FARANDWIDE is a Southern Wind SW100, a 30.2 metre performance sloop launched in Cape Town in 2007 and maintained since with the kind of care that keeps a carbon yacht at the top of its game. She is a serious sailing yacht first, with naval architecture by Farr Yacht Design and styling inside and out by Nauta Design, a hull and deck built in carbon, Kevlar and epoxy, and more than 400 square metres of carbon sail. For guests who want to actually sail, rather than motor between anchorages with the sails as decoration, she is the real thing.
That pedigree shows the moment the engine goes quiet. She is light, stiff and quick, the sort of yacht that leans into a breeze and simply goes, covering ground under sail that a heavier cruiser would only manage under power. A charter aboard her is built around that: long, quiet passages with the wake hissing astern, the coast sliding by, and a crew of four, led by an excellent chef, trimming and tending while guests do as much or as little as they like.
For all her performance she is genuinely comfortable below. The deck saloon sits up in the light, wrapped in hull windows, with a settee lounge at one end and a dining table at the other, and a proper navigation station that still feels like the nerve centre of a sailing yacht. The joinery throughout is warm timber, restrained and beautifully made, the counterpoint to the carbon and Kevlar of the hull.
She sleeps eight in grand comfort across four cabins. An owner’s studio forward opens to a full-beam master with a double bed, a VIP double sits alongside, and two twin cabins aft look after friends or children, each with an ensuite shower room and its own audio and video. A separate crew area forward keeps the working of the yacht out of sight, so guest and crew life never overlap.
On deck she is set up for the sun as much as the sail. A large cockpit divides naturally into a shaded dining area aft and a relaxed lounge, the social centre of the yacht at anchor and underway. The clean, flush foredeck gives room to stretch out, and at anchor the tender and a full kit of toys, from water skis and a wakeboard to paddleboards and towables, come out for the afternoon.
FARANDWIDE suits a particular kind of guest: one who understands that the best days on the water are often the ones spent moving, and who wants a yacht with genuine provenance rather than production polish. She is elegant, quick and impeccably kept, one of the most refined examples of the SW100 series afloat, and she cruises the western Mediterranean where the wind and the coastline reward a yacht built to sail.
For a party of eight who want the real thing, under sail and beautifully run, she is a rare and rewarding choice for a Mediterranean season.
Available for charter in the West Mediterranean from 58,000 EUR per week.
