Yachts & Yachting magazine March 2020

I am looking forward to visiting the RYA Dinghy Show this month, which runs from 29 February to 1 March at Alexandra Palace in north London. For the small-boat sailor, the show is a must, an upbeat celebration of our sport, where everyone, exhibitors and visitors, are all into the same kind of sailing. Conveniently, the show also comes at a time when pulling on a wetsuit and getting afloat on an icy reservoir is not top of my to-do list. Our columnist Andy Rice, who organises the Selden SailJuice Winter Series, may have stern words with me over this, but I admit I usually get to about mid-November before quietly reneging on my annual promise to sail through to the summer. Yes, I know, a blast round the harbour…

British Sailing Team members John Gimson and Anna Burnet have been selected for the sole Nacra 17 spot at Tokyo 2020. The pair were chosen after a long-running battle with top Nacra sailors Ben Saxton and Nikki Boniface. Saxton sailed the Nacra at the Rio games four years ago with Nicola Groves. While the rest of the Olympic sailing team was announced last year, the Nacra announcement was delayed until late January 2020. It will be an Olympic debut for both Gimson and Burnet when the Games kicks off on 24 July. Gimson, 36, from Congleton in Cheshire, and Burnet, 27, from Shandon, Scotland, were picked after taking fourth at the 2019 Worlds, adding to silvers that they won at the Ready Steady Tokyo test event and the 2019 Europeans. Gimson, who…

Emirates Team New Zealand has a launched a surprise test boat. While most teams started out with their test boat, the New Zealanders launched their full AC75 first, but Grant Dalton says it’s all part of the strategy: “There is no doubt the Challengers got a bit of jump on us… it was a conscious decision to play the long game, as points don’t count until the first race of the America’s Cup, in 2021.” The boat is called Te Kahu meaning ‘The Hawk’ and was launched in January. It fits within the rules on test yachts, according to the 36th America’s Cup Protocol, which says they must not exceed 12m LOA. The yacht will be used by the team to continue design development through 2020, while its AC75 ‘Te Aihe’…

Last month’s Hempel World Cup Series Miami was the final opportunity for North American nations to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games across the 470, Laser, Laser Radial and Finn fleets. Mexico sealed places in the Laser Radial and Finn, while Canada picked up the Men’s 470 place and USA captured the Women’s 470. Stefano Peschiera of Peru jumped from second to first with his win in the Medal Race to take the gold medal in the talented Laser class. Argentina’s Francisco Garagna Rigonat dropped to second place to earn the silver medal and Enrique Jose Arathoon Pacas of El Salvador took the bronze. Meanwhile, there was a battle for Trinidad and Tobago’s Andrew Lewis, who placed fourth overall, ahead of the Canadians, to book his ticket to Tokyo…

The one-design ‘owner-driver’ RC44 fleet will race at Cowes Week this year. Hosted as a mini-series within the event over 11–15 August, racing on the Solent will take place with a start or finish each day off the Royal Yacht Squadron line. The fleet includes some of the world’s top sailors and should make for an impressive sight for spectators. The SailGP Cowes event will coincide with the 44Cup as a feature event at Cowes Week, on 14-15 August. Meanwhile the 44Cup will start on the Adriatic at Portorož, Slovenia, over 22–26 April, before the fleet moves to Marstrand over 24–28 June. Following Cowes Week, the 2020 44Cup World Championship will take place in Sotogrande, Spain, over 23–27 September, with the finale on 11–15 November in Lanzarote.…

70,000 sailors enjoyed Bart’s Bash in 2019, the world’s largest mass-participation sailing event. Dates for 2020 are 12-13 Sept 167 skippers have started on the Vendée Globe since 1989, but only 89 have crossed the finish line. Four Brits are trying their luck this year: Alex Thomson, Sam Davies, Pip Hare and Miranda Merron 16 million plastic bottles end up in UK landfill sites every day – the astonishing stat that inspired development of Marlow’s recycled Blue Ocean Dockline 36 days, 2hrs, 37 minutes… maxi-tri IDEC SPORT is targeting the Tea Route record for the 13,000-mile voyage from Hong Kong to London…