Table of contents for April 2018 in SAIL

The SuperFoiler trimaran tech2 and her crew go flying during the first race of the first regatta of the new SuperFoiler Grand Prix series (superfoiler.com) in Australia following the “catastrophic failure” of the boat’s leeward hull (basically the transom and rudder broke clean off!) while at speed. All good fun, and certainly all very exciting. However, the accident also serves as yet another example of how full-foiling boatspeeds are making inshore sailboat racing an increasingly dangerous proposition. See page 30 for more on this topic.…

After taking a break following his Bronze-medal effort at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, U.S. Finn sailor Caleb Paine is back, scoring a secondplace overall finish at the USA 2018 World Cup Series this past winter in Miami, Florida. “For the first event back in the year and a half, it was a great result,” said Paine, who officially launched his campaign for Tokyo 2020 that same week. “I look forward to improving that in the near future.” For complete results from the regatta, visit miami. ussailing.org.…

Here’s a riddle: What is less than 50ft long, has two hulls, three big cabins and four decks? Answer: The Fountaine Pajot Saona 47. In fact, it may even be five levels if you count the large engine rooms. This boat is a “space craft” in every sense of the word. DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION The Fountaine Pajot Saona 47 maximizes living and entertaining space while retaining good speed by combining “multi-decking,” a minimum wetted surface and lots of flare at the chines. It’s tricky to put all that together, but the design staff at Berret Racoupeau have succeeded here, partly by extending the waterline to include integral stern platforms. The limitation will probably be loading—if the boat is carrying a lot of weight, the broader portions of the hulls will…

Surfer and solo sailor Liz Clark has been seeking out warm tradewinds, beautiful anchorages and perfect waves around the Pacific on her Cal 40, Swell, since 2006. It hasn’t all been tropical sunsets and clean wave breaks, though, as is evident in this excerpt from her new memoir, Swell: A Sailing Surfer’s Voyage of Awakening I download the weather files, and to my horror I see a massive low-pressure system building to the south of me. It looks like it will blow hard from the direction I’m trying to go over the next few days. The skies remain eerily clear until dusk. The winds then falter, and a thick forest of towering thunderheads sprout up all around us. With no moon, I can only make out varying shades of blackness.…

The boat’s just gone back into the water after her winter storage, and you’re getting ready for a sail. The jib has run nicely up the headsail foil, and you’ve teased out the creases with an extra turn on the halyard. Now it’s time to furl, so you can get the main on. Unfortunately, when you haul on the jib furling line, nothing happens. You haul a little harder. Still nothing. With one last heave, the sail comes in a turn or so, then jams solid. There’s also a noise like ball bearings bouncing on the foredeck, which proves upon further investigation, to be just that: ball bearings bouncing on the foredeck. With a sigh, you realize it’s time to replace your aged furler, for which spare parts don’t even…

Ihad been sailing my Tayana 42, Eclipse, for a few years without any installed electronics on board. I’d gone pretty far up and down the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts with paper charts, the Navionics app on my Android phone, a hand-bearing compass and the ship’s compass. However, last year I decided it was time to install a suite of electronics gear in order to make life underway safer, less stressful and more efficient. I’m an experienced electronics installer, and I realize that the prospect of such a project can be daunting to a boat owner who has never attempted it before. Nonetheless, by following a logical sequence of steps, a reasonably competent DIYer should be able to install his or her own electronics. Therefore, what follows is a brief…

“Choke! Choke! Choke!” Ashley yells. This is our tactic to prevent people from gathering in the boat’s belowdecks trafic lanes. With a galley that’s perfect for socializing—and nine people sharing the casual camaraderie that comes with life onboard—“chokes” are a common occurrence as folks hustle to prepare for ROV launches, educational programs and sailing. We’re aboard the historic American Promise, made famous by Dodge Morgan’s 1985-86 record-breaking solo nonstop world circumnavigation. These days she belongs to the Rozalia Project, and each summer she houses volunteers, scientists and lots of positive energy. The Rozalia Project, founded by Rachael Miller and James Lyne, is an organization focused on solving the problem of marine debris through their four pillars of cleanup: education, innovative technology and solutions-based research. The project is cleaning up our…

At press time, Vestas 11th Hour Racing and organizers of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean race were still not saying much about what, if anything is going to be done to prevent collisions like the one that occurred between Vestas 11th Hour Racing and a commercial fishing boat just 30 miles short of the finish of Leg 4 in Hong Kong from happening again. Presumably, the other six teams all received a serious debriefing on the incident, if for no other reason than the fact they would be racing back through the exact same kinds of shipping-strewn water for much of Leg 6 from Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand. However, beyond that, no word from the VOR other than that it was “actively working with the Hong Kong Police and…

If we sailors were to be dead honest, daysailing is what we do most of the time. It therefore makes sense to own a boat that’s designed and built for just that sort of use. While you’re at it, why not make it a boat that blends excellent all-round performance with extreme good looks—a boat like the Saffier Se 33, perhaps. The name may not be a familiar one to American sailors, but it’s well known in Europe. Saffier Yachts produces a range of daysailers and weekenders ranging from 23 to 37ft. It’s a family business, run by brothers Dennis and Dean Hennevanger, and the boats are designed in-house and built in IJmuiden, on the Dutch coast. They follow the Euro aesthetic of classic lines with a modern twist above…

Cutting a fine wake on the cobalt-blue waters of West Sound on Orcas Island, Coriolis sparkles like a diamond. Her lovely silhouette is offset by emerald forests that frame the ocean, within spitting distance of the border with Canada. Seen up close, this Concordia yawl is a symphony of mahogany, teak, spruce and varnish that are all indispensable to its appearance—one of only 24 that are 41ft long overall, one shoe size bigger than the rest of them. Since 1981 Coriolis has been in the hands of Douglas Adkins, a partner in a private equity firm in Seattle. Now in his early 70s, Adkins owns a priceless collection of guy’s toys: classic cars, a vintage Pocock rowing skiff and an original Bateka dinghy. His dock is also home to a…

Although I now live just north of Boston, I came of age in the Midwest, sailing on the Great Lakes, which back when I was a kid was about as far away from Newport, Rhode Island, and the America’s Cup as you could get. Reading about guys like Ted Turner and Dennis Conner while sitting in our family room in Cleveland, it not only felt like 12 Meter racing was a game of giants, but that it might as well be taking place on the other side of the moon. Alas, by the time I moved to New England, the America’s Cup had long since decamped to points east, west and south. The nature of the game had also changed, to the where it was scarcely recognizable as the original…

My wife, Terrie, and I laid up our Malo 47, Nada, ashore in Spain this past August and came home to take care of other business. We will be returning to Nada toward the end of this month. All systems were working fine when we left, but it cannot be presumed this will be the case when we go back. Mechanical things need regular use and tend to seize up without it. Mechanical and electrical equipment also both suffer from the salt atmosphere invariably present along any coast. There is always an element of trepidation when I step on board the boat after a long layup and turn on the main battery switch. Will the panel come alive, or are the batteries dead? After that, assuming the electrical system boots…

The world’s biggest boat and watersports show, held in Düsseldorf on the banks of Germany’s Rhine River each January, is the place to scope out emerging trends in the boat design and building. What would be the new trends for 2018 and beyond? Hint—sophisticated electronics figure strongly, along with other big-boat trickle-down features like variable-tint glass and dinghy garages. Arches to keep mainsheets out of cockpits are becoming more popular. Bow thrusters are becoming the rule, rather than the exception, on boats over 40ft. You’re hard pressed to find a visible line on deck on many boats, with most sail controls led aft via under-deck channels. It’s no longer enough to have a drop-down boarding platform on your transom, you’ll want a built-in grill, fridge and wet bar too. Belowdecks,…

It turns out there’s a reason why this handy new trailer-sailing pocket cruiser, with its hard-chined hull and jaunty appearance, is vaguely reminiscent of the old West Wight Potter. It seems boatbuilder Ken Lange was devoted to the old Potter and ran the company that builds the boats, International Marine, before getting turfed out of the business by a Chinese investment group. In looking for a new project he soon found Argentine designer Heraldo Ruesch, who had just developed a new boat—he called it the Ruesch 5.5—that tugged at Ken’s heart. A deal was struck, the boat was renamed after a popular Argentine wine, and production commenced in California. The first two boats that popped out of the mold, curiously, were given away as prizes on The Price Is Right.…

Conventional wisdom says sleeping in the V-berth while offshore is a bad idea. It can be like a diabolical amusement ride that tosses a sailor to and fro, inducing stomach-churning weightlessness. And yet, here I am, nestled in the tilted corner created by my berth and the teak-battened hull. We’re close-hauled on a flat sea in a moderate breeze and heeled over maybe 10 degrees. The bow wave, just inches from my head, makes a whoosh, gurgle, gurgle sound that loops over and over putting me in a hypnotic state. I feel the cool rush from outside against my face while the rest of me is snug in my sleeping bag. It’s sublime, for now. This the North Sea after all. I’m aboard Isbjörn, a 1972 Swan 48, owned by…

The Great Recession birthed a new concept, the “staycation,” in which you enjoyed a mini-vacation without venturing far from home. Hotels loved it because they filled empty weekend rooms, and local businesses benefited too. Today, expanding the concept a little, a staycation can also make for a great excuse to hook up with a nearby charter company and do a little sailing. The benefits are many. First, if you drive to your sailing destination, presumably you won’t need a passport. Second, driving is usually cheaper than flying. And even if you do fly, the fare should be minimal. Beyond that, you won’t need foreign currency or knowledge of another language; the packing is bound to be lighter; you’ll be able to spend more of your vacation time sailing rather than…