General

Seascape Marine Services have announced the release of a new Yanmar Saildrive. By introducing the SD15, Yanmar has answered significant demands from the world’s leading boat builders for a saildrive solution for larger sailboats with engines from 80hp to 150hp. This enables the 50′ to 65′ monohull and multihull sector to access, for the first time, the installation and user benefits associated with saildrive systems. The SD15 can be coupled to the Yanmar 4JH80, 4JH110 and 4LV150 common rail engines, …

by Richard Crockett Due to the COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown for the past 7 months which has resulted in very little competitive sailing taking place, it has been decided to cancel the competition this year. Just three monthly winners have been announced so far this year, and with few, if any key regattas planned for the balance of the year, this decision was inevitable. It is important at this point to thank our sponsor, MDM Marine Services, the importers of …

Solar – the Feature You Didn’t Know You Needed! By William Crockett For as long as I’ve owned smart watches, one of my main gripes is that I need to charge them fairly often. When Garmin announced their line of Solar watches, I thought it was cool, but possibly a bit gimmicky. I was wrong… I spent 3 weeks continually driving the Garmin Quatix 6x Solar. For the week before, I used the Garmin 6 (same features, but no solar …

Abromowitz Sharp & Associates, South Africa’s premier yacht brokerage, has appointed well-known boating industry player Lindani Mchunu as a new associate. Mchunu is a current serving board member of both the South African Boat Builders Export Council (SABBEX) and the Royal Cape Yacht Club. He joins the brokerage industry as local firms seek to recover from the aftermath of Covid-19 lockdown and expand into new markets, particularly in West Africa. Cape Town-based Abromowitz Sharp & Associates is the Southern Africa …

DockSense® Alert is Raymarine’s intelligent docking solution which is designed for a broad range of vessels, and is the recreational marine industry’s first intelligent object recognition and motion-sensing intelligent docking assistant. Based on patent-pending technology, DockSense Alert can be installed on any boat to help captains safely monitor their surroundings and dock their boats with confidence. Similar to the driver-assist capabilities of today’s modern automobiles, DockSense Alert detects, displays, and alerts the captain to obstacles around the boat using machine …

FLIR Systems have launched Raymarine Axiom+, a powerful series of multifunction displays (MFDs) for anglers, cruisers, and sailors, plus updated Raymarine LightHouse™ Charts cartography, bringing new levels of clarity and control to marine navigation. The successor to Raymarine’s award-winning Axiom® line of MFDs, Axiom+ is engineered for speed, responsiveness, and future expansion. Available in 7-, 9-, and 12-inch display models, Axiom+ comes performance-tuned with a powerful quad-core processor for fast chart redraws, multi-channel sonar views, and augmented reality navigation. Designed …

Yanmar is extending its standard warranty period until 1 October 2020 to support boaters this summer season as they return to the water after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Providing customers with peace of mind for the entire season, the warranty extension applies to sailboat and powerboat engines, Kanzaki gearboxes and Yanmar sterndrives and saildrives with a warranty end-date between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2020. Yanmar’s comprehensive manufacturer’s warranty is designed to give customers complete and long-lasting peace …

  The first vessel to be self-sufficient in energy, “Energy Observer”, recently completed her first trans-Atlantic passage with high praise given to her newly fitted Bruntons Autoprop Eco*Star propellers. The propellers replaced the vessels original four blade fixed pitch propellers and have been partly responsible for a significant improvement in her performance since a refit was carried out last winter. Energy Observer has also been fitted with two Oceanwings to further enhance her energy saving abilities; a change which turned …

There has been a great deal of excitement at Cox headquarters recently as the production line has been in full flow with Cox’s team of engineers working around the clock to meet their next big milestone – when the first Cox CXO300 diesel outboards come off the assembly line. This was a defining moment for everyone at Cox, one which many of the team have been working towards over the past 13 years. The release of the CXO300 has been …

Seascape Marine Services (Pty) Ltd. have announce their appointment as a Premium Dealer for Flexofold propellers. Based In Denmark, Flexofold is a global leader in the development & manufacturing of low drag folding 2 to 4 blade sail drive & shaft propellers for sailboats and catamarans. This appointment encompasses propeller sales, spare parts and after sales support to all OEM’s, dealers and recreational sailors. Plus it further grows and strengthens Seascape Marine’s philosophy of supplying complete propulsion solutions. About Flexofold …

Now here’s man who is absolutely passionate about his sailing, yet despite his age he just continues to mix it up with the best sailors in the world on the 52 Super Series circuit. Up until recently he was always a highly respected 505 dinghy sailor on the international circuit. Hasso Plattner played a massive role in getting this series, as well as the now cancelled Rolex TP52 World Championship to Cape Town. But this award is about sailing, so …

‘Ballyhoo Too’ sailed an incredibly good Cape to Rio race, yet her performance was very much under the radar, despite it being one of the best performances in the fleet. Rijk Kuttel & Chris Garratt sailed their old Mumm 36 two-up in the racing fleet, and day after day they just reeled off really good mileages, then took on the storm in the closing stages in their stride, and finished second overall in an elapsed time of 19 days 17 …

The Cape to Rio Race 2020 will be remembered for two things for years to come. The manner in which Love Water, the 70-foot trimaran blasted her way across the South Atlantic in record time, and the ferocious storm through which the fleet had to battle to get to the finish line. All eyes were on the battle between Love Water and Maserati as these two racked up huge mileage – 600nm-plus – day after day as with sails packed …

Nominations are about to close for the first award of 202, so if you would like to make a nomination, now’s the time to do it. We have up-and-coming youngsters trying to make their mark in the sport; we have those who have passed the youth ranks and are setting their sights higher and on greater things in the sport. They all need recognition of their achievements in as many ways as possible. Just one way is through SAILING Mag …

by Richard Crockett Congratulations to Mike Hayton on becoming SAILING Magazine’s 19th Sailor of the Year. Raymarine and MDM Marine Services have continued sponsoring this award throughout 2019, and with it there is a handsome sum of money to the winner. Please support our sponsor. Now in its 19th year, the winners’ Roll of Honour reads something like a who’s who of sailors in South Africa. One of the key aspects to this award is that it is sailor driven, …