Doggersbank, the Dutch builder of rugged, offshore yachts, is making a comeback of sorts, taking advantage of the trend toward experiential cruising.
Dick Boon, the founder of Vripack, the Dutch design firm, started work on the first Doggersbank in 1968. Over the years, more than 750 Doggersbanks were built, and they were soon headed all around the world – to the Arctic, the Antarctic, and most points in between. There were several circumnavigations. But times changed, and no new Doggersbanks were built for a while.
The company built a new 66 last summer, and is finishing a slightly stretched version, an Offshore 67, right now. It’s also beefing up production of its three other models, an Offshore 77, Offshore 87, and Offshore 97.
They all have Doggersbanks’ traditional large-volume interiors and full-displacement stability, with a high bow to part rough waters, and the ability to stay at sea for long periods of time for global exploration.
“Doggersbank is like the Leatherman of Swiss army knives,” says Bart Bouwhuis, Vripack’s co-creative director. “It’s solid, rigid, highly engineered and ready to perform in any condition. The Doggersbank has long been recognized as a reliable, Dutch-designed and engineered, Dutch-built yacht. What you see is what you get.”
The Doggersbank Offshore 77, pictured above, is the largest vessel in the fleet that can be handled by an owner-operator. It can hold six people in three cabins, including two full-beam double cabins, on the lower accommodations deck.
It has a cruising speed of 8.5 knots, and a range of 4,000 nm. There’s lots of storage room in the lazarette for water toys or diving gear, and space for a 17-foot tender on the aft sun deck.
The name refers to a large shallow sandbank in the North Sea, about 62 miles off the east coast of England known to be a productive fishing area.
Specs.: LOA: 77’; Beam: 20’; Draft: 6’5”; Disp.: NA: Fuel: 5,280 gals.; Water: 790 gals.; Power: 2×250-hp diesels. Read more:
