The Boat
Steel Sapphire - “Jarrett 50”
Steel Sapphire is a custom designed 50 foot steel cutter-rigged ketch. Launched in 1994, she was designed by Bill Dixon (the famous Moody designer) for the original owners, Malcolm and Leonie Jarrett, and thus the model of the yacht was deemed a “Jarrett 50”. From what we understand, there were originally plans to make further yachts to the same design, but that never eventuated.
Originally called “Eirenikon” and launched with a red hull and livery, she was painted blue some time in the late 90’s and subsequently renamed “Steel Sapphire”.
She’s already circumnavigated a couple of times under previous owners and when Jen and I purchased her in 2015, she represented our dream blue water cruiser.
As her name suggests she is built from steel, and is thus exceptionally strong, albeit at the expense of weight, coming in fully loaded at over 32 tonnes!
Unusually for a monohull, she has twin engines (Ford Sabre Lehmans, each 90hp). When cruising we only use one of course, to save fuel, but having the second introduces invaluable redundancy, as well as incredible close quarters manoeuvrability in conjunction with her bow thruster.
As a cutter-rigged ketch, we have four sails that we can fly at any one time. This gives increased flexibility to our sail plan, and also means that each sail is slightly smaller than would be the case with a traditional sloop - this makes sail handling as a couple (and especially when on deck alone during night watches) much easier also.
One of the key attractions for us was the deck saloon. When circumnavigating you spend much more time at anchor than under way, and so the ability to sit inside in the inevitable tropical rain showers and still be able to enjoy the scenery is fantastic.
Finally, like all centre cockpit yachts, one her key features is the magnificent aft cabin - it’s a real luxury to have an island bed on a yacht, and when you consider that the adjoining en suite comes complete with bath, you can understand that this is no normal yacht.
Below is a wonderful video made by a prior owner when they were preparing to sell her in 2013.
The refit
When we purchased Steel Sapphire, we knew that she required extensive work in order to prepare her for her next adventure. Although almost everything “worked’, many of the systems were in need of an overhaul, the paintwork desperately needed to be stripped off and started again, and the rigging and sails required total replacement.
The refit lasted for almost 3 years, and was undertaken in Sydney while we lived aboard and held down corporate jobs. As always with these things, it turned out to be bigger than anticipated, but by the time we left on 1st July 2018, this is what we’d accomplished:
new standing rigging
new running rigging
masts repainted
back to bare steel below water line and new plant system
topsides spot corrosion repair and total repaint
replaced one chain plate and reconditioned the others
bulwarks exposed and new steel bar inserted
new bow thruster
both engines and genset totally reconditioned
new deep sea seals
significant internal corrosion repair
all new electronics, including 2nd autopilot, new radar, new B&G plotters above and below decks
new high capacity flood pump
all new white sails
New assymetric spinnaker
new tender and outboard
new anchor and high tensile chain
new electric toilets fire and aft
all new plumbing
New upholstery
New Nav Station Helm Seat
fresh water deckwash
isolation transformer
Below is a gallery showcasing some of the work undertaken.
