http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017 http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017OWNERS’CLUB
PHOTOGRAPHS: ALAMY; GETTY IMAGES; 4CORNERSHe’s done this for more than a decade, on
and off, aboard the one and only boat he’s ever
owned. He says that, apart from his children,
his experiences on board Vivid have been the
highlight of the past 12 years of his life. Yet he is
thinking of parting ways with the boat, which
is listed for sale, a prospect that fills him with
mixed emotions. Recanati invested heavily in
her upkeep, following a massive refit at Jongert
in 2011/12 with another one that included new
rigging in the summer of 2016.
He’s just flown to New York from his home
in Tel Aviv with his wife, Shira, and we’re
meeting 35 floors above street level. The view
is that of avenues glowing red from the brake
lights of cars stretching to a horizon hidden
by glass and concrete. There isn’t a mast or
a sail in sight. Yet it isn’t such an incongruous
location for a meeting to discuss Vivid and the
trips they’ve taken around the world. New York135,000 miles since he came aboard. A world
map tacked on board charts in various colours
the course Vivid has taken over the past decade.
The boat has always been known as Vivid.
“I was told it is bad luck to change a name
and it’s grown on me,” Recanati says. “It’s a
wonderful name.” The yacht has been at the
heart of unforgettable experiences for the
Recanati family and the boat’s crew of four.
On display wherever she docks is a YachtAid
Global banner, attesting to the relief missions
they’ve conducted. The crew delivered school
supplies and water filters in places as remote
as Komodo, where they also built a fence to
protect schoolchildren from the “dragons” that
inhabit the Indonesian island.
A tortuous path led Forderer to Recanati and
Vivid. Introduced by the yacht’s management
company, Sea Alliance, after a chance meeting
in St Martin in 2006, Forderer flew to meet
Recanati in New York. Born in San Diego, he
was an accomplished sailor at a young age but
had put the sport on a backburner when life
called on him to get a steady job. He did well
for himself in the mobile phone business but
finally recognised, shortly after the sudden
death of his father with whom he sailed as
a boy, that it wasn’t what he loved and signed up
for a captain’s course in Fort Lauderdale.
By the time he came highly recommended,
he had run a successful charter yacht (a motor
yacht) but did not have years of experience
under his belt, especially for the kind of
worldwide exploration Recanati had in mind.
It did not matter. They hit it off.
When they met, Recanati had recently flown
from Germany to Houston over Greenland on
a beautiful, sunny day and snapped a picture
from the air, which he showed to Forderer.
“When I asked him if he’d take me there, he said
‘yes’. Little did he know what it would entail,”
Recanati says. “The rest is history.”
Greenland was the first place that Vivid
explored. Before the trip, Forderer arranged for
a photo opportunity by the Statue of Liberty, as
the yacht, fresh out of the Derecktor shipyard,
sailed by. Renowned sailing photographer
Onne van der Wal took the iconic shot, which is
printed on Vivid’s business card. It’s a keepsake
for many reasons. Moments after Van der Wal
angled his camera just right from a helicopter,At 63, he is busier
than ever, but still
tries to make time
for his hobbies –
photography,
diving and sailing
Clockwise from top:
the town of Recanati
in Italy; Columbia
University; Vivid sails
past the Statue of
Liberty; family and
Vivid have provided
the best moments
in Recanati’s life
Top: Tel Aviv, which Recanati calls home
these days. Left and above: Recanati paid
a memorable visit to Cuba in 2008. While
at a tobacco farm he met the legendary
cigar-maker Don Alejandro Robaina and
smoked the best cigar of his life. Below:
Vivid sailing off the MaldivesOWNERS’CLUB
is where he was born and he has
family here. He returned to earn
a master’s degree in business
administration from Columbia
University, after a boarding
school education in the UK and undergraduate
studies in economics in Israel, where he grew
up and did his military service. He then put his
education and experience in various industries
to good use and followed in his family’s
entrepreneurial footsteps.
Two of his three children have joined him
to run his private investment company and
his wine-making business, one of Israel’s
finest. The winery, located in Israel’s Hefer
Valley, bears the family name, which hails
from the Italian medieval town of Recanati in
Marche. He has visited the town in search of
his ancestral roots, which go back to the 13th
century. He also owns the Israeli professional
basketball team Bnei Hertzeliyya and serves
on numerous company boards. At 63 he is busy,
perhaps busier than ever, but still tries to make
time for his hobbies – photography, diving and,
of course, sailing. This New York trip is a quick
stopover before he reunites, in Belize, with his
27 metre Jongert, although he plans to return
soon to talk to wine writers about Recanati
Winery’s new vintages.
Vivid was built in the Netherlands in 2001 and
Recanati bought her from her original owner 12
years ago after a long search. Since then Vivid,
with her aluminium hull painted dark blue and
brand new rigging, has circumnavigated the
globe twice and sailed from the north polar cap
to the ice floes of Antarctica. Her captain for 11
years, Timothy Forderer, reckons they’ve sailed0123456789 0123456789105
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