Yachting World November 2021

Is there a cruising sailor out there who has not, at some point, read the advice of Jimmy Cornell? Over four decades Cornell’s books, rallies and sailing adventures have inspired thousands of sailors to cast off, to be more adventurous, and more confident in themselves and their preparation. In a world where ‘influencer’ is something of a barbed accolade, Cornell’s influence on the bluewater sailing community remains inarguable. It was a privilege to talk with him about his lifetime of voyaging (page 48). One of the fascinating points Jimmy made was how his love of adventure was inspired and fuelled by growing up behind the Iron Curtain, with all the limitations on liberty that political situation brought. For many of us sailing is an escape – a way of disconnecting…

The America’s Cup is no stranger to public fallings-out and backroom dealings, but the twists and turns of the venue selection for the 37th America’s Cup must rank alongside the very worst of America’s Cup disputes. The Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup is due to be published on 17 November, 2021. Ahead of that announcement, which will include the design and rules for the next regatta, the venue for AC37 was due to be announced on 17 September. However, Cup holders Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS), announced instead that they were extending the selection period for shortlisted venues. In a statement RNZYS Commodore Aaron Young said: “For the benefit of both the 37th America’s Cup and the eventual host venue, we’d…

September saw international boat shows come back with a bang thanks to the successful running of Cannes and Southampton followed by the Genoa and Monaco shows. For many in the industry these in-water shows were a welcome return to life as they knew it (albeit with a few more restrictions in place, including face masks and awkward non-physical greetings), while for the general boating public it was the first chance to see the full ranges of new yachts in person for nearly two years. The Cannes Yachting Festival has retained its status as being the show to see the glamorous new premieres, with many mid-sized to larger yachts making their world debuts. The 500m long stretch of monohulls berthed side-by-side and stern-to in Port Canto made for a particularly spectacular…

With their enormous curved foils, the IMOCA 60 class has pushed the boundaries of offshore foiling, but at present class rules prohibit T-foils on rudders, which would allow the 60s to fly for more prolonged periods. Louis Burton, who finished 3rd in the last Vendée Globe, recently developed an experimental load-bearing rudder foil for his Sam Manuard-designed Bureau Vallée II (the former L’Occitane, a last generation design), which saw the IMOCA fully foiling, at a consistent height and speeds of around 33 knots, for sustained periods, as these video stills show. Burton explained: “Our IMOCAs fly, more or less, on foils, but there is no forward plane on the rudders so that makes us pitch up, then down again, the nose up. We had this spare third rudder in the…

Fourteen-year-old Katie McCabe from Topsham in Devon has become the youngest person to sail around Britain (via the Caledonian Canal) single handed. She completed her solo journey sailing around Britain anticlockwise on the 26ft wooden, Morgan Giles design Falanda she restored herself. Her epic solo voyage was hampered by bad weather, leaks, locks, fog and navigating some of Britain’s busiest ports, but was completed in seven and a half weeks. McCabe began her circumnavigation from Exmouth and sailed up the east coast and through the Caledonian Canal before returning down the west coast of Scotland and Wales, then rounding Land’s End and sailing as far west as the Scilly Isles before finally landing back in Devon some two months later. As Falanda sailed back into Exmouth a small flotilla of…

Pip Hare, the British Vendée Globe skipper and regular Yachting World contributor, has won the prestigious Yachtsman of the Year award, presented by the Yachting Journalists’ Association. She joins the ranks of such exceptional sailors as Sir Ben Ainslie, Dame Ellen MacArthur and four-time winner Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Hare was the first British sailor across the line at this year’s Vendée Globe race back in February of this year, racing her 20-year-old non-foiling IMOCA Medallia, in a campaign which had been run on an exceptionally tight budget. Writing in Yachting World after finishing the race she said: “If you’d told me at the start I’d finish four hours behind a foiling boat and be racing against them for weeks before the finish, I’d have never believed it.” Hare was unable to…