There are truly worse places to observe social distancing rules during the pandemic. In January 2021, Barcelona is in the middle of the third wave of coronavirus when the de Vincentiis family decides to avoid the hectic city and move back to their familiar home. The home floats, is 16.30 metres long, 3.85 metres wide and is located at the bottom of one of the last jetties of the Royal Yacht Club of Barcelona. "At most, we'll go into town for a quick shopping trip," says Leonardo García de Vincentiis, the yacht's owner. "Otherwise, we live completely on our ship again. Better safe than sorry." Self-imposed quarantine.
Christina and Morina are on board, the family's two daughters. They grew up on the yacht. Today they are actually studying, but the universities in Barcelona have closed during the lockdown and, besides, homeschooling can be done very well from an old, classic yacht. So the two of them have moved back to the foredeck - just like they used to when they were young girls roaming the Mediterranean. "Sorry," says father Leonardo, 59, "it could be a bit tidier forward, but what can you do?"
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Sailing sacks lie on the bunks, shot-up sheets hang from the interior planking, in front of them a jumble of jeans, bags, trainers, laptops, chargers and mobile phones. An old yacht as a student dormitory and family shelter, that's how nice it can be during the pandemic, and suddenly life smells of varnish and petroleum again, of the harbour and the sea that opens up just behind the pier.
The family lives on board, where the daughters also study
You move generously through the ship. Over the wooden floor, through the small passageway into the saloon. Standing height everywhere, wood everywhere. The barometer, the skylights, the Dorade ventilators and the portholes - everything is as original as it was in 1965, when the ominous yacht slid into the water for the first time. The cabin lighting also dates back to the good old days. Bronze-framed half moons made of frosted glass. At the back, Cecilia, Leonardo's wife and mother of their two daughters, is climbing aboard via the stern. She has also been attached to the ship since 1994. The Vincentiis bought the yacht back then, and the "Nerissa" has served as their home ever since. For months, sometimes for years.
The centre of life on board is the galley, which seamlessly adjoins the saloon. White leather upholstery, a bookshelf on which Christmas decorations dangle alongside a small half-model and two colourful Mediterranean motifs. Sieves, wooden spoons and pots hang in the galley, plates, mugs and spices are stored in the crane-proof cupboards, and fresh coffee is being brewed on the gimballed gas cooker. There is no doubt that there is still plenty of life in this seagoing vessel, which is bobbing in the harbour on a long keel - and whose grandeur can only really be appreciated when you climb through the wheelhouse into the cockpit, walk across the deck and take a look at the ship in its entirety.
The 16.30 metre long cruiser/racer is painted white, the superstructure is clear-coated. Only a fan of old English sports cars could have thought up the almost erotically tapering stern. The yacht was designed by Arthur Robb, a New Zealand designer who made a name for himself in England and also successfully designed yachts for the America's Cup. Robb is best known for his Lion Class, but he also designed various other yachts.
Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot would fit in well on deck
The deck and hull are made entirely of teak, the floor frames and all fittings are moulded from monel. At the time, the yacht was designed to meet the highest standards and offer every luxury as a touring boat. A large owner's cabin, guest cabin, plus six small berths for crew and additional deckhands. The anchor winch runs hydraulically, driven by the engine. Refrigerator, freezer. A powerful 30-watt radio system. There is also running water, hot and cold, including an indoor shower. In the mid-sixties, this meant extreme comfort, especially as the yacht also had to be fast, seaworthy and suitable for regattas.
Arthur Robb designed her according to the guidelines of the International Cruiser/Racer Rule, the RORC Rule and the CCA guidelines, according to which the yacht could have competed pretty much anywhere in the world, even in the Sydney Hobart Race. It was an honourable task to be allowed to build such a ship. The order was placed in 1962 with the Beltrami shipyard in Genoa, Italy, by an Englishman named Bill Whithouse-Vaux. And the sailing-mad gentleman seemed to want a very special yacht at the time.
It was originally designed as a yawl. A ship like a sophisticated racehorse that still radiates the frivolous lightness of the sixties like few of its floating contemporaries. Alain Delon and Bardot could be sitting on deck, two ice-cold Campari in their hands. The picture would be fit for a film and still absolutely authentic.
Leonardo García de Vincentiis walks over his ship, looking up the mast. He now knows every screw on board - as well as every chapter in the life of his old "Nerissa".
The sailing spy and the Italian yacht
After the yacht was commissioned in 1962 and the planking was half finished, the prospective owner simply disappeared from the scene - and suddenly there was no more money flowing in. At the shipyard, work was halted and people asked themselves in bewilderment: Where the hell is Mr Whithouse-Vaux? This English gentleman who had planned the yacht down to the last detail and commissioned it so euphorically? But there was no sign of the man. The boat stood half-finished in a shed for over a year.
The circumstances remain unclear to this day. But it was precisely at this time that the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a head, and although it never came to light, it is assumed that Mr Whithouse-Vaux was working as an English spy and had other duties to perform than building his yacht.
The sailing spy and the Italian yacht - a story straight out of a bad thriller. But then this Whithouse-Vaux suddenly reappeared two years later. As if nothing had happened. As if he had just made a little detour. Money was quickly on hand again, construction continued and in 1965 the proud Robb yacht was launched into the water. Her first name at the time: "Mistress Quickly", the fast lover. Her owner at the time was moored on the Peninsula de Argentario in the Tyrrhenian Sea between Elba and Rome. He sailed the yacht for 15 years, across to Sardinia and Corsica, along the Italian Riviera towards the Côte d'Azur, before Whithouse-Vaux wanted to sell it again. The reasons are unknown, but not the name of the yacht's next owner, whose origins could hardly be more colourful.
The yacht was purchased by Count Enrico Marone Cinzano, none other than a descendant of the famous Italian Cinzano dynasty, which brings the world-famous Vermouth to the market and is also linked to the Fiat clan. Other connections include the Spanish royal family and former Argentinian President José Figueroa Alcorta. At the end of the 1970s, the Count was looking for a suitable yacht for smaller tours in the Mediterranean, which he found in Argentario and christened "Nerissa". Cinzano kept the yacht for ten years, eventually died in a car accident, and the "Nerissa" once again went to an Englishman: this time to a British wool manufacturer who took over the ocean-going yacht and wanted to sail around the world with her.
The ship should also be seaworthy, not too small and of course: beautiful
However, the British entrepreneur went bankrupt along with his factory in 1990 - and the wooden sailing yacht was the only thing he still owned. The ex-wool manufacturer even lived partly on the ship, which was now moored in Villefranche on the French Côte d'Azur, was named "Rubin" and was once again up for sale. And this was the time when Leonardo turned up. He was urgently looking for a ship to earn his money with charter trips in the Mediterranean.
He was on the lookout for a classic boat that was also seaworthy, not too small and, of course, beautiful. When he saw the sleek cruiser/racer, he was immediately smitten. And so what still belongs together today came together: a love of boats that has now lasted for 27 years. "The boat was in perfect condition back then," says Leonardo. He rechristened the boat "Nerissa". The immaculate condition was mainly due to Count Cinzano's neurosis. When the yacht was in his hands, he had one or two surveyors come every year to certify that everything on board was in top condition. Allegedly, there was always a lavish party after such a report. And if just one sea valve got stuck, this was also fixed.
"Nerissa" sails through the Mediterranean as a slup
So Leonardo and his wife Cecilia were soon sailing away on a beautifully maintained Mediterranean beauty, taking part in classic regattas, living on board from the very first hour and cruising the entire Mediterranean. However, the charter cruises came to nothing, as their two daughters were soon born. The "Nerissa" became the sailing family steamer, while Leonardo, an experienced sailor, soon hired himself out for transfers, became active in the sailing industry and also brokered boats himself. Above all, he and Cecilia never parted with the virtue of being artists of life on the water. Making do with little. No big car on land, no expensive flat. Instead: life on board, sailing. For months, for years.
The mast base for the mizzen mast still sits behind the cockpit. The erratic Mr Whithouse-Vaux had it removed, allegedly because it was too heavy for the boat. Since then, the "Nerissa" has sailed the Mediterranean as a sloop instead of a yawl. "One day we'll pick up the mizzen mast again," says Leonardo. "The mizzen mast is still at Bertrami over in Italy." Once across the Mediterranean - that's a stone's throw for a boat like the "Nerissa".
Technical data of the "Nerissa"
- Designer: Arthur Robb
- Type: Bermuda Slup
- Shipyard: Can. Vincenzo Beltrami
- Year of construction: 1965
- Construction method: Teak/oak frames
- Torso length: 16,30 m
- Waterline length: 12,20 m
- Width: 3,85 m
- Depth: 2,39 m
The article first appeared in YACHT 21/2021 and has been updated for the online version.
