Natalie Du Buisson, current base manager at the Praslin Island base, was there to greet us as we pick up our 46′ monohull for 2 weeks of cruising. She and her husband have been living in the Seychelles for many years and she took over the base around 2022 for the covid recovery.
The strength of this base is clearly its people. Everyone is friendly and welcoming. Natalie’s team of office staff and maintenance crew made the check-in a very pleasant experience.
No rush, attention to detail and personal.
We dropped our bags a little early and went for provisioning just down the road. Then did the contractual office stuff, handed over money and onwards onto the yacht for the boat brief.
A thorough induction to all the boat systems, including the rigging, followed.
Gilbert gave a great sail brief, highlighting areas to visit and avoid as well as personal tips from experience. Clearly he has been out on these waters a few times before.
In context, we booked in the off-season, so things were very quiet. So much so that we literally felt as if we had the whole island to ourselves. I can see things getting more ‘compact’ as the season ramps up, but these island folk just don’t seem to stress. Good for the blood pressure.
The “marina” is not the place you want to spend your first night, especially with a South Easterly breeze. The swell rolls right in through a haphazard breakwater, boats going up and down and rubbing on each other’s fenders, straining on their lines…. the gelcoat tells the story.
Natalie had no problems with us leaving the same day, sailing about 1 hour around the corner to a nice, calm bay for the night. Just no night sailing! You’d be crazy with all these reefs around.
This article is focusing on the DYC’s Seychelle base and the state of their boats. I will write another article about the places we visited as there are just so many great things to highlight… this is by far the most amazing location I have ever been to.
The base seems equally impressive. Literally, as I pre-wrote this article, a crew got dispatched in relation to a comment I made about a dubious swimming ladder, something I mentioned to Natalie in a WhatsApp message only 2 hrs earlier.
And we only had 2 nights to go so it could have been fixed back at port…. impressive. Base manager of the year award? Davor, your got competition here.
During our trip, we came across a young couple who own the Lagoon 39 “SEBON’ which started in the original Dreameazy Program, same as our contract.
11 months ago, their contract finished and Franz & Nadine (https://www.instagram.com/ourdays.de) did their phase out here in the Seychelles under the stewardship of Natalie.
The owners focused on the big things like corroded emergency tiller system or original sized chart plotter, not every scratch or dent in the kitchen or floor.
According to Franz, DYC went into great detail with this phase out, exceeding expectations. Franz & Nadine returned to the Seychelles after about 3 weeks and 90% of the work done. They stayed on the boat for 2 more weeks, test sailed and took possession thereafter. Seems to me like a good example of how working together as a team can go a long way towards a positive outcome.
The 46' Bavaria Cruiser ...
We chartered a 46′ Bavaria Cruiser. After our very recent trip in the BVI (Sailing in the BVI with DYC), I was ready to change this booking to a catamaran, but unfortunately, there weren’t any boats in my category available.
In its defence, the Bavarian is a brilliant boat, well laid out and comfortable to sail. You sit a little lower in the cockpit compared to the 51.9 Sun Odyssey we had in the BVI, so the forward view whilst seated isn’t as good. But the cockpit space is well organized, winches all in the right positions and loads of room in the main cabin. The rear 2 double cabins have plenty of headroom, the 2 forwards cabins are admittedly a little smaller. But there were only 4 of us at a time, so space galore.
No air conditioning or generator though…and it was hot, very hot, at times. I guess I should have read the fine print, though none of the mono’s here have AC. Ventilation in the rear cabins is marginal at best, let alone with dodger up.
“BIZET” is a DYC owned unit. Delivered in 2017, she has seen a few miles and had various refits done to the cabinetry as you can see in the photos. It really is a design fault, because if you leave the small hatches in the side windows open, all the runoff from the roof goes right into the cabin… onto the cupboards. And as we know, it usually rains when you are on the beach.
There were a few small items that needed attention, like “auto opening” doors when under sail or misinformation on the gauges as to how much water was in what tank, though one of it was operationally significant. And then there is the old issue of onboard power. Whilst having 5 house batteries, you still needed to run the engine 3 times a day for at least an hour to keep up with the fridges. Couple of solar panels on top of the brand-new Bimini could have fixed that…. or a decent sized alternator.
The rigging was in top shape, all lines were new, and the sails did their job well, we are not racing here.
“BIZET” came with a decent sized tender for 4 people, propelled by a 5hp 2stroke which got on the plane if you were alone. Amazing.
Finally, the galley was well stocked with gear to cook with, an electric cool-box style fridge as well as a smallish under benchtop fridge-freezer took care of the drinks and loads of cupboard space for food and bottled water.
This was a well looked after charter yacht that did not disappoint throughout the trip. All boats have some issues.
Click HERE for the full gallery of images, showing Bizet’s interior
When we returned the yacht, there was a debrief onboard where I shared with the maintenance staff issues I found with the boat, most of which I already emailed to Natalie previously.
The dock was a hive of activity, presenting me with an opportunity to look over some other boats including one that is currently going through the phase out to be sold.
The old Lagoon seen happier days on the outside for sure, the gelcoat and paint work looked shocking. Though work was progressing well on the interior.
Downstairs was actually still looking in pretty good shape even before some restoration work. I saw a new fridge being installed and was told by the lads that she is a solid cat.
I also looked at another owner’s 2020 Bali 4.5, which he asked me to and DYC agreed with.
ARCADIA looked in great shape and appears well maintained, apart from the anchor winch. That looked like a sad, in need of some further finishing up. I have linked photos of that boat HERE.
I mentioned earlier that the dock is pretty unprotected, especially South Easterly winds. “Dock-talk” confirm this. There was gelcoat damage evident on almost every boat and the guys are having a hard time keeping up placing fenders, amongst all their other jobs.
There are a few moorings nearby which are used by DYC, and things seem a lot smoother for those boats. Apparently the boats are mainly brought on the dock for servicing, prepping and boarding.
I understand that Praslin is a long way from anywhere, parts take a long time to get there, then wrong part arrive etc etc. So the yard has to make do with what they have to keep the boats operational, but a cheap fix looks just like what they are… cheap. And if you are renting a €8000+ per week boat, you want it to look shiny.
There was a sister-ship to the Bavaria we rented and it had damage to the rear swimming platform, probably because someone back her into a dock. Whilst being fixed, the strip of teak deck on top, where you sit on whilst sailing, was replaced with what looked like plywood and a rough gelcoat.
Functional? Yes. Appealing? Far from it. I asked why: ‘the material wasn’t available here’.
To put things into context: I have seen boats from other operators and talked to clients onboard these boats. None of the above mentioned here is exclusive to DYC.
But that shouldn’t stop DYC from striving to be better. This base certainly seem to have the people willing to go the extra mile who are proud of doing their job to the best of their abilities.
I would like to close this article by thanking all the staff on Praslin Base, particularly Natalie, for their welcoming and open attitude.
I was particularly please to note that some of my suggestions made in a previous article on my BVI experience have clearly been heard and considered. It sure made this holiday a completely different experience all round.
Well done DYC…. Thailand next week
