail Trim (AST) system—which integrates sophisticated soft ware with Harken Rewind winches and other gear so that your sails trim themselves automatically. The Sun Odyssey 519 on which the system will debut has not yet launched, and therefore we have not been able to take it for a spin. Nonetheless, the Jeanneau/Harken team is confident, and the demo controller on display at the METS trade show in Amsterdam seemed thoroughly developed. The “basic” auto trim function adjusts sails as you change course or as the wind changes. Additionally, the…

SELDÉN S-SERIES WINCH Selden’s S-series winch simplifies tacking and makes handling a loaded sheet easier and safer by allowing you to tail the line to your heart’s content with it already running through the self-tailing mechanism and the winch handle in its socket—no more having to pop in the handle or thread the loaded line while you’re hanging on for dear life with the boat on its ear. The transition from tailing to grinding mode also becomes a one-person operation, meaning you can keep that much more weight on the high side. A series of concave surfaces on the anodized aluminum drum ensures the line runs up through the carefully sculpted self-tailer with a minimum of fuss, while the socket for the handle is off set to help keep the…

A simple frame at the back of the cockpit is a handy place to mount various aerials and electronic devices. A Solar panels are more efficient if they can be rotated and angled, so that they are at rightangles to the sun’s rays. B Davits can be designed into the frame’s structure. C Wind generators vibrate, so they need very strong mounts. D Radar signals can be disrupted if the scanner and boom are at the same level. E, F & G Strong frames can support small cranes, sunshades with windows and side screens, and fabric rain-catching gutters. H Some catamarans use simple poles as davits for the tender. Solar panels can be mounted there, together with windsurfing boards stowed beneath them. I Strongly framed sunshades can be used like…

In many popular cruising destinations or stopovers, dinghy docks can become very crowded. Over time, this simple set of dinghy dock guidelines has evolved amongst cruisers worldwide. • Always leave your outboard down. Raised outboards can damage other boats. • Have a long painter. This allows others to push aside your dinghy and nose up to the dock and unload. If you tie with a short painter others will have to climb over or through your dinghy. • Use only one line. Do not tie bow and stern. • If there are only a few cleats on the dock, tie a loop in the end of your painter. There is room for a lot of looped painters if no one has cleated their painter. • If other dinghies are at…

I am, of course, biased when it comes to recommending captains and offshore programs. But of course you don’t have to go with us. Check out the list below for other opportunities at getting offshore on your own boat or others. MODERN GEOGRAPHIC Paul Exner, who skippered Isbjorn in the Caribbean 1500 in my stead, runs ocean passages aboard his Cape George Cutter, Solstice, and is renowned as an instructor, doing lots of owner-assisted passages. moderngeographic.com JOHN KRETSCHMER SAILING John is my hero and mentor, whom I modeled our business with Isbjorn after. He sails his Kaufman 47 Quetzal all around the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Med with paying crew. yayablues.com MAHINA TIARE III John and Amanda Neal have been running ocean passages with paying crew for years aboard their…

ADAM CORT Safety & Racing CHARLES J. DOANE Cruising JAY PARIS Systems BEN ELLISON Electronics Every year there’s a kind of competition within a competition as mechanical systems viewi The electronics for primacy in SAIL’s Pittman Innovation Awards, and in 2016 it’s safe to say electronics won hands down. Whether it was a turnkey hybrid drive system, an LED-powered replacement for traditional pyrotechnic flares, route-finding soft ware for chartplotters or a system that automatically trims sails underway, the marine industry’s programmers and electrical engineers have clearly been busy. Not that the machinists and fabricators out there have been idle: far from it, as is evident in a new type of headsail furler and yet another iteration of that most basic piece of hardware—the winch. In either case, the industry has…

SPINLOCK LUME-ON Going overboard at night, especially off shore, can be a death sentence if the crew onboard can’t see you. In recent years any number of different strobes and other lights have been developed to rectify this situation, but few if any have matched the Lume-On for practicality or convenience. Comprised of a pair of water-activated LEDs, each equipped with an adhesive backside, the Lume-On simply attaches to the underside of the bladder in any inflatable lifejacket. In the event you go overboard, it then activates automatically, shining through the bladder, in essence employing it as a kind of a lens. It would be hard to think of an easier or cheaper way to increase your chances of survival in an MOB situation. A clever piece of kit by…

A Bigger Dink—Your bareboat sleeps nine, but your dinghy only takes six, so you have to make two trips each way. Grrr. The folks at Conch Charters on Tortola know all about that, which is why they’re offering you a chance to upgrade to a 14ft dinghy with a 30hp outboard. conchcharters.com Go Mexican—The beautiful Sea of Cortez is a bucket-list destination for many sailors, which is why Dream Yacht Charters has opened a new base there. The boats are based at the Costa Baja resort in La Paz, an ideal launchpad from which to explore this remote sailing paradise. dreamyachtcharters.com More Monohulls—Frenchtown, St. Th omasbased CYOA Yacht Charters is following up its recently added 2015 Beneteau 41 with a pair of spanking new Oceanis 45s and a new Oceanis…

WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? I just finished reading Peter Nielsen’s editor’s letter “Are You Comfortable” in the January 2016 issue. While he made many important observations, most of which I agree with, what I really have to say is—an inverted flower pot on the stove top for heat? My god, that’s genius! You just added a month to Great Lakes cruising. —Bill Walsh, Detroit, MI SPOTTED In reference to the recent article on California’s Channel Islands (“A Taste of the Great Pacific,” December 2015), here is a shot I took of a 65_ sloop stern-to at the entrance to Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island. —Bruce McLellan, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT: In our January issue’s Gear section, we said that the Sirius Signal SOS Distress Light was “approved…

When it comes to choosing a cruising boat, aspirations have altered beyond recognition in my lifetime. My first ocean sailing yacht was a wooden Norwegian pilot cutter, 60 years old in 1972. She was cheap, but I chose her because of the legendary sea-keeping qualities of her type. With my wife, we voyaged from the UK to Brazil, then home again via the Caribbean, the eastern United States and Nova Scotia. Her engine was so unreliable that I gave up on it in Rio and sailed her without power or electricity most of the way home. We navigated entirely by sextant, a chronometer and the wheeling stars. I was so comfortable with this that nothing changed on my boats until the mid-1990s, when I bought a GPS receiver. Refrigeration, pressurized…

DUTCHMAR ZOOM The new Zoom boom from Dutchmar (ex-Dutchman) is a highly innovative cross between a cantilevered jib boom (like those found on model sailboats), the unusual Ljungstrom rig (with twin mainsails that furl around a single freestanding mast) and a Hoyt jib boom. The result is a headsail system that promises the ultimate in sailhandling convenience for cruising sailors on boats up to 40ft in length. By carrying a roller-furling headstay forward of a boat’s stem fitting, the Zoom enlarges a rig’s foretriangle and allows you to carry a 110 percent self-tacking, self-vanging headsail. The larger sail is also more efficient on the wind and has a more efficient shape when reaching, as the boom carries the jib’s clew out to leeward and the curvature in the leech can…

UK SAILMAKERS POWER SAIL Until recently the only solar sails were those designed for catching the solar wind aboard spacecraft , but not anymore, thanks to UK Sailmakers France and Solar-Cloth System’s Power Sails. The key here is a set of lightweight, non-load-bearing ultra-thin solar panels—typically 65 microns thick—which are laminated, glued, stitched or even zipped to a boat’s mainsail. Proof of concept was aboard an Open 50 in the 3,500-mile Route de Rhum transatlantic race in November 2014. Aft er that came its use aboard the Arcona 380Z (Z for Zero emissions) a production boat with a UK Sweden tape-drive mainsail including 75ft 2 of photovoltaic film on each side. On this side of the pond, Power Sails have established a bridgehead as part of the energy package on…

Looking for a little more protection from the elements onboard my Najad 343, Panthalassa, I built a hard dodger for her. It turned out to be one of the best additions I ever made to my boat in terms of comfort and convenience. The hard dodger helped me stay warmer and dryer than my previous soft dodger would have allowed during my trips up and down the Eastern Seaboard from Cape Cod down to Miami and into the Bahamas and Caribbean. The additional protection of the hard dodger provided dry space for my laptop, which I use for navigation in most coastal conditions. This, in turn, allows me to forego the need for an electronic chartplotter in the cockpit, even when cruising offshore. It also keeps the companionway dry at…

BRIAN HANCOCK IS A SAILMAKER, WHITBREAD RACE VETERAN AND CREATOR OF ALLABOUTSAILS.COM NIGEL CALDER IS AN AUTHOR AND EXPERT ON BOAT SYSTEMS AND DIESEL ENGINES DON CASEY HAS WRITTEN MANY BOOKS AND ARTICLES ON MARINE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS GORDON WEST IS AN ELECTRONICS EXPERT WHO SPECIALIZES IN RADIO COMMUNICATIONS REPAIRING DEEP GOUGES Q: While on a night passage aboard my boat, I struck an unidentified floating object. It did not penetrate the inner laminate, but left a couple of deep 6in-long gouges in the hull. I have a rather large damage excess on my insurance policy and would like to attempt the repair myself, as I have some experience with using epoxy resin. What is the procedure for repairing such damage? Fred Johnson, via sailmail@sailmagazine.com DON CASEY REPLIES Gouge repair…