ADVENTURE TIME WITH THE SEAWOLF
What it’s like living aboard one of the most luxurious expedition yachts in the world
First of all, with a name like Seawolf, you just know that this isn’t a yacht built for being moored on a dock and used occasionally. The name literally begs for an adventurous time in the high seas, as Captain Winston Joyce-Clark will attest. The Seawolf was in Singapore for the Singapore Yacht Show.
“This is a true antique. Many people who own boats like this don’t travel extensively as the owner of Seawolf,” he says. “It’s lovely to know that he hasn’t parked it in a marina. This gets lots of miles and lots of use.”
The current owner, Mike Potter, founder of the publicly traded Cognos, Canada’s largest software company that was later sold to IBM for $4.9 billion, bought the 58.8m boat 10 years ago. He wanted to have something that could deliver the ultimate travelling experience for his family. According to Joyce-Clark, the family spends about three months on board each year and have seen the world from the boat. “The owner is from Ottawa, Canada and it’s not a seaside town, but the children of the owner can all surf, dive – one of them might even be able to hit a fish with a spear gun,” he says.
So what it’s like to captain an expedition superyacht like the Seawolf? “It’s interesting,” says Joyce-Clark. “You meet a diverse group of clients who want to share a marine experience, whether you’re taking them to Fiji to go surfing or to Raja Ampat to go diving, or whether you’re experiencing new cultures or beaches, it never ends up being dull for any reason.”
While the Seawolf is privately owned, it can be chartered for those times when the owner and his family are not using it. “We are not a commercial venture – we’re more of an ‘opportunistic charter’, I guess would be the best term. Whenever the boat is free, it can be chartered, which makes it quite limited in that regard.”
However, for those lucky enough to be able to charter this yacht – or for those who live and work in it – the experience has been priceless.
Floating boutique hotel
“As far as experiences go,” I’ve been very very spoiled,” says the captain, who has spent decades at the helm of different vessels. He has been Seawolf’s captain for the past three years and for him, there’s nothing quite like it. “It’s a bit like the equivalent of running a boutique hotel,” he explains, “The only difference is that this hotel’s afloat. What makes it interesting is that most boutique hotels don’t have a team of engineers onboard and don’t end up worrying about the weather too much.”
Most boutique hotels don’t have such personalised service as well. The Seawolf has a 15-person crew but takes 12 guests onboard, this means that the level of service passengers get onboard is on a vastly different level than other charters. The yacht can accommodate its guests in a master suite that encompasses an entire deck and includes a sitting room, a media room, a library and dressing room. There are five other guest cabins on the main deck: A VIP cabin with a queen-sized bed, while two cabins have double-sized beds, one has a double bed and a twin-sized beds and the last cabin has twin-sized beds.
And this isn’t a boat for lounging about either. There are enough toys to keep everyone with an active bent occupied: There are two tenders, a sailboat named Marguerite as well as a rowboat, kayaks, jetskis and snorkeling and diving equipment. Clearly, this isn’t a yacht for people who want to be idle, and sit around the deck with a drink in hand – although you could.
As the captain says, “There are enough hours of the day to enjoy both a luxury hotel environment and do other things.” Indeed, the Seawolf has a chef onboard who can whip up gourmet meals, as well as crew who can provide a first-class spa experience for those who need it, so the finer luxuries can be had.
However, adventure is in this superyacht’s DNA. After all, what can you expect from a vessel that started life in 1957 as a salvage tug?
“Most of the people who charter want to dive, snorkel or paddle or go hiking, or cross country skiing. There’s all sorts of things that people could do on a boat like this,” he says. What’s interesting about chartering a boat like the Seawolf – or owning it – is the ability to go anywhere one wants.
Going off tangent
“What separates us from the cruise industry is the ability to go on a tangent,” JoyceClark says. “A client goes, ‘I’ve read about this place somewhere and I think it’s a really cool thing to do, so off you go and follow the tangent.” It helps that most of who can afford to charter a yacht like this are in an enviable position to be able to relocate or reorganise things so quickly – with the help of their army of staff, of course. “You might start going to a group of islands and end up somewhere else entirely a few weeks later,” he says. “It’s great that people can do that; it’s part of the fun.You can do so much without a fixed schedule. Got an idea where to go? Good enough…” Aboard expedition ships like the
Seawolf, the ability to plan for many contingencies is an advantage. “A lot of what you need to manage high net-worth clients is flexibility.You have to be flexible. You give them a couple of options, they’ll want a third option,” he says, laughing. “I call them rabbits in a hat – you just got to keep pulling them out of the hat.”
“The craziest thing I’ve ever done was start a trip in Oslo, Norway. I thought we were going up north and we ended up in St Petersburg, Russia six weeks later.You can’t plan for everything. That’s the fun part of the job – you get behind the wheel and you don’t really have a fixed destination.”