Boat International – June 2017

http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY

“Vivid is not an ice class

boat or a racing boat, but it

has everything: it’s a good

performance boat and a very

safe boat. We have been very

careful and we know how

to navigate through ice.” He

adds that hiring experienced

crew is a must and “a bit of

luck never hurts”.

Luck almost ran out

on two occasions, once in

Thailand when a malfunctioning thruster and

strong winds and currents combined to steer

the boat to within a few feet of big rocks, and

another time in Drake Passage, which proved

true to its reputation as one of the world’s most

treacherous bodies of water.

For the Antarctica trip, Forderer had tapped

friend and fellow sailor Ashley Perrin, who

has since founded Antarctic Ice Pilot. As it

happens Perrin was also on board for the trip to

Newfoundland and estimates she’s sailed about

1,000 nautical miles with Vivid.

“Just as we passed Cape Horn, we were hit

with 10 metre waves and 50 knot wind gusts.

It was pretty crazy,” Recanati says. “The guy

driving the boat put it in autopilot. The boat

swung 180 degrees and the mainsail ripped a

bit. Ash and Tim took control and steadied the

boat. But the first half hour was very scary.”

Down below at some point, searching for

something in his cabin, Recanati was thrown

twice and hit the port window. When he put his

hand to his forehead, he realised it was covered

in blood. “Mr Recanati, I have to stitch you,” he

recalls Perrin telling him, to which he replied

QUICKFIRE

Lenny Recanati

SPEED OR STYLE?

Style, definitely

CHAUFFEUR OR CHEF?

Chef

FIRST THING YOU PACK?

A bathing suit

and my camera

HOW MANY WATCHES?

I am not a watch collector. Three

FAVOURITE BEACH?

Cap Juluca in Anguilla: the turquoise

water, the white sand, the size of it, it’s

very special. In Palau, the Rock Island

area has an amazing beach also. And

Raja Ampat, Komodo area, Fiji and

Fakarava in French Polynesia

FIRST BOATING MEMORY?

Sailing as a child on weekends on

a small X Class boat with my dad

and a friend of my dad’s. I must

have been 11 or 12

FAVOURITE CAR?

I drive a Porsche Cayenne but I am

looking to buy something electric

Vivid in Antarctica,

above, and

Svalbard, below

“Oh no you won’t”. In the end, she treated the

wound with biological glue.

Even so, that ranks among his favourite

trips. “The nature is overwhelming, everything

is so big. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Also among his favourites are Raja Ampat,

the Marquesas, Papua New Guinea,

Komodo and Svalbard. And

Recanati has other destinations

on his to-do list – the Northwest

Passage, the Sea of Cortez and

the west coast of Australia

among them.

He says he’ll take a break after

Vivid is sold. His grandchildren

are babies, so it’s a good time for his children

to take a break from sailing also, and he and

his wife want to focus on other projects. But

he admits there will probably be another boat

someday, something a little bigger for more

crew and guest spaces. He knows for sure that

it will be a sailboat and look a bit like Vivid. “I

love this boat,” he says. B

Vivid is for sale with Sea Alliance and Northrop

& Johnson

The nature is

overwhelming,

everything is so

big. It’s something

I’ll never forget

OWNERS’CLUB

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