Our latest video is now up on our channel.
We sail to the out-of-this-world Aeolian Islands, a chain of volcanoes extending north of Sicily. We sail to the live volcanic islands of Vulcano – where we swim through underwater sulphur vents and soak in a hot mud bath – and Stromboli, where we are treated to the oldest light show in the Med, exploding lava!
In our latest YouTube video, we sail to Croatia’s party island Hvar and it’s idyllic islands, the Pakleni Islands.
We visit Hvar Town’s spectacular Venetian fortress that was built with the help of Spanish engineers in the 13th Century, head to some beach bars, and get into some maintenance tasks, including scrubbing Tranquilo clean and fixing El’s feet after stepping into sea urchins.
In our latest YouTube video, we sail into Dalmatia, swimming its crystal clear waters and exploring the spectacular historical towns of Primosten and Split.
We also look at passage planning Tranquilo style (with PredictWind software and our Croatia Pilot book) and address the challenges of Tranquilo’s deep rudder.
In our Episode 2, we look at preparing Tranquilo for sailing around the world, including final checks of the equipment we have installed, learning to use our assymetric spinnaker, unboxing of our critical equipment, replacing the standard anchor provided by Hanse with a Rocna 33 anchor, and signing off the handover and celebrating the fact that Tranquilo is now ours!
We’ve just placed our order for Tranquilo! It will be a Hanse 455.
The decision in the end came down to the Dufour 460 and the Hanse 455. It was a very close choice. Both yachts come from highly respected factories, designed by some of the world’s leading nautical architects. Both have the performance, quality, stability and safety we’re looking for to cross oceans.
Important to note, while the the Bavaria 46 Cruiser dropped off our shortlist, it’s still a fine boat. It also met the aforementioned criteria. It came down to aesthetics on deck (the halyards and sheets on the cabin top clutter up useful space) and down below (the open layout wasn’t ideal for crossing oceans).
The reasons for choosing the 455 over the 460 came down to, and you’ll appreciate the subtleties:
Finally, some very respected sailors recently bought and are sailing Hanses, testament to their quality and performance.
Here’s our test of the Hanse 455. Note that with light winds we couldn’t test how the 455 handles in heavy seas. It did show us it has a very slippery hull in light winds!
And a more thorough review by Sailing Today!
Having selected the Hanse 455 we needed to decide on the dealer to place the order with. We appreciate the time and effort of both Windcraft in Australia and Inspiration Marine in the UK in working through the different options, providing suggestions and alternatives to standard factory options. They were both responsive and listened to what we needed. Most importantly, they both have a very strong reputation for supporting their owners in far reaches of the world, as attested for in online forums and by the awards they have received.
We placed the order with Windcraft. They put a lot of time into us, comparing the different models, arranging test sails, and working through the terms and conditions so we’re all comfortable with what we’re getting and how we will be supported when we finally sail. Being in Australia, we can work closely with them to understand all the ins and outs of the 455 and how to maintain Tranquilo in the far reaches of the world (well, at least far flung islands of the Pacific).
The Hanse factory in Greifswald, Germany, will be building Tranquilo over the next 8 months, ready for transporting to Slovenia where we’ll be doing the handover, ahead of our first leg down the Adriatic!
We’re now in final negotiations with the yacht dealers and factories. We have shortlisted down to three 46′ yacht models, based on the following criteria, in order of importance:
The three options we’ve narrowed down to are:
We’ve been impressed with the Dufour 500 and 560, both Cruising World Yacht of the Year winners in the past two years. The Dufours we’ve sailed, the 36 and 335, have proven to be sprightly, very stable and fun to sail. We were excited when Dufour announced a smaller version of the 560 and 500 and more in line with our requirements, the 460. Key features we love:
Most importantly, the 460 looks to be very stable and safe, and current Dufour owners we have talked to confirm the very good quality build Dufour are respected for.
The Hanse have an ultra-modern look and are fast, as you’d expect from yachts designed by Judel & Vrolijk, who were the design team behind the Americas Cup winning yacht Alinghi. Features we like about the 455 include:
We’ve been sailing Bavarias all our sailing lives – in the Med, Whitsundays, Sydney, and have found them to be solid, rather uninspiring vessels. They seem to be the workhorse of the cruising industry. But that’s all changed lately, with Bavaria bringing in the Farr team to design all their current models; Farr are famous for designing the latest Volvo Open 70 for the Volvo Ocean Race as well as Team Oracle Racing’s Americas Cup yachts and the highly successful Beneteau First range which has one many cups including the Sydney to Hobart. Features we like of the Cruiser 46 include:
All three yachts also have the following in common:
| Dufour 460 | Hanse 455 | Bavaria Cruiser 46 | |
| Length Overall | 14.15 m | 13.95 m | 14.27 |
| Length Waterline | 12.54 m | 12.2 m | 12.74 m |
| Max Beam | 4.5 m | 4.4 m | 4.4 m |
| Draught | 2.2 m | 2.25 m | 2.1 m |
| Displacement | 10,760 kg | 11,600 kg | 12,600 kg |
| Keel weight | 2,850 kg | 3,500 kg | 3,400 kg |
| Total Sail Area | 100 sqm | 103 sqm | 107 sqm |
| Performance | |||
| Sail Area / Displacement Ratio* | 21 | 21 | 20 |
| Displacement / Length Ratio ** | 152 | 178 | 170 |
| Loaded Displacement / Length Ratio *** | 176 | 205 | 193 |
| Stability | |||
| Angle of Vanishing Stability | 119 | 117 | 118 |
| Ballast Ratio | 26% | 30% | 27% |
| Water capacity | 530 L | 450 L | 360 L |
| Fuel capacity | 250 L | 220 L | 210 L |
| * SA/D Range of Values: | |||
| 16 to 18 – Heavy offshore cruisers | |||
| 18 to 22 – Medium cruisers | |||
| 22 to 26 – Inshore cruisers, racing yachts | |||
| 26 to 30+ – Extreme racing yachts | |||
| ** D/L Range of Values: | |||
| Up to 100 – Ultralight | |||
| 100 to 200 – Light | |||
| 200 to 300 – Moderate | |||
| 300 to 400 – Heavy | |||
| 400+ – Very heavy | |||
| *** Added 1,700kg load for moderate bluewater use | |||
What all three yachts don’t have is ultra-high stability. But we’re not heading to the high latitudes where yachts constantly face 10’+ seas and have a chance of knockdown. We’re going to be sailing in the tropics where such conditions are highly unlikely and we will have constant weather forecasts via satellite to enable us to avoid the worst. To put it in context, all three yachts would meet the strict safety requirements of the Sydney-Hobart, and we’re not going anywhere near the fearsome Bass Strait or its like.
Sailing Tranquilo 