We media people enter a yacht either when the shipyard has just delivered it or shortly before. The fact that we only get to know her a year later is one of the rarer cases. "Pumula", with the emphasis on the second syllable, set sail immediately after delivery and has been travelling almost without interruption since spring 2012. Since then, the 37-metre-long Huisman-Slup has covered an impressive 12,000 miles. Her maiden voyage took her to Norway and the Arctic Circle, then across the Atlantic to the warmer waters of the southern US states and the Caribbean.
The ability to survive in the higher latitudes and in the harsher weather zones with all the comfort and convenient handling of a small crew had been part of the owners' briefing. Royal Huisman has experience with such requests. The 43 metre long "Foftein", built in 1999, also set sail immediately for the northern sea areas, and Jens Cornelsen had also arranged her project management. The "Pumula" was also to prove its worth on world voyages.
We only had the opportunity to set foot on deck in West Palm Beach this April. Nothing here seems ostentatious, even half-silky or overloaded. The concept is characterised by literal simplicity. Understated and unagitated, "Pumula" embodies a timeless style that harks back to the great days of yacht building. The Dykstra design team, responsible for the exterior appearance as well as the entire construction, uses the buzzword "understatement" and speaks of the proverbial modesty that dispenses with all the glitz and glamour.
"We wanted a classically inspired design that evokes the simplicity of the gentleman's yachts of the past," confirm the owners. This design expresses a time-honoured silhouette with cutter rigging, spoon bow, long overhang aft, a low freeboard with an elegant positive leap and two squat wooden deckhouses.
The full story can be found in BOOTE EXCLUSIV issue 4/2013.
