CRUISING - Exploring with Adele

CRUISINGOwner Jan-Eric Österlundlikes finding tightanchorages such as thiswhere the 180ft Adèleis moored fore and aft.Below: we are invited aftfor pre-dinner drinks in theowner’s private cockpit‘She became a perfect focalpoint to the incredible grandeurof the desolate surroundings’Photos: Rick TomlinsonAdèle facts● Her Panasonictelephone exchangecan select the mosteconomical optionfrom cell, satellite,Fleet and GMDSphone systems.● There are 350 audioalarms and 40 firedetection points.● The two-man crow’snest will lift you 40mabove the deck.● A 4ft verticalpost on top of eachmast allows crewto be hoisted to themasthead to examineinstrumentationwithout their havingto get out of thebosun’s chair.the V12 1000hp Caterpillar engine thundering awaytwo decks beneath us, driving its giant four-bladed4ft 3in (1.3m) diameter variable-pitch propeller. At13.5 knots Adèle left very little fuss indeed in her wake.Adèle is so long VHF radio communication isrequired for Andre Engblom to keep in touch andissue commands to crew. He is in full-time contactwith mate Mark Thirkettle, deckhand Nick Jacksonand relief engineer Paul, who was still getting usedto the highly complex machinery compartment.Leaving the dock earlier that day appeared simplicityitself as 125hp Swing Sider bow and stern thrusterspushed the 298-ton yacht sideways into the harbour.Andre could then choose his steering mode.Unusually for a yacht of this size there is an optionof direct steering via chain, rod and cable onto thequadrant. Compared to the lifelessness of ahydraulic-assisted system, this provides thehelmsman with a remarkable amount of feel,particularly when under sail. A degree of balance inthe rudder (18 per cent of the 14ft (4.25m) deep bladeis hung forward of the rudder post) takes weight outof the steering although the system is designed witha high and low gear, either of which can be engagedby turning a small wheel mounted on each boss.When the Segatron autopilot is selected it can beset for either ‘tiller’ steering, by a tiny joystick on thecontrol console, for a compass heading or a specificwind angle, both selected using a small dial.Steering and control stations are close to the mainon-deck seating and dining area. Jan-Eric Österlundwas keen to emphasise the latter. An experienced andpassionate yachtsman he may be – he has alreadycircumnavigated the world in his previous yacht, the78ft Peter Norlin-designed cutter Swedish Caprice –but Adèle’s owner also enjoys entertaining and wantshis guests to be involved in the action. He encouragesus to study current charts (the excellent Norwegianpaper versions are always available for perusal at thedeck saloon navigation station or on the diningtable), check the chart plotter and familiariseourselves with the wizardry of modern positionfixing,plotting and collision avoidance.But Adèle is also plenty big enough to provideprivacy. Jan-Eric and André Hoek designed a separateowner’s cockpit aft, with its own substantial decksaloon (complete with bar, cocktail cabinet and cigarhumidor) and which leads down into the owner’ssleeping accommodation. It wouldn’t have lookedout of place as the main cockpit on a 60-footer.Forward of the large deck saloon is another teakcladdeckhouse with its own seating area, table andeye-level views outboard. For guests it provides anintimate quiet area, but would also make an idealrelaxation area for the crew, who admitted theymight attempt to annex it at a suitable opportunity,and not only because it leads straight into the galley!The accommodation is arranged with the owner’ssuite aft, complete with full-size bath, two twinberthedcabins, which can convert to take a third inPulmans and two large double suites forward of thetwo saloons. The lower saloon leads to a small libraryor study where Jan-Eric has twin flat screens to edit8Rick TomlinsonAbove: Wilford Bridgeis just one of the manygorgeous spots whichline the River Deben upto Woodbridge. Left: wenever tired of the sight ofevening light glinting onthe exposed mudflats96 YACHTING WORLD SEPTEMBER 2005 97

CRUISINGhis digital photography. His library is revealing:Columbus and the Age of Discovery, The Kon-TikiMan, Hiscock’s Cruising Under Sail, The GreatExplorers and The Marco Polo Expedition.Lofoten landfallAn advantage of the midnight sun is that making anunfamiliar anchorage or landfall before nightfall isno longer an issue; you just have to be careful youdon’t exhaust yourself by staying up all ‘night’. Andwhen you draw 16ft and have an 10ft wide 85-tonbulb, the choice of anchorage is critical. Adèle boastsa wealth of information including the yacht’s Transaschart-plotting data, but there’s no substitute forhuman recognisance and to do this a special tendertracking system has been devised.As we approach Henningsvaer, our Lofoten Islandslandfall, the three-ton Novurania inboard dieselpoweredtender is launched. Two whip aerials aredeployed on her transom, one for radio contact, theother for tracking the tender from Adèle. Andre isthen able to pick up all the data on the tender’sdisplays including course, speed, bearing, range and,importantly, depth under the tender.Jan-Eric and Susanne speed off into the distance totake a look at the anchoring possibilities among theislands off Henningsvaer and report observing seaotters and a large colony of cormorants nesting closeto the village. We watch Jan-Eric’s progress on thehigh-visibility Seabook M18 plotter screen. “It’s also abig safety device,” explains Andre. “If anyone in thetender gets into difficulty or even lost, we canimmediately pick them up on the screen.”My log read: “Arrived Henningsvaer about 2115 inAbove: it looks like the main saloon, but this is just the owner’s private accommodation aft.Below: the main, or lower, saloon, with a staircase that leads to the main deck saloon‘My log reads: “Sunglasses and factor 20 at 2330 dinner” ’Photos: Rick Tomlinsonhot sun, anchored in 40m – you need a lot of chainhere. Faint smell of drying fish wafting across theanchorage . . . sunglasses and factor 20 at 2330 as theyacht gently swung through 360° during dinner; theultimate revolving restaurant.”It couldn’t get much better. But it did.Trollfjorden is a dramatically narrow and deepfissure surrounded by snow-covered peaks. It’s arenowned tourist attraction, but it’s a must in a yacht.Having motored to the head of the fjord and back weanchored in 30m off the entrance – depth plummetsinside the fjord – then boarded the tender for a shoreexcursion. Waist-deep ferns that covered boulderstrewn,boggy terrain with patchy remains of wintersnow fields leading down to the water’s edge made thegoing tough. But this was a minor gripe compared tothe biting flies. They are ‘the size of sparrows,’ warnedthe pilot. Wrens, certainly, and they swarmed over us– we were glad of a high-speed blast down the fjord inthe tender to de-bug ourselves.With high pressure stuck firm over us, theprospect of sailing seemed to be slipping away;“We really need a minimum of eight knots true,” saidAndre. He added that American forecast androuteing specialists Commander’s Weather werepredicting 10 to 12 knots the following morning.Running Adèle is like managing a small businessand despite her size and ability to put up with almostanything the weather can throw at her, predictingprecisely local conditions becomes important whenyou intend to organise a £5,000 helicopter photoshoot. Forecasts arrive daily via the yacht’s onshoremanagement company MCM in Newport Rhode Island.Jan-Eric’s determination for a yacht that would sailwell in all conditions, particularly in light airs, hasresulted in a large amount of plain sail (1,550m 2 ) witha slab-reefed main and mizzen; crew joke about thelatter as ‘the little sail’, but it covers 2,303ft 2 (214m 2 ).North Sails Denmark’s carbon Spectra sails are superb.Mark Thirkettle controlled the hoist using ahandheld remote. The main, cleverly stacked on twintracks leading into the carbon fibre Park Avenue-styleboom, went up in a minute or so and was locked off atthe headboard using a conventional sprung-loaded8Adèle facts● All deck cushions(and there are lots)stow in a dedicatedlazarette within thecounter stern.● Adèle was fined theequivalent of €900 fortaking the tender up asmall salmon stream topick up stores. Priceygroceries, perhaps, butfar better than an11-day jail sentence.● Adèle is the biggestyacht to be built byVitters and she stepsthe tallest carbon sparsby Marten Marine inNew Zealand.SEPTEMBER 200599

STRAPLINECRUISINGTop: Adèle is designed tobe reefed early. Here she ison trial in the North Sea.Above (left-right): steeringoptions, prop pitch andengine rpm are controlledon one panel; a navigationand control screen withall rig controls; the 4ft 3infour-bladed variable-pitchKorsor prop‘flip-out’ lock activated at deck level with a lever.Separate locks for the first and second reefs alleviatethe compression loads.Faster than the windMuch to our surprise (and even to that of Adèle’screw), the big ketch was up to 5.5 knots of boat speedin just 6 knots true and quickly crept up to 8 knots in7 knots of wind. There was an alacrity about herwhich seemed to defy her size and weight.As the breeze built, Adèle leaned into the task andwas soon fully powered up sailing at more than tenknots in about the same true wind strength. Like amultihull, the apparent wind angle was quicklypulled forward, the best angle for speed being about32°. There was eventually enough breeze to bear awayand set the vast North MPS, a 1,500m 2 cloud of redand white cloth which set perfectly from its sock.With 500m 2 of mizzen staysail set from a poweredPhotos: Rick Tomlinson André Minkema:furler on the centreline Adèle was up to more than 12knots and with the staysail set momentarily shecould boast a spread of sail measuring 2,750m 2 , astaggering 30,000ft 2 .Jan-Eric beamed like a Cheshire cat. “Fanstastic! Iam so pleased she goes so well in the light.” It was a farcry from the conditions a week earlier, when Adèlehad rocketed north under a reefed mizzen anddouble-reefed yankee to touch 17.5 knots. Her bigrudder kept her on track and made her easy to steerand the crew were thrilled at Adèle’s performance.Photographs of the yacht on trials in the North Sea(left) show her at speed under a reefed main andfurled yankee and staysail. Jan-Eric accepts when thetrue wind hits about 15 knots, maybe 17 in flat water,the first reef must go in as the apparent hoversaround 25 to 26 knots.Taking in the first reef is a single-button operationusing two syncronised Rondal automatic reelwinches, one controlling a single-line reefingpendant, the other controlling the main halyard.Fine-tuning the winches and the line lengths to getthis right has taken time but it is a cleverly thoughtout arrangement which should make taking in thefirst slab that much easier.The second deep reef is a manual two-lineoperation using deck-mounted Lewmar drumwinches, chosen because they are significantlylighter than the Rondal equivalents.Despite her size Adèle is undoubtedly going todeliver an exciting sailing experience over a widerange of wind speeds. Jan-Eric certainly won’t need toreach for the start button as often as he might andover the coming months there will be plenty ofopportunity to fine tune Adèle as she moves on toSpitsbergen, then on around the world. We hope tofollow her over the coming months.DimensionsLOA 180ft 54.64mLWL 126ft 38.4mBeam 31ft 9.5mDraught 16ft 4.8mDispl (half load) 298 tonsWater capacity8,000lt(ability to make 10,000lt per day)Fuel capacity24,000lt(64lt per hour, cruising rpm)Ballast85 tonsClassification: ABS A1 YachtingService & MCA Cayman IslandsDesigned by Hoek Naval ArchitectsBuilt by Vitters ShipyardLeft: this shows Adèle’s vast offwindsail plan. Right: tank-testing a model100 YACHTING WORLD