There was a great celebration at Pendennis Shipyard this weekend when their latest new build, sailing yacht Christopher, departed the construction facility to be launched into Falmouth waters.

After this impressive vessel was manoeuvred into position over the slipway by the yard’s 400 ton travel hoist, Father Jonathan Bielawski from St Mary’s Immaculate Parish Church commenced the ceremony with a customary blessing, followed by the launch itself.

Following tradition the owners named the yacht and smashed champagne on her bow before Christopher was manoeuvred around to Pendennis’ new undercover outer dock facility, which has doubled the length of the covered dock space at Pendennis to over 150m.

A new launch at the yard provides the team that have been working tirelessly on the yacht for a year and a half with a real sense of pride in their achievements, highlighted by over 400 Pendennis staff and their families attending the festivities.

The project commenced at the end of 2008 when Pendennis announced the partnership with Ron Holland Design and Palm Beach Yachts International to build a new 46m performance cruising ketch.

Following on from a detailed three-month design and planning phase the first aluminium kit arrived at the yard in April 2009 at which point the build commenced. Although the 22 month build timeline was extremely challenging Pendennis maintained an effective schedule of works due to detailed pre-planning and efficient decision making throughout. The strong partnership between the clients, designers and Pendennis’ project team enabled successful delivery to Pendennis’ usual uncompromising high standards, resulting in an impressive example of the very best in superyacht design and construction.

“Pendennis was chosen to build Christopher due to the successful build quality and delivery timing we had experienced with our earlier designs they had launched. They have not let us down,” said Ron Holland.

“Christopher is a magnificent example of world class yacht building. We look forward to showing her off during the forthcoming St Barths Bucket Regatta in March.’’ The owners, who have not been named, are also delighted with the results. “We are thrilled with the beautiful yacht that Pendennis has created, and feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with the team in Falmouth. Throughout the build of Christopher they have been extremely professional and accommodating to our requests. Not only have we enjoyed a fantastic working partnership but have also made some wonderful new friends, and are now really excited about racing her in St Barths.” __________________________________ Faft file: Christopher Features: • LOA 46m (150.9ft) • Draft 3.8m (12.5ft keel up), 9.4m (31ft keel down) • Beam 9.5m (31.2ft) • Naval Architects Ron Holland Design • Interior Design Ron Holland Design & Pendennis • Owner's Representative Duane MacPhail, Palm Beach Yachts International The impressive yacht contains three staterooms and a study providing the Owners and their guests with accommodation for up to 12, with a further four cabins to sleep up to eight crew. The rig is due to be in January, alongside the final interior and exterior finishing before she is delivered in time to race in the St Barths Bucket Regatta at the end of March 2011.