Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting February 2023 - Sample Issue

EDITORIAL EDITOR

Sam Jefferson 020 3943 9261 sam.je erson@chelseamagazines.com GROUP

Tel: 020 7349 3700

© The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd 2020. All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1367-5869 (print) ISSN 2059-9285 (digital)

Skipper’s View

AS WINTER BITES, MANY OF US ARE REDUCED TO ARMCHAIR SAILORS - YET THERE ARE SOME SERIOUS BENEFITS

WELCOME TO THE February edition of the magazine and, as we plunge into the depths of winter here in Europe, many of us are reduced to the role of being armchair sailors. There are some consolations though and one treat to keep us diverted is the departure of the Ocean Race fleet - see our preview on p40. This event rarely fails to deliver and has been providing inspiration to sailors since those early contests back in the 70s when it seemed less of a race and more of a magnificent adventure. These days the race is a very di erent beast and the old concept of 'cracking on' and hoping nothing gave way by relying on the judgement of the skipper has been replaced by more sophisticated techniques involving sensors, load cells and all sorts of things that blur the line between the fine art and science. Talking of the fine art, I am always drawn back to the words of writer and sailor Joseph Conrad, who served as third mate under the great clipper captain William Stuart aboard the wool clipper Loch Etive on the Cape Horn run. Conrad recalled that when handing over the ship to him at the end of his watch, Stuart, an austere Scotsman, would say severely: 'don't take any sail o her' then, with an ominous pause, add: 'don't carry anything away'. Yes, times have changed but the skill in pursuit of speed remains.

One thing that never ceases to dismay me, however, is that many of these events that always seemed so synonymous with the UK seem to have been lost. In the early days of the Whitbread the 'scramble at Hamble' pre race was an integral part of the event. Similarly the Golden Globe Race starts not from Plymouth as Knox Johnston, Moitessier and the rest did, but from France. I'm not blaming the organisers. I would imagine that cold, hard economics guide these decisions. Equally, i'm not some rampant nationalist but it strikes me as a crying shame. Britain has been at the heart of the yacht racing scene since its inception and this strange willingness to allow the country to slip to the margins of the sport is frustrating to witness and feels emblematic of a broader malaise.

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CONTRIBUTORS

chelseamagazines.com

JESS LLOYD MOSTYN is a writer and blue water cruiser who is currently moored in Singapore

TOM CUNLIFFE is an author, journalist and TV presenter, and one of Britain's best-known cruising sailors

ANDY RICE is a journalist and veteran dinghy racer who has won championships at both ends of a ski

Chill out

Most sailors are deep into their enforced winter winter lay off by now , while even those hardy souls who don’t mind scraping frost off the tiller in order to go sailing start to question their sanity by January/February time. Things could be worse though - or at least colder - as this snap taken looking towards Gig Harbour in Washington State demonstrates

Photo: iStock

Ebb and flow Club of the Year

Voting closes at midnight on Monday, 23 January 2023, in the RYA and Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year competition, supported by Gallagher.

Voting is already underway in the annual competition, which recognises the outstanding achievement of sailing clubs across the UK. After whittling down the entries, the RYA Awards’ panel selected 12 finalists this year:

l Ballyholme Yacht Club – Northern Ireland

l Bassenthwaite Sailing Club – North West

l Blackwater Sailing Club – East

l County Antrim Yacht Club – Northern Ireland

l Gresford Sailing Club – Wales

l JOG Yacht Racing – South

l King George Sailing Club – London and SE

l London Corinthian Sailing Club – London and SE

l Lymington Town Sailing Club – South

l Otley Sailing Club – North East

l Rudyard Lake Sailing Club – Midlands

l Whitefriars Sailing Club – South West

Individual awards and the overall winner will be announced during the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show at Farnborough International Exhibition Centre on Saturday, 25 February 2023 (see below).

Visit awards.yachtsandyachting.co.uk/rya to read more about each club and vote.

RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show

Exhibitors are being unveiled for the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show presented by Suzuki, which is returning to Farnborough exhibition centre over the weekend of 25-26 February, 2023.

Featuring dinghy sailing, wingsurfing and foiling, and paddleboarding, the show now encompasses all watersports and has plenty of things to see and do whatever your level and interests.

There is family fun with a model boat pool, a VR experience and the popular dinghy trapeze feature, as well as the dinghy racing simulator; there are many watersports displays and demos, as well as live coaching sessions from some of the best coaches in the world, not to mention hundreds of boats and the biggest names in marine retail all under one roof. A Beginners Zone offers advice on starting out including in sailing, foiling and wingfoiling. Advice is also on offer about boat repair via various workshops.

Members of the British Sailing Team will be present and they will be talking about their Olympic hopes, while more established legends will be offering advice for different classes and disciplines across the dinghy racing board. Dinghy cruising has become a key part of the show, with the RYA Dinghy Cruising routes remaining popular and now growing post-pandemic.

The full list of exhibitors includes RS Sailing, Hartley Boats, Devoti Sailing, Barton Marine, Allen, Rooster and many others. There are always show offers on boats and kit to be had.

RYA members can claim a free ticket this year. Get tickets at: rya. org.uk/events/dinghy-show

Win a safety boat

The RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show and Suzuki Marine are offering RYA Affiliated Clubs the chance to win a new Suzuki-powered Rigiflex safety boat with Extreme trailer, worth £6,400. The Rigiflex Newmatic 360 boat will be powered by a Suzuki DF9.9B outboard. The competition runs until 10 February, 2023, and the winning club will be contacted by 17 February. Club representatives will be invited to the show to collect the prize. Enter at www.rya.org.uk/events/dinghy-show/win

PHOTO: RYA LAURA EAVES

PHOTO: PAUL WYETH

Dylan becomes Moth World Champ

Dylan Fletcher has become the Moth World Champion, adding one of the great sailing titles to his CV after his Olympic gold medal at Tokyo.

Fletcher beat an international fleet at the event, hosted by Yacht Club Argentino, in Buenos Aires.

He said: “I was stoked to win it. Having stopped Olympic sailing, this was the next thing on my list. It was fanstatic week. I was out there in 2015 for the 49er worlds and I knew it is very challenging conditions. The River Plate water is brown and it’s very hard to see the wind. With the wind-over-tide conditions, it makes Moth sailing very difficult.”

“Completely different to Weymouth!” he said of his home waters.

In Buenos Aires local sailor Massimo Contessi was second and Fletcher commented: “I said beforehand there’ll be someone who knows the conditions who’ll do well and it was great to see some local guys at the front.

“The Moth fleet is always interesting – very high level and it attracts people from different classes. We train in different parts of the world and then we come together for the big championships, so when you do race, often you’ve not seen the others for six months or a year.”

Fletcher has concentrated on the Moth since giving up an attempt to defend his Olympic title in the 49er, which he won with Stuart Bithell.

He will, however, be defending his Moth title, with the next worlds taking place at Weymouth and Portland and a fleet of well over 100 expected. Over the past year he’s been third in the UK nationals, won

Sailboats at BoatLife

The second SBS BoatLife show runs from 16-19 February, 2023, at NEC Birmingham, with a range of talks, exhibitors and activities for sailors.

There will be an Activity Pool hosting watersports demonstrations plus visitor sessions, while a dedicated angling village will showcase all-things fishing, and the inland zone will have a range of narrowboats.

The organisers say: “The scope of exhibitors under one roof will span multiple requirements, from design to tech, lifestyle to affordability, ensuring there is something for everyone to experience.”

The BoatLife Stage will present talks and discussions, hosted by Olympic sailor Mark Covell. Sailors can see exhibitors including Hartley Boats, Topper Sailboats and RS Sailing, Drascombe Boats, and Viko Yachts among others. Raymarine, Garmin and marine electronics SM Group, as well as Mustang Survival, OceanR and Sailing Holidays. Vloggers Lauren and Chris from Sailing Indiana will be at the show for the second year. Pre-bookable car parking is available at a discounted rate. Children under 16 go free and a free ticket arrangement is available for disabled visitors with accompanying carers. Bars and restaurants are available on site for a range of refreshment options.

Full show details can be found on boatlifeevents.com

Tickets are on sale at boatlifetickets.com

Foiling Week and the Europeans. He believes he can go faster in his new Moth, the Aerocet, made by Maguire Boats.

Fletcher said: “There’s still performance in the boat and we’re always pushing for more. The Aerocet is very fast but what sets it apart is the level of build quality and reliabilty and consistency that you get. That comes from Maguire. If you have a problem, you just call them up and it’s solved. The parts are exchangeable and the whole thing is made very easy. They designed it so that speed is easier to achieve. They could have made it faster, but harder to sail, but instead they made it easier to sail with still great performance. Yes, Moths are not easy to sail, but owners coming from the Excocet [also by Maguire] are at home very quickly.”

Fletcher makes no bones about his long-term goals, saying: “The last nine Moth world titles have been won by Olympic gold medallists and a lot of those guys are also America’s Cup sailors.

“I would love to get into the America’s Cup or get back into SailGP [he helmed the Great Britain boat in SailGP’s season one, before Ben Ainslie took over] and this was one thing I could do to help that. Also it’s good to keep winning, keep the habit.”

Fletcher finished the week with 17 points. Argentina’s Massimo Contessi came second with 27 points and was also Junior World Champion. Completing the podium was Italy’s Simone Salva, with 36 points. Helena Scutt was crowned Female World Champion.

GREAT BRITISH BOAT TRAILERS

Come and race!

Our new Charity of the Year, the Tall Ships Youth Trust, is offering race weekends for groups in 2023. The trust is inviting sailing clubs, schools, colleges and other youth organisations to compete in its Challenger Championships.

The trust says: “Sailing onboard an iconic 72ft Challenger yacht, your group will take part in an exciting and competitive race, with a ‘Le Mans’ style start. Out on the ocean, the young people will become an integral part of the crew and get involved in all aspects of running the vessel. This includes ropework, sail handling and even taking to the helm.”

For more information, contact Diana Bunescu at diana. bunescu@tallships.org or call 02392 832055. tallships.org.co.uk

Q&A

RICHARD DOVE, BOATLIFE

BoatLife’s inaugural year was more power than sail. What can we expect in 2023?

We are pleased to announce that we have a number of the brands from the sailing sector including three of the top dinghy brands. Topper, RS and Hartley Boats have all confirmed and this compliments the equipment and apparel brands such as Rooster and Raymarine already signed up.

What were your conclusions following the first show?

We couldn’t have asked for more positive feedback from the first show. What people seemed to particularly like was the relaxed atmosphere and the range of smaller boats. The location is absolutely perfect and there was huge support for a show away from the south coast and a quieter time of year. People were really blown away by the number of boats there.

Did you draw visitors from the midlands and north of England?

Yes! We had a lot of visitors from Scotland and the north which is great for our exhibitors as they are reaching a new audience. Our long-term goal is that SBS BoatLife can bring new people into boating.

What are the other attractions for sailors (apart from yachts)?

Win a charter every year for life

GlobeSailor is running an incredible competition to win a yacht charter every year for life.

The charter company has launched the competition to help celebrate its 15th anniversary.

The prize is equivalent to a GlobeSailor skippered or bareboat charter holiday worth €3,000 per year for 99 years. Air flights, transfers and other personal expenses are not included.

The competition is open until January 26, 2023. You can enter via our website SailingToday. co.uk and searching for ‘GlobeSailor’.

We are pleased to have a pool this year, sponsored by GJW – visitors can have a go at paddleboarding and kayaking. Our show ambassadors will also be doing demonstrations and displays. This will be a great attraction for everyone especially families. For the 2023 show we will be providing a free trailer test-drive feature, enabling visitors to navigate and manoeuvre a course to experience and practice trailering boats. The stage was also incredibly popular last year, with many sell out talks. We have confirmed Tom Cunliffe, Ellie Driver and the White Brothers.

The closeness to the RYA Dinghy & Watersports Show is potentially awkward. How do you manage that? February isn’t a time that many UK boaters are on the water, so I think we are lucky that people are looking to get their boating fix at events. That said, our events are quite different and we recognise it can be challenge for some exhibitors doing both, so we’d love to change this in the future.

Is the economic outlook hampering exhibitor bookings?

Our exhibitors have had a good couple of years on the back of the pandemic and while we all remain cautious, the mood is very upbeat. Our sales are stronger than the previous year, with many rebookings and companies coming for the first time.

Will ticket prices remain the same?

One of the criticisms we received was the cost of parking, which we can’t change. So, to compensate this we’ve reduced the ticket price to £15 from £20. You might find a few deals around too.

Have you managed to do any sailing this year?

I did have a great experience learning to fish with our show ambassador, the Mckell Family – and even caught some fish including bream, mackerel and a small smooth-hound.

SBS BoatLife is giving back to the industry, with its sponsorship of the British Yachting Awards and other partnerships. Where do you see the brand in five years?

An exciting question to answer! Our plan is to build BoatLife as a strong community brand that brings together boaters regularly, and plays a big part in growing the number of people on the water across the UK. We very much see it as more than one event in the calendar and an all-year resource for boaters to engage with. boatlifeevents.com

British sailor Simon Curwen was leading the Golden Globe Race fleet by 750 miles, as we went to press, after an assured passage thus far, having reach waters west of Tasmania in around 100 days from Les Sables d’Olonne.

Curwen (pictured above and below) dipped down to 45°S to find stronger westerlies, enabling him to sail 1,143 miles (6.8 knots average) over the first seven days of December, including his best 24-hour distance of 175 nautical miles (7.3 knots average). His yacht is a Biscay 36 named Clara.

Curwen is originally from Emsworth, Hampshire, and lives in Morbihan, with his nautical base in Lorient. He reports all is well onboard bar chafing issues with his halyards. Every few days he must move the wear spot to prevent failure, but he ‘feels good about everything’.

Like many GGR competitors, Curwen was inspired by the offshore pioneers of the 1960s. He started dinghy sailing at an early age and moved to keelboats in the 1990s where he had success in the BUSA regattas. He later was second in the 2001 Mini Transat, the highest ever Mini finish for a British sailor.

The rest of the GGR fleet is stretched 5,000 miles across the Southern Ocean, with nine sailors still bound for the finish in Les Sables d’Olonne and no less than 23 out of the race.

The start was two months later than the previous edition of 2018 and winds have been lighter. To ensure they remain in the race, the sailors must pass through a Hobart gate before 31 January and round Cape Horn before the end of March 2023.

The latest retirement is that of Frenchman Arnaud Gaist, who has been plagued by rigging issues and barnacles. GGR organisers said: “It took a long, frustrating and depressing time to make the decision but now that it’s done he feels relaxed. After three years of planning and preparation it is a hard decision to make. With another 150 days of food on board, he is planning to head eventually to the Caribbean and then on to Les Sables d’Olonne, once his boat, Hermes Phoning, is back in shape.”