SOUTHAMPTON INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW EDITION OCTOBER 2026 £5.75
with YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO SAILING: SPORT. ADVENTURE. LIFESTYLE OCTOBER 2026 £5.75
NEW BOATS SPECIAL ■ Expert tips on buying a boat ■ Jeanneau SO 455 on test
The
20
best boats on sale now
VOYAGES
MAGICAL MYTHICAL TOUR Sail in the wake of Odysseus
CRUISING
THE CANARY ISLANDS A mid-Atlantic paradise
BEST NEW BOATS FOR 16
2026
OCTOBER 2026 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
CNB 62 Luxury yacht manufacturer CNB has been on a journey in recent years. The boatbuilder was originally part of the French Beneteau Group, focusing on bigger luxury yachts until the manufacturer sold the marque off a couple of years back. CNB was then acquired by Italian luxury boatbuilder Solaris and the new 62 is the first boat to be developed since the takeover by the Italians and the boat sits beneath 66 in the range and replaces the smaller CNB 60, being a refinement of that boat. As with previous recent models, the boat is designed by Philippe Briand and it is clear that the aim is to produce a luxurious cruiser with decent performance that could either be manned by a couple or with a professional skipper.
It has been a busy year for the boatbuilding industry. Sam Jefferson casts his eye over the latest launches in the last calendar year Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting OCTOBER 2026
17
Cruising – Canary Islands
The Canary Islands offer everything from lively tradewind sailing to sheltered anchorages. It’s a perfect proving ground before crossing to the Caribbean as Ingrid Schnabl relates
SHAKEDOWN IN PARADISE
T
wo days at sea, and the Atlantic cataracts us from the lush greenery of Madeira straight into the lunar landscapes of La Graciosa, the northernmost Canary Island. Her sun-bleached, barren hills – sculpted by centuries of wind and erosion – stand in breathtaking contrast to the deep blue of the ocean. For cruising sailors worldwide, this
24
OCTOBER 2026 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
is a landfall of pure longing; for us, it marks a brand-new chapter aboard our Alubat Ovni 435, Stravanza. Dropping anchor at Playa de la Francesa instantly unlocks an old treasury of memories. Twenty-five years ago, our hook bit into this very seabed. Back then, as a young family fresh off our first multi-day Atlantic passage from Gibraltar, it was the
ABOVE The author looking down at the anchorage on Graciosa OPPOSITE PAGE A suitably dramatic anchorage off La Graciosa
opening salvo of a four-year circumnavigation aboard our previous boat, Idemo. It was right here that we first truly tasted the romance of life ‘on blue water’. Our daughter, Anna, barely four years old, was bursting with energy as she trudged up the island’s prominent hill beside us. Today, Robert and I climb that same peak, Montaña Amarilla, in quiet solitude, feeling a twinge of melancholy. Where
on earth has the time gone? The idyllic anchorage is only a short walk from the tiny hamlet of Caleta del Sebo, which offers a modestly stocked supermarket and a welcoming beach bar. Sitting down to tapas and ice-cold Estrella Galicia, our sentimental mood quickly dissolves. We resolved to take our time with the Canaries this time around – a stark contrast to our frantic preparations a
quarter-century ago, when we rushed through without a glance at the beauty of these islands. Yet, places like La Graciosa carry a distinct risk: you can easily end up lingering too long. Ultimately, empty vegetable lockers, a mounting pile of laundry, and the modern urge to get back online, nudge us onwards toward Lanzarote. In a flash, we are thrust back into the comforts of civilization. Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting SEPTEMBER 2026
25
Boat test – Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 455
THE MYTHICAL SUN ODYSSEY Jeanneau’s Sun Odyssey range has been running for 36 years so they’ve had plenty of time to refine it;. Sam Jefferson test sails the new Sun Odyssey 455 to see how she performs
36
OCTOBER 2026 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
Cruising El Nino – Canary Islands
BOY OH BOY – EL NINO IS BACK
I
PredictWind meteorologist Arnaud Monges explains what a strengthening El Niño means for cruisers planning ocean crossings and Mediterranean passages over the next 12 to 18 months.
learned to read wind before I ever had a tool to help me. Growing up windsurfing in the South of France, before the internet existed, we’d call a hotline for a basic wind speed reading, then trust our instinct for the rest. Thirty years and a Master’s in Atmospheric Sciences later, I forecast professionally for one of the world’s leading marine weather forecasters, PredictWind. But this year, even with every model at my disposal, I keep coming back to the same three words: expect the unusual. That’s because El Niño is back, and it will likely disrupt the weather.
60
OCTOBER 2026 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
What El Niño Actually Is
Strip away the news headlines and El Niño is simple – the Pacific Ocean gets warmer than usual, the trade winds that normally blow steadily from the Americas toward Asia weaken, and the warm water that’s usually pushed to the western Pacific slides back toward the centre and east instead. Think of the trade winds as a giant fan running 24 hours a day. An early sign that El Niño is on the way is when trade winds or the fan start to slow down.
ABOVE LEFT The author, Arnaud Monges, at the helm
Scientists track this with the Oceanic Niño Index (ONI) – a rolling three-month average of sea-surface temperature anomaly in a defined patch of the tropical Pacific. When the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) increases and reaches +0.5°C, then it is the sign that El Niño has officially started. Above +2.0°C, we are looking at a “very strong El Niño”. At the end of May 2026, the index reached +0.5°+ and we entered El Nino. At the end of July 2026, the index reached +1.4° (April/May/ June average) which is double the previous month, showing El Nino is strengthening. Current
seasonal forecasts put a 63 per cent chance on this event crossing +2.0°C by December/January/ February, with the peak most likely landing around Christmas. Events like this typically run nine to eighteen months, so this isn’t a one-off spike – it’s the weather you’ll be sailing in for the best part of the next 12 months.
Tropical Pacific: Where It Bites Hardest If you’re planning a Pacific crossing – Panama to the Galápagos, on to French Polynesia, Fiji, or Australia – this is where El Niño has the most direct say. Think of El Niño like an earthquake with its epicenter in the central tropical Pacific – the closer you are, the more impact it will have, while the further away you are (like the Atlantic or the Mediterranean), the less you’ll feel it. Weaker trade winds mean slower passages on average, and those winds are also less consistent: some cruisers will see periods of reversal, particularly in the western Pacific. Convection shifts too, concentrating more thunderstorms and squalls around the mid-Pacific, French Polynesia and Hawaii especially, bringing
sudden wind shifts, gusts and reduced visibility. Hurricanes could be more likely in the Central Pacific during El Niño. None of this makes the passage impossible. Good weather windows still show up, they’re just shorter, and less forgiving of a “we’ll check the forecast once we’re out there” mindset. I have a colleague, Smiley, who sails from New Zealand to Fiji most years. He’s very familiar with the trade winds on that route, and even he checks the forecast more closely during an El Niño year, because the conditions he’d normally trust his own experience for become less predictable. PredictWind’s Departure Planning and Weather Routing tools are useful here – more on how those work below.
The Atlantic: A Quieter Crossing, With One Catch
Good news first. The Atlantic sits much further from the Pacific heat source, so the overall impact is more moderate. Trade winds may run slightly weaker and a touch more variable, and the Caribbean hurricane season tends to be less active during El Niño years – useful if you’re planning a Europe-to-
ABOVE LEFT The South Seas look set to be hit hardest by El Nino ABOVE RIGHT Although extreme weather is on the rise, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean will be less dramatically affected by El Nino. The big factor will be increased heat
Caribbean crossing this season. The catch is on the return leg. El Niño raises the odds of what’s called a negative North Atlantic Oscillation, or NAOnegative – essentially a weaker pressure difference between the Azores high and the Iceland low. That tends to push the winter storm track further south than usual, which stacks the odds toward more low-pressure systems on the mid-latitude route back from the US to Europe than you’d typically see.
The Mediterranean: A Weaker, SlowerBurning Signal
The Mediterranean barely registers on most El Niño maps. The Med is a closed sea and has local winds in different parts, those winds are impacted by the local geography (e.g., the Mistral) and those are not really impacted by El Niño. Where I’m from, the Mistral is squeezed into shape by the Alps on one side and the Rhône valley funnelling it through on the other, and it can turn a flat calm morning into a howling afternoon with barely any warning. That’s geography doing the work, not the Pacific Ocean. Heat is a different story. There’s Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting OCTOBER 2026
61
Caribbean Race Charter
As the countdown to the Caribbean race season begins, Sue Pelling highlights what’s in store and why it’s time to start planning your ultimate winter getaway
ROCK AND ROLL
A
Caribbean race charter combines steady trade winds and turquoise waters with a thriving local tradition. Here, regattas are vibrant cultural festivals celebrating sport, music, and food. Balancing thrill-packed racing with legendary rum punch– fuelled parties, these events deliver unforgettable memories and lifelong friendships. Running from January through late April, the main Caribbean race season
70
comfortably avoids hurricane season while offering overseas visitors plenty of time to make an Atlantic crossing worthwhile. Its reputation for high-octane, competitive racing has also resulted in the Caribbean being the ultimate proving ground for pro teams using the circuit as a warm up for the Northern Hemisphere season ahead. The Caribbean regatta calendar is packed, but thanks to smart scheduling by the Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA), dates rarely clash. Every event keeps
OCTOBER 2026 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
ABOVE Idyllic regatta conditions at Antigua Sailing Week
its unique identity, making it entirely possible for teams to race the whole series. If holiday time is limited, returning to a favourite event might be your best bet. Top choices include the St Maarten Heineken Regatta, the BVI Spring Regatta & Sailing Festival, and Antigua Sailing Week. For an equally fun and highly competitive alternative, the St Thomas International Regatta (USVIs), or the North Sound Maxi Regatta (BVIs), and the St Barths Bucket, which are both favourite haunts for superyacht race teams, are worthwhile considerations.