DEEP FREEZE
A volcanic cruise to Iceland
CHAIN FAIL
How to untangle crossed anchors
MULTIHULL SPECIAL
● The A-Z of new multihulls for 2026-27
● Aquila 50 on test
● How to sell up and sail on a catamaran
Double the pleasure
Multihull sailing provides many di erent sorts of pleasure. From the visceral joy of flying a hull on a Hobie, to the comfort of a cruising catamaran. Here we have a contrast during the BVI Spring Regatta, as a Gunboat 68 races into a calm anchorage where a comfortable cruising cat lies at rest
Photo: Andrea Azzopardi
Show me Leven
Baked potato-eating legend Brian Harvey of East 17 fame once sang that he had been around the world but there was no place like home - and that goes for home waters too. Who can beat this tranquil anchorage on Loch Leven in Perth, Scotland?
Photo: Shutterstock
HIT THE NORTH
Iceland is a destination that is on many sailors’ bucket lists, but it is not without its challenges – and rewards – as Ingrid and Robert Schnabl discovered
After six days on the North Sea, high, lush green mountain peaks rise from the horizon. It is the beginning of June and we are on our way to Iceland with our yacht Stravanza, an Ovni 435. However, the mountains in front of our bow do not promise landfall on Iceland yet, but belong to the Faroe Islands.
You just can‘t sail past the Faroe Islands! The capital, Torshavn, offers a cosy harbour and we enter in glorious sunshine. The friendly harbour master assigns us a place on the comfortable floating dock right in the centre of the pretty little town. From the very first moment, we are fascinated by the Faroe Islands. And we are incredibly lucky with the weather too – sun all day. The landscape is impressive: views of deep fjords, small villages with colourful, grass-roofed houses and pretty, often bright red churches. We can’t stop marvelling and are deeply impressed by
ICELAND
the magnificent landscape.
On our tour of the islands, we promptly end up in a whale battlefield. A total of 187 pilot whales lie bleeding, some of them already dismembered, in front of the church in Kvivik. At first we are shocked by this brutal sight, but we dare to take a closer look. There is a festive atmosphere and we are approached in a friendly manner. We learn that pilot whaling has always been important to the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands and still plays an important role for many families today. The whale meat is salted or frozen and is an important part of the winter diet. Each villager receives his share of the catch according to an ancient distribution formula, and must gut ‘his’ whale himself. After these conversations, this activity no longer seems quite so barbaric to us, but the images of so many carcasses and large pools of blood, still haunt our minds for a few days and the question of whether it is really necessary, keeps coming back to us.
Stornoway
DOUBLE THINK
China and America don’t always see eye to eye. The fact the US president seems to think the country is called CHEY-na underlines this. But what if the countries collaborated on a catamaran? The results are impressive
PHOTO: SAIL IONIAN