Electric propulsion is rapidly becoming established in the mainstream yacht market. This is increasingly driven by customer demand, often by people who own electric or plug-in hybrid cars and are more than happy with the balance between their advantages and shortcomings.

In my role testing new yachts I’ve sailed an increasing number of boats with electric and hybrid propulsion over the past six years, ranging from lightweight daysailers through smaller cruising yachts to heavy aluminium bluewater cruisers and large cruising catamarans.

I quickly discovered that electric yacht propulsion opens doors to completely different ways of thinking to the diesel engines we’re accustomed to using, especially when motor sailing.

Throttling back

Many diesel powered yachts carry enough fuel for the rate of consumption to never be a worry. However, the further you voyage the greater the chances you’ll opt to throttle back to extend range. It’s incredibly easy to underestimate the dramatic effect this has on energy use, whatever type of fuel is used.

The wave making resistance of a hull increases exponentially at speeds above 1x the square root of the effective waterline length in feet. It therefore takes three times more energy to push a boat with a 36ft (10.9m) waterline at 8 knots than at 6 knots.

Accurate monitoring of electric systems.

Additional efficiencies can be gained by throttling back further. As with air resistance when driving on a motorway, frictional resistance of the water on the hull varies with the square of boat speed. Reducing the speed of a 36-footer from 6 knots to 5 reduces total energy consumed by roughly a further 30%. At 5 knots it therefore requires less than a quarter of the energy needed to push it at hull speed of 8 knots.

This helps explain why many boats with electric propulsion appear to have relatively small battery banks. The same is also true of a Tesla – a Model S with 500kW of propulsion power may have an 80kW battery, yet the car doesn’t run out of power after less than 15 minutes – its range is over 300 miles.

As with a boat, most of the time only a small proportion of the potential power is being used. With a Tesla it’s on tap to provide supercar levels of acceleration for less than five seconds, while on a boat it’s there for manoeuvring and for punching head seas for short periods, such as leaving harbour or rounding choppy headlands in strong wind over tide conditions.

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Sail power

Modern reaching and downwind sails have revolutionised the sail area it’s feasible for a lightly crewed cruising yacht to carry in light airs. When using a dedicated reaching sail, such as a Code 0, many yachts can now sail at close to the true wind speed in breezes of 4-8 knots. These sails are just as relevant to older cruising yachts and heavy displacement new designs as to very light, high performance craft.

This ability to maintain speed under sail reduces the amount of time spent under power while on passage and therefore effectively increases range, whether you’re using diesel or electric propulsion. In the case of the latter, most electric propulsion systems also have a regeneration function, capable of putting significant amounts of power back into the battery bank while under sail.

Well managed solar and hydrogeneration power on the electric Windelo Adventure 50. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

The power these produce also increases exponentially as boat speed rises. In lighter airs this can make gybing wide angles to increase apparent wind when sailing downwind an important strategy. If doing so increases boat speed from 5 to 7 knots, for instance, the rate of charge doubles, which helps explain why some all-electric yachts can work as long-distance cruisers.

Depending on the boat, in less than 10 knots of true wind optimal downwind VMG is likely to be found at true wind angles of around 135°-140°. This means you’re sailing 30% further, but expecting the increase in speed to be larger than that figure.

Motor sailing with electric power is very different to doing so with a diesel engine. Unlike a diesel, electric motors can be used to give just a small extra push that helps increase apparent wind in a virtuous circle. When I tested a hybrid Ovni 430, for instance, reaching in less than 4 knots of true wind with mainsail and Code 0 just 3.3kW of push from the electric motor – less than 14% of its rated output – was enough to double boat speed from 2.2 to 4.5 knots. By contrast, 11kW is needed for the boat to maintain a 6.8 knot cruising speed under power alone.

The onboard power system of a Windelo Adventure 50. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

Nevertheless, making good progress towards a downwind destination can be notoriously difficult so a big asymmetric spinnaker designed for downwind VMG angles is a huge advantage. Unlike a race sail this doesn’t need to be made of super light material – regular 0.75oz, or even a more robust 0.9oz cloth, works well.

Even then it’s not impossible to imagine a scenario in which an all electric long-distance cruising yacht without a back-up generator might reach back and forth with the Code 0 in very light airs just to generate enough electricity to keep the freezer cold.

But that may not be as much of an absurd idea as it initially sounds. When racing offshore we often use a similar strategy in a near calm, having first identified where the next new (stronger) breeze will be found. Instead of aiming solely to reduce the distance sailed, this is usually a faster way to get downwind in very light airs than pointing directly at the next waypoint and is a strategy cruisers can also employ to good effect.

Into the wind

The other situation in which motor sailing is common is to improve progress when close-hauled. In light airs a small push using electric propulsion can again be used to boost speed without a big power drain. However, the situation is very different when punching a big head sea in strong winds, when a considerable amount of power may be needed.

Clean and compact electric propulsion unit in an X-Yachts Xc 47. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr

This is arguably a weakness of electric propulsion, other than in yachts with large range-extending generators. It’s a much smaller problem for designs that sail efficiently to windward and have quality sails that maintain their shape even in gusts than for those that tack through big angles and have badly stretched Dacron sails.

The extent to which getting in and out of harbour and manoeuvring in port typically depletes the battery of course varies in different places. There’s a big difference between a marina berth a few hundred metres from open water and those that are a long slog up miles of tidal estuary.

Last autumn I checked out two yachts weighing 8.8 and 15 tonnes respectively in this respect: the Bestevaer 36 in La Rochelle and an Xc 47 at Port Ginesta near Barcelona. With the former we had no need to use more than 2kW of the 11kW of available power at any time while entering port and manoeuvring, while average consumption was closer to 500W. This reflected time manoeuvring at slow speed in a confined space, handing sails and preparing fenders and lines.

Manoeuvring the Xc 47 in harbour, holding station against a 15-knot headwind while we sorted lines and fenders, used only 300-500W of propulsion power, despite the boat’s high topsides and we could have done that for 100 hours before depleting the battery bank.

Motor sailing can be an efficient use of electrical power. Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/imacis.fr

Is electric propulsion always greener?

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for the most sustainable solution for a yacht’s auxiliary propulsion. The extra carbon emissions associated with manufacturing an electric car is often offset within 15,000 miles thanks to their impressive efficiency compared to internal combustion engine vehicles.

However a recent well publicised ICOMIA report found privately owned sailing yachts clock up an average of only 24 engine hours annually, so the carbon footprint associated with producing the battery pack is never recovered.

The recommendation to minimise life cycle carbon emissions is therefore to use a second generation biofuel such as HVO, which is typically produced from biowaste material. These are very different to first generation biofuels, which were very hygroscopic and provided a fertile breeding ground for microorganisms that were prone to blocking fuel filters.

The equation is massively different for charter yachts and owners who spend considerable periods of time on board. An independent study commissioned by Fountaine-Pajot showed that 80% of the yard’s carbon emissions stem not from manufacturing processes, but from the use of its yachts during only the first 20 years of their life.

In this situation electric or hybrid propulsion is likely to make a very sustainable proposition.

Nevertheless, just as environmental considerations aren’t always a factor for owners of enormously powerful electric cars with 0-60mph acceleration times well under four seconds, a growing number of yacht buyers are opting for electric propulsion for reasons other than its apparent green credentials.

Benefits include quiet, odour-free running, space savings, reduced maintenance, the ability to recharge batteries – effectively refuelling while sailing using only the wind – and a huge amount of torque at low speeds that can make difficult manoeuvres in tight spaces a lot less daunting.

Key rules for sailing an electric boat

1. Don’t try to motor or motor sail too fast – trying to get close to hull speed takes an enormous amount of energy.
2. Good reaching and downwind sails help minimise the time spent under power, while maximising opportunities for regeneration while under way.
3. Don’t try to sail dead downwind in light airs – when true wind is under 10 knots a true wind angle around 135°-140° invariably gives better results.
4. Use the on-screen data to optimise boat speed and power consumption. Often only a very small push from the motor will result in a useful speed gain when motor sailing.

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Boats may have nine lives, but a sailor is not supposed to have nine fingers. Every year, however, we hear of instances of crushed hands, lost fingers, and major damage from poor line handling techniques. Technological advances have greatly reduced the amount of sail and line handling required of today’s sailors.

Sail areas are increasingly concentrated in a few, large sails, rather than broken up into several smaller ones. Hydraulic furlers, asymmetric spinnakers, in-mast reefing and self-tacking headsails all mean that we need less rope to manage our sails.

If you’re in a hurry, running your hand along the length of a line can help avoid kinks. Photo: 59° North Sailing

In fact, rope is notable in its absence from the sleek cockpits of new yachts, which can often seem like a lines-free area.

The risk of this is that out of sight can mean out of mind and, while the amount of line handling on modern yachts has decreased, the loads on those remaining lines has not.

Line handling is an essential skill for keeping yourself, and others, safe. As skippers, it’s something we should be talking about more often, especially whenever we have novice crew on board.

I asked other sailors for their thoughts and was surprised by the strength of their responses: everyone had a story to tell.

Respecting the loads

“A loaded line”, the former skipper of the 125ft Fife Mariquita, Jim Thom told me, “is like a loaded gun. They’re silent until they go off.”

It reminded me of an incident aboard an 80ft maxi I’d once worked on as a deckhand. The genoa sheet blew without warning, and it did, indeed, sound as though we were under fire.

Ensuring you don’t raise the line above winch level is key to preventing the line from spinning off. Photo: Yachting World

The sail flogged violently until we tacked and took on the other sheet. Fortunately, no one was on the leeward side deck at the time.

The speed and ferocity with which it happened have stayed with me and to this day I’m never comfortable with anyone standing near loaded lines.

Understand the power when line handling

A winch magnifies your effort by whatever ratio they’re designed for.

A modest 50:1 winch will output 1,250kg to the line for the 25kg you (or the batteries) apply to it.

That’s about the same as the weight of a VW Golf which, if it was actually attached to the other end of your halyard rather than the mainsail, would certainly focus the mind.

Novice crew won’t know how much pressure to apply to a winch and will need supervision.

experienced sailors transitioning to larger boats may not understand the loads involved and overexuberance with a winch can prove catastrophic.

One cruising sailor, who had decided to charter a larger than normal yacht in the Med, applied their beginning of holiday joie-de-vivre to a halyard winch and brought the mast down, somewhat curtailing their charter.

Winch technique

Winch handling technique needs to be revisited as the size of yacht you are sailing increases. Inexperienced crew need detailed winch briefings and demonstrations.

Standing sideways onto a winch with hands in a closed fist, little finger towards the load, gives the strongest stance. Three turns should be sufficient for pulling in by hand, anymore and you risk getting a riding turn.

However, extra turns are needed before tensioning it. A common mistake is to only use three turns and then go straight to the self-tailer.

Filling the winch drum with four or five turns is a critical moment when accidents can happen – keep hands well away. Photo: Rachel Sprot

While the self-tailer may grip the line enough to apply considerable load to the line, at some point it may need easing and will need to be taken out of the self tailer, with insufficient turns on the drum to manage the now considerable load.

Filling up the drum with four or five turns is a critical moment when accidents can happen. Crew should be briefed to slide their hands down the line, keeping them a safe distance away from the drum as they do so.

Keeping hands well back from the winch when line handling gives more thinking time if it does slip. Working at winch height, and not raising the line above winch level, is key to preventing the line from spinning off.

Handling a loaded winch with insufficient turns is dangerous.

Those lines not being used can then be coiled neatly on the guardwires. Photo: Rachel Sprot

One skipper of a 70ft yacht reported losing their hearing for a week after they were hit by a flogging jib sheet. They’d stepped in when a novice crewmember, who had only applied two turns around the drum, was struggling to keep control of the line.

Having long tails on the headsail sheets means that if they are flogging an extra turn can be lassoed on without getting too close to the winch. Headsail sheets which are only just long enough for normal operation, will be too short to do this safely.

Deck gear

Lines are only as strong as the things they’re attached to. On a boat which is working hard there’s nearly always something working loose, or seizing up.

Doing a deck walk and keeping a simple set of tools handy to rectify any defects, such as seizing a shackle or tightening up a car assembly, are easy to do and may prevent a more serious failure.

Knowing what lies underneath your deck fittings is also important: are there substantial backing plates, or just a few penny washers?

Gear failure is often preventable if signs of fatigue are identified early on, and the equipment is used as it was intended.

Flaking a line

As boats get larger the lines don’t just become thicker, they also get longer. The longer the line the more difficult it is to work with.

your hand along its entire length will help take out any kinks, and if you’re in a hurry, can be just as effective as flaking it into a perfect figure of eight (though don’t say that out loud in St Tropez!).

Flaking a braided line into a figure of eight will help prevent kinks that could hinder line handling. Photo: Rachel Sprot

Stopper knots

As the line diameter increases, the figure of eight becomes less effective as a stopper knot: they shake loose too easily. An Admiralty Stopper knot is more secure.

Danger zones

Be aware of apex zones, such as a preventer line doubling back around a block on the foredeck. If the block failed, anyone standing in the apex could be seriously injured.

Ideally, we should avoid creating an apex in the first place, especially if they rely on a single component like a block. It’s better to run a preventer through the fairlead, or around a bow cleat, in addition to any blocks.

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Let go

When line handling becomes a tug of war it’s time to let go.

Amy Graydon, first mate of a sail training vessel, explicitly teaches that ‘let go’ means open your hands and drop the rope after a crewmember suffered a rope burn from trying to hold a headsail sheet which didn’t have enough turns around the winch.

Tidy up

Loose lines on deck are dangerous: they’re a trip hazard, won’t run freely when they need to be eased, or run too freely and end up in the water.

A messy deck disguises hazards such as a bight of rope, and will make it harder for crew who are quite literally learning the ropes, to see what’s going on.

A thumb knot in the block secures lines not currently in use. Photo: Rachel Sprot

The tails of lines in use should be coiled around the winch they’re associated with or flaked neatly beside them. Lines which aren’t in use, such as spinnaker sheets, can be coiled on the guardwires and secured with a thumb knot in the block.

And without going into full Marie Kondo mode, there’s something very satisfying about a row of well-stowed halyards!

Stay calm

Line handling often occurs at high pressure moments: coming alongside, spinnaker hoists, a sudden tack. These are all times when the skipper might be feeling stressed, and it transfers to the crew. Take your time for manoeuvres and make time for line handling.

Calm leadership will prevent people from making mistakes and enable them to perform at their best.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post An expert guide to safe line handling at sea appeared first on Yachting World.

If you’ve ever dreamed about buying a boat and sailing to South America with no firm plan about what to do next, Slow Boat to Uruguay by Andrew Tunstall is essential reading. I have sympathy with Mr Tunstall and his inimitable wife, Abi, because that’s exactly what my wife and I did in 1975. They even made a similar landfall on Ilha Grande 50 miles beyond Rio. What strikes me about their subsequent wanderings around that mysterious continent is how little things have changed outside the big cities in 40-odd years.

The book is a thought-provoking and satisfying read from the author’s near-death confrontation with gun-toting bandits, to his philosophical conclusions following the premature death of a close friend in the final pages.

For a real feel of South America it’s a unique perspective.

Andrew and Abi sell up, quit their jobs and buy Josephine, a Beneteau First 38. These boats always performed well and can still muster a useful turn of speed. Abi, her tiny daughter and her mother – also signed on as crew – opted wisely to fly to Brazil, leaving the skipper and three of his mates to make the passage. We join Andrew and his shipmates fresh out of St Helena bound west, a wide ocean away.

What follows isn’t a story of destruction and unbelievable endurance on the high seas. Rather, it’s a yarn of four guys making the most of a long spell of extreme conditions in an area where they had every right to expect a better deal. Nothing significant breaks and despite their lack of deep-sea experience they come through a prolonged storm in good shape with an enviable series of days’ runs.

Like the rest of the book, the house-high seas and the chaps dealing with sundry knock-downs as all in a day’s work, makes a refreshing read.

Extract from Slow Boat to Uruguay

For the first four days out of Cape Town we’d surfed northwards on the swells ahead of gale-force winds. After that the weather for the leg to St Helena had been perfect, with consistent following winds and mostly sunny skies making for near perfect sailing conditions. Things were to change on the second leg.

As we ventured further out onto the Atlantic and St Helena slipped inexorably over the horizon in our wake, a cell of intense low pressure was barrelling its way up the South American coast from the Southern Ocean. Over the ensuing days it developed into a full-blown tropical cyclone, bringing with it violent winds and torrential rain that led to some of the most destructive flooding in the history of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, killing more than 100 people and leaving thousands homeless.

Of course we knew nothing of this, and had been at sea five or six days when we noticed a pronounced swell coming through from the south west; a deep, wide swell that conflicted with the prevailing ocean swell driven by the south-easterly trade winds we were sailing on.

This conflict set up a lumpy, erratic sea with frequent rogue waves coming from odd directions that reared up unannounced and slammed into the boat, shaking her like a toy and swamping the cockpit. The high cirrus cloud feathering the sky warned us we could expect some excitement, and later the following day the barometric pressure plunged. Without access to weather reports we had little idea we were headed on a collision course with a massive storm cell as it bludgeoned and battered its way up the coast of Brazil.

In due course the wind veered from easterly to north-westerly, further confusing the swells running from the south, and we put a third reef in the mainsail to keep the power to a minimum for the coming tempest. Both the wind and the waves continued to build, until we were surfing down the faces of waves 30ft high.

Down in the troughs there was eerie quiet as the waves shielded us from the wind, then as we were lifted high on the next crest the wind screamed through the rigging and slammed the sails tight, Josephine surging in response and accelerating off the lip, carving the bottle green water into a twin bow-wave of tumbling foam.

It was a wild ride. Steering demanded absolute concentration as we anticipated the movements of the water and lined the boat up to minimise the risk of being spun out or rolled over. The wind had picked up to 55 knots before the rain came, and when it came, it came in a deluge, as if another layer of the ocean were falling out of the sky under its own weight.

Into freefall

With the wind howling, the tops of the waves exploding into stinging white needles and the rain cascading down, it was difficult to read the water and we started making mistakes. Rupe and I were tied to our bunks in the saloon during one of Dael’s afternoon shifts when we heard a muffled cry of alarm as the boat rolled awkwardly on her side, then our bunks pressed hard against our back as Josephine climbed steeply, followed by an eerie weightlessness. Gone was the sound of running water along the hull as Josephine went into freefall. Our stomachs floated up under our ribs as we held our breath and braced ourselves for the impact.

Time stopped. We hung motionless in the air, then a sudden, juddering crash forced us violently down into our bunks. I looked up through the top hatch at where the sky would normally be, but there was only a deep green, swirling like liquid malachite against the glass. The boat was underwater.

With no autopilot, Slow Boat’s Andrew Tunstall and his crew of three friends took turns at the wheel of Josephine

But Josephine is a resilient ship and she looked after us. She shook the water off like a duck and burst above the surface, Dael whooping like a teenager in the cockpit (I was relieved to hear he was still there!) and the rest of us falling over each other to rig our harnesses so we could get outside and join him. Then Dael was shouting again in alarm, and as I scrabbled up the steps and out through the hatch he was pointing forward and babbling incoherently.

“Shit! Shit!” he was shouting, eyes round with fright.

“The boom! Shit!”

“What? What is it?” I shouted above the roar.

“I don’t know! The boom! It just flew up…”

“What do you mean, ‘flew up?’ Up where?”

A lull before the 60-knot gusts of a pampero wind off Uruguay

He wore the face of a man who had just been scared out of his wits, and no wonder. He had been at the wheel when we were dropped off the crest of a huge wave and fell past a grey cliff of water to be buried in the boiling cauldron below, and now he was in shock. I squinted at the boom. It looked fine, but the mainsail was sagging, and I realised the boom was bouncing.

“The kicker has gone. Dael, there’s no kicker!” I yelled into his face, and he nodded wide-eyed as if he understood. I crawled forward on my stomach over the coachroof until I reached the attachment point for the kicker to discover the steel wire had parted in the middle.

The impact of our landing had had a whiplash effect on the mast, jerking the boom up and snapping the kicker. I removed both ends of the broken cable and inched my way back to the cockpit as Josephine twisted and bucked like a bronco on the waves, trying to throw me off. Two minutes of crawling around on my stomach on a heaving, rolling deck triggered a bout of violent vomiting.

Dael was the best foredeck crew we had and was not prone to seasickness, so I sent him forward with some rope to rig a new kicker while I took the wheel. He was in his element clinging to the pitching deck fiddling about with shackles and tying knots, and by the time he came back, job done, was his normal cheerful self again. The new kicker worked perfectly and we had Josephine back under control. Then we whooped and chanted like football fans as we surfed mountain after mountain, competing with each other to set the fastest speeds.

“We are such cowboys!” remarked Rupert, wearing the broadest grin as Josephine plunged into the next abyss.

We were running on attitude.

Foredeck check by Dael ahead of rough weather

For four days and four nights the storm raged around us, and for four days and four nights, two hours at a time, we clung like limpets to the wheel cajoling Josephine over, through and occasionally under the waves towards Brazil. Nobody knew how Rob kept a steady stream of hot meals flowing but he did, in spite of frequently having to dash out through the hatch to puke over the side as he was afflicted by dreadful bouts of seasickness huddled over the gas stove in the heaving, sweaty bowels of the boat.

Nights were more difficult as we could not see, and we took regular sucker punches from rogue waves that knocked us on our side, causing the helmsman to cling desperately to the wheel under a deluge of cold saltwater, and those in the sleeping bags below to brace their feet against the side walls and ceilings of the cabins.

Rupert lashing spare fuel drums in heavy weather

1,000-mile run

By the fourth night the wind had abated to a manageable 35 knots and we were racing the swells with regular boat speeds of over 12 knots (our maximum recorded speed was 15, with the cook at the wheel!). Moon and stars were smothered by dark cloud, but at least there was no more rain, and the inky black sea around us was alive with phosphorescence, the breaking crests of the waves flashing like neon in the night.

We would be lifted up from behind by the invisible mass of water, Josephine would hang a moment in space then accelerate down into the dark void, a brief silence shattered by a roar as the wave collapsed and tumbled beneath us, and we were riding atop a rolling cascade of bio-light that lit up the cockpit. Surfing on flashing thunder. In five days we covered over a thousand miles at an improbable average speed of well over eight knots, logging 217 miles in our best 24 hours.

After the fifth day of this rollercoaster ride the wind died away in the night and by morning we were becalmed. It was a wonderful opportunity to spread soaked clothes and sleeping bags on the deck to dry, and for us to plunge overboard for our first swim in three-mile-deep water. Dael and Rupe paddled around the boat on the surf board – ‘because they could’ – and Rob conjured a sumptuous lunch of canned meatballs and limp cornflakes. Most of that day was spent motoring over smooth turquoise water, startling swarms of flying fish from under the bow.

Knowing they’re a favourite food of tuna and dorado, we dragged two rubber lures about 50ft behind us, and in the afternoon changed course to pass deliberately under a flock of diving birds to be rewarded with two skipjack tuna of 15lb apiece that Rob turned into perfect sushi rolls.

Josephine at anchor in St Helena while waiting to clear customs

Those fishing birds were our first hint that we were drawing near the coast, and the last few days of the trip were uneventful, except for the hilarity of seeing first Rupert, then Dael, smacked on the head by rogue flying fish. There are apparently 64 recognised species of flying fish, of the genus Exocoetus (from which was derived the name ‘Exocet’ for the French-built anti-ship missile that saw extensive service in the Falklands War of 1982).

Another hint of land came from a white plastic miner’s helmet floating on the ocean with a little water in it and a tiny, lost black fish swimming around in frantic circles. We were closing on Brazil.

Buy Slow Boat to Uruguay now from Amazon

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post Great seamanship: Slow Boat to Uruguay appeared first on Yachting World.

How do you pick the right departure date? One of the most critical aspects of planning for an offshore passage is choosing the right weather window for departure. A weather window refers to a period of favourable weather conditions that allow for safe and efficient passage – for either the beginning, or majority, of your passage.

Here, we take a look at the process of selecting the ideal window. We’re particularly focussing on using PredictWind, though the same principles apply to other sources of weather data.

Plan your route

The first step is to plan your route. Take into account seasonal weather patterns and look for past weather data, using tools like Pilot Charts or Historical Weather in PredictWind. These provide years of averaged monthly data for wind speed, wind direction and waves, along with other atmospheric data.

Other sources of information include forums, cruising associations, or rally organisers. Jimmy Cornell’s World Voyage Planner and Ocean Atlas includes historical data on average wind directions and strengths on many popular cruising routes.

One essential planning consideration is ensuring you have enough time and avoiding hard deadlines. If you have less than a week to find a weather window with tough conditions, it’s likely to force you to make a bad decision.

The PredictWind routing function offers different routing options based on calculations using multiple weather models

Monitor the big picture

Once you know approximately when you’re planning to depart, it’s important to monitor the big picture. Look at the global view to understand the larger weather patterns that may affect your passage, paying particular attention to wind, currents, and wave states. For an ocean crossing this may involve studying weather patterns over a longer period of time and running routing simulations to see how the weather develops in different scenarios.

Ocean currents can be caused by many factors such as wind, density differences in water masses caused by temperature and salinity variations, gravity, and events such as earthquakes or storms.

PredictWind offers three different ocean current models – RTOFS, HyCom and Mercator – on a global scale along with high resolution tidal currents for popular coastal areas around the world. The ocean and tidal currents are used in the Weather Routing and Departure planning calculations and data outputs, with warnings showing in the routing when you have a situation such as wind against current. Different current models can also be compared in the maps with your routes overlaid.

Local weather observations can also help identify trends and provide valuable insights into likely weather conditions that will be encountered. These can be found through a variety of resources, such as The National Weather Service in the US, weather buoys, marinas and airports, and ship reports, as well as apps and GRIB files.

The software searches for optimal conditions depending on your boat’s polars and
the forecast

If you’re doing coastal passages, high-resolution modelling in shorter time frames can make a big difference to the accuracy of the forecast conditions. High-resolution modelling gives more detail and accuracy around land formations from having a much higher number of grid points; they’ll also forecast thermal activity (sea breezes) which you don’t see in lower resolution global weather models. A high res model under 8km resolution will start to show these features, with 1km resolution models showing the most detail.

Once your boat is fully prepared and you’ve set up a reliable form of communication and weather reporting for areas out of mobile data range, you can start looking for a more precise departure date. You are primarily looking for a stable pattern without extreme conditions. Having consensus across multiple models, over an extended period of time, gives more forecast confidence.

Planning tools

Then, we can start using departure planning tools. PredictWind offers a Departure Planning tool that provides critical information for any departure time in the next 10 days, with times set by default to one day apart for offshore crossings, but can be as fine as one hour apart for coastal passages. With this tool you can input your vessel’s polars in various conditions and set your departure start time and spacings to get detailed weather and wave forecasts specific to your boat for each departure time.

The routing algorithm is powered by billions of calculations using six global and five high resolution weather models. It provides route outputs showing average, maximum, and lowest wind speeds, wave heights, ocean currents, and vertical acceleration (the rate at which the vertical motion of air masses or water bodies changes over time), as well as expected roll and boat slamming for each departure time. The tool also highlights any extreme conditions, such as wind against current.

Local weather observations can also help identify trends and weather patterns

Wave routing is also critical. Using data (waterline length, displacement, beam and draught) input which you enter when you set up your vessel’s polars, the program creates a 3D hydrodynamic model of your yacht, and calculates how it will behave based on different swell states.

Departure times

PredictWind’s Departure Planning tool provides multiple departure times for analysis. It’s important for each skipper to analyse the data to find the best conditions for your passage.
Consider your yacht and crew’s preferred conditions and sailplan, and look for departure times that offer wind conditions within your desired range. Additionally, pay attention to parameters like roll, vertical acceleration, and boat slamming, as lower values indicate smoother sailing conditions.

PredictWind has indicated limits for roll (4° RMS), vertical acceleration (0.2g) and boat slamming (less than 50% but ideally none).

The Departure Planning tool shows forecast sailing conditions depending on departure date and weather model

Given there’s rarely a ‘perfect’ forecast, picking a departure time involves weighing up all the options and being flexible. Leaving on the back of a front, for example, may mean you get great downwind conditions, but it’s likely that the frontal band, which brings a new wind direction, will leave a messy wave state. So you may have upper-end wave conditions for the first few days, although the excellent wind conditions may outweigh this, and conditions will likely improve as the front moves away over time.

It’s also essential to remember that the wind maps show average windspeed, and a passage that appears fairly benign can take on a far different appearance when you look at the gust maps, which can show windspeed in excess of 40% higher than the averages. It goes without saying to check for any extreme weather warnings on the route.

Article continues below…

Squalls and gusts: How to predict and cope with them

Squalls are the school bullies of the ocean. But, like all bullies, your best bet is to outsmart them –…

Weather expert Chris Tibbs on how to predict and cope with fog at sea

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Keep monitoring

Once you have chosen a weather window, you need to keep assessing the conditions, ideally every 12 hours after the forecast models update to get new routing data, including wave data. On passage, weather conditions can change quickly. Adapting your route to suit the forecast is essential.

Additionally, utilise functions such as PredictWind’s visual representation of GMDSS weather warnings (text forecast written by a meteorologist giving interpretation and warnings around any developing or existing weather events, transformed into images using AI), which can highlight events forming outside your field of view and help you make informed decisions while under way.

It’s always wise to have a backup plan in case weather conditions do turn unfavourable. Make sure you have alternative routes, and if possible identify some sheltered anchorages you could run to if the need arises.

Ready to go

Experienced sailors often say the best seamanship is not getting caught out in bad weather. But despite the advancements in forecasting technology, sailors can still encounter unforeseen circumstances such as equipment failure or crew illness. No weather model is correct 100% of the time, which is one reason we use multiple models and look for trends and consensus; we expect models to be right 85% of the time.

By carefully planning your route, monitoring weather patterns and utilising departure planning tools to interpret the data, you can give your passage the best possible start.

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When handling under power is done well, it’s like a black art. It wasn’t until I became an instructor that I realised it could be broken down into a few key concepts. I called them ‘The 10 Golden Rules of Boat Handling’. However, when I wrote them it was largely from the perspective of a heavy displacement yacht with fine ends, using a shaft drive. Most of the large yachts I’ve sailed in the past 10 years, such as the Clipper and Challenge yachts, matched this profile.

Recently, I’ve realised that the rules need updating. Yacht design has moved on considerably, and sail drives, long waterlines, bow thrusters and high topsides are now the norm, and twin rudders are increasingly commonplace.

Flexisail, which operates a fleet of modern cruisers, kindly lent me the keys to Varvassi, a Hanse 418, for a day last winter to refine these Golden Rules, and in this two-part series I’ll explain how to make manoeuvring under engine so much easier.

There are two elements to good boat handling: understanding the boat’s handling characteristics; and understanding the external factors which impact a manoeuvre. In the first of this series we’re going to look at how a boat behaves, and next month we’ll consider the real-world scenarios we find ourselves in.

Keep it as slow as you can when manoeuvring in tight spaces – things then go wrong more slowly and you have more time to make corrections. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Rule 1: Slow is pro

The number one rule of boat handling, especially on large yachts, is that if it’s all going wrong, go wrong slowly. You’re unlikely to do much damage at 1 knot. At 3 knots things become expensive. There are times when a burst of power is necessary and, carefully applied, this is an important tool. However, panic revs can cause more problems than they solve. If in doubt, step away from the throttle and pick up a fender – just use the throttle to maintain slow control.

Minimum speed is essential on a heavy boat which carries its way. Once moving, many manoeuvres can be done in neutral. However, the Hanse 418 didn’t hold her way as much as I expected so I had to be more assertive on the throttle, both to keep her moving and to stop her.

A burst of prop wash flowing over the rudder while the boat is stationary creates ‘Type 2’ steerage. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Rule 2: Maintain steerage

The counterpoint to Rule 1 is that you always need steerage. Steerage is created when water flows over the rudder. There are two ways of achieving it which I call Type 1 and Type 2 steerage.
Type 1 is what you experience when you’re actively propelled through the water, either by the engine or the wind. It’s easy to forget that the wind can still be used for propulsion, even without sails up. If you’re doing a downwind park (perhaps into the tide), or have some way on, you might not even need the engine in gear to achieve Type 1 steerage.

Type 2 steerage is what is generated when a burst of prop wash flows over the rudder while the boat is stationary. This is an effective technique for tight turns when you need to control the direction of the boat without covering any distance.

In a lighter boat like the Hanse, Type 1 steerage is more effective than Type 2. Under way, Varvassi’s high-aspect spade rudder was extremely efficient. She was responsive in both ahead and astern. However, there was less response from a power burst. This is probably due to the saildrive, which positions the propeller further from the rudder and creates a delay between action and reaction.

I suspect also that the high aspect rudder profile, though powerful when making way, can’t ‘catch’ as much of the jet created by the propeller. I’m no hydrodynamicist, but a big barn door of a rudder seems to make better use of this thrust. It felt like Type 1 steerage was much more effective than Type 2 steerage in this modern design of boat.

Photo: Ludovic Fruchaud/EYOTY

Twin-rudder variation

If the boat has twin rudders, Type 2 steerage is nearly impossible to achieve. The propeller sends water straight between the two, missing the rudders entirely. You’ll need to keep the boat moving faster in order to maintain steerage and predict what the boat will do until the rudders have gained steerage.

Rule 3: Gear then steer

I once overheard a watersports instructor coaching teenagers in a RIB. ‘Steer, then gear, Henry!’ he exclaimed, too late, as they drifted into a raft of dinghies.

Henry looked crestfallen, but he’d demonstrated that RIBs and other outboard-powered vessels work the other way round to most sailing yachts. In displacement boats with rudders, the rule is: gear, then steer.

In a tight spot every centimetre counts and there are gains to be made from following this simple rule of timing. In a heavy displacement yacht change gear from ahead to astern (or vice versa) first but don’t change the way you’re steering until the boat has actually started moving and water is flowing over the rudder in the desired direction.

This is particularly important when switching from ahead to astern since it takes longer for the boat to stop and water flow to reverse over the rudder. From astern to ahead the steerage switch is more immediate because the prop wash hits the rudder before the boat has started moving, negating the reverse flow sooner.

Varvassi was quicker to regain steerage after a gear change than a more traditional, heavy displacement yacht. The power bursts were less effective but, once moving, steerage was quickly established. It gave me more confidence to change gear in a confined space which, in turn, changed the kinds of manoeuvres I might attempt.

Varvassi has negligible prop walk with her saildrive, so on a boat like this make wider turns and keep up momentum. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Rule 4: Use your prop walk

I’ve learned to love prop walk over the years. The sideways push from a burst astern is like having a stern thruster, albeit in one direction. With a propeller shaft, the steeper the angle, the greater the kick will be.

Boats with skeg-hung rudders often have offset prop shafts too, which induces even more kick one way or the other. On a shaft drive boat I tend to think of it as being right- or left-handed. A boat that kicks to port in astern is right-handed and favours a turn to starboard, and vice versa.

Article continues below…

How to handle heavy weather

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Wherever we have current (tidal or other) this will always influence the sailing wind and the boat’s course over the…

Many shaft-driven boats will turn in a boat length if you utilise a few short bursts of astern propulsion, just enough to boost the stern around but not enough to get going in, and establish, reverse steerage. This shapes your manoeuvres. In confined spaces a right-handed boat is best positioned on the port side and is easiest to park portside-to, since the prop walk draws it in that way, and creates an escape route by making room for a starboard-hand turn. There are times when this is thoroughly inconvenient, but if you plan your manoeuvres with prop walk in mind it’s largely a blessing rather than a curse.

Varvassi had very little prop walk thanks to the saildrive whose propeller sits vertically rather than tilted downwards as on a shaft drive, so the thrust comes off more cleanly. Furthermore, a saildrive is located further forward, so has less leverage around the boat’s pivot point. I found that a traditional tight turn method isn’t effective on a yacht with a saildrive, and would be even more difficult on a twin rudder boat.

In such cases, a bow thruster would be a really useful tool. Without one you’ll need to keep the momentum and stay in forward gear, but the turn will be wider. Or make a three-point turn by turning hard one way, then reversing back into the space you’ve come from, reversing the steerage too and bringing the bow around in reverse.

Consider how the pivot point of the boat moves in ahead and astern, and beware turning too sharply with a boat with wide beam carried right aft. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Rule 5: Use the pivot point

Understanding the location of a boat’s pivot point is important for any close quarters handling. However, the pivot point is hydrodynamic and changes with the direction of travel. Going ahead it’s just behind the mast; going astern it shifts aft to somewhere around the cockpit, and during acceleration it shifts further to each extreme.

In forward gear we need to be aware of how much boat is behind the pivot point. In reverse it’s the bow we need to watch. It’s important to remember this when dodging an obstruction you’re being set onto. Once the pivot point is past the obstruction you need to turn towards, and not away from it, to keep the rest of the boat clear.

Varvassi’s full-width stern is a bit like manoeuvring with a pantomime bustle: the danger is not just where you’re looking, it can be behind you. The bigger the boat, the bigger the bustle. To exit a berth I sprang the bow out and drove away with a straight rudder. It took much longer to get clear enough to turn the helm away than it would on a fine-ended yacht.

Bringing it all together

In reality, there’s a complex relationship between the boat and its environment. However, when you’re skippering a new boat it can be helpful to isolate handling behaviours by practising in benign conditions. Is that twitch on the bow when you go astern the result of prop walk? Or was it a gust of wind? Understanding steerage, gear changes, prop walk and pivot points allows us to respond with more precision.

If you enjoyed this….

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The post How to manoeuvre a yacht under power appeared first on Yachting World.

Few cruising skippers would argue with ocean sailing guru and founder of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) Jimmy Cornell when he says some form of self-steering is ‘essential for any boat that is going to be sailing offshore for any length of time’. Yet there is no requirement from World Cruising Club (WCC) for yachts participating in any of their ocean rallies to have any system at all installed.

Either way – essential or not – anyone who has endured a long enforced watch at the wheel of a yacht will testify that while steering a course can be a pleasure, being unable to leave the helm can also be a nightmare at sea.

More than 250 vessels took part in the most recent series of WCC rallies across the Atlantic – 142 entered the 2,700-mile ARC from Gran Canaria to St Lucia; 92 entered ARC Plus from to Grenada via the Cape Verdes Islands, and 30 entered ARC January, which is the same route as the November ARC.

The questions we asked each of these crews focussed on self-steering and we also asked for each skipper’s three top self-sufficiency tips. We wanted to know which was the most popular self-steering method, how the equipment performed, what went wrong and what the top tips are for successful self-steering at sea.

If a self-steering system needs to pilot your yacht for thousands of miles do you choose electronic, windvane or both? Photo: Oyster Yachts

Autopilot vs windvane

Of the 230 complete responses to the questionnaire (out of a total of 251 yachts that finished one of the three separate events) there were five yachts that sailed without any form of self-steering. Other than them, every yacht had an electronic autopilot fitted – no-one that we know of sailed with windvane only, although 33 yachts had windvane systems fitted as well as autopilots, and some windvanes were in fact used as the primary system. Monohulls make up the majority of yachts fitted with windvane self-steering, but there were two catamarans using them (out of 65 multihulls overall) as well.

Windvanes are still a popular option for some, though mostly used as a back up. Photo: ARC2022

Electronic autopilots are obviously now the dominant technology in self-steering and the most modern refinements, such as the 9-axis sensor, sailing specific algorithms and the powerful remote controls, have improved usability over the last decade.

The average boat in the fleet is around 15 years old, while the average electronic autopilot installation is half that age. While there’s no denying that there’s still a place for vintage kit – some were using pilots from Raytheon dating back 30 years – it’s worth mentioning that the questionnaire results do indicate that the older the boat, the lower the rating given to the self-steering gear (even though not all older boats carry old autopilots!).

Even the smallest vessel in the fleet, the 9.75m long catamaran Ciel Bleu, used a tiller pilot while the smallest monohull, Canadian flagged Venturi I, relied solely on a Raymarine pilot.

The next biggest yacht, 1980 Hallberg-Rassy 352 Petoya Too, had both a windvane and an autopilot fitted. Petoya Too’s German skipper Thomas Klemens recorded using his boat’s 10-year-old Raymarine ST1001 wheelpilot for one hour a day and the two-year-old Hydrovane windvane for 23 hours per day.

Performance reviews

There are now three main suppliers for autopilot equipment in the ARC fleet: Raymarine, B&G and Garmin. Just under 55% of respondents used Raymarine control units and a further 34% used B&G. Furthermore the split between Raymarine and B&G was almost identical for the choice of course computers. Garmin was the third most popular option with 6% or 15 boats using their products.

The pumps/drives were evenly split: one third hydraulic; one third linear and the remaining third split between wheel, rotary and tiller drives (in that order).

Sixty-seven skippers rated their autopilot control unit/head/display 5 out of 5, while 112 rated theirs 4 out of 5. That’s 80% of autopilot respondents. And in a related finding from the survey: 156 (63%) rated their yachts’ course/drive computer at 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5. This can only be interpreted as a huge vote of confidence in autopilot technology.

Seventy-five boats reported problems with their autopilots, 56 of which were encountered on the ocean crossing (rather than the ‘shakedown’ sail to Las Palmas from mainland Europe). Digging into the details of those problems reveals that skippers demand perfection but will still cede control to the unit even if performance levels drop significantly.

Drive unit problems made up 45% of the issues encountered – that’s 25 drive units across the fleet that were deemed unsatisfactory by over 250 transatlantic skippers. Just over 20% of problems were traced back to the course computer or the control unit, which leaves 30% (approximately) of problems in the ‘don’t know category’.

Photo: SV Bluewater Mooney/ARC2022

Problems and solutions

Many skippers gave their self-steering equipment quite high ratings and then went on to raise multiple issues with the overall performance or installation or reliability of their set-ups. It makes for an interesting read, and leads us to conclude that for most skippers even a poorly functioning self-steering system is better than nothing.

We discovered multiple references to autopilots as people, or crewmembers with foibles and idiosyncrasies: The skipper of Amandla Kulu advises feeding the autopilot coffee and biscuits, while the German skipper of Petoya Too described his Hydrovane as: ‘a full crew who needs no food – happy with it all the time.’

Not all windvane systems were quite so highly rated. The skipper of Malouine made a positive report on the yacht’s self-steering: ‘She is doing a good job, but takes a lot of energy, so we prefer using the Windpilot’ – which is typical praise of ‘free’ self-steering windvane systems over previous ARCs. They averaged eight hours per day on autopilot, stating: ‘we turned off the autopilot in squalls/strong winds so that it lasts for longer and has less wear and tear.’

They relied instead on a 30+ year old Windpilot for up to 10 hours per day, but even that wasn’t smooth sailing all the time: ‘Working unless the wind is coming directly from behind, then she zigzags and too big waves make her steer off course.’

A reliable self-steering crewmember can make all the difference for a relaxing smooth passage. Photo: Tor Johnson

The 2011 UK-flagged Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45DS Optimistic was another of the belt-and-braces boats with autopilot and windvane on board. The boat’s hydraulic drive unit, computers and sensors worked perfectly for 22 hours per day on the crossing (via Cape Verdes), but the skipper reported problems with the Hydrovane instead: ‘The Hydrovane rudder broke on day two of leg one. It was repaired in Cape Verde then snapped in half on day two of leg two.’

His verdict: ‘Hydrovane did everything in their power to help me out in this situation. Their support and customer service has been very good,’ yet he concluded: the Hydrovane ‘cannot cope with big waves’. His top three tips for self-sufficiency: ‘1. conservative sail plan at night 2. good preparation 3. good tools and spares.’

Usually, windvanes take over the steering when/if autopilots fail. However there was another UK-flagged large monohull for which the opposite was true. Paul Cook, skipper of Esti, a 1996 Moody 44, was very impressed with his recently installed Raymarine ACU-400 with hydraulic ram. ‘It saved us and performed perfectly. We found the “wind vane” mode to be perfect for optimising wind shifts,’ he said. So although he didn’t need to rely on the failed windvane rudder, he pointed out that without it he’d lost his main emergency steering system.

Back up autopilot switch system on a Nautitech 46. Photo: Chet Chauhan

Autopilots aren’t without their share of faults though. South African skipper Darrol Martin took part in the ARC Plus aboard his 1988 Amel Mango. He and his crew took apart their Raymarine rotary drive unit multiple times en route to Las Palmas as well as once during the ocean passage. Despite a professional installation less than four months before the start of the event, Martin reported that the drive gears were ‘mismatched’ and the screws were too small and ‘not strong enough to hold’.

On passage to Mindelo, they made repairs using spare ring gears and planetary gears bought in Las Palmas and reported: ‘After 4th repair, it worked perfectly for 2nd half of the crossing.’ This was followed up by some further advice: ‘Get a windvane as backup. Autopilot is not robust.’

Article continues below…

How to set up your autopilot to sail faster, more comfortably and be more efficient

Pip Hare explains how setting your autopilot to suit conditions will be faster, more comfortable and more efficient

How new-age sailing autopilot systems are putting computers at the helm

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Thirty boats crossed the startline for the ARC January, including skipper Paolo Santagiuliana aboard his virtually brand new Neel 51 trimaran Chica 3. The boat was fitted with the Zeus 3 chartplotter/multifunction display, which he rated 4 out of 5, but Santagiuliana found that the sensors feeding the data to his B&G drive unit via a H5000 CPU resulted in ‘very frequent ROUTE OFF’ messages. He rated the pilot’s performance as ‘very poor’ in the second half of the crossing and lamented not bringing spare sensors, but he had made provisions for such a failure by fitting a second autopilot.

‘We arrived thanks to the second one. The limit of the second one is that it cannot be fully interfaced with the B&G Zeus so you can’t automatically follow the wind, you have to manually modify the route.’ The H5000 has now been recalibrated: ‘narrowing the value of rudder gain, auto trim and counter rudder that were too large, generating a wide variation of route when the wave was more than 2-3m. I have to say that the software is much less easy for a normal sailor used to other brands.’

Photo: James Kenning/SV Falcon

Skipper Edgar Sesemann aboard 1998 Van Dam Nordia 55 Saphir af Stockholm gave middling ratings to his six-year-old Raymarine linear drive autopilot, but his secret weapon for ‘excellent’ autopilot performance?

‘I have two autopilot systems: One is the Raymarine with two mechanic linear drives that work together directly on the rudder quadrant (one pull, one push) and it makes it very strong. They both get the information from the same course computer.

‘The second autopilot is the Mamba drive that was the original autopilot on Saphir and it works by the wires to the rudder quadrant. It’s totally separated from the Raymarine system and has only compass heading. It has also been upgraded with a new separate course computer.’

eremy Snyder has both hydraulic and electric autopilot drives on his stunning Bestevaer 56ST Falcon Spirit, but had to swap out the Raymarine rudder sensor when it failed. Photo: Photos: Jeremy Snyder

Sesemann describes the value of a backup system, particularly for a double-handed yacht on long passages. ‘We got the experience in bad weather on the North Sea crossing from Inverness to Denmark. My wife was seasick and I had to hand steer for 20 hours in 5-6m waves. After that, the second autopilot was installed.’

Self-sufficiency

This year’s final question could be an article all of its own: ‘What are your three tips for keeping your yacht reliable and being self-reliant at sea?’

Klas Gunnar Johansen, skipper of 2001 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 52.2 Blue Sunshine reported ‘two downwind sails ripped in the squalls and acceleration zones off Cape Verdes, plus the autopilot failed, as did the radar.’ The autopilot was an Autohelm ST6000 fitted in 2001 and he wrote: ‘Made a service on the unit prior to passage but it failed us on passage and we had to hand steer from day 2-12’. His top tips? ‘1. A thorough inspection before the passage 2. Three walk-arounds a day 3. A creative mindset.’

Dutch skipper Willem Henry Spek was one of several to carry both autopilot and windvane self-steering and he was glad to have the redundancy aboard.

he 2022/ early 2023 ARC crossings were relatively trouble-free for a combined total of over 250 yachts. However, Grand Soleil 54 Take Off was dismasted 1,550 miles from St Lucia. Showing impressive self-sufficiency the family crew continued on to the Caribbean under jury rig and engine. Photo: Tim Wright/photoaction.com

His venerable autopilot set-up on board his 2008 Bavaria Vision 44 included the ST6002 from Raymarine, now discontinued, which he discovered being ‘very greedy with DC power’ from the batteries due most likely to the system ‘hunting’ or over-correcting. He had to adjust rudder damping and response to reduce the power and smooth out the course when under autopilot. He also had to replace some nuts and bolts with Nyloc nuts.

The redundant unit was, it turns out, the windpilot, which he decided to dismantle because of concerns over its installation. Additional problems included the freezer not staying cold and some tears in the sails. His 3 tips for self-sufficiency: ‘1. Redundancy. 2. Know your kit so you can repair. 3. Spares and tools.’

The fleet’s smallest yacht was a British-flagged 1988 Fountaine-Pajot Maldives 32, which was driven 24 hours a day by a Raymarine ST2000 tiller pilot. Skipper Jonathan Walmsley carried two complete spare autopilots but didn’t need to use them, even when his primary pilot started behaving erratically. His top tip for tiller pilot owners is to fit a waterproof cover (including on the ram).

He also suffered starter motor failure, hence his top three tips for self-sufficiency across the Atlantic were: ‘1. Two methods of engine start 2. Complete spare autohelm 3. Know and understand all your boat’s systems’.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post What’s the best autopilot kit for a transatlantic? appeared first on Yachting World.

Read about sailing all your life and you won’t find another book quite like Bound for Cape Horn, with its interesting subtitle Skills for Expedition Cruising. Any suggestion this might be yet another text book on how to do it is dissipated in the opening pages. R J Rubadeau is a one-off.

The reader is soon treated to proper, seamanlike literature about why a man might seek out trusted comrades and sail from Maine in a Morris Bermuda 51, south to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and on down the west coast of South America to Cape Horn. A sentence lifted from the early chapters gives the flavour: “On the edge of the abyss is where a lot of the good stuff seems to happen in the lessons learned department.”

In spite of the light-hearted style of the prose, it’s clear the voyage is meticulously planned. In the extract here Rubadeau and his old shipmates are finally sailing through the last of the South American archipelago to the Horn itself. After the recent chamber of horrors served up by the weatherman, things seem to be on the up and he looks to have sent them a day to remember.

The sky is clear and Homefree is on a sizzling reach in flat water. The crew are praising their luck, but the Horn will always have the last word…

Extract from Bound for Cape Horn

The three of us are lounging in the cockpit in the sun. Our lizard brains are fully not in control of those boiling pots of mixed emotions swirling around at the end of something important. Confusion, uncertainty, equations of value and cost, damage assessments, second guessing, were all fodder for a rumbling fire pit demanding attention. The unexpected arrival of the next question came looming over the transom before we could protect ourselves. Our pea-sized brains suddenly recognised that we were tempting fate by letting words tumble from our mouths before we thought about them and weighed the downstream consequences. Trenary did his best to stop the cosmic train wreck.

“Fat chance anyone is going to believe this kind of day at the Horn,” said John coming up on deck.
“Got to be one in a million day,” said the Crew.

“Stop,” said the Captain in his best loud commander’s voice. “Don’t jinx it. Just shut up about it.”

“I want to get the whole crazy, once in a lifetime scene just right for the log,” said the Crew. “How beautiful and rare is this? Like maybe never.”

“Only thing missing is the cold beer, grill and the sunscreen,” said John.

“You’re gonna kill it.”

“You can’t kill something by counting yourself lucky and wishing…” I started.

Trenary covered his ears with his palms and closed his eyes and launched into singing the theme song from Sesame Street like a drunken Pavarotti.

Classy, effective, final; I have to remember that strategy.

The sleigh ride continued like a looped video. In an hour we were finally putting Wollaston in our rearview mirror and driving straight towards Paso Bravo and Isla Herschel. According to our cruising guide this was a notorious route in south-west winds like the ones we have today, and the legendary stories of dramatic williwaws grow with each boat’s telling.

We stood by sheets, furling lines and winches as the pass gradually closed in tight around us. We were still sailing like a racehorse, tempting fate. Then it was over. The end of the tunnel appeared ahead. Everything opened up. We eased sheets and ran down the coast of Herschel Island directly towards Isla Deceit looking for the still hidden entrance to Paso del Mar.

Isla Deceit was a perfect cast character on this starkly bright, blue, smudged white and khaki stained stage. Sharp sided and angled off to a flat mesa on top with nothing behind it but the brutal open sky, the Drake Passage, and Antarctica, Isla Deceit was really something else. It made the hair on my neck stand up and be noticed. That rock had some bad juju going on. An age worn and imposing marker stone for all the souls buried deep in these waters.

A perfect day as Rubadeau’s Homefree approaches Cape Horn. Photo: Scott & Mary Flanders

We watched in stunned silence, transfixed for a long five minutes, while an angry and aggressive foaming layer of bleached white clouds suddenly appeared on the horizon and crawled up and over the flat-topped mountain and spilled down the 800 vertical feet of rock like a falling shroud. Suddenly the white caps at the water’s edge were flattened into spray and spume. A 20ft-tall boiling cloud of mist pushed ahead of the thick white vaporous sheet as it actually moved upwind of the tall choppy waves rolling down through the pass.

It came towards us, fast. Our reaction was like we were primitive natives on a beach watching a towering tidal wave arriving to engulf our home atoll and every living thing on it. We were frozen in place. On it came. “What the…?”

We were all in action a brief nanosecond before the expletive was ripped out of the Captain’s mouth and the boat was pushed down onto her side in a sudden vicious assault, pressed hard over until her sails were flat in the water and the top of the mast was downhill from my perch clinging tight to a sheet winch in the cockpit for dear life.

Article continues below…

Great Seamanship: Where the Trade Winds Blow

Lou Boudreau shipped out of Nova Scotia in the 1950s at five months old in the 98ft schooner Doubloon. His…

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I remember thinking, “… this is interesting”…

The sound of the wind was like standing in front of a billboard sized festival speaker and getting a squelch reverb that leaves you deaf for the whole damn concert. The Captain later said that I got even worse at taking orders when I couldn’t hear them any more.

We were dead in the water, tangled in a headlock by this frontal assault. The wind caught the underside of the hull and pushed her entire tonnage, with the masthead leading the way into the base of the next wave. I watched as solid water came down the folded leech of the mainsail, up and over the cockpit coaming, then spilling back out as our girl suddenly exploded like a freed and branded horse, almost jumping up in fright onto her feet. The wind tried to knock her over again, but she kept her skirts out of the next wave-led assault and we began to slide forward.

She clawed her way through 100°, turning and spinning upwind before she could even begin to bring her head up and power forward. We were all judiciously loosening sheets and freeing up the sails to find the key to the swirling wind and waves. Each of us was doing something important in a choreography of getting her back on her feet.

Foredeck work on the morning of the Cape Horn rounding

“That is not in the brochure,” I mumbled out loud into the chaos.

Trenary caught my eye from the wheel and did his eye­brow twitching thing over a sheepish smile. I hate it when he’s right, and now I’d have to tell him how right he was about the jinxing-it thing every hour or so until sometime next Tuesday.

It was a mad scramble to stabilise the boat once she was up and moving, working against the roaring gusts from all directions, getting the rags dragged down or wound up, checking for any damage or missing gear on deck, getting our heart rates back under control, and finally putting sails back up into operation as the wind gradually eased down from 50 to 30 to 20 over the next 10-20 minutes. When we could finally look up from the essential boating tasks and check our bearings, we all stopped what we were doing and gaped. Peaking around from behind Dublé Point on Herschel Island was the matron we had all come to honour. There she was, Cabo de Hornos.

“There it is again,” John said.

Cheerful Fuegian fishermen

The three of us glared down at the screen of the chartplotter before raising our eyes to stare again at the scene of Isla de Hornos off our bow. We had an on-again, off-again target showing on the radar scan seemingly following our track out of Paso del Mar. We had not seen another boat since leaving Puerto Williams a couple of days before. This was an unwanted distraction that could grow up into an international problem.

“Probably a patrol boat.”

“Yeah, but whose?”

“I have a new pass from the Chileans,” the Captain said.

“But we could be in Argentina’s jurisdiction,” I said.

“How do you know?” I shrugged.

“I think that’s why they’re called Contested Waters on the chart,” said John.

“What kind of trouble can we get into?” asked Trenary.

“And what’s this ‘we’ thing?”

“There it is again,” said John.

“It doesn’t look like a patrol boat.” Trenary finally had the binoculars up on his nose.

“Fuegians?”

“It’s a pimped-out trawler.”

“Down here? No way.”

“No mistake?”

“The club burgee, flying bridge, plus all the polished stainless and glinting glass. No mistake.”

“Who could it be?”

“Wait, hold it,” he sighed, “strangely appropriate. Stars and stripes off the stern.”

Homefree negotiating ice and glacial meltwaters

I snatched up the VHF radio microphone, then stopped. How to publicly reach out at this novel and outrageously historic moment. Two US-flagged ships were crossing paths at the very edge of the known world in the footsteps of Magellan, Fitzroy and Darwin. I had to get it just right for posterity.

“This is the sailing vessel Homefree on Channel 16,” I said, “Radio check.”

The boat came right back with a New England quick efficiency, giving us a, “Five-by-five at Cape Horn.”

I do now appreciate the poetic justice in the Isla Deceit smack-down. We really did deserve that wake-up-call for our collective failure to grasp the enormous possibilities of each day in life’s unpredictable mosaic. The actual sighting of another boat at the Horn on a beautiful day for photography flies in the face of all known laws of probability in exactly the same way a white squall on a crystal clear sailing day in Patagonia always does.

Egret is a seaworthy Nordhavn 46 Trawler with owners Scott and Mary Flanders aboard. They were approaching Cape Horn after an 8,000-mile voyage across the Atlantic from Gibraltar. We arranged to keep each other in sight and do a dosie-doe to get photographs of each of our boats with the backdrop of that iconic pedestal of rock for posterity.

The Canal de las Montañas, the ‘fjord of the mountains’ west of Puerto Natales in Chile

We three crew were incapable of sitting still in the cockpit. We seemed unable to be inert, we kept moving about, going nowhere in particular with a definite groupie-dazed affection. We worked hard to maintain the unbelievable sight of Cape Horn in the centre of our personal unobstructed view corridor. It was simply utterly amazing. This sight was a long time coming. For me it had been 45 years since my last go at this butt end of all rocks.

A long, thin tendril of wispy cloud was wrapped at the summit of the Cape like a boa-length neck scarf flowing off to the east. The higher cloud veil of beige-tinged curtains formed loosely along the western horizon, boiling above the rippling sea-state, informing us of a change in weather on its way. Swells with an ancient cadence all their own lifted us 20ft high and let us down again like an elevator with its cable cut. Clouds were flying by, geese-sized and driven hard by the wind lashing at their backsides up high where it mattered most.

Everything that caught our attention seemed to be moving haphazardly at high speed and intent on its own unique direction with no firm guardrails for the following acts. The illusion was that each of these huge natural forces and elements swirling in the entire 3D tableau we saw from the cockpit were behaving like teenagers driving aggressively in an old school bumper-cars ride. Every collision and reset in a spontaneous whirl of micro weather significantly ups the tempo and adds to the power in the whole. Unnervingly chaotic and truly, wonderfully magnificent.

It didn’t feel safe here.

You can buy Bound for Cape Horn from Amazon

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It’s a common misconception that ‘mental health’ only applies when we are experiencing a condition such as anxiety, depression or addiction. But one of the most important points about mental health is that, like physical health, it’s something we all have and it will oscillate between good spells and poor spells for everyone. Have you considered what happens if you or your crew have a mental wellbeing dip while at sea?

By the age of 22, I felt I was ticking life’s boxes as if filling in a routine survey. Good grades at school? Check. Reliable university degree? Check. Steady graduate job? Check. My feet were planted firmly on solid ground; my life perfectly mirroring society’s expectations. But there was something in me that felt suffocated by the 9-5 and so I decided to take my career to sea and become a yacht chef. After taking a handful of courses I plunged into the superyacht industry, like an ice cube thrown into a crystal glass of the finest whisky, having stepped foot on a boat just three times before.

It’s only with a steady mind now that I can see how much of a hole I was in during the first 18 months of my seafaring career. My life changed dramatically in every way. It wasn’t just a new job; it was a new lifestyle as well. I had a new home, new colleagues, new employer, new routine. The local language would change every few weeks, and while that can be exciting, I had little mental capacity to immerse myself in it.

The loneliness of the long-distance sailor is not a myth – maintaining mental wellbeing is important for crew and solo sailors. Photo: Tor Johnson

My brain was bursting with trying to understand sailing jargon while beginning my career as a sole chef with little instruction. My identity morphed in a way I couldn’t have prepared for, and instead of the adventure being life-affirming, it quietly unravelled me from the inside. I became a shadow of my former self.

This isn’t specific to working on superyachts, but being in confined, intense environments. Living (and, in my case, working) on a yacht can contribute to mental health decline due to the pressure of maintaining high standards, added sleep deprivation and physical strain on your body. This not only has an effect on the individual, but the safety of the yacht – while ultimately resting on the skipper – is dependent on trust and good team work. So what happens if that breaks down?

From the outside the superyacht industry is glamorous and elite, yet the dark underbelly of the industry is hidden out of sight, ready to swallow naive young crew whole. I quickly became addicted to the high of superyacht regatta racing and couldn’t wait for the thrill of getting the sails up to race. Seeing humpback whales at sunset, dolphins on the bow, the northern lights in the Arctic – this was surely what dreams are made of? But these highs peppered a catalogue of extreme lows, including bullying and harassment, lack of sleep and kidney infections (the most common minor illness among yacht crew caused by dehydration from hot days on deck and a lack of breaks). Unfortunately, the extreme lows gradually closed in to become a deep depression.

The adrenaline rush of big boat racing.

Crew wellbeing

It is vital when planning for an extended passage, especially if taking on additional crew, that yacht owners and skippers consider the pressures of sailing, not just on the hardware of the boat but on the human crew too. Passage planning usually considers weather windows, provisions and gear on board. But beyond physical first aid and offshore medical care for extreme circumstances, how often do we consider how to manage our mental health at sea?

A great beauty of sailing is that we are often embarking on an adventure we have long dreamed of. But alongside this joy of bucket list ticking, there are additional stressors that can arise on passage. It might be an unexpected conflict arising between family members or crew. Or maybe the budget is being squeezed with yet another major breakage.

Underpinning all of this is a niggling expectation that we should be having the time of our lives. There’s the assumption from others (perhaps exacerbated by social media) that against a backdrop of azure blue skies it should all be perfect. Nobody posts a picture of the seal on the vacuum flush failing (for the third time…) or the days in the middle of the transat when the whole crew was seasick. And while cruising ‘in paradise’, you don’t feel you can share with your crew that you are worried about an ill relative back home. The realities of being human follow us. Maybe this trip was meant to rebuild the connection with your partner, only to put more pressure on it.

Socialising with the rest of the crew are both important for mental wellbeing. Photo: Tor Johnson

At its most acute, in my experience, the deterioration of mental wellbeing from depression to suicidal thoughts escalates much more quickly at sea than on land. Critically, while just 1% of deaths in the UK are recorded to be suicides, it is estimated that six times as many deaths at sea are attributable to suicide. When suspicious deaths and suspected suicides are included (eg people jumping overboard) the figure would be in excess of 15 times the UK land-based figure.

My experience of life at sea grew, as did my understanding of my own mental health. But in one scenario I could have acted on my intrusive thoughts and might not be here to share my story. This is exactly why I felt I must tell it (see far right), and after five years working on board and 40,000 miles sailed I left the superyacht industry and became a policy advisor to the UK Chamber of Shipping, lobbying the government and influencing regulations to protect those who work at sea. I also started training as a counsellor.

Having some time to yourself is also a very important aspect of life at sea. Photo: Tor Johnson

Preventative actions

The biggest take home from my time in policy was to consider a mental health risk assessment. While this sounds arduous, depending on your size of vessel it can be very straightforward.

The key points to cover are: what are your longest passages and how long will you be out of range of internet/phone contact (and whether you have access to a satellite phone) to get support? Have you pinned up a helpline number visible for everyone on board?

Are there rest days scheduled? Have you vocalised the fact that you are there to listen if anyone feels they have a problem?

And, crucially, can you build in time which is specifically scheduled to boost the crew mood and connect with each other? For example, if you are on a long passage and running rotations, can you all commit to always having the evening meal together and learn something new about each other (even if you’ve been married 30 years!). Considering these things ahead of time will help you feel prepared but also help you notice if there are unexpected deteriorations in morale.

Crew are buoyed with enthusiasm at the start of a transatlantic adventure – but how well prepared should they be for mentally testing times ahead? Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

I highly recommend that alongside the usual sailing qualifications, skippers take a couple of days to educate themselves via Mental Health First Aid training. This will help you understand the signs of someone experiencing a deterioration in their mental health at sea.

If you are significantly offshore, open up the conversation – ask how they are (and then ask again! They will likely brush it off initially, not wishing to be a burden). Sailing is hard work, but there is space for empathy on the water, and I can testify that it is perhaps even more important in 50+ knots in the Irish Sea.

It’s important to note that you’re not a therapist or counsellor and so it is not your responsibility to ‘fix’ someone. If someone has expressed that they are struggling with their mental health, take it seriously and assess whether diverting to the nearest port is viable so that they can see a doctor. Try to accommodate ways in which you can tangibly help them until then: can you provide more rest hours or adjust their rotation? Crucially, have an open discussion about it and continue to check in with them.

Sailing, the rawest and at times most humbling form of experiencing nature, is what kept me in the superyacht industry. There is nothing like sunlight skipping off the wrinkles of the water as the wind fills the sails. But if you’re unable to experience the pleasure because feeling low is sucking the enjoyment out of life, the best time to share that is now, with someone you trust.

For more on this subject you can buy Behind Ocean Lines: The Invisible Price of Accommodating Luxury by Melanie White  from Amazon.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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Our image of the lone sailor as the hero of the high seas, battling the elements in isolation, does all the second-in-commands of the world a disservice. Every skipper needs a dependable first mate.

Even solo sailors rely on someone ashore, somewhere, and those professional solo racing skippers that make the front covers usually have a whole technical team on call 24/7 to support and help them when equipment malfunctions or things go wrong.

With a full crew, a first mate or second in command (call them what you will) may run the watch system, share in the decision making process, and help with repairs or problem solving. They can act as a co-skipper, making independent decisions on their watch, or have a specialised role such as navigation or weather routing.

There is no template for this position. Ideally, a first mate brings complementary skills, but most importantly they are someone competent to take over should something happen to the skipper. A good first mate allows the skipper to sleep properly and be fully rested should something unforeseen happen. They have the skipper’s back.

If that’s to be your role, what’s the best way to play it? If you are a couple sailing two-handed, how do you divide up the tasks, and who should be in charge of what? And if you are a skipper in your own right, perhaps with a yacht you are used to running your way, what is the most effective way of working cooperatively with another owner-skipper?

First mate areas of responsibility

German skipper Torsten Jonas is a very experienced offshore sailor. He has lived on his Hanse 575 Seaside on and off since 2013. He crossed the Atlantic in 2015, sailed back to Europe via the Azores in 2016, took part in the ARC in 2018 and crossed most of the Pacific with the World ARC in 2019. His intention was to sail as far as Fiji and stay there for a year.

Then the pandemic happened. Eventually, Jonas managed to get to New Zealand but the boat was stuck in Whangarei for over two years until he was able to ship Seaside back to Palma in July 2022.

This January, he’ll leave St Lucia with the intention of sailing all the way round the world, helped by a rota of family and friends. After over 100,000 miles on Seaside, he knows the boat inside out. So what he is looking for as a second in command, he says: “is one crew who is fit enough to do the foredeck, who can be competent on the night watches and who can sail in heavy seas.”

Experienced offshore sailor Torsten Jonas aims to sail round the world with a rota of family and friends. Photo: Travis Ranger

If this first mate comes with other skills, so much the better. On his Atlantic crossing, the first mate’s role was filled by his friend Lutz Grüneberg, a skipper in his own right and an engineer by profession. “Lutz is able to manage if something happens to me. He is a sailing friend I have known for many years.”

For his part, Lutz says that they have discussed clear areas of responsibility. “But every change of sail is my decision,” says Jonas. “Somebody needs to take it, and that is me, although we do discuss it.”

Maintenance and preparation are also his domain, though he has help from his crew. He delegates areas that they may have more experience in. For example, Grüneberg is there to step in if anything were to happen to Jonas, is in charge of all the IT matters on board and the Seaside crew website, and looks after anything to do with the rigging.

Like many well-organised and experienced skippers, Jonas is also clear about how things run on board and has prepared a 28-page boat manual for crew. This contains copies of the boat plans, stowage lists, behaviour on board (mainly the daily and nightly routines), knots used, the operation of sails and rescue equipment, personal equipment on board, and tables of crew contacts, important phone numbers, details of everyone’s flight details, miles sailed on each leg, start times and shore programmes.

Jonas’s Hanse 575 Seaside. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

Seaside’s example highlights an important point if you are hoping to act as first mate. Be sure that the skipper you are sailing with really does have the experience to match their responsibilities. A good skipper tends to have a tidy boat, and will be more than happy to illustrate their safety preparations and equipment. The boat will be properly maintained, they should be well organised with maintenance and spares, and any financial contribution they ask for ought to be for consumables and not for the maintenance of the boat. They should also be open about your responsibilities.

Ultimately, though, decisions at sea are the skipper’s to make and they must live with the consequences. You are entitled to make your point, but if you disagree and your view is rejected, you will have to let it go. You are there in a supporting role.

A tribe with two chiefs?

How do you work together if you and your skipper have similar levels of experience, or perhaps you are the more qualified but joining in a supporting role?

This is the situation that Bones and Anna Black are in. Both are professional sailors. They run a Bowman 57, Emily Morgan, as a charter business, though they are shortly selling her to come ashore as cruising consultants and “enablers, to help and coach others on a personalised basis” (yachtemilymorgan.com).

A co-skipper or first mate’s primary role is to support the skipper – and allow them to properly sleep when off watch. Photo: Tor Johnson

Together the Blacks have sailed over 100,000 miles and done “at least 30 transatlantics,” says Bones, including seven ARC rallies and a full circumnavigation. Generally, they sail with a full complement of charter guests, and each of them runs a watch. Anna is the more highly qualified of the two, and is down as captain on the ship’s papers, although she plays co-skipper/first mate to Bones at sea. What do they consider is a first mate’s role?

“The first mate takes the pressure off the skipper,” says Anna. “They should be able to run their watch and if the skipper is incapacitated or asleep they should know enough to be able to run the boat, so that when I go to get some rest I will sleep soundly.”

“The first mate’s business is not to do anything to contradict you,” adds Bones. “They are not to think that they’re in charge, otherwise there will be conflict. If a skipper is naturally cautious and you’re a racer, don’t start to race the boat. You mustn’t undermine the skipper.”

He adds: “A two-skipper boat is a nightmare. You can end up with two guys constantly contradicting each other. The secret is to have no secrets between you and to have discussions as to the common goal.”

“In some respects I recognise Bones is a better skipper and man manager than I am,” says Anna. “I’m better at boat management.”

An experienced first mate might be more knowledgeable than the skipper in some areas of sailing or maintenance, but should not aim to take over. Photo: TimBisMedia/WCC

“I respect that Anna has the higher qualifications but we have agreed that I have the final call,” says Bones. “Our differences of opinions are normally about tactics – I want to go south and she wants to go north, and we will discuss that. If we disagree, it’s over minor stuff.”

While we tend to think of technical sailing abilities as the most crucial, the Blacks emphasise that other so-called soft skills are invaluable on a long passage.

The first mate could take on the role of crew management. That’s important as little things can quickly flare up into major irritants. The Blacks cite the example of a crewman who used to sit in the cockpit unconsciously clicking his tether clip over and over. It soon drove everyone mad, especially crew off watch trying to sleep below. A quiet word was needed.

“A first mate might have a different way of approaching it, and you could ask them to have a word. They could be an asset,” says Anna.

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“Whereas most people sail with family and friends, we don’t know people beforehand and have more personality types to deal with. Offshore, personality comes into it. My approach doesn’t work with everyone because I like to make sure everyone’s voices are heard. Bones is good at judging characters, spotting things developing and nipping it in the bud.”

They recognise that in some respects it’s easier for them to make the rules than on a boat crewed by family and friends. “If you’re a couple or it’s your family, the boundaries are more blurred and maybe people aren’t used to there being rules. People are more likely to take liberties, so the skipper and first mate have to address these boundaries with a good briefing and work closely.”

What other qualities would they look for in someone stepping up to be a first mate?

“You need some offshore experience, but not necessarily ocean experience. I’d look for someone with good engineering skills,” says Bones, “and someone you can get along with. Someone could be a good cook, that’d be great but, above all, you have to have a can-do attitude.”

A first mate with strong people skills can take the lead in crew management. Photo: Sebastian Gylling/WCC

Two-up as a team

On many, perhaps most, cruising crews the couple who own the boat take on the positions of skipper (most often the man) and first mate (usually the woman). The skipper makes the ultimate call on decisions and onboard jobs tend to fall into ‘pink and blue’ tasks. In other words, one takes on maintenance and repairs, and the other runs the domestic side of the boat.

It doesn’t have to be this way, though, and occasionally these roles are reversed, as is the case with Chris and Karen Parker (more on them later). However these jobs are divided, the most successful couples are those who are interdependent, with broadly overlapping areas of sailing and technical competence.

Darrol and Kathy Martin are comparatively new sailors, who decided to buy a yacht in 2021 and go cruising. Kathy, a primary school teacher, and Darrol, a data specialist for a telecoms company, come from South Africa. They met in 2005 following the loss of their partners, and married in 2016.

“We grew up during apartheid so for us it’s been quite a journey,” says Kathy. “Back then we couldn’t have married each other.

“Darrol always said that he wanted to learn to sail – there had been so many restrictions and things that he had not been allowed to do. I thought: I’ve been able to do anything I wanted and Darrol hasn’t, and he should have those opportunities.”

The skipper makes navigation decisions, but regular briefings keep all crew well informed. Photo: Tor Johnson

The couple started with a charter holiday in Greece and loved it. They progressed to sailing courses and then to buying a boat, a 53ft (16m) Amel Mango from 1988, which they renamed Disa.

The boat had been lying in Greece and they considered sailing it back to the UK to spend the winter there and be close to some of their adult children. But then they looked at marina costs and energy prices and realised that, for the same budget, they could have a lot more fun basking in the Tropics.

With only seven weeks to go before the start of the ARC+ rally from the Canary Islands to Grenada, the Martins managed to get one of the last available places and signed up. Neither felt they had sufficient experience to get the boat to Las Palmas themselves, let alone make the transatlantic crossing. Neither did their insurance company, Pantaenius.

So for the legs from Gibraltar to Madeira and then onwards to Canaries, they were asked to take on more qualified crew.

Over the years I’ve talked to many couples who kickstarted their journeys by setting off with a delivery skipper or a professional sailor to help on the first stages of their voyage. Having a co-skipper or expert first mate can allow the departure date to be pulled forward.

New co-owner Karen Parker has taken responsibilty for maintenance

To find someone suitable, the Martins turned to crew finding services. Through World Cruising’s Ocean Crew Link service (oceancrewlink.com) they found a couple who sounded perfect. “We got an 80-year-old German guy and his partner,” says Kathy. “He was great, amazing really, incredibly sprightly and he taught us so much. With them, we added 1,000 miles to our experience.”

With these miles behind them, the insurance requirements were reduced so they could take on less experienced crew of at least RYA Day Skipper level. This step-by-step approach has helped to build the Martins’ knowledge and confidence.

The Martins have divided their roles along traditional lines. Darrol is the skipper, looks after most of the maintenance and, at sea, the navigation and weather. Kathy manages the budget, undertakes the couple’s life and boat admin and teaches part-time online to top up their funds. Other tasks are shared.

Becoming chief engineer

Chris and Karen Parker are lifelong sailors but Mistral of Portsmouth is their first yacht. Four years ago, Chris was coming up to retirement from his job as a pilot, and Karen realised how much he was dreading it.

“I knew he was hating the thought, so I said to him: ‘Why don’t we sail round the world?’ It really appealed to both of us as a project.”

They found a boat they loved, an Oyster 56 lying in Valencia that had already been around the world in 2015. “We bought it in September 2019. Then lockdown happened,” Chris says.

Couples may fall into land-based habits when it comes to making decisons, but consider who is actually the best fit for each role required onboard.

To help them get the boat and themselves ready, the Parkers employed a project manager. His role included familiarising the couple with all the systems and routine maintenance. “Neither of us is from an engineering background and we needed the reassurance,” says Chris.

Three years on, Karen has also retired from her job, they run the boat entirely themselves and have settled into new roles on board. Chris is the skipper and navigator. “Someone has to make the final call and I’m happy making life and death decisions as it’s what I’ve always done when flying,” Chris says.

Karen’s role, she says, is ‘chief engineer’. “I was head of HR globally at Christies and I sat on the board and worked closely with a CEO. I was also the European head of HR at Credit Suisse. So I love leading people but I never wanted to be the CEO. I like giving expert advice and suggestions, and I like doing things with someone else,” she says.

“Chris does all the tech. I wouldn’t have the confidence for that and I don’t want to take the responsibility for it. I do worry that if anything happens I will have to do the weather routing and navigation but more of the physical work falls to me.”

Darrol and Kathy Martin took on expert crew to help them cross the Atlantic and build their own sailing skills. James Mitchell/WCC

“Maintaining the boat has been a massive learning curve,” she says. “You have to know how everything works, how to service it, how to change the filters, clean the strainers. I service the toilets. If there’s a leak, I’m on it.

“When I’m on board I’ve always got jobs to do. I have taken on a lot of work. It’s hard to get the right balance between dependence on people coming on board. Normally when you do a 9-5 job, you come home and have the weekend off. I’m going to have to learn to relax.”

She admits there have been moments when it all seemed too much. “When we bought the boat I didn’t realise that it would be all that. Hopefully the ratio will change when we go sailing again.”

“But,” she adds, “there is a part of me that finds joy in the fact that I have become so much more practical. If I’ve been shown something I’m happy to have a go.”

As the Parkers’ experience illustrates, the skipper and first mate relationship is a partnership, with no rulebook. You can make of it whatever works for you both.

There are many decisions taken on board that do not need the skipper’s command once a general plan has been made. Giving up some of those responsibilities to a first mate or a crewmember relieves the skipper of some duties, and helps to build a team. That said, the lines between a mate and skipper shouldn’t be allowed to become blurred. Only one person is ever in charge.

How to be the perfect first mate

• Try to get involved in the year before setting off so you have a chance to really get to know the boat. Gaining more knowledge and skills makes it easier to settle into a harmonious life when you get underway for real
• If maintenance is not your strong suit, maybe you could be the one to organise servicing and source spares? This would be a huge help on a long voyage
• Safety always comes first. If you have any doubts about your skipper’s commitment to it, walk away
• Discuss openly how you would cope and what you would do in a range of emergency situations. Talk upfront about how you would deal with a rudder failure or a dismasting
• Look for a skipper prepared to share out areas of responsibility (and control)
• Skipper, first mate and crew need to work together to problem solve, but… be supportive of the skipper’s final decisions and don’t argue, don’t undermine or try to outdo
• Try to be tolerant of others and easy to get along with. This might mean making your personality smaller than it is on land

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

The post How to be a valuable first mate appeared first on Yachting World.

World Cruising Club’s popular Ocean Cruising Seminar returns on March 25-26 2023 in Guildford, UK.

The weekend seminar is suitable for any sailors considering the transition from coastal cruising to bluewater passage making. Industry experts will cover topics including refitting a yacht for offshore cruising, choosing communications equipment, sourcing and interpreting weather forecasts and heavy weather sailing techniques. 

The WCC will also be hosting their ‘ARC Bluewater Open Boat’ event in Lymington on 10 June. The open day is designed for those looking for their first yacht, or to upgrade to an ocean-going yacht, with advice on what to look for in a bluewater cruising boat, how to plan a refit, and what it is like to sail across oceans as a couple.

Speakers include industry experts, experienced and former ARC skippers and other cruisers. There is also the chance to meet other future ARC sailors.

ARC sailors’ yachts and brokerage boats will be on display, with discussions on how to start the process of turning a weekend cruiser into an offshore boat, and key things to know about the process of buying a boat.

For tickets and further information see worldcruising.com/training 

Which yacht to choose for a bluewater adventure? The World Cruising Club open boat day and Ocean Cruising seminars can help you decide. Credit: James Mitchell/WCC

The Cruising Association is also running a series of one-day in-person cruising seminars on popular sailing grounds which are open to non-members this spring.

These are an opportunity to learn more about a cruising ground which may be new, or for those who want to extend their knowledge, from sailors who have recently sailed there.

Saturday 28 January – Channel Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/channel-seminar-2023
Saturday 4 February – Round Britain Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/node/56482
Sunday 5 February – Blue Water Winter Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/events/bluewater-winter-seminar-050223
Saturday 18 February – Baltic Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/node/56482
Saturday 4 March – European Inland Waterways Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/events/eiws-seminar-040323
Saturday 11 March – Iceland, Greenland and Faroes Information Day – https://www.theca.org.uk/node/56484
Saturday 18 March – Crossing Biscay Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/events/biscay-seminar-180323

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 March – Mediterranean Seminar – https://www.theca.org.uk/events/med-seminar-25-26-march-2023

Each seminar is held at the Cruising Association House in London. For more information see theca.org.uk

The post Expert advice at cruising seminars this spring: book now appeared first on Yachting World.

On longer voyages, and passages with larger crews, a good watch system is essential to the efficient running of the boat. But the same watch system can also hinder good communication and sharing of knowledge leading to poor performance, technical problems being overlooked and at times a discord – even tribalism – among the crew. These problems can all be avoided through efficient and well-planned watch handovers.

Whether sailing double-handed or in a crew of 20, the time two watches spend together is critical to the smooth running of your boat and watch handovers should be briefed and executed in the same way throughout a trip.

Crews should understand that allowing enough time for a handover is expected for both the incoming and outgoing watches, and arriving late for watches or scuttling off deck as soon as another crew person shows up is never acceptable.

Watch handovers & smooth transitions

Here’s how a well-executed watch handover works:

• The new watch arrives on deck 5-10 minutes before they take over, appropriately dressed with equipment, drinks and snacks for the watch. They acclimatise to the conditions, talk to the previous watch crew about how it has been on deck, get their night vision.
• A formal handover between the two watches takes place.
• The two watch leaders, if relevant, agree parameters for waking the skipper, even if these have not changed since the last watch changeover.
• If there is a sail change or manoeuvre that has been saved until the change of the watch, this can be performed with the old watch leader still in charge.
• The new watch takes over during a 5-10 minute handover. With larger watches this means leaving one or two crewmembers on the deck to support the old crew while the others go down and get ready for the off watch. Crew members who are early off watch can check that the new watch crew have everything they need, and an offer to pass up hot drinks or extra clothing if required is often appreciated.
• Off-going crewmembers go below, being careful to use red or low lights at night while preparing to rest.
• Information exchange

Sometimes there will be little to report between watches, while at others there will be a lot to go over. It’s useful to have a checklist to work through to make sure nothing falls through the gap and is forgotten. Work through the list each time and confirm that there is nothing to report against each heading. This list could be put up by the chart table.

Don’t rush handover, take some time to acclimatise, particularly if taking the helm as oncoming watch crew. Photo: 59° North Sailing

An example watch handover list could be:

• Safety considerations – navigation, weather, traffic.
• Condition of crew – sickness, fatigue, morale.
• Condition of boat – any problems, damage, other concerns.
• Wind report – past, general trend, expectations.
• Sail plan and anticipated changes.
• Steering characteristics, pilot settings, pilot performance.
• Trim notes – agreed parameters for waking skipper or waking other watch.
• State of batteries – charging schedule.
• Routine tasks to be completed during watch (eg weather download).

Depending on the makeup of your crew different items can be briefed between crewmembers. Explain how you have been using the instruments and what each one is displaying, particularly if you have changed the size or data set on any of the screens. Talk through any alarms that have been set.

Watch timings

Before starting an offshore passage, it is important to agree with the crew watch timings and make sure all understand that the length of the watch is the length of time on deck and in command of the boat – not the length of time in your bunk asleep.

Repeatedly arriving on deck late for a watch will quickly start to generate bad feeling among a crew and fatigue for the other watch. If your watch system is three hours, this will equate to between two and two-and-a-half hours of sleep, depending on how efficiently you are able to get from the deck to your bunk and back.

Watch handover can be a good time for planned manoeuvres or all-crew briefings. Photo: 59° North Sailing

Make sure you allow a realistic amount of time to get in and out of foulies, use the heads and prepare food and drink – remember for a larger watch this will mean sharing common areas so space may be an issue and some crew may need to get on deck early to free up room to change.

Items such as head torches and phones should be charged up when you are off watch, so leave enough time to plug them in before going to your bunk. Agree a time with the outgoing watch at which they can wake you if you have not appeared for the changeover.

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Preparing hot drinks can slow things down so in smaller watches make sure you light the stove as soon as you are up. With larger crews a member of the outgoing watch could go down below down and light the stove 15 minutes before the handover.

If you wake up late, or need to take more time to get on deck, then let the other watch know straight away so that they can adjust their expectations for getting off the deck, especially if the weather is bad.

All hands on deck

Rather than a handover period, think of this watch changeover as an opportunity to sail the boat fully crewed. When cruising you can plan to tack or gybe at the watch handover, or to change up to a bigger sail. When racing this will be a chance to recap on strategy and performance, to pass on information about how the boat is performing and where other competitors are.

On night watch. Photo: Richard Langdon

On a racing crew each position will hand over to their counterpart individually while the watch captains will exchange an overview. Larger racing teams may have navigators who are not part of the watch system, but will aim to be present at the watch handovers and brief the incoming watch on what they want them to achieve over the length of the watch.

These handover times are a good opportunity for skippers to learn about the health and welfare of crewmembers, but also of the boat itself. If there is something wrong with the boat then the watch leaders can agree how to manage the situation and when and how it will be fixed, taking into account daylight and weather conditions. If a crewmember is unwell or if there is discord within a watch this can also be addressed and a timeline to swap or rest crews can be agreed.

Morale-boosting

Whether fully crewed or short-handed, you will often find that the appearance of a fresh face or new people on deck leads to a burst of energy from the outgoing watch. These times are not only valuable for an exchange of information but they can be crucial to keeping spirits up and enhancing a crew’s enjoyment of a passage.

Don’t be too quick to rush off the deck – a quick bit of banter or some kind enquiries about how the others slept are as important as the more technical details. If you are a skipper involved in the watch system this could be an opportunity to check on the welfare of another watch, and for any nervous or novice crew members appearing on deck the reassurance of normal conversation will start their watch well.

Ensure the space below is left clean and dry for the next watch, dishes are washed up, wet gear hung in the agreed place, and if hot bunking stow your personal kit away. Leave the deck well organised, with ropes coiled and tidied.

More than anything, try to encourage an atmosphere of support and kindness between watches. If you make sure the team on deck are happy and have everything they need before you turn in then they will treat you in the same way.

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Our desire for almost constant communication and messaging, even when onboard, and our reliance on the internet continues to soar. Technology and the ability to stay in touch has allowed many sailors to take their work with them afloat and go ocean sailing while still employed or running a business. (That said, for many of us the joy of losing signal and truly switching off remains a key lure of sailing offshore!).

Indeed, an increasing number of cruisers make a living from showcasing their lifestyle afloat in vlog-style videos and social media posts. And for that you need high speed internet through wifi or 4G/cellular networks.

If you’re thinking of going further afield, to cross an ocean you’ll need longer range communication devices to remain just an email or phone call away.

Equally your needs should/will be paired down, probably to the odd email or weather forecast while on passage. However, balancing just what you need or want and how much you’re willing to spend to attain that is not as straightforward as you might think.

To help understand and decide on options, we sought the feedback of the 216 skippers who took part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) last year. We also spoke with industry experts about the current options for those wanting to buy or upgrade satellite communications.

If you’re looking for a guide for what’s available on the market right now, don’t miss our guide to the best satellite phones for sailors.

Many were still debugging their systems come the Las Palmas start. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

Speccing up

ARC organisers, the World Cruising Club (WCC), insist that all yachts sailing in their transocean rallies must carry long-range communication equipment. Yachting World has partnered with WCC for the last two decades to issue ARC participants with our ’Great Atlantic Gear Survey’. The 216 skippers of the combined ARC 2021 crossings shared their communications setups, while 70 respondents gave us feedback on 30 detailed questions all about their satellite devices, costs, airtime, apps etc…

From former ARC surveys we know the majority regularly choose Iridium as it has a full, intelligible range of options and is the only brand with full global coverage. But it’s not just about picking the satellite provider. Selecting which type of hardware suits your needs (handheld or fixed with separate antenna), what airtime package, whether you want a router and perhaps a dedicated marine service for setup, email compression, support, and weather forecasting, is all budget relevant and should be a factor in your decisions.

The pace of satellite communication technology is slow, nevertheless these are still phones we’re talking about here, so people always want the latest!

A full 90% of our survey respondents, for example, only had their data comms equipment installed since 2019 and many were still debugging their systems come the Las Palmas start.

Iridium’s new Certus system has been in the pipeline for some years now and there were a few yachts which carried its higher-end 700 system last year. The more compact and economic 200 and 100 systems launched last summer, though, and will doubtless be in demand for those crossing this year and in the near future.

A simple handheld is typically the slowest yet most intuitive of satcomm options. Photo: Tor Johnson

Basic / handset satellite communication options

The choice at the most affordable end of the scale is to go for a portable or handheld style satphone, a compact unit with its own aerial, such as Inmarsat’s Isatphone or Iridium’s 9555 or 9575. The latter were carried by 15 of our 70 skippers.

Other than economy, the benefit of a handheld device with a keypad is arguably the ability to dial a number easily when in trouble and take it with you in a grab bag.

Walkabout, an Oceanis 45, has a second-hand 9555 (€800 from MailASail). “It worked okay but we found that text messages often got chopped off,” says Andrew Roantree. “Texting on an Iridium sat phone is really useful – but very painful to do!” he warns.

By far the most popular option carried last ARC was the Iridium GO (chosen by 47 out of 70 skippers).

A relatively economical portable device, this essentially has the same internal parts as Iridium’s handsets but without the numeric keypad. Instead they offer an easy way to create a wifi hub at sea for using mobile devices.

GO has been marketed at attractive prices in recent years, particularly through PredictWind. This, together with an original promise of ‘unlimited data’ for around US$125 per month made it appealing, although it is speed capped at the industry standard of 2.4kbps.

Weather forecasting and routing is a prime use of satcomms. Photo: TimBisMedia

This means it’s as slow as a handheld, or less than 5% of the speed of 1990s dial-up internet! In practice, it’s enough to receive email and the odd GRIB file but can’t do chat apps. It needs a paired mobile phone to make voice calls and only certain apps work with it.

The majority of the 2021 ARC fleet were content with this though, and said they wouldn’t change their GO setup if doing it again.

There were many comments on data connection being slow and dropping off, but there was also a general assumption and acknowledgement that they knew that would probably be the case.

Make mine GO

Coco, a Lucia 40 catamaran, used GO with Iridium Mail and PredictWind: “The calls would briefly drop out, but only due to the device being situated inside,” skipper Alfie Moore reports. “It reconnected to the call quickly when signal was reestablished. The app would sometimes glitch, there are a few bugs that need ironing out within the app interface and the Offshore weather app could also do with a few upgrades. But in general it was a fantastic device and certainly helped us in the situations we were in during the crossing.” An external antenna is one of the only additions he would consider.

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Amanaki’s crew, using the same package, rates it for value for money. “Recommend people buy second-hand units on ebay and the PredictWind packages”. Equally, the Dutch on Hallberg-Rassy 46 Morgane of Sark were very happy with their GO and MailASail app, at a cost of €800 plus €170 per month for unlimited data and 150 mins.

The Norwegian skipper of Albicilla spent only €700 on his GO and €110 per month on airtime, running Iridium Mail and PredictWind and admitted: “Slow as hell, but works good for what you really need! GRIB + simple email.”

“Well, the speed was as low as expected, but we could live with it,” says Just4fun’s Thomas Klaus Henkelmann. “Sometimes it took up to 20 dial-in attempts before a connection was made… annoying.”

For others, it tested their patience. “The Iridium GO system is such old technology,” thinks Jim Davies on the First 40 Olympia’s Tigress. “It regularly dropped data calls, especially if run for long periods. The nature of the data service on the Certus system is much more user friendly in a modern world. I have no interest in streaming while at sea, but low text services like WhatsApp (with media downloads turned off) are useful…”

Davies adds: “The Ocens OneMail service is great as it allows you to check your own email address through GO. Also, the PredictWind Offshore app is superb for low data rate GRIB downloads.”

They require patience but the simplicity of a handheld satphone with keypad still appeals. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

The Valgrens on their Hallberg-Rassy 44 Pleasure found they had to restart their GO on a regular basis (1-2 times a day). “Moving the laptop closer to device improved the connection. An Android mobile seemed to handle the connection in a better way [than using a laptop with Windows].”

Perhaps the best summary of GO, however, was from Bavaria 51 Favorita of Hamble’s Barnaby Green: “We might trade up to a faster connection but not sure why. GO was sold as a basic entry level with low expectations but I thought it was excellent. Reliable. Portable. Transferable. Affordable. Slow.”

The majority chose the simple option of an Iridium GO and no router, but, as Jeremy Willems on Shadow of Black, one of the smaller yachts, warns: “We did need to have the intervention of the chap from MailASail to get it working properly”. (It should be noted they only purchased their equipment two months before the ARC). MailASail is a marine communication specialist and WCC partner, which has had support staff at Las Palmas for the ARC start for the last two decades.

Over half didn’t use a smart router (41/70), while 21 skippers used MailASail’s RedBox. Data compression tools such as this and the rival Redport can save airtime charges by optimising email and web use, act as a wifi hub and can integrate cellular and wifi extenders.

The ability to download GRIB files mid ocean is a priorty for ARC skippers. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

Mid range satellite communication systems

For those not happy with the ultra slow speeds typically offered by the portable/handset style devices, the mid range choice can offer a step change in speeds (100-200kbps). Until now, this has meant a severe increase in price (from €5,000 for hardware). Again, Certus may now address that.

Some GO users (including Just4Fun and Sundance II) say they’d prefer a more broadband-based option such as Inmarsat’s Fleet One. Maalu IV, Joia and Tortuga ran this system through a Red Box router (equipment cost €3-5,000) and all commented that it worked ‘perfectly’ or ‘flawlessly’.

MailASail RedBox PRO Ultra Router

The German crew on CNB 60 Dumia, on the same setup, elaborated further: “We needed special help from MailASail – very professional and it led to a very stable and reliable installation. I followed the advice from WCC regarding installation in due time and we were very happy with this.”

Conversely, the Leests on Sandy Cay felt the expenditure (€5,000 equipment, €2,500 installation, €400 for airtime for crossing) didn’t merit the rewards… “from other sailors I understand that they had the same services with an Iridium GO, which is a lot less expensive to install.”

Airtime & communication apps

Similar to choosing a cellular/mobile phone, it’s not just about the hardware. Selecting the right amount of data and airtime to suit your needs is key.

Again, the most common set up was Iridium GO, Iridium Mail and PredictWind. Thirty skippers purchased airtime through PredictWind, 15 through MailASail.

“Loved PredictWind support and pricing,” says Amanaki’s Oliver Vauvelle. “No need for an external antenna and reasonable connectivity for the price. Decent voice calls as well”.

Installing new satcomms equipment before the start of last year’s ARC. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

LIV agrees: “PredictWind Unlimited for €140 per month was great. Not only did we have unlimited data and 150 voice minutes, we also got a tracking with the Iridium GO sending a GPS position report using SMS (text message) once per hour.” However, Zelda warns: “PredictWind Offshore worked only by email not directly with Iridium GO. Xgate had multiple errors that stopped data transfer”.

Choosing a specialist email provider can also be quite subjective. Emily Morgan used GO to run Airmail (Sailmail) with Iridium apps as backup from Global Telesat Communications. “GRIB files downloaded from Saildocs via Airmail, viewed in OpenCPN. Airmail filters emails so we only download the ones we want (approximately 12 received but eight actually downloaded per day),” says Anna Black.

The Swedes on Arcona 400 LIV found the Iridium Mail app “poor and always had to restart sending large mails with photos.”

Tilda’s Fabrizio Mancini advises others to download Iridium apps “on more than one smartphone because it allows several users.” The view from Walkabout, meanwhile, was: “MailASail systems and services are great and the service is personal and outstanding”.

When asked for feedback and any technical problems, half the skippers were either very satisfied or didn’t experience issues, other than the occasional dropped call or slow speeds.
Sebastian Gylling, sailing his fifth ARC on Eira, doesn’t think you need satcomms, only fitting them “because it was mandatory equipment,” while Scar Cat was left frustrated by recommendations that “were far more expensive than what I found on my own.”

Highly experienced skipper Dan Bower on Skyelark 2 using an Iridium handset, was one of very few RedBox users not to rate the router, finding the data compression inefficient.

Grace LR was also on the same system: “Difficult and long connection times despite having bought everything MailASail advised. I gave up using their weather info and used forecasts only from ARC.”

Lengthy downloads on Free Spirit (also on an Iridium handset and RedBox) led them to use their backup Garmin inReach to keep airtime economical. Rather than download GRIBs they got a weather router to email them forecasts.

Looking ahead

Like all marine equipment, satellite communications need to be reliable, so arguably the most important advice is to buy well in advance and test thoroughly before an ocean departure.

Don’t make decisions based purely on specification (seek a rounded combination of hardware/airtime/data optimisation and support plan if required) and don’t compare to land-based speeds (or expect anything close to them).

We have learned from the survey replies that there has been a shift to smaller/budget focussed setups. The majority of offshore sailors use Iridium and bought/used GO, primarily for its perceived ease and relative economy, and thanks to some good deals last year, particularly through PredictWind.

Hardware is only as good as its internal organs, and in the case of GO these are very similar to Iridium’s handsets as they have the same modules inside, MailASail’s Ed Wildgoose advises.

These are manufactured by various brands, but the supply pipeline started running out last year and satellite communication specialists warn of stock issues with many portable devices this year. As well as a global shortage of electronics, the invasion of Ukraine has also led to a huge demand there for handheld satphones.

A Certus future?

At the same time, we have seen the gradual evolution of a new crop of exciting new mid-range systems. While Inmarsat’s Fleet One is well established now, Iridium has been talking about implementing Certus for years and it was only in the second half of last year that the first yachts started carrying its 100 and 200 systems.

These represent a step change for sailors. The increase in speeds these provide is the equivalent of going from walking pace to flying on a jumbo jet, says Wildgoose.

All this leads to something of a no-brainer for those choosing new satcomms. Both MailASail’s Wildgoose and James Phipps from Global Telesat Communications now strongly advocate the Certus Skylink 100 system in particular as a sort of MkII version of GO. At around twice the hardware cost of GO (£2,000), it offers a global internet hotspot, with 4G, firewall and router built in.

“GO has been the entry level device we’d recommend, as you can send and receive email and the odd GRIB file, but you can’t do Whatsapp,” Phipps explains. “However, I think the Certus Skylink 100 is the way to go and will be a really popular service and hardware to replace GO.”

They think it particularly suits the sailing market as it provides fast enough data speeds for email and chat apps. It’s also more portable than the 200, which is more of a permanent installation, yet half the price and with a fraction of the power consumption (3W versus 25W).

“Personally, if I was going to do the ARC this year, I’d get the Certus 100 terminal. It would do everything I need it to with email, Whatsapp, images at an economical running cost plan,” Phipps concludes.

When considering airtime, the Certus 200 has the same chipset unit as the larger and costlier 700, but the same airtime tariff as the 100. So unless you need the increased upload speeds of the 200, the 100 will have roughly the same download speed but at half the cost.

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post Satellite communication: how to stay connected at sea appeared first on Yachting World.

Neatly coiled lines, highly polished stainless steel and a sense of order tends to grace berths in marinas serving professionally maintained yachts, seemingly in a permanent state of readiness for their owners. However much of a hands-on sailor you might be, there is something undeniably appealing about having everything taken care of.

Shared ownership schemes

The appeal of owning a yacht is obvious, but ownership itself can be time consuming. In today’s time-poor environment, it is far from surprising that access to ready-to-go yachts, with sailing days booked online, is proving more popular than ever.

James Walker took ownership of FlexiSail last year. A naval architect by training, he divides his time between designing yachts and running FlexiSail. He believes he now understands what an increasing number of sailors want, and it doesn’t involve full ownership and the responsibilities that go with it.

FlexiSail yachts on their moorings waiting and ready to go. Photo: Flexisail

“What we offer to the market is a clear contrast to regular yacht ownership that’s defined by its transparency. A fixed cost, everything included, nothing hidden. Anyone that’s ever owned a yacht knows that’s the opposite of what sole ownership entails. For those that haven’t ever owned a yacht, and perhaps would never consider it, we offer a way to sail very easily.”

Walker is seeing a new type of customer with a different view of how they want to enjoy their sailing time. “A lot of our new customers have no real connection to a sailing club at the start. They are looking for an experience, easily accessible, like their other pastimes. Something social, but without protocol.

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“We have a role to play there in breaking down the boundaries to access sailing, including training. We take a personal approach that doesn’t overwhelm. Interestingly, for most customers, they see sailing as a great way to socialise, so the yachts we’re ordering now have as many cabins as possible. Book online, turn up, and the boat is ready. Have a great weekend on the water, then hand it back and forget about it. That’s very appealing to a lot of people.”

Alternative models

Sharing the expense and time to keep a large yacht going could be the answer for longer family breaks. Photo: Ancasta

There are several shared ownership schemes in the UK. Some offer a fixed number of days on a specific boat, while others operate on a points-based system with access to multiple boats, including powerboats. Both have guarantees of use built into the contract. Some are beginning to expand to popular European charter destinations, meaning members’ days could include use of yachts abroad for holidays.

Pure Latitude Sailing has operated from Hamble for over 14 years and was one of the first schemes for shared ownership. Owner Martin Gray set up the business after seeing the success of car clubs where fees gave access to sports cars over several weekends.

“We decided against a physical share model right from the start because of its inflexibility. So, if you are going out with a friend you might take a small yacht out, but the following weekend you might be taking a group, so you can also access something with more cabins. It is also worth noting that sometimes, on a windless day, sailors admit to wanting to take out a motorboat!

“Flexibility is our core selling point and it means that no one is frustrated by not being able to access a boat because they only have a share in one specific yacht,” he explains.

Changing demographics

Martin Gray has seen a big uptake in scheme membership, but highlights that the demographic has changed a lot since Pure Latitude began. “When we started out, I would say that half of our members couldn’t afford outright ownership of a yacht of the same size and condition. Today, the majority could probably own outright if they really wanted to, indeed some have, but they see our offering as fundamentally more practical.

FlexiSaIl members enjoying social events. Photo: Flexisail

“Interestingly, there’s some psychology in it too. If you know that you have so much use paid for, you use it, especially when you know that the boat is ready to go and you are not plagued with things to fix; sailing weekends are sailing weekends, not fixing!

“Because we buy the boats ourselves, instead of relying on external owners, we can control what we offer to exactly what members.”

One characteristic of new sailors coming to shared ownership is their expectations, he explains. “Some of our members have never owned a yacht. It means their expectations are in line with something else you might rent. They expect the boat to be ready to go and in good order and, while boats are complex, that’s what we deliver.

“We are also seeing younger members come through too. They have made the decision right at the start that they would never own outright – it’s simply access they want and fun, in line with the service economy we are seeing grow more widely.

“The thirst for organised events is something else we didn’t foresee at the beginning. Racing, Fastnet campaigns and family social events are all available to members too.”

Syndicate shares

While not as simplistic as membership schemes, buying into a yacht syndicate can cut the costs of ownership dramatically.

David Watts has run Yacht Fractions since 1991 and specialises in buying and selling shares. “The obvious appeal of buying a share is the heavily reduced investment and ongoing costs. We sell shares of varying values, but a typical share might be between £15-20,000 for one third, meaning the initial investment is relatively low. It’s an accessible path to a lot more time on the water if you are already chartering a lot.”

While a lot of Watts’s business is in trading shares of existing yachts, he also advises potential buyers on what might make a great shared ownership prospect. “We recently had a customer who was buying new from the start with a view to sharing the yacht by selling two shares, to buy a much bigger and more comfortable yacht at a third of the cost and running expenses.

“It changes how you think about your budget and what’s possible. At present shares are selling very quickly and, as with the rest of the industry, supply is short.”

If you enjoyed this….

Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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The post Buying a yacht: hassle-free shared ownership schemes appeared first on Yachting World.

Perhaps you’ve cruised the Caribbean and fancy heading up the east coast of the United States to sample the fine cruising grounds of the Chesapeake Bay or New England. Or perhaps you’re a Canadian sailor itching to escape the brutal northern winter. Either way, you will become acquainted with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).

The ICW – or ‘The Ditch’, as it is affectionately known by many – stretches 1,088 miles (statute, not nautical) from Mile Marker 1 in Norfolk, Virginia, to its end point in Key West. It is part of a 3,000-mile series of interconnected waterways that can take you all the way from Virginia to Texas.

On the east coast, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is a busy highway in the autumn and spring. The snowbirds flock south in the fall, gathering on the Chesapeake to head south after the Annapolis Boat Show in October and get to Florida as the hurricane season ends in late November. In the spring, there’s a procession of boats heading back to the Chesapeake or downeast to Maine.

American sailors have something of a love-hate relationship with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. On the one hand they deplore the need to motor the best part of 1,000 miles when they could be sailing; on the other, they welcome the many opportunities to duck into shelter from threatening weather. The majority of cruisers taking the offshore option will, for instance, happily nip into the ICW to avoid rounding the notorious Cape Hatteras.

Before I actually went down the ICW for the first time, I did not think of it as a cruising destination in its own right. ‘The Ditch’ sounded far from appealing to this deepwater sailor. Yet over the course of three forays down various parts of the waterway, I began to enjoy it for its own sake. Yes, you will be plugging along under power for many miles, but you will also pass through some beautiful scenery and visit parts of the country that typical tourists would never get to see.

Sailing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

You’ll also get to sail some, notably on the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, though there are many other places where you can unroll the genoa to get a break from the engine. My favourite parts are the northern section, from Norfolk, Virginia, down to Beaufort, North Carolina, and farther south to Charleston, South Carolina.

On my first excursion I motored slowly down the historic, 22-mile-long Dismal Swamp Canal, dug by slave labour in the late 18th century as a trade route. Its inky black water, infused with tannin from the swamp vegetation, left a brown moustache on our bow. Our spreaders grazed overhanging branches and our 6ft 3in keel bounced over the shallows.

It was a unique experience, followed by a gorgeous cruise along a winding tree-lined river to a welcoming town called Belhaven, where we tied up to the free dock and a friendly local drove us to the supermarket. From there, we set sail at first light in a solid blow, bouncing across a choppy Albemarle Sound, and made 80 miles before dark. Such are the contrasts of the ICW.

There are some pretty towns and cities that warrant a few days’ exploration, for anyone not in delivery mode. Some are famous, some you’ve likely not heard of.

Lighthouse and pier at Manteo, North Carolina. Photo: Matt Claiborne/Alamy

In Norfolk, Virginia, you can marvel at the sight of a good chunk of the US Navy lined up almost gunwale to gunwale along the riverbank; deceptively sleepy Oriental, North Carolina, is home to two good boatyards; while the two Beauforts, ‘Bowfort’ in North Carolina and ‘Bewfort’ in South Carolina, are charming stopovers.

Charleston, also in South Carolina, is an almost mandatory stop, as is Savannah in Georgia. Many cruisers get as far as St Augustine and decide to stop there for a spell. To me, it’s the best town on Florida’s east coast.

As you motor farther south, things get busy. Above the Keys, the Florida coast lacks the charm of the Carolinas or Georgia, and so does the ICW. It’s here that, if there’s a northerly component to the wind, the temptation to hop outside (but stay west of the Gulf Stream) and make some fast miles away from bridges and currents becomes overpowering.

Sure, there are a couple of nice towns to stop at for a while – Vero Beach and Stuart, for example, and it would be a shame to steam past Cape Canaveral without a tour of the space centre – but generally speaking it’s a dull run, and the farther south you go, the more congested the waterway becomes.

Down around Fort Pierce, a good many sailing crews split off and head across to the Bahamas, while others head down as far as Fort Lauderdale. However, I’d recommend going outside well before you get too far south, or at least do not travel on a weekend; as it’s here that the boat traffic gets hellish.

The Intracoastal Waterway is spanned by 160 bridges. Photo: Peter Neilsen

The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway can become chockablock with all manner of overpowered and under-piloted watercraft, a celebration of horsepower and inebriation, all zooming around willy-nilly. I stayed in the waterway a little too long last year, and being trapped in tight quarters amid so many powerboats was downright frightening at times.

There’s a bridge with only 56ft clearance just before you get to Miami, so most sailing boats have to go into the Atlantic at Fort Lauderdale and back into Miami at Government Cut.

For many, Miami marks the end of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway; it’s an easy staging point for the Bahamas. The ICW continues down to the Florida Keys and then up and around the Gulf of Mexico, but most east coast cruisers, and most foreign vessels, either break off and head towards the western Caribbean, or go to the Bahamas and perhaps south to the Eastern Caribbean.

One of the first things the bluewater sailor will notice about the ICW is the sheer number of bridges. There are some 160 between Hampton and Miami. Most of them are fixed bridges, all built to a vertical clearance of 65ft (20m) above the high-water mark. Supposedly built to that height, anyway.

Mind the gap

During my foray down part of the Florida ICW on a catamaran with a 63ft (19.2m) air draught, we lost the masthead wind transducer on one bridge and nervously watched the VHF antenna scraping the underneath of several more. This is nerve-wracking if you have some current with you and are effectively committed, watching the height boards at the centre span and hoping they aren’t lying.

Entrance to the ICW at Fort Pierce, Florida. Photo: Stephen Wood/Alamy

Then there are the opening bridges, which relieve you of height concerns but offer some challenges of their own. Some are bascule bridges, others have a span swinging sideways to open the path for water traffic, others have lifting spans. The latter are usually found in populated areas, or where topography precludes a fixed bridge.

Some will open on demand, the etiquette for which involves a call on Ch13 or Ch9 and a usually pleasant interaction with the bridgekeeper. Others open to a timetable, usually on the half hour. This leads to plenty of strategising, as you either hurry to get to the next bridge in time to avoid milling around with a bunch of other boats waiting for the next opening, or slow down so you don’t get there too soon. What’s more, many of the metropolitan bridges don’t open at all during morning and evening rush hours. Diligent study of bridge locations and timetables will ease your passage along the ICW.

The further south you get, the more bridges you will encounter, peaking in heavily populated southern Florida. The only three locks you’ll encounter are all in Virginia, and they’re easy enough to negotiate.

Overnighting

Depending on your draught, there are plenty of places to anchor for the night along the ICW, and no shortage of town docks and marinas, though these often fill up quickly from mid-October to December and April through May.

ICW at Fort Lauderdale. Photo: Patrick Lynch/Alamy

I’ve stayed for free, or nearly so, at docks in small but welcoming towns along the waterway, and enjoyed hot showers and restaurant meals
in marinas, but most of all I have enjoyed the many lovely anchorages I’ve discovered.

Often, an overnight stop is as easy as pulling a few boat lengths off the channel, depth permitting, and dropping the hook. The various guides to the ICW will point out the best spots. One October we pulled over to a tiny dock on the Dismal Swamp Canal and shivered in our blankets as the temperature dropped close to freezing on the stillest of nights; next day we were in shorts and T-shirts again.

Another time, just north of St Augustine in Florida, we sat on deck with gin and tonics and watched an hours-long lightning show play out in the clouds, happy not to be underneath it. And on one occasion, anchored in a cut leading out into the Atlantic, I paced the deck nervously as the wind pushed the boat one way and the current another, the anchor chain stretching bar-taut astern. In some places you may want to double up on your anchors, or drop a kellett from the bow to make sure your anchor chain doesn’t foul your keel or running gear.

I also recall sitting out a late November north-easterly in Beaufort, North Carolina, where the boat heeled in her berth to 50-knot gusts while we sat in a bar eating boiled oysters, feeling relieved to be in a marina.

Beaufort, South Carolina. Among the best parts of the ICW are the 200 miles north of here. Photo: John Wollwerth/Alamy

Luckily, such blows are well forecast and there’s really no excuse for being caught out in one. They also remind you why you’re in the ICW instead of out at sea at that time of year.
During that same passage south, we left Morehead City, North Carolina, bound for Charleston, only to catch a forecast that made us duck back into the ICW at Wrightsville Beach. That night, snug at anchor, we listened to the wind howling in the rigging while 20 miles offshore, about where we’d have been, a new Beneteau 50 was dismasted and its crew rescued by helicopter.

Navigating the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

Make no mistake, the ICW is shallow. The US Army Corps of Engineers tries to maintain the depth to 9ft (2.7m), but given the nature of the waterway, with its often strong currents, things aren’t always the way they’re supposed to be. I’ve run aground several times, but only once with any damage. On the other hand, some friends went the length of the waterway without a functioning depth sounder and never once touched bottom.

I used Navionics charts on my iPad on each of my ICW trips and never had any issues. Although some commercial traffic does run at night, it would be foolhardy for us sailors to do the same. It would be all too easy to misjudge a turn and end up with your keel stuck in the mud.

Draw bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway at Great Bridge, Chesapeake, Virginia. Photo: Cindy Hopkins/Alamy

The navigation marks are all well kept, and follow American red-right-returning protocol, return being southbound on the east coast.

Channel markers can become confusing where channels from seaward intersect with the ICW, so there’s a simple system of reflective yellow squares and triangles superimposed on the nav aids; leave the triangles to starboard, the squares to port. If the nav aids don’t have the yellow marks, you’ve left the ICW.

Dealing with traffic

At least until you get to the chaos of south Florida, boat traffic on the waterway is easy enough to deal with. Faster boats wanting to pass should hail you via VHF. If you’re feeling generous you can slow down to let them pass faster, which is sensible, for you don’t know what’s coming your way around the next bend.

We sailors are slower than most other traffic, so we get passed often. Most powerboaters will slow down as they pass so as not to ‘wake’ you. There are some exceptions, notably big sport fishing boats with professional crews who delight in steaming past at full speed.

It can get crowded at bridges, so my advice is to hang back and let the nimbler powerboats go first.

Planning an Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway passage

There is lots of literature about the ICW, most of it hard pilotage advice, which is as it should be. If you want some entertaining reading, try The Boy, Me and the Cat, by Henry Plummer, a fun tale of a cruise up the ICW in a small catboat in 1912.

Otherwise, here are some useful books and websites:

The Intracoastal Waterway, Norfolk to Miami – The Complete Cockpit Cruising Guide, by Bill Moeller/John Kettlewell.
Waterway Guide Atlantic ICW, by Waterway Guide Media (updated annually).
2021 ICW Cruising Guide, by Bob423.

Many cruisers swear by Bob423’s frequently updated online guides and paperback books. Bob has travelled the ICW for many years and few know it better. His blog is at bobicw.blogspot.com

You’ll spend a lot of time obsessing about bridges and their opening times; the Waterway Guide website and Bob423’s blog are good sources of up-to-date info.

Charts:

On my ICW excursions, I have exclusively used Navionics charts on iPad and phone, with C-Map charts on the plotter as a backup. I have been happy with the accuracy and functionality of the Navionics charts. Many cruisers also swear by Aquamaps.

Note: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

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Alan Ker on the Contessa 32

“We were prepared for a very rough night but we didn’t have any inkling how rough it was going to be. As we passed the Scillies the wind was picking up from the west and as the front came through there was heavy rain. That cleared and it became bright moonlight over an extremely stormy sea. At that point we were starting to say: ‘Well, that looks like page 49 of Adlard Coles’s Heavy Weather Sailing’.”

It was August 1979 and Alan Ker was taking part in the Fastnet Race with a crew of friends. Aged 23, one of the youngest skippers, he was sailing his father’s Contessa 32, Assent. The Contessa 32 was a small yacht even then, a nutshell by today’s standards, 32ft overall but only 24ft on the waterline, nipped in and narrow at the stern, slender amidships, with a long fin keel.

Contessa production line at Lymington in 1971. Photo: Rogers Family Archive

Yet the attributes of this pint-sized cruiser were what protected Ker and his crew. The Contessa was knocked down beyond horizontal, as many yachts were, but she righted herself after about 10 seconds. Ker kept driving her 60° off the wind under three-reefed main, steering over the crests. He sailed back into Plymouth, the only finisher in a class of 58 yachts. With no VHF radio, he was unaware of the scale of destruction behind.

In the inquiry that followed, the Contessa 32 was found to have an angle of vanishing stability of 156° compared with 117° for a contemporary Half Tonner. With such an endorsement of the boat’s seaworthiness, a design that began life as a modest coastal cruiser-racer instantly gained an all-weather reputation. Even 43 years later, this is still one of the most sought after small yachts for voyages and adventures of the most extreme kind.

Contessa 32 No2, Red Herring, emerges from the former mill where she was built by Jeremy Rogers. Photo: Rogers Family Archive

Star qualities of the Contessa 32

For Kit Rogers, the Contessa 32 is almost in the blood. He was just a toddler when his father, Jeremy, built the first boat in Lymington in 1970. The design had been drawn by David Sadler the previous year as a larger successor to the popular Contessa 26. Contessa Catherine, hull No1, was built for Sadler himself. No2, Red Herring, was Jeremy Rogers’s and launched in 1971 (both boats are still going strong, several owners on).

Jeremy Rogers at the tiller. Photo: Gary Blake

From its beginnings, the Contessa was billed as a cruiser-racer. The design was an immediate hit. Jeremy Rogers campaigned his boat very successfully during the 1971 season and when sistership Contessa Catherine had her formal debut at the Earls Court Boat Show in London in early 1972, she was voted Boat of the Show (the class’s 50th anniversary celebrations were planned for 2021, but have been rescheduled for this summer).

Despite its star qualities, though, no one could have predicted the Contessa business would still be providing for the Rogers family more than 50 years on. Today, Kit Rogers and his wife, Jessie, both experienced ocean sailors, own the moulds and run Jeremy Rogers Ltd, specialising in new builds and refits of this dauntless one-design. On average, the company builds one new yacht each year and refits three or four more.

Only a handful of designs this old are still in production. Examples include the much smaller International Dragon (1929), the Folkboat (1942), the Drascombe Lugger (1968), the Tradewind 35 (1975) and the Rustler 36 (1980). Of those, none has been so numerous as the Contessa 32. At least 700 Contessa 32s have been built, making it the most successful one-design cruiser-racer of all time. Most are Rogers builds, but in total they were built by five different yards, including around 100 built under licence in Canada.

Back in 1971, a new Contessa 32 cost £5,950. Today, a new build Contessa from Kit Rogers will set you back no less than £275,000 plus VAT. Those wanting refits to bring older Contessas to near new condition spend small fortunes, too. Kit Rogers says a typical refit at the yard is “between £100,000 and £200,000”.
The boat is, he says, “not that different. The layout is the same, construction the same way but [with] more attention to detail and better joinery. We can’t compete with mass produced boats so have gone down the route of a very high standard. We don’t use veneered floors, there are dovetailed joints, we use the best materials and equipment that we can.”

Contessa 32 in the far north. Photo Willy Kerr

The price of a new Contessa could easily buy you a yacht that feels twice or three times the size. A Pogo 44, for example, starts at €270,000; a Hanse 460, gigantic by comparison, is from €270,000. But that isn’t the point: for a steady stream of new owners and still-bewitched aficionados, no other yacht will do.

Invincibility

While Jeremy Rogers was establishing the Contessa 32’s prowess as a Solent racer, where it soon gained its own class at Cowes Week (it still has), others were seeing its potential far beyond that. It was immediately eligible, and suited to, a new species of long distance offshore race, and in 1972 Royal Marine commando Mike McMullen raced across the North Atlantic in the OSTAR in his Contessa 32 Binkie II.

In 1979, the reputation of the boat was cemented in yachting history by the Fastnet Race inquiry, and the Contessa began to be thought of more as an ocean pugilist than a coastal racer. In 1984, American John Kretschmer took the Contessa 32 Gigi from New York to San Francisco, rounding Cape Horn on the same route once plied by the Clipper ships.

Willy Ker at the helm Assent sailed over 100,000 miles, from the Arctic to Antarctica, Hawaii and Easter Island. Photo Willy Ker

He wrote about the voyage in his book Cape Horn to Starboard and of enduring a storm that knocked the boat down to 130°. ‘We were in way over our heads and it was the Contessa 32 which bailed us out time and again,’ he recalled. In his talks and subsequent interviews he lauded the boat’s virtues, gilding its image of invincibility.

Meanwhile, Assent was being sailed far and wide, often single-handed by her owner, Willy Ker. A former Army officer and farmer from Somerset, Ker had bought his boat in 1976. In the early days, Ker and his son, Alan, cruised and raced the boat together. In 1977 they both did the Fastnet Race, Willy as skipper. Two years later, Alan skippered her to the finish despite the devastation of that notorious race. But in the years that followed, Assent was to see and survive even worse weather.

During the Round Britain and Ireland Race in 1978, Willy Ker began thinking of exploring further north. He sailed the following year to the Faroe Islands and followed that with a circumnavigation of Iceland. Over the next decade, he returned to the far north and across the Atlantic. In the 1990s, he sailed south to Antarctica.

Memorabilia from Assent’s participation in the 1979 Fastnet Race.

Until his final voyage alone aged 85, Ker covered over 100,000 miles in Assent, sailing to the Arctic, Antarctic, from Easter Island to Hawaii, and on numerous occasions to Greenland and Baffin Island, very often single-handed. Ker died in 2019, aged 94, but we occasionally spoke about his voyages and he once told me: “We think she’s the best boat ever, and we’ve got tremendous faith in her. She really is the sweetest boat to sail.”

In nearly 30 years’ of cruising and racing he often encountered severe weather. She was knocked down three times, he said, but only ever to the horizontal, and she always righted herself promptly.

“The worst knockdown, undoubtedly, was in 1987, when I was returning across the Atlantic with a crew. We were about 200 miles off Cape Farewell and the Coastguard said we would get north or north-west Force 10 plus.

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“I stupidly took everything down and lay ahull under bare poles. Now, I reckon that was the worst thing to do; you’re a sitting duck. A lot of water came in and knocked everything out.

“Afterwards, we ran downwind, but it was pretty hairy, I can tell you.”

Ker’s experience was that the Contessa is best reefed down and kept driving on. “You can stick more or less anything with three reefs and the jib rolled well in,” he said. “If it gets really nasty, I roll the headsail away. I don’t think I’ve ever set a storm jib.”

The easy handling virtues of the Contessa have attracted scores of adventurers over the decades – and still do. In 1993, 15-year-old Seb Clover chose a Contessa 32, Reflection, in which to make a record-breaking solo transatlantic. He was shadowed by his father, sailing another Contessa 32, Xixia.

The following year, the owner of Chanson de Lecq, Jo Hunter, was presented with the Ocean Cruising Club’s Award of Merit and the Royal Cruising Club’s Medal for Seamanship following a solo voyage from South Georgia to Cape Town and then across the Southern Ocean to Australia. She was dismasted during this and sailed 1,700 miles to Fremantle under jury rig.

The impregnable nature of the yachts encouraged the Joint Services Sail Training Centre in Gosport to buy a fleet of nine Contessas during the 1970s. Over the next two decades MOD servicemen and women sailed them all over Europe, across to Greenland, around Scotland, up the fjords of Norway and to the Fastnet Rock and back many times over.

New Contessa 32s in build at the Rogers yard. 

Assent’s new life

When Willy Ker died three years ago, his beloved Assent was put up for sale. The first to step forward was the Rogers family.

Assent now belongs to Kit and Jessie Rogers. She was brought back to their yard in Lymington, refitted like new and has been transformed into a boat for family adventures. In 2019 Kit returned Assent to the Rolex Fastnet Race, where she was the smallest yacht in the fleet, racing with his brother, yacht designer Simon Rogers, and two of their children, Jonah and Hattie.

New Contessa 32 on the water. 

Theirs is far from the only Contessa 32 being sailed by the next generation. The design has a perpetually refreshing fan base of millennial voyagers and vloggers as well as retirees aspiring to solo feats.

“You can’t really pigeonhole typical owners,” Kit Rogers says. “In the 10 years we’ve had such a range of them, from a 30-year-old woman, to a Brazilian sailing a boat with a reinforced hull in the Amazon, to a young Norwegian man.

“Most of the boats we work on are for adventures and people going places.”

They know that this pretty little thing is a tough old boat. In the words of a retired member of the Royal Armoured Corps Yacht Club, the Contessa 32 is “like a tank. They are bulletproof, small inside, never on an even keel, forgiving when the going gets bumpy and a thrill to drive fast. But, most importantly, the kettle is always on!”

Owners Stories: the modern Contessa 32 adventures

Lucy Te Moananui Nerissa K

Originally from the UK, Lucy met her husband while travelling in New Zealand and has settled there. A lifelong lover of the water, she is a world champion SUP surfer who says she always dreamed of sailing across oceans and her big goal is to enter an ocean race.

Lucy at the helm of Nerissa K. Photo: Lucy Te Moananui

“I did a lot of research and read many books. I wanted a small yacht that was easy to sail solo and short-handed but also a proven oceangoing vessel. A few boats seemed appealing but the Contessa 32 kept cropping up in my reading. Not only was she a capable offshore boat in a smaller size, she had simply stunning lines.”

Lucy found the Canadian-built Contessa 32, Nerissa K, lying in New Zealand, and bought her. “Sailing off the coast of the South Island of New Zealand can be harsh. We can get big swells, it’s often cold and southern storms from the Antarctic pass through regularly. The Contessa handles it well, she is easily balanced, stable and surfs downwind with control,” she says.

Nerissa K at anchor in New Zealand. Photo: Lucy Te Moananui

“I get compliments wherever I go, when those in the know hear she’s a Contessa 32, the interest rises a notch. I can sail her with ease on my own and she doesn’t feel oversized, yet in 3-4m of ocean swell I still feel safe. I enjoy the simple life and would rather have five winches to service than 10: maintenance and repairs are easier on a smaller vessel.”

Pierre Huglo Fresh Herring

French philosophy teacher Pierre Huglo realised a lifetime ambition between 2018 and 2019 by sailing his Contessa 32 single-handed round the world with no engine and minimal equipment in the non-stop Longue Route race.

Pierre Huglo on board the Fresh Herring during his round the world trip. Photo: Pierre Huglo.

“I chose a Contessa 32 because I wanted a boat in which I can have complete confidence while sailing alone across any ocean. I wanted a boat able to sail in any conditions of wind and sea, that would give me independence and self-reliance. With 50% ballast ratio and a very strong construction the Contessa gave me this confidence and now I’ve sailed 72,500 miles aboard Fresh Herring I know she never deceived this confidence I had in her.”

Mike Loubser Coconiño

When he retired, Mike Loubser, a doctor from South Africa, sold his 42ft Simonis design and began looking for a new boat. “I was looking to simplify, find a boat that was seaworthy, capable in bluewater but simple enough that I wouldn’t be spending all my time tinkering with pressurised hot and cold water, complex electrical systems, a large, powerful rig, or always be looking for crew,” he says.

He chose a Contessa built by Jeremy Rogers in 1980. He likes the fact that deck work is easy to accomplish but admits: “You have to come to terms with how small this boat is below deck. The lack of space in the living quarters takes some getting used to – optimal use of space is essential.”

For him, the heritage of the Contessa is a huge draw. “I liked the reputation of being well-mannered. To top it all off, the Contessa has lovely lines.”

Contessa 32’s Appeal

What is it about the Contessa 32? Even for a superfan such as me, its appeal is surprisingly hard to define. It’s cramped down below, without full headroom, the saloon is snug, the forepeak berths short, and the galley and heads both quite poky.

Interior volume and liveaboard luxury is not what the Contessa is about. Its cherished characteristics are the distinctive sheerline, narrow, waspish stern and overhanging counter, a low freeboard – which dips to just 71cm outboard of the cockpit, and mild tumblehome. The combination is pleasing to any eye, and one of the lovely things about owning a Contessa 32 is how often your boat is complimented.

My husband and I used to co-own Gauntlet (CO900). This was my husband’s second Contessa, sandwiched in ownership between larger oceangoing yachts, as is often the case.

Like any smallish boat, the Contessa has a quick motion, but her long fin keel and deep forefoot shrug aside a head sea. She can be a bit of a submarine, but I’ve never known her to slam or pound. When the going gets tough, the Contessa excels and it has the most beautiful sailing manners upwind, with a knack of making you feel like Ben Ainslie.

The high aspect mainsail is simple for one person to hoist and reef. The Contessa is ‘human sized’, and this is the prime reason the design remains so beloved among short-handers. The downsides? It is not a marina boat; close quarters manoeuvring can be sporting. It can also be a handful downwind. Under spinnaker, a barber hauler is needed to stop the sail taking control and pulling you round.

Still, these are trifling things on a boat whose famous capabilities flatter your ambitions. Wherever you go, people recognise the boat, and its epic reputation rubs off on you.

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While going on a bluewater adventure with your family is a popular dream, the advantages of having a child that can understand instructions, occupy themselves with a book, and have mastered at least the basics of swimming, keep many families ashore until school age. But cruising, and even liveaboard bluewater sailing with young children can be done.

Four families cruising and sailing with young children share their tips on how to manage – and enjoy – sailing with very small crew.

Never too young to learn; going cruising before the school years can offer real freedom. Photos: chasingmoonrivernz.com

Setting sail with preschoolers

There are many reasons for setting off with under-fives. For some families it is simply a case of not waiting – especially where older siblings want to rejoin formal education before their senior school years. Casting off sooner may enable you to sail for longer, even if taking it easy for the early stages. Going when children are younger may also negate the need to move up a size of yacht to increase the number of cabins.

For many families the ability to go sailing without having to factor in ‘boat school’ is a huge draw. “I found home schooling for pre-school and early primary school aged children was very easy and stress-free,” recalls Carolyn Simpson, mother of four boys aged four to nine.

Gaining an early understanding of charts. Photo: @resolutely_sailing

She and her husband have lived aboard their 47ft Herreshoff ketch Moon River since their youngest son was born, cruising the Pacific when he was two and his brothers four, six and seven years old.

“We really just wanted to ensure that the boys weren’t behind in reading and letter formation. Basic maths, alphabet etc can be learned as games and during day-to-day activities, and the lifestyle itself is an education.”

Friendships are less critical at the preschool stage, which takes the pressure off finding other ‘kid boats’ – though maintaining relationships with wider family members, such as grandparents and cousins, can be harder with small children if relying on video calls or similar.

The slow, simple life on board can suit a very young family, as Carolyn recalls: “For us all to be together as a family 24/7 for extended periods of cruising, it [was] lovely having a newborn and not having a schedule. My memories of breastfeeding on board, relaxing on beaches, playing in the shallows, and sleeping in hammocks under trees are dreamy.”

A trolley can make a good buggy substitute. Photo: @resolutely_sailing

But there are obvious hurdles to overcome. Sleep deprivation is a huge factor during the early parenting years. Add in night watches, anchor monitoring, the challenges of getting proper rest while under way, of trying to sleep undisturbed in a small space – and a tropical climate – and it’s easy to see why many sailing parents baulk at the idea of sailing with young children.

Factor in essential boat maintenance, the domestic workload, and possibly income generating work, and creating enough time for sleep can be challenging. For many families this means taking things very slowly. For others it means bringing in additional hands – extended family, an au pair, or deck crew.

The health and safety concerns can seem daunting. All the usual hazards – falls, choking, burns – become amplified on board. With very young children who simply can’t be relied on to follow key instructions, ‘man-marking’ becomes a full-time job. If one parent is looking after the boat, the other will need to be looking after the child(ren). Preventing man overboards, falls off jetties and pontoons, and safely transferring to and from a dinghy etc requires careful planning and constant vigilance.

There is also the question of how sailing with young children will alter the experience of cruising itself. While diving coral reefs, or immersing oneself in different cultural experiences, are likely to be high on adult cruisers’ wish lists, for young children the best moments involve the simple things. Finding a shallow sandy beach may become your anchorage goal.

Playing on board. Photo: finedayforsailing.com

“There are elements of liveaboard life that toddlers can’t appreciate the same way an older child could,” points out Emily Lane, who is cruising with her husband, four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter on their Norseman 447 Resolute. “I think we had grand visions of spotting dolphins together and teaching our kids the names of fish and seabirds… but to be honest, they’re so young that nothing gets them excited like a good old fashioned playground. Our route along the Intracoastal Waterway was basically dictated by proximity to playgrounds.”

Preparing to be tested

The first thing any parents planning to cruise with young children should do is accept that plans may change. Heather Richard initially set off cruising with her ex-husband and three children, including a preschooler. She then continued sailing with her young children as a solo parent, bringing on additional crew when needed and using her experience as a sailing instructor to teach them additional skills.

“I have some very unique experience as a single parent taking my three kids cruising solo. But it was quite easy to find young, capable, strong and willing crew who fit in easily with my family and added a lot to my kids education – and also gave them good role models. Their energy and positive attitude was fantastic for both me and the kids.”

Carolyn Simpson also discovered how sailing with young children can challenge a relationship. “One of the biggest challenges early on was how tired we’d get on passage, or even around the coast in stormy weather. It’s very hard to keep an even keel with each other when we are both sleep deprived, but nothing a day on the beach resting while the boys run around doesn’t fix! It helps that [husband] Richie is a very patient captain.”

The couple planned assiduously. “We both undertook offshore medical courses, sea survival courses, and Richie crewed on a passage to New Caledonia to gain experience. One of the most valuable things we did together was cast off the lines and live at anchor for three months while coastal sailing around New Zealand.

However, she admits: “No matter how well prepared we were, I was (and still am) quite worried about one of the boys getting injured or sick while we are on passage or somewhere remote. On top of that my self-doubt was a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Safe spaces for kids on the move. Photo: svkaiquest.com

“We have an amazing support network who were behind what we were doing, we got no negative comments or criticism for our lifestyle choice, but I couldn’t shake a level of self-doubt!

“There is an element of risk to this lifestyle that is different from living ashore, so I think that weighs on my mind. But once we get underway a lot of that slips away and we find the lifestyle really relaxing, comfortable and exciting.”

Keeping kids safe aboard

A lot of sailing with young children can be made easier by having the right kit on board, and thinking through systems and routines. Sarah and Will Curry know this more than most. The couple divide the year 50:50 cruising aboard their Jeanneau SO 43 Kaiquest and living ashore in Canada, while also running their company Hydrovane, makers of self-steering systems. They live aboard Kaiquest with their two-year-old twins, and have done so since the boys were babies. It was a daunting proposition.

The Curry family aboard their Jeanneau SO 43 Kaiquest. Photo: svkaiquest.com

“We were travelling with 16 bottles (eight feeds a day times two!), a mammoth supply of formula, two car seats, a double stroller, and a high energy miniature poodle – running high on the adrenaline of love of being new parents!” Sarah recalls. “We were tied to the dock (and laundry machine) for those first few months.”

Sarah and Will adapted different ‘safe zones’ in their boat as the boys grew. “‘The Pit’ was a custom lee cloth across our main saloon dropped-down table to create a baby rumble room,” she explains.

“‘The Cage’ is our full cockpit enclosure. This was imperative for the toddler phase and made the cockpit 100% secure. We used Phifertex material, which is ideal for the tropics in that it provides sun protection, but you can see through it. It’s also durable enough to contain two toddlers throwing their bodies against it.

Securable seats are invaluable. Photo: svkaiquest.com

“One of my most useful purchases was two portable pop‘n’sit chairs. We secure them in the cockpit so the twins can be strapped in safely when needed. They have eaten many meals in these chairs on board and out at restaurants.”

Having dedicated places for children to go during mooring or a manoeuvre is a strategy many parents recommend. Carolyn Simpson adds: “Introducing ‘safety seats’ was one of our most important safety tactics. If Richie or I said ‘safety seats’ all four boys would go to (or be put into) dedicated berths/carseats/seats which separated them and kept them safe while we dealt with anything thrown at us. We prepared snack bags for during busy times like anchoring and docking to keep all four quiet.

Inspiring the next generation! Photo: svkaiquest.com

“We still use the same code-word today, but things have changed as the boys have gotten older. Jackson and Tasman might be asked to come up and help with things like docking, but otherwise they all remain in their seats until told it is safe to leave.”

Having strict rules that are stuck to consistently is key. “The boys all wear lifejackets and are tethered at all times when on-deck under way, these were the rules from day one and in all conditions so everyone knew the drill when we headed offshore,” recalls Carolyn.

“When we are on passage the boys don’t leave the cockpit; this rule also applies to adult crew as much as possible! At anchor/marina the boys weren’t allowed to wander around the topsides without a lifejacket until they could confidently swim four laps of Moon River.”

“Nobody is allowed in the cockpit without a lifejacket and an adult. Period,” adds Lane.

Simplifying systems and sail handling so one adult can manage the boat is vital when sailing with young children. “Everything is rigged on Kaiquest so she can be sailed solo. One of us tends to the twins, the other sails the boat. Sailing is the easy job,” says Susan Curry. “The Hydrovane rudder takes over steering, which means Kaiquest’s main rudder and two wheels are locked off. I now fully appreciate this safety feature for sailing with kids: there is no erratic movement of the wheels, and no chance of fingers or arms getting caught.”

The reality

“I wish we’d known that, when you live aboard a sailboat with kids, only about 5% of your time is spent actually sailing,” recalls Emily Lane.

“The other 95% is spent in the day-to-day mundane details of living: feeding the kids, getting them to pick up their toys, making sure they’re going down for nap, getting them on and off the dock safely, arranging for grocery deliveries, tracking down playgrounds and laundromats… the list goes on.

“But we’re all doing it together in a (relatively) tiny little boat, all within a few feet of each other. The kids love being close to us, and we love being close to them. And in the end, that’s really what makes living aboard worth it.”

Best toys for children on yachts

With limited stowage onboard, large plastic toy sets won’t be an option. Popular recommendations for sailing with young children include:

· Lego/Duplo. Giant drawstring play mat/storage bags keep the pieces contained and out of the bilges.

· Tool kits. Child-appropriate versions of a ‘real’ toolbox are universally popular with liveaboard kids. “We take these ashore and can sit back and relax while they create,” says Simpson.

· A ‘survival kit’ has similar appeal: add a flint and steel, whittling knife, whistle, walkie-talkies and a hammock/den kit.

· Magnatiles for mess-free creativity (just be careful where you store them on board as they are magnetic)

· Journals. Even during ‘no-school’ days on passage many parents get kids to draw or write a few words each day.

· Stationary rolls/craft boxes. Glue guns, lollipops and pipe cleaners, paint, paper, and modelling clay – although these often only come out at anchor.

· Fancy dress. Popular with little ones and easy to store. Also makes it easier to keep an eye on your child ashore if they’re dressed as a cartoon character!

· Water toys. SUPs, kayaks, water pistols. Don’t forget swim goggles.

· Tablets. Particularly invaluable on long passages, explains Emily Lane. “We treat it the same way you’d treat a long-haul flight with toddlers. Routine goes out the window, there are lots of snacks involved, lots of time on the iPad.” Kindle Kids tablets have a no-quibble replacement policy for devices that may take some knocks and spills
on board.

Follow the families on Instagram @hydrovane, @chasingmoonriver, @resolutely_sailing
@finedayforsailing and on their blogs at svkaiquest.com, chasingmoonrivernz.com, finedayforsailing.com

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Pilot books used to be how we explored new destinations. Cruisers and charter sailors alike will have spent many hours poring over sketch maps and grainy photos in a hardback book that may not have been updated for many moons to identify where might offer good holding, a mini-mart, or a worthy snorkelling spot.

Nowadays we’re all used to having information at our fingertips, literally, through a smartphone. Naturally, a crop of boating apps and websites have developed to service the appetite for good quality information about sailing locations.

Cruising social media groups are bursting with personal recommendations or impressions, but this information is often uncategorised or hard to verify. Now, a number of more ‘official’ online sites and apps have been launched that combine user-generated up to date information with the backing of a reputable organisation or publisher.

Explore with Imray

It has long been a complaint in my family that pilot guides contain little useful information on the reasons to visit a specific harbour or anchorage. There is plenty on getting there safely and confidently, but precious little about the best pub, or the walk with views to die for. Well, no longer.

Nautical publisher Imray has launched an all-new app which aims to combine the best of both worlds. Explore with Imray is a blend of the critical navigational information associated with some 6,000 ports or anchorages, and the photos and posts of sailors who have been there.

In a way, it’s nothing new, according to Imray’s Lucy Wilson. “Crowdsourcing is what Imray has done for years and years – we’ve always been collecting this information,” she says. “We have about 100 books in our catalogue and we’ve only digitised 12 so far. That’s taken three months, but it’ll definitely speed up now.”

She walks me through the beta version of the app, which runs on phones, tablets and computers. It’s a neat interface that uses a Google-style map showing clusters of pins to navigate to the port you want information on. As you zoom in, pins marking each entry disaggregate until you can click through to the data. It’s quite a treasure trove.

Each pane opens with a chartlet, an overview image of the location and a series of expandable titles such as ‘contact’, ‘facilities’ and ‘approach’. Frequently used ports or harbours can be bookmarked for quicker access.

“One of the key things in our data is all of the approach information – anyone can get the contact details and facilities,” says Wilson. “Getting you there safely – that is our key tool.”

In my book, this alone would be worth the £49.99 annual subscription cost (or £8.99 per month). As Wilson points out, the charge is similar to the cost of a single printed pilot guide, yet gives you access to every location on the system. “You’re not buying a book, you’re buying everything that we’ve digitised,” she says.

There is an additional dimension: click the ‘community’ tab and you can access reports that subscribers have made for that location, offering anything from opening times of the local fish and chip shop to a favourite beach. It’s moderated – usually by the authors of the pilot guide.

“The social layer allows you to create your own profile and make blog posts – it’s a sort of ‘tell your story’; a way of sharing memories,” says Wilson. “You can also follow other people.” It will soon be possible for subscribers to post comments on existing entries, and to add their own locations – a neap-tide reef anchorage, perhaps, or a place to land on a deserted islet.

An easy link on screen allows you to purchase the relevant pilot guide – Imray doesn’t want Explore with Imray to cannibalise book sales. For instance, you’ll need the paper version for the introductory information contained in each chapter. And there is not yet tidal data available via the app. Plus, the system currently requires a live internet connection to function.

“We’re thinking about the best way to provide offline capabilities next year – perhaps through the web app (Imray Navigator),” says Wilson. “It could be like Spotify and their albums. The subscription would give access to everything, but then you can download for offline use.”

Get it now from Imray

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Captain’s Mate

Coming from the other end of the spectrum is a newly relaunched version of the Cruising Association’s popular Captain’s Mate app. This used to be entirely based around club members’ reports and, while this element remains the mainstay, there is now a more businesslike introduction to every location detailing all the key factual data.

Just as with the Imray product, you navigate using the map. The system is smart enough not to try downloading every pin simultaneously, which used to lead to long rendering times.

When you select your location, you are presented with a page giving an overview of factual information, including approach notes. Click on the ‘info’ tab and you can see detail on the facilities available – something you can also specify as search criteria, allowing you to identify the nearest port with fuel or fresh water, for instance.

“We’ve sucked out all the factual information from the reports,” says CA general manager Lucy Gray. “It changes from location to location.”

There is not yet any tidal information available, and the detailed chartlets contained in the revered Cruising Almanac are also absent. “We’ve left a lot of doors open for the next revision,” says Gray. “Tides might be included later on, and we’re thinking of adding charts.”

But it is the reports that members value most, and the reports are the key to the app, which also works on smartphones, tablets and computers. They appear under a third tab, and allow you to scroll back through in date order, adding comments as you please. Of course, the CA wants members to leave their own reports too, and this is very easily done by clicking on the ‘add further report’ button.

All posts are moderated by a group of 44 editors, and software automatically checks that any uploaded photos are free of copyright. “The images we ask for are things that would help your approach or entry, layout of the marina and also things of local interest,” says Gray.

Coverage is as global as the adventurous members of the CA themselves. “There are 20,000 member contributions and 6,500 locations,” says Gray. “Some 77 countries are covered, although we’re trying to populate more places in the Caribbean and America.”

Another nice touch is the ability to see other members who are close at hand. As long as your own device is set to ‘share location’, a little CA burgee on the map is positioned to show fellow club members. As anyone who has ever sailed into an unknown anchorage and been heartened to spot a familiar burgee can attest, this is a popular feature.

The new app is designed to handle the much larger amount of data being generated by members. In its first year, 2015, Captain’s Mate saw 600 reports filed. But just a year later, that had mushroomed to 10,000 reports. “It was a victim of its own success,” says Gray. “It wasn’t able to cope. Now it’s more user-friendly, members will use it more than they have been.”

The app is free to use for CA members, who pay from £137 per year to be part of the club.

Get it now from the Apple App store
Get it now from the Google Play store

Noonsite

From Spitzbergen to South Georgia, Sierra Leone to Tasmania, Noonsite publishes reports from the farthest-flung cruising grounds in the world. Owned and maintained by the World Cruising Club, which organises the ARC rallies, this is a well-used tool for bluewater cruisers.

Editor Sue Richards tells me there are more than 2,700 reports online, and thousands more comments posted by users. The content can now be browsed using a map view.

This is your first stop for information on entry formalities, main ports, costs and bureaucracy. User comments are pinned to the bottom of each page, providing key updates, notices to mariners or advice about who offers the best service. Reports, on the other hand, tend to be narrative, relating the story of a cruise or an incident.

A new membership model will be launched next year, with costs running at $2 or $6 per month. Free access will be limited to three country views per month, but the real spur will be the offline content available to members.

“We know that many of our worldwide users rely on Noonsite as a trusted source of information about the countries and ports they visit,” says Jeremy Wyatt, WCC director. “Now, as part of our new premium features, users can download formatted Noonsite pages, just like a pilot book, to keep and use locally.”

Get it now from Noonsite

Navily

It may lack the global reach of Noonsite, but for advice about good local anchorages, the free-to-use Navily app is excellent. Coverage runs to 20,000 locations, mainly in Europe and the Caribbean, and comments provide advice on anchoring, walks, pubs and restaurants.

Navily is based around Google satellite mapping, providing custom location pins to denote anchorages, featured ports and marinas. There is a useful traffic light system assessing the quality of an anchorage, and users have uploaded thousands of photos.

A premium version costing €19.99 per year allows you to download regions for offline use. It also adds in 72-hour weather forecasts and distance measuring tools. The weather tool feeds into an algorithm which gives you a ‘protection score’ out of 100 for any chosen anchorage.

Get it now from the Apple App store
Get it now from the Google Play store

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There has been a huge surge in the sales of performance multihulls and with them a need to know how to handle them particularly when it comes to specific multihull techniques. The market for these boats is broadening; multihull cruisers are upgrading, monohull sailors are upsizing, and even virgin boat owners are tempted.

Over the last 12 months, while coaching for Outremer, I’ve met hundreds of these owners, everyone from young families to retired couples moving aboard a new catamaran and setting sail on a circumnavigation. Handling a performance catamaran is achievable even for a novice multihull sailor. But there is a big difference between just ‘getting by’ on such a boat versus sailing efficiently, safely and in style.

The transition for even experienced sailors can be quite a step up. For a seasoned monohull sailor, the differences are obvious: increased volume and speed, and a lack of heel. Even for an existing multihull sailor, the handling and performance is noticeably less forgiving and requires a shift in focus and technique.

This winter, I set sail on a transatlantic with the new owners of an Outremer 55. They have previously owned another less performance-orientated catamaran but invited me on board to coach them to fine tune the boat, assist with routing, and help them take best advantage of all the performance their new yacht offers. Here are a few of the topics we focussed on:

sailing at higher speeds will change everything from manoeuvre techniques to weather routing. Photo: Robin Christol/Outremer

Speed

Most non-planing monohulls will do approximately the same speed on all points of sail. However, a performance multihull might sail at twice, three, even four times its upwind speed on a reach.

For example, the factory polars of an Outremer 55 give its average speed in 20 knots of wind with a true wind angle (TWA) of 50° at 8.5 knots, but in the same windspeed with a TWA of 110° it’s 19.1 knots. That’s more than twice as fast. How do you make the most of this speed advantage? And how do you best manage it?

In a monohull it often pays to slog it out for days sailing the best course to windward as this normally gives the best velocity made good (VMG). A dead downwind rhumbline route is the usual strategy for longer ocean passages, rather than sailing more miles and wider angles.However, on a performance multihull it is important to prioritise reaching when route planning.

aboard high performance catamarans, such as this TS42, you can race competitively in offshore events. Photo: Jacques Vapillon/Sea&Co

In upwind conditions on a long crossing, consider whether bearing off by even as much as 20° will result in a better VMG, even if it feels counterintuitive. In light winds bearing off to 70° or 80° TWA can be the difference between a totally stalled boat and 5 knots of boat speed.

Faster speeds open up the possibility of keeping up with pressure systems as they move around the globe. For example, if crossing the North Atlantic eastwards, ideally you’d leave the US in clear weather with a depression forecast to leave the American coast a few days later.

You could use its predicted track to decide how much north or south to add to your easterly heading, to ensure that as it catches up with you, you are sufficiently south enough of it to pick up its strong westerlies.
As they approach, you will accelerate, and if you can hold the speed you can use that downwind airflow to push you most of the way across the pond.

Handling at speed

Controlling and handling the boat at these higher speeds requires a change in strategy. Increased speeds and acceleration mean that the apparent wind angle and apparent wind speed change much more frequently.
So you need adaptable and flexible trimming and driving solutions.

Use twist to balance power and control. Photo: Robin Christol/Outremer

Downwind the boat should be carving S-curves through the water to ensure it achieves the best VMG possible. If you can get this right you will attain the momentous double figure average speeds that a performance multihull offers, while also going the right direction! Instead of allowing the speed to plummet at the end of each surf, as the bow sinks into the bottom of the wave, a performance multihull can just keep on going.

How to maintain speed:

1 Sail at higher angles to build up apparent wind speed (AWS) and boat speed.

2 Soak downwind as the apparent wind angle (AWA) surges forward with the acceleration.

3 Drive the boat back slowly upwind in time to maintain the average speed and continue the surf.

In an ideal world, to achieve this the boat would be hand-steered. But realistically, no cruisers want to be on deck for two weeks straight on a transatlantic crossing. Your best compromise is to invest in a top quality, well set up autopilot, as well as good wind instruments.

Set the autopilot to sail to apparent wind angle and watch how the boat slaloms through the ocean. The quality of the autopilot will really start to show its value when the sea state starts to increase. The best ones improve over time as they collect data and learn the wave patterns. If you aren’t sure exactly which AWA is ideal, choose a day that has very consistent wind and sail in open water. Set the autopilot AWA to 90° and then systematically increase the setting by increments of 5° at fixed time intervals until you get as low as you can before the foresail is shadowed behind the main. Measure the VMG by comparing the distance travelled at each of the different wind angles, and the average A to B course over ground (COG) achieved. This will give you a good starting point, and then it will shift further depending on sea states and wind strengths.

Sail setting

Another solution if you want fast speeds but don’t want to actively sail the boat to within an inch of its life is to use twist. Twist is a compromise between having a hardened sail that stalls when the wind goes aft, or a very eased sail that luffs when it goes forward. The more changeable the conditions, the more extreme the acceleration increases are, or the rougher the sea state is, the more twist you need.

Cats have the space and stability to hoist and douse, so keep weight low by dropping flying sails when not in use. Photo: Christophe Launay

Mainsail

The wide beam of a multihull allows for a long traveller, so most won’t have a vang. Sheet tension and traveller position are your primary controls to create twist in the mainsail. Begin by finding a full power setting in the main.

Set your autopilot to 35-40°AWA; most performance multis should make this upwind. Set your traveller at midships and over-ease your mainsheet so that the sail is luffing. Gradually tighten your mainsheet until the top telltale just flies. Manual winching offers better control here than electric.

Pull your traveller to windward until the boom runs down the centreline. The top telltale of the mainsail will now be flying about three-quarters of the time. If it is closer to 50% you may need to tighten the mainsheet further and then ease the traveller until you have achieved this (or vice versa). This is your full power sail shape, and your default car position upwind.

At this point some people like to mark the mainsheet (this doesn’t work with a continuous mainsheet). To begin with, just take note of the traveller position. If the conditions require more twist, ease the mainsheet, and pull the traveller to windward to keep the boom in the same position relative to the boat. You could keep a note of three traveller positions for each point of sail: full power, mid power, low power.

As the wind moves aft, you can add other ‘go-to’ traveller positions for different wind angles by easing the traveller down to leeward while keeping the mainsail shape set to ‘full-power’ mode. Once the wind goes aft of the beam, your traveller will be all the way down to leeward. Keep an eye on spreader chafe at this point.

Jib

Once you are happy with mainsail trim, you can trim the jib in a similar way, using car position and the sheet tension. Bring sheet tension in so that the leech shape looks very similar to the main: flat with a slight curve at the top. Then adjust the cars (if you can) so that the sail is not luffing, and the top telltales are also flying 50-75% of the time. Finally, walk forward to the forestay and view the slot between the sails. Do they look roughly parallel? If not, you may need to open up the slot a touch by moving the car outboard. This is your default jib car position for that point of sail.

Sailing the angles with an asymmetric. Photo: Kinetic Catamarans

When conditions increase, don’t forget to add twist to the jib too. Initially just ease a touch of sheet. Be careful moving the car too far inboard or you might close the slot. Moving the sheet attachment closer to the foot of the clew will open up the leech and create more twist.

Think of twist as the middle ground between sailing fully powered and reefing. Multihulls are much less communicative than monohulls. You do not have the obvious signs that the boat is overpowered, like a submersed toe rail or rounding up as the boat heels.

In time you’ll get to know your catamaran and build a connection to read how aggressively the boat is accelerating, its fore-aft pitching, sounds, and rhythm. But at first it’s useful to have some number guides and wind parameters of when to add twist and ultimately when to reef.

Generally a performance cat will require a reef much earlier because it’s lighter. I’d usually put in one reef at 20-25 knots, two at 25-30 and three reefs for 30-35 knots.

Comfort

On our transatlantic crossing on the Outremer 55, contrary to my advice on the advantages of sailing angles downwind, we chose instead to sail dead downwind with the symmetric spinnaker up for the entire passage.

taking it easy dead downwind under symmetric Photo: Nikki Henderson

There are costs to taking full advantage of the speed of a performance catamaran. Averaging 15 knots boat speed is not everyone’s idea of comfortable. The hulls are so stiff that every wave that hits the hull sounds like the beating of a drum. The humming of carbon rigging, the swooshing of water screaming past the topsides, the slapping of the waves, the wind: it’s incredibly loud even when averaging 10 knots, let alone 15 or 20.

Performance multihulls are also so lightweight that they are really thrown about in a substantial sea state. Our decision to sail dead downwind rather than heating up and taking full advantage of the performance came down to the following reasons:

1. Lack of adequate autopilot We had one, but it wasn’t able to react quickly enough to the acceleration and resulting rapid change of wind angle that broad reaching would have created. It also struggled in a big seaway, so sailing with the waves square on to the stern was easier to cope with.

2. Sails We did not have a heavyweight asymmetric sail, which is what you need to sail these downwind angles (both our reaching sails were light weight).

3. Safety Akaroa II is hull No2 of a new design by Outremer. This was the first transatlantic crossing that this particular model of boat had ever done, so we were a testing ground and deliberately cautious.

Despite our conservative approach we still achieved 90% of the factory polars averaging 9.6 knots in sustained winds of 20 knots across the entire 2,700-mile route.

The trip took 11 days and 17 hours. The beauty of a performance multihull is that even if you don’t push it, you still manage brilliant speeds in the right conditions.

We calculated how much faster we would have gone, had we sailed the angles instead of running downwind. This assumes we would achieve the same 90% polars. TWA 140° appears to be the sweet spot.

Getting the main down when reefing can be problematic – rig up downhaul lines to help grind it down if needed. Photo: Nikki Henderson

Loads

Without any power being dispelled by heeling, performance multihulls will convert additional power into acceleration. With this increased speed comes increased loads on the lines, blocks, rudders, sail cloth and rigging. Winches are upsized. Jammers are used instead of clutches. Halyards are 2:1. You may be sailing on a 50-footer, but the loads are akin to a 70-80ft bluewater monohull.

A future owner recently reminded me of this, when he opened the main traveller jammer while holding the line with only one wrap on the winch. The lack of skin on his hand was gruesome evidence of how surprising the loads can be when a multihull is really powered up.

Interestingly, comparing a standard cruising multihull with a similar sized performance multihull, the opposite is true. A boat that weighs less needs less sail area to power it. For example, a Lagoon 450 has a sail area (main and jib) of 130m2 compared to an Outremer 45 (actually 48ft LOA) at 104m2. So, for the same apparent wind speed, there will be less load on the gear.

Watch out when sailing downwind. Due to a performance multihull’s ability to accelerate and hold high speeds downwind, it is easy to hold significantly more sail area in higher true wind speeds as the apparent stays low. However, if you do hit the bottom of a wave and stop dead in the water, the sail, rigging and lines will feel the full force of that wind.

Another reason to reef earlier than you think on a performance multi is that with swept back shrouds (needed to support the mast without a backstay) and a fully battened mainsail, even with the halyard eased downwind the sail may still not come down. You should be sailing with the minimum amount of sail cloth up to achieve the polars.

Reducing sail

1. Rig up downhaul lines from each reefing point on the luff to help grind down the sail. Keep an eye on chafe on the leeward side on each of the batten pockets.

2. Use the rotating mast to open the sail to the wind more.

3. If that isn’t enough, come upwind to help get the sail down.

Multihull trim

Switching to a performance catamaran may bring new trimming options: daggerboards, a rotating mast, and fully battened square topped mainsail.

Brush up on your fundamentals of sail trim so that you have a solid foundation to build on. When you first start sailing the boat, to avoid getting overwhelmed (which tends to result in people under-sailing their boat), begin by finding a base setting for all points of sail. Forget the rotating rig for now, but find enough twist in the sails that gives you enough height without too much power. Set the daggerboards as you would on a dinghy: down for upwind, up for downwind, mid-way for a reach. Then you fine tune.

Set performance cat daggerboards as you would for a dinghy at first: down for upwind, up for downwind, mid-way for a reach. Photo: Nikki Henderson

When adjusting daggerboards, make sure you have your GPS track switched on. See if dropping a little more daggerboard helps with the COG upwind. Downwind, if you feel like you are on an ice-skating rink, try dropping a little board for better grip. If on autopilot, take note of the rudder angle. If it’s taking the helm from full starboard to full port then it might need some more grip, if not then a reef.

Be cautious of the risk of ‘tripping up’ in big seaways. In sea states much over 3-4m, it’s safest to lift the daggerboards and allow the boat to glide over the waves rather than risk one of the boards digging into a wave and destabilising the boat. While exceptionally unlikely to happen, if a daggerboard digs in, the worst case scenario would be a capsize. If you see any slick in the water that suggests the boat is sliding sideways over a wave, or an increase in heel, or significant water over the deck – these are signs that it’s time to lift the boards all the way up.

Finally, play with the rotating mast. At a basic level, try to get the mast in line with the foremost sail position and curve. The easiest way to see this is actually to stand forward of the mast and look down the line of the sail. It is in itself a foil and when in the right position can add the equivalent of as much as 10% more sail area. In the same way, you can use it to depower by reducing the angle.

With a rotating mast you’ll generally be trying to get it in line with the foremost sail position and curve. Photo: Nikki Henderson

When fine tuning sail trim I’d recommend marking all your tracks and angles of mast rotation, and once you are confident you could mark the sheets and halyards themselves. This is an exercise for the detail-orientated and it pays to be specific. Keep a notebook at the helm station to record your learnings, and over time build up not just ideal trim settings for wind and waves, but also polars.

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Weight

Learning a performance catamaran’s sensitivity to weight can be a real learning curve. Compared to cruising catamarans, performance cats tend to be half the weight (or even less). Meanwhile, compared to a monohull the main difference is in the areas where the weight is most concentrated. A monohull’s weight is predominantly in its keel. Almost the entire weight of the boat is concentrated in around 15% of the boat’s length. Conversely, a multihull has no keel, so without that pendulum effect its centre of gravity is higher and less stable. On a multihull the weight is distributed along almost 90% of its length.

In practice, this means that what you carry, both below and above decks, has a big impact on the boat’s performance and safety. The first step is to become minimalists. Summon your inner Marie Kondo and ask yourself “Does this bring me joy? Does this keep me safe?” of every single item that moves from dock to boat. If it doesn’t – don’t take it.

Performance cats are weight sensitive so streamline your possessions onboard. Photo: Carl Newton

Step two is to arrange your belongings evenly around the boat. Ensure you don’t list the boat to port or starboard. Try to keep weight amidships and ideally low down. Avoid loading up the bow lazarettes or aft areas with too much weight.

When sailing, don’t forget that the worst kind place for weight is aloft. Without the keel, you significantly reduce the stability of the boat by having a furled Code 0 (for example) hanging around up the rig. It’s inconvenient to drop it every time, but it’s worth it.

Safety

Higher speeds, bigger loads, a lighter boat and higher centre of gravity don’t sound like the safest characteristics, and they aren’t if poorly managed. But you can also use them to your advantage. Being able to sail faster means you sometimes have an option to run away from bad weather.

But there are other safety drills that are worth thinking about ahead of time. What is your MOB recovery plan? With cats’ high freeboard, some owners plan to reverse up to the casualty and pick them up from the steps at the back. But how many have practiced that? Will it involve dropping the mainsail? Could the props injure the casualty? How does the back of the boat behave in a significant sea state? I’d recommend practising this until you have a plan that works for you on your boat with the equipment you have. The same should be said for plans to evacuate the boat, or deal with a fire on board.

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It’s no secret that if you want to buy a new yacht the wait is now likely to be two years or more. But what if you don’t want to take on a refit and want to get on the water quickly? There is no simple answer, but casting the net wider, and working closely with brokers that know what you are looking for, are both crucial if you want to find a ready to sail yacht.

Like most brokerage businesses, Ancasta had an unusual 2021. Roger Bailey heads up their Sotogrande office. “We sold boats like never before, which was great, but it is now harder than ever to match clients with what they want. Under the £200,000 mark there’s not much that’s of good quality and ready to go.”

In highest demand are second hand yachts suited to living aboard and bluewater cruising and, despite the relatively high entry price, multihull demand is particularly strong.

“Clients now land here in Spain on a mission to do a deal, rather than speculate about something they might want to buy. The market remains very active, but faster moving transactions tend to be much less protracted. It is worth outlining to us what your position is and what you are looking for early, even if you don’t see a listing that’s suitable,” explains Bailey.

A rare species

Yachts returning to the market after less than a year of use might draw suspicion. However, more than often it is simply due to an owner’s change of circumstances and happens quite a lot, particularly with yachts of a higher value.

Modern cruising catamarans, such as this Nautitech have become hard to find on the used market. Photo: Ancasta

At the time of going to press Roger Bailey’s office has a Nautitech 46 Fly listed. Less than a year old, used by one owner and in turnkey condition: it’s a rare multihull prospect in today’s rapidly moving market. “With new build Nautitech waiting lists well over two years, possibly three, this is a unique opportunity for someone that wants to buy a catamaran already positioned in the Mediterranean. In fact, the starboard cabins on this 46 have never been used! It is also the owners hull version, making it ideal for living aboard comfortably without compromise,” he says.

“At present it is set up for Mediterranean cruising, but a long-term cruiser could easily add a watermaker and possibly air conditioning if they wanted.”

The 46 Fly is likely to sell for close to the new price and comes with many of the benefits of a new yacht, including the factory warranty from Nautitech.

Closer to home

Rupert Knox-Johnston, senior broker at Oyster, has seen how demand for yachts based on lifestyle changes has driven sales at a high price point, with many first-time buyers coming to the market even in this sector.

“Due to how most Oysters are used for bluewater sailing, maintenance standards are generally kept very high, many [yachts] we list on behalf of owners are ready to go on another big adventure straight away.

“Though there is a significant gap between new build Oyster prices and used, we have seen buyers at every size of yacht in the used market recently. We sold one Oyster 82 sight unseen recently, something I have not seen before with such a large yacht. Where a good yacht isn’t selling, it tends to be because it is hard to view or to survey, generally due to travel restrictions. However, yachts we sell do sometimes end up back in the UK for listing.”

Rupert currently has a rare 2015 Oyster 545 listed located on the east coast of the UK for £849,000 (ex VAT). Lightly used by bluewater standards and capable of fast passagemaking, it too has a price reflecting market demand, but has recently been reduced.

“The 545 is based on the successful 54 hull, but with an updated look and more modern systems. She’s an ideal yacht for a couple to double-hand or a family, with electric reefing systems. Her current owners undertook two Atlantic crossings and cruised the US east coast and Caribbean. She’s ready to go again and has been beautifully maintained,” explains Rupert.

A global perspective

For some models of yachts that are built in limited numbers, their scarcity can quickly turn the search global. While Australia and New Zealand remain particularly cautious about admitting visitors, they are also locations where yachts often end up at the end of a tradewind adventure. With the passage back to Europe adding serious wear and tear, or the alternative being the additional cost of shipping, many owners choose instead to fly home, listing their yachts for sale in Sydney or Auckland.

Sydney is a major port, making shipping to Europe relatively easy. Photo: Matt Cumming/Nautor’s Swan

This means that yacht buyers in Europe can broaden their search to the other side of the world but will have to bear the cost of shipping back to Europe – something that could still be worth it to get the right yacht.

With some yacht builders bringing new designs out quite regularly, demonstrator yachts are often not needed for very long and are kept in perfect order. Usually heavily specified on the options list, and with neutral design choices, they can make a great shortcut to a new yacht that hasn’t been heavily altered for a specific owner.

UK Nautor’s Swan dealer and service centre, Vortec Marine, currently has a new 2020 Swan 48 demonstrator with factory warranty available for £1,063,710 (ex VAT). The only catch? It’s located in Australia.

“The new model Swan 48 has been hugely popular since launch and this is one that’s basically unused. You could go sailing in the southern hemisphere straight away or, alternatively, have her shipped back to Europe. Either way it is likely to be the quickest way to get hold of a 48 in the current market,” explains Vortec’s managing director, Ross Collingwood.

Shipping companies like Australia-based Taurus Logistics estimate shipping from New Zealand and Australia to Europe take around 50 days, though it’s worth noting that shipping delivery dates are rarely guaranteed and can take much longer.

Roger Bailey of Ancasta points out that the brokerage market is now much more set up for ‘remote’ viewings: “Brokers are now used to showing boats virtually, providing a lot more images and generally making it easier to view from another country. With travel restrictions changing all the time it is well worth arranging virtual viewings of a yacht you are serious about before flying out yourself.

Joroen Slot and his family previously owned a Lagoon 450 in Hong Kong, they are now cruising the Mediterranean full-time. Photo: Joroen Slot

We bought our yacht unseen

Joroen Slot purchased a Forgus 52 pilothouse in Sweden while still living in Hong Kong. Formerly a pilot for Dragonair, he decided to sell up and sail away with his young family when he was made redundant as the pandemic took hold. “We had lived on our Lagoon 450 in Hong Kong for over a year at one point, but that boat was on finance while I was working.

“To cruise long term, we were looking for something strong and safe that was also good value. I was heavily influenced in my criteria by reading John Kretschmer. The Lagoon was £400,000, this was £150,000, the difference is that we are now sailing full time and I feel very safe in the Forgus offshore. The Lagoon we only used when we had spare time at weekends.”

The Forgus 52 was found in Sweden. Photo: Joroen Slot

Slot engaged a surveyor in Sweden that was recommended by the brokerage to undertake a survey.

“Perhaps there is an obvious conflict of interest there, but we still did it. The survey found some of the things wrong with the boat, but not all of them, some I was surprised he didn’t pick up. The main thing he found was moisture in the front of the hull, so we knew about that from the beginning.

“One of the things that I think made this boat available was that it’s a quirky pilothouse design, only three of them were built, but the Swedish build quality is excellent.
“With hindsight I would have liked to have viewed the boat before buying, but ultimately, we’re now sailing full-time and that was what we aimed to do.”

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The latest generation of autopilots require less manual input to perform well but, besides selecting the correct mode (read Pip Hare‘s piece on how to make the most of your autopilot), there are other ways to go about tuning an autopilot for optimum comfort and speed.

Manufacturers have rolled the basic adjustments into ‘umbrella settings’ to allow ‘one touch’ tuning – some pilots (such as the H5000 from B&G) are even able to change settings automatically if the boat is struggling to hold its course.

However, many of us will still be sailing boats with older systems and even the best autopilots sometimes require a bit of human intervention.

Although the individual settings may be hidden on new pilots they can generally be found and adjusted in the deeper menus of a system so it is worth having a poke around and understanding what can still be manually changed.

Tuning an autopilot: response

The response level determines how often your pilot makes course corrections. Response should be a setting you change often, aiming for your pilot to use the minimum response level to keep a good course in any given conditions.

As the sea state or wind angle changes, just as a human being will modify their helming style, the autopilot response level will need to be changed.

A higher response setting should deliver tighter course-keeping but will require greater power consumption and can result in an uncomfortable ride for your crew so remember to adjust the performance down as well as up.

Finnish sailor Ari Huusela programs the B&G H5000 Hercules pilot aboard his IMOCA Stark

Gain

Gain is the function that controls the size of each rudder movement. This is a setting that may not be found on more modern pilots as manufacturers tend to incorporate the gain into the umbrella response settings so they both change together.

If working with a pilot that still has a separate gain then use it to tune the aggression of the rudder movements. I’d recommend lower gain and higher response for sailing upwind (small but frequent movements of the helm) with higher gain and lower response sailing downwind (large movements of the helm but fewer of them). Big wind and big seas reaching or downwind will require high gain and response.

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Don’t forget to check sail trim if you are needing to boost either response or gain, especially when reaching or sailing upwind. Take the helm and feel the balance of the boat – it may be that you need to take in a reef or ease the vang rather than adjust the pilot settings.

Counter rudder

Counter rudder is the setting that determines how much opposite rudder is applied to slow down the rate of turn as your pilot returns to its set course.

In everyday conditions with modern pilots, counter rudder is not a setting that will need to be trimmed and it will be incorporated into an ‘umbrella’ response setting as with gain. However, there are conditions when the ‘factory’ counter rudder settings will not work and you may need to manually adjust.

Increase your counter rudder settings if the pilot is weaving across your rhumbline. This can often be required in cross seas or big swell downwind. If you do manually adjust counter rudder, don’t forget to drop it back down again as conditions diminish: if your pilot is making short, jerky course alterations the counter rudder is probably too high.

Wind response

The wind response is a bit like rudder response. It’s used when the pilot is steering in wind mode and determines how tightly the pilot will keep to any given wind angle.

Fabrice Amadeo takes a break while the autopilot drives his IMOCA Art & Fenetres

Sailing upwind with a well-balanced sail plan, your wind response could be set quite low; downwind sailing under spinnaker may require a higher response rate. If conditions become shifty you may also need to increase your wind response. Remember the higher the response the more uncomfortable the ride and the more power you will use.

When trimming your pilot for wind response you must also consider your sail trim – the two things are intrinsically linked. If the pilot is struggling to hold a particular wind angle then don’t go straight for an increase in response.

Take the helm first and feel the amount of weather or lee helm on your rudder. If conditions are gusty or shifty sailing upwind try increasing the twist in your sails, move the jib cars back and the mainsail traveller up and ease sheets a little. This will allow the boat to carry on driving through a great range of wind angles so the pilot will not need to be as ‘snappy’.

You may see a little luffing at the front of each sail when you are pointing at your highest but so long as the back of each sail is still driving the boat will keep powering forwards. This mode of sailing will be a little slower overall but it will be more comfortable and the pilot will require less energy, so think about what your overall objectives are. If you are not racing then comfort and power consumption may be more important.

Wind damping

This is a setting that can be found on older pilots and will help achieve better results in gusty conditions. Whereas wind response dictates how closely the autopilot will keep to a given wind angle, wind damping controls the amount of data that is being fed into the autopilot computer; increasing the wind damping will reduce the flow of data. This can be a particularly useful tool in sea states with a short wave length, or light airs with residual swell.

If the mast head is moving around a lot, the wind instruments will be registering greater variations caused by the movement of the boat and not necessarily changes in the wind so damping down the data flow can help.

Of course, the other option for these conditions is to switch to compass mode.

Conveniently mounted cockpit pilot controls

Gust response

Not all pilots have gust response – or surf response/surf mode – options, but if yours does then I would 100% recommend you get to know it and use it. These settings can be activated when the boat is steering in wind mode and will enable the pilot to react automatically to changes in the apparent wind caused by gusts or large increase or decrease in boat speed.

Gust and surf modes are used downwind and allow a boat that is steering to a true wind angle to bear away as the apparent wind comes forward in a gust or a surf and then head back up again as the apparent wind goes back aft. Most often these settings will need to be enabled, and then can be tuned to determine how aggressive the response will be. This will be an extra layer of response over and above wind response, so if gust/surf response is required, I’d expect a pilot to be already steering to a higher wind response setting.

Once this mode is enabled you can choose how aggressively the pilot responds to each change. Some pilots’ gust modes can be set to activate automatically if steering in wind mode between two prescribed wind angles.

Trim your pilot

This is far from an exhaustive guide to pilot controls but hopefully should provide a good grounding for some of the base settings. The pilots I use when racing solo offshore are now capable of incredible levels of response to a huge range of data inputs.

Whatever your pilot set up there is no getting away from the fact that the more you know about it the better it will perform.

Every boat is different, and every time you go sailing the conditions, sail trim and sea state will require a slightly different style of course keeping.

An evening spent with your nose in the long form manual, working your way through all of the menus on your control head will pay dividends in battery management, comfort and speed on any longer passages.

While passagemaking, take notes of what works and build your own pilot trimming guide to reflect changing conditions so everyone on board can make the most of this incredible, uncomplaining crewmember.

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Yachting World is the world’s leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.

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