Bob Giles’ Nordhavn 96 VivieRae2 is a finalist for the Voyager’s Award in this year’s World Superyacht Awards. The voyager’s award is based on ambitious and inspirational cruising in the past year, and the owner or a guest of the owner must have been on board the boat most of that time; delivery crews don’t count.
Giles’ certainly qualifies. He and his wife took delivery of the boat, hull #14 of the 96 series, last June in Hong Kong, and then set out in a 2,800 nm shakedown cruise to Bali. Over the next six months they covered 7,500 nm cruising the South Pacific, including stops in Australia, Vanuatu and Fiji. Then they added another 2,800 nm on a passage from the Marquesas to San Diego. Giles told Nordhavn that, “I’m not the type who just likes to lie around on a sun pad or hang out in a marina.” He owns car dealerships in the southeast and likes the fact he can work from the boat while he’s cruising.
Giles’ 96 is a compact explorer yacht with four cabins for guests, plus crew. Powered by twin 454-hp CAT C18 ACERT diesels, it tops out at 12 knots; at a cruising speed of 9.5 knots, it has a range of 3,000 nm.
This is Giles’ second Nordhavn. The first, the original VivieRae (named after a granddaughter) was an 86. He didn’t exactly stay close to home on that one either, taking delivery in Newport, RI, cruising nonstop down to Fort Lauderdale and then cruising for three years in the Caribbean and the South Pacific.
The Voyager’s Award ceremony is May 19th in Florence, Italy. See a video of the boat in Indonesia, below, or go to http://nordhavn.com for more:
