An unexpected development in the last 18 months is that participation in traditional dinghy classes has gone through the roof... but the dinghies of today are being built with some very non-traditional materials

Demand for Pro-Set epoxy has never been so high or so diverse. This is partly due to the way the pandemic has drawn sailors back to their passion more closely than ever.

Dave Johnson, sales director of Wessex Resins and Adhesives, licensed manufacturers of West System and Pro-set products in Europe, is awestruck by the explosion of interest and engagement in the small-boat scene, particularly in the UK. ‘We have just about every UK dinghy builder using our Pro-Set products now. The big names like Ovington and Winder, Maguire, White Formula, RS, Synergy, Hadron and so on.

‘Singlehanded dinghy sales went ballistic last year and show little sign of slowing down. A recent Merlin Rocket open yielded a 100-plus turnout. The International Moths are foiling faster than ever and proving incredibly popular, and most of them are laminated, infused and bonded with our Pro-Set product.’

Wessex Resins has been manufacturing West System and Pro-Set epoxy under license from Gougeon Brothers for more than 40 years. Over this time Gougeon Brothers Inc has developed a range of battle-hardened, marine-proof products that work across the whole range of water-borne craft, from wooden classics to the latest carbon composite extreme machines. ‘There’s a huge amount of science and legwork that has gone into developing our products – we are working closely with Gougeon Brothers in constantly developing products. They’re formulated to be strong and reliable, and also very user-friendly. It functions very, very well without too much of a Formula One type of setup. We know it will perform very well in typical boatbuilding workshops. That's what it's formulated for, to be easy to use, and it will cure well and get good characteristics even in less than ideal environments.’

Back in early 2020 when the pandemic first hit, the phone stopped ringing and sales dropped off a cliff. But it didn’t take long for the tide to come back in, higher than ever. ‘Certainly, at the start of the pandemic, like so many other businesses, we did not know what to expect at all. But within a few weeks the telephone calls and the requests for information started coming in. That allowed us to give really solid advice on, say, the restoration of a dinghy in a garage that had been under dust covers for many years and maybe had been a point of family sentimentality. Finally, the covers were being dragged off these boats and work commenced while people couldn't do anything else. They were able to get our product via mail order or through the clickand- collect shops.

Above: many old plywood dinghies from the mid-20th century are making a comeback

‘We saw this growth in activity and that was reflected in a lot of on-thewater activity when the clubs opened up again. A lot of singlehanded boats came out of the garage and were restored and put back on the water. People used our products to rebuild boats that might have been past their sell-by date. The great thing about high-quality epoxy is that it will create a lovely long-lasting sailing dinghy that will stand up to the stresses of rigging and setting up in the dinghy park, the launching, the racing and potentially the capsizing too!’

Johnson makes the point that it’s not the just the quality of the epoxy products and their ease of use that set them apart from the competition, it’s the after-sales support and technical advice. ‘There’s six of us that are involved in tech support on the phone and via email. Now these can be an inquiry ranging from somebody restoring an 18th century, gaff-rigged cutter to somebody putting together an antique violin, or it can be somebody repairing a fibreglass 505, or making a carbonfibre acoustic guitar. So it's really wide and varied, and it has been ever more so during the pandemic.’

Back in the 1950s and 60s in the post-war explosion in home DIY projects and the follow-on of DIY plywood dinghy kits such as the Mirror, GP14, Enterprise and Fireball dinghies, Barry Bucknell and Jack Holt were the pin-ups of the DIY era. Every gravel pit across the UK soon had a sailing club on its shores with membership bursting at its seams.

Above and below: RS is one of many commercial boatbuilders that rely on Pro-Set.

Johnson sees a parallel with what’s been going on during the strange times of the past 18 months. ‘Of course, we’re never going to see the numbers on the water that we saw 50 years ago with the massive growth in popularity of dinghy sailing, but we’re certainly seeing a revival. People are calling us up telling us about the old plywood boats that they are bringing back to life and it’s wonderful to be part of that.

‘I am fascinated by that Barry Bucknell story, and how the Mirror dinghy actually brought about social change, and did it in a particular era where everybody seemed to want to build a kit from Bell Woodworking and buy into the Mirror scene and then go sailing either at a club that had a fleet of them, or go cruising in one. Now that's highly unlikely to ever happen again because they sold in their masses but there must be many thousands that are stuck in a garage or in a back garden or some somewhere under a cover, waiting for restoration.

‘We saw inquiries coming in from people who actually wanted to do that and the beauty of the Mirror is that you can get every single spare plywood part from Trident Marine, and you can also buy a full-on composite version from Winder Boats. Now that's a lovely circular story because we're supplying to Mirror dinghy builds and restorations in plywood, but we're also supplying the composite boat that Winder builds.’

Johnson has seen a revival of the DIY spirit, kickstarted by the limitations of lockdown. ‘It has been a boom in terms of boat maintenance, boat restoration, boat renovation. It involved a hefty amount of people who were able to get down to the boat at the local boat yard that was maybe a walk away and isolate themselves and do the work themselves.

‘We had inquiries ranging from somebody who was repairing the genoa track areas of his Sigma 33, to someone doing an osmosis treatment on a Hallberg-Rassy in their back garden. So, the breadth of inquiries was centred around DIY-type repairs, seeking advice from a company with sound knowledge about boat repairs and boat renovation that dates back more than 40 years. We know we can give really sound logical and appropriate advice with a good choice of materials as well.’

Above and below: Pro-Set and West System resins have given thousands of old dinghies such as Fireballs and Mirrors a new lease of life. Sheathed in rot-proof epoxy, with a bit of care they could last a hundred years...

As well as the on-the-phone advice, the West System website has never experienced so many downloads of its free online manuals. ‘The most popular is the Wooden Boat Restoration & Repair Manual,’ says Johnson. ‘It’s an illustrated guide to wooden boat repair – how to restore the structure using West System epoxy.’ The manual includes information on dry rot repair, structural framework repair, hull and deck planking repair, hardware installation with epoxy and protective coating.

‘This manual is the thing that’s given people the confidence that they have the ability to get around to that DIY project that’s been rotting away in the garage for years. They don’t necessarily need to go to a professional boatbuilder and they discover they get enormous satisfaction from having restored their boat all by themselves. And once they’ve done up their boat, it will outlive its owners. There’s no reason why a well-restored boat shouldn’t last a 100 years or more. It’s a great environmental message too, when we can keep boats alive rather than scrap them or send them to landfill.’

Johnson’s enthusiasm for his job is infectious. ‘We have so many loyal customers, from our keen individuals fixing up their boats in the garage or the back garden, to our commercial customers who are enjoying one of the biggest booms in boatbuilding that we’ve seen in the past 20 years or more. The world has been tough over the past 18 months, but it’s also helped reconnect people with what’s important in their lives, and for us sailors, that’s getting our boats back on the water and enjoying them.’

The Wooden Boat Restoration & Repair Manual can be downloaded at:
https://wessexresins.co.uk/west-system/publications-3/wooden-boat-restoration-repair-manual/

For hard copies of these resources and downloadable, online versions, go to:
https://wessexresins.co.uk/support/

As yachts get bigger and bigger, simple tasks become more demanding. When you’re manoeuvring and then securing a superyacht in a tight anchorage there is no such thing as having too much help...

An important part of every voyage and one that is often overlooked is how we manoeuvre when close to land. This includes leaving a slip, a mooring, or even an anchorage. It is here in these settings that not only is skill needed in controlling the propulsion and direction of the boat at low speeds but the techniques and sequence of handling the mooring lines as well. NubeWay has developed two clever solutions to reduce this tension in dockside manoeuvres: the Butler and the Mush automatic folding fairleads.

Done well, dockside manoeuvres look effortless. But when not done well they can create tremendous anxiety and tension – not a good way to start or end any journey – or even spell disaster, resulting in damage to the boat or worse, injury to the crew or the guests.

In the last decade there has been tremendous progress in technology for the easy shorthanded operation of boats under power or sail, with many controls reverting now to hydraulics or electrical power. Line handling has become an automated or semi-automated operation in most applications, allowing for small crews – either professional or the owner and his family or guests – to operate larger and larger yachts. This is a clear trend seen at sailing and boating venues around the world: pleasure yachts are getting larger, faster and they can be operated by fewer crew than ever before.

Yet at marinas and anchorages around the world these same small crews are faced with having to safely secure these large yachts in what can be tight spaces and in possibly rough weather. Safe and successful mooring is vastly easier in conditions of no wind, no tide and flat water. It can quickly become unsafe and potentially uncontrolled when these ideal conditions change. Equipment like bow thrusters and stern thrusters can certainly help, but not all yachts have these devices and there are some circumstances where even with their use there can be elements of risk in docking.

Main picture and below: the Butler and Mush are hydraulic-powered fairleads designed to pinch and hold mooring lines at the touch of a button, making it easier for short-handed crews of very large yachts to moor up safely in adverse wind and weather conditions

The Butler automated fairlead system helps reduce this risk for large yachts through a simple yet safe and effective line-handling method for the one-person operation of a loaded bow or stern line. The Butler can handle mooring lines of 12-40mm diameter, and is suitable for yachts from about 50 to 80ft in length.

The design resembles regular fairleads installed on the shear rail. It has two inverted L-shaped stainless stems that hydraulically rise from their flush seated positions with the push of a button on the remote. The mooring line is passed through the gap between the stems and led to a winch to take up slack as needed until the correct position is reached.

When the line is ready to be made fast, a button push on the remote lowers the fairlead stems to then pinch the mooring line. Held securely in place by the Butler, the mooring line is now free to be safely tied off on a mooring cleat.

Above: when ready to deploy, the Butler’s twin stems pop up from the base unit and a line is passed between them. At the touch of a button they swivel and pinch the line to hold it fast. When not in use the whole unit is flush with the deck.
Below: an under-deck clearance of at least 26cm is needed.

For release, the process is simple: the Butler stems are elevated hydraulically with a button push on the remote, and the line is now free to be eased off as needed.

Installing the Butler is relatively easy for either a new or existing yacht with a hollow suitable deck surface or moulded taffrail: an installation depth of 260mm is needed for the hydraulic pistons and the support column, with 180mm of length and width space needed. The on-deck stainless cover plate is low-profile, being only 20mm high for a 280mm length and 80mm width. Working pressure for the pistons is 160 bars for a max pressure of 180 bars. Total weight of the unit is only 8.7kg.

For larger yachts up to 150ft in length, NubeWay has the Mush fairlead system developed to handle larger loads with larger lines and with a larger footprint. On yachts of this size the loads can be exceptionally great, and often require professionallevel expertise to maintain safety. With the Mush system, however, the line-handling becomes easier and safer for one-person use during critical moments within the docking and mooring process.

The circular design of Mush is fundamentally different than that of Butler: the unit is a large diameter circular stem with the mooring line led through its middle when elevated. The stem lifts and retracts hydraulically, and when retracted down it will pinch the line to hold it in place under load, similar to Butler’s operation, but with greater surface area and strength – enough holding power to handle the massive loads that can be encountered when mooring a superyacht.

In use, the process starts with hydraulically lifting the circular fairlead stem from its flush deck position using the remote control, followed by leading the mooring line through the stem. The line is led to a winch where the load can be controlled until the final line position is established. Mush can handle line sizes of 12 to 60mm in diameter.

With use of the remote, the stem is retracted until the line is stopped, and the load can be safely transferred to a cleat or other snubbing device. The circular design of the Mush fairlead allows for a wide variety of angles in line direction.

Above: the Butler holds the line while it’s led to a winch.
Below: a hydraulic power pack delivers a working load of 160 bars

When ready to release the line, Mush is simply elevated by the remote control and the line is released as needed. Mush can then be retracted to be flush on its mounting, whether this is on the deck or in the cockpit – wherever the best placement requires easy line handling on either power or sail yachts.

The retractable design of Mush is quite attractive for its low profile so as not to interfere with any running rigging on deck while sailing or during other manoeuvres. Installation must be to a strongly reinforced area of the deck or shear rail, but once a suitable location is found the required space is not that large: a hole of 101mm in diameter is needed, with space for four fasteners separated by 146mm. The reinforced mounting plate on deck is slightly larger than this, with the flush plate for the stem being only 30mm above the deck surface when retracted, and rising to 100mm at full extension.

Working pressure in the hydraulic lines is 160 bars, with max pressure being 180 bars with minimum pipe diameter of 4 mm. Total unit weight is only 16 kg.

Both Butler and Mush achieve several important features for the safe and secure mooring of large yachts 50-150ft in length:

• safer hands-free operation when transferring mooring line loads
• reduces the line-handling operation to one crewman only
• no need to hold a hauled line
• no need for rolling hitches
• during complex mooring operations, lines can be locked into position
• anchor-casting can be performed singlehandedly
• low-footprint elegant design for the fittings on deck

Both Butler and Mush are designed and manufactured in Italy to the highest standards, with rigorous testing made for resistance to stress, wear and marine corrosion. And both these stylish and innovative products are being distributed by another leader in Italian marine technology: Ubi Maior Italia.

Click here for more information on Ubi Maior Italia »

Thirty years of racking up ocean racing titles plus high-level engineering expertise gave Stu Bannatyne the perfect grounding to help create and refine two of the most important sailing innovations of the current era

Since 2016, Stu Bannatyne has been part of Doyle Sails International’s line-up of sailing superstars who bring their experience and expertise to clients’ projects, first in analysing their sail inventories and identifying areas for improvement and then in helping their crews get the best out of them to post good results on the leaderboard.

In a pro career spanning nearly 30 years, Bannatyne logged hundreds of thousands of miles of grand prix ocean racing and earned a reputation as one of the best in the business. King of the Southern Ocean is one of the tags attached to the unflappable giant as a mark of respect for his ability to drive boats hard in high winds and big following seas.

He has competed in eight round-the- world races and won four. 14 Sydney-Hobarts, nine Fastnets and eight Transpacs are just some of the events on his resumé that have made him one of the most soughtafter ocean racers in the world.

One recent campaign was with the Pac52, Warrior Won, which swept the top prizes at the 2021 Transpac. Bannatyne had been involved with the boat under its previous owner and continued when Chris Sheehan took it over. For the 2225-mile Transpac Bannatyne was tactician and watch leader, complementing a longer-term onshore role managing the rating optimisation for multiple rules, helping with schedule management and constantly pushing development of the sail programme.

Warrior Won, launched in 2017, gained significant benefit from Doyle’s Structured Luff and Cableless sails, without requiring any modifications to accommodate the new technology. ‘As is typical with these slightly older designs, the maximum allowable loads on the rig and structures are less than ideal and less than more recent 52 designs,’ Bannatyne explains. ‘But with our technology, we are able to use the existing load limitations and achieve a much greater performance than was possible with the old sail designs.’

Describing his role within the team, Bannatyne says: ‘I bring ideas into the mix on sail inventory concepts and then work as liaison between the Warrior Won team and the Doyle design team to ensure that the sails we receive on the boat are just what we need to optimise the inventory for each race and rating system.

‘We do this early to allow optimal design and build time, but most importantly to allow enough testing time to verify the performance of the sails and where they fit into the crossover chart. The job is never complete, but we endeavour to start each race with high confidence in our crossovers and polars, which really helps in managing the sail changes and choices we make in each race.’

With his affable and slow-talking demeanour and vast experience, he also brings a highly valued sense of calm on board when the going gets tough. Growing up in New Zealand, Bannatyne followed the traditional sailing route up through the dinghy classes and won the world youth title in Lasers before graduating into Finns. His first taste of ocean racing came in 1993 when Grant Dalton gave him a try-out in the Fastnet Race during the lead-up to his New Zealand Endeavour Whitbread Round the World race campaign. ‘He came to our attention as he had been doing well in Lasers so we gave him a shot in the Fastnet to see how he went,’ Dalton recalls.

Kevin Shoebridge, Dalton’s longtime lieutenant, took the youngster aside and gave him some advice, finishing with a cautionary note not to get drunk in the after-match celebrations and make an idiot of himself. Sure enough, New Zealand Endeavour won the Fastnet and in the dockside eruption that followed Bannatyne partied so hard he fell overboard. Dalton and Shoebridge looked at each other and agreed, ‘He’s perfect. He’s in.’

Bannatyne chuckles at the memory and recalls it was a breezy Fastnet. It was his first experience of big boat racing, in fact his first time steering by wheel.

On the homeward run, with the IOR maxi ketch fully loaded and charging downwind in 20-25kts, he was called up to helm in the middle of the night. ‘I had never steered by instruments before. At first it wasn’t going that well, but Glen Sowry told me to forget about the instruments and trust my instincts. So, I just sailed by feel after that and it went pretty well.’ Well enough that Bannatyne went on to taste his first round-the-world race victory on New Zealand Endeavour. ‘He proved to be a very good driver, a great team player, somebody we needed,’ says Dalton.

Bannatyne’s stellar career was launched. Asked about what keeps drawing him back to ocean racing, he jokes that an ability to quickly forget the bad times is important. More seriously, he thrives on the total concentration required to keep driving hard in that narrow zone between success and failure. ‘Keeping performance high without wiping out is what it’s about,’ he says. Backing up sailing talent is a strong technical grounding. Bannatyne qualified as a mechanical engineer at Auckland University, always with an eye to working in the marine industry. ‘My plan was to work at something like Farr Yacht Design, or somewhere involved with structural engineering on racing yachts, so it fits perfectly with the work I do now with Doyle Sails.

‘I have used my engineering background a lot in my pro sailing career, working as liaison between designers, engineers and the sailing team. It is good to have a common language and understanding of the technical side of things.

Above: the major refit and DSS foil retrofit of the Reichel/Pugh 60 Wild Joe was another Doyle Sails/ Infiniti Yachts collaboration in which Bannatyne played a leading role.
Below: Bannatyne recently won the 2021 Transpac Race as tactician and watch leader aboard the Pac 52 Warrior Won after a longerterm role managing the boat’s rating optimisation for multiple rules and developing its sail wardrobe

‘It is a very satisfying part of what I can bring to sailing programmes, to go a little more in-depth into the technical aspects of whatever we are developing, whether it is sails, or masts or even boat structures. Also, coming at it from a sailor’s perspective I can work to ensure that we end up with a usable and practical solution without building it too heavy, or cumbersome.’

All of Bannatyne’s talents and expertise have been marshalled for an exciting new grand prix level yacht that is the first to be designed from the outset to utilise all the benefits of Doyle Sails Structured Luff and Cableless technology. This is the Infiniti 52, designed by Hugh Welbourn with a fixed keel and a single DSS foil. It is the brainchild of Infiniti Yachts owner Gordon Kay. Bannatyne had worked on two previous Infiniti projects, the 46- footer Maverick, and a significant refit and DSS retrofit on the Reichel- Pugh 60-footer, Wild Joe. ‘Gordon Kay wanted to bring a 52-footer to market requiring fewer crew than the TP52s and targeted towards coastal and offshore events like the Fastnet, Sydney-Hobart, Caribbean 600, Transpac and Transatlantic races,’ says Bannatyne. ‘My responsibility was for the rig and sailplan.

‘Gordon has seen the Structured Luff and Cableless sail technology we introduced on Maverick and Wild Joe. He has totally bought into the technology and was keen to incorporate that to the fullest extent possible with the Infiniti 52 project.

‘We have been able to realise some pretty nice weight savings: lighter structure, lighter mast, lighter and lower profile rigging, lower loads throughout. We are looking at a 30 per cent reduction in rig compression and forestay load for the same headsail luff profile of a TP52 .’

Bannatyne describes working with Welbourn as a very collaborative process. Welbourn provided a preliminary VPP based on a basic sail-set he uses as a design starting point. Doyle Sails then refined the VPP for its Structured Luff and Cableless technology and fed that back to Welbourn. At the same time, Doyle Sails worked closely with sparmaker NZ Rigging, providing load studies and rig tuning suggestions based on its CFD tools.

‘It was an iterative process that worked extremely well,’ Bannatyne says of the dialogue that went back and forth, banking the gains each technology partner was able to bring to the project. Some of these gains were to focus on reaching and downwind performance, considering the type of offshore racing envisaged for these boats and the conditions in which the DSS foil would provide the greatest advantage. ‘Upwind performance is also important so Hugh applied a lot of attention to the keel and rudder optimisation and the balance of the boat.’

Two boats were bought off the plans and the first, for the Finnish Tulikettu Racing programme, was due to begin sail trials and testing in England towards the end of 2021.

‘A lot of interested parties are lining up to see how this turns out,’ says Bannatyne. ‘This is breaking new ground in the sense that it is the first to combine Hugh Welbourn’s DSS technology and Doyle Sails Structured Luff and Cableless technology in a project designed from the outset to gain maximum benefit from both. ‘It’s evolution, not revolution,’ he adds. ‘These concepts are well proven on a lot of race boats already. Bringing them together in this fully committed application takes us further down the evolution path.”

Click here for more information on Doyle Sails »

In a picturesque and quiet corner of south west England there is a yacht club whose part in the development of the sport of top level ocean racing over the last 60 years deservedly earned it worldwide prominence

The role that the Royal Western Yacht Club has played in the development of shorthanded offshore sailing speaks for itself. From founding the Observer Singlehanded Transatlantic Race (OSTAR) in 1960 to the doublehanded Round Britain and Ireland Race that kicked off six years later and then the TwoStar transtlantic, three key events that not only shaped the racing world but provided the catalyst for a wide and far-reaching range of events elsewhere. Yet at times, success has brought its own challenges for this West Country club.

‘The OSTAR simply got too big for the club,’ says Rear Commodore Oceanic, Adrian Gray. ‘We might have 700 members, but aside from a handful of full and part-time employees we’re run by enthusiastic and experienced volunteers. And while we have all loved seeing successful events draw in the professionals and their impressive machines, we also know that the club is and has always been about providing offshore challenges for grassroots sailors.’

This down to earth approach coupled with the club’s innovative spirit has created a fascinating programme for the future. The 2022 season will see the 60th anniversary and next edition of the OSTAR get underway on 15 May followed closely by the Round Britain and Ireland Race starting on 29 May. Both are wellknown events that continue to evolve.

‘When the club sold the event rights to Mark Turner’s Offshore Challenges it kept the OSTAR name and when it comes to the competitors the event has in many ways gone full circle,’ he continues. ‘The fleet for next year’s race will range in size from 28ft to 60ft and will be sailed by amateurs looking to achieve something special. Their boats are mainly cruisers or cruiser-racers so we look forward to the true spirit of the race being back with us.’

The double handed Round Britain and Ireland Race is not simply famous but has become legendary for the challenges that the course places on the crew. But times change and while the event continues to live on in the minds of those that have completed it, such notoriety doesn’t ensure future success. Here the club has worked hard to make sure that the race fits with modern life.

‘We have spent a great deal of time listening to competitors and have made some key changes for next year’s event. For starters, to trim down the time it takes to compete there will be three stopovers rather than four. The first will be Galway which replaces Kinsale. This will present some interesting tactical challenges when it comes to deciding which side of the Aran Islands to go as you will have to pass on the same side going out as you came in.

Further on, the Barra stopover has been discarded while Lerwick stays, then the route back sees Blyth in Northumberland replacing Lowestoft. The net result is that each of the legs is now around 400-650 miles, we lose 48 hours of stopover and the race is now more accessible to the general public.’

One key change is the number of crew. This time, in addition to double handed, four person crews will be allowed, plus teams can change up to 50 per cent of their crew at the end of one of the legs if they wish to. ‘Weaving a major event into a year full of other commitments can be tricky so this is intended to make it easier to take part. We are also keen to tempt owners into looking at short-handed sailing, this we see as a really nice compromise.’

Some classic offshore races aren’t as easy to modify. Moving the Fastnet finish from Plymouth to Cherbourg was keenly debated. What isn’t in doubt is the enthusiasm for racing around the most famous lighthouse in the racing world. Here, the RWYC have created two events.

‘Next summer sees the second edition of the Original Lonely Rock Race which, in conjunction with the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, starts off Ryde in the Solent, rounds the Rock and finishes in Plymouth,’ said Gray. ‘The second event, which will be in August 2023 and also run for a second time, is the Plymouth Fastnet 500 which starts and finishes in Plymouth. Then in 2025 we will return to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club to celebrate 100 years of the most famous of all racecourses.’

The club’s strategy is for a four-year cycle of key events where each year has either a 500 or 600-mile offshore race running alongside an oceanic race of 1800-3000 miles. And in 2023 it’s the introduction of a big one, The Round Iceland Race. ‘The main focus is for solo and double handed crews on a course that will start and finish in Plymouth,’ Gray says. ‘When you plot it out the length of this course is within a few miles of the OSTAR so it will be a serious challenge.’

‘There are so many things we could do with this race. We are also looking at options for a Reykjavik finish for those who wish to stop. Whilst this is primarily for solo and double handed sailors, we might include a class for fully crewed boats should there be the demand.’

New partnerships with other clubs and organisations have also been formed. One of these is with Marco Nannini and his Global Solo Challenge to offer GSC-approved courses that can be included in the mile-building qualification process. Another has involved engagement with the Imoca class and specifically the pre-2007 Open 60 fleet to offer racing on established courses for sailors who want to realise a lifelong ambition or use the experience as a stepping-stone to bigger challenges such as the Vendée Globe.

Above: the JPK 1180 Sunrise (skippered by ex-RWYC cadet Tom Kneen) won the inaugural Lonely Rock Race from Plymouth to Fastnet and back in 2020.
Below: the Round Britain And Ireland Race is now 48 hours shorter and has fewer stopovers but Lerwick in Shetland is still one of them

The creative thinking in Plymouth has even encouraged participation at neighbouring club events. ‘The Southwest Offshore Group Series (SOGS) was formed recently and involves 18 sailing clubs to promote and develop southwest offshore racing with a regional series of 14 races,’ continues Gray. ‘The Royal Western Yacht Club is just one of those involved. Teams can choose which races suit them best and are most convenient, while at the same time helping to build a bigger overall event. When they race away from home the boat receives weighted points to encourage local teams to move about and enter a wider range of regional offshore races.’

Making a season programme easier to plan and more rewarding has also been at the heart of a new development with Polish sailing. ‘Plymouth is twinned with Gdynia and we have had a lot of contact with Visit Poland and Love Poland through their Volvo 65 and 70 campaigns. What surprised us was just how large the Polish offshore shorthanded scene is. As part of the twinning process we're planning to run a feeder race from Gdynia to Plymouth to help them engage with some of the events we’re running. Within Poland there are a number of ocean sailors from eastern European countries who we hope are going to bring some boats into the Gdynia to Plymouth race and ultimately into the RWYC oceanic programme.’

The commercial aspect of running such an ambitious schedule provides additional challenges for the club. ‘Whereas it has been common to talk of sponsorships in the past, we prefer to talk of partnerships. We look for partners that are going to work with us and for whom we can provide a platform for them to demonstrate to members why their products should be relevant to them and the sailing they do. It’s very much a two-way street. We are partnering with key sailing brands such as Henri Lloyd, B&G, Spectra Watermakers, Forestia foods, MailASail and others. We have a great platform for these brands to focus and develop within an active bed of competitors. Mutual feedback and partnership will help us all to provide a more rewarding landscape for all concerned’.

These and other projects at the Royal Western help to illustrate why the club continues to thrive, yet even so, a clear vision at a time when the sport and its participants are changing rapidly is arguably the most important factor.

‘The vision of the club is very much about getting back to its grass roots, which means getting back to supporting and running more shorthanded oceanic or long-distance races and continuing that appeal for owners who are looking for that sort of challenge. It’s not taking on the professional maxi racing teams of this world with their massive budgets, it's all about the club racer, Corinthian amateur or Category 1-3 level sailor who races seriously at weekends and wants to go further. We want this to be the club that they look at to take them to that next level in shorthanded sailing.

‘We will continue to pioneer short-handed oceanic racing in this segment and have ideas and plans of more challenges to complement the races we have today. In essence moving forwards just as the club did in its early days.’

Click here for more information on the Royal Western Yacht Club »