Christopher Launches
There was a great celebration at Pendennis Shipyard when their latest sailing yacht Christopher, departed the construction facility to be launched into Falmouth waters. After this impressive vessel was manoeuvred into position over the slipway by the yard’s 400 ton travel hoist, Father Jonathan Bielawski from St Mary’s Immaculate Parish Church commenced the ceremony with a customary blessing, followed by the launch itself.
Following tradition the Owners named the yacht and smashed champagne on her bow before Christopher was manoeuvred around to Pendennis’ new undercover outer dock facility, which has doubled the length of the covered dock space at Pendennis to over 150m.
A new launch at the yard provides the team that have been working tirelessly on the yacht for a year and a half with a real sense of pride in their achievements, highlighted by over 400 Pendennis staff and their families attending the festivities. The owners enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate alongside the project team, including Ron Holland who was responsible for Christopher’s Naval Architecture and worked in partnership with the yard’s design team.
The project commenced at the end of 2008 when Pendennis announced the partnership with Ron Holland Design and Palm Beach Yachts International to build a new 46m performance cruising ketch. Following on from a detailed three-month design and planning phase the first aluminium kit arrived at the yard in April 2009 at which point the build commenced.
”Pendennis was chosen to build Christopher due to the successful build quality and delivery timing we had experienced with our earlier designs they had launched. They have not let us down.” explained Ron Holland. The owners are also delighted with the results “We are thrilled with the beautiful yacht that Pendennis has created, and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with the team in Falmouth. Throughout the build of Christopher they have been extremely professional and accommodating to our requests. Not only have we enjoyed a fantastic working partnership but have also made some wonderful new friends, and are now really excited about racing her in St Barths!”