Table of contents for August 2023 in Sailing Today

First Look Full blooded racing yachts are generally designed with one sole purpose – and that is to win. So when the Commodore of the RORC approaches you and asks for a boat that will win the 50th edition of the Fastnet Race, the pressure is on. Yet that is the both enviable and unenviable position that designer Shaun Carkeek was put in when asked by James Neville to pen the lines of Ino Noir. The boat is a 45 footer with which Neville hopes to build on his second place in IRC overall in his heavily modified HH42 Ino XXX in the 2021 edition of the Fastnet. Neville turned to Carkeek after noting his the success of his designs on the Fast 40+ and 52 fleets and gave him…

There’s nothing quite like a solo night watch, in fair weather. I’m standing one right now. My shipmate is snugged down in the aft cabin and I’m working at the chart table with Iron Mike the autopilot steering. He’s not doing a bad job. I can tell that from the numbers on the plotter screen which is also displaying AIS and radar, so I’m unlikely to be caught napping by any vessels passing with malicious intent. Just to make sure, I pop my head out every 10 minutes or less, let my peepers get accustomed to the dark, then take a solid look around the horizon to check that my far-seeing electronic eyes haven’t missed anything. If I sat out there at the helm for three hours staring at the…

Boat test – RM1380 The buying public can be very conservative when it comes to buying a yacht. If it doesn’t have a glassfibre hull, one mast and two triangles of sails, most people aren’t interested. It wasn’t always so. Back in the not so distant past wild-eyed men (yes, it was generally men) with wild hair often had wild ideas about what would make for the perfect yacht. The results were sometimes imperfect but they were always hmmm.. interesting. One of the only real survivors of this era is RM Yachts, which is unique in being the only boatbuilder mass producing yachts in epoxy ply. This company has been on the go building fast cruiser/racers since 1989 which has given it a lot of time to move from the…

It was 18h30 and we were ploughing through a thick blanket of weed at the end of our first day on our first French canal, using full revs to achieve no more than 3kts. The echo-sounder was reading 0.8m. We bottom out at 1.3m even without the mast. A VNF (Voies Navigables de France) van pulled up alongside and the driver pointed out we should have stopped by 1800 as that’s when the locks closed, then asked where we proposed to moor as the only available space this side of the next lock was occupied. We didn’t have an answer, so he left us to it. In the end we managed to reverse to some railings under a bridge, plough the keel into the mud and get lines round the…

Tall Ship Youth Trust How many of you reading this had your first taste of life under sail on board tall ships the Sir Winston Churchill, Malcolm Miller, Prince William or Stavros S Niarchos? Under their parent company the Sail Training Association, these great landmark ships introduced generations of young people to the benefits of sailing from the 1950s onwards. If you talk to one of the lucky souls who sailed aboard them, the glint in their eye as they recall the thrill of scaling the ratlines and making their way along the yard is unmistakable. In 2003, the Sail Training Association adopted a new name, Tall Ships Youth Trust, and the man in charge of continuing that life-changing work is sitting before me in the RAF Club in Piccadilly.…

BAVARIA C38 | THE DUTCHESS This 2022 Bavaria C38 is set up for ease of sailing, with a self-tacking jib, and all the control lines led aft to the cockpit. The Dutchess is fitted with an extensive list of optional extras including bow thruster, in-mast furling mainsail, fully enclosed cockpit tent, upgraded B&G navigation package and Webasto heating system throughout. She has a double owner’s cabin forward with two spacious double cabins aft and a separate heads unit with a full size shower. According to the broker, this is a unique opportunity to purchase a very lightly used 2022 Bavaria C38 with only 142 hours on her 40hp Yanmar engine. She is currently listed Ex VAT due to her company ownership (never chartered) however, UK VAT will be added to…

Epic five-year dinghy challenge completed Dinghy sailor Ken Fowler has completed an epic challenge to sail around every English and Welsh island – all 262 of them – raising funds for charities close to his heart. Ken’s final challenge was a 13-hour slog around the Isle of Wight in June and he was greeted on the beach afterwards by a group of cheering supporters. Ken’s unique island challenge began in 2018, aiming to raise £50,000 for Cancer Research and his local Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington. The tally is now more than £64,000 – and the donation pages are still open. The fundraising was inspired by the death of his father, from cancer, when Ken was 24, and the fact that six of Ken’s close family members have been killed by…

Fastnet Race – 50th anniversary preview The 50th anniversary Fastnet Race will take place on Saturday 22 July, when a record entry of 500+ boats with some 3,000+ crews representing 30+ countries is expected to cement its long-held status as the world’s biggest offshore race. It will be an historic edition of an event that has both shaped the face of amateur offshore racing and brought new heroes to the fore of elite racing. For 2023, the course will once again stretch 695nm from Cowes out across the wilds of the Celtic Sea to loop around the Fastnet Rock – within touching distance of the Irish coastline – before passing the Scilly Isles and traversing the English Channel en route to the finish in Cherbourg. Organised biennially by RORC with…

How do you choose a favourite anchorage? Is it the anchorage with good restaurants and bars nearby? Is it a place that is safe and secure from all winds? Is it the uncrowded anchorage with spectacular scenery? Is it a place lost in a time warp so it seems like somewhere from 20 years ago? The destinations, the harbours and anchorages that I have chosen are an eclectic and personal choice. These are not places you will read about in fashionable magazines, places you must be seen in to be part of the in-crowd. They are not well known. They are places that I love returning to for a lot of different reasons, though if there is one identifying strand running through them, it is that they have their own…

High bandwidth, low latency satellite connections are changing the way we communicate at sea. Where a few years ago, a bluewater sailor might have aspired to having a satellite phone for emergencies, it’s now affordable to download weather, send emails and even stream movies on the high seas. But there is a catch. So-called satellite broadband systems like Starlink can be unreliable and poorly supported. Prices change on a weekly basis and product/service guarantees are more aspirational than binding, according to Ed Wildgoose of bluewater comms specialist MailaSail. “Starlink is no silver bullet,” he says. “Our advice hasn’t changed in the last 20-30 years. All of this stuff lets you down in various corners – you can get involved in the pub debate about percentages, but a prudent person carries…

Running this year from Saturday 29 July to Friday 4 August, Cowes Week promises to deliver seven epic days packed with world class regatta racing and shoreside festivities. It’s a winning combination for which Cowes Week has been renowned throughout its incredible 197 year history, appealing to sailors of all sorts; where else can Corinthian crews line up against America’s Cup sailors, Olympians and Ocean Race legends on such a level? On the water, there’s no doubt this regatta offers a high calibre event. Winning a race at Cowes Week remains a highlight for any sailor, and receiving a distinctive ‘boom’ of the Royal Yacht Squadron cannon to signal a first over the line is a true honour. Onshore, a festival atmosphere permeates the town – from the Regatta Village…

Spinnaker Watch with turtle Our friends at Spinnaker Watches have teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society to produce a limited edition run of watches designed with topical images and colours, including a turtle, a whale and a giant squid. Each watch is limited to 300 pieces and available now. ● spinnaker-watches.co.uk● £370-£650. Sebago Docksides The Sebago Dockside Portland Jib Suede Boat Shoe has a long name but don’t let that put you off. These are quality deckies with style, handsewn, with “genuine moccasin construction”. They also have internal outsole cavities at the heel and forepart that are filled with foam for “all-day comfort”. Available in three colours. ● £160 Savvy navvy’s new gen Savvy navvy has rolled out the next generation of its navigation app with “enhanced reliability, greater…

Grand Soleil 65 Italian manufacturer Grand Soleil has an admirable reputation for turning out fast cruiser/racers with an emphasis on speed and style. As with so many manufacturers in recent years, its range has been gradually expanding in size. The new 65 is their biggest boat yet and promises a high level of luxury. The company has turned to designer Matteo Polli, who made a name for himself when he penned the lines of the Italia 9.98, a yacht which dominated Mediterranean regattas. He has taken the concept of fine waterlines, flaring out into broad sections aft above the waterline into the 65, and the result is a boat that promises to be fast in light airs with power when the breeze pipes up. ● grandsoleil.net ClubSwan 43 Back in…

I’ve just come back from a Wingfoil Racing World Cup in Silvaplana, the beautiful lake, 1800 metres up in the Swiss Alps. Wingfoiling is a seriously aerobic sport at the elite level. The harder you pump your legs to work the foil through the water, combined with pumping your arms to wind-whack more air into the wing, the higher and faster you can go upwind. All of this ‘pump and grind’ gets even harder operating in the thin mountain air. Some of the riders were recording peak heart rates in excess of 200 beats per minute. If you can cope with the aerobic demands of working hard at 1,800 metres, competing at sea level feels like a walk in the park. It’s why world-class athletes from a range of running…

Competing in the Fastnet Race is a dream for many sailors, and the 2023 edition is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting yet. For those who are lucky enough to participate, the race is a true test of sailing ability, endurance, and teamwork. However, for us who are competing on our classic Swan 65, Eve, gives an added level of significance to the race, both in terms of the boat’s history and its performance on the water. I work as crew on Eve alongside skipper, Benjamin Roulant. Over the past seven months, Eve has travelled half way around the world, and sailed over 10,000nm from Australia to France – mostly downwind. It has left the owner and the crew thirsty for more adventure and a new…

With the need for qualifications becoming more and more prevalent in everyday life, it’s not surprising that the requirements for bareboat yacht charter, particularly in Europe, are becoming more stringent. Gone are the days when it was possible to charter a yacht through merit alone. Now, if you want to charter a yacht bareboat style, you need a ‘ticket’ to do so, with one of the minimum requirements an RYA Day Skipper qualification. As a competitive dinghy and keelboat sailor and, through my career as a yachting journalist, which has given me the opportunity to sail on many a high-performance racing yachts, qualifications have not been necessary. The same goes for Julio my husband, who is a competent sailor but has less competitive experience. With no official qualifications between us…

The UK’s generally unpredictable climate means that it is not bursting with purpose-designed, package-style, beach-based, or flotilla holiday options but because there are 100s of top-rated sailing schools and training centres around the coast and inland, the opportunity to ‘build your own’ holiday is becoming more and more popular. Simply select your idyllic UK location and seek out the nearest sailing centre or charter base where you can sign up for a week of sailing or tuition. Then if you need accommodation for a shore-based course for example, book a cottage, hotel or B&B/ Airb&b close by and enjoy the local surroundings as well as the sailing. For those new to sailing and/or for those who want to combine a family holiday with a bit of sailing on maybe a…

Sometimes it’s only when I sit to write that I reflect on just how unusual some of our sailing experiences truly are. And one animal that epitomises the exotic for me is the monkey. When I casually mention to family back home that I drove past monkeys on the way to the supermarket in Malaysia today they stop me and ask to hear more. And it’s true that my regular provisioning errands are now always punctuated by the spotting of a local troop of long-tailed macaques, dangling from the trees at the road’s edge and eyeing up our rental car eagerly if we stop. It happens so often it’s like a footnote to my trip so I had to think back to when we initially saw them in the wild…