Classic Boat — November 2017

(Barré) #1
10 CLASSIC BOAT NOVEMBER 2017

NO6 TEXEL


sailed for many years (“some people like their coffee in
the sun more than a fresh breeze...” as a previous
skipper put it). After a couple of disastrous cruises, the
vessel was taken to yards in Italy and then Palma de
Mallorca, before Andrea decided to embark on a full
restoration at the Atollvic Shipyard near Vigo, in
northwest Spain.
A perfectionist by nature, Andrea tends to become
closely involved with any project he’s working on, and so
it was with Texel. As the yacht was gutted and every inch
of the hull checked and rechecked, her owner flew in
once a month from Rome to Santiago de Compostela to
check progress on his beloved yacht. “Every month the
plane was full of pilgrims,” he says. “They asked me:
‘Are you here for the mystic experience?’ And I
answered: ‘In a certain sense...’”
In the end, most of the underwater hull was replaced
(using welded panels rather than the original riveted
method) while above the waterline it was stripped off
and faired. The interior was reconfigured by Dutch yacht
designer Gerard Dijkstra, and most of the lavish
furniture created by McFadden in the 1930s and Farouk
in the 1950s was taken out and replaced with an airy, yet
still traditional-looking, accommodation. The
deckhouse, which had been extended to include two
guest cabins, was shortened to just aft of the main mast,
and various modern conveniences – davits for two
tenders, air conditioning, watermaker – were fitted. The
bermudan rig, probably acquired sometime in the 1960s,

was dumped and replaced with an exact copy of her
original gaff rig, courtesy of Marijke de Jong at
Cadhead. And, for the first time in more than 70 years,
her hull was painted black and the No6 stitched onto her
mainsail, in a positive reaffirmation of her workboat
heritage. “In the end, we changed everything,” says
Andrea. “It’s like an old palace; you can’t just have one
toilet, and you must have two dinghies, so you have to
compromise. It’s completely different now from when
Farouk had her.”
It’s certainly a dramatic change to the yacht depicted
in photos taken just 13 years ago, and the purist in me
was initially affronted that so much of the old interior
had been removed. But the more I read about King
Farouk, the more I understood the impulse to get rid of
his imprint on the boat and make a fresh start. Also
there’s no denying the current interior is supremely
comfortable and easy on the eye. When a yacht has a
past as rich and varied as Texel, you have to decide
which bits of history to include and which to leave out.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the old Dutch pilots
would be much more at ease in Andrea’s boat than the
one either McFadden or Farouk created.
It is not just for appearance’s sake. Since her
restoration in 2007-8, Texel has crossed the Atlantic four
times, when she put her new square sail to good use – a
sure sign of a serious ocean voyager. Meanwhile, Andrea
and partner Simona have sailed extensively around the
Mediterranean and the Caribbean, with their 80 per cent
Galician crew. For Andrea, the yacht is a distraction
from his work, running a textiles and fashion business
whose brands include Hugo Boss and (until recently)
Valentino.
“It’s a never-ending story,” he says. “Every year
there’s something more. When I’m cruising, I enjoy the
cruise but I’m always thinking about what else needs to
be done. But it doesn’t matter; it’s nice for me.”
It could have been a disaster, this Dutch pilot/
American tycoon/Arab king/Venetian count mash-up,
but what is really remarkable about Texel is how
authentic she feels – regardless of her amazing, mixed-
up history. It’s a testament to Andrea’s vision that he
has overcome the burden of the yacht’s past to create
something that feels both genuine – something those
old Dutch pilots would recognise – and yet somehow
timeless. And that is something to be proud of.

Above, l-r:
Andrea Doná
dalle Rose and
partner Simona
Gambini in the
comfortable new
saloon; Texel has
all the navigation
toys you would
expect on a
21st-century
yacht

Below:
Accommodation
and deck plan of
a 1920s Dutch
pilot schooner.
Note tenders in
the same location
as Texel’s
modern tenders

CB353 Texel.indd 10 26/09/2017 14:

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