Yachts & Yachting magazine Yachting Year 2021

As this edition of The Yachting Year goes to press, we can bring you the news that the desire to go out and get wet, cold, mad, invigorated, refreshed and sunburned on whatever kind of boat yours is, shows no signs of abating. It’s been a hell of a year and there are probably stormy waters yet to come, but sailing is still the greatest hobby known to mankind and in these tumultuous times there is even more reason to get out on the water, clear your head and have a great weekend. In this issue of The Yachting Year, as well as reviewing 2020, we look forward to the coming 12 months – a year that could be momentous for British sailing. First up we’ve got the Vendée Globe, which enters…

Yasmin Steel, of Melbourne, Australia, was five days out of Tristan da Cunha on the tall ship Europa, when with hurricane-force winds battering the rig and waves roaring past the hull, she decided it was time to get her camera out. Her show-stopping image, ‘50 degrees south’, was voted Photo of the Decade in the National Historic Ships photo competition. With some restraint, judges praised the image for its “sense of drama and level horizon under testing circumstances”. For more stunning photography and stories from the classic boat world, have a look at our sister title Classic Boat or visit classicboat.co.uk…

Set against a glorious Caribbean sunset, the VO70 I Love Poland drifts through the Barbuda race mark on day 1 of the RORC Caribbean 600, back in February 2020. In normal times, the annual race sees a fleet of more than 70 boats, ranging from cutting edge multihulls to vintage classics, compete over four days on a course around Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, Anguilla and Guadaloupe. I Love Poland eventually finished fifth in class. The next RORC Caribbean 600 is due to start on Monday 22 February 2021. For the latest news from the performance racing world, have a look at our sister title Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting, or visit yachtsandyachting.co.uk…

What a dreadful season – and what a magnificent summer. For many of us, when we could eventually get afloat, the weather was glorious, anchorages were empty and an afternoon under sail was savoured more than ever before. After the weeks spent under peerless skies in lockdown, the pleasure of being at sea again was great, but going sailing wasn’t straightforward, even after lockdown measures had been eased. Boaters in Guernsey were the first back afloat, when a Notices to Mariners ruled that from Saturday 2 May, recreational vessels could go to sea for two hours at a time. Of course, that was subject to boat skippers being accompanied “only by persons permanently residing at the same address or, where the vessel is sufficiently large to maintain social distancing, with one…

VENDÉE GLOBE JANUARY Mid-January should see a triumphant homecoming for the leaders of the 33-strong fleet of IMOCA 60s contesting the ninth edition of the Vendée Globe. Having left Les Sables d’Olonne, France, on 8 November, these elite sailors will have each fought singlehandedly for every inch of the 24,000nm circumnavigation. Four British skippers were entered: favourite Alex Thomson, sailing his fifth Vendée on a new Hugo Boss; Sam Davies, another Vendée veteran, on board Initiatives-Coeur, who was pushing for a top spot; Pip Hare, who’s entry was boosted thanks to title sponsor Medallia; and Miranda Merron, a top Class 40 soloist making her Vendée debut on Campagne de France. Thomson was widely expected to be among the front runners, with his new Hugo Boss one of 10 new generation, purpose-built foilers in the…

There are plenty of reasons for cruising sailors to look forward to 2021. Our pursuit is by definition one that takes us away from the madding crowd and into a state of voluntary isolation. As restrictions are slowly lifted and borders reopened, the cruising sailor’s horizons should broaden considerably. However, for UK-based sailors, there is something else looming – Brexit. This could have an effect on some aspects of cruising from now on. We’ll look at the possible ramifications in this article. RALLYING ROUND I’m always deeply reluctant to talk about the year ahead for cruising sailors as if there is some sort of rigid framework we must stick to. Deep in the DNA of cruising sailors is a mistrust of schedules, which has been garnered by many years of carefully planning…