Yachting World December 2021

If the great privilege of bluewater cruising is the choice to sail wherever you please (weather and budget not withstanding!), then the flip side is that choice comes with a side of responsibility. When should you choose not to sail somewhere? Perhaps sometimes it is better to leave a place untouched, even by the fleeting impact of a yacht’s wake. In their must-read feature on page 22, round the world cruising veterans Janneke Kuysters and Wietze van der Laan look at where to sail in today’s post-pandemic world and come up with some inspiring and creative solutions. Besides the logistical juggles of reducing border crossings and making sure you can get a flight home promptly, one of their key considerations is the impact cruising visitors would have on the destination. In Mo’orea,…

If the great privilege of bluewater cruising is the choice to sail wherever you please (weather and budget not withstanding!), then the flip side is that choice comes with a side of responsibility. When should you choose not to sail somewhere? Perhaps sometimes it is better to leave a place untouched, even by the fleeting impact of a yacht’s wake. In their must-read feature on page 22, round the world cruising veterans Janneke Kuysters and Wietze van der Laan look at where to sail in today’s post-pandemic world and come up with some inspiring and creative solutions. Besides the logistical juggles of reducing border crossings and making sure you can get a flight home promptly, one of their key considerations is the impact cruising visitors would have on the destination.…

Ainslie banks on F1 connection Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team INEOS Britannia has unveiled a major partnership with the Mercedes F1 team, which Ainslie and his backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe hope will reverse the fortunes of the British Challenger of Record after two unsuccessful Cup bids. The reveal was made amidst a dearth of official Cup news, due to the delayed venue announcement for AC37. That vacuum has been amply filled by plenty of speculation, and some of INEOS’s key signings were of little surprise. However, the breadth and depth of the partnership is significant, because it represents a wholesale shift from having F1 experts dip in as advisors to becoming wholly embedded in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team operation. Among the significant changes, the team will be moving to the Mercedes…

Ellen’s two looks I completely agree that B&Q/Castorama is one of the ‘World’s Coolest Yachts’. We had the pleasant task of assisting in finding her a berth in Shanghai when she was on her Asian Tour. However, Ellen MacArthur’s record-breaking circumnavigation [did not have two sponsors]. She had one, Kingfisher Plc. Kingfisher owned the two DIY retail chains of B&Q in the UK and Asia and Castorama in Europe which gave rise to Mark Turner’s idea of the two paint jobs, starboard for the Brits and port for the Europeans. I had the opportunity to meet Ellen and printed off a photograph of my first boat, which was the same as Iduna (Ellen’s own boat). Rather cheekily I wrote on the back “Every good skipper has owned a red Corribee.” When she turned it…

Ainslie banks on F1 connection Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team INEOS Britannia has unveiled a major partnership with the Mercedes F1 team, which Ainslie and his backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe hope will reverse the fortunes of the British Challenger of Record after two unsuccessful Cup bids. The reveal was made amidst a dearth of official Cup news, due to the delayed venue announcement for AC37. That vacuum has been amply filled by plenty of speculation, and some of INEOS’s key signings were of little surprise. However, the breadth and depth of the partnership is significant, because it represents a wholesale shift from having F1 experts dip in as advisors to becoming wholly embedded in the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team operation. Among the significant changes, the team will be moving…