After 13 amazing years and a journey that has taken us through several continents and half way around the world, it is time for Ocean Blue to have a new owner.
Ocean Blue is a Bill Dixon designed, centre cockpit Moody 54 blue water cruiser built by Princess Yachts and launched in 2002. 16.7m long with a beam of 4.85m, she has a hydraulic bathing platform for easy access to the water or tender.
We have owned her since 2011 and after 5 years cruising the English Channel, Channel Islands and Brittany, we set off on a trip around the world. Leaving the UK, we travelled down the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Moroccan coasts before arriving in the Canary Islands. We sailed from the Canaries to St Lucia with the ARC in 2016 then worked our way up the eastern coast of the USA via Bermuda (for the Americas Cup). The next year we returned to the Caribbean heading south as far as Trinidad via the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands before transiting the Panama Canal. Galapagos followed before a long period in French Polynesia (Covid)! On to New Zealand then up to Tonga and Fiji.
Ocean Blue is cutter rigged with a white painted Selden Mast and Boom (repainted in New Zealand 2023), a slab reefed, fully battened main (replaced 2023), staysail and Yankee. For downwind sailing she has a Parasailor (our favourite sail!), a cruising chute (on a top down furler) and a symmetrical spinnaker, flown off the carbon fibre spinnaker pole. She has beautiful teak decks and a dark blue hull (vinyl wrapped). Under the water she has a moderate draft on a fin keel (2.4m) with a skeg hung rudder. She has Coppercoat antifoul which was replaced in 2023. Fully kitted for extended cruising, she weighs somewhere around 24 tonnes.
Cockpit
The centre cockpit is beautifully sheltered and secure at sea with a fixed plexiglass screen below the vented sprayhood which attaches to the bimini. For the cooler or wetter days there is a full cockpit enclosure and multiple sun screens and shades, extending to the rear arch to keep the boat and crew cool in the tropics. There is a teak foldout table with integral cool box storage in front of the binnacle, and behind the cockpit is a stunning sunbathing area with padded cushions, ideal for those lazy days at anchor and watching the sunset with a sundowner. The cockpit, big enough to seat 8 comfortably, has 4 attachment points for lifeline tethers, two accessible before leaving the companionway.
Deck
Ocean Blue’s teak decks add to the beauty of the boat. At the bow is a huge anchor locker divided into two: Storage to starboard and chain to port. The side decks are wide with good handholds. At the transom is the gas locker with room for two medium gas cylinders and the large lazarette which spans the entire width of the transom. Beneath the lazarette floor is the steering quadrant and autohelm ram. The lazarette contains the hydraulic pumps for the bathing platform and steering as well as the Eberspacher heater, SSB Antenna tuner, emergency tiller and a large amount of storage space.
Accommodation
Ocean Blue’s interior is spacious and airy. The galley is to port as you come down the companionway and has a four burner gas hob with oven and grill, a microwave with grill, one and a half sinks, a large front opening fridge and an equivalent top opening freezer. Since Ocean Blue was designed for worldwide cruising, unlike many of our friend’s boats, the freezer is well insulated and can comfortably freeze ice cream, sorbet and other luxuries! There is plenty of storage in the galley and the Corian worktops provide ample preparation space when preparing meals.
The chart table is to starboard just forward of a wet locker, with the instrument panel above and storage below.
Just forward is the main saloon table which opens out if required to seat many guests. Seating around the table is on a wrap around settee which comfortably seats 6 people and two foldaway chairs provide additional seating if required. To port, just forward of the galley is a further two seater settee. There is loads of storage under and behind the seats and in cupboards around the saloon.
The master suite occupies the entire width of the stern and is huge. An island berth, with access from both sides, two settees, two hanging lockers and several other cupboards and drawers. The master ensuite is spacious with a separate shower compartment, sink and Vacuflush electric toilet. There is good access to the port side of the engine room from the ensuite.
Just forward of the master suite is a bunk room with storage, starboard access to the engine room and the washer dryer.
Forward of the saloon, to starboard is a double bunk cabin with hanging locker and additional storage.
To port there is the guest heads, accessible from both the saloon and directly from the forecabin. The guest heads is spacious with a Vacuflush electric toilet and a separate shower.
Forward of the heads is the large airy guest cabin, with a double bed, two hanging wardrobes, several other wall cupboards and a huge storage locker under the foot of the bed.
Stern Arch
When we left the UK, we never wanted an arch over the transom, but after a season in the Caribbean we realised the error of our ways and were lucky enough to be introduced to a very skilled Stainless fabricator in Trinidad, who built us an extremely strong, but reasonably light arch, fully integrated into our pushpit which supports our 1000w of LG Solar power and two Duogen wind generators. As a bonus, we have a removable engine hoist for the outboard on the side of the arch as well as rear deck lighting and a high level stern light.
Engine and Fuel
Ocean Blue is powered by a very reliable Yanmar 100hp turbocharged diesel engine connected to a 3 blade folding propeller. We carry approximately 1000 litres of diesel in two tanks (which can be isolated if required), which at our chosen engine speed gives us over 10 days motoring (24 hours a day), typically at around 6.5 knots. She can power along at over 8 knots in flattish water but that uses significantly more fuel. This volume of diesel is ideal when cruising more remote locations meaning you can pick and choose where you buy fuel.
Bow Thruster
Side-Power 15 HP Bow Thruster with helm mounted controls
Electrical Systems
Ocean Blue’s electrics are predominantly 24 volt, with 4 100AH 12v batteries for the service bank (powering inverter, winches and bow thruster) and a similar 4 100AH 12v batteries for the domestic bank . The Inverter is a Victron Quattro 24-3000 charger / inverter and there are additional 240v chargers for the domestic and start batteries. Sitting above the engine is the smooth running 1500 rpm Onan 11KVA genset, which has ample power for everything onboard (including the 4 aircon units!) should you want to run them all at anchor. Engine charging is via the 110 AH externally regulated alternator. As mentioned above she also has solar (3 x 360 amp LG panels) and wind power generation (2 x Eclectic Energy D400).
Instrumentation
For Navigation Instruments, Ocean Blue has two Raymarine Axiom Pro touchscreen chartplotters in the cockpit (12″ and 9″). One at the helm station and the second under the sprayhood. On passage, when the boat is steered by autopilot, the crew on watch are far more frequently sheltered at the front of the cockpit, so a chartplotter there makes a lot of sense. Coupled to the chartplotters are the Raymarine Quantum Radar, and additional displays including the Raymarine autohelm controller driving the hydraulic autohelm. AIS and VHF is via the new generation Garmin Cortex which has fixed and wireless handsets, colour instrument display and an excellent anchor watch and remote systems monitoring. There is an ICOM SSB for long range communication, using the insulated backstay as the antenna.
Sail Control
Sail control is easy for short handed sailing. Two Lewmar 48 electric winches at the front of the cockpit are for the mainsheet, reefing lines, main halyard, spinnaker halyard, topping lift, kicker and staysail sheet. Reefing can be done without leaving the cockpit. Two Lewmar 64 large electric winches are either side of the cockpit for the Yankee sheets as well as two Lewmar manual 54 winches for spinnaker sheets. The mainsheet track is safely behind the cockpit and has a small Lewmar 16 winch at either end for control of the traveller. The headsails are both furled on Furlex 400 furlers with the tails coming back to either the electric or manual winches beside the cockpit as desired. A second spinnaker halyard is rigged as a spare. The carbon fibre spinnaker pole runs on a Selden track on the front of the mast and there is a Selden prodder for the cruising chute. Fixed mounted spinnaker turning blocks are provided for the spinnaker sheets as well as soft shackled blocks forward for the Parasailor guys.
Safety Equipment
Safety equipment on deck comprises, full length jackstays, stainless guardrails with gate openings either side for dockside access, 2 horseshoe man overboard devices with drogues and strobes, two danbuoys and a four man liferaft (new in 2023). Beneath the companionway steps is an Epirb. The engine room has an automatic fire extinguisher system and there are several smoke detectors and fire extinguishers throughout the cabins. The bilge has a high water alarm and a gas alarm. There are automatic bilge pumps in the main bilge and the lazarette. The Master suite, and bunk rooms have lee cloths on the berths.
Rig
The Selden white painted mast is keel stepped with new standing rigging in 2016. It has 4 folding steps above deck and a hydraulic backstay tensioner. The rig is triple spreader with the optional diamond spreaders at the staysail, eliminating the need for using the running backstays (dyneema) whenever the staysail is deployed. In practice we only use the running backstays when going upwind into a short chop in high winds to prevent any pounding of the rig.
Fresh Water
Ocean Blue has two water tanks, which can be isolated on passage if required. Total fresh water storage is approximately 500 litres. She has a top of the range Spectra Newport 1000 watermaker capable of producing up to 150 litres per hour. Being an energy recovery unit, the low current draw means that the water maker can be run from the inverter without running the generator or engine. There is a hot water calorifier feeding the galley, both heads and the cockpit shower. The calorifier is heated from both the engine and the electrics.
Ground Tackle
For safe and secure anchoring she has an amazing Rocna anchor on 85 metres of 12mm chain, running through an upgraded Lewmar Windlass (replaced 2021).
Dinghy / Tender
Getting to and from the shore and exploring the surroundings is via her AB Lamina 10 tender with a 20 hp Mercury electric start 4 stroke outboard (new 2021). After all these years of driving around in friend’s tenders, I still believe the AB is the driest and most comfortable tender I have ever used. The tender is hung off the transom on Simpson Electric Davits.
Heating and Ventilation
For warmer climates Ocean Blue has four aircon units. Two in the saloon, one serving the front two cabins, and one serving the master suite and adjacent cabins. The unit in the master suite is a new (2023) inverter unit that can be run from the inverter at anchor overnight to ensure the owners cabin is at a comfortable temperature all night long. For cooler climates she has an Eberspacher Hydronic heating system with outlets in all cabins. There are several fans, strategically placed to provide fresh air where needed, six Lewmar deck hatches and six dorade vents.
Availability
Ocean Blue is now imported (Australian Duty and VAT paid) into Australia and available for sale through The Yacht Sales Company. She is currently lying in Scarborough Marina.
For further information
Download Brochure
Email: derek@oceanbluesailing.net
Whatsapp: +44 7836 748343