On launching in 1959 at the Amsterdam shipyard that would eventually become known as Feadship, Yachting World magazine predicted with some accuracy, “… it would be hard to find a vessel of more essentially fine seagoing qualities, not only in terms of comfort but also of ultimate safety… she is, and will probably remain, a unique vessel.”
Robert Clark design no: 175
– G. De Vries Lentsch Jr. yard no: 2500
– Laid down: 1958; Launched: 1959; Delivered: 1960
FLEURTJE was commissioned by Yiannis Carras (also known as John Carras), one of the most successful participants in the powerhouse that Greek shipowning became after the Second World War. But his ownership of CARITA as she was named at launching was little known, hidden behind a company name. And, despite owning the yacht described by Yachting World magazine as “the most remarkable and largest yacht yet built post war”, unlike some of his contemporaries, man – and schooner – remained low profile.
From the yacht’s point of view this could easily be attributed to spending much of the first twenty plus years of her life apparently little used, moored at her owner’s eponymous Porto Carras resort in the Toronean Gulf. The story goes that it was a cruise with CARITA that found the spot. Her name changed to ARGONAFTIS while still under Carras’s ownership.
The choice of Robert Clark as designer guaranteed a yacht touching all bases in performance. The hull design was hydrodynamically tested at the Nederlands Scheepsbouwkundig Proefstation (NSP) tank at Wageningen, prior to the keel being laid in Amsterdam by N.V. Amsterdamsche Scheepswerf, G. De Vries Lentsch Jr – now better known as Feadship – and the construction commencing under Lloyd’s ✠100A1 supervision. The Lloyd’s surveyor for the build, John Leather – who in later life, during the “classic yacht revival”, would become a revered historian and author – remembered well the incongruity of Robert Clark’s yard visits, impeccably rigged out as the English gentleman in brown bowler hat, bow tie and camel coat amid the ferrous nature of a steel shipbuilding yard.
During the early stages of build, Yachting World reported that the original twin Davey, Paxman 597hp diesel engines alone were predicted to give a speed of 14 knots via Stones variable pitch, fully feathering propellers; one knot more than the speed previously considered suitable for power yachts of the same length. They went on to say: “Thus well powered and with adequate sail area, and with a hull of such excellent seaworthiness, it would be hard to find a vessel of more essentially fine seagoing qualities, not only in terms of comfort but also of ultimate safety.”
On launching in 1959 – with two huge floating cranes to ease her into the water because she was too long for the yard’s slipway – Yachting World was again in awe, predicting with some accuracy: “she is, and will probably remain, a unique vessel.” Despite thousands of sailing superyacht launchings over the past 25 years, FLEURTJE still regularly appears in published lists of the largest, with accommodation to rival many more recent and surely less elegant vessels.
A mid-1980s change to what would become long and stable ownership by Dutch oil trader John Deuss breathed new life info this still superlative superyacht, not least from a very major refit at Cantiere Navale dell’Argentario north of Rome under the supervision of John Winterbotham and Richard Davies during which ease of sail handling was significantly updated. Her original 1960s interior was redesigned utilising the present oak panelling, all to designs by Leila Kennedy who had also been significantly involved in seeking out the yacht.
Re-launched in 1985 under her present name FLEURTJE, as subsequent refit locations both sides of the Atlantic bear witness, she has finally gained her sea legs over the past 35 years.
During a further major refit 1994-1995 at Pendennis Shipyard, Cornwall, England, under the supervision of Gerald Dykstra her rig design and sail handling systems were vastly improved to the extent that the crew required to sail FLEURTJE has been halved from her original launch. She was a regular and spectacular competitor at Antigua Classic Regatta in the mid 2000s, comfortably standing up to all eight sails in tradewind conditions.
Her present owners – only the fourth in 60 years – have continued the care process into the second half century of this remarkable classic superyacht that has been the maritime love of each owner’s life.
©2024 Iain McAllister/ Sandeman Yacht Company Ltd
