LOVE IN THE TIME OF THE COVID

Dulcinea. She’s the imaginary recipient of the chivalrous love of the ever-hopeful Don Quixote. You know, from the famous 1605 novel, where our hapless hero and his sidekick Sancho Panza sally forth to tilt at windmills, among other equally madcap adventures.

But Quixote’s love for Dulcinea, the epitome of perfection, was forever unrequited. And we all know that a beautiful yacht can also be a demanding mistress. And one who offers rewards of a richness beyond imagining.

And so to the remarkable story of the impressive catamaran Dulcinea, and her make-over in Auckland. All in the time of the Covid in that city.

But to go back a little: Matt Thomas, the skipper of Dulcinea fills me in. “The owner of this cat is a very experienced sailor, based in the Greater Seattle area, who has owned a similar-sized catamaran, a Morelli Melvin/Westerly Yachts design called Gizmo, currently in Indonesia.

“Having sailed through large and sold her, thinking that he’d possibly stop sailing, but within a year he was looking for another cat.