2009 marks Cadeau's 10th anniversary of life at sea with the present lucky owner. We started in Alaska, when a couple from New Zealand came aboard Cadeau to explore the majestic coast and the whales between Juneau and Sitka. Then Cadeau continued to Patagonia, Brazil, the Caribbean and finally in the Mediterranean. Hundreds of guests and crew are now reinvited to join for a special series of cruises between France and Turkey.

July 1-15: from Marseille to Sardinia - reserved to crew
July 15-30: Sardinia to Sicily: partially reserved to crew
August: Ionian Greece - charter
September: Ionian Greece to Turkey: partially reserved to crew

Cadeau is 13.5 metres long and displace 14 tons wwa (without wine aboard). Her 100 sq. mts. of sail can push her to 8 knots or more when surfing. The spinnaker is 170 sq. mts. and gives a lot of emotions as well as work. Swan’s typical companionway is horizontal and gives access to the main living area. The woodwork is impeccable, of semi-satinated teak. The lay-out is classic:  navigation area to starboard, the galley to port and the saloon in front of the mast. The front cabin has plenty of storage room, a huge double bed and a private companionway. The aft cabin has a single and a double bed, and is warm and luminous. The heads, with warm shower, are very wide for its category. Originnally designed for the Members of New York Yacht, it did not take much to win many races at Cowes. As in the first whitbread, where a Swans arrived 1st, 3rd and 4th, a series boat was calling the shots. All thanks to the legendary hands of Rod Stephens mingled with the proverbial finnish seriousness. As the same Nautor says, “no one can afford to build a boat under S&S specifications any more….”

The round-the-world sailor's route continues, through the Maldives and the Red Sea, ultimately ending where it all began, around the volcanoes of Stromboli or Santorini, the temples of Agrigento and Crete but especially around a round table covered full by glasses of wine. While the modern traveller might complain he lost the thrill of exploration, he will never regret he can now combine the pleasure of discovery with the efficency of boat charter service, where Captains and crews will let you discover the world as the first adventure saw it, but in the meantime give you the advantage of doing so with a glass of perfect wine in your hand. Because 'sailing is certainly the best way to travel, unless you have a house...' (Mark Twain).

It goes without saying that one should never operate heavy machinery without knowing exactly how to do so and hoping to succeed unpunished. But the close proximity of the object of our dreams is no incentive to prudence, and a bright optimism was even capable of blowing away the perpetual drizzle embracing Seattle. The obstacles ahead remained numerous, and the sole fact of being the proud owner of the vessel in question was surely a pro but by no means a counterbalance to the cons. The main hitch I had to face was the absence of hands. Modern sailboats come with a series of gadgets primarily designed to ease the handling of the lines which, when correctly trimmed, pull the vessel in the right direction.  Cadeau, for such is the name of the old lady, had, with the notable ecception of the autopilot, none of it. A modern cruise boat may boast something like 3 halyards, 6 sheets and, say, other 5 or 6 regulations: all these lines come in different colours, run through a battery of stoppers that inable the trimming one at a time in swift sequence, and terminate in 4 self tailing  winches, all set around a wide cockpit. I had to deal with 10 halyards, 8 sheets, endless regulations, most of them white in colour, going through numberless blocks but no stoppers and ending in an extensive cultivation of 13 winches, only 3 of which self-tailing, spread more or less all around the deck. How to deal with them by means of only two hands, both attached to a single body, mine, was a metter of serious thought. Unfortunately I knew nothing of the subtle art of recruiting crew in those days, and few timid, ill-aimed and exceedingly confined efforts brought proportional results.