The "Aracanga", a Ra Pegasus, is nine metres (30 feet) long, three metres wide and has a draught of 1.65 metres. The GRP yacht was built in 1981 at the Plasto shipyard near Lake Constance, where it was also sailed until 2017. "Aracanga" means red macaw.
Friederike and Martin bought the boat in 2016 and, following the motto "Keep it simple and stupid", converted it from a Lake Constance boat into a small blue water yacht by July 2018. This means that essential equipment for the big trip is on board, but luxury and frills have been consistently dispensed with, because: "Everything that can break will break at some point!"
Below deck, the "Aracanga" has a classic layout: double berth in the bow, with a toilet to starboard and wardrobe to port. Amidships is the saloon with a U-shaped seating area to starboard and a longitudinal bench seat with a small chart table opposite. There is a dog bunk aft to starboard and the galley on the port side.
The rig has been modified slightly and instead of the large furling genoa, a stay rider jib with reefing line is now attached to the bow fitting. The furling genoa has been moved slightly forwards onto the new bowsprit. The mainsail has three rows of reefs, and in addition to the standard sails there is also a storm jib, blister and spinnaker on board.
The Aracanga in profile:
- Shipyard: Plasto
- Type: Ra Pegasus, construction number 2
- Length: 9 metres
- Width: 3 metres
- Weight: approx. 3.5 tonnes empty
- Sails: main (18 square metres, 3 reefs), stay rider jib (16 square metres, 1 reef), furling genoa (32 square metres), storm jib, blister, spinnaker
- Tanks: 140 litres of water + canister, 30 litres of diesel
- Engine: Diesel 10 hp Faryman
- Wind vane control: Aries
- Electrics: 200 Ah consumer batteries, 130 watt solar panel
- Anchor: 60 metres of chain, 20 + 15 + 10 kg anchor
- Navigation and electronics: GPS, VHF, AIS, compass, sextant, paper charts
- Pantry: "Origo 3000" spirit cooker
- Safety: EPIRB, life raft, satellite phone
