Tabla de contenidos para August 2019 en Cruising Helmsman

MULTIHULLS PROVIDE ANSWERS Multihull Solutions will be showcasing its range of award-winning Fountaine Pajot catamarans: Astrea 42 and the Saona 47 at SIBS. Representatives from Neel Trimarans, Ocean Voyager day charter catamarans and Stealth Catamarans will also be on the Multihull Solutions stand to assist clients with all queries on these leading brands. A lineup of specialists will be on hand to help with all facets of multihull buying, selling and ownership, including company ambassadors Gordon and Louise Coates, ex-factory handover and European delivery specialists, charter investment experts and pre-owned brokerage division specialists. The company is looking forward to another successful event, following record sales at last year’s Sydney International Boat Show plus the recent Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show. Managing director Mark Elkington said the demand at recent shows…

AT the end of April 2019, I ventured to the south of France to attend the 10th International Multihull Boat Show at La Grande Motte. This was my second consecutive visit to the show. This show is now firmly established on the calendar of everyone with any interest in the subject of multihull cruising yachts: catamarans or trimarans. This time I noticed a major difference in the offered array of multihull designs. For the first time the multihull boat show included a large contingent of trimarans, big and small. This is a significant change as the cruising catamaran industry is an established one with many interested buyers, while trimarans, in general, have been a less sought-after yacht. There were five trimaran companies with boats presented on the marina; these included…

THEY stress you out, snarly bosses. They may not intend to, but they do. I arrived back on board Sea Guide after a week on shore dealing with oops and incidents, career-frenzied deadlines and a snarly boss. I immediately felt at peace. We topped up the water tanks, stowed the last minute shopping under the saloon table and motored over to Guards Bay. I was looking forward to a busy afternoon stowing stores and preparing a simple-yet-tasty salmon dinner for two. Capt. Hunk was looking forward to a mellow afternoon reading the newspaper and rehydrating with beer. “Aah,” he said once we were safe at anchor, “I think I’ll read the paper and drink a… what’s that noise?” I heard it too. A low buzz, as odd as hip-hop music.…

GLOOMY skies had heralded the brisk sou’wester that arrived before racing started, but ended up just right for swiftly migrating the entire 23 boat fleet around the track. Bombolo won the spinnaker division of Flagstaff Marine’s 2019 Beneteau Pittwater Cup. Had she not have won that division it would not have mattered, for the crew easily got the vote for largest contingent on board; apparent when the entire ‘football team’ swung the legs over the side for the reach back across Broken Bay from Lion Island to West Head. In second place was Matthew Graison’s First 50, Bullrush. This was the first ever race for the new owner, who had previously had a First 40.7 for just four weeks before realising he loved the Beneteau experience so much he upgraded.…

FOLLOWING the positive economic impact of its previous visit, the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race will once again return to Airlie Beach to launch the second Whitsundays Clipper Race Carnival. This will be the third consecutive edition of the Clipper Race to feature the Whitsundays. The Clipper 2019-20 Race fleet and hundreds of its international crew members are due to arrive in early 2020, with the eleven 70 foot ocean racing yachts to be berthed at the recently rebranded Coral Sea Marina|Resort. Regarded as one of the toughest challenges on the planet, the Clipper Race is the only event that trains everyday people to make six ocean crossings, covering six continents, testing them to the absolute limit. With 40 per cent of crew having no previous sailing experience before…

THE Marina Industries Association (MIA) marina awards were announced at its Marinas19 gala dinner last May. Winners and finalists were: best community engagement: Abell Point Marina, Queensland best environmental initiative: South of Perth Yacht Club, WA best marina restaurant: Southport Yacht Club, Qld best international marina: Bay of Islands Marina, NZ + finalists: Sanya Serenity Marina, China and Westhaven Marina, NZ best innovation: Australian Superyacht Rendezvous at Gold Coast City Marina club of the year: South of Perth Yacht Club, WA + finalists: Royal Motor Yacht Club, Broken Bay NSW and Southport Yacht Club, Qld best commercial marina under 140 boats: Crystalbrook Superyacht Marina, Qld + finalist: Rivergate Marina and Shipyard, Qld best commercial marina over 140 boats: Abell Point Marina, Qld best boat yard up to 20 boats: Fenwicks…

HAVING just gone through the process of selling our catamaran Take It Easy, the third cat we have sold in our 20 years of cruising, we have sharpened our pencil and put some suggestions together that might be useful to others considering selling their pride and joy. Here are our top six tips. 1 PRICE IT RIGHT Pricing your boat correctly is possibly the most important thing you can do to sell your boat quickly, yet it is so tempting to set a price that ref lects your hard work. You have to resist that temptation if you want your boat to be off your hands rapidly. So here is what we suggest. Go on line and check all the internet sites: Yachthub, Boatsonline, Yachtworld, Multihullworld, Boatpoint. Check all comparable…

I HAVE seen many a complaint about the Raymarine Wheel Pilot ST4000 MkII where it has not performed to expectation, is fragile and easily broken. My experience is very different after I have installed a Raymarine Wheel Pilot as part of the EV100 Autopilot package to a Fusion 40 sailing catamaran. This is obviously undersized for the boat, as it so proved; the Wheel Pilot, though, performed beyond my expectations. This install was meant to be an interim solution when we purchased the boat from Airlie and sought to bring it to Brisbane. Prior to the trip the estimate for installing an autopilot had exceeded $12,000 and looked like escalating further. The Wheel Pilot cost about $2,200 from memory and I installed it myself. It is still going five years…

WHERE THE ACTION’S AT The Wave Chaser Hydraero is an Australian design that began with a vision to create a twin-rig, planing catamaran using paddleboard and windsurfer design characteristics. This differently designed watercraft is transportable on roof racks, easy to set up, capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots and can be sailed and enjoyed by water sports enthusiasts with all levels of experience. Wave Chaser is dedicated to the evolutionary design and development of a diverse range of watercraft and equipment and the Hydraero is the result of over six years testing and development. The cat is designed to hydroplane, its composite C-foils are cambered inward to produce lift onto the rear planing surface of the hulls. The displacement bow V-shape flows into a triple concave with bevelled…

THE Boating Industry Association of Victoria (BIAV) is delighted with recreational boating investments contained in the Victorian state government’s 2019-20 budget. “The Andrews Labor Government has delivered an unprecedented level of investment,” said Steve Walker, CEO of BIAV. “A $39.6 million investment targeting much needed boating infrastructure improvements is coupled with a $7.6 million investment to abolish state-wide boat ramp fees and review boating infrastructure management on our bays. “This once in a generation investment will see recreational boating bloom across Victorian waters due to boating access, infrastructure, management and maintenance improvements. “The Labor state government is delivering on its promises to recreational boaters and our industry,” claims Walker. “This is the third tick out of the four we need. The state government’s proposed amendment to ensure the full return…

COUNTING CATS Dear Phil, I’m responding to the article by Kim Klaka about catamaran performance (June issue). To be frank, I’m a bit confused in terms of exactly what it was telling us and also that I thought there were some key elements that are fundamental to good cat design missing. For example, why is Kim talking about low aspect ratio theory when good daggerboard cats use high ratio boards. I know my builder spent a day getting the profiles for my daggerboards accurate to the half millimetre. Also, there is no mention of prismatic coefficient when determining performance of a cat, as well as no reference to hull length/beam ratio. I thought these were critical to cat performance, especially when compared to sail area. Also, why is Kim talking…

THE purpose of owning a yacht is to go sailing. For readers of Cruising Helmsman that means to get away from it all and get out there. A marina berth is all well and good, but the real reason you have such a berth is to make it easy to go sailing; and the reason for going sailing is to peace and quiet. Seclusion is the preferred outcome: away from the noise, the hustle and bustle, the demands, the deadlines. The opportunity to drop the hook and drop the cares and woes. These are the moments to generate memories that live. Maybe a dip over the side or a afternoon nap under the bimini in the cockpit. Nothing but the gentle breeze, the lapping of the water and the sounds…

SCOUTING new anchorages has always been a bit of a hit and miss affair. Turning up at a remote part of the planet and wanting to stop for the night would often find us anchoring in places that sometimes did not offer the protection we could have had if we were able to move closer to shore. These ‘off the beaten track’ anchorages often lack detail on the charts we have. Exploring new areas late in an afternoon made us uncomfortable, due to the angle of sun not allowing us to see into the water easily. Getting our keel caught up with a falling tide has the potential to be disastrous. We have tried several different methods to help quickly scout out areas we were interested in moving through. The…