Sommaire pour January/February 2021 de SAIL

For as long as there’s been sailboat racing there have been racing “freaks.” An early example were the “plank-on-edge” cutters favored by Victorian-era sailors in the UK. Back in the mid-19th century, it was decided that ultra-deep, ultra-narrow boats were the way to go—an attitude reinforced by the rating rules of the time. The result? Incredibly wet boats and the infamous loss of at least one of them with all hands. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, on this side of the Pond the craze became enormous center-board “skimming dishes,” over-canvased, shallow-draft beasts that were equally extreme in their dimensions—a failing made all too apparent in 1876 when a squall capsized the 140ft schooner Mohawk while at anchor in New York Harbor, killing the owner, his wife, two guests and a…

THE FIGURE 8 VOYAGE: Five Oceans, Three Continents, One Year, Solo Randall Reeves $29.95, available through figure8voyage.com “What is the color of ocean that rolls beneath Pacific trades? How does a wave curl and crash at 47 degrees south? Can an albatross remain awing in the worst of weathers?” Randall Reeves has always found images to be the most compelling part of the stories we tell about the sea. Therefore, when he completed his own notable voyage, he decided to share his journey through photos in a gorgeous anthology of his daily reports during the trip. His Figure 8 Voyage comprised a nonstop, solo circumnavigation of both the North and South American and Antarctic continents: a feat never before been attempted until Reeves set out in 2017, ultimately abandoning and…

TWISTING AWAY The professional skipper of this yacht has shaped his sails perfectly in search of that most elusive aspect of sail trim, known a “twist.” The upper parts of both the jib and main are setting farther from the boat’s midline than the lower parts, yet the trim is right. Twist is needed to cope with the higher wind speeds aloft, which result in the apparent wind being less affected by boatspeed. Specifically, less wind bend aloft means the apparent wind up toward the masthead is further aft. By twisting the sail to accommodate this change in apparent wind, more forward drive is accomplished. Proper twist also results in less heeling force up high—just where you don’t want it. To dial in the right amount of twist, check your…

EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND DEFENDER, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND YACHT SQUADRON Though pulling off an event like the America’s Cup during a global pandemic was never going to be easy, the Kiwis also (inevitably?) found themselves having to contend with the latest in the long line of America’s Cup scandals, which only further complicated things. Specifically, in June of 2020, Emirates Team New Zealand announced a handful of “spies” had infiltrated its base. Worse yet, as more information came to light it became increasingly unclear whether this had truly been a security breach, or was merely whistleblowers bringing to light legitimate concerns about the potential mishandling of public funds. (The team was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.) After that came ETNZ’s choice of courses, one of which was contested by the…

The past year has been a strange and tragic one, to say the least. A funny thing happened, though, on the way to everybody just saying to hell with it and giving up. Namely, people—and sailors, in particular—didn’t. Despite the uncertainty, sailors from coast-to-coast took to the water like never before, regardless of the almost complete lack of rallies, regattas and, of course, boat shows. Similarly, the marine industry didn’t stop doing what it’s always done, whether it be designing and building new boats, or reporting on the latest crop of boats to set sail here in North America. The result was a kind of low-key, nomadic boat show this past fall, as the SAIL staff made its way up and down the Eastern Seaboard at the same time those…

In the next few weeks, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic effort and INEOS Team UK will all battle in the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series in Auckland to determine who will face the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), in the 36th America’s Cup match in March. In San Francisco back in 2013 there were also three challengers, but it was pretty much a foregone conclusion the Kiwis would win the elimination series and face then Defender, Oracle Team USA. Luna Rossa had bought its design from the New Zealanders and clearly did not receive all the best refinements. Similarly, Sweden’s Artemis Racing had bet wrong on its design and did not have a competitive boat. The team also experienced the tragic death…

Of all the superpowers today’s sailors wield thanks to modern electronics, being able to sail in fog with impunity is certainly one of the most useful. GPS navigation and electronic charts have been around long enough now that there is an entire generation of mariners who have never experienced the heart-shriveling fear of becoming lost in what we New Englanders traditionally term “a thick o’ fog.” Nor have they experienced the immense satisfaction of not getting lost in fog while navigating the old-fashioned way. As legendary yachting journalist Alf Loomis once said: “If you enter the harbor without mishap you are so pleased with yourself that it will be advisable for friends to avoid you for a while.” Those old enough to recall such sensations will also certainly recall the…

THERE AT THE BEGINNING I am proud to have been a charter advertiser in the first year of SAIL. As president at that time of Merriman Holbrook Inc. in Grand River, Ohio, I saw the value in a publication just about sailing. Thank you for showing one of our early ads, Furled Again, in your retrospective (50 Years of SAIL, Oct./Nov.). I had a good time during my 57-year career in the sailing industry, and I am still sailing. — Pat Black, Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH FEEDBACK FROM THE 50TH At the top of your 50th anniversary article is a cover photo of a guy and an umbrella (50 Years of SAIL, Oct./Nov.). I’m looking at that image framed on my office wall right now. It was the cover of the issue…

Created in 1805 by Britain’s Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, the “Beaufort Scale,” which classifies wind and sea states according to a dozen different “force” levels, is widely used in the UK, but much neglected in the United States, which is too bad. Associating, say, a 15-knot “Moderate” breeze with such tangible effects as “numerous whitecaps,” gives a much better idea what 15 knots of breeze really means. It’s also a lot of fun. Take a few minutes to memorize the characteristics and wind speeds of a few different forces and then try figuring out how things stand next time you go sailing. There’s no better way of getting in touch with the wind and waves. At right is a list of the 12 different force classifications and their associated appearance…

Offshore racing sailors will always find the fastest route. That is, after all, the whole point of the exercise. Often that means sailing the rhumb line, i.e., the shortest, most direct course between the start and finish. Sometimes, though, they’ll also take “fliers,” sailing a longer distance, at the same time gambling on the weather or wind angles to get them to their destination that much faster. During the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson 3, skippered by my hero Magnus Olsson, took one such flier as its was approaching Cape Horn on its way to Brazil. The navigator, Aksel Magdahl, saw an opportunity to break with the rest of the fleet and sail right through the center of a low-pressure system. If they could punch through, the wind on the…

SOFT ATTACHMENT BLOCK Ronstan is offering keelboat crews an all-new pick-me-up with its recently introduced Soft Attachment Block line of snatch-blocks. The blocks have the highest dynamic load-to-sheave-diameter ratio of the company’s keelboat range—making them small but mighty—and include a Dyneema SK99 cord shackle, Nodus Factory splicing and a fiber surface coating create a secure, durable block capable of withstanding significant loads. The blocks themselves open to be fitted to standing lines and are designed with an elastomer retaining guide to keep the shackle properly aligned on the block. A spring-loaded ball secures the block shut making additional straps unnecessary. The blocks come in three sizes and are rated for maximum line diameters of 12, 16 and 19mm. From $330. Ronstan, ronstan.com SPIRIT 1.0 PLUS 3HP ELECTRIC OUTBOARD The Spirit…

A Superbowl is a Superbowl, and a World Series is a World Series. Sure, the names of the players and the teams change from year-to-year, but otherwise, the game pretty remains the same. Not so the America’s Cup. Still in many ways a hot mess left over from the days of Queen Victoria, the Cup achieved a measure of stability during the 12-Metre and IACC monohull eras. But following the 2010 “Deed of Gift” regatta between BMW Oracle Racing’s 90ft trimaran and the Société Nautique de Geneve’s equally massive catamaran, Alinghi 5, it’s been anything goes. The 34th America’s Cup, which took place on San Francisco Bay in 2013, featured a fleet of 72ft wing-sailed catamarans that were never supposed to fly, but ended up doing so anyway. After that…