FREE with this issue, pull-out BT Global Challenge wall chart.
- FREE with this issue, pull-out BT Global Challenge wall chart. This poster-sized chart will allow you to follow the progress of the fleet after they start from Southampton on 10 September. Details of routes, stopovers and dates as well as a cutaway of one of the new Challenge Yachts.
- ALSO we outline the meticulous preparations that have gone into preparing the 12-strong fleet ready for the Challenge. The organisers even know how many teabags were consumed by each yacht during the last Challenge.
- In April Antigua celebrated the glory of sail when it hosted the Antigua Classics. The likes of Thendara, Endeavour and Mariette of 1915 thundered round the course, enjoying fresh Trade Winds in company with 40 or so original, restorated and re-built classics. David Glenn was there to bring back the story.
- Modern day pirates are active again in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. In the last six months eight yachts have been attacked. Elaine Bunting investigates these incidents and seeks advice on how to protect yourself.
- On the Wind. More news about the Kiwi defectors, with Russell Coutts reputedly offered $5 million for his services. As some of the Team New Zealand say ‘national pride doesn’t pay for the groceries’; maxi cat Club Med spreads her wings, over 30 knots on her second outing; Mary Pera obituary.
- Letters. Theories on Team Philips failure; under- or overwhelmed by the America’s Cup?
- John Passmore, on the eve of setting out on his record attempt to be the first person to circumnavigate Britain and Ireland non stop and singlehanded in his Heavenly Twins catamaran Lottie Warren, questions the safety rules for races which demand that solo sailors carry two lifebuoys.
- Detlef Jens cruises the rocky and rugged north coast of Brittany whilst Andrew Bray advises on strategy and timing when headed further south.
- Cruising Log visits UK waters, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Thailand and recounts a mid-Pacific rescue. Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean Tony Collingridge says farewell to Turkey and points his bows west towards Greece where he encounters the local ‘Bermuda Triangle’, or in this case square, an area near Rhodes where yachts that enter often find it difficult to get out again.
- Does salt go with chips? Not here, it doesn’t, whem those chips are the electronic type. Robert Buttress and James Boyd look at the practicalities of having computers on board, how to choose one and how to protect it from the elements.
- Bob Fisher recounts one of the great survival stories of all time, that of Miles and Beryl Smeeton on Tzu Hang after they were rolled and dismasted near Cape Horn.
- Will the new rating rule work? Technical Editor Matthew Sheahan examines the IRM rule and looks at the type of boat that is now coming off designers’ drawing boards. Are they healthy? Are they fast? Matthew also tackles an age-old problem – how to deal with smelly boat shoes and is the first journalist to sail the new IMX-40 from X-Yachts.
- What’s New? Wind up combi radio and torch, new cooker, upgraded Avon liferafts, Rutgerson rope clutch.
- New Yachts. Mike Slade’s 90ft Leopard 2000 ready to launch; Spitfire 40ft IACC-style One Design that fits in a container for easy transport; X-Yachts’ 73-footer.
- Robin Knox-Johnson signs off the issue swinging the lead.