By Gemma Fottles The 37.5 metre fast cruising sloop Escapade was delivered to her owners earlier this year, who are now well underway with a world cruise. She features an interior from Design Unlimited and was built by Fitzroy Yachts in New Zealand. The yacht is the first for these European owners and is an aluminium design with a fixed keel.       She features a raised saloon and a fixed bimini over the cockpit, which has mechanically operated sliding windows. She can accommodate up to ten guests in total, with the master cabin and two guest staterooms located aft and a 4th cabin-come-day room, galley and crew space forward.   ?   Commenting on the design process of the vessel, the owner commented, "Escapade is a totally custom design; when we we...

    With the summer season in full swing and the superyacht fleet in general experiencing it's busiest period of the year in the Mediterranean; thoughts are now beginning to turn once again towards the future. We caught up with Edward Thomas, founder of Gym Marine and Bosun aboard a 45m Heesen to talk industry and innovation. YS: Hi Ed, how are you? E: Good, thank you; I'm currently drifting around the stunning Archipélago Cabrera off the southeast tip of Mallorca- it's a beautiful day and the guests are ashore, so we're catching our breath a bit! YS: Sounds lovely, how's the season going so far? E: It's been an interesting one, that's for certain. We were hauled out in the yard at Genoa in late March to have some major structural work done having sustained damag...

1. Introduction 1.1Under the MLC Minimum Requirements Regulations all Ships Cooks, catering staff and other persons processing food in the galley are required to be suitably qualified in Food hygiene or Food safety in catering. 2. Training requirements for catering staff and other persons processing food in the galley. (Regulation 40) 2.1The ship owner must ensure that the ships cook and any person who processes food in the galley of a sea going United Kingdom ship is required to be properly trained or instructed in food and personal hygiene as well as safe handling and storage of food on board ship in accordance with the learning outcomes and assessment criteria set out in Annex 1 of Merchant Shipping Notice MSN 1846 (M)   MIN 479 (M) Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: Food ...

The approval of these amendments was a major step in establishing binding international law on these issues which are very important for the shipping industry       Government, employer and worker delegates to the International Labour Conference (ILC), at the 103rd annual meeting of International Labour Organization (ILO), overwhelmingly voted in favour of approving amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC,2006) in order to better protect abandoned seafarers, and provide financial security for compensation to seafarers and their families in cases of a seafarer's death or long-term disability. These international legal measures are aimed at improving working and living conditions for seafarers, the most globalized of the world's workers. The ...

The European Commission is taking the UK to court for "not properly applying" excise rules over red diesel. According to a report on BBC News, the EC is stepping up their opposition to current UK laws that allow the restricted use of red diesel in recreational vessels. Red diesel is intended for the use by fishing vessels and can be up to 40% cheaper than normal fuel due to its lower tax duty.It is marked with a red dye to distinguish it from standard fuel.The EC said that some were breaking the rules but that at some refueling points they had no other choice."Private leisure boat owners are often in a situation where they can only purchase marked fuel," said an EC statement."As a consequence, private leisure boats may not pay the right amount of tax."UK boaters should follow ...

A teenage sailor, stranded after his boat capsized, was lucky to be found by Fowey lifeboat crew as he tried to swim to safety late last night. The 18-year-old's boat had capsized and dismasted, throwing him into the sea. With his telephone affected by the water and only allowing him to post on Facebook, the sailor posted a message to say he was stranded. Brixham Coastguard was contacted just before 11pm last night by police who'd taken a call from the teenager's mum. She said his post on Facebook said he was in trouble on his Laser sailing dinghy. Fowey lifeboats launched soon afterwards, with the all-weather lifeboat searching the area towards Portmellon, while the crew on the inshore lifeboat headed out to search towards Pentewan. Mevagissey and St. Austell C...

One of the worst case scenarios when sailing offshore, especially beyond the range of immediate rescue help, is of a crew falling overboard when you are piling downwind under spinnaker. In a typical bluewater situation, the crew would likely be shorthanded (and suddenly one down), the yacht would be under autopilot, the boom held by a preventer and the spinnaker pole fixed with in position with a foreguy and afterguy.Getting the crewman back safely is all up to you; it's life and death. So how should you go about it?This is one of the situations that we are testing and demonstrating on our latest video techniques series, which we are carrying out this week in Fiji (where else?). We have joined Dan and Em Bower, charter skippers and owners of the 51ft Skyelark of London. Dan and Em are h...

By Gemma Fottles Today sees the 2014 Giraglia Rolex Cup enter its final phase with the start of the 241nm offshore race. Some 213 yachts are expected to take part – a new record fleet. The mythical course which usually takes crews from France to Italy via the Giraglia rock off the northern tip of Corsica offers an alternative finish this year in Monte-Carlo. The unique opportunity to combine the finish of this celebrated race with the inauguration of the new Yacht Club de Monaco clubhouse has been embraced by all involved. The 62nd Giraglia Rolex Cup fleet ranges in size from 100 feet down to 30 feet. If conditions permit, Esimit Europa 2 - the largest and fastest yacht - will seek to dent its record time of 14 hours, 56 minutes and 16 seconds set in 2012 over a ...

Written by: Rose Jolis Written by: Rose Jolis   How many times have you felt at the end of your rope, or perhaps a little trapped by your golden handcuffs?    How many times have you thought about moving ashore- or actually did, and then got there and didn\'t know what to do with yourself, or spent all of your money in the first six months because you were living the dream?   It's not an easy transition onto land. For most us 'yachties' it's the light at the end of the tunnel: to live in your own place, have your own big bed, maybe a pet. To create your own schedule and eat what you want and when you want it.   But then the little realities of paying for rent and groceries get in the way.  All of a sudden, some things yo...

Written by: Jo Morgan Written by: Jo Morgan Written by: Jo Morgan   Part 2: In last month's feature, yacht provisoners shared their stories about wacky requests, such as provisioning live crickets to feed a yacht's iguana and supplying haute couture.  The stories don't stop there though- who would have thought provisioners delivered hay to yachts, or were asked to source unborn lambs?  Also this month: do you think yacht crew work the hardest of anyone in the industry?  Read on: you might be surprised.   The Smoking Gun Over time, all provisioners become accustomed to the pressure, strange requests and moving destinations of the yachts they supply. In fact, all provisioners contacted for this piece replied that the wildly changing demand...