The best man overboard recovery procedure is a topic that inspires healthy respect among sailors…

For many, in fact, it is a question that provokes outright fear, and it’s not hard to see why. Offshore, far from help, or even for shorthanded coastal outings, the prospect of finding and re-embarking a member of the crew lost over the side is daunting.

Now, my intention here is not to explore the best MOB technique to use. I’ve asked Simon Jinks of SeaRegs Training in Plymouth to provide a brief step-by-step guide instead. He outlines the RYA’s official man overboard procedure below.

We’ll tackle two scenarios: recovering a conscious and able MOB and getting an unconscious or unable casualty safely back aboard. Nothing beats practicing the drill yourself, the more so if you are planning a challenging voyage or a bluewater crossing. But at least you’ll have a good oversight of the equipment that can help you.

Man overboard procedure

Actions 1: Initial

• Shout and inform others
• Mark the position/ get visual/ spotter
• Sheet in mainsail/ stop the boat/ heave-to
• Press the DSC button on the VHFStart heading back to the MOB

Actions 2: Prep

• Furl headsail
• Check for lines over the side
• Start engine
• Ready throwing line and retrieval equipment
• If you have the crew – make a Mayday message

Actions 3: Retrieval

• Either go downwind and approach into wind; or
• Stay upwind and drift downwind with main centred
• Use ahead and astern to keep position
• Pick up on the leeward side
• Stop engine once alongside (or near alongside)

If the MOB is conscious and able, recover with…

• Ladder astern or over side
• Jib sheet or line over the side to make a loop for use as a step
• Recovery sling using a halyard or block and tackle
• Scrambling net draped over the side of the boat
• Jonbuoy

If the casualty is unable to help themselves, try…

• Parbuckling device such as recovery sail
• Scrambling net (used to parbuckle)
• Launch liferaft and get them in it to protect from the water
• Send someone in water in drysuit attached to line/halyard to assist casualty into sling (high freeboard, large yachts)

In reality, says Jinks, an unconscious casualty is not so different from an incapacitated one. “Making initial contact will probably require you lassoing them with a sinking line, just as you can with a mooring buoy,” he says.

“If they have a Lifesaver loop on their lifejacket, then it’s easier to get a lifting device onto them. When the casualty is alongside, you are dealing with two things that are moving – the boat and the person. If you don’t get a line on them you will drift away in seconds.”

The post Man overboard procedure: Sea safety expert shares his recovery method appeared first on Sailing Today.

Sam Fortescue looks at what’s new for 2024 when it comes to sailing safety equipment…

Sailing safety lines

There are broadly three types of line. First up, the traditional rescue quoit – a thin polypropylene line with a rubber ring as ballast for the throw. “They’re normally just seen in liferafts these days, because they are hard to throw accurately and the thin line often tangles,” says Jinks.

Throw bags are a better bet, and a strong arm can manage a good distance of perhaps 20-25m. The line is often slightly thicker and softer, but it does need to be packed correctly. Finally, there’s the rescue sling which doesn’t travel far, but can be used to lassoo people – picking them up in the bight. Buy a good one with thickish floating polypropylene safety line.

This article contains affiliate links. The products or services listed have been selected independently by journalists after hands-on testing or sourcing expert opinions. We may earn a commission when you click a link, buy a product or subscribe to a service – at no extra cost to you.

Crewsaver throwing line

Hold the bight in your non-throwing hand and then heft the hi-vis yellow pack towards the MOB. The basic 20m line is the easiest to throw; the 30m throwing strop does the same job but with a longer line and handy padded strop that runs under your armpits.

RRP: £45

Shop now at marinesuperstore.com

Plastimo rescue line

Combines 20m of floating line in a neat pouch with a stainless-steel rail mount system for easy stowing.

RRP: £62.95

Shop now at force4.co.uk

Seago Throw Bag

With 30m of hi-vis floating line and a stainless-steel mounting bracket.

RRP: £32.50

Shop now at Amazon

Recovery devices

When you get to a certain size and weight, throwing lines become rescue slings and cannot be thrown far. Instead, it works better to run out the line astern and tow the sling around the MOB.

They are generally available for less than £100, made of foam and floating polypropylene line in lengths of 20-30m.

If you plan to use the sling to raise someone from the water, you’ll also need to have a purchase system of blocks to make it easier. Reckoning with wet clothing, lifting weights of 100kg-plus are likely, so you’ll need at least a 4:1 purchase, if not an 8:1. Jimmy Green does a set for £129 or £279 respectively.

Also worth noting that Duncan Wells’ simple Lifesaver line (£17.95) can make the difference when you’re trying to catch and tether a MOB in the lee of the boat. You fix it in your lifejacket and it floats free on activation.

Crewsaver Rescue Sling, £80, marinesuperstore.com
Windward Rescue Sling, £74.95, force4.co.uk
Oscar MOB Rescue Sling, £99, jimmygreen.com
Baltic Rescue Sling, with a precise 38m of nylon rope, £149, crew-safe.co.uk
Kim MOB Rescue Sling, uses a helicopter lifting strop, £140, gaelforcemarine.co.uk
Jonbuoy Rescue Sling, the limousine of MOB devices inflates when it hits the water, from £189, andark.co.uk

YachtStrop is an open strop set up with throwing weights for lassooing and then lifting someone within 2-3m of the boat. It packs into a long, thin soft case designed for rail mounting. £299, seastrop.com

Seago Rescue Sling has a really well padded sling, £69, marinesuperstore.com

Parbuckling

This is a technique whereby you lash a net, sail or some other flexible material to the side, manoeuvre it under an incapacitated MOB and haul them aboard through a mix of lifting and rolling.

Lifeboats and SAR teams have expensive specialist equipment for this, but there are also options for leisure boats. And you could simply use a length of scrambling net bought online for a few quid. It’s recommended for avoiding

Ocean Safety Pickup Sail

Resembling a triangular mesh sail, the Pickup Sail is fastened at the foot around a pair of stanchions, with a halyard clapped on at the head. Lowering the belly of the sail into the water, you float the MOB in, then raise them using a halyard winch. No need for handy billies or extra purchase – you use the yacht’s existing systems.

RRP: £372
Shop now at suffolkmarinesafety.com

SOS Marine Recovery Ladder

Raise an incapacitated MOB and provide a safe way for an ablebodied casualty to climb back aboard with this two-in-one device. Four attachment points and profiled rungs make this easier to climb than some ladders, offering a safer alternative than the bathing ladder at a slamming stern. It may not be the most comfortable parbuckling sail, but it should still work using a halyard to raise it. Only hitch is that you must order from the Aussie manufacturer.

RRP: AU$244.50
Shop now at fawcettboatsupplies.com

MOBMat

This recovery device has a semi-rigid ‘floor’ to it, so that the casualty doesn’t get rolled or squeezed as they’re raised. You pull the whole thing up using a halyard. Battens keep the shape, then remove for more efficient stowage (60x80cm) in a rail bag or a locker.

RRP: £480
Shop now at adecmarine.co.uk

Jonbuoy

As an inflatable system, the Jonbuoy Recovery Module is both lightweight and efficient to stow. Heave it over the side in an emergency, and it quickly inflates to become a danbuoy, horseshoe buoy and lifting strop all rolled into one.

It does these last two jobs particularly well, providing lots of buoyancy for a casualty to hang onto as well as a comfy inflatable ‘seat’ which vastly improves the experience of being winched out compared to a simpler sling.

A retroreflective finish makes it show up better under torch- or searchlight, and it has a drogue pocket built in to stop it from blowing downwind. It comes in a hard container for rail mounting. Not cheap, but definitely a lifesaver.

RRP: from £255
Shop now at suffolkmarinesafety.com

Best PLBs and EPRIBs

As a highly regulated safety product, the function of these distress beacons is pretty similar across the board. They raise the alarm via satellite, and can confirm that your message has been picked up if you opt for one with the relatively new Return Link Service.

A new feature of some brands is the ability to communicate with an app on your phone to check battery health and status. Category 1 epirbs (attached to the boat) deploy automatically when they sense water, but even manual ones float and have a minimum 48-hour battery life. A personal locator beacon is smaller and will fit in a lifejacket. It can be semi-automatic, so the lifejacket triggers it when inflated.

Best Epirbs

RescueME Epirb 1, £547.32, amazon.co.uk
RescueME Epirb 3 adds AIS, return link and NFC, £799.95, suffolkmarinesafety.com
ACR GlobalFix V5 with AIS, return link and NFC, £825, amazon.co.uk
ACR GlobalFix V6 with return link and NFC, £699, acrartex.com
McMurdo Smartfind G8 AIS, £860, gtc.co.uk

Best PLBs

Ocean Signal PLB1, £355.16, amazon.co.uk
Ocean Signal PLB3 adds AIS, return link and NFC £582.55, amazon.co.uk
McMurdo FastFind 220, £330, amazon.co.uk
ACR ResQLink 410 RLS, £429, amazon.co.uk

Best AIS beacons

AIS beacons do a different job, and many argue that they are more helpful in a remote location when there are crew aboard the boat to help the MOB. Once triggered, they transmit the wearer’s position over a frequency which is picked up by any AIS-enabled vessel within a range of a few miles.

That means that someone on the boat you fell off can pinpoint your exact location and track back to find you. This will usually be faster than waiting for search and rescue to arrive. For obvious reasons, this approach doesn’t work if you are singlehanding.

ACR AISLink MOB, £332, amazon.co.uk
RescueMe MOB1, £331.87, amazon.co.uk
McMurdo FastFind Crew1, £264, amazon.co.uk
Weatherdock easy2, £299.95, easyais.com
Simy My_AIS, from €279, simy-beacons.co.uk

sMRT Alert AIS beacon

AIS beacons are the latest evolutionary step in MOB equipment, because they make it possible for the crew of the yacht to find you quickly. Wescom won a Dame Award for this little box of tricks at the METS trade fair in Amsterdam last year, and it is the first on the market that complies with new EU legislation.

The proliferation of AIS transmitters in maritime hotspots is congesting the airwaves, so regulators have agreed that AIS beacons will not in the future transmit on so-called “core channels”.

That is because AIS is intended as a tool for preventing collisions between vessels, not for locating MOBs. From the start of next year, therefore, new AIS beacons must only transmit on channel 2006. The upside is that so-called Class M requirements also mean that beacons must include a GNSS and DSC receiver, effectively making them two-way. The wearer can see when their signal has been acknowledged, and the beacon stops broadcasting its DSC alarm to all stations. Relief all round!

The sMRT Alert will trigger automatically when immersed for more than two seconds, informing the wearer that it is working with a strobe light and an audible ‘beep’. So you can fit it to your lifejacket and forget it. A smartphone app allows you to check the status and battery level of the unit for those times when you do remember it.

RRP: £270

Shop now at gtc.co.uk

Best liferafts

Usually only for deployment when the boat is irretrievably damaged, the liferaft could provide a useful way of securing the MOB if all else fails. You’re best to invest in a decent offshore liferaft, which must meet ISO standard 9650 Part 1. Choose the 24hr+ pack, which includes a little more drinking water and food.

Crewsaver 6-man canister (24hrs+)

RRP: £2,450
Shop now at marinestore.co.uk

Ocean Safety 6-man valise (24hrs+)

RRP: £2,661.08
Shop now at suffolkmarinesafety.com

Plastimo Transocean ISO 6-man container

RRP: £1,949
Shop now at suffolkmarinesafety.com

Lalizas ISO Racing liferaft, 6-man valise

RRP: £2,021.95
Shop now at force4.co.uk

Seago Sea Master Plus ISO 6-man valise

RRP: £1,199
Shop now at force4.co.uk

The post Sailing safety equipment: Your essential guide to staying safe at sea appeared first on Sailing Today.

Sam Fortescue explains the key features to look for when shopping for one the best lifejackets on the market…

This article contains affiliate links. The products or services listed have been selected independently by journalists after hands-on testing or sourcing expert opinions. We may earn a commission when you click a link, buy a product or subscribe to a service – at no extra cost to you.

Spinlock Deckvest 6D

Spinlock has been through several iterations of its ergonomic Deckvest lifejacket. Its offshore product is called 6D and offers 170N of buoyancy with a built-in harness, integrated pylon light and the smart Lume-On, which turns the whole bladder into a light for easier night spotting.

There is also an option for a harness release system, which allows you to detach yourself from a harness if, for instance, it was towing you along underwater or in another life-threatening situation.

RRP: £265
Shop now via Amazon

Ocean Safety Sport Pro ADV

Combines the comfort of a more ergonomic fit with all the options you need for offshore sailing. Featuring automatic firing and an integrated harness, it also has two loops (intended for a killcord), a sprayhood and an automatic light. So-called Wave Barrier technology turns you quickly on your back, and the lifejacket is ready for an AIS beacon too.

RRP: £214.27
Shop now on tradeinn.com

Baltic Force 190 Harness SLA

The Swedish brand has products pitched at all sailing levels, but if you want all the bells and whistles for offshore sailing, you’ll need the Force 190 SLA. It’s not cheap, but this gives you great design, plus a sprayhood, light and AIS pocket.

Baltic’s other product of note is a female-specific lifejacket called Athena.

RRP: £270
Shop now on trade-inn.com

Crewsaver Crewfit

The Crewfit 165N offers freedom of movement and long-term comfort, while twin waist adjusters ensure a proper fit. The heavy-duty cover has an indicator window for checking the status of the firing mechanism.

Crewsaver’s capable Crewfit 165 Sport is available in pink, with 100 per cent of the sales price going to Cancer Research UK. Available for a donation of your choice (over £100) at fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org

RRP: £99
Shop now on Amazon

Crewsaver Ergofit+ 190N auto

Ergofit introduced the idea of a lifejacket really contoured to fit your body, and its Ergofit+ has built on this further. It makes an ideal offshore lifejacket, with the Halo hood that protects your airways while keeping clear of your face. It also has slimline buckles for easy donning.

The inflatable bladder is carefully shaped and includes a chin support to help keep your airway open. It is also offers space to fit an AIS or PLB beacon. And most recently, Crewsaver has developed its Exolok system to warn you if the inflation cylinder could have worked loose.

RRP: £199
Shop now on crew-safe.co.uk

Mustang Atlas 190

Canadian sea survival brand Mustang Survival is trumpeting the revolutionary nature of its new Atlas 190 lifejacket. Designer Nigel Parkes went back to the drawing board to develop a system that is comfortable to wear but provides excellent turning power and airway protection.

It all comes down to the shape of the bladder itself, which provides a robust 190N of buoyancy and features a built-in 3D headrest and a spray barrier. The lifejacket comes in a standard (£210) and a DLX version (£230), which includes a sprayhood and a water-activated light – both vital for offshore sailing.

RRP: £210
Shop now on mustang-survival.co.uk

Seago 3Dynamic

Always good value, Seago’s flagship lifejacket is the ergonomic 3Dynamic. It packs 190N of buoyancy and comes with a cylinder locking device, a flashing LED light, a sprayhood and pocket.

RRP: £145
Shop now on crew-safe.co.uk

Seasafe I-Zip

This British manufacturer takes a slightly different tack by producing a range of jazzy fabric designs for its 170N lifejacket range. From liquorice Allsorts to camo and even a Union flag, you’ll stand out in one of these.

The spec is surprisingly good, too. They may not be that ergonomic, but you can add an AIS beacon, a sprayhood and even and NFC chip for identification. Best of all, you can get you and your boat’s name embroidered on it!

RRP: £110
Shop now on seasafe.co.uk

Spinlock Deckvest Lite

Spinlock’s Deckvest Lite is a lightweight, 3D-design, auto-inflate (manual optional) lifejacket with a single crotch strap and attachment points for safety line and other MOB devices such as the optional RescueMe AIS MOB1 beacon.

RRP: £165
Shop now on Amazon

Helly Hansen Sailsafe Coastal

Helly Hansen’s Sailsafe Coastal is an ergonomic, lightweight design with integral, contoured harness and a wide back panel for comfort. It has a UML automatic gas inflation mechanism and double crotch straps to stop it riding up the chest. .

RRP: £150
Shop now on tradeinn.com

Secumar Ultra

The Ultra 170 is a 170N lifejacket with integral harness and a fleece-lined neck for extra comfort. It is equipped with an easily fastened, click buckle, a bayonet-style gas cylinder, a viewing panel for the firing mechanism indicator and a single crotch strap as standard.

RRP: £150
Shop now on secumar.com

Baltic Legend

The Comfort Legend has additional buoyancy and is further out on the shoulders and neck than many other models.  An inspection window is fitted so you can check the two indicators are green and the gas cylinder has a retaining loop to stop it unscrewing over time.

RRP: £165
Shop now on baltic.se

Kru Sport

The Kru Sport has more buoyancy than the Kru XF, is equipped with a front buckle, side adjusters and is better shaped for comfort than others in the Kru range.

RRP: £79
Shop now via suffolkmarinesafety.com

Crewsaver Ergofit

The Ergofit 190 is a snug, 3D-moulded lifejacket offering numerous high-level features for offshore use, including an optional spray hood and light. Bladders feature chin support, location beacon attachment points and dual lifting beckets.

RRP: £199
Shop now via suffolkmarinesafety.com

The post 14 of the Best Lifejackets appeared first on Sailing Today.

Some readers will relish the idea of dropping the mobile phone right to the bottom of their kit bag, where it can’t be heard for a few days, and setting off for a sail. But the reality of life is that we all need the internet close at hand, even on the boat.

Myriad navigational tools are available online, from charting apps to weather, and even if you don’t always use them, it’s good to know they are there. These days, the mobile phone is considered the number one piece of safety kit aboard – it’s a key means of raising the alert if something goes wrong. And those who sail with children will testify to the balm-like effect of having some electronic entertainment on hand.

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Phones work well on board as long as you remain within sight of a cell tower. But nestled in under the cliffs of a wild anchorage, or cutting across Lyme Bay for instance, you might struggle to find enough network to connect. A host of electronic solutions to this problem have been developed, so there’s no reason to go without internet access any more, even in high latitudes. Whether you are a safety-only user, a social media addict or into streaming HD content, there’s a different gear package for you. We run through the options.

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Boat wifi only – the budget option

The cheapest, but not always the easiest, way to get wifi on board is to use the marina’s (or other local hot-spot) wireless system. Connecting your phone or laptop to it directly is OK, but you often struggle to get a good connection, particularly below deck. That’s where a wifi booster is required.

At its simplest, you could mount a high-gain antenna on the pushpit that plugs directly into the USB socket of your laptop – ideal for downloading weather, checking the news or sending emails. Something such as Digital Yacht’s WL70 has a reported 1km (0.62miles) range. MailASail claims its Wifi Bat has connected to wifi up to 10 miles away, and Wave Wifi’s Rogue Wave claims up to seven miles’ range.

If you’re sailing with family and friends who also want to get online, a shared connection is needed. Digital Yacht’s iKConnect wireless router would do the trick, combined with either the WL70 or the more powerful WL510 antenna. Alternatively, brands such as Wifi Onboard sell generic router and antenna packages.

23 sailing knives tested

Florida-based Wave WiFi has developed its MBR 500 router specifically for yachts. It offers a simplified user interface and connection to the Rogue Wave antenna via an Ethernet plug, which uses far less power than USB.

MailASail makes a Red Box router that can select automatically between wifi, 4G and satellite comms, compress emails for faster transmission and network your instruments’ NMEA data. It is a great all-rounder, but perhaps too intricate if you just want wifi on board.

Boat wifi antennas

• Digital Yacht WL70: £180
• MailASail Wifi Bat: £358.80
• Wave Wifi Rogue Wave: £tbc
• Wifi Onboard: £185

Boat wifi routers

• Digital Yacht iKConnect: £180
• Wifi Onboard (antenna and router package): £300
• MailASail Red Box: £580.80
• Wave WiFi MBR 500: £tbc

Coastal flexibility

Marina wifi is often too slow to be useful, so a better bet is to use the mobile phone network, which has much higher data rates thanks to 4G (and soon 5G) coverage. Again, the cheapest way of doing this is to install a 4G router in the boat – you could even use a home mifi device (small, wireless devices that let multiple users and mobile devices share a mobile broadband internet connection.) Just plug in a mobile data SIM (monthly contract or pay-as-you-go) and access the internet wherever there is a mobile phone signal.

MailASail’s Roam-Free 4-Gateway claims to boost the 4G signal nearly a thousandfold, giving it much better range. While Digital Yacht’s 4G Connect router and Wave WiFi’s MBR 550 can switch between shoreside wifi when it’s available and 4G. Croatia’s Locomarine is a more recent player in this field, and its Yacht Router Micro package combines an internal 4G router with an external wifi antenna (powered over Ethernet). It has a built-in SIM card slot and can be expanded with another SIM-card module to receive mobile data anywhere in the world.

All of these units are certainly more powerful receivers than your mobile phone alone, but will still struggle more than a few miles from the cell tower or along cliffy coasts. For better range, pair the router with a dedicated high-gain mobile phone antenna on the pushpit, such as Digital Yacht’s 4G Connect Pro or Wifi Onboard’s Huawei router package. “Ranges up to 15-20 miles offshore have been achieved (mobile network tower location dependent),” says Paul Sumpner of Digital Yacht.

A combined antenna and router for mounting on deck makes for much simpler retrofitting, because you only need a power connection. In tests off Cape Finisterre, MVG’s NeptuLink delivered up to 100mbps download speed (enough to stream several HD movies simultaneously) as far as 22 miles offshore, and maintained some form of network connection at even greater range. It is designed specifically to deal with the way that radio waves propagate above the sea, as well as the pitching and rolling motion of boats at sea.

Glomex’s Webboat 4G Plus also bundles the router and the antenna in the same external unit, but has a bigger profile with its dome. The system offers handy dual SIM card slots, and will switch between those and wifi for the best signal.

4G routers

• Digital Yacht 4G Connect: £390
• MailASail Roam-Free 4-Gateway: £418.80
• Wave WiFi MBR 550: £tbc
• Locomarine Yacht Router: €1,210

4G routers with external antenna

• Digital Yacht 4G Connect Pro: £660
• Wifi Onboard 4G/wifi router: £675
• Glomex Webboat 4G Plus: €1,049
• MVG NeptuLink: c£2,000

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Data everywhere

If you want to guarantee ultimate connectivity even mid-ocean, then there is only one option: satellite comms. Not only is the kit itself more expensive, but you pay a much higher rate per megabyte of data than you would via wifi or 4G. The sky is the limit here, with a money-no-object contract and tracking antenna dish capable of giving you megabits of bandwidth.

Basic entry-level satellite connectivity is actually quite cheap. The bluewater sailor’s staple for many years has been an Iridium phone with built-in or external modem. It keeps you safe with the ability to make calls from anywhere on the world’s oceans, and offers dial-up internet access all for around £1,800-£2,200, including handset, cabling and antenna. Data is charged at $1.50 per minute, not per megabyte, and is very slow. Sending a couple of emails or downloading a small file might take five minutes, so you have to use good compression software.

“If you want weather access and to get good value from them, then there is a lot of value in purchasing through a specialist retailer who will give you aftermarket support and training,” says Ed Wildgoose of MailASail. “This is not an iPhone-like product that will work for all very simply out of the box. Internet speeds are pre-1990s dial-up rates.”

• Iridium 9555: £1,018.80
• Iridium 9522B: £1,918.80

The next step up would be a service such as Fleet One from Inmarsat, now offering up to 150kbps – roughly three times the speed of dial-up. It’s enough for weather routing, WhatsApp, blogging, email and sending occasional photos. Inmarsat’s free 505 safety service is built in, connecting you directly to the nearest search and rescue team in the event of distress, and you can use voice and data services at the same time – handy if you’re running a business from the boat.

Iridium offers a faster 352kbps connection through the more expensive Certus system, which might also keep you in Facebook posts. Or for roughly the same installation cost, Inmarsat’s Fleet Broadband offers 550kbps. As well as the extra speed, it will give access to a suite of Inmarsat safety features from next year, including Distress Chat and safety messages for your region.

All are relatively easy to install, but hardware costs are up to five times higher (see right). Airtime, on the other hand, is much cheaper with a range of monthly subscriptions giving you a fixed amount of data, or unlimited data in a fixed geographical area. The cost of data on a high-volume contract can be less than 10 per cent of that on an occasional-use contract.

“Voice calls are generally better quality than the handheld phones,” explains Wildgoose. “Also, you generally have two-plus voice lines which can be useful for business users or people with guests on board (second bill for the guests). It’s still essential to use an optimisation service as compressed services still typically use 1/10th of the data and hence reduce your bills by a factor of up to 10x, but your range of options is so much greater.”

• Iridium Certus: £7,199 plus data at $14.36-$1.08/MB
• Inmarsat Fleet One: £3,594 plus data at $10.50 or $6.13/MB
• Inmarsat Fleet Broadband: £5,331-£7,381 plus data from £328/m

If you really want to go to town with data aboard, you’ll need something such as a VSAT system, offering megabit download rates. These need to be custom installed and tailored to your yacht, so don’t expect to buy one off the shelf. A specialised installer will take care of that for you. You’ll be looking at something like the TracPhone V3-HTS from KVH, where a contract costing $1,100/m will buy you 2GB of data, or around $2,000 buys 5GB – all on the Intelsat network.

If that doesn’t sound like enough speed for you, then Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress is the top-of-the-line network service. Usually seen on superyachts and commercial vessels, it is powered by Ka-band satellites and offers download speeds of up to 10mbps for always-on connectivity. The terminals weigh upwards of 37kg and measure up to 1m in diameter, so this would only suit the most determined communicator with a large yacht.

• KVH TracPhone V3-HTS: £17,400
• Inmarsat Fleet Xpress: from £26,000, with monthly data from £1,312

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Bytes, bits and speed

A megabyte is an amount of data – perhaps an image, file or song. Many data contracts limit the number of megabytes you can download each month

Kbps/mbps – this is a measure of how much data you can transfer per second – it is a measure of speed. Satellite contacts specify the maximum speed available to you. In general, the poorer the connection (whether wifi, 4G of satellite), the slower it is.

How much do I need?

• Photo – typically around 1 megabyte
• HD film – perhaps 5 gigabytes

And how fast?

• Skype calls – 100kbps
• Video calls – 300kbps
• Facebook – 500kbps
• Streaming video – 1.5mbps
• HD video – 5.0mbps

Key Contacts

• glomex.it
• digitalyacht.co.uk
• wifionboard.co.uk
• mailasail.com
• mvg-world.com
• locomarine.com
• kvh.com
• inmarsat.com
• iridium.com

Value: 8/10 Performance: 8/10

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The post The best boat wi-fi – everything you need to know about staying connected onboard appeared first on Sailing Today.

Former ST editor Sam Fortescue tries out the latest innovation from German yacht-builder Bente

(GALLERY – SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN)

It is cold in that peculiarly Baltic way which seems to seep into your bones in a matter of minutes. An easy Force 5-6 is whistling in from the west across the Kieler Bucht, bringing heavy rain squalls with it that you can spot advancing from miles away. It is the sort of day that modern sailing – with its sun pads, integrated barbecues and beach clubs – just wasn’t developed for. And yet I am on the verge of having a rip-roaring time.

That is partly down to Merino long johns, but more about the intriguing design of the new flagship from Germany’s Bente yard. At 39ft LOA, she is considerably larger than the boat that launched the young brand – the eco-conscious Bente 24. This was a zippy little dayboat developed for Germany’s many green lakes, with a generous sail area to hoover up any hint of a breeze, and simple accommodation below. The core concept has remained the same, however, so the larger yacht is designed to be sporty but stable, with a fairly basic minimum spec that includes tiller steering and keeps the sailaway price down to €145,000 exclusive of VAT. She is also hugely flexible, and can be customised almost any way you want – for a price. “The five boats we’ve sold so far average about €185,000 (ex-VAT),” says Bente founder Alex Vrolijk.

Fun and Vrolijk

Her lines are penned by his father Rolf of Judel/Vrolijk, the Bremerhaven-based naval architects du jour who are behind the Hanse yachts, as well as Dehler, Baltic and a bevy of TP52 racers. She looks uncompromisingly modern, with a hint of reverse bow, and a broad stern. There is a heavy chine about one foot above the waterline, and a trendy bevelled rise to the toerail
– what would once have been called tumblehome in a gentler era of yachting. Adding to the general impression of sportiness, she has a glazed Southern Ocean-style doghouse giving excellent visibility and better aerodynamics, a long bowsprit and, on our test boat, the optional carbon mast and boom.

We get under way in around 25 knots. Manoeuvring out of the marina at Laboe is made easy by the fact we’re nearly the only boat still in the water, and the handy bow-thruster. Then the main is up (easy work until we run out of rope in the third reef – the Bente team tells me they had to improvise after someone nicked all the lines a few days earlier) and the jib unfurled. Next it’s the turn of the gennaker which flies out with a twang (in comes the jib) and finally, just for good measure, we set a staysail. Barrelling north at around 10 knots on a broad reach, we play a heady game of chicken with the coasters and tankers streaming in through the deep-water channel to the Kiel Canal.

Plane sailing

After a controlled gybe that nearly takes my nose off because the boom snarls the running backstay, we steady on a course that has us planing east at up to 13.8 knots. The B&G instruments show that the true wind gusts up to around 30 knots, but the twin wheels (an upgrade on this boat) remain feather light because of the carefully balanced rudders. We broach just once, and it is the most genteel affair I’ve ever known – the boat quietly turns up into the wind despite the gentle protestations of the wheel. Normally, the cant on the rudders means that the leeward one digs deeper the more the boat heels, giving more power as the wind gets stronger.

There is a roar from the lengthening bow wave, and for the rest of the day, our speed never drops below 8 knots. Every few moments, a sudden quiet descends as the sternwave drops back and we start to plane; then the noise rushes back. Very little water comes aboard, as the shallow forefoot means that the bow tends to fly over the waves. So the helmsman’s perch on the coaming, with its fold-up footblocks, is comfortable. “We can also do helm seating,” says technical director Piers Oest, who is on the youthful side of 25.

Despite our decent pace, this is not an extreme boat. “I wanted to design a defused Pogo,” explains Alex. “One that my girlfriend is happy to sail. It is somewhere between an RM1270 with the living space of an Elan GT5.”

The boat is easily handled. True, the main and secondary winches are mounted on the cockpit coaming, out of reach of the helmsman but Bente expects you to flick on the autopilot to perform manoeuvres. All the lines are led into a conduit halfway back along the deck, and pop out from behind the stylish grey dodger that encases the doghouse. On our version there are constrictor clutches hidden behind the dodger, whose only outward sign is the array of six different coloured toggles that emerge. It is rather a neat system.

There is a two-speed electric winch on each side – in this case an Andersen 50, and there is a German mainsheet system. Sail handling is made easy by the roller furling jib and staysail, and you could easily add on a furling gennaker as well if you wanted it. The standard boat comes with a decent bowsprit, but you can upgrade this to a longer stick to offer an extra tack point. The options abound, so though our boat had a carbon main and boom, in-mast or in-boom furling is also possible. The rig is powerful with heavily aft-swept spreaders, as well as running backstays. “The backstay is just for flying a top kite,” Alex explains. “The mast is held up by the shrouds. The backstay also gives about 1.5 degrees performance advantage upwind.”

Down below

One of the stand-out features of this boat is the Plexiglass doghouse that covers the companionway, and gives the saloon a glass roof. It offers a cosy navigator’s seat at deck level, from where you can keep an easy watch with good 360-degree visibility and clear sight of the sails above. It may look like straightforward design, but Bente had to cram a lot of engineering in. “The coachroof has carbon frames to support 3.9t of weight, in case the boat is rolled or a big wave lands on it,” explains Piers with a grin. “And each glass panel can expand up to 2cm in the heat.” Bente plans to put a 60 per cent reflective coating on the glass to keep the saloon cool.

In the console here is the B&G display giving you oversight of he boat’s systems, as well as a small joystick to control the NKE autopilot. “It’s a little gimmick, but if you combine it with rewind winches, you can sail the boat from inside,” Piers adds. The nav data is repeated on deck via an iPad and an NKE display attached under the dodger – eliminating the need for chunky consoles. “We recommend to owners to use iPad navigation,” says Piers. This boat also has a nifty wireless-enabled Simarine switchpanel below which allows you to switch systems on and off from a smartphone. “When sailing singlehanded, it is useful for turning on and off the nav lights.”

Our test boat is configured with two cabins – a huge one with limited headroom aft and a more comfortable one in the bow. There is just a single head and shower compartment here. But you can also opt for the three-cabin ‘charter’ version – already in build for a Baltic charter outfit. The finish is modern – all white mouldings and headlining, with a bit of coloured upholstery on the seating around the saloon table. Again, you can choose anything you want, but it makes sense to mirror her modern Judel/Vrolijk exterior lines inside.

The layout is quite original below. There is a console bang in the middle of the saloon floor which houses a top-opening fridge, and a fold out panel allows you to extend the worksurface across to the galley proper, on the starboard side. It is an ingenious use of the limited space. There is also a front-opening fridge, cooker and all the usual paraphernalia.

This being the first hull, there are some small teething issues to resolve. For example, the lines that feed into the deck conduit chafe a little because the opening needs to be slightly widened. And a bluewater cruiser might chaff at the prospect of having to unscrew a hatch in the dodger to access the constrictor clutches and the conduit to re-run lines. A additional Spinlock clutch is being specced in the future, to easily secure a line that blows out. “The biggest change from the prototype is that we’ve now built tooling for the interior moulds,” says Alex. This, and a switch to composite bulkheads, should save an astonishing 800kg of weight.

Broad appeal

With numerous options and an ‘always say yes’ attitude, the 39 has been designed to appeal across the cruising spectrum, from charter and club racing to bluewater exploring. The key elements of the boat are done very well, with a top quality foam-cored, vinylester hull and a stiff rig, while the finish, layout and configuration are heavily customisable. The yard hasn’t abandoned its desire to lessen the environmental impact of building large plastic boats, so it uses vacuum infusion. On the prototype, the wood veneer inside came from a fallen elm tree, internal mouldings were made with plant-based epoxy and hemp, while the work surface is made from recycled plastic drink bottles. If you go fully eco, with a hull and deck laid up in plant-based epoxy and hemp matting, it adds about 20 per cent to the overall cost.

There are plans for a 28-footer, to be launched at Dusseldorf, as well as a 50-footer for the future. When you consider that the company was started with €10,000 and originally aimed to sell just 15 Bente 24s, it has done exceptionally well. But you only have to sail one of the boats to understand why. As Alex says: “People either love them or hate them. But that’s fine, we don’t want to be liked by everyone!”

Sam’s verdict

It has taken two years to design and build this boat, all with support from suppliers who expect to do well from the 39’s eventual success. In a sense it has drawn on expertise from across the sector, and not least the design skills of Judel/Vrolijk. The result is a boat that looks different – purposeful AND youthful. She sails beautifully – exciting but stable, promising fast passage times. If she lacks some of the accessories seen on modern production yachts, and has a fairly basic interior, don’t forget that this boat carries a relatively modest pricetag for a thrilling 39-footer. With a bit of thought, you could equip her for almost any adventure – and in fact early owners are being offered places on Bente’s Atlantic Circle cruise.

The post BOAT TEST: BENTE 39 (WITH GALLERY) appeared first on Sailing Today.

A topsy-turvy 2018 for Bavaria Yachts ended satisfactorily when they secured new financial backing. Sam Fortescue charts their fall and rise

When one of the world’s top boat builders announced it was entering administration in April 2018, it sent shockwaves through the yachting world. If Bavaria Yachts, underpinned by the quiet efficiency of its German production line and strong global sales, couldn’t compete, what did that say about the rest of the industry? And for those who had put deposits down on their new Bavaria or Nautitech boats, the worry was intense. Would they ever see the boat built, or get their money back?

Astonishingly, just six months later, the business was back on its feet and once again churning-out yachts with a full staff of 800 people. Dr Ralph Kudla, the new chief restructuring officer of the firm, says that he has a target to build 400-500 boats in the next 12 months – that’s nearly ten per week. And he is expecting the business to generate a profit in two-to-three years.

Where did Bavaria go wrong?

So what went wrong? How did the behemoth that is Bavaria stumble, and what does the future hold? Sailing Today spoke to the new boss Ralph Kudla (below) to find out.

For many years, Bavaria wore the crown of the world’s second biggest production boatbuilder after Groupe Beneteau. In the boom years before the financial crisis of 2007-8 the company was famously churning out 3,000 boats per year and, at its peak, it was bought by Bain Capital for a reported €1.3bn. But the nosedive in demand that followed left this investment high and dry, with Bain offloading the troubled yard just two years later for €300m to Oaktree Capital and Anchorage Advisers. At the time, 90 per cent of its €960m debt mountain was also written off.

The new owners put in place a new business model. Instead of going for a high throughput of simple boats, they turned to more complex yachts, with more electronics and greater choice of interior finish. A new line was launched in 2011 with the Vision 46, incorporating “classy woods and fabrics” and an asymmetrical lay-out with a larger cockpit area and lots of windows and hatches for a light saloon.

The yachts gradually increased in size, with the Cruiser 56 appearing in 2013, and the Cruiser 51 a year later. Then in January 2017 Bavaria Yachts went a step further with the launch of its luxury C-line yachts. It remodelled the 56 into the C57, which was heavily trailed with the slogan ‘something big is coming’. A year later, it introduced the C65, C50 and C45. The 65-footer was presented to enormous fanfare at the Dusseldorf Boat Show in 2018, but sold just three boats and has since been discontinued. A source in the industry tells me with a shake of his head: “It was so arrogant”.

By 2016, Bavaria Yachts was claiming to build around 1,000 boats per year. CEO Lutz Henkel explained to me at the time that the yachts had become bigger and more complex, so capacity was lower than at the high-water mark in 2007. But industry sources say that the real figure was closer to 600 yachts per year. “For some time, Bavaria has been the number four producer, behind Fountaine-Pajot,” one boatbuilder tells me. Hanse Group has climbed to second place on boat sales of €150m, while fast-growing catamaran builder Fountaine-Pajot recently bought Dufour to cement third place.

If this is right, then Bavaria had been in decline for some time. Some in the industry say that Bavaria’s prices were simply too low. “They were always trying to make costs lower and lower and that’s not good,” one tells me. Richard Hewitt of UK Bavaria dealer Clipper Marine says there were likely to have been multiple causes of the insolvency. “But if you look at the boat industry, a lot of companies are owned by investment banks, putting them at the whim of investor returns.”

Nonetheless, others say that Oaktree and Anchorage called time on their investment because they were fed up of putting their hands in their pockets to keep it running. Certainly, in 2016, the business had yet to make a profit for its owners. Kudla himself admits that the company was damaged by the high level of debt from the 2007 leveraged buyout (at the time, the debt used to fund the deal was a huge eight times net earnings). Another source likened the succession of CEOs at Bavaria to managers at a struggling football club. “It takes four years to see whether a strategy works,” they said.

A brighter future for Bavaria Yachts

However, all this is in the past, and the future looks brighter. The good news is that during its insolvency, Bavaria still managed to finish and deliver 220 boats – a testament to the work of administrator Tobias Brinkmann. And the new investor, who paid in the “double digit millions” for Bavaria, is a German fund that specialises in distressed companies “with a healthy core business”.

“Bavaria is right in our sweet spot,” says Kudla, who has been parachuted in by Capital Management Partners to restructure the yard. “The brand is very strong and has a very good reputation.” He is turning to the past for his strategy. “If you look back 10 years ago, Bavaria was by far the market leader. It delivered boats of a high value for relatively little money, addressing both families and the charter business. That’s where we want to see the company focus.”

The first step has been to return the company’s French catamaran business to its original name of Nautitech. Bought in 2014, this division has in fact been growing profitably ever since. But all the yard’s other production is going to be brought to its headquarters in Giebelstadt, near Würzburg. And that is going to mean discontinuing some models, Kudla tells me. “We have 26 models right now and we’d like to focus that on 12, with different options and packages.”
Leaner, meaner

It’s going to be a slow process, though. “It’ll take us 2-4 years to get there. We’re not going to cancel any successful models just to reduce numbers.” And Kudla says that both the Vision line and the C-line are both selling well, so we’re unlikely to see those trimmed further.

At the same time, the existing line will have to be renewed. Bavaria aims to launch around three new models each year at a consistent rate. “In Dusseldorf last year, there were six newly introduced boats, and such a spend is difficult. Some problems can also emerge if the new models are not fully industrialised. It puts a lot of pressure on development instead of getting the product right.”

With moulds for the C65 sold off, it is likely that the firm will look at new models in its existing 34ft to 57ft range, although Kudla says he doesn’t rule out a smaller boat. “We’re looking at it very closely,” he says cautiously. “It could be interesting to offer a cheaper boat to get to customers earlier.”

Kudla agrees that the options available on some boats may have to be simplified, although this option is still being studied. But the key is as much about standardising equipment and parts. “I would say that we can make all necessary savings from our production line and purchasing,” he says. “We’re not looking to raise prices.”

Richard Hewitt at Clipper is optimistic about the future. “By and large, the public stands behind the brand,” he says. “After any administration issues, it takes a bit of time for that to come back strongly. More important to us is the loss of the London Boat Show.”

The post Bavaria Yachts: charting their fall and rise appeared first on Sailing Today.

Good luck is the child of preparation, so the saying goes, and all sailors rely on a degree of good fortune at sea. So ensure you’re prepared by updating your yacht safety kit this winter, while she’s in the cradle and easy to work on. From the analogue to the digital, cast your eyes over our list of possible upgrades.

Storm sails

If next season’s plans involve venturing a long way offshore, you’re probably thinking about storm sails. They typically come into use in winds above 45 knots, to spare the main and jib and depower the rig. Look for heavy-duty Dacron cloth in a bright colour, strong reinforcing at seams, the luff and leach and load points around cringles. Some come with sheets ready spliced in. Expect to pay around £500 for each sail, says Fiona Jeckells of Jeckells Sails. Some off-the-peg products exist, including the Gale Sail from America’s ATN. Priced at about £1,050 for a 40-footer, this jib is designed to fasten on around your roller-furled jib or genoa. The Storm Bag is similarly priced, and consists of a storm jib packed into a stout bag that you haul up on a sleeve around the furled jib.

Guardwires

Most cruising boats have guardwires made from 1×19 stainless steel wire. Over time, this chafes where it passes through the eyes of the stanchions, creating a snagging hazard or even the chance of failure. Often finished with a PVC coating, check your wire regularly and replace when worn.

Standard 4mm wire has 1,280kg breaking strain, and Jimmy Green is currently offering 24 percent off. Expect a stud-finished wire to cost from £40-£60 for a 35ft boat.

Liferaft

A liferaft is a smart safety investment if you’re planning serious cruising. Make sure you choose one with the right capacity for your crew numbers, and robust enough to deal with your likely cruising grounds. For offshore sailing, choose one that meets ISO 9650, type 1 with a food and equipment pack designed to last more than 24 hours (pack 1). They’re bulky and expensive, with the type described above likely to set you back at least £1,000 – Plastimo makes a good four-man raft for £1,806. Think about how you will store them – there are valise or canister options, including a self-launching system, based on hydrostatic technology, that deploys underwater.

There’s little point in having one of these on board if it’s not properly maintained. Make sure it is serviced at least every three years – a process that involves test inflation, replacing any perished supplies and repacking. If there are no problems, count on a cost from £200 to £500 plus any replacements. Hydrostatic releases also need to be replaced every two years – at a cost of about £70. Ocean Safety offers owners the chance to come in and familiarise themselves with their unpacked liferaft during servicing at their four UK centres.

Epirb

Again, for offshore sailors, Epirbs are pretty indispensible these days. Operating at 406MHz, they alert search and rescue agencies to your exact location via a satellite link. They then provide a homing signal for final-mile location, and many also have strobes and automatic deployment. Expect to pay upwards of £300 for this. The impressive Ocean Signal Epirb1 (£382) has a 10-year battery life and its small size make it ideal for sailors. Others offer at least six years of battery life, and a while replacement battery can be expensive they are a fraction of the cost of a new unit.

AIS

Like many electronics for your boat, AIS has an overwhelming safety value. Whether you install a receiver only, or a unit that also transmits your position to the world, it can provide early warning of a potential collision situation by working out the closest point of approach of vessels in range. A modern multifunction display (MFD) can show the AIS data directly, or you can buy AIS units with dedicated screens. Digital Yacht manufacturers a simple receiver only for £180, to wire to your MFD, or a more complex transponder that plugs into your NMEA2000 instrument network for £540. Vesper Marine offers its all-in-one transponder with colour touchscreen for €1,519.

Flares

In some parts of the world, privately-used sailing boats are required to carry emergency signalling devices, but not in the UK. Many of us will have flares aboard ‘just in case’, without thinking too hard about their expiry dates. It is a calculated risk to use them once they’ve expired. Good brands should stay safe for longer, although there is no guarantee. However, the consequences of finding that a flare doesn’t work, or even malfunctions in your hands is unpleasant to contemplate. If you want to stay up to date, new coastal flare kits, including red parachute flares, cost less than £100. Jimmy Green, for instance, does a Pains Wessex coastal pack for £91..

Gas detectors

Many older boats don’t have gas detectors, although the consequences of a gas leak are potentially catastrophic. They’re easy and relatively cheap to retrofit. Pilot makes a single or double sensor gas alarm available through many chandleries for about £120 or £150 respectively. Nereus makes more complex LPG and carbon monoxide alarms – useful as both gases are heavier than air and can sink into a boat’s bilges and cabins with deadly consequences. The double detector costs £330. All can be supplemented with a solenoid valve that automatically shuts off the gas supply when the alarm is tripped.

Exhaust detectors

Most engines come with overheat alarms that focus on the coolant temperature. For added peace of mind, you can also monitor the exhaust temperature. Trickett Marine sells a cheap (£80) and simple unit that simply rings when the temperature on the outside of the exhaust hose exceeds 93°C.

MOB equipment

There’s a host of kit to help get a man overboard back onto the boat. These range from the well-known Jon Buoy inflatable rescue sling, which helps a casualty float and provides the sling to haul them back aboard (from £110) or the full Jon Buoy rescue module (£682.45), to the Kim pick-up sail (£220.50), which allows you to raise an unconscious crew member from the drink. At the cheaper end of the spectrum Duncan Well’s LifeSaver is a fine 2m length of pre-spliced Dyneema that is attached to a lifejacket’s lifting becket to aid retrieval. It costs £21.90.

Finally, don’t forget emergency ladders – everyone’s shivered at the thought of being stranded in the water alongside the boat. Ocean Outils’ solution is the Magic Reboard, a compact stowable ladder that you attach to the guardwires, where its dangling lanyard makes it easy to deploy from the water. Costs from €140 in soft mode or €234 in rigid.

Radar target enhancer

For ultimate visibility to large shipping, forget the standard tetrahedral reflector of old. An active target enhancer like the Echomax Active-XS detects the sweep of another vessel’s X- or S-band radar, and fires back a powerful response. Testing by QinetiQ shows that it is equivalent to a 110sqm reflector – five times greater than the largest passive reflectors. Cost is £815.

Fire extinguishers

Keep a fire blanket and a dry powder extinguisher in the galley – Force 4 is currently doing an offer when you by both at £19.95. Consider an automatic extinguisher in the engine compartment, but be warned: the standard setting is to deploy at 79°C. If your engine is in a very confined space, that may not be suitable.

PLB

Similar to its big sister the Epirb, this unit is designed for an individual rather than the whole boat. Tuck it in a pocket for deployment if the worst happens and you fall overboard or have to abandon to the liferaft. The operational life is shorter – typically hours rather than days, but it still raises the alarm via satellite. Battery life is also normally around seven years. Expect to pay around £200 for Ocean Signal’s PLB1 or ACR’s ResQLink+.

Drogue

ARC participants are required to have some sort of drogue on board, to stream over the stern to slow down in big seas and even to help immobilise the boat when hove-to. At one end of the range of options is a single parachute-style drogue, like that from Ocean Safety, which is good for yachts up to 50ft and costs £467.24. At its simplest, Jimmy Green offers a PVC cone suitable for a 40ft boat for £72. However, current advice favours the use of a series drogue in heavy weather – effectively dozens of small cones attached to a stout rode. Don Jordan’s Ocean Brake is one of the best known, costing £611 for a system suitable for an 8.9t boat.

Personal

Tethers should be checked and renewed regularly. Lifejackets should be checked annually and rearmed if necessary. Service kits can be acquired from United Moulders Limited. Beyond that, it’s worth thinking about safety lights. Exposure Marine’s MOB Carbon searchlight combines a torch with a water activated strobe.

If you fall overboard the light will float to the surface and automatically start strobing. They retail at around £124.

The post BUYERS GUIDE: yacht safety equipment appeared first on Sailing Today.

The boat was unveiled at the Düsseldorf boat show in January, but at that point, had not yet been in the water. She was four years in the planning and two years in the building to a design by Umberto Felci, who has been drawing Dufour yachts since 2001.

Some elements of the hull are unmistakably Dufour – the aggressive sheerline and moulded-in bowsprit; the chine and the plumb bow. But there is plenty that is new as well. She has lower freeboard, a very wide stern and lots of sail. You will either love or loathe her T-top option, which has something of the look of a Moody deck saloon. Otherwise it’s a sleek carbon arch for safety and to lift the mainsheet up out of the way.

There’s also innovation, in the offer of two styles of boat: the race option includes carbon spars and a sparser cockpit; or you can go super comfortable with a host of extras.

Dufour has made it possible to sail her shorthanded as a family, thanks to customised electric Lewmar winches, in-boom furling, hydraulic vang and a self-tacking jib. But configurations below allow for crew quarters in the bow, and the wheels have been positioned well aft, to allow separation between the helm and the cockpit.

Below, a lot of thought has gone into the design and presentation of the boat’s accommodation. There is the ubiquitous light oak finish for the cabinetry and dark sole, plus huge curved glass windows in the coachroof.

The base configuration allows for a big chart table to starboard, a horseshoe galley to port and a vast seating area divided between eating and lounging. It’s a stylish space, with lots of features tucked away – from digital switching throughout to fridges and a freezer; stylish flexible wooden chairs that wedge under the saloon table under way; and metres of indirect LED lighting around the saloon and cabin furniture. But it could feel like a lot of space to cross if the boat were pitching or heeling hard.

Factor in the 2.95m (9ft 8in) dinghy garage aft, the numerous sunbathing areas, bathing platform, huge cockpit, and outdoor grilling area aft, and this is clearly a boat designed for tremendous fun in the sun. With her Felci hull she should be reasonably lithe for a big boat, so it would be interesting to see how she handles in oceanic conditions over longer crossings.

Either way, the Exclusive 63 is a step-up in terms of design and specification for Dufour, which has created a boat aimed squarely at luxury.

universalyachting.com

From €895,000

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This young show on France’s Languedoc coast is in only its eighth year, but it has grown rapidly and now lays claim to being the biggest international multihull show.

This year, more than 60 different models of sail and power cats will be on the water at La Grande Motte, including a dozen world or European premieres. All the big multihull brands will be there, from Lagoon and Catana to Nautitech and Privilege. As many as 20,000 visitors are expected over the five days of the show, which runs from 19 to 23 April.

Among the boats being launched this year are the Swiss S48, the latest bluewater catamaran from a builder renowned for its quality; the sporty carbon-hulled O Yacht Class 4; the new Neel 51 trimaran with its flybridge; and the spacious Leopard 45 with its forward cockpit.

Held among the dunes and salt lakes of southeast France, La Grande Motte is a few kilometres from the city of Montpellier, with easy road, rail and air links to the UK and the rest of Europe. It also offers all the relaxing and eating opportunities you’d expect from France’s Mediterranean coast.

Tickets cost a very reasonable €8 on the door, and under-16s go free. Parking is free.

• multicoque-online.com

WIN VIP TICKETS!

The International Multihull Boat Show at La Grande Motte is offering five Sailing Today readers VIP entry for two to the show, including:

• l Free entry worth €16 per couple
• l Access to the exclusive VIP lounge, with a free bar and the best harbour views
• l Free shuttle from the nearby city of Montpellier
• l Daily tasting of local wines, plus other activities to be confirmed

Email editor@sailingtoday.co.uk by 7 April for your chance to win

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Unveiled in Düsseldorf are two new designs from Sweden’s high-quality Najad yachts. They are both variations on the same theme, for a sub-40ft boat with the option of an aft or centre cockpit. Designed by racing specialist Farr with interiors by Ken Freivokh, they are billed as mini superyachts, and mark a clear departure from the previous judel/vrolijk designs.

“Even before the yachts left the drawing table the first handful were already sold,” says Jörgen Ottosson, Najad CEO. “The buyers know they are getting a modern, fast yacht with the comfort, quality, and fine sailing qualities of all Najad yachts.”

The boats will look familiar enough to fans of the brand, with fine lines, a sleek coachroof, mandatory windscreen and the burgundy stripes on the hull. Below, there will be good headroom, berths for up to eight people, two shower rooms and the choice of traditional mahogany finish or American white oak. The first hull will be finished next winter.

c£260,000

boatsales.co.uk

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