With 214,000 visitors from 120 countries and more than 1,500 exhibitors from 67 nations on 220,000 square metres in 16 exhibition halls, boot Düsseldorf is the largest yacht and watersports show in the world.
I have never been to the show and I can´t go this year but it would be really nice to visit boot Düsseldorf sometime. boot Düsseldorf runs from the 18th to the 26th of January.
Vendée Globe is a fascinating race. The course, the sailors, the boats and the passionate crowds. I love it! The winner of the 2024 race is Charlie Dalin onboard Macif Santé Prévoyance.
Not only does Charlie win, he smashed the old record when he crossed the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne! The new record time is 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds.
Investing in sails is a big thing. A lot of thinking goes into it before placing the actual order. We were convinced that a gennaker was the right thing for us and our Linjett 33. But did it turn out true or were we wrong?
For our previous boat we had a gennaker for a number of years. It´s was a cruising gennaker from North Sails and we sailed with it a lot. We used it mainly in light to medium winds and everything from reaching to running downwind. When running downwind we always took down the mainsail, otherwise the mainsail would through a wind shadow on the gennaker.
Together with our sailmaker at UK Sailmakers in Stockholm we agreed that the best option for us, our boat and the way we planned to use the sail, would be a A2-gennaker. The A2 is the go-to gennaker on most boats.
The A2 is a light to medium wind gennaker. It is full size with big shoulders designed to rotate to windward of the headstay to get as much of the sail as possible out of the wind shadow of the mainsail. The A2 is best suited for 8 – 18 knots apparent wind speed and an apparent wind angle of 105 – 155 degrees.
Apart from the gennaker we also ordered the UK Sailmakers dousing sock to simplify handling.
There were two things needed on our Linjett 33 to fly the gennaker.
We have actually used the gennaker on Festina Lente3 the same way we used the gennaker on our previous boat, not so surprising.
We´ve used the gennaker in light to medium winds and everything from reaching to running downwind. When running downwind we always taken down the mainsail, otherwise the mainsail throughs a wind shadow on the gennaker.
The gennaker has been sailed both solo and in crewed mode. Sailing it solo is actually quite easy, it just needs a bit more planning.
One thing we noticed is that gybing the UK-gennaker on our Linjett 33 is easier than gybing the North Sails gennaker on previous boat. I guess that is because the UK-gennaker is designed to rotate to windward of the headstay at deep angles. So inside gybing the gennaker works really well.
We are sailing our Linjett 33 with a self tacking jib, that is common among Linjett 33 sailors. Since the self tacking jib is small, the Linjett 33 needs help going downwind, especially in light to medium winds and this is where the gennaker comes into play.
We sailed Festina Lente one season without gennaker before we ordered the A2 and I wouldn´t like to be without the gennaker again. How about a symmetrical spinnaker then? I don´t think would use a symmetrical spinnaker, it is too cumbersome for us to handle.
The gennaker is perfect: it´s easy to fly and provides all the horsepower we need!
With the sleep system packed up in the Fjellpulken Sleeper 200 SF, winter camping becomes easier. The sleep system is on top of your pulk and always ready to use.
The other day I got my Fjellpulken Sleeper 200SF delivered. It´s a piece of equipment I´ve wanted to purchase for a long time. For several of years I´ve looked at ways to simplify winter camping and Fjellpulken 200 SF does that.
I tried the Sleeper in the warm comfort of our living room. The Sleeper easily fitted my Exped Dura 6R LW sleeping mat, Mammut Tyin MTI Winter sleeping bag and the Ajungilak sleeping bag fleece inner liner.
The video from Fjellpulken shows the old version of the Sleeper 200 SF. The new version of the Sleeper is yellow.
If I understand it correctly Fjellpulken have recently launched two new expedition pulks: The Traverse 145 and the Traverse 165. They both look impressive.
Unfortunately information about the pulks at Fjellpulken’s homepage is only available in Norwegian. I guess information in English will be added by them later.
Explore our brand new, robust, lightweight pulk with impressive packing volume! The Traverse 165 is designed to provide greater capacity and lower weight than previous models, and is perfect for those longer trips.
– Translated from Fjellpulken.com
Some say that plotters are a thing of the past, that there are other alternatives just as good or better. I don´t know what to believe, but I do believe curiosity should be a leading star in life.
Skippo was founded in Stockholm 2022 with the goal of simplifying boat life and inspiring life at sea. They innovate and digitize services and products that make it easier to enjoy life as a boat owner.
Today Skippo is the largest digital boat service in the Nordics with over a million users who use their app or webpage.
In 2025 I will try out the Skippo navigation app on my iPad. I´m curious to see if it is a good idea to use an iPad as an alternative to the plotter.
So far I´ve download and tried the free version of the app. Next step is to pay for the premium navigation subscription. In the premium version you get access to more functionality like: detailed charts and being able to download charts to the iPad so the app can be used in offline mode.
More to come…
When evenings are dark and chill is running through the saloon it´s nice to have a ship´s lamp down below. Just one oil lamp can make such a big difference to the boating experience, providing both warmth and cozy light.
For our old boat we had a ship´s lamp hanging from the roof. We used that lamp a lot. For our Linjett 33 I’m looking for something that we can put on the table instead, something we can move around down below and maybe even bring out to the cockpit.
So far the most interesting ship´s lamp I´ve found is from Watski.se. It´s a model they call ‘Oljelampa Galley Mässing‘ or in English ‘Oillamp Galley Brass‘. The model is available in either brass or stailess steel, I prefer the brass version. According to the specifications it´s 170 mm wide by 290 mm high.
I think the ship´s lamp from Watski.se would fit well into the saloon of our Linjett 33. There´s no hurry buying anything yet, I will keep looking, but at least I´ve found an interesting starting point.
We have passed midwinter solstice and the days are slowly getting longer. We are done with Christmas, mulled wine and Christmas sweets. It’s just a few days left of 2024 before we sail into 2025.
Today the sun rises in Sundsvall at 09:20 and it sets at 14:24. Days are short but from the 21st of December they are getting longer, the light returns.
