“The moon is waxing and rising later now, so there are magnificent star-spotting opportunities,” the crew of Adina blogged. “The Plough, Orion’s Belt and Venus have been joined by the Crux, Mitaxa and Hyades.”

“The sky at night is epic,” reported another crew from the ARC rally. “We saw shooting stars and a meteorite that streaked orange across the sky one night last week.”

Seeing a night sky teeming with stars, or the moon lighting your path across the sea, are some of the most unforgettable sights of ocean sailing. Like landing a pelagic fish, enjoying a sundowner at dusk, or encountering your first tradewinds squall, these are timeless experiences that come with every Atlantic crossing.

How people sail their boats and live on board does change, however, and the 2023 ARC transatlantic rally was a year in which some significant technological and social trends converged. The expression I kept hearing from crews and organisers alike was ‘a gamechanger’.

Bigger boats, younger crews, much better batteries and more power, revolutionary communications – all have come together in a step change for the ARC rally, just as the organiser company itself (World Cruising Club) has changed hands and looks to the future.

Sailing under moonlight remains a timeless attraction of ocean cruising. Photo: SY Sea Drop/WCC

The ARC rallies continue to grow, with numbers split between the main event direct from Las Palmas to Saint Lucia and the slightly earlier ARC+ to Grenada via the Cape Verde Islands. Although record numbers in the ARC have been higher than the 2023 event’s 152 starters, there are many more catamarans, which occupy more marina space. That’s a trend that doesn’t look like changing and will continue to be felt globally in marina capacity.

While the ARC+ rally, with 95 starters this year, increases every year the facilities in Mindelo in the Cape Verdes also continue to develop. It tends to be the rally of choice for family crews with children and people with more time to explore, and is already almost full in advance for 2024.

The Cape Verde route takes boats down towards more established tradewinds, while the original ARC route can see quite varied conditions and present some interesting routing decisions.

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Variable Atlantic crossing

The first yacht to finish the 2023 ARC in December was Italian sailor Marco Rodolfi’s Swan 90 Berenice Cube. Packed with world class racers, she crossed the finish line in 12 days, 13 hours, having followed a longer, southerly route. It was Rodolfi’s second win; he also took line hours in 2010 in his previous Swan 80. While conditions were lighter this year than back then, the bigger and more powerful boat, more efficient sails and better technology probably all played their part in a crossing time that was two days faster.

Overall, passage times weren’t fast and motoring hours high. A couple of impatient crews clocked up over 180 hours, motoring for almost half their crossing. Most crews completed the crossing between 14 and 22 days.

The most significant change across the fleet this year was the arrival of Starlink. Elon Musk’s low earth orbiting satcom system has landed in sailing in a major way; perhaps as many as 25-30% of the ARC yachts had it on board. The hardware is inexpensive and easily installed, the system is plug and play (immediately if on 240V), and crews told me it produced solid broadband connections and speeds right across the Atlantic.

Paul and Suzana Tetlow run World Cruising Club. Photo: James Mitchell/WCC

There are cons as well as pros to being so connected to shore but the advantages greatly outweigh them. Starlink, and the competitors racing to catch up, such as Amazon’s Project Kuiper and China’s Geespace, is a historically significant leap, posits Paul Tetlow, the new managing director of organisers World Cruising Club.

“The way I see it, if we look at ocean crossing and the technology that changed it, this is like the availability of GPS or electronic charting. It’s a step change in overall equipment and how people live life on board and what their expectations are,” he comments.

This year Starlink allowed the organisers to set up a WhatsApp group for the fleet to share information and photos, a modern version of the position reporting and social role that its SSB radio net previously played. On board boats, it has immediately transformed the ways crews are living and operating.

Fiore, a Garcia Exploration 60, rendezvous with the X46 Ipanema mid-Atlantic on day 13 of the ARC. Photo:Harmen Geerts/SY Fiore

Digital nomads

Jérémie Dubois-Lacoste and his partner, Deanna, set off from La Rochelle in their new build Amel 60 Entropie in June. The couple are self-confessed digital nomads. Deanna is from Canada but was working in Copenhagen when they met. Jérémie is from France but lives in Thailand. They both work in software and IT industries and own their own companies; Deanna in the shipping industry and Jérémie is a specialist in bitcoin and blockchain. They both continue to work on board, although Jérémie says they have “taken a step back from full-time”.

“Sailing is quite new to us; I have been sailing for a year-and-a-half,” he says. “I had a smaller 36ft boat, pretty old and did some coastal sailing but with Deanna we wanted to do something radically different. Sailing is a means to move around.”

They planned to sail Entropie in the Mediterranean, but soon decided to sail across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. “It is a leap, but we felt that staying in the Med didn’t do justice to this boat and an ARC would fully exploit the Amel 60. At first, it was quite a lesson in humility, a responsibility to take care of – the maintenance and admin was very heavy – but we took things step by step with hops down the coast of France and Portugal and by the time we reached Las Palmas we were confident we knew the boat.”

Starlink allows streaming of movies and just about every other benefit of internet connectivity. Photo: David Dias/SV Nuvem Magica/WCC

The couple are part of the Young Cruisers’ Association collective, a digital group formed online and on Instagram linking sailing couples and families. (The qualification for being ‘young’ is any age prior to retirement.) The YCA’s luscious photos of beautiful people living their best life at sea have attracted a new and enthusiastic generation to sailing, such as Jérémie and Deanna.

The couple made the crossing with three friends, finishing in 11 days and 19 hours. After weak and unstable winds in the first week, they entered the Trades and found the sailing “very, very easy. It was much less daunting than I was expecting, with 15-17 knots and a few squalls in the last 48 hours. We sailed with a poled-out genoa and mainsail at night.

“Sailing into the sunset was magnificent. We had wonderful night skies with the moon going from half to full. We had dolphins a few times, we saw birds every day and we caught two wahoo and two mahi mahi,” he says.

Starlink was a huge boon. “We got it three days before we left and I installed it myself,” says Jérémie. “We already had KVH VSAT but the bandwidth was more limited and we had only 1GB a month. Starlink gives us fast 200mbps speeds and we paid €1,100 to have 1TB a month.

Latest generation Starlink satellite dish weighs less than 3kg and is easily mountable on a boat. Photo: J Ramsden/Sofa So Good

“It’s so radically different. I worked all the time; I kept myself updated in business and could take part in important discussions. We could join Amel forum discussions, send photos, video call family as much as we wanted, stream movies and listen to podcasts. We live as we usually do at home, and it’s worth it.

“I would not want to do without it if we had a medical problem, or a technical failure, because you can video call and send photos.”

“I think everyone had mixed feelings about it. It is nice to be connected to family and chat by WhatsApp to other boats but it’s difficult to resist checking your phone and I instituted some policies. We had two hours of internet in the morning and two in the evening. It was nice to switch off, and I would do the same again,” says Jérémie.

Jérémie Dubois-Lacoste and his partner Deanna originally planned to live and work on board in the Mediterranean, but soon decided to stretch the legs of their Amel 60 Entropie by sailing across the Atlantic. Photo: Photos: Entropie

Home from home

John Ramsden has sailed all his life. He is a former Navy submariner and his father was once chairman of the Royal Yachting Association so his background is steeped in yachting and seafaring. He and his wife, Sharon Ee, have owned their Elan Impression 434 Sofa So Good since 2005.

The couple bought their boat in Singapore and moved it to the UK in 2009. After John’s parents and sister died, “We said ‘Why don’t we sail back to Singapore?’ So we have done ARC Portugal, we are doing the ARC and we’ll do half of the World ARC to end up in Lombok.”

Despite all their experience and familiarity with their boat, they asked consultant Will Spence of White Dot Sailing in Hamble to help with their preparations, “to do an inspection, and rip to bits and compare the lists I had,” explains John. “We spent 18 months preparing before we set off.”

Capturing the motion aboard the Beneteau First 435 Algol mid-Atlantic. Photo: Tom-Oliver Hedvall/WCC

They bought a new mainsail, new genoa and ultralight Code 5 and Hydrovane self-steering gear. Power generation comes from a variety of sources: a Watt & Sea hydrogenerator; a wind generator; a small WhisperPower Piccolo genset, and some solar panels. “We have spread our bets,” he says. They also switched to LifePO4 lithium batteries, took the gas stove off the boat and converted to an all-electric hob and oven.

The power system has changed the way they cook on board. At sea, they make “nearly everything”, in an electric Instant Pot, either sautéing, using it as a pressure cooker, slow cooker or steamer. You can’t grill or brown but you can do everything else. We even make yoghurt and cakes in it,” Sharon says.

Connectivity

The couple fitted Starlink before the ARC – they saw a €299 special offer for the ‘residential’ system and snapped it up (the residential version is 50W whereas the dedicated marine system is 100W). “I plugged in the router, plugged in the 240V power cable and it worked in less than five minutes,” John says. “I don’t need to change that as I have a 3.5kW inverter and I put it on for just a few hours a day.” He recommends the Facebook page ‘Starlink on Boats’ for more information.

“Other boats were very jealous. We got full weather data, emails, WhatsApp messages, we were chatting to other competitors, and we had the confidence it would work. It’s a new world, a revolution. I think in two or three years’ time broadband at sea will be a requirement [of sailing events].”

Real-time navigation lessons for the family crew aboard Nautitech 44 June. Photo: SV June

But, like Jérémie Dubois-Lacoste, Ramsden feels that always-on connectivity poses conundrums for skippers.

“It is all new and there are so many discussions on the dock. There are scenarios where you might not want onboard comms, news you might not want to get from shore. There are dilemmas and, as a skipper, you need to be more conservative, as you may have crew who might want to push the boat more than you, or whose mind is not on the job. But soon there will be phones that can talk directly to Starlink, so we aren’t going to be able to stop it.”

On the Atlantic crossing, Sofa So Good’s crew kept it simple, running downwind with the genoa poled out and a second genoa set on the same foil sheeted outboard to a block on the boom and aft to a turning block. The boom was set with a preventer. “Sometimes the breeze was too strong and we ran with one genoa only and even furled it to a Laser-sail size at one point when we had 30 knots across the deck,” he says, adding: “The Hydrovane was absolutely amazing and handles downwind very well.”

A preventer error

The power of large downwind headsails under dynamic load is easy to underestimate. Several boats had bow attachment points that were not up to the task. The stemhead fitting of two Hanse 505s were bent up, as was the bow plate on Sofa So Good. For John Worthington and his crew on Hanse 505 Mojo, however, their biggest problem was a broken boom.

Worthington had bought his boat in Italy in 2020 with a transatlantic crossing in mind and had spent over £60,000 on upgrading equipment, including a new North TradeWind dual purpose downwind twin sail/reacher. He was 10 days out of Las Palmas and sailing, as planned, with two headsails on the same furler when the bow fitting “peeled up”.

John Ramsden and Sharon Fe are sailing their Elan Impression 434 Sofa So Good from Europe to Singapore via the ARC Portugal, ARC and finally half a World ARC. Photo: Sofa So Good

The crew hoisted the mainsail and ran with that alone, but they rigged a preventer direct from the midpoint of the boom to the midships cleat and back to the cockpit, rather than in the advised way from the boom end to the bow and back. When the boat did an accidental gybe around 190 miles from Saint Lucia, the boom snapped in half. “It was hanging down at 90° and flogging, with lots of sharp bits of metal,” Worthington recalls.

He and his crew managed to lower the mainsail and wrestle the broken part of the boom down on deck, but not before it had punched a hole through the sprayhood.

The cost of a replacement boom (minus fittings but including packing and shipping from the US) was over $4,000. “It was an expensive mistake,” he admits.

For anyone planning to do the ARC, the organisers run a series of seminars during the year and prior to the start in Las Palmas, one of which includes how to deal with other major breakages such as rudder failure and dismasting, with details of jury rigs that have been successful over the years.

Night shift on Oyster 565 Larimar. Photo: Magnus Harjak

New leads

A generational change has come to the ARC itself in another way. In 2023, World Cruising changed hands as Andrew Bishop and his colleague Jeremy Wyatt sold the company to new owners Paul and Suzana Tetlow. The Tetlows have been involved in all the events and have run two World ARCs over the last decade.

They have their own vision for evolving the rallies. They recognise the effect the growth of multihulls is having, and the influx of millennial sailors influenced by online content.

“That’s very exciting for our events. It gives another dimension, and we can help people in that shorter journey to help with preparation,” Paul Tetlow says. He is looking at developing an event platform and building up cruising events online and in person with a virtual clubhouse. “We really want to build this up as a club.”

Andrew Pickersgill, the ARC event manager and longtime cruising sailor himself, also thinks this is a new era. “The effect of Covid was to make working anywhere in the world acceptable, and that has come together with the revolution of lithium batteries, which are much better than AGM, quicker to charge and store far more power.

Rich Chetwynd, Nicole Fougere and family are spending time in the Caribbean before deciding what to do next. Photo: Uno

“Solar is also moving on a lot and improving. Any of the catamarans here with ‘table tennis’ arrays are generating phenomenal amounts of power. Many boats can run everything all night and, if it’s sunny, be fully charged by 1100 the next morning.

“Hydro has come along too, and not just with Watt & Sea,” adds Pickersgill.

“Electric outboards are so much lighter, easy to charge and store, and you don’t need petrol. There are more multihulls, more younger people.”

Grand Soleil 34 Lady Eleonora. Photo: Leonardo Pazzaglia/WCC

Where the wind blows

Perhaps because they can increasingly easily work on board and stay in touch, and have moved into sailing as a lifestyle choice more than a lifelong dream, another growing trend evident is how many people’s plans are fluid, with cruisers happy to make it up as they go.

Rich Chetwynd and Nicole Fougere from New Zealand, sailing with their children Gisele (13) and Jacques (11) on their Fountaine Pajot Helia 44, Uno, decided not to go through the Panama Canal because water shortages there have made transit slots uncertain. Instead they are going “to slow down and spend the season in the Caribbean. Or we might lay up and go home, or even sell up. We have no fixed plan,” Rich explained.

Jérémie and Deanna on Entropie were similarly relaxed. “We’ll sail in the Caribbean until May or June, then go back to Europe, or we might stay here. Or maybe we will sell, or do six months on board and six months on land. We don’t know.”

Crews are living as they would at home: they are streaming movies, running Zoom and Teams video meetings at sea and part-time working, chilling with aircon and daily showers – twice a day on Entropie. They have galleys with induction hobs, coffee makers, waffle grills, wine chillers and ice cream makers. Amenities that were the preserve of the biggest yachts only a few years ago can be found on cruising boats of every size and age.

Sailing across the Atlantic is still an epic adventure but it is becoming an ever-less alien experience, and a more comforting existence.

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The post Advice on making an Atlantic crossing from people who have done it appeared first on Yachting World.

Over recent years there has been a big increase in the number of cruising catamarans making the transatlantic crossing. Of the 250 yachts crossing the Atlantic with the ARC and ARC+ this year, 60 (24%) were multihulls, and in some Caribbean anchorages monohulls are now the minority with private and charter catamarans dominating.

I’m fortunate in having raced and cruised multihulls on four transatlantics, along with half a dozen passage speed records on Playstation, the late Steve Fossett’s maxi cat. As a meteorologist and weather router I also help a number of catamarans which are cruising around the world.

Routing fundamentals

Weather routing is all about getting a boat from point A to point B in the optimum way. This is usually considered to be in the fastest possible time, but when considering a transatlantic or ocean passage I’ll often be asked for the most comfortable or safest route.

Looking at the ARC, the most direct route from the Canaries is a northerly route which – for around two out of every three years – will likely be faster than the traditional route of heading south towards the Cape Verde Islands, then west. This was not the case last year as a large wind hole covered the mid-Atlantic northerly route for the 2023 ARC. In a more usual year, some of the racing boats will take the northerly route while the more cruising oriented boats will head south.

The 2023 ARC fleet almost entirely followed the southerly route. With low pressure near the Azores drifting south-west, a southerly route across the Atlantic was the only real option

There are a number of reasons for this; averages suggest that a southerly route will give more consistent tradewinds and more comfortable sea states while the northerly route will often include a period of beating to pass through a trough mid-Atlantic – which is fine if you are racing, but it does tend to spoil the dinner if in cruising mode.

It also holds an advantage for the faster boats as the weather, for the first part at least, is likely to be close to the forecast but for a slower yacht two weeks into a passage the forecast may have changed significantly, and the northerly route may become less attractive.

For accurate routing – either by a skipper/navigator on board or using an onshore router – it’s very important to match the boat’s performance polars to the expected weather and sea state. Professional crews will spend inordinate amounts of time working on performance polars but for cruising yachts we usually make do with the design polars (or slightly modified ones) and when offshore we would drop them to assume the boat is sailing at about 80% of polars.

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It is easy to buy expensive routing software and, with a little bit of work, a skipper/navigator can download the forecast, add the boat’s polars, press a button and get the optimum route. Some forecast providers (Predictwind being the best known) will offer cloud routing where, by entering your boat polars and route, routing is done ashore using different weather models and the results are sent to the boat. This saves a huge amount of downloading when offshore.

However, routing is a lot more than entering the latest GRIB files and pressing go. Ashore we have access to larger amounts of meteorological data, satellite images, as well as being able to modify advice to accommodate crew preferences. On long passages crew experience is important and we can choose routes on probability, making safer choices or high-risk high gain choices.

Multihulls routing

It is easy to group all multihulls together, however there is a great deal of variability between different designs and purpose. My first consideration when routing a multihull is: is it a performance or a cruising cat? Unless we are looking at an out and out racing machine I have a very crude definition – does it have daggerboards or not? Generally, more performance-oriented catamarans have additional foils. A second classification I use is – does the cat have a flybridge? The heavier the catamaran, the less its performance.

Parasailers are specialist downwind sails popular with cruising catamarans. Photo: Chris Tibbs

Performance cats

In general, performance cats are set up for sailing angles and we route in a similar way to racing boats. As they’re not restricted by waterline length rules to the same extent as monohulls, the fastest route will be gybing downwind and VMG sailing. Looking at the example of the ARC, the fastest catamarans are often the ones that sail the most miles.

But on rallies like the ARC and most ocean passages boats are fully loaded and heavy. There is a conundrum with catamarans as you have ample space for all the toys and a large tender RIB, but every added kilo makes it more difficult to sail quickly and increases the gybe angle.

Many people tend to sail cruising catamarans more downwind than their designers originally intended. Catamarans often have asymmetric reacher sails, usually set on the centreline, often on a bowsprit. However, for long downwind passages more specialist downwind sails may be carried, for example a parasailer (or equivalent) or twin headsails. This becomes more like sailing a monohull and speeds on downwind routes will usually be similar to a comparably sized monohull.

There are other considerations. If a crew is hit by a squall in a monohull with too much sail up this could push the yacht into a broach, but after a dramatic few minutes they’re likely to get going again, chastened but under control. Multihulls need a bit more of a careful hand and the more performance they are, the more care needs to be taken. On racing multihulls there is always someone standing by on the sheets, and any threatening squalls and potential gusts are monitored. It’s more critical if hit by strong winds to react correctly.

Lighter performance multihulls with Code sails will tend to sail angles and often cover additional miles on a typical transatlantic crossing. Photo: Outremer

Cruising cats are unlikely to flip as their weight and sail area are designed to prevent this, but even on a cruising cat bearing away and burying the bow can have unpleasant consequences. The only time I have ever deployed a drogue was bringing a cat back from the Caribbean somewhere north of the Azores. Big waves and a strong wind meant that we were surfing down waves, but then burying the bow in waves in front which stopped us dead and covered the boat in water – the drogue was deployed in record time!

Playing safe

So when routing multihulls we aim to avoid areas of high squall activity and strong winds, which is particularly important for the eastbound return trip from the Caribbean. Here I will generally advise a more southerly route. A large sea state may also be particularly uncomfortable as a cross swell can give an unpleasant motion.

One of the most useful parts of a weather forecast is knowing what will happen next; on multihulls it is good to sail by the numbers as you don’t feel when you are getting overpowered in the same way as on a monohull. Speed limits help to ascertain when you are pushing a little too hard and by reducing sail a lot of strain will be taken off the boat. When forecasting and routing, the stability of the atmosphere and the likelihood of gusts should be taken into account, and if they cannot be routed around then at least crews have warning.

Whether routing onboard or ashore, knowing the boat is critical as is knowing the crew’s capabilities. And while the principals are the same for catamarans and monohulls, being a little more conservative with cruising cats helps keep out of trouble.

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The post Your expert guide to routing for multihulls appeared first on Yachting World.

If you have a happy boat, you can have disasters happen to you, and it’ll be fine. On an unhappy boat the smallest things can become an issue.”

“A happy boat is my biggest ambition for this trip,” said John Kirchhoff before setting out on his Atlantic crossing with the ARC last November, on his Southerly 42 Easter Snow.

So, how can you set your boat up for crew happiness? Between social media and crew-match websites, it’s easier than ever to connect skipper-seeking-crew with potential crew-seeking-yacht and, hopefully, find a good match. But there are no guarantees: whether strangers or close family, living in the confined space of a yacht, and potentially adding stress, restricted sleep or seasickness to the mix, can reveal people’s true personalities like few other scenarios. We spoke to skippers and crews taking part in this year’s ARC rally to find out what they saw as key rules for crew happiness.

Set expectations early for a happy crew dynamic. Photo: Tor Johnson

Get to know each other

Just as internet dating has revolutionised how people meet one another ashore, so the majority of crew matches occur online – with sites such as Ocean Crew Link, Crewseekers etc offering a simple way to upload and view profiles. There were still a few ‘Boat Wanted’ flyers pinned up around Las Palmas before this year’s ARC, but anybody wanting to do their due diligence on a potential crew member or yacht should have made contact a long way in advance of arriving in Gran Canaria.

While it might be tempting to sail with close family or friends to the Canaries, it’s the opportunity for a valuable shakedown – not just for the boat and systems, but potential crew too.

John Kirchhoff was relieved he’d agreed to meet two crew he matched with on Ocean Crew Link in Gibraltar for the sail south. “They lasted a day and a half on the boat before deciding it wasn’t for them. We never even got to sea. We set some jobs to do and it all went very peculiar, very suddenly. Boats are strange environments and either I’m a complete ogre or they really didn’t want to come!”

David Poole and wife Joy went one step further, meeting their original intended crew in Thailand when they took delivery of their new Seawind 1600 Pure Joy before bringing it to Europe. “We just didn’t get on – there was no chemistry,” recalls David.

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Both Kirchhoff and the Pooles had originally planned to sail with couples. “Be very, very conscious of the relationships that you bring on board,” notes Joy. “When you bring on a couple, you bring on whatever baggage they may have themselves. You also bring the potential that one person is much more interested in doing a big adventure like this than the other.”

The Pooles went back to the drawing board, shortlisting new crew from Ocean Crew Link for the ARC, based on a mix of experience – including multihull ocean passages and racing – and qualifications. The couple then set up video interviews to see if their personalities aligned. “At the end of the day, if the personalities hadn’t been right, then we wouldn’t have chosen them,” says Poole, though he added that qualifications were also important to satisfy their insurers.

The crew met in Tarragona, Spain, a full month before the start of the ARC and sailed to Las Palmas together, then prepared the new boat for the crossing. “We’ve had the benefit of having spent several weeks sailing together now, which a lot of the crew coming here just before the ARC have not,” David pointed out in Las Palmas.

“The overarching thing that we would share from our experience is to absolutely listen to your gut as soon as you get into the process of interviewing, talking to and getting to know potential crew,” advises Joy, after the Pure Joy team made a successful crossing. “If there is even a single, solitary little niggle of a doubt really press into that to understand it before you settle and say, ‘I’m sure it won’t be too big a deal.’

Crew shirts can help you feel like a team as well as being a treasured memento of the crossing. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell 

“We just felt good in our bones about the folks that we were talking to, and it played out beautifully this time. We didn’t have any reservations, and it turned out to be a really wonderful and compatible crew.”

The fact that Ocean Crew Link is affiliated to World Cruising Club was a reason many crew chose the site to find a berth for their crossing. “From my point of view, you have a very good sense of safety when you’re coming on the ARC,” explains Martin Mathews, on Pure Joy. “When you’re joining a boat, you obviously don’t know anything about the boat, but you know they’ve gone through the scrutiny and that they have all the right safety equipment, which is important.”

Set expectations

Whether crew members are new contacts or old friends, it’s important to set expectations early. John Kirchhoff invited his new crew to meet him away from the boat, at his West Country house.

“They came for dinner – with my brother who’s also crewing – so we all sat down around a table and talked it all through. No one was left under any illusions about anything.”

Mark Hollis was looking forward to skippering the Fountaine Pajot Lucia 50 Wanderlust that he co-owns, sailing with a six-man crew that included three father-and-son pairings. As the crew had known each other for years, and included two teenagers and Hollis’s own son, he was conscious that he didn’t want to have to become the disciplinarian on board. “I don’t want to be saying to people every day ‘That’s wrong’. Actually, the more days you’re at sea, the more difficult it is to start that conversation, because the crew will feel like they’ve become qualified. So I wrote the Wanderlust handbook.”

The Poole family invited three crew for their ARC crossing. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell 

The handbook is a ring bound A4 folder containing a detailed guide to sailing Wanderlust, including safety protocols, manoeuvres, and sets out agreed rules and routines for the crossing. “Basically, this is my expectation of what we’ve got to be as a team. Luckily they’ve all received it really well and bought into it.

“I just wanted to lay the rules out and then it’s not about me nagging, it’s just the rules.”

Though the handbook was intended for the crew, Hollis says he found the process of writing it enormously helpful. “I’m in construction and everything that we do has to be risk assessed. Writing the handbook made me methodically put myself into every foreseeable scenario I can possibly think of.

“To write a handbook that takes absolutely everything into account is quite difficult, but at least we’ve thought it all through. I do feel like I’m a better sailor now than before I started writing that, because it prompted me to make sure that I’ve thought about every angle.”

the Pure Joy crew made time to prepare the catamaran – and experiment with the tender – before the start. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell

Share the Starlink?

The hottest topic among ARC boats with Starlink was what data crews would be allowed to access.

“This has been a very interesting conversation I’ve been having with a lot of skippers,” said Miguel Querioz, who was fulfilling a lifetime dream of crossing the ARC aboard his Fountaine Pajot Tanna 47 Portlish. “How are you going to manage Starlink at sea? Are you going to make it available to all crew or have one device connected only? How many hours a day: are you going to make it 24/7, or turn it on once a day, download your weather and that’s it?

“For me having it on all the time would spoil the crossing because everyone will have their faces glued to their phone. There’s a safety issue there, because at night time it takes a couple of hours to get back your night vision. But also the social element would be lost, the bonding between crew you get when you actually isolate from the world a little bit. For me, that’s part of the crossing.”

Dan Bower, who runs the Oyster 62 Skyelark 2, agreed, and was planning on restricting access on their forthcoming World ARC. “The danger is that it changes the experience of the passage. We already kind of veto news – even from home via people’s own satcoms.

A ‘dads and lads’ crew on Wanderlust. To avoid conflict or confusion they created a boat handbook for the passage. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell

“We find that clients are generally less keen to have comms with home. It’s about going away and having that experience, getting that detox.

“The idea of Starlink for us is that it’s amazing for a lot of places where you want comms in anchorages, but you don’t need to keep buying local SIM cards. So at that point it’ll be unrestricted for the crew, but not at sea.”

Crew meals

As galleys have become ever better equipped with multiple fridges and equipment to rival a home kitchen, provisioning has become easier, but food can still be a bone of contention.

“One thing we will specifically pay attention to when next cooking for crew is dietary requirements,” says Joy Poole.

“Maybe it sounds obvious, but if there are folks on board that have dietary restrictions or severe allergies that are not compatible with your own, over the course of a long crossing, this will become a major friction point.
“All of us are happy to eat whatever. But you’re cooking under not easy conditions sometimes and trying to make the most of whatever you have towards the end of a long crossing, so if there had been really challenging dietary restrictions, this can really impact team morale.”

Miguel and Claire Querioz (right) sailing with friends on Portlish. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell

If you have a crew member who requires special foods – such as vegan or gluten-free versions – you will need a system to ensure that it doesn’t get accidentally eaten by others. More serious intolerances or allergies might require the whole crew to eradicate items from their diet – avoiding cross-contamination of nut oils or peanut butter, for example, can be difficult.

Another common point of conflict is a crew member using up ingredients that have been earmarked for later in the passage. Dan and Emma Bower have years of experience sailing with guests, and now provision before their crew step on, with a meal plan for each day of the passage. Every crew member takes their turn at cooking, but according to a clear set of instructions, which specifies ingredients and quantities to use.

“Every meal we do is to a recipe now,” explains Dan. “So if you’re cooking lasagna, it tells you how many tins of tomatoes to use so that you don’t have those main flashpoints that happen when someone uses everything for one meal.”

Team Penny Oyster. Photo: WCC/James Mitchell

Prioritise rest

Key to reducing stress on board is sleep, and one way to improve your rest is to find crew you have total confidence in. Mille Webb and David Warner bought their Oyster 406 Penny Oyster while in their late 20s and early 30s.

Both are highly experienced, Millie having been a deckhand with Emily Penn’s eXXpedition yacht, and opted to take good friends Phoebe Bidwell and Tom Keeley, who are liveaboards with their own yacht in Australia . Having absolute trust in all four crew proved an invaluable asset on the sail from Portimão, Portugal, to Las Palmas.

“That has been a real blessing because we’re all good sailors and know how to hold a watch. We got a lot of sleep! We do three hours on and then you’ve got about five hours of rest. So your first hour is with someone, like a handover, then the second hour is on your own, and then you’ll have someone new come up for your last hour. It’s very sociable, but you’ve also still got that space on your own,” explains Millie.

“And we rotate that,” adds David. “So if you’re on the 0800-1100 shift, the day after you’re on the 1100-1300. That’s great because you get to see different parts of the day over the course of the crossing – sunrise, sunsets and lots of stars.”

As all four have spent time working aboard yachts they are also very used to confined quarters. “I’m a bit of a neat freak, but we’ve all lived in really small spaces,” says Millie. “[Our friends] were living in a campervan before their boat, so we’re all pretty good at stowing everything. That’s our one rule – to make sure that we keep it all tidy.”

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Bluewater cruising can be a transformative journey, filled with remarkable moments and unforgettable adventures. But challenges come hand in hand with this way of life: from the constant maintenance and repairs, to the never-ending cleaning and polishing, liveaboard sailing can sometimes be exhausting and frustrating. Over the past decade, I’ve experienced both the highs and lows of this lifestyle, falling in and out of love with our boat countless times.

Inevitably, just when the frustrations threaten to overwhelm me, something magical happens and we are blessed with one of those days where everything falls into place. When conditions are ideal, the boat is cutting through the water, and all feels right with the world once again.

These are the days that reignite my passion for sailing and reaffirm my decision to embrace this lifestyle. We’ve discovered that the longer we spend on the water, the more frequently we experience these exceptional days, which is why we choose to never leave it.

While I wouldn’t consider myself an expert sailor, I am fortunate to surround myself with individuals who possess a wealth of knowledge and experience. Seeking advice and insights from those who’ve spent decades exploring the seas has been invaluable. Countless evenings, we’ve had the privilege of sharing stories and sundowners with couples who have dedicated their lives to cruising, some for over 30 years, a few fortunate souls for over 40. Their tales and experiences have sparked vivid dreams within me of my wife Rachel and I forging a similar life for ourselves.

For 10 years we have carved our own path amidst the vast ocean. So while our knowledge is based on our own experiences and what has worked for us, here are a few insights that I wish I’d known when we first set out on this journey:

You can grow food onboard as well as buying what you need

10 bluewater cruising tips

Food

You can find food everywhere, so prioritise your favourites. Before departing from our home port in the USA, Rachel and I vacuum-sealed what would turn out to be nearly a year’s worth of flour, rice, and sugar. We also stowed away an abundance of canned food ‘just in case’, but we carried very little of our preferred snacks and other products. Every port we have visited has had the basics, but it was the hard-to-find favourites that we missed most. Make sure to make room for them in your provisions.

Buy the largest watermaker you can afford, and know how to service it. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Water

Consider upgrading to a larger watermaker, or if you’re planning to purchase a watermaker, choose the largest or highest output unit that fits your budget. We used to have a 7gph unit, which was energy-efficient but required constant running.

Now, with our 40gph watermaker, we only need to listen to it for two hours a week. In my experience, larger units also produce cleaner water and encounter fewer issues. Being able to rinse off as often as you like, wash gear and clothes, or even wash down the boat after a long bash to windward, all help to make life more enjoyable and prolongs the life of your gear sustainably.

Wear long-sleeved and hooded sun shirts rather than constantly having to apply chemical sunscreen. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Sun protection

Long-sleeved, hooded sun shirts are better than sunscreen. Instead of constantly applying greasy sunscreen to your arms, neck, and ears, wear an SPF-rated shirt. They offer more comfort, protect the environment, and prevent your cushions and pillows from becoming oily. We also wear sun-protection buffs, trousers, and gloves for long days out on the water.

A powerful outboard for your tender will repay its cost many times over by making it quicker and safer to head for a beach, lug provisions back to the boat or even tow a yacht. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Ship-to-shore

Get the largest outboard engine your dinghy can handle. Having a fast tender allows you to anchor in protected areas and easily reach fun surf breaks, excellent snorkelling spots, and transport all your gear and big provision runs. It also serves for safety and emergencies. On several occasions we’ve tied our tender alongside a sailboat with a dead diesel engine and towed the disabled vessel to safety.

Your cockpit can be your living room – make it comfortable with plenty of shade. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Outdoor living

Treat your cockpit as your living room. We sail hundreds or even thousands of nautical miles to reach picturesque anchorages, and the place we want to sit and enjoy the well-earned view is the cockpit.

Size matters less than comfort, so add plenty of cushions, pillows, and shades to protect you from the tropical sun. It will create a more enjoyable space to relax during the day or entertain late into the evening (OK, usually no later than 2130 for most of us!).

Some jobs are more time-consuming to do afloat, so up-spec power and water generation for ease. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Spares and repairs

Keep well-documented manuals for each system on board. This will help you find part numbers, service intervals, and essential information when you need it most. Even better, download the PDF versions and keep them on a hard drive or phone. Often these are searchable documents making it easier to find relevant information.

Photo: Tor Johnson

Navigation

Learn how to utilise navigation tools like Open CPN, Google Earth, and Ovital Maps. Being able to access high-definition satellite photos of passes, islands, and anchorages before arrival will assist you in planning anchorages, avoiding hazards, and navigating effectively, especially in challenging conditions and areas that are poorly charted.

Running multiple routes over each other, especially in bommie-infested lagoons like French Polynesia’s Tuamotu islands, provides peace of mind and eases navigation in poor light or inclement weather.

Almost inevitably you’ll use more power than you first thought, so prioritise generation and storage. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Energy consumption

Prioritise power generation. Assess your energy consumption and invest in solar power, wind generators, and lithium batteries to keep your boat comfortably off-grid for longer periods, reducing the need for generator use. When we departed from Ventura, California, Agápe had 520W of solar power charging 630Ah of AGM batteries.

We made every effort to keep our batteries above 60% charge and rarely let them drop below 50%, but it meant running the generator every fourth or fifth day for a few hours. Soon after, we realised our power consumption was higher than expected. To live off-grid comfortably and make cruising sustainable for Rachel and me, we needed more power. Now, Agápe boasts 875W of solar power and 500Ah of lithium batteries.

Preventative maintenance – perhaps an hour a day – helps keep the boat fully functional. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Maintenance

Practise preventive maintenance for more free time. It takes about an hour each day to keep the boat fully functional, in good working order, and aesthetically pleasing. If you skip a few days, you might not notice the difference, but you’ll eventually fall behind.

Every morning, before the heat of the day, one of us walks around the deck from the starboard side of the cockpit to the bow and then down the port side. Whenever we spot something that needs attention, we stop and make it our task for the day. Sometimes, we complete the entire loop and find everything working perfectly, with all the oil changes done and tarnished areas sparkling. At that point, grab your mask, fins, and scrubbing brush, and give the waterline a quick wipe. Now you’re ready to enjoy the day.

Slow down to really appreciate the beautiful places you’ll visit, and don’t always be in too much of a hurry to move on. Photo: Joshua and Rachel Shankle

Take your time

Slow down. In our first three years, we felt the need to constantly keep moving. There were so many beaches to sit on and reefs to dive that we felt compelled to maintain a fast pace to try and see them all. However, relocating our entire home every three days proved to be exhausting.

Once we embraced a slower pace, we not only began to appreciate the magnificent places and experiences we were encountering more, but also found joy in the act of cruising itself. Slowing down has proven to be the most important factor in sustaining our cruising lifestyle.

Over the years we’ve witnessed many cruisers burn out after just a year or two, even though they had several more years of cruising ahead of them. Some people attempt to cram too much into a short itinerary, leaving them feeling overwhelmed and drained, which prevents them from truly enjoying their experiences and inevitably makes them yearn for the comforts and routines of life 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.

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If you’re contemplating buying a multihull for bluewater sailing, be it a new one or a brokerage yacht, what equipment and spec should you be thinking about? The choices you make could determine much of your experience along the way, from comfort at sea to safety, but you don’t want costs to mount up unnecessarily. Where’s the right place to draw the line?

For this feature, we consulted two very experienced bluewater sailors with oceans of multihull miles behind them, catamaran owner Chet Chauhan and coach Nikki Henderson, for advice and guidance.
Here, they look at what they consider the most important priorities, from downwind sail choices to energy requirements – and not neglecting essentials such as a robust workhorse tender.

It is aimed squarely at speccing a multihull, but many of their recommendations would be applicable to bluewater yachts of any type.

safety in numbers – a good way to get into the groove of bluewater cruising is to sail with others in events like the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). Photo: James Mitchell

Sail choices and rigging options

Nearly all bluewater catamarans will come with slab reefing, which is simple and durable. Make this system work as efficiently as possible. Check what your mainsail car system is, and possibly upgrade the cars to ones with roller bearings to reduce friction. The smoother the mainsail can drop, the better.

Fit downhaul lines for each reef on the luff to make downwind reefing easier. Ideally, run these back to the same winch station as the reefing lines and halyard. On that note, the ability to reef from one place is important. Running back and forth from port to starboard to control reefing lines and halyards is not practical and increases the risk of a slip or a fall. Check that the winch layout allows that.

When it comes to headsails, buy more than one for redundancy. If your budget is limited, make your extra sail the storm headsail. If you can afford it, choose a blade headsail as well for your ‘everyday’ headsail, and a higher clewed, larger reaching headsail for long downwind legs.

Headsails made from laminate sail cloth and fitted with extra UV protection when furled are a worthy investment. They weigh less, which makes changing sails short-handed much easier.

A tidy cockpit with winches and lines to hand of the helm (plus tailing lockers) is most practical. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

If you opt for a spinnaker or other loose-luffed sail, getting it down easily is critical. The sock system you choose to douse it needs to be robust. I find that fibreglass rings work best.

Lengthen the sock-line so that it can run down through a block on the foredeck and back to a winch sited aft, close to where the sheets are controlled; this will make dousing the sail easier. Wobbling around on the bow getting your legs caught up in the sock line isn’t fun.

When it comes to asymmetrical sails, it’s all about furlers. Stick with the traditional furlers for a Code 0 or a flatter gennaker, and consider a top-down furler for a true asymmetric.

Unless you’re a performance-orientated sailor buying a performance catamaran, the ability to sail dead downwind is important. Ideally, invest in a symmetric spinnaker.

If you have a performance catamaran, first buy a heavy spinnaker to withstand any squalls. For cruisier catamarans, choose a lighter and larger S2 because it will help in lighter airs and you won’t have the acceleration to safely sail through a squall with it up anyway. If you are limited in budget, not a confident spinnaker sailor, or want a more robust heavy weather option for dead downwind sailing, poled out twin headsails (jib/genoa) is a great alternative. Just make sure you have two tracks in your headsail foil.

Spinnakers need a reliable dousing method – leading control lines to these winches aft makes more sense than foredeck work. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

For controlling all the sails, lines that run aft to inboard winches are much easier than lines that run to winches by or at the mast only. At the very least, you should be able to hoist and drop the mainsail and adjust reefing lines and headsail sheets from a position where you can also see a chartplotter and adjust the helm manually.

Ready for heavy weather

I recommend having your mainsail built with three reefs. But before requesting this, check the boom has the space for three sheaves, or even four if you have an adjustable outhaul at the aft end – sailmakers and riggers don’t always communicate with custom changes.

If you have a furling headsail and no inner forestay, ensure your storm headsail can be hoisted over the top of it. To my mind, an inner forestay is the better option for a storm headsail, as you can rig it ahead of time to be ready if the weather worsens. It’s also arguably less physical a task to hank on a headsail than it is to slide one over the top of the jib or genoa right at the bow.

If you are cruising anywhere you could meet major rough weather, I’d buy a series drogue. This will help you slow the boat down. Tying warps together is also an option, but lean on the rope option as a plan B. Don’t rely on mooring lines for this as they’ll be unlikely to fit on your winches. Whichever you use, practise it so that you don’t have to invent it in anger.

a protected helm or ability to steer from a protected position is recommended. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

Cockpit security

If you sail with children, an enclosed cockpit (or a way of enclosing it) is important to create the boundaries they need to have an essence of freedom. The same goes for pets.

An enclosed cockpit not only protects the crew from falling out, but also prevents water from coming in. Tradewind sailing comes with big swells, and the acceleration and deceleration – which is especially pronounced when sailing deep downwind with a symmetric spinnaker – can occasionally result in big quantities of water flooding the aft decks. An enclosed cockpit is the ideal, but you could also consider fitting removable barriers if you prefer the option to be able to walk straight from the saloon into the water on anchor.

Safety gear and features

Many catamarans have a helm station that is only accessible from climbing up a ladder or stairs which are very far aft, without any real protection from falling backwards straight into the sea. I recommend choosing a boat that has a more protected helm access. This will also improve visibility. A helm that is low down and far aft could obstruct the view and communication to the bow on the opposite hull.

What it’s all about: bluewater cruising at Fakarava Atoll in the stunning Tuamotus of the South Pacific. Photo: Jim Hooper/SV Polaris

For man overboard scenarios, a drop-down ladder on the side deck that can be deployed quickly is important. While the stern seems the obvious recovery location, it is not the ideal first point of contact with a crewmember in the water due to the proximity to the propellers.

A hanging ladder provides the casualty with something to hold onto initially. On the topic of ladders, ensure the ladder on the stern is deployable from the water in case you forget to put it down before jumping in for a refreshing dip while at anchor!

Think carefully about jackstay placement. Jackstays that run along the stanchions on the outboard-most part of the vessel can actually be a hazard; if you fall overboard while clipped on, you will drag in the water. Look for ways, or ask the manufacturer, to run jackstays further inboard. You need to be able to get to the helm, to the mast, and to the bow while always being clipped on. I would advise investigating this early in the build, as extra strong points may need to be fitted.

A chartplotter and comms at the helm are vital. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

A crew overboard emergency GPS button, a VHF transmitter, and a chartplotter or iPad/iPhone holder at the helm are, for me, deal-breakers.

They are arguably more important on catamarans than monohulls as the distance between the helm and the navigation station can be substantial and involve several flights of stairs.

Water

I sailed halfway around the world without a watermaker and have just completed another half with a watermaker, and I can say the difference in comfort is profound. We no longer have the constant anxiety of finding good water sources and we have the luxury of taking a shower everyday.

A DC rather than AC watermaker is the way to go so you are not reliant on a generator. But even if you do have a watermaker, you also need a way to purify the water. Yes, watermakers do produce the purest water, but after sitting in your tanks without chlorine for a few days in the tropical heat, bacteria and viruses can grow. You could add chlorine every time you make water but it is hard to keep track of the concentration.

A good solution is to add a separate tap in the galley for drinking water that goes through a carbon filter and ideally UV light as well to kill any remaining pathogens. Some units also have filters that add back calcium and other minerals that watermakers remove.

Anchoring

A bulletproof anchoring setup is a critical consideration since the majority of the time you will be on the hook. Modern anchors (Rocna, Spade, Manson, Ultra etc) are very reliable across the majority of the seabeds you will encounter.

Bigger is always better but, with catamarans being weight sensitive, a good compromise is to get an anchor only one size above what the manufacturer recommends. Couple that with around 70-80m of high test chain that has better strength to weight ratio and a sturdy bridle and you are all set – literally!

Lastly, the chain hook that connects the bridle to the chain is something that should not be overlooked. If you are anchored in shallow water and the bridle is slack and resting on the seabed, the chain hook could easily come off. To prevent this, it is good to have a hook that is secured with a pin or bolt.

Your dinghy is like your car – luckily catamarans allow for large davits and therefore large dinghies. Photo: Parallel Sea Productions

Tender dinghy

Cruising sailors always say their dinghy is their car, and like your car it’s often the limiting factor on how much stuff and people you can transport. So get the biggest dinghy that can fit on board or on davits, but not so heavy that it affects the trim and therefore the performance of your boat.

You will also need a good tender anchor that can hold the dinghy in 20-knot wind and waves for when you are snorkelling or diving, but also in an emergency if the outboard engine cuts out and you can’t row against the wind or current.

In a lot of remote places you will have to beach the dinghy to land, so having a good pair of dinghy wheels can make it a lot easier and will spare your back.

Lastly, many dinghies are sadly stolen so it’s wise to secure it with a sturdy chain and the biggest padlock you can find.

Good wheels are key for beaching. Photo: Parallel Sea Productions

Handover and after-care

Anyone planning to sail thousands of miles from land really needs to understand their boat back to front, and with a new boat the role of the manufacturer is critical. A quick six-hour run through where you are given the keys and shown how to turn the engine on is not a sufficient handover.

Before you buy, find out as much as you can about the length of time and training you are going to receive on handover and the expertise of the people who will be giving that handover. They should be sailors or engineers and not sales staff.

Ask also about the quality of the manual, as-built drawings, plumbing and wiring diagrams that come with the boat. You are going to need these. Will they be enough to troubleshoot problems?

Before you buy, find out as much as you can about the length of time and training you are going to receive on handover and the expertise of the people who will be giving that handover. Photo: Andreas Lindlahr/EYOTY

Find out more, too, about the length and commitment of the warranty (and ask other owners for their experiences). If there are major issues with the build, will they be covered? How will it be dealt with?

A strong community of owners of the same brand of boat as yours will be invaluable. There are many very active owners’ associations and groups, and they are worth their weight in gold, so if they have some sort of forum to communicate on, this is a huge plus. It will be a resource for helping troubleshoot problems, find crew and also to make friends.

Bluewater sailing can be an isolating venture, and a sense of camaraderie and practical support among owners of the same type of boat as yours will mean more and buy you more than you might expect.

The balance of power

When preparing a boat for bluewater cruising, one of the most critical considerations has to be energy. How are you going to power the instruments, autopilot, lights, fridges, laptops and all the appliances you can’t live without?

It’s important to first start with a calculation of how much energy you plan to use at anchor and underway. This means having a list of all the energy consuming equipment, coupled with the amount of energy they consume in a 24-hour period. You should come up with a table something like this, which is based on typical energy consumption at sea for us as a couple on our Nautitech 46.

This will show you how much energy you need, and help you size the boat’s energy sources as well as that of the house battery.

You’ll tend to use a lot more power underway because of the autopilot and instruments, but it’s also worth remembering that you’ll be spending a lot of your time at anchor. Ideally you want to optimise your energy sources so that renewables cover your energy usage at anchor on most days.

There are many ways to power a boat, each with their pros and cons.

Catamarans do have the advantage of having a lot of space to fit solar panels. This is why it’s better to go all-in on solar first before adding other sources of energy. A transom solar arch works very well because it’s not shaded by the hoisted mainsail, and the solar panels can dissipate heat more effectively than if fitted on the coachroof, which increases their output.

Once you max out on panels on the arch, add them to the roof but these will produce less. On the curved surfaces of the roof, flexible panels fit better but are about 20% less efficient than rigid panels so factor this into your energy projections.

With a solar arch and additional panels on the roof, you’re likely to have enough power to meet all your energy needs at anchor on most days, although obviously this depends on where you are cruising. In a Mediterranean summer with up to 16 hours of sunlight and cloudless skies, you’ll have little problem topping up the batteries. In the tropics you are looking at 12-hour days with 20% cloud cover on average.

Use a cat’s real estate for solar, starting at the davits. Photo: James Mitchell

A rough rule of thumb is to divide your total solar capacity by five (low end) or three (high end) to get your output in amp hours. For example, 1,200W should give around 240-400Ah per day. Finally, to maximise output it’s important to have separate MPPT controllers for every large panel or every 400W.

On passage, with the autopilot working hard and the mainsail shading the solar panels, you may need additional sources of power. Topping up with the alternators is a cheap way to cover this if it’s only for a few hours a day. Installing high output alternators can halve this time, and some people install hydro generators and wind generators, which also have their pros and cons.

Calculate the power usage of every electric device on board. Photo: Billy Black

From our observations in anchorages around the world, more and more boats are getting rid of gensets. This is partly due to better solar and lithium battery technology but also because of new 12V air conditioning systems. And when sailing in remote places, diesel can be hard to come by. For example, I’m writing this anchored in Nuku Hiva, the largest island of the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and they’ve run out of diesel. Even when the ship arrives in a week’s time, it will be rationed to 100-200lt per boat.

Finally, you need to store all this power you’re generating so batteries are the next piece of the puzzle. Lithium is becoming the standard on all new boats and especially on weight sensitive catamarans. When sizing your battery bank, a rough rule of thumb is to have capacity for at least 1.5 times your daily power usage so you can store enough power to tide you over for at least one bad day of solar production (a day and two nights).

To power all the AC appliances you’ll need an adequately sized inverter of at least 2,000W and, lastly, it’s critical to have a battery monitor to see the state of charge of the batteries at all times.

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.

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“The closest I’ve ever been to mortality was the capsize at Cape Horn. That was just a horrific experience,” says American sailor Rich Wilson of his Southern Ocean sailing experiences. “But I never thought I would die. The greatest fear is not of dying, but of something breaking that couldn’t be fixed.”

Wilson was part of an elite panel of ocean sailors and bluewater adventurers speaking at a special seminar on handling heavy weather during the Cruising Club of America’s centennial celebrations this autumn. The panel featured Vendée Globe veteran Wilson; Randall Reeves, who completed a ‘Figure 8’ circumnavigation; Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, who has sailed around the planet solo six times; and high latitudes explorer and mountaineer Steve Brown.

The quartet’s tales of seamanship are awe-inspiring. Adventurers and survivalists at heart, they have seen the beauty and wonder of the remotest parts of the planet. They’ve also lived through terrifying experiences that would make even seasoned ocean sailors blanch.

All four skippers spoke of the importance of preparedness. “Inspect your equipment and know how to use it,” noted Steve Brown. But the overarching theme of the seminar was positivity, and the importance of maintaining hope no matter how dire the situation.

“I have a nephew in the military academy and his survival course says job No1 is to maintain a positive attitude. If you think you can get through it, you can get through it,” says the 60-year-old Reeves, who took on his Figure 8 challenge after a two-year single-handed cruise of the Pacific Ocean. “Remember, this was all your idea being out here, you wanted this.”

storm sail and mountainous seas for Randall Reeves during his Figure 8
circumnavigation of the Americas and Antarctica

Streaming lines

Positivity, and a survivalist’s mentality, were two of the crutches that got Wilson and crewmate Steve Pettengill through a ‘horrific’ capsize in November 1990 when they were attempting to break the clipper ship record from San Francisco to Boston via Cape Horn on the 60ft trimaran Great American I. They were some 2,000 miles from Cape Horn and starting to plan their approach, when they were overtaken by a massive storm with hurricane force winds and seas of 25-35ft, with 50ft breakers.

A day later they were down to bare poles and trying to slow the 60ft-long, 40ft-wide tri by dragging a series of warps with overhand knots every 6-8ft. In a previous single-handed transatlantic race Wilson had deployed a solid cone drogue on a 35ft trimaran, but the attaching nylon line stretched as the drogue gripped and then recoiled, dragging the trimaran stern-to up the waves, before eventually disintegrating. Wary from that experience, Wilson and Pettengill opted instead to deploy up to 1,000ft of line off the stern of Great American I.

“The warps worked well and since there wasn’t a lot of load on them we could tie them to anything, stanchions, cleats, pad eyes. We ended up with 12 lines dragging over the side – spare sheets, halyards, dock lines – whatever we had, then we got to critical drag,” says Wilson. “We were controlling the boat, going down the seas at 12 knots and up at 8. We were under bare poles and had the autopilot working, taking the seas about 15° off the quarter.”

The next day, Wilson recalls, “things started getting crazy”. The recording arm on the barograph had dropped off the drum, below 926mb, and they were in communication with shore-based weather router Bob Rice, a leading maritime meteorologist of the time.

Cape Horn in the distance. Photo: Richard Langdon

“We were in touch with Bob on HAM radio the day before the capsize,” says Wilson. “He said we should be seeing 50 knots of wind. We said, ‘Bob, we’re seeing 72 knots right now.’ Thirty-two years ago, we didn’t have the great weather forecasting resources we have now.”

The storm raged and on US Thanksgiving Day, Great American I capsized. It wasn’t so much the wind that was the problem but rather the sea state. “We got sideways on the wrong wave and rolled over gently,” Wilson says.

“Suddenly, we’re upside down. I was pretty sure the mast was intact after the capsize, but we were upside down 400 miles west from Cape Horn at 55°S, 079°W. We immediately got the EPIRB going and into our survival suits. The last thing we had done before leaving San Francisco was to move the survival suits from the forepeak into the main cabin so they were ready to go.

“About an hour and a half later, another wave came along, it must’ve been far bigger than the rest. Steve’s a truck driver and he said it sounded like 10 tractor trailers in a pile up on the highway when the wave came.

“I don’t remember hearing it, but I got launched and bounced off the floor, and knocked out. I came to underwater, flailing around, found something with my feet and pushed off and came to the surface. Now I’m neck deep in water. I heard Steve yelling for me, he was in the wheelhouse area and I was in the main cabin area.”

Drogue deployed on Jean-Luc Van Den Heede’s Matmut during the Golden Globe Race. Photo: Jean-Luc Van Den Heede/PPL/GGR

Miraculously, neither sailor suffered any injuries during the two flips of their trimaran. Upon re-righting, the mast and boom, which had been intact underwater, were both broken in multiple pieces. The hull, while awash, was mostly intact. Great American I had 12 watertight compartments and only the port bow showed any real damage, likely from the first capsize.

Cold, wet and tired, Wilson and Pettengill spent Thanksgiving Day huddled in the sail locker forward of the mast bulkhead with the EPIRB and an Argos transmitter both emitting alerts. About 16 hours after righting, in the dead of night amidst a raging storm with 30-50ft seas, the two sailors were rescued by a passing container ship running from New Zealand and around Cape Horn, a route travelled no more than once a week.

In a remarkable feat of seamanship, the captain manoeuvred the 800ft New Zealand Pacific, at the time the world’s largest refrigerated container ship, alongside and upwind of Great American I, so that the sailors could clamber up a rope ladder in the lee of the storm.

Drogue deployed

Steve Brown, a 69-year-old mountaineer at heart who took up bluewater adventuring almost 20 years ago as a means to tackle items on his bucket list, often had a crew of five or six for his expeditions aboard Novara. He talked about the importance of keeping crew morale positive.

“I’m neither a solo sailor nor a racing sailor. My preparation is about making sure everything inside the boat is well prepared,” said Brown. “With crew, make sure not only that you are well rested and fed but the crew is too, to eliminate the fear factor, to give confidence in the boat and you as a skipper. That seems to work quite well. It’s different on a crewed boat because there are more people to worry about, not just your own morale.”

Van Den Heede’s Matmut suffered a pitchpole – but he went on to win the Golden Globe Race. Photo: Jean-Luc Van Den Heede/PPL/GGR

While Wilson decided against the use of a drogue to slow Great American I, Brown is a vocal proponent of the Jordan Series Drogue, which weaves a series of small cones into a tapered line with a small weight at the end. The maximum design load and the number of cones is determined by the displacement of the boat.

“The principles of a drag device are to slow the boat down and keep the bow or stern to the face of the waves,” says Brown. “My go-to is the Jordan Series Drogue. It’s a fantastic piece of kit. It enables you to do things you can’t do without it.” (Brown recommended dragdevicedb.com for a comprehensive list of drag devices and first-hand accounts, and the reference book Heavy Weather Sailing as a great guide to preparation.)

Brown deployed his ‘JSD’ when attempting to cross the South Atlantic Ocean from South Georgia to the Falkland Islands in June 2017. He and his crew had ventured to South Georgia some five weeks earlier to visit the remote island with its abundant wildlife, and to attempt the Shackleton Traverse, which explorer Ernest Shackleton and two others famously completed in 1916 to save the 22 lives of his crew who were stranded on Elephant Island, some 700 miles away.

When the time came to leave South Georgia, Brown and the crew set off on Novara, an aluminium-hulled Bestevaer 60C configured as a schooner with fore and aft Aero rigs. But they were soon engulfed by a horrific storm that blew down off the Andes Mountains in Chile, with winds of 45 knots gusting 65, and breaking seas of 25ft.

Brown flakes his Jordan Series Drogue on deck

“We’d been waiting out a series of storms which kept us in South Georgia longer than we wanted,” Brown says. “I thought we had a window and we set off, but then the storm came and we had to run off. We had the drogue on deck and ready to deploy. I think we put it out in 35 knots of wind, which built to 65-plus. So, we set it, shut the hatch and went below. We ran off for 42 hours under the drogue. We slept, ate and played cards for 42 hours.

“The boat yawed no more than 10°,” Brown continues. “We were doing 1.5 to 2 knots and covered about 82 miles in that period. The waves were mountainous, but we had water in the cockpit only about four times.”

Brown says that he and crew practiced using the JSD when they initially departed the Falklands. After launching and retrieving in manageable conditions, they decided to fix the two-piece, 24mm bridle in place to the stern bollards, fed through the stern hawseholes.

Brown’s drogue deployed from the stern

Brown noted that the bridle suffered chafe through the hawseholes and ordered a larger bridle with better chafe protection. He also noted that the first few cones were too close to the surface and frayed apart; a longer lead line helped solve that problem. They retrieved the drogue when the wind abated to 25 knots.

“When gathering it back in, we put the boat into reverse to take some way off. If you go about it the right way you can pull it in by winch hand-over-hand.

“It’s all about preparation and practice. Know the equipment you have, inspect it thoroughly before use and know how to use it properly,” Brown says.

Self-care strategy

Randall Reeves is also a proponent of the JSD, which he deployed three times during his two attempts at the Figure 8 voyage. “The JSD is a very good device, but it does need some practice and adjustments,” says Reeves.

“It’s what’s called a stopping drogue. You’re not steering, the sails are all wrapped up. Monitoring chafe is the biggest problem. My bridle passes through ‘chalks’ (stern hawseholes), and they’re high chafe points. So other than monitoring the chafe, there’s nothing to do. Once it’s launched, you’re on the drogue until the gale abates; have a cup of tea and watch the world go by.”

Reeves also had a different type of drogue aboard, known as a ‘shark’, which is shaped like a hot air balloon. “It’s more of a slowing drogue, it takes the boatspeed down from 7-8 knots to 4-5 knots,” explains Reeves.

“There’s a lot more stability aft with a tug at the stern. It’s a very different device from the JSD. I used it a couple of times in the second passage, when there was heavy weather or something worse ahead. I launched it to slow down enough to allow the big weather to slide by.”

Randall Reeves rounded Cape Horn twice during his Figure 8 circumnavigation on Mõli

Reeves stressed the importance of preparing for heavy weather. His yacht Mõli, an aluminium-hulled 45ft cutter, only made 150 miles per day, or 1,000 miles per week. He wasn’t going very fast, so outrunning storms was mostly out of the question. Instead, he sought to position himself within wind bands of 30 to 40 knots around the storm. Mõli displaces 20 tonnes and, designed for high latitude cruising, was robust enough to withstand the conditions.

In advance of every storm, Reeves would diligently prepare Mõli, and then prepare himself for a stretch of being tossed about. “And that’s the order, take care of the vessel first and then take care of yourself,” he says.

Reeves would check all the chafe points and move around lines that showed signs of fraying. If below 44°S, he’d cover his dorade vents to prevent water from pouring in. If the wind was forecast to be particularly strong, he’d store the solar panels below deck and put extra lashing on the mainsail. He’d get two drogues ready, double checking the lashing and re-flaking if necessary, so that both were ready to deploy. There’s scant time to uncoil a tangled drogue when it’s needed in distress.

Randall Reeves passing the Horn

“Finally, if you have the time, make time for some self-care,” Reeves says. “My strategy in the Southern Ocean was to sleep in 90-minute increments, but in the south, you spend a lot of time working so there isn’t a lot of time to sleep. Cat-napping was important; extra sleep before a low was important. Hygiene is also important. So, get clean, clean up the cabin, dry out your clothes, if possible, make double portions of meals. The worst of every low seems to come at night, so I would make some extra coffee and move my sleeping bag to the doghouse. You must stay as fresh and ready as possible.”

Calm beginnings

In all his laps of the planet, Jean Luc Van Den Heede has been rolled or knocked down three times. Most recently it occurred in November 2018 during the first edition of the Golden Globe Race, which he won.

Van Den Heede’s Rustler 36 Matmut was thrown from the face of a wave while the skipper was below decks in his bunk during a violent Southern Ocean storm about 1,900 miles west of Cape Horn.

The Rustler 36 went bow first down the face of the wave, hit the trough and then rolled over onto its side. Van Den Heede estimates that he was knocked over to about 150°. In anticipation of the storm, he had screwed the floorboards down and reduced sail to just enough to allow the windvane something to drive to.

Reeves’ boat, Mõli

“We had no electronic equipment, no autopilots,” says Van Den Heede of the race, where competitors are limited to retro electronics and equipment. “I had a wind vane, but the problem with the wind vane is that the boat does not go straight as with an autopilot. The boat was going left and right, and left and right, and I suppose there was a combination of a big wave and the moment where the boat was too close to the waves. The boat was not rolled completely, but slapped down side to side.”

Besides a messy cabin, the only damage Matmut suffered was to the hounds of a lower diagonal shroud. Van Den Heede thought at one point that he might have to make port to effect repairs, but was able to affect a jury rig that lasted to the finish and victory in the race.

“To be prepared when you see a storm coming, it’s absolutely necessary to know that the danger is not at the beginning,” says Van Den Heede. “The damage is usually at the end of the low pressure because at the end the sea is more confused because wind has turned direction a bit and the waves are higher and bigger.

Van Den Heede continues, “Rest at the beginning of the gale, sleep well, eat well. When people see the barometer going down, they start to be afraid. Don’t be afraid about that, you must keep cool and stay positive. Try to rest and sleep because at the end of the storm it might be important to take the helm – because you are always better than a pilot.”

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In the spring of 2021, Laura Blom-Sipkens and her husband were chatting in their car when a thought suddenly struck her: we should take a break from work and take on an Atlantic crossing with the children.

“I don’t remember the conversation we were having but suddenly I saw this might be the moment. The kids were in the right grades at school and I thought: ‘We should go. We need to do it,’” Blom-Sipkens recalls.

Life is very busy for the Dutch family. Blom-Sipkens is an anaesthesiologist, her husband, Bas, an orthopaedic surgeon. They often work different shifts. Their three children are aged 11, 9 and 7, and the oldest and youngest have dyslexia. “We didn’t want them to miss classes, so there never seemed to be the right moment,” she says. “But the oldest is finishing primary school now, so it seemed like the right time.”

The couple have sailed since childhood, mainly inshore in small boats and dinghies, but a longer voyage was something they’d been thinking about. “My husband loves sailing. I like it a lot, but I’m more of an adventurer and it’s the adventure that I like,” she says.

The Blom-Sipkens

Beginning their search for a suitable boat, the couple decided on aluminium or steel construction. After eight months of searching they found a Van de Stadt-designed Samoa 47 laid up on the south coast of France, and bought it. The yacht needed a refit, so the couple transported it home overland to the Netherlands to have the work done nearer home. Then they entered the 2023 ARC transatlantic rally. Now with a year to go, their preparations are on a strict timeline.

Why not now?

Many people planning to sail across the Atlantic plan their adventure three, four or even five years ahead of time, but others manage to do it in a much shorter timespan. After all, many things can change in five years; events may swerve you onto a different course. So if an opening can be found between work commitments, children’s education and duties to parents, why not take it now?

And if you do decide to make the leap, how would you prepare for a year of voyaging and an Atlantic crossing with an accelerated run-up? Is it possible to plan from scratch and execute well in under 18 months or even within the year?

The Blom-Sipkens are recommissioning a Samoa 47 for their Atlantic adventure.

This is a tight timeline. To be at the starting point for an Atlantic crossing in the right season from mid-November through to January you need to leave northern Europe no later than September, and preferably earlier. If it’s your first ocean passage, there will be an enormous amount to prepare and to learn, and your choice of yacht will greatly affect how much time you have to play with.

If you are thinking of buying a new boat, you’ll need a two-year run-up, perhaps longer. Bear in mind that supply chain delays and bottlenecks are currently causing delivery times to drag, and schedules are slipping again and again. You’ll also need to build in time for snagging and warranty work on a new build.

“I would normally say you could go with a new boat within a year, but at the moment, almost certainly not,” says Jeremy Wyatt, director of World Cruising Club. With over 25 years of experience organising the ARC and other rallies, Wyatt is an authority on the ways skippers prepare for ocean crossings and their degrees of success.

“You need to allow more time in your planning whatever you are told,” he says. “With a new build, you need to own it and have it in your possession for six months before you plan to sail away, as a rule of thumb.

Any Atlantic crossing will involve meticulous planning and preparation. Photo: James Mitchell

“I think with new boats, owners are a bit over-optimistic in their planning and with the information they are given. They maybe don’t always appreciate how complex it is, and with lots of systems on board, that is understandable.

“So I would say getting a new boat with only a year to go is too risky. You would need more time.”

If time is short, you may need to look at a brokerage yacht, which opens up a host of other questions. What is the right type and size of yacht, and what will represent a good buy?

Data from a generation of ARC rallies, from thousands of yachts that have crossed the Atlantic successfully, proves that any well prepared yacht can do this, from 34ft up to 100ft-plus. The choice depends on your budget and your expectations.

A smaller yacht is fine if you are prepared for longer passage times and less stowage and comfort. You might also be ready to go more quickly if you were prepared to accept fewer home comforts, which tend to require multiple complex systems. Every piece of equipment you can live without is something that can’t go wrong, and a learning curve you can eliminate.

ARC participants set off. Photo: James Mitchell

How much time have you got?

As well as calculating your budget for upgrading and refitting, you’ll need to consider how much time you will have to plan, oversee and carry out a multitude of tasks. If you have to work right up until you sail away in the spring or summer beforehand, time will be a scarce commodity.

You will likely want to take courses on diesel engine maintenance, troubleshooting and repairing mechanical and electrical systems, medical and sea survival courses, and do meteorology and radio comms courses. You or your crew may also want specialist hands-on offshore sail training or onboard tuition, but courses like these don’t run every week, and you may have to travel to them.

A yacht that needs less work will buy you more time to fit all these in.

“My advice for going next year would be to get a boat being sold by an owner who had been extended bluewater cruising already, a yacht that has been used and maintained continuously,” counsels Wyatt. “Maybe you would be buying a slightly more expensive boat, but it might save you money and time in the long run.

Completing items on the jobs list before a crossing. Photo: James Mitchell

“I wouldn’t rule out a hard-used boat if the owner had been living aboard, using it and it’s been looked after. It’s boats that have been sitting in the marina with systems not used and maintained that tend to give problems.”

Sue Grant, managing director of bluewater brokers Berthon International, agrees: “A year is quite a long time if you have the right boat. Age is not so critical, the standard of fit-out is. The ideal scenario would be someone has prepped for going and changed their plans. We have got a few like that [for sale] at the moment as, when Covid restrictions lifted, the right time [for their owners] had passed.

“Reliability is what you are looking for. Look at things that can go wrong, such as standing rigging. With a watermaker, engine, generator and electronics, they need to be operational but not the latest and greatest. There are things you will need to stay safe, and then there are things such as flatscreen TVs or AV systems that are nice to have but you will never get back [at resale].”

Grant agrees boat condition is more important than type. “Look at boats crossing with the ARC. It’s wholly wrong that only a medium displacement boat is suitable. That is rubbish. A Beneteau that just needs a tidy up to give her what she needs to go again is probably a safe bet. Obviously, you need to think differently if you’re going into the Pacific, planning to be away for 10 years or going to high latitudes.”

There are, she insists, always yachts on the market that will get you across on a deadline. “Right now, for example, we have a 2010 boat that has been across the Atlantic three times and was shipped last time. She has 2,000 engine hours, new sails but needs new rigging, and could even be ready for a season in the Med before you cross the Atlantic next year. With a good boat, a year is quite a lot of time.”

Sharing responsibilities – both on the boat and in the build-up – can ease the load and make it a more shared experience. Photo: Tor Johnson

Ready for a refit

It is commonplace, however, for owners to underestimate how much it will cost to refit and prepare a yacht.

From the survey of their Samoa 47, the Blom-Sipkens were well aware their boat would need a lot of work, possibly including re-engining. They anticipate that they’ll spend 25% of the initial cost getting the boat ready for their trip.

“We knew work had to be done. There were faults in the electrical system, wires were loose and things didn’t work. The engine was smoking white. We had a sense there might be additional problems. But the sails are good and rigging is good, the generator is OK. We will fit a wind turbine and solar panels, and there are all the little costs, for example adding extra guardrails for the kids,” she says.

“When we bought the boat we had a general idea of what it might cost but the prices have gone up due to inflation. The money is running out quickly.”

“Be careful about what you spend your money on,” Jeremy Wyatt recommends. “When buying their dream boat people often focus on the wrong things and neglect the basics. They feel they must have a watermaker or a generator, whereas I wouldn’t exclude boats without those items as you can go sailing without them, especially on an Atlantic circuit.”

Look instead at the integrity of the boat, the rigging and the safety equipment, he says. Insurance companies may insist on replacement rigging every 10-12 years.

Earning the reward; a perfect Caribbean anchorage for photographer Tor Johnson on his Jeanneau 509 Kãholo. Photo: Tor Johnson

The list of safety gear required for the ARC is extensive and can be costly, and you can’t cut corners with the safety of your family at stake. Your new boat may need some replacement sails, or extra downwind sails. The power or electrical systems might need to be upgraded.

You will need to check running rigging, winches and windlass, have machinery serviced, check steering and stern gear and, depending on the yacht’s inventory, invest in an adequate stock of spares. The lists go on, but the better prepared and maintained the boat is when you buy it, the quicker you can be ready to go cruising.

The benefits of teamwork

Whether you have a long time to prepare or not, getting the right crew together can help share out tasks and increase the enjoyment of participation. If you can, select the right people at the outset.

In November, US sailors Chris and Laura (they prefer us not to use their surname) will be travelling to France for the launch of their new Ovni 450, Reverie, on which they hope to cross the Atlantic for the first time with the ARC in November 2023.

Reverie’s launch will be a milestone in what has been a long-term plan for Chris and Laura. They spent two-and-a-half years choosing their ideal bluewater yacht before ordering it, and their Atlantic crossing dream has been years in the making.

US sailors Chris and Laura own a Swan 40 but are awaiting delivery of an Ovni 450.

The couple are very seasoned sailors who own two other yachts, a Swan 40 that they sail on Lake Michigan during the summer and a Southerly 115 Mk IV that they keep in Florida and sail during the winter. For their Atlantic crossing they will be sailing with friends, another experienced sailing couple.

Chris is a retired business strategist who worked on high level plans routinely made five to 10 years in advance. So it is unsurprising that his ARC preparations are highly detailed. They give an interesting perspective on how to use the pooled expertise of a team to develop a readiness plan.

“If you have a team with the experience, knowledge and passion — all these three ingredients — a lot of stuff comes automatically as long as you give it time,” he observes.

The four friends have weekly conference calls that will continue until they begin sailing from France next summer. From these discussions, the couple have prepared a comprehensive plan covering 58 categories, each of which runs to as many as 12 pages. They cover everything from safety to water supplies, procedures onboard to spare parts, first aid kit and training, travel requirements and food.

“The list is extensive,” Chris says. “I am very big on contingency management so we have power from solar, a diesel genset, hydrogenerator and wind, and we have alternative ways of supplying water – including supplies if we need to rescue other crew and have another four or six people on board.”

Las Palmas gets busy at the start of the ARC, so plan ahead for essential maintenance. Photo: James Mitchell

In the food category is ‘a 21-day food plan with an additional 30-day contingency plan using dry foods or items in aseptic packaging’. Each topic has been divided into priorities and ‘nice-to-have areas’, such as carrying a good assortment of fishing gear and things to keep the crew entertained en route.

“We look at this as a fully cohesive integrated strategy,” he says.

The other benefit of tapping into the experience of others and involving them along the way is that you can share out responsibilities during the preparations.

“As in a business, one of the biggest signals to me is getting the right individuals. Do they come up with ideas and say they will do them? We have distributed areas and each has a project owner,” says Chris.

“Everybody is participating and that is a big part of developing the plan and making sure it is executed. Not only has my confidence grown, it has become more and more secure.”
Whenever you aim to leave, be sure to allow for sailing time as a crew beforehand. If your yacht is larger than you’re used to, if it’s not very familiar or you’ll be sailing two-up, take your time to build confidence.

You also need time and miles to find out if, for example, the watermaker works upwind on starboard tack or windows leak when it’s rough. You’ll want to practice emergency routines and MOB drills. Those are all best done near your home port.

“Factor in sea trials and the experience of living on board – and not just a weekend on the Solent but for several weeks,” says Jeremy Wyatt. “Then you will find out the things you want or need to change.”

“Most of all,” he adds, “don’t forget why you’re doing this. You are going to be busy; it may cost more than you planned. The more time you take to prepare, the more time you will get to enjoy the journey. When you leave you want to be stress free. You’ve done the hard work. Now you want to sail away and have fun.”

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The post How to prepare for an Atlantic crossing appeared first on Yachting World.

We hit a wave, the bow bouncing into the air. The roar reverberating from inside the covered cockpit intensifies and I look out of the bubble window to a wall of seemingly solid water rushing down the deck towards me. Medallia lurches, the water crashes into the window inches from my face then cascades down the open back of the cockpit, writes Pip Hare.

My fingers are curled around the edge of my carbon bucket seat. I need to ease the headsail, which I know will add some speed but the other side of the cockpit seems a long, treacherous journey away. I sit for a bit longer contemplating my moves while Medallia relentlessly thunders on.

Pip Hare finishing the 2020 Vendée Globe in 19th and 1st British skipper. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

I spent my first few experiences sailing my new IMOCA in this sort of stunned state. The boat is incredible, it holds the course record for the Vendée Globe race, it is powerful – simple in some ways, complicated in others – and seemed like such a huge step up for a sailor like me. Sailing this fast is the most incredible experience but I wondered how long it would take for this speed and violent motion to become normal – or if it ever would.

It is not just the boat that has changed over the last year. I started my 2020 Vendée Globe race as a rank outsider in an old yacht, having pulled a campaign together with crowdfunding, a lot of hard graft, and support from friends and strangers alike. But now I find myself as skipper and CEO of a fully professional offshore racing team.

We employ 13 people across the whole business, our focus is on delivering elite sporting performance and a solid tangible return to our sponsors. I am an athlete, a business person, a figurehead and I have responsibilities that weigh much heavier on a sailor than navigating any Southern Ocean storm.

The transition to this new state has been rapid. I’ve had to learn along the way and at times the business has paralysed me in the same way the boat did on the first few sessions. But one of the great attributes we have as human beings is our ability to adapt. My ‘new normal’ is a million miles away from what life looked like in 2019.

Fast track foiling

The new Medallia 2 racing along on foils. Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

The best part of my job is, of course, the sailing. I’m not embarrassed to say that although the boat we chose as our next IMOCA was exactly the boat that I wanted, the first few times I sailed it I was intimidated by its pedigree. You do not want to lose control in a 60ft boat with 550-plus square metres of sail.

The mechanics of sailing the new boat are reassuringly familiar and most definitely easier to manage than on Superbigou. All sails can be managed from the covered cockpit and a central pedestal. The mast track has locks to hold the head of the main in position on each reef point (no more trips forward to reef).

Above: launching the new foiling Medallia, formerly Bureau Vallée 2/Banque Populaire VIII. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

The keel can be moved at the touch of a button and lines are positioned with corresponding halyards and tacks on opposite sides of the boat so winches can be loaded pre-manoeuvre and left. These details make a difference, and I quite quickly felt confident managing the boat on my own.

I got used to the foils in a ‘painting by numbers’ mode last year. Put them out above seven knots of boat speed and they will start to improve righting moment, allowing more power through the main. From 7 knots to about 18 knots of boat speed there is not that much difference in how the boat feels, it is just faster with the foils.

Above 20 knots of boat speed is when the magic happens. This is when the bow starts to lift out of the water and the boat becomes animal. I played around with this, following the tuning guide and having fun with the speed, but never felt I was getting the most out of the boat.

Medallia getting ready to launch. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

This season, with a new set of sails and having the confidence of a full and thorough refit, I worked for a couple of weeks with coaches to help me understand using my foils properly at speed. As with sailing a skiff, it is about keeping the bow up enough to clear the water, but not so much that you ‘wheelie’ or take off. This can be controlled with foil rake (we can rake them forwards up to 5° to lift off more) and fierce management of the ballast and sails stacking.

I’ve learned to feel the boat trim and when I need to lift the bow. Keel angle is also vital in this equation: above 20 knots of boat speed and the keel starts to provide negative righting moment. In simple terms it starts acting as a foil lifting the boat out of the water, so at high speeds the keel angle needs to be dropped to maintain control and for extra speed.

Keeping the bow up to clear the water –but not too much – is the key to extra speed with Medallia. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

Pip Hare’s full schedule

My race calendar for 2022 is busy. I have three solo races, and will be taking part in the Round Britain and Ireland Race with a full crew of five. The boat must be at the race village up to two weeks ahead of each solo event, and then there are deliveries to and from each start and finish.

This takes out nine weeks from 39 weeks on the water. I will be spending around five weeks racing. Then, so long as we have no major failures, I have reluctantly agreed to a roughly 60/40 custody share of the boat with my shore team. That leaves just 15 weeks to train.

Working with team technical director Joff Brown. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

Once again my performance goals are a steep, hard climb. My overall aim for this year is to learn to sail this boat to its full potential in its current configuration.

Medallia is a 2015 Verdier/VPLP design, it was the first generation of boats designed with foils (rather than have them retrofitted) and the only one of its generation which is still running on small foils. Foiling is a new experience for me, so my objectives for 2022 include learning how to sail well with the original foils. I will be changing to big ones in early 2023.

To fast track this I’ll be working with coaches – but even this is not simple. The IMOCA class is booming, and many people I might turn to for advice are already working with other teams or have projects of their own. This forced me to look outside the world of solo racing and begin working with coaches from fully crewed teams.

Training with Medallia in the Canary Islands. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

This, it transpired, has been a stroke of genius. Jack Bouttell and Ben Schwarz both raced around the world in the Volvo Ocean Race and are now on the Jules Verne crew for the maxi trimaran Spindrift. Having them on board has given me the opportunity to experience the ‘no excuses’ approach of the fully crewed world.

Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

We have worked on sail crossovers for my new sails, polars, trim books (a manual of sail settings, foil adjustment, stacking positions and much more for all possible conditions), instrument calibration, autopilot settings, and so much more. At times all I could do was watch as this well-oiled team of strong, younger men put my boat through its paces. But with each gear change I learned and questioned, and felt how my boat should be when it is fully arced up and raging.

I can’t sail exactly like them. I’m a 48-year-old woman, alone, managing sails which are way in excess of my bodyweight. But now I have sailed with them I go out alone and realise I can achieve the same performance on my own – and when I am there I can sustain it. I just won’t be up there all of the time.

Athlete’s life

Fitness training, diet, and sleep are also important parts of my routine and, as ever, hard to manage. My age is something that can’t be avoided. I’ll be 50 when I start the next Vendée Globe. At a time in life when many people are moving on to more gentle physical activities, I’ll be making my debut as a full-time professional athlete.

Pip’s calendar includes the 2022 Vendée Arctique and Route du Rhum; 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre; and 2024 Transat before the Vendée Globe. Photo: Richard Langdon/Ocean Images /Pip Hare Ocean Racing

I need to work on my strength constantly, building muscle is essential to managing the enormous loads on the boat injury free. The only way I can build that strength is through focussed gym sessions and good nutrition. When you spend your life on the road, living out of Airbnb apartments and travelling to presentations, routine is near impossible.

Working with personal trainer Rob Stewart, we run three 6am sessions a week in my garage gym when I am home, and I fit weight training sessions in on other days. If I’m not sailing, I will add an hour of cardio training (usually running), while on sailing days the cardio takes care of itself.

My diet is proving harder to manage. In truth I seldom leave myself enough time to shop well and prepare good quality regular meals. The irony is that I eat best when I am racing because I am forced to plan my meals ahead.

Behind the scenes

Our shore team has grown, and they too have a big job to keep our beast of a boat in good condition. Joff Brown has stayed as technical director to the team and brings 20-plus years experience of running IMOCA racing programs. A winter refit allowed us to ‘undo’ Medallia’s post-Vendée fatigue. Now the team are focussed on keeping everything running, and working with me to develop and adapt, to make the boat faster, to make my life easier.

We’re moving away from the ‘keep it safe’ ethos that underlined boat preparation in my last campaign towards ‘make it fast’. The team is obsessed with details, weight saving, efficiency – and they need to be.

It has been very important for me to offer entry level jobs to young people as well as ensuring a high level of knowledge and experience within the shore team. Finding the right people has not been easy – many people apply for sailing positions on the team, but finding people who genuinely want to make a career in technical boat preparation has been hard. We are still relatively small compared to many of the IMOCA teams, so everyone has to take responsibility for their areas.

I have less to do with the boat preparation that I am used to. I hand over at the end of each day on the water; we talk through problems, suggestions, work up the job list. Joff is also working on planning for our 2023 refit. We’ll be working with designer Guillaume Verdier and Kevin Escoffier from team PRB on the new foil design. Building work starts this summer and installation will be at Carringtons in early 2023.

Money talks

Lou Adams is Pip Hare Ocean Racing’s head of business and operations. Photo: Pip Hare Ocean Racing

The other side of the team is the business. It is the engine that drives us all forwards, but it is not glamorous and is the bit that seems to suck my time. Lou Adams has taken over full time as head of business and operations. It has been a real relief to step back from the day-to-day running of our team, which is complex and complicated.

In the same way that Formula 1 teams pack up and move their operation to a different race track every few weeks, so we need to arrive at different venues, fully functional with a mobile workshop, tools, spares, and support boat. My only job now is to turn up with the boat and the rest happens around me. I cannot explain what a weight off my shoulders this is (though I still feel a little like a prima donna).

But when it comes to dealing with fundraising, finances and sponsor obligations, I cannot walk away. We are a team, and we race as a team – albeit in my name. However, as CEO and spokesperson, much of my time needs to be spent with the people who fund us (or who we would like to fund us).

As a naturally shy person I have had to learn to speak in public, to have the confidence to sell myself in meetings and it is still a struggle for me to come to terms with presenting myself as anything other than very normal. But, together with Lou, I have worked hard on developing a way to collaborate with our sponsors that genuinely brings them into the team, and addresses what they want out of a partnership.

Pip was awarded the RYS Francis Chichester Trophy, among many accolades. Photo: Pip Hare Ocean Racing

The most stressful part of my job is managing the finances. We are a small team reaching high, and managing our cashflow is a huge challenge. I feel the weight of responsibility towards employees, subcontractors, and sponsors enormously and I am not oblivious to the world at large: we are in an immensely privileged position and I feel accountable for making the most of what we have on every level.

Most months I have big decisions to make that could change the course of the campaign. We need to sign more sponsors to complete our funding package and for both Lou and I this is constantly in the front of our minds. Although the last Vendée Globe race had a lot of mainstream media coverage, sailing is still a lesser known sport to sell.

Upping the ante

The world of IMOCA sailing has changed incredibly in the short four years that I have been involved and solo ocean racing is enjoying something of a heyday right now. The 2020 Vendée Globe race really highlighted the value of this international sporting event and there has been a big influx of sponsors into the class. This translates to more teams of a higher calibre.

Not only is there fierce competition on the water but we’ll also be fighting for places on the start line. In every other edition of the race, finishing the previous Vendée Globe race gave a skipper automatic qualification to the next. Not so this time round.

There will be 40 places available on the start in November 2024; 13 of these will be given over to new boats (there are 14 new boats in build), one is a wild card at the organisers’ discretion and the remaining 26 places must be earned by skippers competing in and finishing IMOCA races.

On a global level this is incredible for the sport. It means more events, more races to follow, more chances to compete. On the other it has upped the ante in an event which was already tough. We need to race and I need to finish. This adds up to more miles on the boat, more budget to raise, more time and resources to keep everything in the best condition. Every time we race there is risk. If we don’t race the risk is bigger.

The shore team takes over when the boat is in dock. Photo: Pip Hare Ocean Racing

There’s always too much to do and each day I need to try to work out the most important thing for the campaign. This level of pressure has been normal to me for a few years and I’m used to it. Now, at least on land, I have my team to shoulder the load.

The one thing that grounds me, the reason it’s all worthwhile, is the fact that I now find sailing at over 25 knots normal.

I’m constantly filled with wonder and amazement at what I, a small human being, can get this boat to do. Being alone in the ocean allows me to step away from the reluctant businesswoman I have had to become. I have so much to learn, I want to become a completely different sailor over the next few years, but getting to grips with a foiling IMOCA is blowing my mind.

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Merf Owen, of Owen Clarke Yacht Design, has designed many a high latitudes yacht for cruising, while his wife Ashley Perrin is a professional ice pilot, formerly working for the British Antarctic Survey. He advises: “Choosing a yacht to cruise in high latitudes is inherently more complicated.

“The first thing to consider is where in the high latitudes you are likely to want to explore, weighing up the boat and the experience you will have on board. Lots of people cruise in high latitudes on yachts some would deem unsuitable, but many of these people are very experienced. A well-found GRP yacht or even a wooden Bristol pilot cutter could be a great contender for cruising northern Norway and Svalbard – but wouldn’t be suitable for the Northwest Passage. It is about what you’re planning to do, your expedition strategy and your level of experience.

It doesn’t have to be metal: Merf Owen and Ashley Perrin cruise a lightweight but fast GRP yacht into high latitudes, but with great care and a lot of experience behind them. Photo: Merf Owen

“Also, would a stronger boat perhaps one day give you a false sense of security, meaning you go somewhere that you really shouldn’t? That’s worth considering too.”

High latitude cruising grounds have something of a hierarchy, Perrin explains. “People can put them all into one category, but each area has different characteristics. For example, Norway is a great training ground to see if you like the high latitude style of sailing. While also being wonderful cruising, it is well supported by good search and rescue and is (relatively) easy to get to. Greenland is a step up from that, then perhaps the Patagonian canals.

“The Antarctic peninsula is serious high latitude cruising, but by far the most extreme of them all is South Georgia. Extremely exposed, far from help and hard to get to! Each requires different things from the yacht.”

As a yacht designer, Owen’s view on what characteristics are important counter some conventions. “The stability curve is important to look at, but more important than the righting angle of the yacht is the amount of hull physically in the water, the mass that’s going to stop you tipping over, which of course also has a correlation with hull speed. Speed is safety in the high latitudes and, as there can sometimes be no wind preceding a gale, motoring range and speed aren’t dirty words either!

Climbing the rig while conning for ice – hull material choice is just one factor when it comes to specc’ing a yacht for high latitudes. Photo: Sophie O’Neill

“‘Expedition yachts’ are also a new trend, and it’s a look of yacht that is becoming more popular, but not all are actually that well suited. Lifting keel yachts have many good attributes for high-latitude sailing, but [if they have] little fuel and water capacity, they are limited. You need to consider yacht specification sheets, correlating them carefully to the mission you have in mind.”

Choice of hull material is a big question, however, going for the toughest ice-proof design might not be advisable: “If you’re starting out you shouldn’t really be allowing yourself into a situation where you might be iced in, so perhaps it shouldn’t be your primary concern.

“A centreboard is useful in high latitude anchorages but being able to sail to windward off a lee shore is a fundamental characteristic. Balance everything out, rather than take a sales description at face value.”

A niche market

Jildou Huisman is experienced at selling in the high-latitudes yacht market, dealing in new and used yachts for KM Yachtbuilders in the Netherlands. Working mostly in aluminium, the yachts they build are often fully custom projects, specified for a specific high latitude mission. Their brokerage department also re-sells many high latitude-equipped yachts they have built as well as undertaking refits.

“We have seen a big increase in the number of people looking for a yacht that’s happy in the high latitudes,” says Huisman.

“The main thing that differentiates an aluminium yacht we build for high latitudes from one for more temperate sailing is the thickness of the hull. For simply cold weather sailing we would build around 6mm thick, but for high latitudes 10-15mm is needed for strength and rigidity. To overwinter iced in, as some of our customers have done successfully, a very strong hull is needed to withstand the pressure of the ice. We have built up to 25mm thick.

“Redundancy in systems such as heating, autopilot, etc are important as well. As a lot of our builds are completely custom, they are sometimes very specific aesthetically, largely because owners can spend a very long time living aboard.

2006 Bestevaer 56ST A custom build for high latitude sailing, Tranquillo is a veteran of extended expeditions. kmy.nl Photo: KM Yachtbuilders

“Tranquillo, a Bestevaer 56, for example, has a classic look on the outside but is very modern on the inside, it was the owner’s way of making it his long term home. He completed the Northwest Passage twice on that yacht, spending 10 months iced in in Canada.”

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The Surveyor’s View

Marine surveyor Ben Sutcliffe-Davies on steel vs aluminium yachts:

• Aluminium tends to be a much more consistent and predictable material for a hull than steel and requires very little maintenance. Steel, although strong, is inherently prone to rusting which tends to occur in places that are hard to reach.

• The ‘grade’ of construction material is fundamental. Yachts are occasionally built with a non-marine grade metal, despite this compromising the vessel.

• Whether steel or aluminium, welding is likely to be the weak point in the structure. Quite a few high latitude yachts are ‘home built’ so quality of welding will be a big factor.

• Poor bonding and isolation in metal yachts can be fatal to the hull structure. Even production aluminium yachts come out of the yard with features that will eat through the hull because isolation between two incompatible metals has been overlooked.

We bought a second hand high latitude yacht

Sophie O’Neill and Chris Kobusch recently purchased a steel-hulled Rekere 36 Ocean Wanderer. As skippers for Skip Novak’s Pelagic Expeditions, they are experienced in sailing at high latitudes and plan to cruise both the Arctic and Antarctic while making videos for their YouTube channel Seas & Summits.

Sophie O’Neill and Chris Kobusch. Photo By: Sophie O’Neill

“Experience sailing Skip’s carefully designed yachts taught us that dependability, which could also be called simplicity, should lead the search for our own yacht,” explains Chris. “That said, it is hard to find a high latitude yacht on the used market, so there’s likely to be a degree of compromise whatever you buy. An aluminium hull is great if you can afford it as it’s maintenance free, but steel is much cheaper and still extremely strong as long as it’s properly maintained.”

Sophie and Chris had a list of essentials. “A pilot or doghouse is important in high latitudes. A constant and reliable source of heat also becomes crucial if you’re cruising for any length of time, so we were looking for a Refleks stove already on board, or the possibility to fit one. Originally conceived for fishing boats, unlike hot blown air diesel heating, you tend to turn the Refleks on and just leave it ticking over. Diesel consumption isn’t as much as you might think and we leave a kettle on the top so there is constant hot water for drinks.”

Due to how small the market for used high latitude yachts is, and worried they would lose the boat to another buyer, Sophie and Chris purchased Ocean Wanderer without a survey. “We actually came across her in the Azores. We’d been looking for about two years online, but no boat came as close as a prospect for us. There was already someone else interested but we got to know the owners, who had circumnavigated twice on her.

Ocean Wanderer after an Atlantic delivery to the UK. Photo: Sophie O’Neill

“They could see we would take her on the adventures she was built for, so we did a deal.
“As they’d lived on board we didn’t have the concerns we might have had about a yacht that was only used part-time. Their lives had depended on her. There is also a great benefit to having common ground with the previous owner: they have spent a lot of time handing over to us and that has been invaluable.”

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 Second hand yachts: Buying a high latitudes yacht appeared first on Yachting World.

We sailed to the atoll of Fakarava for one reason: diving! This distant enclave is a sleepy little island that has Polynesian traditions as deep as the sea. Whether you’re a novice to snorkelling or a waterlogged divemaster, Fakarava’s ancient volcano caldera offers some of the most amazing undersea experiences anywhere in the world. The vast biome and unique ecosystem here has earned this atoll recognition as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, hopefully protecting and preserving this reef for decades to come.

My wife, Rachel, and I sailed our 37-year-old Tayana 42 Agápe over 15,000 miles down central America, from southern California to Panama, across the Pacific Ocean to the Galapagos and Gambier, and finally out into the famed ‘dangerous archipelago’.

The Tuamotus were bestowed this name long ago by a heartier breed of explorers because of the low-lying islands, strong currents, and unpredictable passes. Navigating by sextant and dead reckoning alone, sailors would often decide to completely avoid these 78 atolls and their fringing reefs.

Only in recent decades, with modern charts and GPS, has it become safer to traverse this archipelago. The Tuamotus, once tall volcanic islands jutted from the endless pacific blue, are now just low-lying rings of coral, only a few metres above sea level. Their often jagged coral shorelines ensure any sandy beaches are highly prized.

After three months with no grocery stores, our meals on board were getting creative to say the least, and a quick 80-mile overnight sail to Fakarava was filled with dreams of fresh vegetables and a salad sized for a village.

We set a route that took us close to the leeward side of several neighbouring atolls. As palm trees are usually the highest points on the islands, this afforded us relatively unobstructed winds and calmer seas. Combined with a warm 22°C night-time low and a full moon it made for perfect sailing conditions.

First light found Agápe and her crew patiently waiting outside the pass. Entering the turquoise water of the lagoon means first navigating through a narrow pass, or break, in the protective barrier reef.

This can prove to be a harrowing experience as the tide, wind, and waves all push water into the lagoon, forcing it to exit a small channel. Three to four knots of current is common, and currents can reach eight knots or stronger in high wind and surf conditions, making it very difficult for a boat that only motors at 5 knots to enter the lagoon.

Once inside, the challenge of entering was quickly forgotten as we struggled to take in the sheer beauty of this low-lying island. The copra, or coconut farms, which take up most of the island ensure that the scene is one from a tropical postcard. Palm trees overhang the shallow water or reach to the sun, jockeying for position in the skyline.

Easy landing by dinghy on a deserted island. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

Fakarava is the second-largest atoll in the Tuamotus and a popular stop for cruisers making their way westward to Tahiti. Of the 800 full-time residents, almost all live in the northern village of Rotoava but, for us, the allure lay 50km south, near the small motu of Tetamanu, where the island’s crown jewel lay hidden just below the surface.

Migration point

Featured in Blue Planet, as well as many other nature documentaries, Fakarava’s South Pass is the main attraction. The South Pass is an amazing drift dive year-round, but once a year, usually during the first full moon of July, this already spectacular dive site becomes truly astounding.

Year after year, like clockwork, tens of thousands of marbled grouper migrate from all over the lagoon to the pass in order to spawn in the strong outgoing tide, hoping to spread their genes into the vast Pacific. With approximately 20,000 grouper congregating in the pass, all manner of predators are attracted to the scene, making for a heart-pounding experience and one of the best shark dives in the world.

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For two weeks, Agápe was converted from a cruising yacht into a floating dive shop. The deck was littered with masks and fins, and bathing suits hung off every rail. The whistle of the kettle in the morning was now rapidly accompanied by the sound of our dive compressor filling tanks.

Poseidon must have been on our side because we had perfect conditions during our time here. The water was as clear as the sky and there was only the slightest breeze rustling the palms.

Lagoon cruising for Agápe. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

Diving from a dinghy here could not have been any simpler, especially if you have two dinghies going out together. Dive moorings are located on the inside and outside of the pass for you to leave dinghies on while you ride the current of the flood tide from the outer drop off, through the pass, and into the shallows of the lagoon.

Diving with sharks and predators

Even if you don’t have your own gear on board, the dive shops here can pick you up directly from your boat. Tetamanu Dive Shop is the heart of the South Pass, and literally sits above the water. We could have spent hours here staring into the sea, watching the comings and goings of black-tip reef sharks, massive Napoleon wrasses, eagle rays, schools of snapper, and all manner of colourful reef fish. Just snorkelling from the dock made the venture here worth it.

We began our descent with the incoming tide at the edge of the barrier reef. As the tide carried us into the underwater canyon we sank down to the bottom, around 30 metres. There we entered what I can only describe as a cloud of groupers. A massive rose garden of coral teeming with life was only overshadowed by the school of grey reef sharks pacing back and forth just past the drop-off.

With nearly 80 islands the Tuamotus archipelago constitutes the world’s largest chain of atolls. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

Every time, no matter how often that silhouette crosses my field of vision, my heart races. Diving to 30m means you have to be relaxed or you burn through air too quickly and I had to consciously slow my breathing and relax for the dive ahead.

As I scanned the bottom, it was hard to believe, let alone count, the thousands upon thousands of groupers that slowly swam among the coral. Never before had I seen something so incredible. It was akin to looking at a moving, living, carpet covering the seafloor.

Grey reef sharks lazily swim overhead. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

We slowly drifted past dozens of different types of coral, eels, anemones and clownfish until we finally reached the greatest part of the dive, the ‘wall of sharks’. Here, along a vertical wall where the current runs the strongest, schooling sharks congregate. Hundreds of aggregating grey reef sharks spread out over three-walled sections of the pass.

All night, these evolutionary masterpieces feed on the overstock of fish in the pass and then use the strong current to rest and digest during the day. Since these sharks need water to flow over their gills to breathe, they lazily swim against the current, resting from their all-night buffet. Scientists estimate that over 700 sharks gather in this deep underwater gorge.

Lagoon life

If tempting fate with the sharks is not your idea of fun, just a short sail to the south-east corner of the island is the largely protected anchorage of Harifa. This is one of the most popular anchorages in the Tuamotus, and at times you might share it with as many as 40 other cruising boats. The sand beach here is perfect for barbecues and beach games, sea shelling and hammock siestas. The Tuamotu Kite School, run by Aline and Adrian, also calls Harifa home, offering kiting lessons and equipment rentals, adding to the activity list.

Grouper gather in Tetamanu’s South Pass. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

Fakarava, because of its size and well-charted channels, also affords sailors a chance to enjoy flat water lagoon sailing. Moving from the activity-packed south of the island to the town in the north is often the epitome of champagne sailing.

Calm, clear waters, a palm-lined shoreline, and a warm breeze make a run for groceries something to look forward to. If you plan to sail outside the marked channels be sure to keep an eye out for uncharted bommies, and it’s advised to sail when the sun is high or at your back.

American Joshua Shankle and his wife, Rachel Moore, set out from California in 2016 on a circumnavigation aboard their 1984 Tayana 42 Agápe. They have spent the past two years exploring the South Pacific. Photo: Rachel Moore/Voyages of Agape

We found this atoll to have the perfect combination of adrenaline-filled, ocean-oriented activities and relaxing under palm trees watching the day and any stress drift away. In total, Agápe spent over two months sailing around the protected waters of Fakarava’s lagoon. Life here was slow and sweet, but as the weather began to change and maramu season approached, we sensed it was time to get moving.

That’s life for a cruising boat. You find paradise, get to know the area, the anchorages, and the people, then just as you start settling in… before you know it, the ocean beckons once again. So we stowed all our toys, transformed Agápe back into a cruising boat, hoisted the sails, and set a course over the horizon for the next paradise.

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There’s no getting around the fact it has become a lot harder to get boat insurance, particularly bluewater cruising insurance. However, there are still ways to secure good coverage – you just need to know what makes insurers tick.

If you want to ruin any cruising sailors’ potluck party on a tropical beach, just drop in a question about boat insurance. Many boat owners have stories to tell. Just about every aspect of the process has become more complicated for bluewater cruising insurance, it takes a bigger chunk out of the cruising budget every year and the rising deductibles make it more and more tempting to go uninsured. So, what is going on in the market and how do you get proper insurance to match your cruising plans?

How bluewater cruising insurance works

First, let’s look at who you are dealing with when you try to get your yacht insured for a trip to the Med, the Caribbean or a circumnavigation.

The insurance company covers your yacht: they write the cheque when there are damages to it or when you’ve caused damage. All this depends on the conditions that you agreed to when taking the policy, but in general, you don’t deal with the insurance company directly when you try to get insurance for a bluewater itinerary. Unlike car insurance, boat insurance is a very specific product and it requires a tailor made approach. Most likely you’ll do business with a broker or an underwriting agent.

Uninsured yacht owners could face enormous salvage, repair and environmental damage costs if the worst should happen. Photo: Ben Welsh Premium/Alamy

The broker considers you, your boat and your plans and presents this ‘package’ to several insurance companies. A single insurance company may want to insure you, but it could also be a syndicate of insurers: each insurer accepting a certain percentage of the risk presented by your package.

There are different kinds of brokers; the difference lies in the amount of work they take off the hands of the insurance companies. If the broker is just helping you to get cover for your beautiful blue water itinerary, you’ll get a policy with the header of the insurance company. If the broker does a lot more work, for instance manning phone lines for 24/7 assistance and handling of claims, you may find their company name at the top of your policy. Brokers that take the most work off the hands of the insurers are called managing general agents (MGAs).

What has changed?

Why has it become more complicated to get yacht insurance for blue water voyages? Mike Wimbridge, managing director of Pantaenius UK, explains: “Yacht insurance for offshore itineraries has always been a tailor made market. And we see that, in recent years, there has been less appetite from the insurance companies when it comes to yacht insurance in general. For coastal cruising in UK waters, things are still fairly easy to insure. But for more bespoke risks like insuring a bluewater cruise, we see that the market is nervous.”

There are several reasons behind this change, Wimbridge says. “Up until 2017 this was a highly competitive market, so prices were as low as possible. It then became untenable for many insurers, especially when a few big windstorms tore through areas where lots of yachts were stored.

“Insurance companies and their reinsurance companies pulled out of the market, leaving a few behind who needed to safeguard their financial situation. So the premiums and deductibles rose. Things are stabilising now, but we still see slight increases annually.”

There are other factors at play. The effects of climate change mean extreme weather events happen more often.

Sailing off the beaten track can be challenging to insure. Photo: Janneke Kuysters

The typical consumer profile has also changed. In the past, yacht owners usually set off on passage armed with sextants, paper charts and a wealth of experience. Nowadays it has become a lot easier to get started – thanks to everything from computer-based navigation systems to powered sail handling – so owners can set off on a bluewater cruise with less experience.

At the same time, boats have become larger and potential claims more expensive: a single lightning strike can destroy tens of thousands of pounds worth of electronics, so it’s perhaps understandable insurers can be nervous to write bespoke policies.

However, there are signs that the market is rebalancing. Ric De Cristofano, director of underwriting with Topsail Insurance, says: “The good news is that the insurance market is cyclical: it will bounce back. I think we have the worst time behind us and we’ll see that insurers become more open to write policies for bluewater cruising yachts.”

How to get bluewater cruising insurance

If you are looking for insurance for a bluewater itinerary, Wimbridge says, “Getting a quote is getting harder and harder. You have to ‘pitch’ yourself, your boat and your plans to the insurer. The broker can help you to do this or you can select a carrier that has staff on hand who are experienced in this area. Things like your sailing CV, diplomas and those of your crew, previous long passages that you have successfully undertaken, and technical or managerial skills that will benefit your sailing, are very important to mention.

“When it comes to the boat: the more seaworthy, the better. There is no real threshold when it comes to boat value, but a well found yacht that is suitable for offshore cruising is paramount to get insurance.”

“We have added a maintenance log to our ‘pitch’ to get insurance,” say American cruisers Jason and Nicky Wynn (see gonewiththewynns.com). “This has added to the success of securing insurance for our boat.” Keep receipts and take photographs as proof of upgrades and repairs, and record a log of routine maintenance.

“The third element in your ‘pitch’ is your itinerary,” continues Wimbridge. “The Atlantic and Pacific are well-cruised areas where insurers can assess the risk they are writing. But if you’re heading around Cape Horn or further afield in the Indian Ocean, premiums will rise. So with your choice of itinerary you can influence the height of your premium and insurance conditions.”

Hurricane damaged yacht. Photo: Pantaenius

In general, insurers are not keen to cover your yacht if you sail in areas with a cyclone/hurricane risk. They have predefined areas and dates which are important to adhere to if you want to stay insured. You will also have a very hard time finding insurance to sail in areas with political instability, war or threats of terrorism. War Risk zones are internationally acknowledged areas where even large commercial ships pay breathtaking insurance premiums.

De Cristofano adds: “Start looking for an insurer at least six months before you plan to leave. Have a chat with your broker to see if they will be able to find insurers that will cover your itinerary. Give yourself ample time to put your ‘pitch’ together and to discuss possible alternatives with your insurer that will lead to a policy that fits your budget.

“It pays to negotiate about the deductible: if you are willing to accept a higher deductible, this may make a significant difference in the premium you will be paying, because it signals to the insurer that you have confidence in your yacht and your skills to maintain it properly.”

However, Wimbridge warns: “Price is not all; think of insurance as a partnership with the insurer. The cheapest policy may not do what you need it to do when you are in trouble on the other side of the planet. You need an insurer who has the knowledge and the capacity to get help to you where you are: spare parts, technical assistance or even worst case, salvage. A lot of the cheaper insurance options will require hiring a third party provider locally, which may present all sorts of cultural and language barriers. So look at the quality of the policy.”

Real world solutions

Bill Garlick is a well known name in the cruising community: many boat owners who have sailed to the other side of the world and run into trouble with their insurance get help from Bill at The Marina Shop in Opua, New Zealand.

“The marine insurance market had a monumental dislocation at the end of 2018 when many Lloyds pleasure craft syndicates closed their books,” Garlick explains. “The lost capacity created a worldwide shortage of marine insurance for pleasure craft. Cover was difficult to find and premiums started rising. Around 95% of our clients were insured with Lloyds at the end of 2018 and those now with Lloyds can be counted on one hand. A number of insurers stepped in to fill the abyss which meant brokers and clients had to deal with new policy wordings and cruising parameters. By the end of 2019 most clients were placed with new insurers.

Keeping a log of regular maintenance can be helpful. Photo: Janneke Kuysters

“A consequence of the contracting market is that marine insurers have tighter criteria and marine insurance is more difficult to secure. Older (30 years-plus), smaller (under 40ft) and low value boats (less than US$100,000) are difficult and sometimes impossible to insure. Standing rigging must be no more than 10 years old (a rig inspection and report is no longer acceptable), surveys are generally required when an insurer takes on a new risk unless the vessel is a relatively new factory production model.”

He adds: “Registration is now the key factor in securing marine insurance. Many insurers are not registered in all countries/jurisdictions so they can only offer cover to certain flags. Choosing a flag is now the decision that determines which – if any – insurers can offer terms.”

Claudia Masson, CEO of the specialised German yacht insurance broker Preuss, says Brexit has also had an impact on European brokers: “Since Brexit, it is no longer possible for us to insure a UK registered yacht with a UK owner. We’ve had to cancel all the policies of our UK clients; this has limited the amount of alternatives there are for UK boat owners.”

“Lightning, windstorm and saltwater damage to electronics and electrical systems are problematic,” adds Garlick. “Many marine insurers simply refuse to offer cover for these risks and others mitigate their exposure by offering high excesses/deductibles.”

Go uninsured?

Every year a number of cruising yacht owners decide to sail uninsured. There are several reasons for this, but usually it’s because of budget constraints or simply because they cannot find an insurer.

But there are considerable risks to going uninsured. First of all, some countries will not let you enter or leave without at least liability insurance – Panama being one example. The same applies to most harbours or marinas.

But the most important thing to consider when you sail uninsured is whether you can afford to lose your boat and equipment. Would being uninsured likely change your behaviour – would it make you less likely to issue a Mayday? In the case that you hit a reef, could you finance the cost of salvage and repairing environmental damage? Or the liability if you accidentally hit another yacht or a swimmer in the water?

“If you are considering sailing uninsured, there are insurers in the UK that will accept yachts for just the liability insurance,” says Ric De Cristofano of Topsail Insurance.

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I view my autopilot in the same way I view sail plan and weight distribution – a variable that must be adjusted and monitored constantly. Human beings change our steering style to suit conditions and so we must trim the autopilot in the same way. This helps not only with good course keeping and speed, but also helps optimise energy consumption.

Most autopilots are capable of several different modes of operation and the key to getting best performance is to know which mode to use when.

Compass mode

This is normally the default mode when a pilot is activated. The unit will be following a compass course. Use this mode for making passages under motor, reaching or fetching under white sails and for all sail changes.

I also favour compass mode in shifty conditions or difficult sea states when sailing upwind. If using compass mode in these conditions it would be necessary to set a softer trim on your sails to allow for variations in the wind angle.

Use twist to do this, bring the jib cars back, loosen the vang and bring the traveller up track, this will allow for a wider course variation without losing power from the sails.

For best performance an autopilot needs to be constantly monitored and adjusted. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Wind mode

Wind mode will steer the boat to a given wind angle. I’d choose to use wind mode when sailing upwind VMG (beating), when sailing with the wind aft of the beam or reaching with a soft sail (spinnaker or Code 0).

There will normally be an option to steer to a True Wind Angle (TWA) or an Apparent Wind Angle (AWA). As a rule of thumb choose to steer to TWA when the wind angle is 70° True or above and use AWA for anything less than that.

Using AWA upwind and TWA downwind allows the pilot to make the correct gust responses; heading up in the gusts when steering to windward while avoiding gybing downwind.

More modern pilots now tend to have an ‘auto’ wind mode which will select either AWA or TWA for you; the machine will normally switch over at 91° True. This is not a bad setting to leave the pilot in as default, but in gusty conditions if close reaching with a powerful sail, such as a Code 0, it may be more advantageous to switch to true wind mode at a higher angle. It’s worth having a dive through the settings to learn how this can be achieved.

Sail trim when using wind mode in flat waters can be fairly powerful; upwind harden your leeches using more mainsheet and set jib cars forward. Downwind use plenty of vang on the mainsail and set symmetrical spinnakers with the pole back.

In bigger waves use a softer sail trim to allow for variations in course and heel angles, soften leeches using twist and ease the spinnaker pole forwards.

Regardless of conditions I’ll always switch to compass mode for sail changes, reefing in and out. During these times the boat will be expected to change speed and balance significantly and this can make the course erratic if steering to a wind angle. So, before a sail change I switch to compass – often increasing the response time by two levels – and then switch back to wind mode once the change has been completed.

As a general rule, set the pilot to steer to TWA from 70° or above. Photo: Mike Jones/Waterline Media

GPS or waypoint mode

In this mode your autopilot will take you to a specific waypoint using a GPS course or even follow a route. This is not a mode I normally choose to use but it could be useful for crossing an area with a strong cross-tide as using COG (course over ground) to steer the boat will automatically compensate for any tidal drift.

This mode is only suitable for shorter legs, or long legs in calm conditions, as on any longer offshore passages you’ll make better progress by navigating to the weather and tidal conditions rather than directly to a waypoint. If your autopilot is capable of following a route it will normally prompt you to accept the course change for each new leg.

Rudder reference

Also known as No Follow Up (NFU) mode, most pilots have this it simply locks the rudder into one position – so the pilot is not following a course. Use this for dock checks (if your boat is moored then it’s difficult to check whether the pilot is working due to being unable to change headings and respond) by moving the rudder from side to side using the +10/-10 commands.

Rudder reference mode can also be used as emergency steering, if your pilot ram is connected directly to the quadrant and your steering cables break then you can use the pilot to move the rudder for close quarters manoeuvring as an alternative to an emergency tiller. It can also be used to lock the helm in position when hove too or lying a hull.

Tacking and gybing

If your pilot is able to sail in wind mode then it will generally have some advanced functionality around tacking and gybing which is worth investigating, particularly if you sail short-handed.

The tacking function will take your boat through a tack and can usually be set up to swing through a specific number of degrees or onto a reciprocal wind angle. I’d normally set the pilot to steer through a set number of degrees as, unless you’re very sure your wind instruments are exactly calibrated to centre (which can take quite a lot of work), tacking through a set angle will normally safeguard against coming out of the tack too high and losing steerage.

You may also have the option to trim ‘rate of turn’ through the tack. This will be a setting to change according to sea conditions, wind strengths and the make-up of your crew. For light winds or challenging sea states use a faster rate of turn, slow the tack down in strong winds with flat water.

Most autopilots have multiple modes and it’s worth learning what each one does. Photo: Paul Wyeth

If using a self-tacking jib the tacks can be fast in almost all conditions. In challenging sea states think about easing the mainsheet prior to the tack to ensure the boat does not end up head to wind if it takes a while to wind the jib on.

Gybing is not so straightforward. Some pilots will use the tack function to gybe so the same options can be chosen, but if using this make sure you have properly adjusted the settings before each gybe to avoid surprises or sudden course changes. The NKE HR pilot I used on the Vendée Globe allowed me to program a pause in the centre of the gybe, which is an incredible feature for a solo sailor on a big boat, so it would steer the boat downwind, pause while I pulled the sails around then head up onto course afterwards.

I often manage gybing manually by putting the pilot into compass mode and then steering through the gybe using the +/-10 buttons on my remote control at a speed that is right for me. This method works for gybing but would not work for tacking as speed is too slow.

Set up and networking

To access all that your pilot can do it must be networked to the rest of your instruments. If you have a mix-match of instruments or have added the pilot in at a later date then don’t overlook this functionality.

Providing the pilot with access to GPS data will provide a level of redundancy for failures of the log or compass – often allowing GPS course and speed to be used instead. Linking wind data to the pilot will allow you to access the wind mode which will provide much more comfortable and accurate course keeping.

It’s well worth investing in a remote control for your autopilot. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Invest in a remote control

With many people increasingly favouring multifunction displays to combine instruments, chartplotters and pilot, I am seeing quite a few boats now where there is only one display in the cockpit and so the pilot controls are not always close to the helm. This is often the case with twin wheeled boats.

With any autopilot set-up consider that a lone sailor should be able to turn the pilot off and take the helm from one position: this is a safety consideration as well as a practical one. You may never aim to have one person alone in the cockpit but it could happen.

Investing in a good remote control for your pilot is a good way to solve this problem without the need to buy more displays or make holes in your boat. The remote will be able to adjust the course from anywhere on board the boat, as well as engaging and disengaging the pilot.

I’d recommend mounting the remote on an elasticated arm strap which is worn on the outside of foul weather gear and handed over at the change of each watch. I favour this over a necklace arrangement as I have, on a couple of occasions, leant against a remote control that was tucked down the front of my foulie jacket, and turned the pilot off by mistake.

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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Don’t miss the final Bluewater Sailing Webinar series by Grand Large Yachting, in association with Yachting World. In this latest episode, former Norwegian Olympic sailor and legendary offshore circumnavigator, Knut Frostad talks digital sailing: A freedom factor on board.

Knut spent many years as a professional sailor, racing in the Olympics and later four times around the world in the Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Race, twice as skipper. More recently he spent 18 months cruising with his family on an Outremer 5X. Knut’s normal day-to-day job is as the President & CEO of Navico, a world leading provider of marine electronics including B&G for sailing and C-Map cartography.

Don’t miss this opportunity to navigate technical waters with Knut Frostad, who you can watch live at 12pm (GMT) today here. Sign up to this link to also receive the replay video, which you can watch at any time.

Bluewater Sailing Webinars

Following two successful seasons, the Grand Large Yachting group (parent company of Outremer) is running a 2021 edition of its popular Bluewater Sailing Webinar series,, in association with Yachting World.

The programme includes six free sessions (all conducted in English), from September 23 to December 2.

The webinars will be live-streamed every fortnight on Thursdays at 1300 (CEST).

To watch and participate in the live Q&A session, register at: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/38lvghn0

Alternatively, you can catch up on past webinars by on Yachting World’s YouTube channel.

Upcoming webinars in the series are:

• December 2: Digital sailing – the freedom factor, with Knut Frostad

https://event.webinarjam.com/register/72/q7vywf85

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.

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Don’t miss the fourth in the Bluewater Sailing Webinar series by Grand Large Yachting, in association with Yachting World. In today’s webinar Nikki Henderson, British yachtswoman and Yachting World contributor, looks a how to co-skipper at sea.

Nikki is well placed to answer this question. As the youngest ever Clipper Round the World Race skipper, she brought together a diverse crew to complete a hugely successful circumnavigation, finishing 2nd on Visit Seattle in the 2017/18 race.

In a real-life example of co-skippering in challenging circumstances, she also joined YouTubers La Vagabonde to sail Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic, working with Riley Whitelum to safely deliver Greta, her father, and Riley’s baby son Lenny on an eastbound Atlantic crossing about their Outremer.

From left: Greta, Lenny, Nikki, Svante, Elayna and Riley.Nikki has also raced the RORC Caribbean 600, Rolex Fastnet Race, Race to Alaska, Rolex Middle Sea Race, sailed with 59 North’s Andy Schell in the Gotland Runt, and was a guest skipper on Tracy Edwards’ refitted Whitbread yacht Maiden.

Nikki combines sailing with her other passion: storytelling – as an author, and as a motivational speaker.

Profoundly affected by the lessons she has learnt at sea, she enjoys sharing her refreshingly honest and unique insights into the human side of this extreme sport, making today’s webinar one not to miss.

Register at https://event.webinarjam.com/register/70/ox2y1amz

Bluewater Sailing Webinars

Following two successful seasons, the Grand Large Yachting group (parent company of Outremer) is running a 2021 edition of its popular Bluewater Sailing Webinar series,, in association with Yachting World.

The programme includes six free sessions (all conducted in English), from September 23 to December 2.

The webinars will be live-streamed every fortnight on Thursdays at 1300 (CEST).

To watch and participate in the live Q&A session, register at: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/38lvghn0

Alternatively, you can catch up on past webinars by on Yachting World’s YouTube channel.

Upcoming webinars in the series are:

• November 4: Clipper skipper Nikki Henderson asks: Can there ever be more than one skipper on board ?

Register at https://event.webinarjam.com/register/70/ox2y1amz

• November 18: Medicine at sea: key skills to have on board with Martin Oudet

https://event.webinarjam.com/register/71/8rlvwtyo

• December 2: Digital sailing – the freedom factor, with Knut Frostad

https://event.webinarjam.com/register/72/q7vywf85

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 Webinar: Nikki Henderson on co-skippering appeared first on Yachting World.

Don’t miss the third in the Bluewater Sailing Webinar series by Grand Large Yachting, in association with Yachting World. This Thursday’s webinar covers the key topic of technical boat management, led by Loïc Helies.

Helies is well known to Outremer catamaran owners as he has shared his extensive experience during regular training sessions for sailors planning to bluewater cruise their Outremer.

Helies, his wife and three children have already completed an around the world cruise aboard their Outremer. They are currently setting off on a new adventure by participating in the Grand Large Yachting World Odyssey – a three-year rally around the world leaving later this October.

When not sailing, Helies is an airline pilot. In the webinar he will explain how the methodology and processes he uses as an airline pilot – where absolute reliability is key – can be used in the context of bluewater sailing when it comes to technical boat management.

Don’t miss this highly useful webinar, live from Saga, his new Outremer 55.

To register visit https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/38lvghn0

Outremer owner and trainer Loïc Helies will share key advice on technical boat management

Bluewater Sailing Webinars

Following two successful seasons, the Grand Large Yachting group (parent company of Outremer) is running a 2021 edition of its popular Bluewater Sailing Webinar series,, in association with Yachting World.

The programme includes six free sessions (all conducted in English), from September 23 to December 2.

The webinars will be live-streamed every fortnight on Thursdays at 1300 (CEST).

To watch and participate in the live Q&A session, register at https://event.webinarjam.com/register/67/38lvghn0

Alternatively, you can catch up on past webinars by on Yachting World’s YouTube channel.

Other upcoming sessions in the series are:

• November 4

Clipper skipper Nikki Henderson asks: Can there ever be more than one skipper on board ?

Register at https://event.webinarjam.com/register/70/ox2y1amz

• November 18
Medicine at sea: key skills to have on board with Martin Oudet

https://event.webinarjam.com/register/71/8rlvwtyo

• December 2 Sailing digital

Digital sailing – the freedom factor, with Knut Frostad

https://event.webinarjam.com/register/72/q7vywf85

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 Webinar: how to manage your boat on a circumnavigation appeared first on Yachting World.

Pete Goss, Nikki Henderson and Knut Frostad are among the speakers in a new six-part series of webinars on key cruising topics, hosted by bluewater sailing group Grand Large Yachting and in association with Yachting World.

The webinars, which will be free to view, will run from September until December, with the first live session airing on 23 September.

The six-part series will be of key interest to Yachting World readers and any cruisers preparing for a bluewater adventure, covering topics on everything from boat maintenance and weather to how to co-skipper effectively.

Article continues below…

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We begin our new 12-part multimedia series on Bluewater Sailing Techniques in stunning Fiji

Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 3: Coping with squalls

Discover the best way to cope with squalls and weather them safely in the latest instalment of our Bluewater Sailing…

The webinars will be introduced with a live-stream from Cannes Yachting Festival on 10 September from the cockpit of the Outremer 5X, featuring guest speakers Pete Goss MBE, British yachtswoman Nikki Henderson and Loïc Helies – air pilot, experienced sailor and Outremer owner.

“Our ultimate goal is to make blue water sailing accessible to all for the best possible sailing experience, whether you’re an experienced sailor or just starting out, aboard a monohull or a catamaran,” says Xavier Demarest, co-founder of Grand Large Yachting.

There are two ways to watch the webinars – each one-hour session will be live-streamed, with an interactive Q&A section to allow viewers to put questions to the expert speakers. The livestream will be viewable on Youtube via a dedicated Youtube channel.

The webinars will also be recorded and can be replayed at yachtingworld.com and on the Yachting World YouTube channel.

The webinars are free to watch (sign up in advance), and will air once every two weeks, for six sessions (a seventh is subject to confirmation).

Many of the speakers will be familiar to Yachting World readers, and include Nikki Henderson, the youngest ever Clipper Round the World Race skipper. She was also a guest skipper on Maiden, and joined YouTubers La Vagabonde to sail Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic (Nikki’s report on the Gotland Runt race is in the October issue of Yachting World, out now).

Sailor, adventurer and author Pete Goss is most famous for his heroic rescue in horrendous conditions of a fellow competitor in the 1996/7 Vendée Globe, but he also recently owned the Garcia Exploration 45 Pearl of Penzance, which he also wrote about for Yachting World.

Knut Frostad is an Olympian, and four times Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race sailor, twice as skipper, who more recently spent 18 months cruising with his family in an Outremer 5X. And Christian Dumard is one of the world’s most respected meteorologists and marine routers.

See the full bluewater sailing webinar schedule:

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 Watch: Experts share advice for bluewater sailing appeared first on Yachting World.

ARC rally organisers World Cruising Club are running a unique series of events from 25-28 May, which should be essential watching for any aspiring bluewater cruisers looking to buy a yacht or make the leap to liveaboard life. The event will be called ARC Bluewater Cockpit Conversations and will feature Yachting World‘s own Toby Hodges.

Bluewater Cockpit Conversations, will be forums held online and will gather previous ARC skippers, yacht surveyors, brokers and refit specialists to share their expert advice.

Toby Hodges, Yachting World‘s boat test editor, will be among those passing on expertise on how to choose the right yacht for you, and there are also sessions on buying and refitting a yacht, as well as inspiration on amazing places to cruise from couples who have done just that.

Jeremy Wyatt from ARC organisers World Cruising Club explains further: “I am often asked by aspiring bluewater cruisers ‘what is the right boat for the ARC?’. This is a very broad topic and it is not easy to give a short answer. So instead we’ve brought together a cross-section of experienced bluewater cruisers and industry experts to share their knowledge and help people focus on what will be right for them and their style of sailing.

“We know from previous live events held with our partners at Berthon International Yacht Brokers, that people really enjoy the chance to hop-aboard our open-boats and have face-to-face conversations with our ARC skippers and industry experts. This year we are creating a virtual cockpit and inviting curious cruisers out there to grab a seat and enjoy our special cockpit conversations.”

A record number of boats are expected to cross with the ARC in 2021/22

Expert advice

The ARC Bluewater Cockpit Conversations is a free to attend event running over four consecutive evenings from 25-28 May. Each will feature a theme, with different skippers and industry experts in the Cockpit to chat and answer live questions from the online audience.

Article continues below…

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The four sessions are based on real experiences around the topics of: how to choose the right yacht for bluewater, how to buy a boat, planning your refit, and cruising amazing places.

Supporting the live sessions are a series of pre-recorded webinars that the sailors can watch at their leisure, and some well-chosen inspirational videos from real-life cruisers enjoying their adventures and sharing further experiences and viewpoints on how they achieved their bluewater dream.

The forum aims to replicate the experience of looking around different yachts, with walkaround views from partners Berthon.

The programme also includes a chance to look around some select offshore sailing boats, both from the hand-picked bluewater cruisers featured from the Berthon brokerage, and the boats sailed by the previous ARC sailors.

Yachting World boat test editor Toby Hodges will be sharing his experiences with an update on some of the new boats currently available which represent typical family offshore cruisers. Brokers and ARC skippers will share their thoughts on features and functions important for bluewater cruising, whilst the surveyor and refit experts will discuss aspects of boat ownership and budgeting that are not usually found in the sales brochures.

World Cruising Club have been organising the ARC for well over 30 years, and will be sharing some of their knowledge and experience, bringing confidence and inspiration to hopeful new cruisers, whether they already have their dream boat, or not.

Joanna Saayman, had this to say after attending a previous event “Having the opportunity to sit one to one with the ARC organisers who have seen every boat, every budget and every family setup and discuss our own personal hurdles with such positivity has given us the confidence to persevere and realise that it isn’t a pipe-dream, but a real possibility.” Joanna and husband Darryl subsequently bought a Beneteau First 42 and set off on their own bluewater adventure of a lifetime, crossing to the Caribbean with the ARC in 2019.

How to watch ARC Bluewater Cockpit Conversations

Join us in the cockpit for our virtual Club Nights, where you can ask questions of the experts and our ARC skippers, all from the comfort of your own home or office. Join in the cockpit conversation about choosing the right boat; planning and budgeting for a refit; coping with surveys and VAT.

How to buy a boat – Tues 25 May, 17:30 to 19:00

Gathering in the virtual cockpit are Berthon broker Alan McIlroy; yacht surveyor Robin Milledge; marine finance expert Chris Garner; boat owner Donald Begg, and insurance expert Dave Andrew. The panel will discuss different aspects of the boat buying experience and answer live questions.

Choosing the right yacht – Weds 26 May, 17:30 to 19:00

Giving their views on what makes a good bluewater cruising boat and sharing their own boat experiences will be offshore sailors and recent “dream boat” purchasers Mark Burton and Cecilie Hammersland; Serial boat owner Simon Ridley; Yachting World’s boat test guru, Toby Hodges, and Nigel Wilkinson from delivery and yacht management company PYD.

Toby Hodges will be sharing his expertise from testing hundreds of yachts. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Refitting for Bluewater Cruising – Thur 27 May, 17:30 to 19:00

Answering questions on all aspects of refitting for bluewater sailing will be yacht project manager Will Spencer; refit specialist Andrew Fairbrass from Berthon Spain and Jeremy Smart from North Sails.

Amazing places to cruise – Fri 28 May, 17:30 to 19:00

Cruising couples joining us in the cockpit to share their top-tips and bluewater tales are Chris & Helen Tibbs (Wauquiez 40); Jim & Ann MacDonald (Moody 42) and Nicola & Casper Craven, (Oyster 43).

To wrap up the four evenings, we hope you can join our final Friday evening social – grab a glass, or a cuppa – and squeeze into the cockpit with our skippers for some inspirational cruising tales.

To register for this free to join series visit www.worldcruising.com/training

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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.

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The post Join Toby Hodges for expert advice in ‘Bluewater cockpit conversations’ this May appeared first on Yachting World.

Some of the damage we saw at the Vendée Globe finish was simply staggering, yet this edition was also remarkable for its small number of retirements. Many boats suffered major issues, yet kept racing until the very end thanks to mid-ocean repairs undertaken by many skippers.

The first boat home, Charlie Dalin’s Apivia, gave a foretaste. We knew he’d damaged the port foil system south of Australia, but few were prepared for the sight of his boat when he approached the finish, showing the foil supported by improvised stays Dalin had needed to repeatedly adjust and maintain for 13,000 miles and 44 days.

As Dalin crossed the line, 90 miles to the west Boris Herrmann was dealing with a broken shroud after the bottom splice tore open in his collision with a trawler.

Dalin’s improvised porthand foil stays. Photo: Olivier Blanchet/Alea

Next home after Dalin was Louis Burton, who told us the hardest thing for him had been the mid-ocean repairs and “constant DIY on the boat.” Burton was dogged by pilot and electronic problems, rigging and halyard issues, loss of the watermaker, and even damage caused by a fire.

These three boats were not particularly unlucky – almost every boat that reached the finish had to overcome major technical problems at some point. But what’s remarkable about many of the repairs is they were not short-term get-you-home lash-ups – they allowed the boat to be pushed in full race mode for tens of thousands of miles. We spoke to the skippers to find out what ocean cruising sailors could learn from the race.

Solve problems before you go

The Vendée skippers’ extraordinary ability to solve technical problems and complete mid-ocean repairs is the outcome of a process that starts early in each campaign. Everyone I spoke to highlighted the extent to which preparation has improved across the fleet over the past few editions, including among the low-budget teams. At the top level, teams are also continuously finding better ways to approach tasks.

Sam Davies has sailed IMOCAs for a decade and a half and seen these changes first-hand. Her team now uses thermal imaging to help identify delamination in structures. This recently available technique creates a complete picture of the structure and therefore may identify problems missed by ultrasound, which can only test at discrete points.

Merron used fresh water to rinse salt off deck gear, including halyard locks and the runner blocks. Photo: Rupert Holmes

Every new piece of equipment bought for Initiatives Coeur gets a full NDT (non-destructive testing) analysis before being fitted. This establishes a baseline against which any subsequent changes can be measured.

For instance, the boat had a new rig before the Vendée Globe, but even the very best mouldings have some flaws. This is not an issue providing they are within the limits set by structural engineers, but the initial NDT testing means that, when the spars are checked at the end of the race, it’s possible to differentiate between those initial flaws and any new damage.

Despite this level of prep it’s easy for small, but important, items to slip though the net. Davies broke a forestay pin due to fatigue failure. “I can’t believe we didn’t pick up on that,” she told me. “That pin is part of a furler which goes back to the manufacturer to be serviced. It’s a piece that’s holding up the rig, but we’re not X-raying it ourselves.”

One example of preparation that’s standard practice in long-distance racing, but often omitted by cruising yachts preparing for lengthy voyages, is to add Dyneema chafe jackets to halyards to protect against damage at sheaves.

The difference this makes is immense, thanks to the slippery nature of Dyneema, and I’ve personally finished transatlantic races with spinnaker halyards that look almost new after adding them.

Mid-race checks

Knowing your boat really, really well is key to both reducing the risk of damage and identifying the best repair solutions. Once at sea, checks and inspections are the most vital element in avoiding breakages and equipment failure.

Rigging issues are commonplace on ocean crossings: here the crew of X-562 Teamgeist fit a new mainsheet connection to the boom after the original broke mid-Atlantic. Photo: Victor Taburiaux

A minimum is a daily check around the boat, inside and out, including examining the rig with binoculars. Any item that’s a cause for concern gets more constant monitoring.

Creative thinking can help in this context. After an exploding running backstay block nearly put an end to her race, Alexia Barrier hoisted a GoPro camera up her mast to check for damage, avoiding the need to climb a potentially compromised rig herself.

Article continues below…

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Sail repairs on the fly – how to make essential fixes while at sea

During last year’s ARC I was to be found at one point on the pulpit restitching the foot tape of…

Miranda Merron is an ardent fan of maintaining a scrupulously clean boat, with dry bilges and machinery spaces. To make it easier to check for damage to the carbon structure she painted key areas white, so cracks can be seen easily at an early stage.

She also recommends a stripe of white paint across nuts, washers and a reference mark on the boat. That way you can see at a glance whether or not the nut has moved. But even then she was caught out by the fastenings for the main pilot ram loosening. Fortunately she spotted the issue before it became a serious problem, but subsequently took an Allen key on daily checks to physically confirm the tightness of bolts holding mission critical equipment.

“You need to know your boat inside out,” Merron told me. “Check for new leaks around deck fittings, sponge all the water out every day and investigate suspect noises.”

Many boats sustained damage to lifelines and guardrails, including Maitre Coq IV, which lost its pulpit. Photo: Rupert Holmes

Post-race, many of the boats move ashore and are extensively dismantled for inspection. Yannick Bestaven’s shore crew estimate that the inspection of the winning Maître CoQ IV will last two and a half months. Few long-distance cruisers adopt such an all-round approach, and it’s all too easy to prioritise enjoying the delights of a new destination above properly checking over the boat after a long passage.

On deck damage

This edition of the race demonstrated how vulnerable pulpits and guardrails are to damage from waves, code sails or asymmetrics, or simply from repeated stresses.

Very heavy seas at Cape Horn, for instance, resulted in Maître CoQ IV losing her entire pulpit – at the finish the lifelines were simply tensioned to padeyes near the forestay. “In my life as a sailor,” Yannick Bestaven said, “that was the biggest storm I have ever seen. Mad seas, such as I have never seen – so big and gusts of 60 knots.”

Merron’s pulpit legs broke as a result of repeated flexing and had to be lashed in place. For this type of repair she recommends using polyester, rather than Dyneema, as its inherent stretch means it keeps tension for longer, whereas it’s next to impossible to keep Dyneema tight unless it’s tensioned though a purchase system or with a Spanish windlass.

Damage to stanchions and lifelines is surprisingly common on cruising yachts, whether as a result of misdemeanours when manoeuvring in tight spaces, or encountering a breaking wave with dodgers or solar panels mounted on the rail.

Even the bestprepared IMOCAs suffered issues: Banque Populaire lost sections of mainsheet track. Photo: Yvan Zedda/Banque Populaire

Given this compromises an important safety feature, it’s worth carrying a couple of spare stanchions and figuring out in advance how to deal with a lost pushpit or pulpit.

It’s also easy to underestimate the damage seawater and dried salt crystals can do to deck hardware. Merron saved the first (slightly brackish) water each time she used watermaker freshwater to rinse salt off deck gear, especially the runner blocks and halyard locks.

The latter were rinsed immediately before hoisting a sail and also lubricated – she suffered no problems with them and they were running like new when I saw the boat after the finish.

Other common problems included chafed lines, especially tack lines, while Pip Hare and Clarisse Cremer had sections of their mainsheet traveller track carry away, requiring re-rigging using snatch blocks on strops.

Doubling up

IMOCA 60s may be minimalist in many respects, but not when it comes to mission critical systems. Redundancy of systems is essential in creating a boat that’s resilient to problems – if one element goes down you need to be able to bring a back-up into service immediately.

Even then, having two pilots didn’t enable Louis Burton to avoid problems in the south and he ended up hand-steering for a time. He later explained: “My boat has a back-up autopilot, but it’s on the same network, so if the network stops working the pilots also stop working. That issue created a lot of damage to sails and the mast that I still had to fix even once the pilot was working properly again.” As a result he came close to retiring.

By contrast Merron had two completely independent networks, one from B&G and the other NKE.
Initiatives Coeur went one stage further, with two pilots and two independent data networks that can be linked together in any combination.

Most IMOCAs had two or even three masthead wind sensors. Photo: Rupert Holmes

In addition, she has a third low-power stand-alone pilot that can be used in compass-only mode, even if the main battery switches need to be turned off to work on the system.

Is having multiple layers of redundancy in this way relevant to the rest of us? Richard Palmer, whose well travelled JPK 10.10 Jangada took 2nd overall in the 2018 RORC championship and was 2020 Yacht of the Year, is convinced it is.

Jangada is set up with two data networks, two masthead wind sensors and, as she is primarily raced short-handed, two autopilots.

Many cruising yachts would benefit from a second pilot ram interfaced with a stand-alone control unit independent of the boat’s main data network. But make sure the back-up is regularly maintained and tested.

Manuel Cousin had to remove one of his rudders to repair a large structural crack. Photo: Manuel Cousin/Groupe Setin

Many skippers reported battery charging issues, including Merron and Ari Huusela who said this was their biggest technical headache and threatened their ability to complete the race. Fortunately it has become increasingly simple to create redundancy in this area: today it’s easy to fit plenty of solar, as well as hydrogenerators or fuel cells, and even wind generators, leaving the main engine as a last-ditch back-up for charging when on passage.

Even so, it’s a worthwhile exercise to work out the minimum daily charge required to run the essential systems – basic lighting, navigation and communications – needed to remain safe on passage. You may be surprised at how little is needed – ideally each different type of charging source will be able to supply this amount. If that’s the case, failure of one or more other systems won’t compromise safety, even if life on board is not as comfortable as you’d choose.

You may be able to create simple redundancy in other ways: one night early in the race Ari Huusela woke to find the boat in a complete black-out with no power to lights, navigation equipment or any other systems.

If sailing alone you reach for a head torch and start troubleshooting, but with a larger crew the situation can quickly become fraught. Cheap stick-on battery powered LED lights positioned at strategic points within the boat can rapidly restore an air of normality, and make it easier to find the source of the problem in an emergency.

Structural repairs

A lot of skippers had to undertake structural repairs, including Alex Thomson. Charlie Dalin also had to carry out a repair on his damaged port foil and Pip Hare laminated a hydrogenerator leg together as well as a repair to stop a leak around the rudder stock after she had to replace the port rudder.

Jean Le Cam stopped to repair hull delamination twice, including using carbon cut from a water ballast tank for additional reinforcement, but didn’t have enough resin to complete the repair as he would have liked.

Fortunately instances of delamination at sea on cruising boats appear to be vanishingly rare, but hull

damage following collisions in harbours, marinas and crowded anchorages is a risk.

Basic lamination skills are quick and easy to learn and could save a long wait for a boatbuilder. Your repair doesn’t have to look pretty – it just has to be strong and watertight. A full repair, including cosmetic refinishing, can then be scheduled for a convenient later date.

Sails flog most at the leech and this is the most highly-loaded area, so needed a strong structural repair, hence the hand-sewn webbing as extra reinforcement by Boris Herrmann on Seaexplorer Yacht Club de Monaco. Photo: Boris Herrmann on Seaexplorer Yacht Club de Monaco

However, if you are preparing a spares kit for a long time it’s important to remember these products all have shelf lives of typically 2-3 years.

Manuel Cousin had to do two lots of laminating work. The first was on December 11, when he found serious structural cracks in one of Groupe Setin’s rudders. His boat has kick-up rudders that are relatively easier to remove and replace than some IMOCA 60s (such as Pip Hare’s Medallia), but even so he first sailed north into an anticyclone to reach a more stable sea state before attempting it.

It’s an important lesson to remember when cruising – it’s easy to be so preoccupied with reaching a destination that we forget it is possible to find relative shelter on the ocean.

Sail glue

One of the most impressive repairs of the entire race was Kojiro Shiraishi’s rebuilt mainsail. When a gybe following pilot failure on day six left large sections of the sail near the head in tatters it seemed as if this would put an end to his race, yet a seven-day repair effort paid off, and his fixed mainsail held until the end of the race.

The days when a sewing machine was needed for on-board repairs are long gone, although in some

Kojiro Shiraishi’s mainsail repair lasted more than 24,000 miles. Photo: Kojiro Shiraishi/DMG MORI Global One

cases a few stitches can help anchor the corners of a patch. Today’s best adhesives, such as Dr Sails, are superb and gain 80% of full strength after only 20 minutes drying time, but are also expensive and not universally available.

In Shiraishi’s case he didn’t have enough hi-tech adhesive for the extensive repairs he faced. To make matters worse, he also didn’t have anywhere near enough spare sailcloth. Yet he proved it’s possible to glue serious damage to sails using only PU adhesives such as Sikaflex, and although it must have been a painful decision to slice the bottom off his nearly new mainsail below the first reef, this gave him ample material to work with.

The fix involved gluing patches on both sides, extending 40cm or more each side of the tear, then reinforcing key areas using carbon plate glued and bolted through the sail.

One downside of using a PU adhesive, rather than an epoxy-based one like Dr Sails, is it takes longer to cure, especially at lower temperatures. Damp and salt also proved problematic for other skippers’ sail repairs, even when the area had been cleaned as carefully as possible.

Shore assist

Although the skippers are alone at sea, a Vendée Globe campaign is not a single-handed effort. The sole area in which shore teams are allowed to assist skippers during the race is providing technical advice for repairs.

Clearly it would be useful to have a similar kind of back-up when cruising. The good news for many owners is that’s not as far away as they may imagine. Many builders of quality yachts, for instance, retain comprehensive records for every boat they build and can offer a remote technical service, even for older craft.

Equally, if you’re having a boat refitted, the yard carrying out the work would be an obvious choice for continued support, especially if this can be planned at the outset.

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John Kretschmer’s Quetzal heading off on a bluewater training sail. Photo: Vivian Vuong/Ocean Passages

You might have a departure day circled red in the diary and be furiously working through a to-do list to get there. Or maybe you’re considering a bluewater sailing adventure in future, and starting to think through the preparations you need to make. You might even have postponed your big trip, and be considering how to make the most of an extra sailing season at home.

Either way, in between the jobs lists of boat upgrades and household admin and everything else, it can be easy to overlook one area of preparation: yourself. How ready, really, are you?

Are there skills or areas of knowledge you and your partner or crew could work on? Would some coaching or additional experience boost your confidence? Now, with a lot of people’s sailing plans in hiatus, could be just the time to learn.

Learning to anticipate the weather conditions leads to more relaxed sailing, says 59° North’s Andy Schell. Photo: 59° North Sailing

Regardless of whether you followed an RYA/ASA training pathway or similar, or have learnt through time on the water and poring over books and YouTube tutorials, some bluewater skills just can’t be practised until you have to do it for real.

Anchoring in coral, for example, is a hard situation to replicate. Nevertheless, there are a small number of specialist training providers who offer skills coaching specifically for sailors who are preparing for bluewater sailing and ocean sailing. We asked these hugely experienced training skippers which skills they think are worth focusing on.

Beyond your comfort zone

Amanda and John Neal have run Mahina Expeditions for over 30 years, offering onboard teaching courses, as as well seminars and their own coaching manuals.

This year they’re running 9-12 day ‘Ocean’ courses in the Pacific north-west. The curriculum, which includes training in storm survival techniques, reefing techniques, MOB retrieval practice using a life sling, learning how to make sail repairs and rig inspections, diesel and electrical training, and navigation skills from celestial navigation to sat comms, is a great starting point for anyone wondering where they might have a skills gap.

“Our goal is to have people ready to circumnavigate after 10-12 days with us,” explains John Neal.
For some sailors, going on a course like this is about accelerating the learning process, for others it’s about pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. “That’s why a lot of clients join us, because they would much rather go through these kind of testing scenarios with some structure and some backup.”

Pragmatically, doing an offshore training course may help reduce insurance premiums. “There’s so few offshore insurers in the world, and they all know who we are and in many cases send people to us,” explains John Neal.

Invaluable real-time weather analysis. Photo: Mahina Expeditions

He adds: “We encourage people to get documentation for everything they learn. Present this to the insurance company because insurers are just working on risk.”

“Your commitment to gaining as much knowledge and experience before setting off will save you time and money, and ensure you have the best chance of realising your goals,” adds Amanda. “Often these plans won’t quite go your way, but this just readies you for the realities of the life at sea.”

Weather forecasting for bluewater passagemaking

“The skill I’m most passionate about teaching, and the one that will give you the biggest bang for your buck, is weather forecasting – interpreting GRIB files, reading synoptic charts and forecasts and anticipating how you and your boat will handle changing weather at sea,” says Andy Schell of 59° North, which offers offshore passages with training opportunities on its Swan 48 and 59 yachts.

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“If you master this, there should rarely be surprises offshore. This, combined with boat handling skills – not just basic sail trim, but rather how you reef the sails to eliminate wear and tear (flogging), how you set up a downwind preventer system, how you trim sails to make life easier on your autopilot – will, more than anything else, make passagemaking more pleasant and drama free.

“I’ve found that by learning to anticipate the weather and make adjustments to the boat’s sail plan and course ahead of time – being proactive rather than reactive – I’m much more mentally at-ease at sea and enjoy the passage more. And learning about weather forecasting is something that’s perfectly suited to lockdown times.”

Schell suggests a good exercise is to practice creating your own routes, before getting the computer to calculate an optimal route. “I keep it simple: based on the weather pattern, is this passage going to be rhumbline? Or will it favour one side or other of the rhumbline?

Know how to interpret your weather data. Photo: 59° North Sailing

Remember too, with offshore cruising, weather routing should be optimised for comfort, not speed. Sometimes spending an extra day at sea beam-reaching is preferable to bashing to windward if you can make a slight route or timing adjustment.”

Schell uses LuckGRIB software on an iPad offshore, into which you can input your own boat’s polars. “In ‘cruising mode’ I set our performance at 75-80% of the polars, knowing I can match or exceed these predictions most of the time.”

Jeremy Wyatt, who has seen hundreds of cruisers off on World Cruising Club rallies, agrees that forecasting is a skill to prioritise. “While ocean weather patterns are often more predictable than those in coastal waters, you need to be able to look at the big picture – literally, if you are using GRIBs.

“Weather forecasts for oceans cover large areas and are much less detailed than closer to shore, so you need to understand how the forecasts are produced, their limits and importantly why and where to expect variations.

“There are some excellent ocean weather courses and it is well worth investing in this type of training.”

For learning resources, Jeremy Wyatt and the Neals both recommend the RYA Weather Handbook  by Chris Tibbs.

“If there isn’t a marine weather course in your area, consider signing up for an online course through www.starpath.com,” suggests John Neal. “Also, start studying Windy.com for the area that you’ll be cruising. If you’re heading further afield, Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes provides overview of both regional and specific passage weather patterns.”

Coaching from the cockpit. Photo: Sailing Totem

Other recommendations include a subscription to morganscloud.com by sailor John Harries (‘a bargain’ according to Schell at around $20 per year), and free tutorials available on Luckgrib.com.
“Behind it all is a real understanding of the different weather models, how they work, what they do and don’t do, etc. Even if you don’t use the software [it’s] very helpful,” Schell says.

Downwind helming

Often bluewater sailing in tradewinds will, if you’re lucky, involve many miles of sailing deep downwind. However, even relatively experienced sailors may not have sailed in those conditions for sustained periods, says John Kretschmer, who has taught over 130 offshore training passages.

From 2021 John Kretschmer Sailing is running offshore training voyages over a five-year circumnavigation.

“Be prepared for long periods of downwind and off the wind sailing. This might sound obvious but most coastal sailing is upwind, or reaching. A lot of times the only serious downwind sailing we get is racing, with a crew, fully tuned in to the spinnaker. That’s not the way you will sail off the wind on a long passage.

Hone your downwind sailing skills in big breeze conditions. Photo: 59° North Sailing

“We go to great lengths to plan passages with winds, which often means deep reaching or running,” Kretschmer points out. “And yet, the boat is often not set up for it, or the crew is completely surprised how challenging it is to deep reach in 25 knots apparent wind with 4m following seas.

“You need to prepare for this. First, you need to have a well-designed boom preventer system rigged and ready before you head offshore.

“Secondly, you should have a whisker pole on a track and be well versed in poling out the headsail. This is a technique that you must practice before you shove off. Trust me on this one; you’ll use the whisker pole far more than you think. With the boom prevented and the headsail poled out, the boat settles down.

“You also need to hone your downwind helming skills. I take people to sea for a living, some really good sailors too, but I’m always surprised how few have good, deep reaching helming skills. Consider your self-steering, either autopilot or wind vane; can they handle serious, downwind conditions? And can you handle steering in big seas? When it really matters you’ll need to steer with confidence.”

To develop downwind helming skills, you’ll need to put yourself in the right situation to learn. “There are some online videos that do help with downwind helming concepts, but it is one of those things that really only comes with practice,” says Kretschmer.

“On-boat coaching is a great way to go. A ‘pre-passage passage’, with a coach or able skipper, is a really good idea. Be sure to turn it into a skills course, not a pleasure cruise. Turn the autopilot off for the duration of the course, that’s incredibly instructive. It seems crazy to go searching for big seas but it’s well worth it. Our ‘heavy weather’ passages sell out a year or so in advance!”

Bluewater Reefing

One to practice, rather than be taught, but taking a fresh look at your reefing routines and rehearsing them will pay dividends, says Kretschmer. “Make sure your reefing skills are fresh, and your reefing system is effective.

“Consider this scenario: it’s blowing hard, you’re sailing on a deep reach and decide you need the second, or even third reef in the mainsail. Your crew, the family, is feeling a little dodgy, a little scared, the boat is rolling and feels close to being out of control, and you need less sail.

Practise makes perfect when it comes to your reefing routines. Photo: Vivian Vuong/Ocean Passages

You can’t just come up into the wind and start flogging the sail violently, that strategy does not work offshore in a blow, at least not for long.

“You need a strategy and the right system to allow you to a pull another reef into the main, and it’s a combination of having a good mainsail track system, and coordinated sheet and halyard control.

Practice this technique. For some reason we’re rarely taught this but offshore, with a small crew, this is the skill that will make your life better.

“Also, be sure that your headsail furling system is beefy enough to reef without completely flogging the headsail. That’s where the dangers lurk, flogging sails snarl furling lines, flailing sheets break things, and suddenly just shortening the headsail has created an emergency. These are skills, and techniques, that you can practice.”

Anchoring

Another skill that is hard to learn, but key to master, is anchoring. “Many cruisers in UK waters don’t often get the chance to practice their anchoring skills, and certainly not in sand or coral waters,” points out Jeremy Wyatt.

“Having a reliable windlass, sufficient length of chain (100m for the Pacific), and two spare anchors are all key for a bluewater sailing yacht.

“You should have confidence in your anchoring technique. Being able to drop in just the right spot; being aware of currents and planning for wind shifts, and above all, knowing when it isn’t right and pulling up to try again. If you are not confident that your boat will be where you left it when you go ashore, you won’t be able to enjoy exploring the exotic places you are in.”

Seek advice on anchoring techniques. Photo: Tor Johnson

If you’re not confident in your technique it’s worth seeking out experienced skippers to glean advice from.

“In my experience it is a skill picked up from skipper to crew, and in conversation with other cruisers,” adds Jeremy Wyatt.

“YouTube is a good resource as well. Forums will add value for different anchor types, especially across specific boats and cruising areas. Then it is a case of ‘practice makes perfect’.”

Celestial navigation

“Celestial navigation is a foreign concept to most people and it can seem daunting with heaps of confusing mathematic calculations and terms, but there are methods that can be simplified and make it fun,” says Nathan Zahrt of Ocean Passages, which offers sail training passages, mostly between the US and Caribbean, and on-boat coaching.

“There’s no doubt that we live in the GPS age, but there has been a recent resurgence in celestial navigation. Celestial navigation is often thought of as just a skill to have as a back up for more modern methods of navigation, but it can be so much more than that.

The fundamental skills can be used as quick checks on position and heading without even looking at a screen.

Celestial navigation is making a comeback. Photo: 59° North Sailing

“Dead reckoning is the basis for celestial navigation and once a sailor is able to dead reckon, they’ll always have a good idea of their position and course. Knowing where the sun is or where stars and other celestial bodies rise can let you know you’re on course with just a glance at the heavens. The finer skills make every sailor safer and more connected to the natural world.”

Celestial Navigation, The Minimal Manual by Bruce Steely (new in 2020) is “the most simple and comprehensive celestial nav book that I have seen,” according to Zahrt. The Practical Celestial Navigation Facebook group includes frequent webinars and workshops for beginners through experts. Andy Schell also recommends reednavigation.com taught by Frank Reed.

Engine maintenance

“Diesel engines are daunting for many sailors. I meet sailors all the time who are completely intimidated by their diesel, so much so that they just say, ‘I’ll never learn how this thing works,’ and resign themselves to relying on mechanics if anything ever goes wrong,” says Zahrt.

“Once out crossing an ocean, however, there’s nobody to rely on but themselves.”

Engine knowledge is vital at sea. Photo: Mahina Expeditions

Jeremy Wyatt says that taking a diesel maintenance course can be a good investment: “Being able to do the basics yourself saves a lot of time in organising local mechanics. But most importantly, having the confidence to troubleshoot problems, and fix them (while at sea, or to avert a potential problem) is a tremendous asset.”

“Before heading offshore, you must know how to change fuel and oil filters, the water pump impeller, fuel lift pump and adjust belt tension,” advises Amanda Neal.

Nigel Calder’s esteemed handbooks Marine Diesel Engines and Boat Owner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual are still widely recommended. There is an online diesel maintenance course at boatersuniversity.com

Communication

So-called ‘soft’ skills are often overlooked, but in situations where you may be challenging yourself and those around you, interpersonal skills become increasingly important.

“The most important skills to develop are leadership and communication, which many people neglect,” says Teresa Carey of Morse Alpha Expeditions, which runs coastal and offshore sail-training expeditions between Maine and Bermuda.

“Most accidents at sea don’t happen because the crew as a whole lacks the necessary skills. Most happen because of a communication breakdown – even if people don’t like to admit it.

Interpersonal communication skills are often overlooked when it comes to training for life on passage. Photo: 59° North Sailing

“In the maritime world, there’s a tradition of having a strict hierarchy. I often hear people say, ‘I’m the captain, I have the final say.’ I have concerns about people who need to express this overtly. Sailing should never get to ‘the final say.’

“We’ve been in some hairy situations, and still [my husband] Ben and I have always been co-captains. It has never been a problem. We actively practice communication and leadership skills. We also focus on these skills in our training.

“In addition to technical skills, we give people practical, hands-on training as captain, crew, and co-captain. Many of our students have told us years later that the communication training saved their marriage, and they use our ‘tricks’ on and off the boat.”

Nathan Zahrt recommends the book Crucial Conversations by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny & Ron McMillan for learning more about communication skills under pressure.

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We were running before a deep depression en-route from Ponta Delgada in the Azores to La Coruña. The sea was building behind us and the gale we had was due to become a severe gale soon.

We were perfectly comfortable in our 30-ton Clipper 60 Hummingbird but I knew that the whoops of excitement would soon be replaced by weary silence when the weather started to exact its toll on the crew.

The massive TSS off Finisterre coincides almost perfectly with the continental shelf and we had just under 100 miles to run before we got there.

By my reckoning we’d arrive just as the sea state peaked in 12 hours’ time, and it would be dark. In the current sea state we were already invisible to shipping most of the time and what was worse, they were invisible to us.

The mainsail had a preventer on which made manoeuvring more difficult, and I wasn’t confident that the preventer would hold if one of the crew had a slip of concentration.

We needed storm sails. A storm jib is easy to set and we could have run before the weather under that alone, but I wanted the option of making ground to windward or at the very least holding station, so we needed the trysail too.

What is a trysail?

A trysail is a substitute mainsail designed solely for storm conditions. Setting independently of the boom it is loose-footed and designed to sit above the stack of your mainsail using a long tack strop.

A trysail is rigged independently of the mainsail. Photo: c/o Rachael Sprot

They aren’t designed to give you optimum close-hauled performance, instead they’re a way of clawing some ground to windward or maintaining a safe distance off a dangerous lee shore.

To most sailors a trysail looks very odd, as it meets two conflicting demands: it needs to sit above the bulk of your mainsail so that it can fly in clean air, yet the centre of effort needs to be as low as possible to reduce heeling.

The result is that most trysails will be as long in the foot as they are in the luff, thereby gaining sail area horizontally rather than vertically. The sail also needs to sheet down to the deck, so it will have a long leech with the clew position considerably lower than the tack. In many respects it’s more like a second jib than a small mainsail.

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A trysail is much better adapted to strong winds than your expensive main. Pete Sanders of Sanders Sails has made hundreds of trysails over the years: “Everything is heavily reinforced. The material itself needs to be a heavy cloth, at least as heavy as your mainsail cloth if not heavier, and you can’t use laminates for a trysail. It’s stitched using three rows of 3-step stitching and the pressed eyes in each corner are reinforced with webbing straps.”

Rigging a trysail

To be able to use your trysail in anger you need to be able to set it independently of the mainsail – there’s no way you’ll want to de-rig your main in rough weather and feed a trysail into the existing track.

There are three options: a separate track on the mast; securing the trysail with tough Velcro straps that attach around the mast; or creating a stay from the masthead to the gooseneck using your topping-lift and hanking on the sail.

All of these options have their drawbacks.

A separate mast track is expensive to retrofit, it works on older-style aluminium spars with curved section profiles but slimmer mast profiles often don’t have room for an extra track.

The Velcro strap option sounds appealing, but it relies on you having a fairly clean mast without many external halyards or other obstacles to catch on.

If you have a substantial ram’s horn on the gooseneck then creating your own stay from the topping lift is an option, but you need to be able to get really good tension on it in order to get a taut luff so it needs to lead to a winch.

Trysails can be used to continue sailing after a boom breakage, as here on Kialoa II in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. Photo: Dallas Kilponen

Like all things at sea, preparing your trysail is easiest before the weather hits. If you have the option of feeding your trysail into its separate track and leaving it neatly stowed on deck by the mast or lashed to the boom, it makes life a thousand times easier when it comes to hoisting it.

At the very least it should live somewhere accessible for ocean passages.

There is no point in carrying a trysail if you haven’t practised rigging it. You need to know which sheets you’ll use, where you’ll sheet it to, how high it needs to be to clear the mainsail stack and whether there are any special techniques for raising and lowering it on your boat.

You’ll only find these things out by trying it, preferably when alongside on a sunny day.

Better to reef?

World Sailing used to dictate that all boats in offshore races needed to carry trysails, but recently offer an alternative: in Categories 1&2 (including the Fastnet) you can now opt for a very deep 50% reef instead.

This is essentially a fourth reef and it has many advantages: it’s quicker to put in, you don’t need a separate track on the mast, and in rough weather there’s less work to be done outside the cockpit.

But the decision is not straightforward. Can your boom accommodate a fourth reefing line? Do you want to sail around with all that extra knitting? If it can’t, you’ll need to de-rig one of the other reefing lines and use that. On large boats such as ours the prospect of standing on the coachroof and untying the first or second reef, then trying to feed it through a reefing eye on a flogging leech, doesn’t appeal.

For yachts that regularly sail in exposed seas, having a fourth reefing point in the main gives you options.

If you know gales are likely you could de-rig your first reef before leaving port and run it to the fourth reefing point instead. You can’t use your first reef and might have to opt for a slightly slower speed under your second reef at times, but as you get closer to home if the weather forecast seems stable you can easily pull the fourth reefing line out and feed it through the first reefing point.

It’s much easier to swap the reefing lines over this way, than trying to run the fourth reef as bad weather approaches.

Ideally an ocean-going yacht would have both options: a sturdy trysail which is straightforward to rig and a fourth reefing point in the mainsail.

There are many incidents when trysails have been used because of a boom breakage rather than storm survival conditions. Carrying a trysail gives you valuable redundancy.

If there’s one time that you’re going to damage a mainsail or boom, it’s in heavy weather, with a crash gybe, knockdown or big breaking wave. Setting your trysail allows you to take the boom out of the equation in a controlled way.

Setting a trysail

1 Set the storm jib. This reduces canvas and means you can find a comfortable point of sail to drop the main without being over-powered.

2 Drop the mainsail. This is easier said than done in a gale. Allow the main to luff by coming onto 
a close reach with the sheet 
well out. On bigger boats a strong crewmember with a boat hook may be able to pull the luff down by hooking the sliders one-by-one.

3 Run downwind and keep the boat as stable as possible while you do the rest of the deck work. Lower the boom and secure it off to one side with a strong lashing.

A ‘blanket stitch’ lashing of the mainsail to the boom. Photo: c/o Rachael Sprot

4 Now lash the mainsail. On a large yacht with a high boom this is one of the most difficult parts of the job. Throw a long line over the boom a few times and truss it up as best as you can!

5 Attach your trysail at the mast if it isn’t already rigged (pic C). Make sure the tack line is attached to a strong point at the gooseneck – you can even tie it around the gooseneck. Leave some extra length in the tack line so that you can adjust the height of the sail.

A trysail with two sheets to a point on each quarter. Photo: c/o Rachael Sprot

6 Set up two sheets to a point on each quarter, the spinnaker sheet blocks usually work well. Make sure the lazy sheet goes over the boom and forwards of the topping lift (if it’s still attached) or you won’t be able to tack or gybe.

7 Hoist the trysail. This can be easier said than done if you’re running downwind – you’ll almost certainly need to come up on the wind and allow the sail to luff with the sheet eased.

8 Once the sail is up you can adjust its height using the tack line. Make sure that it isn’t chafing the mainsail underneath and that it has a clean air flow and good sheet lead.

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