Yachting Intelligence - your guide to superyacht business & lifestyle » Pendennis Shipyards

Sailing Yacht Christopher has completed Sea Trials and sets Sails to St Barths

Yachting Intelligence — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:55:00 +0000

The 46m Ron Holland ketch, SY Christopher took to the waters of Falmouth Bay for her final sea trials in mid February.

It was a stunning winter’s day as the yacht manoeuvred around the Carrick Roads and out into Falmouth Bay, the sunlit waves reflected beautifully on her dark blue hull. The four hour sail trials enabled the Pendennis team and Christopher crew to assess her rig in preparation for the St Barths Bucket Regatta.

Christopher has undergone 3 sets of sea trials: a motor trial followed by two sail trials. The initial sail trial was held in a building breeze, the morning providing 4-5 knots of wind ideal for dialling in the sailing systems, building to 20 knots in the afternoon powering the boat on a reach with the main, mizzen, staysail and reacher rig. Christopher’s crew were impressed with her performance, with the Southern Spars rigging and sails supplied by North Sails performing impeccably. The most recent sail trial took place in 14-16 knots wind which is the optimum wind strength for her windward sailing capability, enabling trials of her full main, full mizzen and genoa.

Terry Gould, Captain of Christopher, commented;

“It was a real pleasure sailing Christopher for the first time. The team at Pendennis have delivered a world-class cruising and racing vessel. Christopher handled extremely well in the conditions, proving Ron Holland’s expertise in developing stylish designs built for both looks and performance.”

This is the 3rd Ron Holland sailing yacht to come out of Pendennis alongside the aluminium performance sloop Boo Too and the 100’ composite SuperMaxi sloop Cap Gemini, making Christopher the 31st launch in Pendennis’ New Build portfolio. Ron Holland’s reputation is for designing high performance ocean yachts that effortlessly balance ease of handling with his signature sleek modern styling, as the recent photos of Christopher reveal.

Ron outlined the complexities presented by this beautiful yacht;

“Creating Christopher has been both a challenging and pleasurable experience for all involved. To combine our clients’ goals for a yacht that reflected the classic style yachts of earlier years with the most advanced sailing technology needed careful consideration from the Ron Holland design team. Seeing Christopher under full sail confirms our most exacting design goals. We are looking forward to St Barths.”

The yacht set sail on Saturday26th February in perfect conditions for her trip across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. She will be competing in the 25th Anniversary St Barths Bucket with her delighted Owners on board.

Owner’s representative Duane McPhail of Palm Beach Yacht commented:

“The team at Pendennis has worked tirelessly to deliver her in time for St Barths and as a result the yacht looks stunning. We are sure she will turn heads in the Caribbean and the Owners are very excited about being able to sail Christopher for the first time.”

Motor Yacht Audacia arrives at Pendennis Shipyards for 2m Stern Extension

Yachting Intelligence — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:29:41 +0000

Following the success of MY Illusion’s refit including a 5m stern extension in 2010, the 46.5m Feadship Audacia has just arrived at Pendennis for similar structural enhancement.

The two metre extension and remodeling of the swim platform with 2 curving stairways and one stern access door will supply substantially more space providing a more accessible and useable recreational area on board. Restyling of Audacia’s stern lines, removal of the forward fashion plates and the addition of underwater lighting will also give the vessel a more contemporary finish. Pendennis developed the new structural designs in close collaboration with Joanne de Guardiola Design, Inc. who provided the overall concepts and design styling.

Alongside the structural enhancements Pendennis will improve Audacia’s performance through the replacement of the existing stabilizers with ’Quantum’ zero speed stabilizers. Work has commenced swiftly with a 3 month programme scheduled – the yacht is due for re-delivery in the middle of April 2011.

Mike Carr, joint MD at Pendennis, commented;

“The challenge with such a tight project schedule has been establishing the precise outline of the project in advance of the vessel’s arrival at the yard. Due to excellent relationships with the client we have been able to work with them since the Monaco Yacht Show to develop detailed design concepts and fully agree the full scope of work during November. As Audacia was not able to make the voyage to the UK at that point due to charter commitments in both the Mediterranean and Caribbean, Pendennis pre-ordered the stabilizer package and commenced assembly of the stern module in preparation for her arrival at the end of January 2011.”

Once completed this distinctive yacht is sure to make an impact upon her arrival at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Pendennis’ Success Story Continues

Yachting Intelligence — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 22:01:37 +0000

Pendennis is delighted to announce that the 55m Feadship Illusion has been named as a finalist in the World Superyacht Awards, with the results due to be announced at the ceremony in London at the beginning of May.

The extensive winter refit took just over 8 months to complete and included a 3-level 5m LOA stern extension with the addition of a drop-down beach club and enhanced tender garage, thereby substantially enlarging the amount of living space on board. The work also included significant engineering work (including a complete Lloyd’s 5-year survey), deck refurbishment, improvements to the crew quarters and bridge, as well as a dramatic changes to her interior through contemporary restyling of the Owner’s study and ‘sky lounge’ by Bannenberg & Rowell Design.

The Owner commented;

“Pendennis continually exceeded my expectations in terms of their high level of customer service, attention to detail and quality of finish, and final performance of the vessel. The list of structural improvements alongside the more traditional engineering and vessel maintenance tasks provided a considerable amount of work to be completed within one season. My team on the ground were consistently reassured by Pendennis’ professionalism during what could have conceivably been a very stressful experience. On board the finished vessel I have really enjoyed the use of the new drop down ‘Beach Club’ and this combined with the new Jacuzzi and extended sun bathing areas has really enhanced the whole Illusion experience.”

Pendennis has a busy few months ahead: SY Christopher will depart for St Barths later this month, with Akalam, the 105’ Barracuda Sloop previously known as B105 also due for delivery. Completion of the sailing catamaran Hemisphere is scheduled for the summer and SY Adela and SY Andromeda La Dea both arrived at the yard at the end of 2010 with refit work due to complete this spring.

Most recently two motor yachts Audacia and Dardanella have arrived and are currently alongside each other in our environmentally controlled covered outer dock facility, both with refit work due for completion by the end of April.

Pendennis is also pleased to announce that a substantial new 42m Feadship refit project has just been signed. With this vessel due to arrive in the next couple of weeks, this will lead to a total of 8 yachts undergoing work in Falmouth at the end of February. With a very busy few months ahead the 2010-2011 winter season is proving to be one of Pendennis’ busiest ever years.

Pendennis B105 project ‘Akalam’ completes sea trials

Yachting Intelligence — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:38:11 +0000

Following the rollout and launch of B105 last month great progress has been made on the vessel.

After her 22 month build journey at Pendennis, the completed yacht was able to show off her distinctive lines and styling during the two-day trials in Falmouth. Now named Akalam, this 32m Barracuda Yacht Design Sloop created a spectacular sight against the cliffs and castles of Pendennis and St Mawes. During her trials she achieved 14knots under power and over 11knots sailing, with a wind of 20-25knots in the Bay.

Akalam is a technically advanced yacht, designed and built to the highest standards with uncompromising attention to detail at every stage of her development. The elevated pilot house with a large glass area provides the yacht with her unique profile. Most impressive is the amount of glass along her sides as the huge windows form an almost unbroken vista from the interior of the vessel, enhancing the cruising experience by allowing as much natural light in as possible.

Such a design presented unique challenges to the designers. As Iñigo Toledo, of Barracuda Yacht Design, explained ‘bearing in mind the larger than normal window area in the hull sides, Barracuda has successfully alleviated any potential concerns about the integrity of the rig by ensuring rig tension is focused on the double-bottom rigid structure, thereby diverting most of the stress away from the hull’.

Under sail the Barracuda 105 has been designed for ease of handling and will carry a self-tacking jib and no running backstays. A retractable dagger board increases her draught from 3.6m to 5.5m allowing a wide range of cruising and anchoring opportunities.

The social areas and master cabin are both of a substantial size and comparable with yachts of a much bigger scale and are complemented with an impressive 60 m2 covered aft deck space. This was achieved on the aft deck by positioning the coamings and seating positions right out to almost the full beam width.

The interior by Javier Muñoz consists of contemporary styling, with neutral cream leather and upholstery balanced by hand crafted features in a mixture of mixture of sycamore, grey tinted zebrano with further accents of olive and panga woods. This enhances the feeling of space and luxurycomplementary to the natural light that permeates the vessel. The yacht is now undergoing the finishing touches at Pendennis prior to handover to the owner.

Pendennis Apprentice wins Queens Silver Medal

Yachting Intelligence — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 20:01:52 +0000

Tom Clegg has been awarded winner of the Queens Silver Medal by the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights as the Shipyard Apprentice of the Year 2010.

This is one of the country’s most prestigious apprentice awards and has been presented to representatives from the ship building industry since 1945. Annual nominations for the Queens Silver Medal come from every yard in the UK with assessment taking place during several stages. Entrants are shortlisted to participate in a week long course and evaluation in Northumberland, following which six are selected for interview by the committee in London before the awards are announced.

“The course in Northumberland was extremely demanding” explains Tom. “We were presented with a wide range of challenges, aimed at testing our leadership and teamwork skills as well as individual capabilities. The tasks ranged from physical trials such as overnight hikes and raft building, to ones which tested our endurance and mental capabilities. For instance we had to guard a flag throughout the night on one occasion, and on another morning we were subjected to interviews at 4am. Although it was a tough week it provided a unique opportunity to develop new skills and gain confidence in dealing with challenging situations.” Tom, who graduated from the apprenticeship scheme in September, is now employed as an engineer at Pendennis and currently working on the winter refit of SY Adela.

Jill Carr, head of the Pendennis General Apprenticeship scheme, told us “It is representative of the high standard of our course that four apprentices were selected to be part of the initial assessment in Northumberland – only sixteen apprentices from throughout the UK were invited to attend this week. We are extremely proud of Tom’s achievement as the winner of this historic award.”

Tom completed his apprenticeship in conjunction with Cornwall College: “Tom was always incredibly hard working and committed throughout his apprenticeship. I’m delighted for him that his efforts have been recognised by this prestigious award and wish him all the best in his career with Pendennis Shipyard.” said Vaughn Curnow, Liaison Officer from Cornwall College Business who worked with Tom throughout his studies.

The General Apprentice Scheme at Pendennis has a formidable reputation with several awards gained over the past few years, including ‘Winner of the Year’ in the National Training Awards in 2009. The scheme continues to gain recognition not only due to the dedication and organisation of the apprentice management team, but also because of the high standards and hard work of the young people on the course. At the recent Faculty of Technology Awards at Cornwall College the following awards were presented: Matt Angove was awarded “Student of the Year” in Level 2 Engineering; Sam Proud was presented with “Most Improved Student” in Level 2 Electrical; Andrew Heard was named the “Most Improved Student” in Level 3 Electrical and Dan Buckland was given the “Endeavour Award” in Level 3 Engineering.

Red Arrows Wow Showgoers at Monaco

Yachting Intelligence — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:13:09 +0000

Alastair Walton, of Boats.com and YachtWorld.com, provides another report based on his rapid tour of the fall boat-show circuit. This time, when he’s looking up, he’s seeing more than masts:

The Monaco Yacht Show is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown of the Mediterranean boat show season – maybe even the world. Nowhere else can you find the same heady mixture of huge superyachts, stunning supermodels, international ship yards, professional yacht brokers, innovative designers, spectacular scenery and uber-wealthy boat buyers. Naturally, this addictive showcase attracts visitors from all over the world (…)

See full article on boats.com :

http://www.boats.com/blog/2009/09/red-arrows-wow-showgoers-at-monaco/