Ed Kastelein Brief

Ed Kastelein Luxury Yacht Charter & Superyacht News

Feature: Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC at the Voiles de St.Tropez after busy summer

September 18, 2011

So far, Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC has been reeling off some 4500 miles this season, starting in St. Tropez, she participated in the “Bailli de Suffren”, a great event, unique for the combination of racing and cruising in company whereas the latter is taken more seriously than the first. After the finish in Malta, Atlantic continued with guests to the Adriatic Sea, Italy and then Croatia, where she enjoyed the grandest sailing imaginable.

Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC

Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC

Here is an account from those on board the superyacht Atlantic.

“Some days were silky smooth sailing; on others, the wind decided it was time for Atlantic to show what she could do. In a perfect schooner beam reach she regularly topped 18 knots at times peeking at 21 knots. The two new Fishermans add another 400m² to her sail area and pull as a span of mules; sailing doesn’t get much better than this. Turning point of the cruise was Venice where the town granted Atlantic a mooring in the old town. Quite an experience!

As I write, we are anchored off the Stromboli volcano and enjoying some of mother earths amazing fireworks. All is well aboard, after a quiet week, the wind kicked back in over the past 3 days and our waiting was rewarded with some great sailing, reeling the miles off with all sails up. We will continue to sail with our guest in the southern Mediterranean and plan to make it back to Cannes on September 25th to join the feeder from Cannes to St.Tropez.

As we wind down from an extraordinary season, the plan is to be at the Voiles de St.Tropez, to join with our families and friends and enjoy some sailing in the bay before Atlantic settles in for the winter and a well-deserved rest in the Bay of Toulon.”

Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC anchored off the Stromboli volcano

Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC anchored off the Stromboli volcano

The 2010 Sailing yacht Atlantic is magnificent replica of the 1903 William Gardner designed three-masted sailing schooner Atlantic, owned by Ed Kastelein. The 1903 sailing schooner was a long time World record holder for the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean under sail in 1905 winning the Kaiser’s Cup from New York to The Lizard. The record held firm for almost a century, when it was broken in 1998. It is the longest standing speed record in the Yachting History.

The Owner, Ed Kastelein is the man responsible for the recreation of this wonderful new schooner Atlantic, and is also behind such projects as the sailing yacht Thendara, sailing yacht Aile Blanche, sailing yacht Borkumriff, sailing yacht Zaca a te Moana and most recently the Herreshoff racing schooner Eleonora E.

Sailing yacht Atlantic is a charter yacht. Please contact CharterWorld for more information.

Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC

Van Der Graaf Bv, Gardner & Cox And Doug Peterson, Ed Kastelein
Year:2010   L.O.A.:56.39m (185' )  Beam:8.85m (29' ) 
Max Speed:0 knots  Cruise Speed:11 knots  Engines: 
Cabins:6  Charter Guest:12  Crew:11 
More: Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC

There are more details about Classic Sailing Schooner ATLANTIC here.

Classic Sailing Yacht Atlantic’s Summer Charter Schedule

April 17, 2011

Ed Kastelein is proud and pleased to announce that his Atlantic yacht has been selected as finalist for the 2011 World Superyacht Awards. An impressive 100 superyachts were nominated for an award and from all these exceptional yachts the sailing yacht Atlantic emerged as one of the finalists in the category “Best Sailing Yacht in 45m+ size range”. 

The 56.39m (185′) classic yacht Atlantic will be in the dry-dock for a fresh coat of Antifouling in April and then she will head off to sail her first full season.  

Classic Sailing Yacht Atlantic’s Summer Charter Schedule

Classic Sailing Yacht Atlantic’s Summer Charter Schedule

   

Joining the fleet for the Bailli de Suffren event, she will depart from St Tropez in May and sail the waters of Sardinia and then Malta.  

From there on, classic sailing schooner Atlantic will sail round the South of Italy and up the Adriatic Sea including Venice, Trieste and Dubrovnik, Croatia as planned ports of call.   

The season will end at the Voiles de St. Tropez  where she will join the annual gathering of the world most beautiful classic yachts. 

Sailing yacht Atlantic finalist for 2011 World Superyacht Awards

Sailing yacht Atlantic finalist for 2011 World Superyacht Awards

Contact CharterWorld – the Yacht Charter specialist here for further information on chartering S/Y Atlantic.

Sailing schooner Atlantic’s Mediterranean debut at Regates Royales Trophee Panerai

September 21, 2010

The 32nd edition of the Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai will mark the Mediterranean debut of one of the most famous existing schooners.

In 1905, the three masts Atlantic established a record for the ocean crossing and from Tuesday, it will race against Créole and more than seventy Classic Yachts…

Sailing Yacht Atlantic - Photo credit to Kees Stuip

Sailing Yacht Atlantic - Photo credit to Kees Stuip

Only four years were needed to rebuild one of the most mythical yacht of all times: four years of research and restoration directed by Ed Kastelein, former supervisor of Thendara’s Aile Blanche’s, Borkumriff’s, Zaca a te Moana’s Eleonora’s refits. For the record, Atlantic is the exact replica of Charlie Barr’s schooner ordered in May 1905 to compete in the Kaiser’s Cup. The original three masts ended her “first” life as a floating restaurant then as a gas platform, finally to be sadly abandoned in Newport News Boat Harbour’s (Virginia) on January 30th, 1982.  Designed by William Gardner, built by Townsend and Downey (New York) and launched on July, 28th, 1903, Atlantic was ordered by Wilson Marshall who wished a “fast cruising yacht” for his travels to England and family holidays throughout Europe…

The reference time for the Atlantic crossing between Sandy Hook and Cape Lizard was established during a race created by the German emperor Wilhelm II. Thistle, Endymion, Atlantic, Ailsa, Apache, Utowana, Fleur de Lys, Sunbeam, Valhalla, Hamburg, Hildegarde were all on the starting line of the Kaiser’s Cup on May 17th, 1905. Even though Wilson Marshall, Atlantic’s owner, was scared by the impressive rhythm the boat’s Scottish skipper push her in high winds, he proudly won the Cup that will later proved to be a fake golden trophy… It is only seventy five years later that the record for the 2.925 miles crossing will be beaten by Eric Tabarly, on August 1st, 1980!

And 107 years later…

No doubt Atlantic’s Scottish captain was going full speed. On May 24th, 1905, the yacht set another record: the longest distance sailed over 24 hours, an impressive 341 miles! Charles Barr died in 1911, but his schooner continued her surprising career. During the first-world-war, Wilson Marshall, wanting to contribute to the Red Cross funding, offered the Kaiser’s cup. Oddily enough the trophy turned out to be gold-plated, and worth only $35!

Sold to James Cox Bradley, Atlantic became a submarines support boat, before passing to Cornelius Vanderbilt’s hands after the war. Gerard B. Lambert then bought her and participated in the King’s Cup in 1928, a transatlantic race organised by the King of Spain, Alphonso XIII but the winner, this time, was Elena.

In 1935, the three masts sailed together with the J Class Yankee, across the Atlantic, to go racing in the UK. During the Second World War, the schooner is once again used by the Coast Guard as a support boat and after as tall ship from 1941 to 1947. Despite being rescued no less than three times -Atlantic once broke her mooring and drifted into the open waters of the ocean- the boat ended up in a really bad state and was finally abandoned in 1982! Atlantic went back to life thanks to Ed Kastelein’s loving care to participate to her first regatta the Régates Royales – Trophée Panerai 2010…

Cannes in a few words…

Ready, steady, go…

The Bay of Cannes is going to be the centre stage for classic yachting tomorrow. From 11 hours with the starting signal for the Dragon fleet, and later at noon it will be the magnificent big boats. The schedule says of one or two windward/leeward races for the seventy one design Dragons, the hull designed by Johan Anker in 1929,  and a costal for the Classics.

Two families, seven classes

The Classic Yachts are divided according to their origin: the Classics are truly historical boats, often more than one hundred years old, whilst replicas or re-constructions that respect the spirit of the originals are called “spirit of tradition”.

The fore and aft schooner Atlantic will no doubt have to face the fierce competition from Créole but some of the spectators’ heads will turn to watch the magnificent J-Class- Cambria and Shamrock V.

Panerai goes sailing

2010 Régates Royales will be the stage to a very yearned for comeback: the magnificently restored and truly unconventional Classic sailing yacht Eilean. Built in 1936, Eilean crossed the Atlantic more than 36 times. From fame to neglect –since her owner could not pay for a refit- the yacht experienced many ups and downs in the Caribbean. Officine Panerai discovered the beautiful Fife designed and decided to bring it back to Italy for a complete restoration at Francesco Del Carlo’s shipyard in Viareggio. After thirty months and 40.000 work hours, Eilean was back to her top form for her launch on October 22nd, 2009. The ketch will take part to the Règates Royales – Throphée Panerai, a unique chance for the media and the fans to see this jewel sailing again.

Soazig Guého

Sailing schooner ATLANTIC – Profile of the entrepreneur Ed Kastelein

August 09, 2010

From his mother’s side Dutchman Ed Kastelein (60) is a descendant of the founders of the Holland-America Line shipping company, while his father’s family were fishermen for centuries. Seafaring is his nature. Only twelve years old he built his first canoe from old barn planks and on his fourteenth he was sailing a 12m² Sharpie. Several Dutch BM-sloops followed and at the age of sixteen he was restoring sailing boats in his spare time.

Entrepreneur Ed Kastelein - Photo Credit Kees Stuip

Entrepreneur Ed Kastelein - Photo Credit Kees Stuip

He established a flourishing property development company focussing on high quality restaurants and café’s in the Rotterdam area. And some 30 years ago he chose to concentrate on sailing only. He bought the 16 meter wooden Colin Archer Gaff Ketch Zeeland, and chartered her for three years across the Mediterranean. He owned the Lunstroo designed 31 meter schooner Borkumriff,  built for Baron William Von Fink in 1980. In 1987 he acquired the yawl, sailing yacht Aile Blanche and subsequently he owned the maxi-racer Ondine and the 1936 Alfred Mylne designed sailing yacht Thendara, until the experience he had gained on and off the water made him realise that building new was not necessarily more expensive than restoring. 

Kastelein had fallen in love with the lines of Zaca, owned by actor Errol Flynn. The wooden yacht was lying in a far state of decomposition in the south of France and it seemed impossible to save her. He decided to commission a look-alike, the 38 meter Grand Banks schooner  Zaca a te Moana, launched in 1992. Not only does he have an insatiable appetite for sleek classical lines, he also has a remarkable penchant for drama. The inspiration of the 42 meter racing schooner Eleonora E, launched in 2001, was the Nat Herreshoff designed Westward, which was not devoid of drama too. Under her last owner, Mr. T.B. Davis from Jersey, the schooner participated in almost all major races sailed after World War I, and won most. But having survived the second World War, funds were scarce and Mr Davis’ will stipulated that Westward was to be scuttled in The Channel in case his heirs would not have the means to maintain her properly. And sadly thus it happened. On July 15th 1947 she was blown up by explosives and sank shortly after.

Of course the story of the sailing yacht ATLANTIC is the most famous. The 100 years old transatlantic regatta record for mono hulls, set by Charlie Barr and his crew in 1905 has made the yacht a myth. She certainly is one of the most loveliest and fastest yachts ever built and the gracile three masted silhouette is still on everybody’s retina.

Kastelein has managed the entire ambitious project solely. He has gathered copies of dozens of drawings of the original ATLANTIC from various archives in the USA. And he has studied hundreds of images of the original that have been saved. Unfortunately very little drawings of the interior have been preserved, but with the help of photographs Kastelein has been able to copy the  colonial style and atmosphere which characterized the mother yacht. For the equipment like anchor, bollards, hawse-hoses, stanchions, belaying pins and even the ensign-pole support, Kastelein will draw on his extremely vast experience with Eleonora and have new casting patterns custom manufactured.

Sailing Yacht Atlantic - Photo credit to Kees Stuip

Sailing Yacht Atlantic - Photo credit to Kees Stuip

Schooner ATLANTIC is built for luxury charter purposes and as such she will participate in most classical boat races, like the famous Voiles de Saint Tropez. As the largest classical racing schooner ever rebuilt, she will generate waves of admiration wherever she sails. Kastelein has succeeded again to revive sailing history thanks to his life-long passion and his dedicated and experienced build team. When asked what drives him to undertake a challenge of this size the answer is: “Hoist and set sail as the yacht takes to the sea makes a dream come through”.