TRUE BLUE SOUTHERN WINDS SEMI-CUSTOM AND FULL-SPEED SUPERYACHTS ARE - - PDF document

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FEATURE

– Southern Wind Shipyard –

TRUE BLUE

SOUTHERN WIND’S SEMI-CUSTOM AND FULL-SPEED SUPERYACHTS ARE MADE FOR SAILORS, BY SAILORS. By Clare Mahon

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WILLY PERSICO IS THE Italian engineer and entrepreneur who in 1991 founded Southern Wind Shipyard (SWS), which specialises in the construction of semi-custom superyachts in Cape Town, South Africa. We meet in Italy at the offjce of Pegaso, a Genovese company appointed by SWS as marketing and customer care representatives. Tie offjce is decorated with nautical memorabilia and a series of Neapolitan gouache paintings. “I am particularly fond of a gouache of a 1750’s shipyard located near Naples, a gifu from a client,” Persico says. “My father was the general manager of the same yard from 1944 to 1962. Growing up around ships I love every aspect

• f the sea, both above water and below. I love

to sail, to dive and to swim. Afuer I earned my degree in chemical engineering I travelled the world working in the oil business, but I never lost contact with the sea.” In 1989, Persico decided to build his own

• yacht. “I bought projects by two top naval

architects, one by Ron Holland and one by Bruce Farr. Holland suggested I build his design in South Africa, where he knew of a yard that did very good work.” Tie builds were about halfway completed when the yard hit serious fjnancial trouble. Persico stepped in, bought the yard and founded Southern Wind Shipyard in 1991. “I build the kinds of yachts that I myself

• like. I want my yacht to be fast enough to be

fun to sail, I want her to be safe and seaworthy enough so that she can travel the world, but I don’t want to sacrifjce comfort,” he says. “When you consider that every Southern Wind yacht’s maiden voyage takes her from South Africa to another hemisphere, you understand why seaworthiness and durability are so important to us. By studying construction methods and materials, I think we have found a good speed-to-comfort ratio. I started using carbon fjbre afuer I was sure it was safe and durable and we have developed an infusion method where the proportion of carbon fjbre to epoxy resin is optimised.” Southern Wind builds almost entirely in-house and every project undergoes preliminary marketing research done by Pegaso. “When we plan a new semi-custom series, first we contact a top naval architect such as Farr Yacht Design or Reichel/Pugh,” Persico says. “We have worked with Nauta Yachts for years on concepts, deck layouts and interiors. “When Pegaso receives the client’s brief it confers with the yard and the designers and the construction of the fjnal custom layout begins. I myself try out each new model, sailing and living aboard so that I can really ‘hear’ the yacht. Tiat is how our innovative crew quarters afu layout was created – during a long cruise, I realised that it would be more comfortable and effjcient for all if crew had access to the helms and manoeuvring areas without having to pass through the living areas.” Southern Wind’s literature stresses that these are true blue-water performance cruisers. Tieir owners’ sailing logs confjrm that this isn’t just a publicity hook – at least fjve Southern Wind yachts are doing circumnavigations of the world from the SW 95 Maya Rey, launched in 2000, to the SW 82 Feelin’ Good launched in 2013. Sue Tweddell is Owner of the SW 93 Early Purple II. “Our maiden voyage on Early Purple II was to the Southern Wind Trophy, but we really think of this as a family boat and a second home and haven’t done any regattas since then. But we have had enormous fun,” she says.

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“My husband and I are both sailors and we have found this yacht to be absolutely brilliant, a really happy marriage between a performance yacht and one where it’s nice to entertain friends. “We keep a crew of fjve on rotation, four aboard, one on vacation. And we rotate guests on two to three week intervals. Tiat way the crew is always fresh and our guests adapt to the rhythms of life on board

• beautifully. We crossed the Pacifjc in 2013 and spent quite some time in

the Darwin Islands, West Timor, Flores and Komodo. Bali was also pure enjoyment and there were very few other boats. Owning this yacht is a treat that we have given ourselves afuer a lifetime of work.” Southern Wind yachts are also a constant

• n the superyacht regatta circuit. “We hold a

Southern Wind Trophy regatta every other year within the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Porto Cervo, Italy,” Persico says. “It’s a chance for our owners to get together and have some fun and is also an excellent opportunity to show

• fg our yachts in a context where they shine.

Our owners have raced all over the world from the Rolex Fastnet Race to the Rolex Sydney to Hobart to all the top Mediterranean and Caribbean regattas. Another Southern Wind yacht (SW 100 DS Zefjro) recently took a break from her circumnavigation to race in the King’s Cup Regatta in Tiailand.” To celebrate the shipyard’s 25th anniversary, the 13th Southern Wind Trophy moves to Capri (where the fjrst edition took place) as part of the Rolex Capri International Regatta (May 24-28). A dozen SWS yachts are registered already. Not everybody is born an old salt, so Pegaso founded the Southern Wind Sailing Academy. Several clients wanted to hone their skills for an important regatta, others wanted to train a crew

• f friends before heading out on an extended
• cruise. Using a fmeet that includes the SW 100

Cape Arrow and smaller performance yachts like a J80 and a Vrolijk 40, top professional sailors

• fger classroom lessons followed by hands-on

experience at sea. Tie “graduation ceremony” can be a baptism by fjre on the regatta circuit or sailing ofg on your yacht with enough knowledge and experience to relax and enjoy it. Persico wants to stay ahead of the game. “I think that our construction methods will be valid for years to come, but no project will remain contemporary for longer than fjve or six years,” he says. “I have always looked beyond

• ur successful series like the 72 and the 100

to see what the future will hold; that’s why we developed the SW 82. SW 102 and SW 115 semi-custom series and some new performance-

• riented projects are in the works.

“Nowadays yachts have wider sterns that make them both faster when reaching and more roomy below deck. Captive winches, carbon-fjbre technology, LED lighting systems and lithium batteries have all brought changes in their own right. Being an engineer I’m fascinated by new technology, but sailing is a passion and the common ground for my relationship with Southern Wind owners. Our

• wners have confjdence in us because they

know we are like them.” www.sws-yachts.com

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wanted to get back to sailing. I did extensive research and looked seriously at Oysters, Swans and Southern Winds. Afuer a while I had narrowed it down to Oyster or Southern Wind. An Oyster exec was in town for the Sydney to Hobart race and he was talking with Terry, my crew boss, trying to convince him to convince me to buy an Oyster. ‘Yeah,’ said Terry, ‘but they just aren’t sexy.’ Now that may sound sexist, but it isn’t intended that way. I always admired these boats, they just appealed to me. Tiey’ve got classic lines and a great pedigree. You can’t help but admire them.” So Blackmore is having a Southern Wind of his own built. “Yes,” he laughs, “they tell me they’ve never had more involved owners. Caroline, my wife, prefers motorboats for the space, but Nauta Yachts that works with Southern Wind is really good at yacht design. We recently spent a week in Milan with them. We fjgured that we would be working with

• ne of their less experienced designers, but were particularly pleased

to spend much of our week in Milan with Massimo Gino, one of two

• riginal founders of this successful design team. My wife used to work

in fashion and she and Massimo really hit it ofg. Seeing two such creative minds at work together is very satisfying and I know that it will be refmected in the fjnished product.” Blackmore has been visiting the shipyard in South Africa during the build. “I fjrst visited the yard when I was in Cape Town on business eight years ago; I wanted to see if there really was quality behind the good looks. Consider the fact that they have built over 40 boats and almost all of them have taken a maiden voyage of some 7,000nm from Cape Town to the Mediterranean on their own keels. Tiat’s enough to convince anyone about a quality build.” His SW 82 Ammonite launched at the end of February and he will take delivery in April. “We’re planning on spending the fjrst summer in the Med, then I want to head over to the Caribbean for the superyacht regattas.” Blackmore is keeping his eye on another SW 82 that has been cutting a fjne fjgure on the regatta circuit, Grande Orazio. “We should give them a run for the money. We both have racing winches and a high modulus mast. Tie big difgerence between the two boats is that I’m having a lifuing keel installed. It’s a fjrst for Southern

• Wind. Jim Schmicker of Farr Yacht Design worked it out so that the

bulb is lighter, but when it’s down we’ll have more drafu than Grande

• Orazio. I want to be able to cruise in the Pacifjc with less drafu, but at the

same time I didn’t want us to disgrace ourselves in a regatta,” Blackmore adds, semi-seriously. “We look forward to sailing with Grande Orazio in regattas in Europe

• r the Caribbean,” concludes Blackmore, with a bit of a grin.

www.blackmores.com.au GROWING UP in Brisbane, Australia, Marcus Blackmore has always lived near the sea. But it was only when he started sailing with a close friend that he really caught the sailing

• bug. While Blackmore is

Chairman of Australia’s famous Blackmore’s nutraceutical empire, he has yet to fjnd the supplement that can cure this

• bug. But with his new Southern

Wind 82 that’s being built, he may well have found the best way to feed his sailing fever. We reach Blackmore in a rare quiet moment. Despite his hectic work and travel schedule, he’s happy to sit down and chat about boats and sailing, two of his favourite subjects. “I began sailing when I was about 16 on a two-man Gwen 12 but probably spent more time in the water than aboard the boat, if you know what I mean,” jokes Blackmore in his easy, conversational

• style. “I only really got going after I came home after service in

the Vietnam War. I moved to Sydney and Biff, my best friend then and still my best friend now, was a ship’s Captain and owned a Duncanson 35. We started sailing on her and that changed everything.” “I joined the Middle Harbour Yacht Club and through Manly Rotary Club I met Peter Green, the famous Australian ocean

• racer. I said to him, ‘Peter, I’d

like to do the Sydney to Hobart’ . He said, ‘Tien come sailing every weekend for the next three months and I’ll give you a ride’ .” And so it was that Blackmore fjrst competed in the Sydney to Hobart Race aboard S/Y Patrice III, a Sparkman and Stevens design built in Australia in 1974. Patrice III won many

• cean races in Australia and

the Southwest Pacifjc. Testament to the length and breadth of Blackmore’s ocean racing curriculum is the fact that he doesn’t remember precisely how many times he raced in the Sydney to Hobart. “I probably did it 11 or 12 times,” he says. Blackmore is clear on when he bought his first “real” boat

• though. “I bought Manly Ferry, a Cole 43 that I got second-hand

from Bob Oatley, when I was in my late thirties. In those days, the top Australian racing boats were Sir James Hardy’s Police Car and Denis O’Neil’s Bondi Train. It only seemed fitting to name my boat after some means of transportation as I lived in Manly at the time. In 1984, we competed in the first Hamilton Island Race Week and won

• ur division.” The Oatley family now owns

Hamilton Island. “I like one-design racing and have raced extensively on Farr 40s, Etchells and Dragons. I bought Team New Zealand’s record breaking TP52, had design team Botin and Carkeek

• ptimise it for ocean racing, changed its name

to Hooligan, and won all over Australia in a string of successes. We were the only boat to have ever won Hamilton Island Race Week for three years in a row. Today I keep a Dragon in Europe and a full-carbon McConaghy 38 in

• Sydney. I now prefer to compete in one-design

regattas where we might do four faces the fjrst day, hose the boat down, sleep in a proper bed and then do three more races the next day.” He fjrst saw a Southern Wind yacht at the Genoa Boat Show some 7 years ago. “It was Far Away and I thought that she was just

• fantastic. I had a couple of mates with me and

we all just said ‘wow’ . But I ended up going in a completely difgerent direction at the time and built a Nordhavn 76 motor yacht. I had it delivered in California and from there visited Alaska, Mexico and Costa Rica, passed through the Panama Canal to the San Blas Islands and Cuba then across the Pacifjc to Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand and on to Southeast Asia where we won two major regattas in a chartered TP52. “But I always admired Southern Wind yachts and afuer a stint of motor boating

MARCUS BLACKMORE – FEEDING A FEVER