Yachting World November 2022

Boats, as we all know, are getting bigger. A walk around any boat show will confirm that. They’re getting physically longer, beamier, higher volume for sure. But modern yachts also give a much greater impression of spaciousness – even relatively modest new designs have been carefully thought out in terms of natural light and liveability. So it may seem utterly counter-intuitive to limit yourself to a compact, vintage yacht, to strip out modern creature comforts and set off around the world as the Golden Globe skippers are doing (see page 22). More extreme yet are the microyachters, for whom going ‘small’ is a seemingly limitless challenge. We delve into their fascinating world on page 38. But the appeal of the smaller vessel isn’t about unncessary discomfort, it’s about a return…

Spithill breaks his SailGP duck Jimmy Spithill and the United States SailGP Team managed to shake their run of disappointing results with a first event win at the French SailGP event in St Tropez. Spithill, a double America’s Cup winner, had faced swingeing criticism after a series of uncharacteristically poor results in SailGP. Australia leads the series overall, with New Zealand rapidly closing the gap. Yacht topics debated The Yacht Racing Forum will take place from 21-22 November in Malta. The conference will host discussions on everything from the state of sailing post-Covid to trickle-down foiling technology, cruising yacht design, increasing youth participation, and protecting marine life from collisions. See yachtracingforum.com Pardeys honoured Lin Pardey and her late husband, Larry, who were inspirations to thousands of liveaboard cruisers and sailors…

The first new ‘mini’ America’s Cup class, the AC40, has been launched in New Zealand and took flight on its first sail this September, after some successful tow-testing. The AC40 is a brand new design by the Cup Defenders’ team, and buying one is a requirement of entry for all teams in the 37th America’s Cup. The AC40s will be sailed in one-design mode for the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup event, and can be modified by teams to use as a trial horse to test design developments for their AC75 On its maiden sail, the AC40 was helmed by new New Zealand recruit Nathan Outteridge along with ETNZ coach Ray Davies. On its first outing, the crew successfully completed a foiling tack and foiling gybe, showing how rapidly the…

While the AC40s are designed as an even platform for teams to test design elements, the British team INEOS Britannia will also be launching its own scaled-down development yacht. It’s likely that other ‘Project X’ type trial yachts will also be unveiled as the Cup teams ramp up their trials and testing phase. As reported by Justin Chisholm of CupInsider.com and confirmed by the British team in a press release, the ‘LEQ12’ yacht, code-named T6, will be launched at their new training base in Palma, Mallorca. As Challenger of Record, one of the British team’s key points in the sign off of the Protocol for AC37 was that teams retained the option of building their own scaled down development boats in addition to the AC40s. These test boats (or towing…

Early September marked the 45th anniversary of the Cannes Yachting Festival, which was held over six days and involved almost 650 boats on display, 135 of which were making world debuts. The objective of the organisers was to exceed results pre-Covid, which it managed, with 54,000 visitors and 600 exhibitors. Sylvie Ernoult, director of Cannes Yachting Festival, reported that they had had positive feedback from exhibitors. “Since the end of the lockdowns the market is back on track and the order books are full for the next two years. The show was no exception. A lot of our exhibitors confirmed to us their great satisfaction regarding the show and, importantly, the volume of sales realised during the show. “We have recovered from the Covid disaster and our results for the…

Cannes show continued to stamp its authority as THE international in-water show of the year. As you might expect, it involves a hefty amount of glitz, and it was the 50ft to 80ft monohulls and catamarans that stole the majority of the limelight in the Port Canto sail only marina. And while there were dozens of these, many of which we toured and will appear on video on our YouTube channel this autumn, we also noticed an increased presence of smaller yachts. Southampton and Genoa also hosted successful in-water shows this autumn, the former being an excellent showcase of more approachable sized yachts and all forms of watersports, and in particular the gear and equipment needed to enjoy them. That said, a six-day format such as the Cannes show might…