It was an experience I’ll never forget: blasting downwind across the Northeast Providence Channel, on a deep water passage from New Providence to Chub Cay. We were sailing inside the Bermuda Triangle, just a few hundred miles off the US coast but in a place that is uniquely wild and sparsely populated, fringed by mile upon mile of shallow turquoise waters.
We were not aboard your typical cruising cat. The Eagle Class 53 is a unique carbon catamaran with a hybrid wing and soft sail. It is super light, and super fast, and we took it on an early season northbound sprint from the Caribbean to the USA. The Eagle Class 53 is currently set up with C-foils, but the purpose of our trip was to safely send her on her way up to Bristol, Rhode Island, where the builder, Fast Forward Composites, will shortly be fitting T-foils for full-on flight.
Our trip began when we touched down at the end of our third flight, landing in monsoon rain in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. After a hair-raising taxi ride though the thousands of motorbikes and scooters that teem across the city, we wearily arrived at Ocean World Marina on the north coast. My first impressions were that the country (which shares an island with Haiti) is more akin to Cuba than the Caribbean. Rather incongruously, the gleaming Eagle Class 53 awaited us in the marina, surrounded by slightly ageing architecture. Meanwhile, huge swells generated by the strong northerly winds broke over the breakwater.
OFFSHORE DAY SAILER
Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Yachting World.
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Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Yachting World.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
wallywind 110 launches
The first example of Wally Yacht's new wallywind performance cruising range launched this summer, during the iconic Italian brand's 30th anniversary year - and in time for its debut at the Monaco Yacht Show in September.
Irish skipper wins Figaro
Irish solo skipper Tom Dolan took a historic victory in this year's La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, winning the solo multistage offshore race overall only the third non-French competitor ever to do so.
Youth AC puts on a show
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's team won the UniCredit Youth America's Cup after a highly absorbing series comprising 12 international teams racing the one-design AC40s off Barcelona.
ATLANTIC BEYOND
SAILING THE SECOND EXPLORATION 60 ON A WEST-TO-EAST ATLANTIC CROSSING WAS IDEAL FOR A RIGOROUS TEST OF GARCIA'S NEW NOWHERE YOU CAN'T GO FLAGSHIP
UNCONTROLLED
HELPLESSLY APPROACHING AN UNINHABITED ISLAND IN THE GALAPAGOS WITHOUT ENGINE OR ELECTRONICS, JON VAN TAMELEN FEARED BEING IMMINENTLY SHIPWRECKED
SECRET ISLAND
BEYOND THE FORBIDDING ENTRY RULES OF TAIWAN IS A CULTURE RICH IN SEAFARING HISTORY AND STUNNING LANDSCAPES, FINDS CAMERON DUECK
LAND OF THE BIRDS
SKIP NOVAK DESCRIBES THE PERILS, CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF A CRITICAL EXPEDITION VOAYGE TO SURVEY SOUTH GEORGIA'S ENDANGERED WANDERING ALBATROSS
FIRST STEPS TO BLUEWATER
YOU CAN GET INTO WORLD CRUISING FROM A STANDING START AND EXPERIENCE THINGS NO OTHER TRAVELLERS DO. CATHERINE LAWSON AND DAVID BRISTOW TALK TO FOUR COUPLES WHO PROVE IT
HARD CHOICES
IN AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM HER NEW BOOK, PIP HARE REVEALS WHAT DROVE HER ON WHILE RACING THROUGH THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IN THE 2020 VENDÉE GLOBE.
INTO BATTLE
COULD THIS BE THE MOST COMPETITIVE VENDÉE GLOBE EVER? HELEN FRETTER FINDS OUT WHAT THE SKIPPERS WILL BE FACING.