Above: chief oicer AJ Sutherland, left,
and Captain Chris Gartner are brothers
in arms on the bridge ofBlack PearlFrom the comments of some of the crew, it is
clear that working on Black Pearl has been
a truly remarkable experience. The yacht
reached speeds of 20 knots under sail on the
shakedown cruise, and there’s more to come
Jen Paton
senior stewardess
Black Pearl is very special. It’s the
pinnacle of my career to be working
on her. The crew are really excited.
We’ve a couple of greenies on
board and they’re just beside
themselves–it’ssuchanamazing
opportunity for them. The trip to
theMedwasfantastic.Itwas
certainly tough for people sleeping
because it was fairly rocking and
rolling. It was a first trip so it was
a bit of an eye-opener for a lot of
people. But she handled it very
well, she feels very strong, you feel
veryconfidentinher.SoIthinkit
was a great shakedown – I think we
sailed64percentofthetime.We
used every opportunity to learn
how she sails.