Tabla de contenidos para January 2020 en Cruising Helmsman

NEVER SAY NEVER In an incredible sign of defying the aging process, the inimitable Jon Sanders headed off for his eleventh circumnavigation of the globe at the age of 80. Mind you, back in the 1980s, when you sail three times in a row, nonstop and solo around the globe, covering 71,023 nautical miles in 657 days at sea, it tends to up your circumnavigation count quite quickly. But this time Jon is not going non-stop, looking to enjoy his trip with a lot of checking out places he loves and places he missed. Not only that he is also carrying out some scientific research, collecting water samples from isolated ocean areas to return for study on microplastic pollution. What was his answer when asked why he is heading off…

LAST October, American bluewater explorer Randall Reeves, navigated his 45 foot aluminum sloop, Moli, under San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and into the record books, becoming the first person to solo-circumnavigate both the American and Antarctic continents in one season, a feat he calls the ‘Figure 8 voyage’. The voyage ended where it began, marking the successful completion of a feat that covered nearly 40,000 nautical miles since his departure September 30 2018, traversing two of the world’s most treacherous passages, nearing both poles and rounding Cape Horn twice. “It’s been a thrilling, exciting and altogether lovely adventure, but I am so eager to be back home,” said Reeves upon arriving in port. Reeves is no stranger to the treachery of this voyage. His first attempt, embarking in the fall…

THE International Institute of Marine Surveying has written an open letter to the worldwide yacht and boat manufacturing industry to stimulate debate on the subject of hidden defects in the sector. It has also set up an anonymous defect reporting system within its organisation to alert surveyors on any continuing defects noted in particular boat models. In the letter, the organisation’s board noted that all manufacturers have a duty of care to end users to manufacture a safe product, which meets recognised quality criteria and international standards. The open letter notes that common sense must prevail. The life expectancy and, indeed, the suitability of a product is to a degree dependent on its use; for example, a family car is not a suitable vehicle to drive across muddy fields and…

IF your boat lies unattended, even for a short time, be it in a marina, in or out of the water, or on a mooring, it does not take long for it to become grubby: from bird droppings or wind blown dust; especially on canvas biminis, which also get effected by sunlight. Yet, for all the many intricate and expensive devices available to deter birds and keep decks and cockpits clean, an awning is by far the simplest and most effective. This is particularly true if you want to protect a large cockpit, a canvas bimini and a hatch, as I did on my 13.7 metre schooner, Britannia. I especially wanted to protect the centre cockpit varnish and bimini from Florida’s sun and rains. Most canvas enclosures leak a bit…

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HAVING just completed its 28th year, the Beneteau Cup on Sydney Harbour is a cornerstone for the famous brand here in Australia and its agency Flagstaff Marine. Two skippers from this year’s event have now attended over 20 of them, with John and Kim Clinton on their Oceanis 50, Holy Cow, probably edging out Greg Newton and his Oceanis 45, Antipodes, by one or two years in the tally. On the day, Bob Swan’s First 30.5, Elusive Spirit, from back in the middle 80’s, took the mantle on the day for both oldest and smallest. This did not preclude them from taking out Non-Spinnaker Division B after the two races of the day were completed. Each year he brings Elusive Spirit down from Gosford, just like others bring theirs from…

THE Seawind Pittwater Regatta served up a full weekend of fun activities and diverse experiences, making it one of the most enjoyable weekends in the regattas history that has spanned over 21 years. Hosted by Seawind distributors Multihull Central on the 25th and 26th of October, the fleet of Seawind owners and their crew members enjoyed a weekend of competitive but fun racing that had extreme conditions, ranging from four knots to 40 knots thanks to a strong westerly wind the hit during the day. This gave the fleet an opportunity to test both light wind sailing skills and tactics, through to heavy weather reefing, prior to the third race eventually being cancelled. But the weekend was not all about racing, with time in between for a raft up, lunch…

ENTRY fees for the Bahamas will change in 2020, according to the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism website. All boaters entering the islands are required to pay the following entry fee: boats up to 34 feet: $150 for 3 months, $300 annually boats 35-100 feet: $300 for 3 months, $600 annually boats 100-150 feet: $500 for 3 months, $1,000 annually boats 150-200 feet: $800 for 3 months, $2,000 annually boats over 200 feet: $1,000 for 3 months, $2,000 annually. The fees will cover a cruising permit and fishing permit, as well as the departure tax for up to three people. Each additional person will be charged a $20 departure tax. The fee is good for a second re-entry within a 90-day period. For a stay longer than 12 months, special arrangements…

PIRATE attacks for the first three quarters of 2019 fell to a five-year low, according to a report from the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau piracy reporting centre. In its third quarter report, the IMB found that there were 119 pirate attacks between January and September, the lowest number recorded since at least 2015. The incidence rate of kidnapping rose, however with 70 seafarers kidnapped up to that date, more than the number for the same period in any of the last five years. The location of piracy incidents was concentrated in a small number of hotspots, with Nigeria alone accounting for about 25 per cent of all attacks. The incidence rate of piracy in southeast Asia remains lower than previous years. The IMB cautioned that while the…

ON September 1 2019, hubby John and I departed Cairns for Indonesia. It was not our first trip there but this time it was not in our Simpson catamaran, Sokari, but by aircraft. This was to be a rescue mission. A dear friend who we had met on Lombok in 1999 when he was only 17 years old had not responded to our emails after the series of earthquakes in 2018. We had been extremely worried about him, knowing so many had died. After nine long months of worry, we finally got a message. He was alive but having a difficult time financially and health-wise. We had no option but to fly over and see what we could do to help him. Twenty years earlier John and I sailed to…

HAVE you ever heard of micturition syncope? This is a fainting spell that can occur during or, more commonly, immediately after urination due to a severe drop in blood pressure. On board, such a collapse is not only particularly dangerous but can also be fatal in the worst cases. Pantaenius Insurance explains the underestimated danger behind the supposedly short moment of relief and which preventive measures should be taken. Almost every year there are accidents caused by urinating over the railing. Not all sailors get off as lightly as New Zealander Todd Vercoe, who fell overboard while peeing into the ocean in 2014. He managed to swim continuously for three hours to reach land; then, scratched the letters ‘SOS’ into the sand. Vercoe was saved, many others do not benefit…

WITH the annual migration of yachts of all shapes and sizes headed for warmer climes underway, I thought this may be a good time to reminisce a little, on how all things boaty have changed over time. Our first sailing holiday north, to the warm waters of the Whitsunday Islands, occurred in April 1981 aboard our beautiful RORC 32 sloop, Solace. Solace was the result of three years hard work, building our dream boat from a sheet (many) of paper in our home garage, then completed in the back yard. It really was an adventurous exercise as we had no previous experience in building anything, let alone a vessel we were to trust the lives of Jo and I plus our two kids under the age of nine. But we…

THE Coral Sea Academy is a new initiative of Airlie’s Coral Sea Marina Resort, providing a series of educational events designed to educate guests, locals and visitors to the Whitsundays about the environment, the Great Barrier Reef, better boating and sustainability. Created with a desire to provide an experiential travel encounter that educates, engages and immerses guests with meaningful themes relevant to the wonders of the Whitsunday region. “By providing these free community events at our resort,” explains Coral Sea Marina Resort, general manager, Kate Purdie, “we hope to encourage more people into the boating community and to actively engage our community in the preservation of the marine environment. All are welcome to attend and we urge the community to support the Coral Sea Academy.” After a series of highly…

LAST October the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship initiative (SeaBOS) announced it had joined the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI). SeaBOS represents ten of the world’s largest seafood companies. Launched in 2015, the GGGI aims to reduce the ecological and economic impacts of lost fishing nets known colloquially as ghost gear. Since its inception, the GGGI has established the world’s first and largest database on ghost gear, combining data sets from organisations all over the world. In 2009, a UN study estimated that at least 640,000 tonnes of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear accumulate in the world’s oceans each year, but new research has indicated that this number is likely to be much higher today. Recent studies have suggested that between 46% to 70% of floating macroplastics may…

HAVE you ever seen the striking graduations of aqua and blue as you near a tropical reef? What about those amazing wisps of whiteness gleaming out of the turquoise sea, those tiny sand cays on the Great Barrier Reef? If you have, we know you are lusting to get back there and, if you have not, you had better add this to your bucket list. The 2019 cruising season was for us the first opportunity to sail to Far North Queensland since retiring to live on board. We had one objective: to explore the outer reef as much as we could. We wanted to enjoy its wonders, to go further than we had ever been. We had also heard sad stories about the state of the Reef and we wanted…

WHILE reading a recent article in Cruising Helmsman, I noticed that a lot of couples settling into the cruising life had a common complaint about not having a washing machine on board. I thought, if we told our story it may help others and perhaps shed some light on the fact that it may not be as big a problem as it first appears. The reality is, the more things we can do to make life on the water easier the better it is, so we can have more time to spend doing what we enjoy. For a long time we did not have a washing machine on board, I would not enter into the argument that it would save time and effort. However, looking back, I think my main…

WHEN you are recovering from knee surgery but have to do a boat test, you could not do better than hitch a review ride on the latest Bavaria yacht, the C57. Under new management the Bavaria range is undertaking a significant change in the market and this yacht is a good indication of not only where they intend to take the marque, but also how well it is going. As the Ensign Yachts Group management team related it to me as I stepped aboard: “forget everything you thought you knew about Bavaria and look at it with fresh eyes.” Well, that had me engaged straight away. On paper it is easy to see which way the Bavaria design team wish to go. They have closed the long-standing partnership with Farr…

WINTER is coming! This strikes fear in the hearts of many blue nomads and prompts the northerly migration up the Queensland coast in search of the endless summer. From Hervey Bay you can hug the coast or you can head out to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Made up of around 3,000 individual reefs and almost 1,000 islands, it stretches in a 3,500 kilometre ribbon, the only living structure you can see from space. The coral formations of the GBR make up the most extensive structure ever built by living creatures. Individually, they may not seem to be much more than a mouth and an anus but, collectively, this coral polyp colony has created a feat of engineering that makes the…