Innehållsförteckning för June 2016 från SAIL

As the sun dropped below the western horizon one evening in December 2014, we watched the parting glow from the cockpit of Archer, our Outremer 51 catamaran. We were anchored in Bequia’s Admiralty Bay, our first island stop after completing the ARC+ rally from Gran Canaria to St. Lucia via the Cape Verde islands. When darkness fell, we watched the masthead lights of the monohulls anchored nearby whip metronomically back and forth in the harbor swell. Unaffected by the motion of the sea, Archer sat quietly. Four months earlier, after more than three decades of sailing monohulls across oceans, to the Caribbean, and up and down the East Coast of the United States, we had begun our transition to a catamaran. We were looking for a change—and a challenge. We…

It’s long been known that sailing is not just good fun, it’s good for you too—both mentally and physically. And this goes double for people with disabilities. It therefore made all the sense in the world when the USMMA Sailing Foundation, and sailors like America’s Cup veteran Ralf Steitz and Paralympic silver medalist Jen French decided to create the Warrior Sailing Program to get ill and sometimes severely injured service members out on the water—including veterans wounded in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and even Vietnam. There’s just one problem: when you get a bunch of military types, many of them highly motivated, out on a sailboat, they don’t just want to participate, they want to compete, and at a high level to boot. Enter the Warrior Sailing Team, comprised of…

This new offering from Cantiere del Pardo, traditionally hailed as the Nautor Swan of Italy, replaces the yard’s earlier 43-footer, which was introduced in 2006. A thoroughly modern performance-cruiser, or racer-cruiser depending on your bent, the Grand Soleil 43 is second in the yard’s new M series and combines improved build materials with an of-the-moment design by Claudio Maletto, who worked on both Luna Rossa and Il Moro di Venezia in the 32nd America’s Cup. CONSTRUCTION The hull and deck are vacuum-infused in vinylester with a foam core down to the waterline. The galvanized steel grid that stiffened hulls in previous Grand Soleil models has been replaced with a lighter carbonfiber structure. Impressively, too, bronze plates, rather than more corrosion-prone aluminum, are embedded in the deck laminate under hardware installations.…

With its rich maritime history, picture-postcard towns and endless coves, creeks and anchorages, there are few places on Earth that are as easy and fantastic to sail as the Chesapeake Bay. I have lived in Baltimore for almost 20 years and cut my teeth racing and sailing there, and while I’ve sailed in some remarkable spots around the globe, it still holds a special place in my heart. This past summer I did a seven-day sail on the northern bay, hitting some of my favorite anchorages and classic bayside towns. My first stop, the Wye River, is one of the most bucolic and peaceful settings around. It has that special magic to ease the urban working grind and get you into a Chespeake Bay frame of mind. The Wye is…

A rose is a rose, it is said, and smells just as sweet by any other name. If only it were true of boats! In fact, it seems all too many boats these days have perfectly horrible names. This can be very dangerous, in that your boat’s self esteem may be so threatened by its bad name it might at any moment, out of sheer embarrassment, cease to be a boat. Needless to say, there could be grave consequences if you happen to be on board when this occurs. Sailors who need to change their boat’s name may complain that doing so will bring bad luck. Certainly the gods will take offense if a boat’s name is changed improperly, but they will also cause trouble if a boat’s name is…

Here are a few pictures from our readers, taken during their cruising adventures. Are you out there sailing, cruising and living the sailing life? If you are, we’d love to see your sailing photos. Send your sailing shots to sailmail@sailmagazine.com for a chance to have your sailing memory featured in these pages. Here is the 60ft schooner Statia sailing off the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Canada. —Ken Pfister This was taken during a “rough sail” from Tortola to Anegada in the BVIs aboard our Bavaria 50, Moby. —Pete & Lyn Pierce Here’s a shot of a sunrise over Seal Bay, in Vinalhaven, Maine. I took the picture during a September cruise from Mount Desert Island to Portland and back aboard my Pearson 34, Slap Shot. —Dave Short How to…

One of the biggest dilemmas new cruisers face when leaving the dock is deciding what items make the final cut and come aboard the boat. When it comes to items like musical instruments, personal electronics and recreational equipment, we all have our own preferences. My wife, Tara, and I are both avid cyclists. We like to ride long distances on our road bikes and enjoy cycling together as a couple. We knew cycling would allow us to explore, and if nothing else, we could use the bikes to provision. But could we store two full-size road bikes on our 38ft 1965 Pearson Invicta? Many cruisers told us to forget the bikes— they would take up too much space, would not be used and would corrode. But we weren’t about it…

This summer marks the 50th running of the biennial Newport Bermuda Race, and the sailing community is responding to the milestone by fielding a near-record fleet, comprised of everything from Jim and Kristy Clark’s super-maxi Comanche to defending overall winner, Michael Cone’s Hinckley Bermuda 40, Actaea. Also in the mix will be such standouts as the schooner America, the 112ft three-masted Spirit of Bermuda and, at the small end of the spectrum, Jonathan Green’s Beneteau Oceanis 351 Jeroboam, winner of the 2013 OSTAR. At press time more than 200 boats were expected to take part, beating the 198 boats which took part in 2008, but still shy of the record 265 boats that competed in the centennial race in 2006. Although some of the biggest names in sailing will be…

Nautor’s Swan turned to Argentine wunderkind Juan Kouyoumdjian for its latest one-design racer, and the result is a spectacularlooking boat. The ClubSwan 50 is right on the bleeding edge of design; the axe bow with its jutting carbon fiber prod combine with the low freeboard and reverse sheer to give it a take-no-prisoners look, while the generously flared stern sections, long hull chines and twin rudders promise high-speed planing under perfect control. There’ll be plenty to do for a full racing crew on this all-carbon fiber beauty, dealing with the masthead A-sail, square-top mainsail, running backstays and big racing headsails. But wait—the boat can also be handled by a couple; the runners tuck out of the way for cruising, there is a furling genoa, and the winches at the helm…

Like many boats, Eurisko has a reverse transom that has a hard life. In her 30 years it has come in contact with countless hard objects. Each has left its mark. Once I finally noticed the damage that was being done, I started inspecting other reverse transoms and discovered we were not alone. Before we left civilization in 2002, we prettied up Eurisko, including filling the dings in the edge of her transom. My husband, Dave, used a 3M filler and considered the job done. Within a few months, though, we realized that this quick repair wasn’t going to be enough as our hard dinghies began chipping off not only Dave’s paint and filler but the surrounding gel coat—to the point where the hull joint was even visible in spots.…

The thud of a book landing on a desk is a rare pleasure in this digital age, much more satisfying than the ping of an email or text alert. Kindle has its place, but there’s nothing like paper to get a lasting message across. Good sailing fiction is a rare commodity these days—though there seems to be no shortage of bad stuff—so it was a pleasure to receive not one but two sailing-centric novels in the same month. In Before The Wind, author Jim Lynch tells the engaging tale of the Johannssens, a sailing family that’s like a distillation of all the eccentric, funny and cranky sailors you’ve ever met. All too many writers have failed to convey both the technicalities and the spiritual joys of sailing in a manner…

Italia Yachts’s stated goal with the Italia 13.98 was to create a cruiser aboard which performance is as much a part of the “luxury equation” as the accommodations. This is, of course, something any number of builders have aspired to over the years with mixed degrees of success. However, in the case of the Italia 13.98, the result is a truly special yacht—which is why it was selected as one of the winners in SAIL’s 2016 Best Boats contest. CONSTRUCTION When you step aboard, the Italia 13.98’s commitment to performance and quality is readily apparent in such go-fast features as discontinuous rod rigging, a belowdeck Furlex headsail furler, Navtec hydraulic backstay control and a cleverly recessed main traveler running the width of the cockpit sole. The boat’s standard triple-spreader spar…

“Let me get this straight, to take our boat into Glacier Bay we need reservations?” My wife, Windy, nodded. “Well, we need a permit, which will allow us to stay in the park for seven days.” “How much does the permit cost?” “Permits are free, but hard to come by. They issue only a limited number to cruising boats, and you can’t apply for one sooner than 60 days in advance of your arrival. In fact, when I talked to the ranger, he said the competition for permits is so stiff that we should send our application at 0001, exactly 60 days from our arrival date.” “So we need to specify the exact day we’re going to be someplace a thousand miles away, two months from now, then hope we…

“OVERDRIVE” PROPELLER If you are at all interested in having your boat perform to its potential, you will need to install a low-drag propeller, either folding or feathering. I’ve even heard sailmakers admit that a low-drag prop does more to improve a cruising boat’s speed under sail than a new sail. Back in 2013, we installed a three-bladed Gori folding propeller. A two-bladed prop would have been ample for our 13,000lb boat’s saildriveequipped Yanmar 2GM20F, but we were curious to try out Gori’s “overdrive” function, which is only available on the three-bladers with their patented hinge pin design. To get into overdrive you put the boat in reverse gear at low speed, back down until the boat starts to move astern, then select forward gear. The transition from reverse gear…

So you want to go sailing, but you don’t know where to start? A learning vacation combines fun, sun and sailing know-how in a four- to 10-day outing, and you’ll get a tan to boot. Whether you’re seeking certification to charter your own bareboat in the future, need hands-on experience to build confidence with larger or more complex vessels, or simply want a safety net so you can focus on family and friends aboard, there’s a way to do it all and still feel like you’re on vacation. Even if you’re an old salt with a decade of sailing under your belt, managing a bareboat is another story, and a few tips from a pro can help. Docking, anchoring, navigation, power management, water conversation, diesel troubleshooting, advanced knot tying and…