Yachting World February 2022

One thing we are never short of when putting together each issue is a wishlist of interesting new yachts to get on board. Pandemic be damned, because the full flowing stream of ground-breaking, or pure dream-inducing designs coming onto the market each year shows no sign of drying up. This month we’ve tested the latest yacht from one of sailing’s most iconic brands, an all-new French yard’s innovative catamaran, and take a look at forthcoming production boats by the most popular builders in the world. And we could have filled those pages twice over. But how to view new designs – for both us, and prospective buyers – is becoming increasingly complicated. As we go to press, comes news that UK visitors won’t be able to travel to the world’s…

One crew member died, two yachts were abandoned, and two made successful mid-Atlantic rescues during this year’s ARC and ARC+ transatlantic rallies. The first incident occurred six days into the ARC crossing, when a sailor aboard the X-Yachts X43 Agecanonix was fatally injured on the night of 26/27 November. French sailor Max Delannoy, 73, is understood to have been struck by the boom. On a Facebook page set up for those following Agecanonix’s crossing, family member Stéphanie Barrière reported: “Our dear Max was a victim of an accident last night, when he was just taking the helm for his night shift, the boom violently hit him in the head. Philippe, who was in the cockpit, was able to hold him back from falling into the water, but he died suddenly.” The…

British Olympic 470 duo Hannah Mills MBE and Eilidh McIntyre were named the female Rolex World Sailor of the Year for 2021, while Australia’s Tom Slingsby won the male Rolex World Sailor of the Year award. Mills and McIntyre scored gold at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, making Mills the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time. She said after winning: “I am completely blown away. The line up this year was absolutely incredible. “I feel privileged to be a female in sailing right now, there are so many opportunities out there.” Slingsby’s successes over the past year included an absolutely dominant performance at the International Moth World Championships in Lake Garda, Italy, winning the first season of SailGP as skipper and team CEO of the Australian team, and…

The three-year time limit for ‘Returned Goods Relief’ (RGR), which saw UK yacht owners potentially facing large VAT bills when they brought their yachts back to the UK after cruising in Europe post-Brexit, has been dropped. Following the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020, HMRC had previously announced that UK-owned yachts would lose their VAT-paid status once they have been out of the UK for three years. This would make owners liable for a second VAT payment when they return, based on the boat’s current value. HMRC later granted an extension to this RGR exemption, if the vessel returned to the UK before 30 June 2022 (or within the three year period if that runs later). Effectively, that gave many UK owners who’d taken their yachts…

The fate of Discovery Shipyard could be in the hands of administrators after the company revealed on LinkedIn that its owner has announced the immediate withdrawal of support and of future investments. Binti Marine Holdings is the holding company of the reformed Discovery Shipyard. Owner Werner Schnaebele, a German sailor, made his fortune developing a software integration tool for large companies and was one of the 401 crowdfunders who invested over £2.2m in the Discovery Yachts Group, before he went on to buy the business. The company has undergone some substantial changes in the subsequent two years, thanks to Schnaebele’s investments and the management of John Burnie, who has helped develop new models. The result has seen a surge in its order book. However, without further support, the future of…

Since entries for the 37th America’s Cup opened on 1 December 2021, two teams have confirmed they will be challenging. In what must be a huge boost to the beleaguered Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand, both are seriously bighitting teams. Both have also signed significant partnerships with Formula 1 teams. First to confirm was Alinghi. Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, whose team was the first ever to win on its Cup debut in 2003, makes a return as Alinghi Red Bull Racing. “Eleven years after winning the America’s Cup, we’re back. We never quite left,” Bertarelli said. “When we stopped racing in the Cup we didn’t stop competing. We always had in mind that we would come back.” Alinghi will be racing under the burgee of the Société Nautique de Genève.…