DOLPHIN 460 - OCEAN - HIGHLIGHTS
Conceived and built with strength and safety in mind for unlimited ocean travels
Multiple watertight bulkheads and partitions for safety in case of collision forward or beneath the hulls.
Incredibly fast in all points of wind, this catamaran will out-speed many monohulls, even up-wind.
Strong construction. The hull-to-deck joint is not bolted or riveted, but is a wide flange that is glassed inside and out to reinforce rigidity and strength.
Outstanding presentation throughout, immaculately maintained and continuously upgraded.
Same owners since new.
The owners, well-known in the international cruising and racing community, were very much involved with the designer and shipyard at the time of building this outstanding example of the Dolphin 460.
7’ 6” deep daggerboards for outstanding upwind performance and minimum leeway.
Rare 2 cabin version, with two ensuites and separate showers. Adapted from an 'Owner's version' design, the forward guest cabin,forward cabin, designed and fitted out as an office, can be easily converted to a guest cabin if needed.
Completely equipped for off-grid and independent live-aboard and long distance cruising with an emphasis on minimising the use of fossil fuel.
Brand new SailDrive bellows and seals in 2016
Extensive engine refit in 2021; injectors & fuel pumps, alternator and starter motors, valve adjustment, heat exchangers, mixing elbows, and thermostats, front main oil seals, SailDrive internal flush.
2018: Isotherm S/S drawer-style fridges and freezer unit. 12-volt air-cooled
New Lofrans Project 1500 windlass installed in 2019 on strengthened platform
2019: Strengthened forward beam connections to hulls
2021: Complete check and renewal of hydraulic steering: new cylinders, hoses, steering pump
2021: Ship’s batteries (1,260ah total) replaced
Four forward Lexan cabin windows professionally replaced in 2021
2021: Replaced eleven Goiot deck hatches with Lewmar Ocean hatches, complete with thermal hatch covers to minimise tropical heat.
New salon and cockpit upholstery 2021
Impressive inventory (please read on). Comes fully loaded and ready to sail on. Her owners will provide a proper hand-over with the buyers to demonstrate how everything works on board.
*****Owners will deliver to NZ and improt in NZ should this be the buyer's preference.
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IN THE OWNERS' WORDS:
"The past 15 years with OCEAN have been an amazing, rewarding journey. But now it’s time to let her go. OCEAN has taken us places we never dreamed we’d go—literally and figuratively—and we have learned so much from her, learned how to be better sailors and (we hope) more thoughtful people. If this sounds like we are giving OCEAN too much credit (she is just a boat, after all), let us explain.
Before we had our catamaran, we had a dream. We’d grown up living lucky lives—great parents, a childhood spent sailing and racing, and coastal cruising with our families (Tom in Southern California, Harriet in Connecticut). By the time we were old enough to say goodbye to our corporate careers, we weren’t ready to retire from life. We wanted to give back, to help others. When we sailed through Mexico and the South Pacific on a previous boat, a 28-foot Bristol Channel Cutter named freelance, we’d seen poverty and communities that needed help. But we were unequipped to help them.
Back in 2007 when we decided to leave our jobs and go cruising again, we wanted a boat that would not only be an ocean-going and liveaboard vessel but would enable us to lend a hand. At first, we weren’t sure how or where we could help. But in 2008 when we sailed our new Dolphin 460 north from the Dolphin Catamaran shipyard in Aracaju, Brazil, through the Eastern Caribbean enroute to our home port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, we found our answer. Six English-speaking countries of the Eastern Caribbean (Antigua, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada) had longstanding child literacy problems. Children were growing up without books to read, and thus were not learning to read. Schools, drastically underfunded, were unable to turn Caribbean children into readers.
Caribbean child literacy—pre-school to primary school to high school—became the focus of Hands Across the Sea, Inc., our new charity. We also named our Dolphin Hands Across the Sea, but in case you are wondering, the charity did not fund our boat; we paid for our boat, all the maintenance and equipment upgrades, and every marina berth and haul out, out of our own pocket. That was the right way to do it. The money we fundraised for Hands (the charity) went to helping Caribbean children.
The years flew by. We spent every summer and fall in New England raising money and packing books in a warehouse, where they were shipped to the Caribbean on cargo vessels. Each school received exactly the books they requested in their “Wish List,” and the books were brand new, age- and content-appropriate, filling the shelves of school libraries (most of them newly-created via our Hands Library Guide). This process was costly and time-consuming, but it resulted in sustainable, top-notch libraries (other charities send used, worn-out, inappropriate books). We spent the winter months in the Eastern Caribbean, visiting and mentoring over 100 schools in the islands each season. This “work commute” meant making the 3,500-mile round trip from Massachusetts to the Eastern Caribbean 11 times. The passages were often windy and rough.
Fast forward to 2021, when we co-founders (Harriet was the CEO, Tom the Marketing Director) stepped away from our charity to go bluewater cruising. We renamed the boat OCEAN, the boat underwent an extensive refit in 2021 at a leading Maine shipyard, and we set out for the Pacific We’d already sailed 40,000 miles on her, and this 12-month, 11,000-mile journey (Massachusetts-Bermuda-Puerto Rico-Panama-Galapagos-Marquesas-Society Islands-Fiji-New Zealand) would be our most ambitious yet. We left Hands, the charity, behind, having sent new amazing books to 420 libraries and reading programs, 400 pre-schools, reaching over 150,000 children.
Yes, we made a difference—we will always treasure that accomplishment. But for OCEAN, it is sadly time to part with her. We have left the U.S. to start a new life in New Zealand, in the Bay of Islands, a magnet for sailors returning from the sea. OCEAN—equipped for passagemaking, a comfortable liveaboard—is too accomplished of a boat to swing on a mooring. We are searching for a new owner who will cherish and enjoy OCEAN, and keep her cruising and crossing oceans. Now here’s a look at working directly with Junior Pimenta, the owner of Dolphin Catamarans, and Philippe Pouvreau, the designer, and the yearlong process of creating OCEAN.
Safety and Construction Integrity:
We chose the Dolphin 460 not only for its performance under sail (with 7’ 6” daggerboards and inboard jib leads, the boat performs particularly well to windward) but for its built-in safety. Each hull has five watertight collision bulkheads and three watertight cabin sole compartments. The hull-to-deck joint is not bolted or riveted (the shortcut way to build a catamaran), but is a wide flange that is glassed inside and out. The daggerboards and trunks are extremely strongly built. Protective “breakaway” fins are bonded forward of the SailDrives for protection. In 15 years of sailing her, we have seen no flexing or deflection in the vacuum-bagged vinylester/Divinycell deck or hulls—testament to the quality of Dolphin Catamarans’ engineering and construction.
Solar Powered:
When we say “solar powered” we mean electrical power for daily liveaboard use. Our vision of cruising doesn’t include emitting partially-combusted diesel fuel and exhaust into the environment every day. We specified the maximum number of solar panels (1,035 watts) onto the hardtop bimini, which has powered our daily needs (refrigeration, watermaker, laptops, occasional use of appliances or power tools) while at anchor or the dock. The need to charge using the engine, usually in rainy weather, is rare. Note that in setting up our solar charging system, our “energy audit” did not include a large freezer—the downfall of many cruising boats that requires daily genset or engine use. If you “need” a big freezer, you’ll need to run a Genset every day.
Sail Plan for Doublehanding:
After we chartered a Dolphin 460 for a week in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and before we began creating OCEAN, we decided that the standard 150% genoa was a bit too much sail for breezy trade wind conditions. In over 15 knots of wind, the genoa is a handful to handle, and the sail reefs poorly and doesn’t perform well to windward. We asked Philippe Pouvreau if we could have a working jib (97% overlap) with a jib boom that could be vanged down to strong padeyes to remove leech twist, making the sail efficient on all points of sail. Pouvreau not only said “Yes!” immediately, he raised the mast height two feet and lengthened the main boom 1.5 feet to help compensate for lost sail area. In this and in many other areas, we were very lucky to have Junior Pimenta, Philippe Pouvreau, and the Dolphin Catamarans construction team behind us.
Performance and People:
he Dolphin 460 is an offshore performance cruising catamaran. OCEAN sails efficiently to windward, and jumps up easily to 8.7 to 9.0 knots under mainsail and working jib when close- and beam-reaching and further off the wind. Under screecher (called a Code 0 in North Sails lingo), usually flown with the apparent wind aft of 80 degrees (5 knots of wind) to 120+ degrees (up to 20 knots true wind speed), the boat speed jumps to a steady 9.5, with bursts to 11, 12, or 13 knots and higher. But we’ve found that the boat can “outperform the people.” Carrying too much sail, especially in boisterous sea conditions, increases the demands on the sails, rigging, and autopilot, and can give everyone on board, particularly the off-watch person, a bouncy, noisy (water rushing by the hull) ride. When it comes to reducing sail, the old monohull adage applies: you should reef when you first think of it. It’s fun to go fast, but it’s even better to go (slightly) less fast and have a far more enjoyable ride. (Sermon over!)
The Dolphin 460 is a performance cat, but it will not fly a hull, capsize, or pitchpole downwind. The design parameters are moderate and commonsense in every respect. The Dolphin sails to windward well, it doesn’t bury its bows when surfing, and the freeboard is moderate, unlike ultra-high freeboard, multi-storied, high center-of-gravity charter boats (and even some performance boats). In our experience, the moderation demonstrated in OCEAN’s design and construction make her a solid, trustworthy vessel for a cruising couple or family who want to sail safely across oceans and live aboard in comfort with a minimal footprint on the environment." Tom And Harriet. July 22. Tahiti.
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For a bit of info about Nautilus Yacht Management, we are a boutique-style brokerage devoted to high quality cruising yachts and to the cruising community since our launch in Sydney in 2011.
With several offshore branches from French Polynesia to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia to assist cruisers along South Pacific route, we are here to help both sellers and buyers with the logistics involved from registration to insurance, delivery, import, survey, storage and crewing if required. Ex- cruisers ourselves we just strive to help others begin their journey on the ocean.
If Ocean has got under your skin, get in touch! Our team can organize a private video viewing with you as well as have all the time in the world to answer your questions, put you in touch with the owners if you wish, assist with organising your visit, purchase, delivery home if needed, insurance, berthing, crewing, etc.
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