Gerben Bergsma gets to grips with his new boat on a rally from Harlingen to Terschelling.
Like many sailors, when the sailing season comes to an end and I can’t get out on the water, I turn to trawling yacht brokerage websites. I wistfully browse through adverts, looking for something that is both beautiful and afforadable. It’s a pleasant pastime. In 2013, a photo popped up and caught my eye.
Love at first sight
I saw a boat with stunning, slender contours and a hull of yellow ochre; a low coach roof adorns the elegant hull. An extremely sharp bow, a slight tumble home and a slipper stern, all in perfect proportion. She was clearly a very fast yacht, and I was falling in love.
I travelled to Korsor in Denmark for a closer look and had soon put in a bid. Before long, the boat was mine. Called Svala, she is a Safir 10-Metre. On the water she easily met my expectations, sailing extremely fast in almost all conditions and on all points of sail.
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How to rig preventers and boom brakes
Rigging a preventer or using a boom brake is just good seamanship when sailing downwind, but doing so badly is asking for trouble, says Rachael Sprot
Don't let Thames sewage kill off this lovely boat
Samuel Pepys mentions oysters in his diaries 68 times, but that was when they were as common as winkles along the banks of the Thames and when they were a source of cheap protein for the masses.
I finally found the magic of the sea
I won’t be in theatres with a notebook as much as usual this month – time for some wider, wetter horizons – but may be musing, as I often do, on how rare it is for theatre to express a convincing reality about the oceans and the trade or pursuit of seafaring.
TECHNICAL GOLDEN OLDIES
Ken Endean looks back on the boats he has owned over 50 years and explains why the hull lines of older yachts continue to offer first-class handling
HOW IT WORKS MARKING
Many cruising yacht skippers mark very little on board their boats.
TECHNICAL INSTALLING A NEW ENGINE
When a mysterious loss of coolant jeopardised his sailing, Andy Du Port knew the time had tome to replace his yacht’s:veteran Volvo Penta
NEW GEAR
Dennis O’Neill rounds up the latest marine innovations, including developments in women’s sailing jackets
MARIE TABARLY HONOURING HER FATHER
Marie Tabarly took line honours in the Ocean Globe Race, surpassing her father’s record while racing aboard his famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI
HEATHER THOMAS SMASHING RECORDS
In leading her all-female crew to victory in the OGR, Heather Thomas has broken records and taken women's sailing into the stratosphere
MAIDEN MAKES HISTORY AGAIN
Being the first all-female crew to win a round-the-world race is seismic in itself, but the diverse nationalities of the crew are just as significant for the future of sailing
