In 1998 we took possession of Cruz Control in Santa Cruz, California and then sailed her across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Brisbane, Australia. In the previous 7 years we'd bought 3 yachts trying to find one suitable for cruising and racing and at the time, we thought if we owned Cruz Control for 10 years, we would be extremely happy and satisfied with our decision making process. It also allowed us to learn what features we liked and disliked. To achieve a 10 year ownership, it meant that proper research was required and because this was achieved, we in fact owned Cruz for a total of 14 years. The process involved in commissioning Cruz Control was similar to Vanish except that we were involved in every decision on Cruz since its inception from the mould.
Every prospective buyer has their own long list of requirements and something which is important to us may not be a consideration for another owner. Choosing any vessel takes an enormous amount of time and effort. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours of research have gone into choosing this new vessel. Some of the considerations for Maynard are listed below and for those with a penchant for the technical side, we will try to elaborate on how we chose or why we liked each particular system on Vanish. Overall, we needed a vessel to transport us safely to exotic places with a high margin of safety but we also wanted a vessel which was fun to operate and pleasing to the eye. Below is a list of some of the major requirements.
. Safety - stability, buoyancy, downflooding, ground tackle, speed, draft, construction type, strength, weight, range, meet as a minimum Lloyds Ocean Class A CE Certification and ABS requirements
. Comfort - sea kindly motion with redundant stability systems, heating, cooling, tankage, watermaker ability, electrical capacity with regard to gensets, storage, refrigeration, easy to deploy flopper stoppers at anchor
. Operation Requirements - to be able to operate with 2 people, fuel efficiency, engine type, hull type, reliability, solar panels to minimise usage of gensets, range, the ability to use 110v or 240v systems, we needed as many redundant systems as possible ensuring self sufficiency
. Vessel already built or close to completion with maximum LOA 25m
. Instrumentation - a comprehensive electronic package including infrared camera for high latitude voyaging, multiple radar systems, world-wide communication systems
I guess I should have seen all of this coming while I sat sipping my cup of tea. In my mind, we were preparing to finally build our dream home after coping with the vagaries of living in our 1978 built farmhouse, originally decorated by the previous occupant in various shades of brown, orange and yellow. Although we'd done a partial renovation 10 years ago, I was anxious to finally separate myself from the odd brown snake, rat, cane toad, lizard and rainforest creature which seemed to find comfort in our humble abode. After 30 years of marriage I could have stopped for just a moment to articulate a better response. I should have, but I didn't. I was sitting in tropical paradise on a warm sunny day and Cape Horn was at least 8,000 miles away as the crow flies. So when faced with a response to Maynard's proposal to take a vessel to Patagonia and Cape Horn, I said the first thing that came to mind. "Hmmm. That sounds like an exciting idea. We should do that!" And the deed was done. Just like that.