In September of 2015 Catherine & I were visiting the Cannes and La Rochelle Boat Shows in France as part of our research into finding the perfect catamaran for our needs. Over the last number of years we had chartered various catamarans - Fountaine Pajot Lavezzi 40, Lagoon 440, Sunsail 444, Fountaine Pajot Salina 48, Lagoon 400S2, and Lagoon 450 in Croatia, Greece, Turkey and the Whitsunday Islands in Australia as part of our research. Now we had begun the journey to find our own boat. The advantage of visiting a large boat show such as Cannes, is that you are able to step on an off various models of boats, in the particular size category you are interested in, and can compare features side-by-side in a very short space of time. We had arrived in Cannes 98% certain we would be buying a particular brand and model of catamaran and left Cannes 100% certain that we would not buy it. In it’s place we fell completely in love with the Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 and from then on we only had eyes for this boat.
We left France excited that we had found the boat we wanted but certain that we could not afford one new from the factory (with all the added extras). As the Saba 50 was still a very new model, having only been launched 1 year earlier at the Cannes Boat Show, we knew it might be a long time until one came up for sale second-hand.
Once home, I began looking on the Internet to try and find blogs or websites of other Saba 50 owners, so that I could ask them about their experiences with the boat. The only problem …. there weren’t any. Many of the boats had gone into charter and it was only by complete chance that on around page 10 of a Google search I found the blog of a young Australian couple who had bought Saba 50 hull #1 and were into their 5th month of sailing her around the Mediterranean. I made contact with the owner via email and followed their journey from Athens to Venice in October 2015. Once in Venice he advised me that they were about to load the boat onto a ship to send it into charter in the Caribbean as his business was booming in Australia and he needed to go back to manage its expansion.
To cut a long story short, over the course of 6 hours, with multiple phone calls, emails and photos being sent back and forth, we negotiated a price which was satisfactory to both parties and bought our dream boat. Going against all advice and wisdom we bought the boat unseen and un-surveyed. I flew to Venice to do the handover a few weeks later and with our heads spinning we took over an immaculate Saba 50 named LADY ROSLYN.
Was it a good decision? YES, YES, YES. Our dream really did come true. We bought a boat from a couple who had spent less than 5 months on board. Before embarking they had added every possible extra to the boat so we stepped on board a yacht that had been thoroughly snagged by the previous owners and had every item anyone could dream of added.
We have just returned from sailing LADY ROSLYN for 3 weeks in Croatia and are more in love with her than ever. The Saba 50 is a truly remarkable catamaran. How the designers managed to create such a feeling of space on a boat of this size is miraculous. We had 11 people on board for part of the time in Croatia and it never felt crowded. The helm and winch trimming area are incredible in their ease of use and this catamaran can easily be managed by one person under sail. The Code 0 sail was the star of the show in the light summer breezes of Croatia and when a North Easterly “Bora” wind blew through at 38 knots on our last day, LADY ROSLYN showed herself to be solidly built to handle not only the easy days, but the nasty ones too.
