LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT!
Docked in Lagos on Portugal’s southern shores in late October aboard their new Contest 50CS Meerlust, Alexander Saul and wife Peggy took stock of the situation. They’d not packed enough winter clothing! So, instead of a left into the Med as originally intended,should they go right for Maderia or Canaries and their warmer weather?
Oh, the life of a cruising sailor, such decisions! Both Alex and Peggy laugh when sharing their dilemma. “We haven’t quite made that decision yet,” they declare, despite a strong suggestion that tee-shirts and shorts will sway the call. “We like that idea! It might be Maderia and the Canaries through to February or March and then afterwards back into the Mediterranean.”
The joy in their freedom to choose is infectious. “When we signed for our new Contest 50CS back in September 2022, we had no clue we’d be doing this right now,” says Alex. “I had planned to stop my work only in December 2024, to then go sailing, but suddenly the opportunity came to quit earlier, at the end of June, which was just seven days before we took delivery of our Meerlust. Such perfect timing!”
And also such accelerated times, as within six weeks the couple remarkably accomplished a shakedown cruise to Norway’s Stavanger and southern fjords, a return to Medemblik for snagging and prepping for the start of the now unexpected current half or full year cruise, meanwhile also moving home from Düsseldorf to Heinsberg, and even getting married!
“Mmm, I did underestimate the challenge, it all came together, though” laughs Alex, “an interesting time!”
“And so now it’s our honeymoon, a long one,” jests Peggy of this suddenly conceived longcruise.
HOOKED The couple have both sailed since childhood, cruising intermittently through adulthood, and with Alex having taken over his parent’s Nauticat 35 in 2013 for weekending and typically three-week family holidaying.
“People think of Nauticat as motor sailors,” says Alex, “but they also had a pure sailing line. The 35 was one of these and we made the most of this, though limited by time, making trips to Normandy and Brittany, the Baltic and up to Norway.
“I spent every free minute I had during my work-life sailing. Technically she was good as I refurbished her, but she was 30 years old and thoughts turned gradually to a new boat. Through 2013-16 I was living and working in Amsterdam where I got to know Arjen (Contest CEO), and he invited me for a test sail and so on, and then I was hooked on Contest!I really liked the style, the quality of build. I was really attracted, but it took me some years, as to be honest I didn’t have time then to keep and sail such a big boat.
“Our struggle with those first thoughts about this big boat and manoeuvres were for nothing. It’s even easier than with our old smaller boat. Two people really can do everything, and I’ve even sailed her by myself, including mooring.”
“So, since 2014 I was at every Düsseldorf show, looking around, seeing Contest introduce the 59CS, the 55CS, and then the sisterships 50CS and 49CS, which for us was the perfect size. And we went for the 50, not 49, because of the big aft cabin. Although we will have guests, it’s mainly just us so we don't need the 49’s spacious two cabins in the back.”
In the couple’s personalisation of Meerlust, the optional wide transom window in that lovely aft suite became an ‘essential’, their having fallen in love with this aboard a 55CS seen during a previous Open Day at the shipyard. Of other add-ins Alex says he much appreciated the Contest team’s advice, which given the boat’s already high levels of specification means you don’t have to add everything you might first think.
“Among these, stepping up from 35 to 50ft, I thought wouldn’t it be ideal to have the stern thruster as well as bow?” Alex says. “Previously, with our old and smaller boat I had issues getting into harbour in sidewinds and so forth. But Arjen said, honestly, you don’t need it. And he was right.”
SPOTLIGHT The point was quickly and publicly proven in a late Saturday night arrival in a packed Stavanger harbour during that first shakedown cruise. “We were directed right into the outdoor party area, to a tiny spot on the main pier in front of the biggest restaurant. No kidding, we had an audience of a thousand people in various bars and restaurants watching us, enjoying how nice the Contest looks, of course, but critically how we were mooring! We had just half a metre front and back, but it was perfect. This boat handles so easily. And after three months with, now, every second day somewhere a new harbour, I feel so safe and comfortable mooring with just a bow thruster. Here in Lagos, we had just centimetres to spare, it’s so easy.”
Performance and handling have also impressed. “17.1 knots, top speed,” beams Peggy as she relives a downwind stretch on that Stavanger voyage. “Surfing down a wave, obviously, but we averaged around 11 knots the whole way!”
“When we signed for our new Contest 50CS back in September 2022, we had no clue we’d be doing this right now,” says Alex. “I had planned to stop my work only in December 2024, to then go sailing, but suddenly the opportunity came to quit earlier, at the end of June, which was just seven days before we took delivery of our Meerlust. Such perfect timing!”
“I mean the speed of this boat is unbelievable,” Alex enthuses, “and everything was steered by the autopilot. I didn’t expect this, to be honest. I mean, you feel the power of the ocean, of nature; I felt we were flying, yet with an absolute sense of security. If you come from a more traditional cruiser as we have, all this innovation is a real step change.”
“I had heard say, also, that high freeboards like this impact upwind sailing, but coming into Lagos the last few miles yesterday we were sailing higher than 30 degrees to wind, and so comfortable. With this pushbutton sailing, you know, taking the sail in and out is so easy and safe. You don’t have to run around on the foredeck with waves crashing over you. You just push a button back in the cockpit and it’s done, right.”
EFFORTLESS And the benefits of this ease extend deep into light conditions, too, as Alex expresses. “Meerlust is fast in light winds as well, and even if motoring, from time to time when a breeze comes you just pop out the sails and go, or if not furl back in. We get so many sailing chances. Without these systems you’d not even try, it would be too much effort!”
“When we got delivery of the boat,” says Peggy, “and before that as we followed the production of the boat through its year-and-half build, we were like, Jeez, maybe this boat is too big for us, how could we ever handle it. But it’s not an issue at all.”
“We can’t say this loud enough,” Alex emphasises. “Our struggle with those first thoughts about this big boat and manoeuvres were for nothing. It’s even easier than with our old smaller boat. Two people really can do everything, and I’ve even sailed her by myself, including mooring.”
So, back to today’s conundrum, and the choice of Med or Madeira. As we talked over Zoom, the backdrop of clear blue skies through the plentiful saloon glazing seemed most likely to dictate direction. This was the couple’s first full day of sun in all the 44 days so far down to Lagos, and it clearly delighted after the monotony of early autumn’s dreary weather which also brought to Meerlust more than a week of intense ‘can’t-see-the-foredeck’ fog and radio conversations with invisible cruise ships to navigate around each other.
“With radar and the AIS system, it was very safe, obviously, but I was thinking all the time, how ever did the old guys manage in this, with no chance of seeing a thing, every second in danger?”
Well, that that was then, and this is now … and our bet is on Meerlust’s crew, Peggy and Alex, chasing that sunshine out to the Atlantic isles!
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