Practical Boat Owner February 2023

Fulfilling a dream It’s not often that an interview makes me cry. When I was at school I rejected the idea of journalism. “Can you knock on someone’s door after their kid got hit by a bus?” my careers advisor asked. No, certainly not. I was 15 at the time, and gave up on the idea of becoming the next Kate Adie. But then, quite by chance, I fell into magazines. In my years at PBO, I’ve reported on everything from antifouling to sailmaking, and take great pride in our reader restorations and cruising stories. It’s all fun, practical content, so when I turned up at Roz Preston’s stunning yacht, Sweet Dreams, I didn’t realise I’d be reaching for a tissue! Roz’s story isn’t just about her seven-year homebuild (a…

SEND US YOUR STORIES Share your news and diary dates: email Laura Hodgetts at pbo@futurenet.com ARC+ crew’s superyacht rescue Whist some 89 ARC+ yachts are celebrating a successful transatlantic crossing in World Cruising Club’s two-stage rally from the Canary Islands to Grenada in the Caribbean, one was diverted to Antigua after a medical emergency. Alika, the largest yacht in the fleet, experienced sudden loss of steering on 21 November, which caused damage to the mainsail and an unexpected manoeuvre that threw two crew off balance; one suffered concussion and the other a serious compound ankle fracture. The Oyster 675, which was on the second leg of the ARC+ rally, from Cape Verde to Grenada, issued a Pan-Pan via VHF and ARC Rally Control alerted boats in the vicinity. Alexandra and…

Elsewhere in the main Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) fleet, which sails nonstop to the Caribbean, a stream of boats formed a pipeline to refuel the yacht Take Off after the Grand Soleil 54 was dismasted, some 1,400 miles out from St Lucia. Fellow ARC crews rallied around the Wennberg family crew on Take Off with 21 yachts offering fuel via jerry cans, following a fleet-wide call by ARC Rally Control. Without their mast, and with only a small jury-rig set up using their storm sail and a spinnaker pole, Take Off depended on the engine to reach the Caribbean safely. Louise Wennberg described how many fuel providers also transferred presents to cheer them up after a stressful few days. She said: “We are still totally overwhelmed by the amazing…

Finnish solo skipper Tapio Lehtinen was rescued by fellow Golden Globe Race (GGR) competitor Kirsten Neuschäfer after 24 hours adrift in a liferaft when his Gaia 36 Asteria “flooded up to deck level in five minutes” and sank 20 minutes later. Sixteen sailors took on the challenge of ‘sailing like it’s 1968’, in the race that limits vessels and equipment to those available during the first Sunday Times Golden Globe Race. Neuschäfer and Lehtinen were in 3rd and 2nd place respectively prior to the incident. Early on 18 November 2022, Lehtinen awoke to a loud noise while sailing in the southern Indian Ocean. Asteria had a strong unidentified water intake from astern. Lehtinen activated his EPIRB, put on his survival suit, and got into the liferaft “in a rush without my…

The Royal Navy has ordered its first crewless submarine to shape the future of underwater warfare. In just two years’ time Cetus – named after a mythological sea monster – will stealthily move through the oceans, monitoring hostile activity, listening out for ships or submarines which may pose a threat to the fleet, or to key national infrastructure such as deep-sea cables and pipelines. The Royal Navy has experimented with, and operated, autonomous underwater systems for more than a decade. Most are small, off-the-shelf technologies, largely used in minehunting. The £15.4million Cetus is in a different league. At 12m long and 2.2m in diameter, the 17-tonne submarine can fit into a shipping container and be transported around the world. It is being designed and built by Plymouth-based tech firm MSubs,…

Sewage spills legal action The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is taking legal action against the UK Government for failing to address the ‘sewage pollution scandal’ facing English shores. MCS research shows there are 1,651 storm overflows within 1km of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in England, spilling sewage into the sea for a shocking 263,654 hours in 2021. The legal case seeks to compel the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan 2022, impose tighter deadlines on water companies and redevelop the plan to apply to all coastal waters. Find the full details at mcsuk.org/news Bluewater opportunity Adventure firm 59° North Sailing is offering crew apprenticeships for 2023 and beyond aboard its Farr 65 Falken. Applications are open to all, with…