First Impression: Bliss

Date toured: December 2011

The 121-foot sailing yacht Bliss is a 2009 build from NZ Yachting Developments. She has been available for charter since she launched, but primarily in French Polynesia. Her debut in the Caribbean charter market took place during the winter 2011-12 season, and she will spend her first summer in the Mediterranean during 2012.

“We are a sailboat that actually sails,” Capt. Ross Haerle told me during my tour. “Some of our crew have racing backgrounds from Cowes. We can move comfortably at 10 to 13 knots, and we love to put the sails up and go.”

Bliss is noteworthy for her contemporary décor, including white leather, high-gloss black with silver accents and real stingray skin. She has massive windows in her main salon including sloping glass doors that lead from there outside to the cockpit.

“We have a unique décor for a sailboat,” Haerle says. “I think that powerboat people who want to dabble in sailboats might like us for that reason. Plus, we’re beamy. We feel more comfortable space-wise than a lot of other sailing yachts our size.”

Bliss is advertised as taking 12 guests, though the accommodations are quite flexible for charter parties that are smaller. The master cabin, in addition to its regular bed, has a sofa beneath a bunk-style Pullman berth. A divider wall can be inserted to make that bunk area a small, separate children’s cabin. Two of the belowdecks cabins are also flexible, with twin beds that can convert to kings. Those cabins also have Pullman berths if needed.

Also worth mentioning is that Bliss has a forward tender well that converts to a hot tub when the tender is in the water at anchor.

The lowest weekly base rate to charter Bliss is €65,000. YPI Group is the management company, and any reputable charter broker can help you book a week onboard.—Kim Kavin