"It's been one hell of an adventure," says Alon, describing not only the time he's spent cruising on his Antares Blue Dawn form Buenos Aires, Argentina to Brazil and eventually in the Caribbean, but also about the relationships made with the people at Antares.

[link on photos to enlarge]

This isn't Alon’s first catamaran; in fact, he’s been sailing aboard what he describes as a “run of the mill” brand for the past 10 years.

“I wanted an up market catamaran,” he says, and after searching for several years, crisscrossing the ocean from the Miami show to the La Rochelle, France boat show with his trusted delivery captain, he made his decision.

“I decided to go for it. I felt more comfortable with the finish, and compared to other catamarans, it came with many more ‘extras’,” he explains. Ultimately, as he puts it, he likes the guys at Antares, and wanted to be a part of the adventure.

“I inspected the boat yard several times to check on the quality of the build during the time it was being made, and I began to form a relationship with the builder.”

And that relationship didn't stop there. Alon, his son, and Memo Castro - Antares Yachts general manager in Argentina – sailed together on the first leg of the journey.


“We sailed from Buenos Aires to Santos, Brazil – that’s about 950 miles – with the famous Memo Castro,” says Alon. “He’s a legend in my family.”

“I have very good feelings about him. He’s a true sailor and knows the boat well. We were in high seas and he was in the transom locker fixing the water maker. After 6 or 7 hours, he comes up with a bottle of fresh water and says ‘Here’s your Champagne, sir’.”

Not everyone has the iron-clad stomach to endure being below in a locker in rough seas. But sailing has been a part of Memo’s life from the time he was a baby and he’s since accumulated an impressive resume of experience. Some of the highlights have been two trips to Cape Horn, several South Atlantic crossings, and being amongst the crew to sail to Antarctica aboard a 24 foot Pequod – surprisingly, the first Argentine yacht to sail to Antarctica in 1987.

Blue Dawn left Argentina in August, which is South America’s winter, and they were sailing in head winds and with temperatures that dropped to below 0 at night. With the full enclosure up, Alon was impressed not to see a drop of water in the cockpit – not even a boarding sea.

“She sails by far better than expected,” Alon says describing how Blue Dawn handled the ocean passage. “She’s excellent in high seas and she handles the seas very well without pounding. She is not scared of it, she is confident”.

“She doesn't cry, she doesn't squeak”, he explains, adding that this was one of the factors in his decision to buy the Antares. Because the cabinets are an integral part of the building process and contribute to the strength and rigidity of the overall structure, the modules are glassed in. The majority of mass produced boats glue and screw the cabinets in and result in what Alon describes as crying – the discomforting squeaking that results from the twisting and torqueing while underway.

Traveling north along the coast of South America, Alon stopped at several destinations. Sao Paulo and Rio were spectacular tourist destination, and he describes Ilha Bela off the coast of Sao Paulo as the Brazilian Riviera. Some of his photographs taken off the beaten path in Camamu, just south of Salvador, look like something form a 1970’s edition of National Geographic, dugout canoes and all.

Once in Trinidad, Alon spent several weeks with his family playing in the Caribbean. Today, Blue Dawn has just sailed past Bermuda, and according to his captain, Yann, they just past the last 3 leading boats of the ARC who started 3 hours before they did (a Hanse 531, a Maramu 54 and a Beneteau 57)!

Once they reach Europe, Alon will spend the summer in Spain and France, cruising to Rome and Athens and eventually traveling to his home port in Israel having completed an impressive 10,000 miles.

Like he says, it’s been one hell of an adventure.

Link here to read the Captain's report for the delivery across the Atlantic.