DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
THE ITALIAN JOB
O the beaten track in Calabria
Sa er’s sleek new SL46 on test
CROSS CHANNEL
Five classic routes to France
SUMMER FUN
● Fastnet centenary celebrated
● Admiral’s Cup preview
● SailGP returns to the UK
YACHT DELIVERY
The best options for transporting your boat
Show me Devon
People eulogise about the Côte d’Azur or the Amalfi Coast but sometimes forget the beauty lying on their own doorstep. Here we have the charming Devonshire port of Salcombe looking thoroughly inviting on a summer’s day
Photo: Adobe Stock
Making a Mark
The International Maxi Association brings together a selection of the finest yachts and teams from around the world to pit their wits against each other on the race course. The season is underway and this was the start of the first windward/leeward course of 2025
Photo: IMA/Studio Borlenghi
THE ITALIAN
JOB
Rod Heikell heads off the beaten track in Calabria, exploring the often overlooked area between Naples and the Strait of Messina
Years ago before GPS or Loran C made navigation a whole lot easier, I was headed up this coast on an overnight passage from the Strait of Messina to Camerota on the underbelly of Capo Palinuro. I was singlehanded in Tetra and this sea area was notorious for long surface drift nets laid to catch swordfish and tuna. The nets were laid at dusk and picked up in the early morning. I had been out with these fishermen when I first sailed Roulette down from the UK and even then the nets were 5-6km long. Since then nets have got longer with some boats laying nets over 10km long in giant zigzags anything up to 30-40nm off the coast. Nowadays the practice is banned or at least limited.
All through the night I had to keep focussed on lookout for flickering bombas, the floating paraffin lamps marking the net, and then change course until I could find the white strobe buoy marking the end of the net and resume my course towards Camerota. By morning I was exhausted and my dead reckoning was severely dented by the detours I had to make, often 90 or a 100 degrees off course, until I found that elusive quick white on the end of the net. In the morning light I was surprised to find myself in the approaches to Camerota and gave myself a pat on the back for good navigation under duress.
Or so I thought. Closing the harbour it soon became apparent this was not Camerota and I couldn’t think of any other harbours in the vicinity it might be. Still, it was a harbour, I was tired, and the depths were adequate as I gingerly piloted my way in and berthed bows-to the outer harbour wall. I had arrived, accidentally, in Scario.
I lingered for several days in Scario and made a mental note that on my way back later in the season I would potter along this coast investigating every nook and cranny. Somehow I had missed Scario on previous trips and to miss a gem of a harbour like this is a keel-hauling offence in my book.
One of the reasons many yachts never explore this coast is that they are all speeding along the nautical motorway between the Bay of Naples and the Aeolian Islands. Like some sort of Holy Grail these islands are a must-see on any nautical itinerary and while the archipelago is a wonderful place, it is also spectacularly overcrowded in the summer. Visit it outside of the peak summer months and not only do you avoid the crowds ashore, but you
SEIZE THE DAY
Saffier Yachts is all about fun daysailers, right? Not any more. This company has taken that concept and shifted it to a larger canvas as Sam Jefferson discovered when he tested the Saffier SL 46
