Members’ Logbook
Gary Widdowson
Yacht: Norfolk Star Length: 121ft Year: 1996/2020 Location: La Ciotat, France
I have had motor yachts since 1978, when I purchased a 36ft Princess 37 with my father. We went through the Princess range over 25 years, right up to 82ft, as our boating moved from Brighton Marina in the UK to Spain and then the South of France. In 2006 I commissioned a 121ft Benetti, which we cruised all over the Med and Caribbean. I always wanted a tough, steel-hulled explorer-type yacht and in 2015 found a 121ft Benetti Sail Division motor yacht, which we sent to La Ciotat for a multimillion-euro refit. All the boats have been named after my wife, Beverley, which won me a lot of brownie During the Benetti’s build in 2007, I often found myself walking around Viareggio in Italy, admiring the fabulous Perini Navis at the shipyard. Although I had never owned a sailing yacht before, I thought, “I’ll have one of them one day.” In 2018, my wife and I decided to live our dream and sail around the world. We had the perfect motor yacht for it, but we kept coming back to the idea that we really should be around the world. Then fate took over. We were stormbound in Cannes one day while the Monaco Yacht Show was on, and I asked our charter broker, Burgess, to arrange some tickets. I happened to mention our dream of circumnavigating by sail and, of course, Burgess had a 121ft Perini called on their books. It is the original , built in 1996, and we immediately felt she would be the perfect boat for the trip She has been at MB92 in La Ciotat under the guidance of Tim Bright, of Bright Yacht Management, for the past 14 months. We’re putting in new engines, generators, rigging, sails etc. We’ve also changed her hull to forest green, with an Oyster superstructure Our plan is to cross the Pacific and join up with the flotilla of yachts that are traveling down to watch the America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021. I know some other Owners’ Club members are going too, so we’re looking forward to meeting up along the way. I must thank Eddie Jordan actually. I’ve never met him, but reading about his purchase of a Perini and his plans to sail it to New Zealand [see Eddie’s column in the January issue of ] prompted us to have a go. Watch this space!
