October 2011 Sailing Today 03

Contents

This month

OctOber 2011 Issue 174 To buy a back issue call 01442 820580

News AND viewsSailing news 6

Readers’ letters 12

View from the RYA 16

Riding light 146

GeAR AND eQUiPMeNTBooks 22

Gear on test 26

Buyer’s guide: Calorifiers 34

Tech Talk: Hybrid drives 40

Group test: Inverters 42

BOATsNew boat test: Hanse 355 50

Used boat test: Hunter Delta 25 58

sOUThAMPTON BOAT shOwTicket Offer 65

Exhibitors’ map 66

Who’s where 68

Just in: New Gear and Boats on show 75

CRUisiNGFlotilla in Skiathos 82

Cruising cuisine 88

Tiki in Thailand 90My MArINA Weymouth 100

seAMANshiPWeatherclass 106

Q&As with Nick Vass 108

WIN! WIN! WIN!Old Pulteney 12-year old whisky 12

Pair of Barton’s maxi ‘K’ cam cleats 14

Hempel Boat Care ‘Goody boxes’ 18

sUBsCRiBe AND sAve! 98

www. sailingtoday.www.sailingtoday.co.uk02 Sailing Today October 2011

50 NEW BOAT TEST Hanse 355

CRUISING Wharram Tiki in Thailand76

Booksp22

42 GROUP TEST 2kw inverters

WEATHERCLASS How we won the AZAB106

USED BOAT TEST Hunter Delta 2558

34

My MArINA

100 Welcome to Weymouth

BUyER’S GUIDE

Calorifiers

4 Sailing Today October 2011

Gear On Test

October 2011 Sailing Today 5

GEAR ON TEST

Duncan Kent, Jake Frith and Stewart Wheeler bring you a variety of gear installations and tests, from the sublime to the superfluous.

Back at school I was quite good at the hundred metre sprint. I think there was only one other boy as fast in my year. Lately, in my 40th year, the speed seems to have worn off and my 7 year old now gives me a run for my money. A couple of weeks ago though, when the man from Plastimo walked into our office with a new furling system under his arm, I was back to my speed from the old glory days; up and out of my chair in a flash, shouting at the rather startled man that I needed to be the one to fit and test this new kit.

Why? Two main reasons. Firstly, during the previous weekend’s sailing my rusty looking thing on the bows of my Centaur had resisted all my threats and bluntly refused to furl my headsail and, when it did, there was much creaking (it) and blood (me). Secondly, I had read in an earlier press release that these new Plastimo furlers were posible to put up without the need to remove the forestay.

I week later as I relayed this piece of information to my friendly rigger, Barry Locke, I was somewhat shocked at his hearty laughter. Yes, he said, it is definitely possible to fit it while the forestay is up, but it’s usually best to fit a new stay if it’s more than five years old, anyway. He laughed, he could see at one glance that my mast needed to come down – but more of that later.

Plastimo has now been making furlers for 40 years and the new ones are said to be tougher than ever and virtually maintenance free. To back up this claim, they all have a five year warranty.

Each unit is assembled in France using high pressure injection and composite material

engineering. This engineering process gives the material its strength, comparable to alloy, but without the risk of corrosion, which makes them virtually maintenance free.

The 811S gets its ‘S’ from the fact that it has a single groove spar; the ‘T’ series has a twin groove to allow its use for setting twin headsails to avoid hoisting the spinnaker, and both the units are for boats from 4-11m.

The 811 drum cheeks swivel through 360° allowing the optimum feeding angle for the reefing line to be achieved. The drum core is manufactured from highly resistant aluminum. Drums and halyard swivel are

equipped with Torlon and Delrin ball bearings for increased performance and mechanical resistance. The 811 model comes as standard with adjustable plates, allowing considerable adjustment of the drum mounting height.

Another week later and the mast was off, Barry at hand. The old furler was so tight it could barely move. On closer inspection it seemed that the furling line had been attached in a very odd way with the line wrapping around under the drum, creating the main problem. On yet closer inspection of the unit it was found many of the bearings were broken. Anyway, off with the old and on with the new.

Barry has been making and replacing rigging for 31 years, so he made what for me looked a very daunting task turn into a walk in the park. The old foil had had its top section put on upside down, which was a bit odd. A new section of cable was measured, cut and swaged with Barry’s portable unit. The drum is then built and attached, and the foils placed on one at a time to enable the lining to go into each strip, with the top one cut to size. Sounds easy, but you’re best off not doing this – get someone in who knows what they are doing. One wrong

PLASTIMO 811S FURLER £689.99

From bottom, clockwise: The overall measurement is critical; the patented system is simple click and fit; portable swaging; Barry building up the furler; the sealed unit is maintenance free; new bottlescrew.

measurement and it’s going to be a disaster.

Barry then measured the new luff length and got me to jot it down. The new system was a few inches taller and the sail would need to be adjusted accordingly, an element I hadn’t taken into account. A quick call to Arun Sails soon put paid to my rising panic – easy, said Adrian, we’ll sort that in a jiffy (see box top right).

Talking of disasters, back to the mast. Look out for an article in an upcoming issue about what Barry found. It involves hidden

breaks in welds, siezed rollers and a bird’s nest in the base. Two of those could have led to the mast breaking in the not too distant future, so we show how to spot the warning signs and give some simple steps to service your mast and rigging, along with how to get the best from your running rigging. SW

WE LIKE• Can be fitted with forestay in place• Looks great, more modern feel compared to the old furler.• Is sublime to use.

WE DON’T LIKE• Nothing, but we’ll see if the composite materials lasts

VErDIcT ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The furling gear looks great with a simple low maintenance assembly that just needs a fresh water rinse for maintenance.

Its one fault is it cannot be easily serviced/fixed. Contact: Plastimo for stockists

Web: http://plastimo.com/uk/Tel: 01489 778850

Rigging: Barry Locke, Thornham Marina, HampshireTel: 07970 772686 Email: barry.b.j.locke@btinternet.com

Sail: Arun Sails, West SussexTel: 01243 573185www: arun@sailmakers.com

A quIcK fIx WITh AruN SAILSWhen the luff length is reduced due to the slightly bigger furler, the obvious outcome is that the sail is too long on that edge. I had imagined this to be quite a job for Arun Sails, but I was wrong. Anything up to 6in can just simply be cut off from the top corner of the sail with a new headboard stitched on. Any more and some more serious work would need to be carried out.

Remember to check that the sail’s boltrope fits the new luff groove. If it doesn’t, it’ll need to be replaced. If measuring the new

length for a sail loft, remember to state whether it’s with or without shackles and always measure when

the forestay and mast are back up in place; a couple of inches will make all the difference.

STTips

STFacts

STTips

YourTips

STAsks?

VideoST

STAndArd hOrIzOn HX851E FLoating HandHELd dSC/VHF £254.95

The HX851E is the first fully GMDSS-compatible, hand-held DSC/VHF with built-in GPS receiver, to become available in the UK and Europe. With its 12-channel GPS receiver and Class D, DSC modem, this submersible, floating radio has to be the future.

The radio has a rugged, die-cast chassis with a luminous gasket around the edges.

Should the radio fall overboard, it not only floats, but also can activate a flashing strobe light on the front panel upon contact with the water (if programmed to). Its IPX-7 rating also means it is submersible to 1m depth for up to 30 minutes (it’s true, we tested it!).

Keypad and displayOn the face of it the radio

doesn’t look too different from the company’s HX750 series, which is also a floating, 6W hand-held VHF – in fact the controls and display appear to be identical except for the ‘press for distress’ red button on the opposite side to the PTT button and the DSC Call button on the keypad. But that’s where the similarity ends.

Being DSC, you can send

In place and looking good,

Below, checking the sail bolt rope

fits the new lining

2kw DC TO AC iNvErTErS

MASTERVOLT • MERLIN • SINERgEx • STERLINg • VETuS • VIcTRON • wAEcO • MASTERVOLT • MERLIN • SINERgEx • STERLINg • VETuS • VIcTRO

In recent years there has been a rapid rise in the number of cruising yachts carrying mains-rated, AC electrical items powered either by shore power or by

a DC to AC inverter. The desire to have all the comforts of home, including microwave ovens, hair dryers, kettles and a multitude of chargers for mobile devices, is too much to resist – especially when today’s technology is offering such luxuries on a plate, at an ever-shrinking cost.

The DC to AC inverter has been around for many decades. At first they were huge devices that weighed almost as much as a rugby forward and so inefficient that you could cook on the giant heat-sinks that seemed to be specifically designed to dissipate much of the energy away into the surrounding atmosphere, heating the cabin

up unbearably at the same time as you were simply attempting to run a small drill.

Back in 1987 my boat had a revolutionary inverter from American company, Heart Interface, that could miraculously convert DC power from the battery and turn it into 700W of AC power. At the time it seemed an amazing feat of technology; that is until one stops to think that a modern microwave oven will typically consume 1.2kW, a kettle 2kW and a toaster 800W. Suddenly 700W isn’t looking so useful!

Over the years the units shrank a little as their efficiency improved and transformers reduced in size, but then suddenly a decade ago the digital era arrived and everything became solid-state and switch-mode in operation.

Thanks to these advances and the

improvements in battery technology, modern cruisers are beginning to forfeit noisy generators and revert to the use of a larger battery bank and a hefty inverter.

Quasi (modified) sine wave invertersMany of the new model inverters built over the past two decades use what is termed ‘quasi sine wave’ (QSW) technology or, sometimes, ‘modified sine wave’. Basically, the mains AC you receive in your home from the National Grid has a waveform that fluctuates smoothly between positive and negative (See pic opposite). The smooth curve is called a sine wave and recreating this pure wave form in an inverter is complicated and expensive.

Does it matter? Well it’s hard to say for

GRoup TEST

DC To aC 2kW INverTers

There is only one way to run your mains-powered electrical items at sea and that’s by installing an inverter. Duncan Kent tested a group of 2kW models to see if they would cope with a selection of typical domestic AC devices.

9

sure, because it rather depends on what you want to use it for. Some domestic mains devices will only work properly when run on a pure sine wave supply – washing machines, microwaves, TVs and some chargers, to name a few. While they will often run on a QSW inverter, they are noticeably less efficient and can even sustain damage. The reason for this is that many of these devices – especially older models – contained thyristors in their power supplies. This is no longer a problem, however, with switch-mode devices, which are becoming increasingly common nowadays.

In my opinion, if you are long term cruising and want to ensure all your AC devices function normally at all times, without the risk of damaging them, you should opt for a pure sine wave (PSW) device – just in case. But if your needs are pretty basic and you only want AC to run a few tools, or you know for sure that all your AC devices contain switch-mode power supplies, then a QSW inverter would probably suffice and will save you quite a lot of money in the process.

what size will i need?If you want to save money and reduce installation costs then you need to get a rough idea of what you want to run off the inverter and when. I say when, because if you are careful about what devices you run simultaneously and don’t mind unplugging one thing to plug in another, you won’t need such a hefty unit. For instance – running a microwave, kettle and toaster together

would require some 4kW of AC power – that’s around a 350A current draw from the batteries – and would need a huge inverter or two piggy-backed together. By alternating use of the power-hungry devices, however, you can keep the inverter size down to 2kW, but still be able to run most things – albeit in sequence rather than together.

Also, it will save you a considerable sum on heavy duty cabling and extra batteries. The 12V/2kW models we have tested here draw a maximum of 220A, which keeps the battery cables to a more sensible size and will mean you can get away with a smaller battery bank (around 350-400Ah) and less powerful charging devices.

One thing to remember in your calculations is the extra start-up demand of any device with an electric motor. This can often be five times its stated running power, so a small 500W drill might need 2.5kW for the first few seconds, dropping down to a constant 500W once up to speed. This is the same for refrigerators with electric compressors and other similar devices.

The good thing is that all the inverters we tested appeared to be able to accept a surge load of 3-4kW for at least five seconds before tripping out the overload breaker.

12v or 24v?Those with small or mid-range coastal cruisers will most likely have a 12Vdc ship’s power system running off one or maybe two deep-cycle batteries for domestic power. However, many offshore and bluewater cruising yachtsmen prefer to use 24Vdc for the large, power hungrier devices, such as windlasses, water makers etc, because if you double the volts you halve the current (Ohms law). This in turn allows you to use smaller cables, which in the case of long runs like the windlass, bowthruster etc, could save a considerable amount of space and money and makes them a lot easier to handle and

terminate etc.These 2kW inverters are probably on the

cusp of where one might start thinking of going to 24Vdc for the DC input and indeed many are available in a 24V version.

The 12Vdc models we have tested here require around 350-400Ah of battery power and 70-90mm² cable (around 16mm in diameter), which is expensive to buy and awkward to run and terminate, whereas if you use 24V the current draw drops to around 100A and the cable can be reduced to 50mm².

Bear in mind, though, that just because the inverter is consuming half the current, you won’t be cutting your energy consumption by 50 per cent as well – it will stay the same, I’m afraid. If you parallel-connect two 12V/100Ah batteries together you double the effective capacity (200Ah), but still only get 12V. If you join them in series, as you must to get 24V, the total capacity remains the same as it would for one battery – 100Ah.

Cable sizeOne vitally important factor to remember about any heavy current device is that the smaller the cable, the greater the resistance to current flow. It might be tempting to use cable a size or two under the recommended specification, but this will create a voltage drop, which might well stop the device from functioning effectively. In the case of an inverter, it will simply switch off if the voltage drops too low – usually 10.5V – to prevent damage to the batteries.

However, a much more important factor is the risk created by cables that are too small overheating and melting their insulation, which more often than not leads to a fire.

batteriesOne other important consideration is the issue of battery bank capacity. You will probably have worked out just how much

Single phaseAC waveform

+

+

+

+

time

0VDC

volts

+

Pulse widthModulatedwave form

Step waveform

Quasi sinewave form

Static inverterwith squarewave output

DC IN AC OUT

aC wave forms

Large 90mm² cables are required for the

DC supply.

The test bed – we ran a number of typical

domestic items.

L aunched late in 2010, the new Judel-Vrolijk designed Hanse 355 sports what Hanse refers to as its

T-speed keel – a short chorded fin keel with a long overlapping bulb at the very bottom, which makes her stiff, stable and impressively quick. There are a number of interior choices available that allow you to customise her layout, opting for either two or three double berth cabins and numerous upholstery options.

Her powerful, high-aspect rig is easily controlled and reefing is all done from the cockpit, so there is no need to go up on deck when the going gets rough, although it does mean you have a lot of spare line to contend with in the cockpit.

This new model benefits from a number of improvements over its predecessor, the 350, including an integral, fold-down bathing platform, a remodelled transom, a separate shower cubicle, long forward vee-berth, better saloon storage, improved

ventilation and a larger chart table.The new 355 has a low, sleek cabin

top, low freeboard, near plumb ends, long waterline, shallow underwater sections and a generous beam – all of which make her both look and feel thoroughly modern.

She is designed to be fast, but at the same time easily handled by a small crew and has a single wheel and more enclosed cockpit than that of her larger sister, the 375.

As with all Hanses today, she is laid up by hand and her hull heavily reinforced by incorporating a complex framework of foam stringers and floor beams for strength and stiffness.

Despite this belt and braces approach to core strength, the Hanse is a comparatively light boat. Weight is kept to a minimum by the use of a balsa-cored sandwich in the topsides and deck. Epoxy and vinylester based resins and gelcoats are used throughout for their renowned strength, lightness and water resistance.

The latest range of exciting performance cruising yachts from the German boatyard Hanse is proving extremely popular in the UK for open, airy living accommodation and exciting sailing performance. Duncan Kent travelled to Scotland to test the new Hanse 355.

furTher eN-haNse-D

October 2011 Sailing Today 98 Sailing Today October 2011

NEW boAT TEST hANSE 355

It was a sad day when the original Hunter Boats was sold following the early and untimely death of Production Director Derek Chardin, the skilled and innovative business partner to Hunter’s Marketing Director Peter Poland. Throughout the 70s and early 80s they succeeded in producing a succession of lively, practical and affordable pocket cruisers. Hunter boats gained a reputation for being comfortable cruisers that also had a fair amount of speed, with many of their designs garnering a healthy following as one design classes, which helps keep up demand and residual values to this day.

Many of their most successful designs came from the drawing board of David Thomas, also notable for runaway sucesses such as the Sigma 33 and the 36, and this included the Hunter Delta, which, at 25ft, was in many respects the larger sister of the 20ft Hunter Medina and 23ft Sonata. She had a production run from 1980 through to 1986 with around 80 being built.

Some were factory finished, but there was an option for the buyer to fit out his own interior, so levels of finish will vary. Conceived as a trailer-sailer, which could be cruised or raced, the Delta featured three different keel configurations: twin

keel, lifting and a single fixed fin. She was relatively light with a displacement between 3,800lb for the fixed fin version and 4,300lb for the twin and lifting keel options. Deer Hunter, the boat we tested, carrried the lifting keel configuration. Drawing just 1ft with the keel raised, this version was considerably more expensive to put together and consequently fewer were built, making them highly sought after now.

The vessel has long had a reputation for speed, yet she also provides five berths and a separate heads; impressive on a 25-footer and this owes a lot to her hull shape, which features soft, U shaped sections forward and a relatively wide, flat, run aft. This not only gives her plenty of room below, but

also ensures that she is dry and relatively comfortable upwind and rapid off it.

In common with other Hunters, the Delta was very strongly built, following the well proven practices of Chardin, featuring a substantial lay up, laminated hull to deck join and monocoque construction. In addition to this, all the wooden interior modules were bonded into the hull during construction, giving the boat good integral strength. Thirty odd years on from her initial launch and we thought it was high time that Sailing Today put one of these flyers to the test. The model we tested was just on her way to compete in the Round the Island race and eventually placed a very respectable fifth in her class.

October 2011 Sailing Today 1110 Sailing Today October 2011

It’s not every day you come across a yacht that is equally at home cruising, creek crawling and thrashing around the cans, but Hunter Boats can boast several examples, most notably the Sonata. Sam Jefferson steps aboard her bigger sister, the Hunter Delta.

uSED boAT TEST huNTEr DElTA 25

pocket rocketThe original

About the ownerLondon based Rex Barrett has been sailing since he was a youngster, having grown up in emsworth, on the shores of Chichester Harbour. He now works as senior Project Manager for sound Ideas, a company that specialises in providing top end integrated sound systems. Prior to this he worked for several years as electro Technical Officer on a certain Russian oligarch’s superyacht. He is an RYA Yachtmaster and keeps his yacht in Chichester Harbour where he enjoys cruising with his wife along with the occasional foray into racing.

W hen it comes to sailing, I’ve always seen myself as a bit of a racer, but have never had

much time for cruising. If some berk with sunglasses on his head isn’t bellowing orders at me, it ain’t really sailing. That was until Sailing Today offered me the chance to travel to Greece with my girlfriend and crew Emma Lucas to try a Nautilus flotilla in Skiathos. Suddenly cruising didn’t seem such an awful pastime and, having completed the Day Skipper course a few years back and promptly forgotten all about it, this was a natural test if ever I saw one. A chance to find out how well a flotilla and their team can cope with rusty sailors in not so rusty boats.

In some ways I think Emma and I are a perfect example of how not to approach a holiday; me with a slightly arrogant indifference to stern-to berthing and Emma’s fear of my arrogant indifference to any form of stern-to berthing. This trip would undoubtedly be comical and dramatic in equal measures, all under the guise of a laid back island hopping cruise.

As our plane descended through the clouds, we craned our necks to see the beautiful Greek islands sprouting through the shimmering blue sea. As it happens, Skiathos airport is pretty much next to the pontoons. Meaning there is a very

manageable five minute transfer. Rather amusingly, the transfer bus host decided to give us the whole welcome speech anyway, despite having to stop early upon our arrival.

Huge jugs of wineWe were greeted by the delightful Martin and Sarah who would be our skipper and hostess. After the initial introductions they led us to our boats. We were introduced to La Jolla, a 39ft Bavaria. After all the boring details, such as inventory, engine checks and safety talks (which were dismissed by our travel weary brains) we unpacked, showered and headed out to dinner. The main strip in Skiathos, is as you would expect, aimed towards us tourists, with trinket and bracelet stores, souvenir and gift shops littering the newly cobbled streets. There are plenty of lovely restaurants posing as authentic Greek places. After a little bit of walking around the backstreets we found a lovely restaurant, which seemed to serve only fresh fish and huge jugs of wine.

At 0900 the next day our wearisome and slightly hungover eyes struggled to open. Slowly the realisation that we were on a boat brought us round. We had 15 minutes until our first briefing, with little (no) idea of what chart to take or if an almanac was necessary. So, hopelessly under prepared

SkiAThOS wiTh NAuTiluS yAChTiNg

Joe Adams and Emma Lucas travel to Greece on their first flotilla with the aim of discovering whether it can cater for his sense of adventure and her taste for relaxation…

12 Sailing Today October 2011

cRuiSiNG

Clockwise from main pic: Beach hut at Crazy Beach; asleep on watch; youngsters in saracen Bay; Cygnet under way.

First time flotilla virgins

First time flotilla virgins

S K I A T H O S

S K O P E L O S

T R I K E R IP E N I N S U L A

E V I A

G U L F O F

V O L O S

Aryironisis

N. Palaio

N. Tsoungria

33˚C91˚F

11˚C52˚F

5 days rain/month

Trikeri

Petraki Milina

Volos

Amalioupolis

Ak MaratheaStenonVolou

OrmosAlmirou

Ormos Ptelou

Stenon Trikeri

StenonOreon

Skiathos

KlimaVathoughi

Sakala

Pigadhi

Ahilio

miles

0 5

M e d i t e r r a n e a n

S e a

G R E E C E

Athens T U R K E Y

C R E T E

Istanbul

MarmarisRHODES

N. Sporades

S K I A T H O S

S K O P E L O S

T R I K E R IP E N I N S U L A

E V I A

G U L F O F

V O L O S

Aryironisis

N. Palaio

N. Tsoungria

33˚C91˚F

11˚C52˚F

5 days rain/month

Trikeri

Petraki Milina

Volos

Amalioupolis

Ak MaratheaStenonVolou

OrmosAlmirou

Ormos Ptelou

Stenon Trikeri

StenonOreon

Skiathos

KlimaVathoughi

Sakala

Pigadhi

Ahilio

miles

0 5

M e d i t e r r a n e a n

S e a

G R E E C E

Athens T U R K E Y

C R E T E

Istanbul

MarmarisRHODES

N. Sporades

S K I A T H O S

S K O P E L O S

T R I K E R IP E N I N S U L A

E V I A

G U L F O F

V O L O S

Aryironisis

N. Palaio

N. Tsoungria

33˚C91˚F

11˚C52˚F

5 days rain/month

Trikeri

Petraki Milina

Volos

Amalioupolis

Ak MaratheaStenonVolou

OrmosAlmirou

Ormos Ptelou

Stenon Trikeri

StenonOreon

Skiathos

KlimaVathoughi

Sakala

Pigadhi

Ahilio

miles

0 5

M e d i t e r r a n e a n

S e a

G R E E C E

Athens T U R K E Y

C R E T E

Istanbul

MarmarisRHODES

N. Sporades

Rafted up, flotilla style, below: typical stern-to mooring line and below right, emma at the helm.

W e were looking for adventure afloat, but having checked the major charter company prices,

decide that we had no wish to remortgage. I therefore opted for trawling the internet and after a while I found Makz who has been in the charter business for some 20 years, initially in the Red Sea and for the last 14 years in Thailand.

Makz runs Siam Sailing, which charters five Wharram catamarans in the Andaman Sea to the west of Thailand. Makz is a little different. He does not operate on the same basis as the larger charter companies. Instead, he provides his very own and highly personal service.

We flew out and were collected from Phukhet airport very efficiently by mini van and driven, via ‘Tesco Lotus’ to do our provisioning, to a pretty bay and then left literally on the beach. We unloaded everything, including a vast amount of beer – we knew it was a largely Muslim area and I was deeply concerned about lack of beer – on the side of the road and

then looked at each other. As nothing much happened, we found a bar on the beach and had a beer.

Soon Makz arrived and we met the boat. Veni Vidi Vici is a 30ft Wharram Tiki catamaran. She is a boat for living in the open – for us, the two hulls served as a clothes cupboard and a food store. With the hatches closed to keep out the spray, it was hot and sticky inside the hulls and we simply didn’t need to go there.

We lived on the bridgedeck, which had a deck cabin open at the back, a fixed bimini and a large wooden platform at the stern with a great drop down swimming ladder in the middle of the platform. The deck cabin has seats during the day and a pullout double bunk for sleeping. A bonus was the huge fridge opposite the bunk, which kept everything cool, including the beers. The engine was an outboard mounted in the cockpit, which behaved beautifully and, when under sail, was fully lifted out of the water, which was excellent. We chose to have a two person sit on kayak rather than the RIB and outboard usually provided. The briefing was very Makz: “Try Langkawi – it’s in Malaysia, so you are not allowed to go there, but they won’t catch you. However, if they do it’s your problem.

“Beach her wherever you want, go anywhere you want – no restrictions – up rivers as far as you want, just not to Burma, as they may shoot you.”

So not quite the mainstream charter

14 Sailing Today October 2011 October 2011 Sailing Today 15

cRuiSiNG Tiki iN ThAilAND

Andy Struthers was looking for a sailing holiday with a difference. His last child had gone to university and he and his partner, and illustrator, Alison, wanted a break from the miserable time that is January in England; somewhere exotic that wouldn’t break the bank.

Wharram in the andaman

Andy takes the tiller.

Name

Address

Postcode

Telephone

Email

Boat type length (m)

CODE: HEMPEL174

how to win

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16 Sailing Today October 2011

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PLEASE AnSWER ThE quESTIon BELoW:q: What was Hempel formerly known as in the UK? a) Blakes Marine Paints b) Baby Blakes c) Richard Blakes

ANSWEr:

Answer the question below and send it to competitions@sailingtoday.co.uk or fill in this form and post it to: Hempel Competition, Sailing today, Swanwick Marina, Southampton SO31 1ZL. Enter online at www.sailingtoday.co.uk. Closing date is 28 September 2011.

You can see more about the Hempel product range on www.hempel.co.uk

The first Hempel factory started production in 1915 in Denmark. The company has grown to become a worldwide enterprise comprising 21 manufacturing plants, 47 sales offices and more than 150 stockists strategically positioned around the world. Hempel is a new name for Blakes Marine Paints, so all existing brand loyal Blakes customers will be able to find exactly what they’re looking for in a tin of Hempel. Furthermore, the UK boating community now has access to more bestselling products from Northern Europe and this includes the ‘Boat Care’ range of products.

All the cleaning products and polishes are designed to give deep cleaning with long lasting, effective results in all climates. Clean & Shine is an ‘easy to use’ concentrated wash and wax that cleans, shines and leaves a protective coating in just one application. The Exterior Textile Clean is a concentrated cleaner and degreaser for boat covers, sails and sprayhoods, as well as all other cotton and nylon materials, and is suitable for use with high pressure cleaning equipment. Wax & Protect TecCel is a liquid wax with TecCel technology giving a water repellent, glossy, UV protective finish.

wiN!HEMpEL’s gift to 10 Sailing Today readers: boAT cARE ‘Goody boxes’ worth over £100!

• Pre-Clean• Wax&ProtectTecCel• Clean&ShineSpray• CleaningGel

• ExteriorTextileClean• BarnacleRemover• BilgeCleaner

TheBoatCareGoodyBoxincludes:

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