Yachting World June 2021

For most of us the past year has involved rather more dreaming, and rather less doing, than ideal. But looking out over the Solent, I see the waters are filling with sails again, boatyards are humming with activity: it’s time to get to it and get back afloat. Yachting World has always offered inspiration for those dreaming of setting a course for the horizon but, much more than that, we also provide unparalleled real-life bluewater cruising advice. Our contributors have been there, done that, got the T-shirt, got the engine oil stains on their T-shirt, and the amazing memories to show for it. If you want to know which weather app is best for negotiating the tricky systems of the Azores, which instant meals taste best on a night watch,…

One of the most exacting of sailing records, the Fastnet record, was pared back to just over a day on 6 April when the MOD70 trimaran PowerPlay set a new record of 25h 4m. Owner Peter Cunningham and seven crew stormed from Cowes to the lighthouse and back to Plymouth at an average speed of 23.7 knots. They broke the previous record for the 595-mile course by well over three hours. That had been held since 2015 by another MOD70, Lloyd Thornburg’s Phaedo3. “The Fastnet course has been raced for nearly 100 years, so to be the fastest is a brilliant achievement, and the PowerPlay crew is fantastic,” said Cunningham. Cunningham bought the MOD70 (formerly Concise 10) in 2018. With no major races possible because of the pandemic, he decided…

New head for Magenta Project Jonquil Hackenberg has been appointed as the new chair of the Magenta Project, a non-profit organisation which seeks to generate opportunities for women in performance sailing. Hackenberg is partner and global head of sustainability at PA Consulting. She will lead The Magenta Project board which includes Abby Ehler, Libby Greenhalgh, Vicky Ellis, and Andrew Pindar. CNB and Solaris merger French yacht builders CNB, formerly part of Groupe Beneteau, has now joined with Italian builders Solaris Yachts. Combined, the two brands have over 80 years of experience and will be focussing on the 40ft to 110ft sector. The first new collaboration, the CNB 8X, will be unveiled early this summer. Hallberg-Rassy’s new 40ft cruiser Hallberg-Rassy is to launch its new aft cockpit, twin helm HR400 in…

A new ‘Corrected Time Records’ platform has been launched to enable owners and skippers of a wider variety of yachts to take on some of sailing’s most iconic records. While many events and races have already successfully applied rating systems to determine an overall winner across different classes, record-setting has always been dominated by the largest and fastest yachts. The new platform, IRCRecords, created by sports management company Fourth Cape, will enable any skipper and crew to use their yacht and its rating to attempt a record course and, if successful, see their new benchmark time published and receive a certificate. Once entered on IRCRecords every boat has a 14-day attempt ‘window’ allowing teams to select favourable weather and tidal conditions. Records will be validated using a YellowBrick tracker, which…

Oyster Yachts, the luxury yacht builder which was rescued from bankruptcy when it was bought by software entrepreneur and cruising sailor Richard Hadida in 2018, has confirmed that it is now back in profit. After three years of considerable investment, Oyster reported profits for the first quarter of 2021 and full order books for the next two years. In order to meet increasing demand the company recently expanded its manufacturing capacity by taking on space at Hythe Marine Park in Southampton, in addition to its existing sites in Wroxham and Southampton. This summer the second new boat under Hadida’s steerage will be launched, the 60ft Oyster 595, followed by the 50ft Oyster 495 at the end of the year.…

As an official consultation starts on options for disposing of out of date flares, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has made a plea for an end to the compulsory requirement for pleasure boats to carry pyrotechnic flares on board. The RYA has asked the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to review the requirement, arguing that they are ‘an outdated and ineffective approach to maritime safety’. It points out that better modern technology has made them obsolete and, besides being hazardous to handle, flares are increasingly difficult to dispose of. Phil Horton, the RYA’s environment and sustainability manager, says: “Radios, phones and other satellite connected technologies provide safer, affordable and significantly more reliable alternatives to pyrotechnic flares.” The RYA points out that flares are also inherently less reliable and effective…