I subtitle this essay after the story of Black Beauty.
For those who do not know it, “Black Beauty” is the story of a stunning black horse, raised and pampered by kind and adoring owners. He was well loved and cared for by them until a tragedy came upon the family and he had to be sold.
The story goes on about how his subsequent owners neglected, used and mistreated him, leaving him a shadow of his former strength and beauty. Eventually he collapses from overwork and ill treatment; but in the end, a kindly person purchases him and nurtures him back to his former self.
That is pretty close to the story of Eclipse, a fitting name for a boat that, when built, had no rival.
Esprit, her christening name, was built by Alloy Yachts and completed in 1991. Alloy Yachts was formed in New Zealand in the early 1980’s when a group of boat builders came together with the ambitious project to build an aluminium yacht that was 28 metres long; the largest aluminum hull at that time. Alloy’s sailing and motor yachts were built around its core principles of craftsmanship, engineering excellence and seaworthiness. In alliance with world renowned Dubois Naval Architects and a team of designers for the America’s cup racing boats, including famous yacht enthusiast Neville Crichton, Esprit was the first of a line of luxurious, customized sailing yachts built with the heart of a racing yacht. She was the first sloop built by Alloy and at the time she was launched, she had the tallest carbon fiber mast ever built. (With its five spreaders, that mast still demands attention and many photographs to this day). Alloy Yachts and her partners were innovators of a design that incorporated the best of technology with the best of materials and safety features. Esprit/Eclipse is one of only 31 sailing yachts built by Alloy, which ceased operations in 2016.
Esprit was purchased upon completion in 1991 by Greg Poche; a dedicated and passionate sailor, philanthropist and entrepreneur from Australia; and in 1996 renamed Eclipse. Eclipse was his pride and joy, sailing the Gold Coast of Australia and then around the world for 22 years with his family and devoted crew. She was meticulously, lovingly maintained and operated by one captain; Jonathan, (Jono) Wishart.
Eclipse is 106’11” in length, with two 55KW generators and a 615hp engine. (I will get into the nitty gritty of engineering in later posts. Needless to say, I could write a book on that alone). She has a deep draft, almost 11’; and a beam of 24’. She has three staterooms that can sleep seven, plus two crew cabins that sleep four crew; all staterooms have en-suite bathrooms. She has 5 heads, (bathrooms for the land lubbers), with showers; but two of the guest cabins are equipped with bathtubs, a luxury afforded very few yachts her size. She has a fully appointed galley, including four freezers and five refrigerators. She has washer/dryer and air conditioning/heating, making her a true ‘home away from home’. Her sails are hydraulically controlled to minimize clutter on her gorgeous teak decks; the helm controls house fourteen joysticks, two of which are to control her fore and aft thrusters for easy maneuvering in port. She has a top speed of 15 knots under sail and a 4,000 nautical mile range at a cruising speed of ten knots on her engine alone. In 2010, Eclipse underwent a major refit that included installing her Southern Spars rigging and a new carbon fiber mast, as well as her Doyle Stratis carbon fiber sails. We recently added Starlink wi-fi, which allows us reliable communication wherever she goes, as well as movie streaming, which we love. She has ample navigational equipment, including plotters, radar and of course auto-pilot, as well as endless systems and redundancies and about which we are still learning. Eclipse is an engineering marvel.
It is no wonder the Poche family enjoyed Eclipse all those years; what amazing memories they must have. She spent time in constant discovery, including Alaska, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Caribbean, all over the Med, and the South Seas. I am sure that it was with somewhat of a heavy heart that in 2011, after 20 years of travels on Eclipse, Mr. Poche; under Captain Wishart’s discerning and experienced eye; commissioned Alloy to build a new, bigger boat; a boat that was to become the crowning glory of their fleet (and second to last of their builds): Encore. Encore was completed in 2013 and upon her delivery, Mr. Poche’s beloved Eclipse was offered for sale.
From the best information we can find, while berthed in Hawaii, Eclipse was sold in 2016 to an unnamed buyer and renamed ‘Ming’. This ‘mystery buyer’ was apparently a fairly inexperienced sailor, or hired an inexperienced crew that had a limited understanding of the power of Ming/Eclipse and how to use her. The story of how that lack of understanding unfolded is heartbreaking.
With her hydraulically controlled sails and nearly 5000 square feet of sail area, Eclipse can harness a massive amount of wind power. With all that sail, enabled by her 149 foot mast, she can move quickly, incredibly comfortably and majestically even in seven knot winds. That amount of sail area also means that, especially in strong winds, a significant amount of force is applied to her rigging and mast. On sailboats, understanding how and when to ‘reef’ the sails is vital to safe operations. (Reefing refers to not raising them fully, reducing the area of the sail in strong winds so as not to over stress the rigging or capsize the boat.) On Eclipse, the first reef is at 25 knots for the main, 28 knots for the headsail, or ‘genoa’.
In 2018, Mystery Buyer was sailing in heavy seas and thirty plus knot winds off Hawaii, an area notoriously difficult for rough seas (Gilligan’s Island anyone?) on her way to Asia. We are not sure exactly what happened, but somehow the crew subjected ‘Ming’ to a catastrophic accidental jibe. In layman’s terms, she was tacked in one direction and due to an ill made turn or bad maneuver, the wind was allowed to come around from the opposite direction and catch the main sail, swinging it to the other side with such violence and force that the boom track was ripped from the top of the upper salon, taking superstructure with it. The main sail was now inoperable and swinging wildly with no way to control or lower it. ‘Ming’ was mortally wounded; the fact that the mast did not break is an amazing tribute to carbon fiber technology. But what happened next was even worse; unable to control the sail and in heavy seas, the crew tried to use her large 615 hp engine to compensate for the loss and keep the boat under control. The subsequent force, with big waves and an out of control boom and main, broke the engine and ripped it from its mounts.
I am very glad I was not on Ming that day. I can only imagine what a 144 ton broken sailboat with no engine power and a wildly swinging boom and main in big seas would be like and I guarantee I have no desire to ever find out. Ming/Eclipse, to her credit, survived the ordeal and protected the crew; luckily no souls were lost that day.
However, the end result was still tragic; this beloved, meticulously maintained and majestic boat that had sailed the equal of more than ten times the circumference of the earth was, for all intents and purposes, mortally wounded and possibly dead. The likely outcome was for ‘Ming’ to be salvaged.
But Ming/Eclipse had a Guardian Angel, (and us in her future). Mystery Buyer had insurance. The story goes on that ‘Ming’ was towed back to Hawaii and put on a transport to Southern California. Upon examination, it was found that her hull and mast were undamaged in the accident; she could be saved. A large insurance payout saw repairs overseen at The Marine Group in San Diego and from what we have been able to cobble together from limited information, in 2018, the repairs she undertook were in the area of $1.3 million dollars. We have been unable to find out exactly what they repaired, however.
After her repairs, Ming was listed for sale with a brokerage in San Diego, CA and subsequently purchased by a billionaire in Newport Beach, CA, who fell in love with her sleek lines and overall beauty. According to his captain, the elderly gentleman’s romantic vision was to ‘sail the world’.
The day of delivery, her new captain and crew took her out of the boatyard, but did not get far; ships logs read that they quickly had a total loss of propulsion.
Somehow, the damage to the engine mounts had been overlooked.
Back into the boatyard she went.
Our Newport Beach billionaire, who immediately changed her name back to Eclipse from Ming, soon found that things were not completely “repaired” on his new toy. Eclipse went on to spend another year in the boatyard. But again, lucky for us, in addition to replacing the engine mounts, her new owner decided to upgrade her systems, including updating her entire electrical distribution system, installing new battery banks and also installing a swanky new Atlas shore power management system in anticipation of his world travels. During the buying process, we were given copies of receipts totaling close to another $800,000 in upgrades and repairs. So this time, when Eclipse was again released from the “hospital”, all the major systems were rebuilt and she was presented as being “fully functional’ as an ocean going vessel.
Eclipse then traveled from San Diego to Newport Beach, California to reside at her interim resting place; a slip in front of the Balboa Bay Resort. She was to be prepared for her new owner’s dream of sailing the world. Very coincidentally, she was also residing a short mile from the place where Michelle was born and spent most of her life; and in the same harbor where Michelle learned to race sailboats, worked on powerboats and crewed as a teenager.
She was also the only Alloy sailing yacht berthed on the West Coast of the United States.
Back to the story.
As anyone can imagine, after such a long wait, when Eclipse came “home” to Newport, her new owner was very excited to take his “beauty” out for a ride. He was an experienced boat owner who had two other boats; one a 120’ luxury power boat that he used often, the other a 36’ speed boat. But he had never had a vessel like Eclipse. He was completely captivated by her beauty, to the point that he would exclaim over and over, “She’s beautiful! She’s beautiful!” This was a true love affair. After what must have felt like forever, the day finally came for her first sail with her new master. It was November, 2020.
As the story was told to us, Eclipse was motored out of Newport Harbor on a brisk, clear autumn day. The seas were calm with only wind chop from the stiff breeze blowing off shore; a breeze that would enable a beautiful day for sailing. Thomas*, (not his real name), the captain, began raising the main and genoa at the breakwater, proud to be at the helm of such a magnificent vessel. He could see people taking photos from the jetties on either side of the boat; she was indeed a sight to see and there was no other boat in the harbor like her. The wind caught the sails and she began to gently heel as she cut through the water, making her way offshore in the choppy waters like a hot knife through butter. As she gained speed, pushed by the steady but not overpowering 12 knot winds, she heeled at a comfortable 10 degree angle; engines off, moving at 9 knots, water slapping zen like off her shiny blue hull. She was preverbial grace on the water.
Suddenly, from the salon, Thomas heard a voice screaming “STOP!!!! STOP!!!! STOOOOOOOP!!!!”
Thomas was startled and confused. He did not know what to do, he certainly could not “stop”.
Filed under the headline “a test drive would have been smart”, down below in the salon, Mr. Billionaire, trying to enjoy the snacks and apertif placed in front of him by the stewardess, was not enjoying himself. In fact, Mr. Billionaire was hating the ride. His drink had fallen on the floor. His snacks were sliding off the plate. Why, he demanded to know, was the boat at an angle? He wanted flat! Make the boat flat!
It turns out Mr. Billionaire loved boating, but hated sailing. No amount of explaining to this rich gentleman; well into his twilight years and especially with his limited English; could make him understand that if you are sailing, the boat is never ‘flat’. At least not if you are actually sailing.
So the first was also the last time Mr. Billionaire ever sailed on Eclipse.
As a result, Eclipse, a jewel of the seas; a beautiful, masterful explorer of the world’s oceans; with all of her experiences, her majesty and the love of adventure emanating from her soul; was relegated to……a dock ornament. She became the ‘trophy wife’ of a billionaire who loved sailboats, but hated sailing. Back to the front of the Balboa Bay Resort she went, where she sat, unused and unloved, so her owner and others could ogle over her while she slowly decayed, forlorn and neglected. She was dutifully kept ‘beautiful’; washed once a week; and once a month she was taken out of her “garage” for a quick ride outside the breakwater; engines only, of course; for photo ops. Then she would be quickly taken back to her ‘spot’ in front of the resort; to be oohed and ahhhed over by the drinking patrons; to sit quietly and look pretty for the cameras.
A complete tragedy.
(But in the background, God was already at work.)
To be continued….