2 CAPE CRUSADERS
An MBY reader is hoping to set a new roundthe-world record for a sub-24m motor yacht.
Iain Macneil and his crew set off from the
Canary Islands on 1 December aboard their converted Swedish search-and-rescue vessel MV Astra. Their aim is to be the first sub-24m vessel to circle the globe via both southern capes.
To qualify they will also have to cross the equator twice and cover all 360 degrees of longitude. The journey of around 27,000nm should take five months, starting and finishing in Puerto Calero. The route will pass south of the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia), South Cape (New Zealand) and Cape Horn (Chile). Despite it being summer in the southern hemisphere, the Southern Ocean is still extremely treacherous.
Iain Macneil is a former Merchant Navy seaman and now CEO of Edinburgh-based maritime publishing company, Witherbys.
He’s been meticulously planning the circumnavigation for years and even bought a test vessel to hone his ideas after reading about it in Motor Boat & Yachting. Joining him on board the boat are staff captain Orlando Perez Lopez, chief mate Michael Napier, junior watch officer, Carlos Casola, and chief engineers Luke Crossley and Paul Griffiths.
The ice-class 156GT MV Astra originally served in the SSRS, Sweden’s equivalent of the RNLI, from 1995 to 2016. Following retirement she was converted into a go-anywhere explorer yacht. The most obvious changes include a Portuguese bridge, a larger crane and the addition of a pair of Ribcraft tenders.
Measuring 76ft 7in (23.35m) overall but with a waterline length of 69ft 5in (21.21m), it has a full-displacement steel hull and an aluminium superstructure. Powered by its original 1,350hp Mitsubishi main engine spinning a controllablepitch propeller, it has a gentle-seas range of around 5,000nm at 8.5 knots. A Volvo auxiliary engine provides back-up.
The voyage will be broken down into ten legs: Lanzarote to Saint Helena (2,930nm); St Helena to Durban (2,480nm); Durban to Mauritius (1,560nm); Mauritius to Fremantle (3,200nm); Fremantle to Dunedin (2,809nm); Dunedin to Tahiti (2,600nm); Tahiti to Valdivia (4,185nm); Valdivia to Falkland Islands (1,560nm); Falkland Islands to Rio (1,840nm); and Rio to Lanzarote (3,670nm).
“Having now owned Astra for a year and sailed over 9,000nm aboard, I believe she is one of the most capable motor vessels of her size in the world,” says Macneil.
And with appropriate risk mitigation and support measures in place, he is confident that she’s more than capable of completing this epic voyage.
The full story of finding and fitting out MV Astra as well as the ongoing progress of Neil and the team will be published in a series of features about their voyage starting next month.