Some sailors’ lifetime goal is to cruise around the world. Others have a burning ambition to win the world’s major regattas. If you want to do both at the same time, you’re going to need a very special yacht indeed. That was the ambitious design brief for Morgana, the latest 100ft high-performance superyacht built in Cape Town by Southern Wind Shipyard.
Launched on 18 October 2020, Morgana was handed over to her skipper and delivery crew just six weeks later and completed her 6,863-mile maiden voyage from South Africa to La Spezia, Italy in a creditable 30 days at an average speed of 10 knots. A top speed during that passage of 26.4 knots, logged while sailing downwind with a double-reefed mainsail and staysail, gives some insight into her potential.
Southern Wind is well known for its semi-custom blue water cruiser racers which are available as platform builds in three sizes, from 30m (96ft) to 36m (120ft) LOA with a wide range of deck plan, superstructure and interior options. However, the shipyard also takes on what it likes to call ‘smart custom’ build projects, which challenge the team to deliver innovative hi-tech one-off yachts like Morgana while maintaining the reliability and quality for which Southern Wind is renowned. Read on.
