Here is the story, made by Julian with his French words, of his acquisition of the Allures 51.9 #3. Or when friendship and the call of the blue water sailing combine to form the promise of emotionally charged cruising project.
My name is Julian, I am the owner of the Allures 51.9 #3.
Half Argentinian and half Italian, I was born in Argentina and lived there for 37 years until we moved to Switzerland 7 years ago.
I’ve been sailing since I was a child, I started sailing dinghies when I was a kid, then I went on bigger boats, and gradually I raced regattas and even ocean regattas. Then I got married and had children but when they were small it was complicated, so far that I didn’t feel like sailing at this period. I thought more about being at home with my family, and so I completely stopped sailing.
Julian – Regatta in Argentina
When we moved to Switzerland, the first thing I did was to go and see a cruising school in order to obtain a navigation licence on Lake Geneva, but I saw that it had become so complicated administratively and also from a safety point of view, that I decided to give up.
Back to the basics
But afterwards, with this coronavirus story, there was a combination of things. The first one is related to a friend of mine, coming from Argentina, who has also been living in Switzerland for 5 years, and who said to me “it’s time to do something; let’s pass the motor licence together because if you want to sail you have to own a berth, but this is really very difficult here, with a waiting list of more than 10 years”. He goes on and says to me: “but if you buy a motorboat, it’s possible, there is a private marina at such a place, and if you buy your boat from them, they provide facilities to get a berth”. I don’t really like to sail a motorboat but it was a way to get back on the water, and I let myself be convinced.
I started following courses, in odrer to learn again what I already knew, but this time it was in French and I had local particularities to integrate. But very quickly, I told myself “motorboating is good to have your feet on the water but it’s not my cup of tea”. So I bought a Laser, I had one of these solo dinghies in Argentina, it allowed me to start sailing again for real, and in a way to go back to the basics.
Observing the ocean
A few months later, the first wave of the coronavirus had gone and we went on holiday to Cadiz, Spain. I remember, on the beach, on the Atlantic coast, which has that special colour, the same one you see on the Argentinean side and which I find very different from the Mediterranean. I’m not an expert, but I find that there really is a different energy. And so, observing the ocean, I remembered all the dreams I had when I was young. My wife Daniela arrives at that moment and says to me “do you remember when we met, you told me you wanted to sail around the world?”. Of course I remembered this, and I said to her: “Yes, of course, and I think the time has come… The children have grown up, and this coronavirus shows us that we must not take anything for granted in life”. And at that point, my wife answers me: “It’s OK for me, let’s go”!
Julian and Daniela
That same day, I had a phone call with another Argentinean friend, who lives in Argentina – we’ve known each other for more than 20 years. I tell him “Santi, I’m looking for a blue water cruising boat, I’ve looked at such and such a model”. He replies, “Stop it! I also have this plan to buy a sailboat, I’ve been looking for information about the boat I need for two years, I’ve been investigating this topic for months. I still have a few questions, but if you want to, first consider this, this and that”, and he mentions to me the names of three shipyards.
A thought-out choice
I wanted a bigger boat, he preferred a smaller one; Santi was looking for a boat with a maximum length of 46-47 feet, I was aiming for a 60-footer. He told me “no, 60 feet is too big for you, you’re going to be sailing a lot alone or as a couple, you have to choose a smaller model”. My friend shared with me the fruit of his research; I had done mine, which was much more limited, and we put it all together and made a short list. I wanted an aluminium boat but, as I could remember, all the aluminium boats I had seen in Argentina were very ugly, with a square hull, and, more of it, they often were badly maintained. I wanted a nice, safe, high performance boat… Santiago told me “you have to look at the Allures shipyard’s production”.
We are talking about mid to late July 2020. At that time, we had a lot of video conferences with Santiago. One day, I told him: “we’re going, I want to act, I don’t want to wait”. He replied: “no, be patient, we need another two years”. And then I answered him: “no, it’s now or never”.
“When we visited the Allures yard, we immediately saw the performance, the quality and the professionalism all around”
A strong and quick decision
We came to Cherbourg with my wife at the end of August 2020 and we had planned to visit another shipyard in England as well. As the possibility of crossing the border from Switzerland was limited, so we came by car, we didn’t want to take the plane. When we visited the Allures yard, we immediately saw the performance, the quality and the professionalism all around. We alsowere very well received, and when we saw the way you treat the boats, the equipment, the expertise of people here… all these points played a stong part in our decision. And besides, we didn’t even try to see the other shipyards we had previously identified!
Daniela on an Allures 45.9
I had the experience of having built a boat in Argentina, and the word “professionalism” does not apply there, at least with the shipyard I was in relation with, but unfortunately I will say that it is the case with almost all the shipyards in the country. They are often family shipyards, that’s great, I have nothing against that, but where the first generation does things with a lot of conscience and effort, we see that too often the second generation burns everything, and in what they burn, there is your money – and also, at the end, quality. This doesn’t work at all, and I can say I’ve really had a lot of quality concerns.
The promise of future emotions
When I came here, I fell in love with this compromise between aluminium, the way this material is treated, the elegance of the boat, the shaped hull design, all these points. We signed the contract the day after we came, it didn’t take long!
“The promise of this boat, when I see myself on board, is to be able to make my dreams come true. “
The promise of this boat, when I see myself on board, is to be able to make my dreams come true. Our plans are, from the spring of 2022, and for the first year, to sail in the Mediterranean, to take the time to get to know each other and fall in love with each other, us and the boat. Then, in December 2023, we will cross the Atlantic and from there, once in the Caribbean, there are two solutions.
The first option is to cross the Panama Canal and go around the Pacific – and then we’ll see. The second option – not surprisingly the one I prefer – is to head south, along the Brazilian coast, towards Argentina. The arrival in Buenos Aires with my boat will be a highlight. Afterwards I would like to go down to Patagonia, go to the Falklands, it’s a place I’ve wanted to visit all my life (for us it’s the Falklands, not the Falklands!) and of course round Cape Horn, to tick that box. Then, we will see: either we will go up the Atlantic or we will reach the Pacific, probably by taking the Chilean canals. Nothing is fixed, that’s in several years from now, but one thing is sure, it represents a very emotional program for us!
A beautiful story of friendship
When we told Santi that we had signed the contract, he felt a kind of a friendly pressure: we pushed him a little; I think that he really didn’t need to be pushed, but that, coming from us, he wanted to, in the sense this was a way to get to the end of the story. We made a promise to each other to sail together, to cross the Atlantic on board our two boats, sailing side by side. There is a strong emotional side to this project, but also a comforting, reassuring aspect, because he is a super good sailor. There are a lot of people with whom I would like to do important things in my life. But there are few who, as Santi does, both fall into this category and at the same time are good sailors. That’s the whole story, and I agree that it’s also a beautiful story of friendship.
