Yachts & Yachting magazine May 2019

They tell us not enough young people are getting into sailing. Really? Anyone still holding fast to this notion should visit Alexandra Palace in London in March and see the number of children, teenagers and 20-somethings wandering around the RYA Dinghy Show, in association with Yachts & Yachting and Suzuki. This is the busiest and liveliest boat show I have been to in years. Compared to the London Boat Show in recent years, where most of the punters appeared to be grumpy old gits complaining there was nowhere to sit down, Ally Pally was a vibrant and fun atmosphere that left a distinct feeling of positivity about the future of our sport. The show is by no means exclusively for the youngsters. I met lifetime Laser sailor James, recovering from a…

Ocean Race confirms first V065 entries The Ocean Race has attracted its first two entries for 2021, and confirmed former title sponsor Volvo is staying on as a ‘significant event partner’. Paulo Mirpuri, the chairman of the Mirpuri Foundation, who was behind Turn the Tide on Plastic in the last race, has said he plans to have at least one V065 boat competing. “I’m extremely interested in the IMOCA class, which will showcase the best in technology and innovation. As such, I’m exploring the possibility of an IMOCA campaign that would challenge for The Ocean Race trophy,” he said. Meanwhile Bianca Cook, who raced on board Turn the Tide on Plastic in the 2017-18 event, announced she will be spearheading a New Zealand flagged team. Tony Rae (Trae), a veteran of six editions of…

“This is a monohull without a keel, with appendages that weigh little. A hyper-powerful boat, very light, with little stability. There are fractions of a second that there is zero stability, if the helmsman and the trimmer cannot anticipate this zero moment, you fall back…you go from 30-40 knots to zero, you have a G-force that shoots you in the air.” Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena describing to La Stampa how it feels to sail the Italian America’s Cup team’s advanced AC75 simulator. “We’ll s*** ourselves!” Luna Rossa team member and seasoned America’s Cup campaigner Jimmy Spithill’s immediate reaction to his first acquaintance with the AC75 simulator. “It was torture for me. My self-steering failed almost from day one. The boat itself did not have a problem. It was I who had the problems.…

Laser As we were going to press, it was announced that Laser Performance Europe had been axed as an Approved Builder by the International Laser Class Association. More on this next month. Booming Over 100 international teams are expected for the 2019 Darwin Escapes J/70 World Championships, hosted by the Royal Torbay Yacht Club. It runs from 30 August to 6 Sept. Pixellated Mast track failure forced Alex Alley to halt to his non-stop solo circumnavigation record attempt aboard Pixel Flyer, a crowd-funded Class 40. He made it halfway, aborting in Australia. Tragedy The death of Wayne Rogers, who drowned after being thrown into the water during a Lendy Cowes Week RS Elite race, has been ruled ‘accidental’ by a coroner on the Isle of Wight. Pip pip! Poole Harbour Commissioners is supporting Pip…

Tributes poured in from around the globe after 62-year-old Paul Heys died when swimming on a Caribbean holiday. Paul was co-founder and managing director of Hamble-based Key Yachting, exclusive agent and distributor for J-Boats, Grand Soleil, Nautitech and Tofinou in the UK and Ireland. For many sailors Paul was considered the ‘father’ of the J-Boats brand in the UK after his long association with the company. He personally collected the first J-Boat destined for the UK in 1994 and played a huge role in the development of the various J classes in the Solent and UK-wide. Paul was born in Plymouth and trained as a boatbuilder with Marine Projects, moving to the Hamble area in his early twenties. He was a larger than life character who facilitated the sailing adventures of many of the…

Sailors have been out on the water testing the viable options to replace the Laser and Laser Radial as the Men’s and Women’s One-Person Olympic Dinghy. The tender process for classes interested in becoming the equipment to be used at the 2024 Olympics was announced roughly one year ago at the World Sailing Mid-Year Meeting in May 2018. The classes chosen for evaluation were: Laser; Melges 14; RS Aero; and D-Zero – each with a smaller rig for the women’s class. Eleven Olympic or World Championship level sailors were selected to take part in the evaluation, along with representatives from each manufacturer. Throughout the week sailors tested each boat, with on-water rotations allowing for continuous sailing throughout each day. Over the five-day trial, sea states and wind conditions varied from 5 knots up…