Gee, it's been a while since I last posted anything here… It's not an excuse (well, kinda it is), but things are a tad busy, setting everything strait with the company, the boat's arrival and paperwork, the day job, the paperwork and the paperwork… Ufff, more on that later.
Well, after a foray into deeper and more personal waters on the previous post, going back to the theme on the first post... I imagine that you pretty much guessed already about the idea I had, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, so skipping some hot summers of day-dreaming and fast forward to more or less one year ago. There I was, in my daily routine of reading sailing news websites, when I see an interesting concept presented in an article which showed a boat with classical lines but built with nowadays latest technology, like carbon fibre semi-unstayed mast and a deep keel with a beavertail bulb. Actually, the article was a tad sceptical about it, but after browsing the constructor’s website, I got hooked only by looking at the renderings! Not only did she seemed beautiful (and boy, she is!!) she also seemed very well thought through with a carbon fibre boom well above head height not to impede the cockpit or the roller furling self-tacking jib tucked underneath the deck or even the also roller furling, tucked underneath the deck, asymmetric spinnaker. It even had a trapeze for those looking for that little extra nanosecond of a mile - and honestly, when racing, who isn't?. So, while browsing into the distributors’ page, I see that they do not have one here in Hellenic shores. And in a "what-a-heck" moment, I send an e-mail... And they answered back :)
After some talk over e-mails, we agreed to meet in Dusseldorf in the world famous (for those loonies about boats, at least) “boot" (boat in German, not the shoe one uses) to see the first Scandinavian Cruiser 20 live and see if the expectations were met. And there I go, alone, to Germany in January (think cold! Really cold, specially for a Southern European guy…) to my first business meeting with the founder and creator of what is one of the most beautiful sailing yachts I’ve ever laid eyes on (yes, I know, I keep repeating that she’s beautiful…) and the other distributors.
Sooo, first impressions? Well, arriving to the boot Dusseldorf on the eve of the exhibition’s opening, after going through most of the pavilions (hehehe, I got a preview before anyone else did), thinking that I must be in boat-lovers heaven, I arrive to the stand where she is. Around her, making the last tweaks is a tall blond man which I instantly recognize from the pictures, Nis Peter Lorentzen, the man behind this fabulous concept. I introduce myself and soon enough we start going around the first ever, hull #1, Scandinavian Cruiser 20… and boy, is she something… looking a lot bigger than her actual size, due to the slender, slick navy blue hull, the towering pitch-black carbon mast and boom, the thin slim carbon keel fin with her lead beaver tail, the amazing details of the wooden pole flag, the boom crutch, the tiller, the fat mainsail and the below deck self tacking furling genoa and asymmetric spinnaker, promises of a quick pointy boat and the finger light rudder looking like a modern art sculpture that wouldn't be dislocated in MoMA, the uncluttered cockpit, all the ropes tidy in their islets, just had me in awe. And when I started helping Nis in making the final arrangements and cleaning to have her in tip-top condition for the morning after, I was already imagining a perfect summer, late afternoon ride in the balmy sea that bathes the Greek shores…
