Sailing Today

THIS MONTH, one subject seems to crop up time and again and that's the matter of navigation. It's possibly not the most glamorous of subjects but definitely fundamental to our sport. The question of digital vs paper just keep coming up and its a subject that is always guaranteed to get people talking. I guess things kicked off in earnest in July 2022 when the UKHO announced that it was planning on discontinuing its range of Admiralty paper charts - used by sailors for over two centuries. That got many people going and eventually led to the UKHO rowing back on it's plan and stating it would continue to produce them until at least 2030. We examine the choice between paper and digital in Sam Fortescue's article on p66, with…

Round the world racing ‘is coming home’ to Southampton British sailors grew up with Southampton and the Solent being the accepted start and finish of round the world races, until commercial pressures forced organisers to go abroad. Now the Ocean Globe Race will herald a return to those days as it starts and finishes at MDL’s Ocean Village marina in Southampton. Starting in September, the Ocean Globe Race is a Whitbread throwback, with fully crewed yachts racing around the planet over four legs in a ‘retro’ style to recreate the spirit of the original Whitbread 1973 race. On board the 15 privately-owned, pre-1988 sailing boats, the 160 sailors will have no GPS, no high-tech equipment and no computers, navigating by chart and sextant. Some of the big names from the…

Q&A How did you do in the recent Hobie 16 Worlds? Having trained with a former 420 world champion, she contracted Covid three days before the event and I was lucky to find another crew from the Wildwind team in Vassiliki. Our ‘training’ consisted of three tacks on the way out to the start line. We had a first place on the last day - we finished on a high at least! What is behind Windwind’s sponsorship of the International Hobie Class Association? My dad (Tony Morgan) was Keith Musto’s crew in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics finishing with a silver medal in the Flying Dutchman. He never really had enough time to teach me racing and although I raced Cadets as a youth I only ever did well when it…

ICE 53 For the uninitiated, ICE Yachts is an Italian company that specialises in producing fast, elegant cruiser/racers. It must be said that Italy enjoys something of a glut of such manufacturers at present with Italia, Grand Soleil, Eleva, Solaris and many others turning out super stylish and quick boats. ICE sits towards the top end of this cadre and is also a specialist in carbonfibre production, which sets it apart from some rivals. The new 53 is one of its smaller yachts but shares the blend of style, performance and comfort with its bigger sisters. The boat is designed by Umberto Felci and the aim was to improve the already rapid pace of the existing ICE 52 RS. To this end, the boat is some two tons lighter than…

First Look French catamaran manufacturer Outremer has been in the game since 1984 and initially built a solid reputation on building fast, blue water cruisers. For many years progress was steady and occasionally spectacular – an Outremer 45, Bagnoles d l’Orne, won the OSTAR - but it has been in the 2010’s that things really started to explode for the company. Models like the 4X were viewed as the ultimate blue water cruising cats for those wishing to sell up and sail. The blend of well thought out accommodation and sparkling performance made the boat highly desirable. They weren’t the cheapest, they weren’t necessarily the roomiest, but their mix of performance and comfort meant that they slowly became the yardstick against which others were measured. Which brings us to their…

The West coast of Scotland is famous for having a plethora of snug anchorages; shelter from the storm no matter which point of the compass it comes from. But it also has hundreds of magical secret treasures rarely accessed because of their exposure to thousands of miles of open ocean all the way to the Americas. Truly lonely places that have no road access (so no camper vans!) but rarely suitable for an overnight stay at anchor. It’s all very well to feel safe anchored in no wind; with no forecast of wind, but dinner with an Atlantic swell on the beam and the boat rolling like a fairground waltzer can be messy. Sleeping can be difficult too; and don’t even think about trying to get ashore through the surf.…