David Glenn's blog
Latest weblogs from the editor of Supersail World
Alice honoured
6 November 2008
I'm not a great fan of awards ceremonies but a presentation made recently at the International Superyacht Society gala during the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show was one to savour.
Alice Huisman of the Royal Huisman Shipyard in Holland was presented with the society's Leadership Award and as she took to the stage with her hallmark smile she brought the applauding diners to their feet.
When Alice's father Wolter died in 2004 he left a vast void in the Huisman firmament. As the man who had led the famous yard to extraordinary heights and created a reputation respected by his peers throughout the superyacht industry, his act was a hard one to follow.
But Alice not only maintained the company's standing as she took the helm, she enhanced it and this summer signed no fewer than three new contracts for supersailing yachts, one a 91m three-masted barque not dissimilar to Jim Clark's Athena, the biggest yacht launched by the company to date.
Undergoing trials at the moment is Bill Joy's Ethereal and about to launch from Huisman is Jim Clark's new J Class Hanuman - yes, he's a three times repeat customer! And much of this is down to Alice.
In this day and age of bland multi-nationals with their corporate charisma by-passes it is a joy to see recognition for a woman whose family run business understands that friendliness, charm and respect are core elements of success.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Sea of green
1 November 2008
This is Ethereal, a Ron Holland-designed 190ft ketch just launched from Royal Huisman in The Netherlands for Americans Bill and Shannon Joy. Just another superyacht, you may say, but this yacht's hybrid power system represents something very different and this unusual picture of her seemingly gliding across a 'sea' of green is significant.
She is seen here manoeuvring along the Dutch canal system en route to the open sea for trials where her she was put through her paces at 10 knots under power with no internal combustion engine in use. Instead she was using her lithium battery bank of 400kWh, designed to keep her running for a day with most of her onboard systems in use too. These batteries drive a Combimac electric motor/generator which rotates the shafts and then charges the battery bank when the yacht's more conventional twin Caterpillar 533kW diesels are brought into play.
She also has two 177hp electric Van der Velden hubless thrusters which can turn the yacht through 360 degrees in just 1min 40sec, not bad for a yacht weighing almost 500 tons!
According to Mike Koppstein of Huisman, who we talked to at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show yesterday, the silent running mode is quite unnerving with no engine noise or vibration while 'motoring' with electric power. The same goes for the hubless electric thrusters.
Ethereal is currently undergoing sea trials in the North Sea and we hope to bring you a more detailed report in the pages of Yachting World in an upcoming issue.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Your wife called...
31 October 2008
An unusually chilly northerly breeze pegged temperatures in Florida this week and as the Fort Lauderdale boat show prepared to kick off most pundits reckoned it was an ill wind blowing all the way from Wall Street.
Defying the financial odds, the Americans turned up in record numbers on day one and actually bought boats. What?? They reckoned that the slowdown wasn't so much to do with Wall Street but more about Obama and McCain - once they've finished with the hustings next week life will start to lift off. One industry expert said: "There'll be a lot of bottom feeders out there," a reference to boats going at bargain basement prices, proving that it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
Punters are being tempted in by everything from helicopters, submarines, tight-vested Budweiser female beer sellers - the Bud Girls - and fleets of impossibly flash motors from Maseratis to Rollers. Salesmen are using every trick in the book to urge people to get their cheque books out in this weird winter hide-out - see above
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Blown away in St. Tropez
4 October 2008
This picture looks more like the Outer Hebrides than the south of France where racing in Les Voiles de St Tropez has been badly disrupted by the Mistral which has been blowing steadily now for 30 hours and looks ominously as though it will truncate activities today, the last day of racing.
The picture shows plenty of white water and spray on the beach while Ronald de Waal's Bystander, his impressive mothership for the J Velsheda and Senso One (partly hidden by a cloud of spray) ride it out in the anchorage off the main town. Senso, by the way, is back in town having had her bow patched up after a collision two days ago. Incidentally, she lost that protest and was disqualified for her efforts... (see Senso Bows Out blog).
The race committee curtailed proceedings very early yesterday at 1130 which, for some, may have come as a surprise. Surely a postponement would have been a better move? In fact the committee got it dead right and put their trust in meteorologist Pierre Lesnier who predicted the wind to increase in the afternoon - and indeed it certainly did with more than 30 knots true on the clock. Lesnier's prediction was impressively accurate and his suggestion that things might quieten down by this morning also looks right - but will it be enough to convince the committee that all will be well on the race course?
Some sailors - Brad Butterworth from Numbers for one - reckoned at least some yachts should have raced - "that's what they're designed for," he told me - but a straw poll of skippers suggested that the committee on this occasion had got it right and that the chance of carnage had been correctly avoided. This afterall, is not a grand prix event…
As the press were told in a special conference, 'security issues', not just the weather and the 2.5m swell in the bay, had been taken into account and this was clearly a reference to the tragic accident in Cannes last week when Wilf Tolhust was killed in a port and starboard incident on a windy day in the Regates Royales. This sobering incident has clearly focused attention on the point at which weather conditions make this type of racing dangerous.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Cruising at 17 knots, and then...
3 October 2008
Yesterday may have been lay day at Les Voiles de St Tropez but when the Mistral got into its stride in the afternoon the temptation to go for another blast was too much for some. Yachting World in the form of your author and freelance photographer Richard Langdon nipped along the coast to Juan le Pins to join Bill and Lisa Bailey aboard the first Shipman 80.
She's an all carbon supercruiser, the latest in a line of impressive boats to come out the Seaway Shipman plant in Slovenia where the brothers Jakopin and Jakopin - that's Jernej and Japec - continue to expand at an extraordinary rate. They are about to launch 100, 130 and 150ft versions of a marque which started with the award winning 50 (now discontinued due to a fire which destroyed the moulds) and has already progressed to a 63 and 72.
But it was the 80 Mike Reardon of Shipman was keen for us to get our hands on. The day started quietly enough and with a big Code sail up it didn't take long for the big carbon boat, which weighs only 38 tons, to crank up to 11 knots plus in 10 knots of breeze. And this is a luxuriously appointed yacht with all the whistles and bells…
Weight reduction is the key to success in this boat so the Hall Spars carbon rig is stayed with Future Fibres PBO, the interior is ultra lightweight, Harken winches are carbon and the owner has be encouraged to leave as much as possible - particularly the kitchen sink - at home.
So we finish with the plain sail and as the chopper turns up for a photoshoot Mike Reardon and Bill eye the conditions for a rather large, pink (what is it about pink this week..? see the Nano story) A sail. It's gusting 25 but we go for it. And by gum it was worth it! We charge off towards Cap d'Antibes and we're sitting on 16 knots without a care in the world. The twin rudders make this a controllable boat but the sea's flat and the breeze reasonable steady. The cameraman in the Robinson chopper must be having a field day.
Then it gets up a bit - we see more than 30 knots true - the seas picks up and we hit 17 then 17.6 which is our top speed for the day. This is a cruising boat remember and there are just three people on deck (admittedly there's a whole bunch more below keeping out of the way of the video cameraman hovering like some demented bee just off our foam streaked stern…), but essentially the whole thing is very easy to control. It is extremely exciting, high speed…errr, cruising!
Then we come to get the big pink thing down. Which we do without a hitch. Just when we thought we had the whole thing (literally) in the bag with the sail fully snuffed, a series of small things go wrong. It was breezy, plenty of breaking water, you couldn't hear quite what was being said, but somehow the halyard eased prematurely, the tack line got an ease too and the snuffer line hadn't been made off properly. Result - foot of the 'pink one' goes for a swim, we roll heavily to leeward and suddenly we are trawling. Most of it is under the boat impossible to haul aboard.
Suffice to say we ended up having to cut half the kite away, the bottom half ending up gift wrapping the keel and twin rudders (must have looked nice in pink…). We sail (slowly) back and aim to drop the hook in the lee of Cap d'Antibes so that Bill can dive to clear the mess before we press the engine start button.
In the end it's cleared and we head home tails slightly between legs. Funny how at the end of a fun day, a series of small mistakes can roll into one big headache. All I can say is that before the incident it had been one impressive and exciting sail and luckily the helicopter had disappeared over the horizon thus avoiding our difficult moment.
Check out an upcoming issue of Yachting World for a full report and some stunning pictures of the impressive Shipman 80.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Senso bows out
1 October 2008
This is what's left of Senso One's stem after a collision with the stern of a yacht just before the big schooner's start at Les Voiles de St Tropez today. As she approached the line the ex-Mari Cha 1V (147ft) collided with the relatively sharp sugar scoop stern of another yacht. A crewman aboard Senso said they were doing about 11 knots when the incident occurred. No one was hurt but a large chunk of Senso's stem went missing proving the usefulness of a collision bulkhead. Senso was later seen motoring out of St Tropez bay heading for Antibes and a patch up - she was predicted to be back in action by Friday…
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Nano moment off St Tropez
1 October 2008
Terrific little blast aboard the Wally Nano off St. Tropez today. The new 37ft retro one design is a kind of pocket Wally designed jointly by Luca Bassani's now famously inventive team in Fano, Italy and Dutch naval architect Andre Hoek. The new boat has been a long time coming after production moved from Holland to Antalya in Turkey and even now there is a long snagging list for the little 'pink one' - she sports an unconventional pink livery - or Barbie Wally as some yachtsmen in St Tropez have rather unkindly dubbed her.
But one thing's for sure, this little baby, pink or not, really does perform. It's very early days but Paolo Massarini the Nano's project manager and extremely experienced grand prix sailor together with Italian Olympic Star helmsman Diegro Negri wore broad smiles as we hit speeds just shy of 13 knots with a biggish A sail set and 20 knot gusts barrelling down the Baie de St Tropez. On a long wave this boat is surely going to reach the high teens…
Light as a feather on the helm the 2.6 ton Wally lifted her bow and hammered off downwind after a beat under full main and small jib. I'd noticed there was no means of reefing the main and the forecast was for a rising breeze. "What happens when we need to get rid of some main?" I asked. "Then it's time to go home," said Paolo…
See the October issue of Supersail World and an upcoming issue of Yachting World for a full report on this exciting little boat which, although not racing (an admin problem over insurance and a crippling IRC handicap didn't help) has been a hot topic of conversation at Les Voiles de St Tropez which continues until Saturday. See also www.regattanews.com
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Pimp my Range Rover
25 September 2008
Strange start to the Monaco Yacht Show - journalists were tempted to the Port Palace Hotel, overlooking all the yachts, to inspect cars. Edmiston, the brokers in red and masters of the art of marketing, were announcing the winner of a competition to pimp up a Range Rover so that it would better match it's use as a land based tender for one's superyacht.
As Nick Edmiston explained, he and his company have been charging around in these iconic wagons for years - here was an opportunity to come up with something different.
Jamie Edmiston, Nick's son who heads up the London office and deals with all things branded, invited 'the world's top yacht designers', as he put it, to submit their ideas. Tim Heywood, Andrew Winch, Terry Disdale, Martin Francis, Redman Whitely Dixon, Ken Freivokh and Dickie Bannenberg duly delivered and all lined up in Monaco to admire each other's work.
The cars had to be practical, meet stringent road safety regulations and at the same time have that touch of marine styling which would say Yacht Rover rather than Land Rover. Despite being up to their eyes in the world's top yacht projects all seven found time to deliver impressively detailed ideas.
A common denominator seemed to be teak - dashboards, bonnets, door panels and fascias all had the ubiquitous deck treatment but in the end the judges decided that Andrew Winch's wagon was the winner with it's white stainless steel finish. "It's clean and pure, designed to move you from private jet to private yacht," gushed Andrew and it even had a matching trailer for the inevitable luggage overflow…
But your author reckoned it looked a bit ordinary when the model was unveiled. Sorry Andrew. I thought Terry Disdale won it hands down with what he called his 'St Tropez cruiser' a beach buggy with bells on. And Terry was the only designer to have the balls to cut the roof off the thing. The picture here is Terry's submission.
According to Edmiston all the cars can be built to order costing anything from Euros 200,000 to Euros 800,000. It was all good fun although as proceedings continued Edmiston senior was heard to say, "I wish Jamie would get on with this, I need to go out and sell some yachts…"
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Ranger - fast but for sale
22 April 2008
For those of you interested in the latest performance of the two most competitive J Class yachts currently on the circuit, Velsheda and Ranger, it may come as a surprise to learn that John Williams appears to have pulled the plug on the Ranger programme.
The yacht is seriously for sale along with his support vessel Vita. Williams will sail this summer in Europe including the Superyacht Cup in Palma and at the Maxi Rolex regatta in Sardinia but that could be the end of the campaign for the iconic barrel-bowed J. Any takers…?
Whether Williams goes for a replacement J remains to be seen but the word on the dock at the Antigua Classic Regatta is that he wants to build something seriously fast, possibly a sled of some sort. Who knows, maybe he'll go for both…
After extensive mods to lighten and re-distribute weight in Ranger, Williams has a yacht that over a windward leeward course is now faster than Velsheda. At Antigua, where the courses comprise predominantly reaching legs Velsheda hung on well and if she hadn't made an odd tactical error on the final beat of the second race she could have beaten Ranger on elapsed as well as corrected time.
For reasons known only to themselves Velsheda's afterguard failed to cover Ranger on the final leg when she had a three to four boat length advantage, something she'd held from the start. Perhaps she knew Ranger would get to her anyway and that a flier was in order. When I was a lad I was always told to keep between the opposition and the weathermark/finish to keep your victim safely tucked away. Velsheda handed them the keys by taking a long tack to seaward and into oblivion while Ranger worked the well known lifts on the shore and came back to the big blue boat tacking beneath her and beating her to the line by six seconds. Cracking finish, sweet result for Williams and some glum faces back at the dock aboard Velsheda.
Despite these improvements to Ranger Williams has put her up for sale. With two more Js building, Endeavour 11 (which will not be her eventual name incidentally) and Lionheart, and another just ordered - I understand Chris Gongriep who has sold Windrose of Amsterdam has signed on the dotted line for a modern version of Rainbow - the class is in rude health but it will in many ways be sad to see Williams moving on to pastures new.
In the meantime Velsheda will be in the UK this summer for a bit of racing including the JP Morgan Round the Island Race and will have her new Southern Spars carbon rig stepped at Pendennis in Falmouth. No doubt she will also have her hydraulics sorted out too. In the last race at Classics the electronic control panel's brain went missing. Velsheda had to ship a whole bunch of guys aboard who were stationed below decks to manually operate each hydraulic valve for every manoeuvre. VHF and straightforward shouting through hatches somehow enabled them to operate everything from outhauls, pole lifts and halyards to their enormous drum sheet winches. It was scary stuff but she got round the track two minutes adrift of Ranger.
Next year's J Class scene is going to be one to watch.
Picture above shows Ranger - is the J Class scene just too slow for Team Williams?
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Will the America's Cup be wired
5 July 2007
If they are going to be 90ft long, have more than 20 crew who, as Brad Butterworth put it, will have to be more 'athletic', have they got trapezes in mind? And have Lake Garda boats, which Ernesto Bertarelli is known to sail, had any influence on what to expect in 2009 and beyond.
As far as athleticism is concerned surely AC boats as we know them have gone as far as the designers can go. There's surely only one way to go - out on the wire…
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Oyster's classic connection
25 June 2007
Here's Richard Matthews head of Oyster Marine enjoying some superyachting aboard Larry and Jan Finch's Janice of Wyoming at the Dubois Cup, held in Palma just prior to the Superyacht Cup Ulysse Nardin. Seven yachts took part in a particularly enjoyable event.
Richard was there largely because of his well advanced plans to build two new super-sized Oysters, a 100-footer and 125, both designed by Ed Dubois.
Interestingly both models will be built in female moulds using some form of sandwich composite construction and the go-ahead is about to be formalised with the RMK shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul, part of the wealthy Koc group. Richard tells me that he and the boss of RMK have much in common including ownership of Fife classics. Richard is currently re-building two Fifes and his counterpart at RMK has a classic, gaff-rigged 12 metre. "I am very keen to sign the contract aboard his yacht," said Richard.
Will they, I wonder both be bringing a selection of their yachts to the Fife regatta due to be held in Scotland next year?
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Trickle down tech
25 June 2007
Sailing aboard Charles Dunstone's Hamilton 11 was one of the more enlightening experiences of last week's Superyacht Cup, especially as far as new technology was concerned. Aboard was North Sails man Neil 'Strapper' Mackley (picture shows from left to right, David Bedford, Neil trimming and Charles steering) who explained to me what the odd hissing sound was whenever we furled the headsail. "It's the pneumatics," said Neil rather enigmatically.
Hamilton's pneumatic system (used for things like sliding hatches etc.) is also linked to pipework laid into the 3DL matrix of the headsail leading to inflatable battens. These tubes set into the leech of the sail can be pumped up to 10 bar according to Neil and then, when the sail needs to be furled, they can be deflated to allow furling to occur.
Charles Dunstone's new 'inflatable' cost about $70,000 and represents direct trickle down from America's Cup technology although I'm told the Cup boys have reverted to 'hard' battens - there's not much call for furling in AC boats.
Another development from Am Cup is the use of what on the face of it are asymmetric sails that don't need trimming. "Emirates Team New Zealand have done a lot of work developing a sail that is more forgiving, that doesn't collapse so easily and is more efficient," said Neil.
When you look at the sail the luff stands well out to weather and it is this ability to make the sail set and 'stand out' that makes it more stable and virtually self trimming. This makes gybing easier too and during the Superyacht Cup it was amazing to see so many enormous yachts going through numerous quick gybes without a hitch.
Finally Strapper showed me something nasty. A titanium leech block which had 'exploded' while Hamilton was reefed in 40 knots on her way to Palma. A pin had worked lose and the thing had literally been torn apart by the reef line. The mainsail battens were broken and the main given a severe thrashing but the fabric of the 3DL survived.
This led to some extraordinary tales of batten incidents. Two involved broken battens that had been flogged out of their pockets. The shattered ends descended like spears and on both occasions actually penetrated the deck. In one incident a crew member was below in his bunk and awoke to find a batten unnervingly close to his torso the offensive item having buried itself in the deck and passed clean through the deckhead. Air battens sound a much safer bet…
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Mills plans ahead
22 June 2007
Forward planning in complex projects is everything so it was interesting to hear from Sir Keith Mills when I was sailing with him aboard Charles Dunstone's Hamilton 11 in The Superyacht Cup in Palma recently that a House of Commons Committee has already been established to look at how to handle the America's Cup if and when the Origin challenge is successful in bringing the Auld Mug back to British shores.
Sir Keith tells me that when the Cup comes home the need to look at regeneration for the port chosen for the defence will obviously require the cooperation of politicians. The advantages of regeneration do, of course, have big political consequences and it is exciting to think that the America's Cup in Britain could have such a dramatic effect on the chosen location.
Sir Keith is currently waiting with bated breath for the first ten minutes of the opening beat in tomorrow's first America's Cup match race. It would be to Origin's advantage if the Swiss went ahead in that crucial opening exchange and next week when the outcome of the AC becomes clear expect Sir Keith to start executing plans that have no doubt already been carefully laid.
I wonder if there are any British politicians in Valencia taking a look at an event that will increasingly become part of their portfolio…
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Black Betty's fate
6 June 2007
This is the hull mould for the now famed VOR winner ABN Amro One or Black Betty as she was dubbed, which is now looking for a home after builder Leen Schaap of Schaap ShipCare in the Netherlands was asked by ABN to dispose of all the tooling and other build materials associated with the project.
Leen told us during a visit to the yard yesterday that there was no way they could bring themselves to cut up the mould which has now become a part of yachting history, a special piece of VOR memorabilia.
"We can't take another boat off it unless we came to come arrangement with the designer Juan Kouyoumdjian," said Leen, "so we thought we might stand it on it's end and have it as some sort of sculpture," he added with a grin. "We certainly couldn't bring ourselves to take the chainsaw to it!" There's an interesting maritime museum near Schaap ShipCare in Lelystad and it might make its way there, but if anyone has any ideas they might like to contact Leen at www.schaapshipcare.nl
In the meantime Leen's fascinating specialist composites plant is just putting the finishing touches to what's been christened the 'Little Monster', a 38ft version of the same 70ft VOR hull, design by Juan K for Roy Heiner's Team Heiner a race training and events set up also based in Lelystad. The TH38 is a wonderfully potent looking machine, comes with the familiar Juan K chined hull, a canting bulbed keel and also a canting canard forward of the keel which can be trimmed to the vertical no matter what the angle of keel.
Heiner hopes to add a number of these extraordinary looking yachts to his fleet of J109s, a couple of Max Funs and an old Mount Gay 30 which are in demand as a corporate charter fleet. Check out www.teamheiner.com and more detail in an upcoming issue of Yachting World.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Athos, the schooner
5 June 2007
Here's Athos, one of the highlights of a tour of Dutch yachtbuilders we're currently undertaking. Yesterday morning we dropped into Holland Jachbouw in Zaandam near Amsterdam where managing director Paul Dielemans explained that they will take delivery of the Andre Hoek-designed yacht later this year from sub-contracted hull fabricators near Rotterdam and plan to have the finished yacht in the water in 2009. At 62m (that's a little over 203ft) loa including the bowsprit she will be the largest privately owned modern schooner afloat when she eventually goes down the ways.
Holland Jachtbouw are building a brand new assembly and finishing hall for Athos which should be operational by September, but even Dielemans is wondering whether it's going to be big enough to cope with the with the continuing demands of the big yacht industry. Beautiful teak hatches, skylights and companionways are already being built in a re-vamped wood working section at HJ in preparation for installation later this year.
Dielemans is also trying to introduce what's known as WCM manufacturing methodology at the yard. That stands for World Class Manufacturing and it's a system evolved by Toyota principally for mass production. But Dielemans who was briefed by the Blom Consultancy with the idea, believes elements can be used in yacht building even though 'it's at the other end of the production spectrum' . Custom yachting building might bear little resemblance to a car line but one feature is empowering the workforce from top to bottom so that they take responsibility for decision making and can have the freedom to evolve their own jobs. Sounds interesting.
Athos has similar looks to the Hoek-design ketch Adele but this yacht, for a repeat customer, is much beamier, has twin engines, a massive centreboard - there will be 90 tons of lead ballast set internally in the aluminium hull - and her main and foresail will be handled by in-boom furling systems. Much of the accommodation is on two decks such is the size of the hull.
We also dropped in on Contest Yachts yesterday. Their plant was burned to the ground five years ago but they have risen phoenix-like to re-develop their range with a George Nissen designed 60 due out this winter and a 40-footer by the same designer in the wings with, unusually for Contest, an aft cockpit. More details on both these projects in the August issue of Yachting World.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Surely some mistake...
29 April 2007
Six hours bobbing about off Valencia with little or no racing can test the most patient America's Cup observer but aboard the press boat covering the south course this week there was plenty of banter, a considerable amount of it flowing from one Harry Cudmore, veteran match racer from a very different generation of Cup sailors.
"Shall I show you some pictures of what I'm up to now?" proffered Harry. Out came some snaps of The Mistake which transpired to be an historic 18ft skiff which he sails with a bunch of guys in Sydney Harbour. The Mistake which has 2 plus 2=5 emblazoned across it's main is a new boat, a wooden replica of a vessel which bore the same name way back in the last century. There are about ten of them which race under the auspices of the Sydney Flying Squadron and Harry tells me they want to bring the fleet to the UK for a bit of fun.
Cudmore, whose name is spelt Cudmoore on his sailing shirt just to keep the theme going, says that the fleet regularly race in the harbour and in almost any conditions (which is more than can be said for a modern America's Cup yacht). "We raced when the breeze was gusting 38 and all went well until we tried a gybe…" said Harry who listed some of the dinghy's alarming vital statistics.
Although the squat little vessels are indeed 18ft on deck, their loa is a staggering 45ft with a 24ft main boom and a 14ft bowsprit. They set their spinnakers off the end of the gaff, a spar which is equipped with its own backstays! "To gybe them you have to remove the forestay and jib," said Harry who appears to spend most of the winter in Australia campaigning The Mistake.
As we drifted around the course off Valencia, the sky overcast, the wind fitful at best and the race officers tearing their hair out with frustration, the pictures of the skiffs blasting across Sydney Harbour before steady breeze and under blue skies at least did something to cheer up our day.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Adele reaches Rio!
21 February 2007
At last we're in Rio having clocked just under 3,500nm from Stanley in The Falklands! We got here late last night and now we're anchored right beneath Sugar Loaf Mountain, recovering from a quick run ashore last night to the local yacht club. It's taken eight and a half days to reach Rio from South Georgia and last night saw a mixture of emotions - relief from a long upwind session, the excitement of arrival and a sense of achievement with lots of spontaneous hugs and kisses on board. Maybe a tear or two…
From the emptiness and magnificence of the ocean we are now under the flightpath of the local airport, the drums and rhythm of carnival roll across the glassy calm, helicopters flit about and the roar of the city begins to rise as the heat builds over the land.
No sooner had we dropped the pick last night than a launch arrived from the famous Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro Rio (that's the yacht club) with Tom 'The Pom' Richardson and his wife Carlotta aboard. They're great friends of Nigel and Michel Ingram and Tom will be well known to the maxi crowd from the 1970s - he used to run Huey Long's distinctive Britton Chance-designed Ondine.
Tom's a kind of Mr Fixit here and has been able to pave the way for Adele's arrival and help plan Jan-Eric and Jennifer's schedule from now on in Brazil. The first thing he organised was a quick trip to the yacht club, where we were served the national drink of Brazil - caipirinha. This delicious but 'lethal' cocktail is made from cachaca, a dreadfully basic local fire water, lime, sugar and ice and it doesn't take many to get you in the mood. Just two last night was enough send us off to very deep sleeps indeed. I was staggered to hear from Tom that the yacht club was previously a flying club, with an airstrip in the 'back yard' and slipways for flying boats. I began wondering if I'd already overdosed on caipirinhas.
For Jan-Eric and Jennifer's guests the end of this extraordinary adventure is in sight and there are all sorts of e-mails and phone calls going on to check flights and hotels. I had a job remembering my mobile phone number and with e-mails being accessed, websites being checked and things being downloaded we are re-entering the real world and, as someone said last night, 're-toxing'.
Unless something crazy happens here in Rio - which it probably will - I'm signing off from this blogging episode which I hope you've enjoyed. It's sure been fun doing it and I'd like to thanks Jan-Eric and Jennifer for making it happen. I would also like to add a special thanks to a special crew who have done wonders to keep this show on the road. Here they are looking all spick and span as we make our final approach to Rio!
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
A sting in the tail
20 February 2007
It's been quite a lively night with the north-easterly piping up to 35 knots and a chunky sea occasionally finding its way into Adele's cockpit. Whoops, salt water on the deck cushions…
We've had to sail fairly well below our course because we do not want to thump into this sea as much for the crew (accommodated forward), as the yacht. The crew, however, seem totally unfazed by the conditions and maintain service as usual - if you can stomach it with the motion!
The game plan is to close the coast about 80nm to 100nm south west of Rio when the wind should ease and the sea state flatten. We will then probably motor the last bit allowing us to clean the yacht and sort ourselves out before arrival in a city with a carnival hangover - it's taken three days to raise our agent!
One of the reasons we don't want to crash into it, is that the rig is a little 'soft' with noticeable sag in the forestay and a bit of fall off at the top of the mainmast. This is because Adele has literally expanded as she has moved from water and air temperatures of around 0 degrees C. to numbers approaching 30 degrees C. Her aluminium hull and the rod rigging holding up her masts, plus the forestay foil, all react to the increase in temperature and inevitably things slacken off.
In Rio one of Marten Spars' reps either from Auckland or Europe will come and tune the rig using a 10,000psi jack to lift the mast to allow them to make the adjustments needed for warmer climes. Andre and the crew have been particularly impressed with Marten Spars service and for that matter with Rondal who have travelled to Adele immediately any need has arisen.
Andrew Kitchener is Marten's man in Europe and along with Leen Smoor and a guy known as 'Grunter' from Auckland the rigs have been kept in tip top shape. In Auckland, bosun Georgina Swan's mum phoned Adele from her office in the city. "There's someone standing on top of your mast, dear," she said. It was Grunter, tethered to the masthead lightening conductor rod (that's 62m up by the way), standing on the truck, yanking the B&G instrument cable through! Such is the life of a modern-day rigger.
Evidence of the hull expansion and contraction can be seen in the caulking set at regular intervals between the lengths of teak cap rail. In the cold weather when the hull is 'small' the black caulking stands proud as the aluminium contracts, compressing the material between the lengths of timber.
Now it is concave as the hull has expanded and the lengths of cap rail have pulled apart slightly with the hull. It is extraordinary to think that with all the expansion and contraction, hot and cold, to say nothing of the sort of pounding that Adele has taken over the past few weeks, that paint and varnish has stayed on at all. The hull finish is Awlgrip by the way and a team from Holland will come to varnish Adele's brightwork with Epiphanes.
And we've seen evidence of other life on earth. Last night we had to alter course for a seismic survey vessel towing some sort of device, the first ship since South Georgia, and we have just talked to a Dutch freighter out on our port beam. With AIS (automatic identification system) we know she is called Racer, that she is due in Amsterdam on 9 March and than she draws 10.5m. We have her course and speed and a quick chat with her bridge established that her CPA (closest point of approach) was OK but she altered anyway to leave us well clear on her port beam. A long way from the day's when you would eye her with a hand bearer and worry until you were sure you weren't on a collision course.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Lessons from Adele
19 February 2007
If he did this all again, what would Jan-Eric Osterlund change aboard Adele? I talked to him over breakfast this morning on a fantastic sailing day as we thundered along about 36 hours out of Rio de Janeiro
We're fairly close hauled, the apparent wind angle is hovering between 30 degrees and 35 degrees and we are barrelling along at around 11 knots. True wind about 16 knots. Reef in the main, full mizzen and a reef in both the staysail and yankee. The wind is just beginning to lift us (as predicted by Commander's Weather) and we are not far off the heading needed to make Rio de Janeiro 317nm away.
The sailing is quite fantastic - Nigel Ingram's watch has been disconnecting the autopilot and enjoying being at one with Adele. She's a joy to sail in these conditions. We're sitting chatting in the cockpit over breakfast with the air temperature around 28 degrees. Not bad for a Monday morning…
What this leg from South Georgia has proved more than anything is that a big, complex superyacht - at least this one - is more than capable of reeling of the miles to weather in comfort at very healthy speeds in very different conditions. OK, there's an angle of heel but you can still have hot showers, an extraordinarily comfortable night's sleep, three substantial meals a day, watch a movie, write a blog, edit a slide show, fish for tuna or simply sit and read in the sun, with little discomfort. The air con has steadily moved from heating the accommodation to cooling it. It's a travelling pleasure dome. And, fingers crossed, we haven't had a single snag - well nothing serious that I know about.
It has also been remarkably easy to 'change gear' aboard this yacht something which, of course, can only be achieved by having a well-drilled, highly organised crew. We certainly have that.
Despite this seeming utopia, there are still ways of making things better. I asked Jan-Eric Osterlund what he would change if he did it all over again. Here's his wish-list in no particular order of preference.
1. If Adele could have been 2m longer, a larger freezer capacity and a larger crew mess would have been right up there. He would also give more room to the laundry. All are a bit tight and additional freezer units have had to be installed in the bilge store area.
2. The shower faucets, at least in the owner's cabin, need to be fitted on the fore or aft bulkheads, not to port or starboard. This means when Adele is heeling one can lean on the shower stall 'wall' rather than be impaled on the taps.
3. Adele needs a bigger stern anchor. It has been used to anchor the yacht bows on to a swell that might have crept into an anchorage. It has also been used when going bows to a rock mooring in Scandinavia. Adele's counter leaves little room for a big anchor in its dedicated lazarette. Deck stowage might be the answer.
4. Single bunks have excellent lee clothes but the doubles need to be
split down the middle to fit a dividing lee cloth. Couples have had interesting times on this trip!
5. Adele needs a heated diesel fuel tank to cope with low temperatures. They thought the fuel in Argentina was of the correct type to go south, as the cruise liners were taking it, but these ships have diesel tank heaters to stop the fuel 'waxing up' as the temperature drops to 1 degree. Fuel in Adele's day tank was beginning to cloud and engineer Paul Irvine was worried we were heading for a major problem, especially as the main tanks are adjacent to Adele's aluminium hull. It didn't materialise but if Adele went to the ice again a heater would be essential.
6. Skipper Andre would like more fuel capacity. 24 tons is what she has. J-E says it's OK. I'll leave it at that!
And some of the good things…
1.The great thing is her motion - she is a beautiful 'ride' upwind - the test is, will we be exhausted after of a week sailing upwind? I think not. She has passed that test with flying colours.
2. Three tenders seems a lot of tenders. For this programme it's proved to be an excellent choice, with all three employed for different conditions and locations - J-E would do that again.
3. The ketch rig is an excellent choice, infinitely adjustable, loads of sail for light airs, easy to reduce for heavy airs and perfect for those motor sailing moments when you need to squeeze to weather for a while. Great sails, reefed or full, from North Denmark.
4. Furling systems excellent once the Rondal problems were solved and the Harken cars modified.
5. There was talk at one stage of twin engines. The Caterpillar 1000hp
main hasn't missed a beat. So no change.
6. Never any shortage of hot water (see previous blog). A brilliant system which has worked very well in cold climes.
These were points raised in just 20 minutes and I hope to be able to enlarge in an upcoming issue of Yachting World.
Current position 27deg 31min S 40deg 45min W. Should be in tomorrow evening.
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
Let me introduce you
18 February 2007
It's Sunday morning and we've just reached 30 degrees south. We're
hoisting the main and will soon bear away for our final run into Rio, 500 miles away. Last night we dined under the stars on deck but for most of the voyage meals have been taken around Adele's fine dining table in the deck saloon.
This shot (above) was taken a week ago just before we left South Georgia and I am happy to report that we are still all on board. As it's Sunday and you're all probably sitting round your own dining tables I thought it was appropriate - Left to right: Jennifer Osterlund, your author, Birgitta Kjellberg (friend of the owner), Nigel Ingram (project managed the build of Adele), Eef Willems (Adele's guide in Antarctica), Jan-Eric Osterlund (Adele's owner), Michel Ingram, Mark Chisnell (writing a book about Adele's adventure), Lars Lind (friend of the owner).
The crew is led by Andre Engblom (skipper). Then there's Mark Thirkettle (mate), Georgina Swan (bosun), Quinton Ross (deckhand), Paul Irvine (engineer), Clare Oliver (chef and medic), Anne Hall-Reace (chief stewardess) and Gillian Baker (stewardess).
Eighteen in all and it's been a very happy ship. When we arrived at South Georgia we doubled the population. When we arrive in Rio de Janeiro we will barely register amongst the country's 155 million. It's going to be one heck of a shock when we arrive….
David Glenn
Top of page |
Comment on my blog |
Blog archive |
Subscribe to Yachting World
