New design for Jimmy Buffett

Buffett1

The sailing singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffet has apparently ended his search for the perfect yacht — perfect for a man who has long embraced the adventure of the cruising lifestyle and needs a fast boat that is part sailboat, part powerboat.
 
Buffet’s new ride and home-away-from-home will be the Surfari 44, a modern, spacious performer from the Friendship Yacht Company and the drawing board of naval architect Ted Fontaine. The new boat is being built by Pacific Seacraft in North Carolina and the delivery of Hull No. 1 is scheduled for November.

Fontaine’s new design is a smaller version of his Sufari 58. The Sufari 44 is a twin-engine auxiliary sailing yacht capable of respectable speeds under sail or power. The boat’s semi-custom design is geared toward an interest in watersports such as paddle boarding, kayaking or sport fishing. The yacht features an 11.5-foot tailgate transom that lowers while the boat is at rest and integrates with a single-level floor plan that extends from the swim platform through the entire length of the cockpit and on through the deck salon and steering station.

There is 360-degree visibility from the interior helm station, a large sliding glass companionway bulkhead, sliding side windows and a full-width windshield. Electrically powered sail-handling gears control the fully battened mainsail (with Harken Battcar system), roller furling genoa and furling asymmetrical spinnaker, while all halyards and sheets are led internally for control from the helm station. Surfari 44 is of lightweight composite construction, has a carbon fiber mast and boom, and twin 75-hp auxiliary engines with saildrives.

 

By Ocean Navigator