CHANSON carries the volume of a yacht twenty feet longer than she is. That is the first thing you notice, and it is the reason she has held a charter following for three decades. Christensen built her in 1995 to a brief that valued interior width and deck area over sheer length, and a comprehensive refit in 2020 brought the finish, the systems and the soft goods up to current expectation without touching what made the layout work.
Nine guests sleep in four staterooms. The full-beam master runs the width of the hull, with a king berth, a private seating area, mirrored joinery and his-and-hers bathrooms, one with a shower, the other with a jacuzzi bath. A second double sits under coastal photography with its own en-suite, and two further cabins handle families and friends in singles and twins. The arrangement is unusually flexible for a yacht of this generation, and it is why she charters as easily for four couples as for two families.
The main deck is one long, light-filled volume. Formal dining for ten sits forward under a recessed illuminated ceiling, the saloon opens aft, and windows run almost the full length on both sides, pale sycamore, cream carpet and an easy, unhurried sense of space. A deck above, the sky lounge changes register entirely: a granite bar with stools, deep blue sectionals, a large screen and an arcade cabinet in the corner. It is the room where charters actually spend their evenings.
Outside, the sundeck is the yacht’s best space. A jacuzzi is set into the deck with bar stools built into its surround, teak loungers face aft, and a shaded seating area and putting green fill the rest. The aft deck below carries al fresco dining for the full complement, shaded and open to the water on three sides.
CHANSON is properly equipped for the water. A 32-foot Midnight Express sits ready for tournament sportfishing with rods and reels aboard, backed by a 17-foot Novurania tender, two waverunners, kayaks, wakeboards, snorkel gear, Brownie’s Third Lung and a full beach set-up. Her crew of six includes a captain, chief stewardess and chef who have run her together for years, which shows in how a week aboard is paced.
Her cruising pattern is straightforward and well judged. Summers she works out of Fort Lauderdale, close enough to the Keys and the Florida reef line for short passages. Winters she moves to Bakers Bay in the Abacos, a base that puts the Sea of Abaco, Hope Town and the northern cays within an easy morning’s run, and her 2.13-metre draft reaches anchorages that deeper yachts read about and pass by.
She cruises at 14 knots and makes 17, which is the right pairing for the ground she covers: fast enough to reposition on a single tide, economical enough to make the long Bahamas legs comfortable. For charter parties who want deck space, a genuine sportfishing programme and a crew that knows the water, CHANSON remains a considered choice at her price.
Her crew keep the pace easy rather than formal, and she rewards a week spent moving slowly between anchorages rather than chasing distance. That is the charter she has always been good at, and the refit only sharpened it.
