‘Capable, no-nonsense’

Voyagers: Boat: Bavaria Ocean 42 Pegasus Cruising:

IHarald and Claudia Petermann ...around the world t was about a fortnight after meeting the Howarths when – guess what – I bumped into another circumnavigator. I was wrestling with stern lines, mooring a chartered Hanse 415 to a quay on the island of Lastovo in Croatia, when a German chap hopped off the Bavaria next door to lend a hand. Then he returned to his yacht to find a facemask and snorkel so that our intrepid crew ‘Major’ Tim could check how close the bottom of our rudder was to the seabed. Charter operators have a nasty habit of raiding your deposit if they find you have bashed the blade.

As we chatted, I asked where he had come from. ‘Oh, we live on board and are finishing a nine-year cruise round the world.’ A bit like London buses, a second long-distance voyager had come my way in double-quick time. Harald and Claudia Petermann’s 16-year-old Bavaria Ocean 42 Pegasus looked as fresh as a daisy, and it was hard to believe that she had visited 52 different countries and islands around the world over the previous nine years. Down below, meanwhile, the gleaming mahogany woodwork looked in near boat show condition.

Leading US magazine Sail included this model in its 2013 list of the top 12 blue-water cruisers: ‘If any further proof were needed that mass-production boats can cross oceans as easily as