Dream of meets reality
After many years of sailing on charter yachts, the dream of buying my own yacht began to cruise through our minds. Over the years a kind of checklist or specification was developed based on experience and market observation. Features like robust design, easy handling for shorthanded crews, comfortable and fast sailing, deck salon layout with a fully equipped navigation seat allowing for 360° visibility from the inside, dinghy garage, sustainability aspects and everything paired with lightweight, and performance seemed to be an easy synthesis. But, interestingly, following the markets for many years, our cornerstones were never met.
In 2019, the first rough sketch of a new design by a small and newly founded shipyard in Slovenia (Pegasus Yachts) was published in one of our yacht magazines and sparked our interest in their innovative 50-foot yacht layout. First contact was made, more information was provided and, surprisingly, more and more of our checkboxes could be checked. In 2020 the first Pegasus 50 had its splash offering the opportunity to us to see and experience the design, the quality and, of course, the performance of the yacht in real life. Our judgement: very impressive, well designed with obviously lots of background experience of the design team going hand in hand with the latest 3D modelling.
In the meantime, Pegasus 50 No 2 had been built with another feature that convinced us even more: an electric propulsion system. So, our decision to go for a purchase was made and customization started. Following a deep dive into the world of electric propulsion systems, we finally decided to switch from the realized sail-drive setup of No 2 to a POD system which, of course, required significant adaptations. Although the shipyard team was, frankly speaking, not very enthusiastic about electric propulsion systems in the first place and specifically sceptic about a POD solution, it nevertheless was very receptive and open to our ideas. The electrical system was redesigned to align with the new concept, again supported by 3D modelling and visualization at its best.
Finally, in August 2022, the “TIAMAU” hand-over could be celebrated. Since then, we have been enjoying our very special yacht with all the features we had dreamed of. The boat does perfectly fulfil the requirements of a fast and easy-to-handle owner’s yacht – exactly what we were looking for! Others might say that, for a 50-foot yacht, there isn’t too much space offered. But the available space is very well allocated to the requirements of a family crew and perfectly matches our expectations: “Ready to sail for shorthanded crews” – This is what was claimed by the shipyard and, indeed, that claim was fully achieved.
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