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INTO THE WILD
BOAT TEST
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Lightning fast, razor sharp, silky smooth
Icebound in Scoresby Sound
● The future of electric motors ● Investigating green boatbuilding ● Windelo’s basalt catamaran on test
The path from amateur to pro racer
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BLUE WATER CRUISING GOES GREEN
IN SEARCH OF GLORY
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JERVIS INLET The world’s most beautiful dead end
Rough and Ready This dramatic shot of the Ocean 50 trimaran Realites taken just after the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre off Le Havre sums up the tempestuous start to this transatlantic race. Battered by multiple storms, most of the fleet was obliged to stop in Lorient and await a suitable weather window before racing resumed. Photo: Jean Marie-Liot/Alea
New boats A look at the latest launches from around the globe CNB 78
Neel 52 French manufacturer Neel is the only mass producer of big, bluewater trimarans and the launch of the new 52 further bolsters that range. This is a big boat that offers the possibility of six double cabins if you so wish plus a huge cockpit/saloon area. The boat has a powerful rig and this can be further augmented by a carbon fibre mast and increased sail area should you so wish. l neel-trimarans.com
CNB Yachts used to be the flagship luxury range of the Beneteau Group until the company sold them to rival Italian boatbuilders Solaris. This is the company’s first boat since the sale and the new owners opted to stick with the tried and tested team of Philippe Briand and Jean Marc Piaton. This gives the styling and design continuity but under the skin, things have changed somewhat. With the boat now being built in Solaris’ yard in Trieste, Italy, new construction techniques have been adopted and the new owners state that this makes for a stiffer, lighter hull. l cnbyachts.com
More 50 More Yachts is a rather mysterious Croatian boatbuilder that originally came into being to provide yachts for its own charter fleet. Its designs are often sporty and reasonably innovative but also affordable. The new 50 is the latest addition to the range and has been drawn up by Cossutti Yacht Design. The new 50 features a very long fixed bowsprit and the option of a carbon fibre rig. The boat is available with two deck layouts, the first, with four winches and all lines led aft, is aimed at fast cruisers, the other has six winches and is more race oriented.
l more-yachts.hr
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JANUARY 2024 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
Spirit Yachts 72DH Spirit Yachts’ beautiful 72DH drew many admiring glances when it made its debut at the Southampton Boat Show in September lasts year. This stylish modern classic is definitely fitted out for comfort but performance has not been neglected and a displacement of 28,000kg married to a decent sail area means that, despite sumptuous interior furnishings, this yacht is no slouch. Much of the weight saved is thanks to the composite hull construction which uses yellow cedar strip planking, epoxy lamination and carbon fibre reinforcement. l spirityachts.com
Kaori 550 The sight of the bathtub shaped scow bowed mini transat yachts has become quite common these days and the concept of fuller lines forward has been utilised by many designers of cruising yachts to boost internal volume. French boatbuilder Kaori, however, has stuck with the pure scow concept to produce a small strip planked day sailer which blends sprightly performance with decent internal volume. At 380kg, the boat is absurdly light and comes with a lifting keel for added practicality. l kaori-concept.com Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JANUARY 2024
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Boat test – Jeanneau 55
Kevin Cullimore recounts a delightful cruise along the Devon and Cornwall coast, concluding in the Isles of Scilly
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West country wonderland
JANUARY 2024 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
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e always plan our summer cruise for the month of June, the main reason being the marinas and anchorages heading west tend to be less busy, making for a more relaxed cruise rather than the scramble for berths in July/August. The middle of May saw a constant northeasterly air flow which was unusual. We were hearing of boats stuck in the West Country waiting to head east. Indeed, some friends from our club had been in Falmouth for a week or so. Our summer cruise is always flexible and although our main aim was to get to The Isles of Scilly, which is at the top of our favourite destinations, it is not set in stone. Our original plan was to visit Cherbourg in early June and do the tour of the D-Day beaches on the 6 June 2023, something we’ve done before and is a most humbling experience. Then onto The Channel Islands and west ultimately to the Isles of Scilly.
Wind from the east
However, the weather conditions just didn’t work out, the strong northeasterly winds continued and were even stronger on the French coast. Experience is a great thing and to make sure my wife would enjoy the cruise, we aborted France and instead headed off from our marina berth at Parkstone Yacht Club on Monday 5 June 2023. The weather was very settled and we had a lovely sail to Weymouth, tide times were a bonus and we left as the ebb began and motor-sailed to the inner passage at St Aldhelms ledge, 100m off the rocks and it was flat. It’s the only tidal gate on passage to Weymouth but should be treated with respect. In a wind against tide situation, it can be very rough. You have two options, the outer or inner passage. Today the wind was light and northeasterly so we chose the inner passage, and when I say inner, it is very close to the cliff. Being mid-week, The Firing Range was open, so we called up the Range Boat on Channel 8. They instructed us to stay south of 50 degrees 35, which was fine and we set course for Weymouth. With a nice 14kt northeasterly breeze we sailed along with full main and Code 0, 5.5kts, flat seas and sunshine, what a start to our cruise and a very pleasant sail. On arrival at Weymouth we contacted the Harbourmaster and got a berth alongside a Dutch yacht. The skipper was singlehanded and on his first trip along the south coast. He was very experienced, however, in more northerly cold water sailing and we had a good chat. He had an interesting voyage ahead, singlehanded to Penzance, to meet his wife who was flying over from Amsterdam to join him, then sailing to the Isles of Scilly. It is always good to meet fellow sailors and we were very pleased to help him plan his westward passage, suggesting he called into beautiful Dartmouth on his way down, and The Yealm. Tuesday we left Weymouth about 1100 along with our new Dutch friend, weather was beautiful and the inner passage around the infamous Portland Bill was very benign. Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JANUARY 2024
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Into the wild
Boat test – Jeanneau 55
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JANUARY 2024 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
Bob Shepton relates an epic cruise to eastern Greenland – part of a Tilman style sailing and climbing expedition with the legendary Wild Bunch expedition climbers
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t was a simple plan. To sail from Scotland to Greenland via Iceland, and possibly the Faroes, so that the Wild Bunch, my climbers from previous expeditions to west Greenland, could climb a new route in east Greenland. It was not so simple in execution. After a delay waiting for barrels from Amazon for stowing the immense amount of gear climbers need these days, we departed Oban at 0830 on 27 June. A reasonable wind took us up the Sound of Mull and onwards to the north. There were some strange tidal anomalies around the northwest headlands of Skye, but we passed the Shiants and Stornoway the next day and cleared the Butt of Lewis. As soon as we did things got a lot more frisky though the wind was still favourable on the quarter or beam. The boat was a Bruce Roberts 48. The skipper had done a great job over a two-year period rebuilding the boat, cutting out and welding on new steel plates, both above and below the waterline to make the boat seaworthy, first in Trinidad, where he had picked up the boat, and then in Panama. This was proven by a solo Atlantic crossing and enduring a storm northwest of the Azores, before sailing to Kinsale in Ireland to continue the work. But this did mean that though the boat was strong and seaworthy and sailed well, he had run out of time for completing some of the finer points for safety and comfort down below. I was reminded of one of Tilman’s classic remarks. “Since the days of Noah’s ark, no boat has ever been ready on time.” The G-forces could be quite considerable down below and it was easy to be thrown across the wide saloon. There was no galley strap on a straight fore and aft galley though this was corrected later. There was no water maker – fine – but no saltwater taps either so washing up had to be done in water scooped from the sea in a bucket – not an easy thing to do when sailing. I had not done this since my first Atlantic crossing in 1986; SeanB (we had two Seans aboard) became an expert at this, so I gratefully left the collecting to him. Being an oldie, I was thrown by the lack of instrumentation. We had an echosounder, and a control unit for the autohelm and a small radar. We also had a very useful Hydro-vane self-steering system. But there was no chart plotter and no wind instruments or wind indicator of any kind. I was introduced to a new concept: it is all done on your
PHOTO: BEN DITTO
A strong boat
Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting JANUARY 2024
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Green construction
Another Green World Boatbuilding is by definition not very sustainable and making a boat that can be recycled is still rare. The good news is that advances are being made. Sam Jefferson takes a look at how things are progressing
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