I have driven a brand new car, even flown a brand new Airbus 350 after it was delivered to our company in Hong Kong, but nothing prepared me for sailing a brand new Helia 44 Catamaran
No creaks, no leaks, everything was tight. The steering was responsive, the sails perfectly balanced, carts and travelers were sliding and the ropes where clean and soft. There wasn’t a mark on this bareboat, it was showroom perfect. Well, almost.
- No Shoes had just completed her 2600nm, 450hrs motoring delivered from the factory in La Rochelle to the DYC base in Pula, Croatia.
After some servicing and clean up, it was my privilege to be the first customer to enjoy what will be my full time retirement base in a few years to come.
I had a week of near perfect, first time sailing conditions, heading south from Pula towards Sibenik with a “crew” of four first time catamaran sailors.
Average North Westerly winds, locally known as the Maestral, of around 15kts with a day of 25kts made for some awesome downwind sailing and plenty of opportunities to gently get to know the boat.
We reefed, tacked, jibed, played around with all sorts of technical equipment, cooked, drank and just relaxed on this magnificent, comfortable and most liveable cat.
No Shoes looked brand new as expected. What I didn’t expect was a lot of the stainless steel fittings to show signs of corrosion. Some nuts didn’t even seem to be SS. This is a €1/2M boat, what was FP thinking?
The good news is that the local base manager, Davor, is already onto it and has ordered replacement fittings where required.
Once inside, I was greeted by that very famous, oh so desirable smell of “new boat”. The boat show smell was emitting from the 6 AC units all through the yacht.
Time to try out all the toys (sorry, systems) I could find, under the watchful eye of Davor: genset, water maker, inverter, radio, stereo, onboard WiFi and, oh my god, the Navstation’s Holy Grail … the Garmin 7412 multifunction, GPS, everything display system.
I think the only thing it isn’t linked to or shows is the level of gin in the bottles tucked away in the cupboards.
I am somewhat old school so I was very happy to see the yacht was equipped with local charts and navigation guide. It had a hand held compass, rulers & sliders and some very powerful binoculars.
So together with the traditional means of navigation equipment you are able to verify your actual position both on paper and electronically at anytime.
Talking about electronics, the toy line-up continues at the helm station with a full set of Garmin gear and autopilot.
I will need to spend a few more nights to fully comprehend the entire system’s capability because I am sure there is a way I can display a GoPro signal on the MFD to see the position of the anchor chain as I winch it up….
I have to remind myself that this is a charter yacht and it would have to be the best equipped one I have come across so far.
The last yacht I chartered, the Bali 4.3, didn’t even have a wind indicator near the helm.
No Shoes has of course all safety related equipment as standard, down to bolt cutters. There was even an anchor ball. Didn’t think I’d ever use it, but what do you know….
The one thing it didn’t have were safety lines, the ones you attached the deck. To be fair, I haven’t seen any of these on any other charter yacht to date either. It did have harnesses and a bosun’s chair but no rain jackets or any spare lines of any kind. So if you wanted to rig up a preventer, you had to be a little imaginative with the mooring lines or tail ends of other sheets… Not ideal at all.
Oh, and a searchlight would be a nice addition. The two touches are okay, but at night, close to the cliffs at anchor … the brighter the better. Lucky I brought my own.
The dingy can easily carry 6-8 adults, just don’t be in a rush. Those 5hp only allow 1 person to plain. On the flip side, it easy to hoist back up the davits with a dedicated winch.
I had done a fair amount of research before arriving in Croatia and had a route mapped out already. So it was just a matter of confirming suitability of various overnight spots and restaurants and verifying the reliability of the local weather forecast.
Davor pointed out a few hazards, they even produced a short video, but it would have been nice to have them marked clearly and permanently on the available maps.
I have to admit though, as the manager and guardian of my investment for the next 5 years, we had so much “general” catching up to do that we may have left out a few things which normal charter clients would have been privileged to as part of his routine induction.
There were only 5 of us on the Cat for this trip, so storage space clearly wasn’t a problem. Plenty of room for food and beverages in various places around the galley, don’t forget the under-floor spaces, but NO FREEZER.
The bar fridge outside had a small compartment to make ice cubes and it was super quick making them, but the giant 2 draw fridges didn’t freeze, so consider that when you buy raw meat for a week or two. But then, there is no BBQ onboard either.
We used one of the fully fitted-out forepeaks to store the ungainly suitcases various people managed to bring.
Safety brief, discuss man overboard procedure and finally … time to leave. First sail ever on No Shoes … and still unable to wipe that smile of my face.
All I needed to do now was to get her safely out of that tight marina without driving over any of these pesky, front mooring lines they seem to use here. What’s that all about?
Then of course the sudden realization that my next “parking manoeuvre” wouldn’t be anchoring but backing into one of these tight marinas for the first night stop. And I’d never driven a Helia before.
So once out on in the bay, a little “reverse parking” and getting a feel for how No Shoes responds to being directionally controlled, in reverse, with engine controls only.
Surprisingly easy. But more on that under the chapter “Sailing tips” soon.
Now … really … First sail ever on No Shoes. It turned out to be an awesome broad reach and downwind sail, like gliding over the ocean in 15kts apparent.
Which quickly lead to the first ever Gin & Tonics on No Shoes, the first anchoring, swim, lunch … you get the picture.
As the afternoon approached, it was time to head for the harbour and with that the dreaded first backward style mooring under the watchful eyes of the entire dock.
We pulled it off like pros thanks to the smooth handling performance of this yacht, some very helpful dockside staff, almost zero wind, a well briefed crew and of course…. my amazing skills (hahaha).
First ever sunset on No Shoes followed by first Rum & Coke.
For those who are interested, I will list the places we visited and places we ate at as a reference for those of you who might want to visit this part of the world, maybe even on No Shoes.
Somewhere along the trip we picked up a rat … yep, first ever rat for me, not just on No Shoes … and caught it a day later with a trap kindly provided to us by yet another friendly Konoba owner. He didn’t want the rat, just the trap back.
The rest of the trip was a varied mix of great winds, strong winds and no winds at all. I was glad that I took the opportunity early on to practice reefing and get the crew involved. As it turned out, there were no lines to haul down the reef tack for the second or third reef (the first reef is fully automatic from the helm station). So I had to make something up from bits I could find. This issue has already been rectified by Davor for the next charter.
On the note of support from Davor Grbac, I could not have wished for a more engaged and supportive individual. He was there for us and other clients 24/7. Not once did I have to wait more than 10 min for a reply to a request.
Severe Weather warnings were sent to us by WhatsApp and recommendations for places to eat and visit were given on the run as we changed our itinerary.
The yacht didn’t have a raincoat as part of its inventory (as they do in Australia or Thailand) so he lent me his for the trip and it came in very handy one night – thank you so much.
Being a new yacht and me being an owner, I ran a very close eye over the yacht and wrote down a small list of items I would have liked fixed, improved or just looked at.
Fully aware that there are “must fix now”, ” will fix next” and “attend to during off season” items on the list I was merely hoping for the list to be taken seriously. As it turns out, most items had already been fixed by the time I got back to Hong Kong a few days later.
At the end of the trip, a doctor consultation was required and Davor went out of his way to assist, translate and organise.
Departure taxis were booked and they promptly arrived the next morning at some ungodly hour as promised. Actions speak louder than words. Well done!
A final word on the Helia 44 Evolution, the last one of its kind:
The Helia sailed extremely well balanced at all points of sail with almost no weather helm, although she isn’t the most impressive upwind performer. But then all is a compromise and this isn’t a race boat …. I still think its the Alfa Romeo of the cruising production cats though.
There were a lot of discussions on the forums about the position of the winches in relation to the steering wheel and access to the auto pilot. Personally I found this setup to be spot on. Everything is in the right place, lines fall neatly into place, don’t get tangled, and I never ran out of a free winch. If you had to, you could run it all via the electric winch on the starboard side incase of injury or exhaustion.
Also discussed was the difficulty of lowering the mainsail. Yes, more carts would be helpful for raising and lowering it as well as neater storage in the sail bag. But it’s manageable, until you need to reef and there is any tension left on the luff. That requires some light acrobatics, so an assistant downhaul line would help as some suggest.
Anchoring is a breeze with the remote control and chain counter from the helm station. Accommodation, kitchen space (this isn’t just a galley), lounging areas …. all are excellent and extremely comfortable.
We all only banged our heads on the boom once and that was at anchor with the boom too low and at a wrong angle for stowage. At sea, this was never an issue, with plenty of clearance at all times.
All up, it was an awesome trip. I am still smiling from ear to ear, having had confirmation that I have purchased the right yacht for me.
Yes, I wish I could sail her away into the sunset NOW where everything is still shiny and untouched by many charter hands, but alas, work isn’t over just yet and the money bucket still needs a little topping up.
So in the meantime, I feel this will provide the best of both worlds, keeping me on the water for at least 6-8 weeks a year. Good bye you beautiful cat. See you next year.
Didn’t I say in some previous post that I am to remove all emotional attachment as this a purely a business transaction? Focus Nils, Focus!
Great review Nils. That must have been a week filled with emotion. Outstanding job getting the last one!!!
Hi Ken, thanks. Yes, it sure was a big week. It was nice to see it all come together finally.
It was the most amazing experience and Nils was a fantastic skipper and host and we saw bits of Croatia we wouldn’t otherwise see. As the least practical of the crew I struggled a bit but the others made up for it! The Cat was a luxurious home away from home and I loved being able to spend so much time in the sun. Thanks Nils for an unforgettable experience – would recommend!
Kate, it’s been a pleasure having you all on board on this first trip of No Shoes. I remember you doing all right with the anchor and mooring action 😆
An amazing trip which made me fall in love with sailing. The catamaran was perfect, I could happily live on it. It’s stylish, comfortable and has absolutely everything you need. Nils made sailing it look super easy which was handy as none of us knew what we were doing. Now, I just have to figure out how to buy my own boat and go sailing round the world! Thanks Em and Nils for a brilliant trip.
Hi Catherine, so glad you had a good time. NoShoes will be around for a while, I am sure another sail “is in the winds”
As one of the awesome but inexperienced crew members I can only say I loved the Helia 44 and want one immediately. I’d happily live on it permanently. Super comfy beds, well laid out bathrooms and loads of lounging space. It was clearly easy to sail because Nils rarely needed our help, leaving us plenty of time to make the sun-downers (and lunch-downers, and afternoon-tea-downers). Oh, and I didn’t bang MY head on the boom.
Emily, you are always welcome to come back.
This was the most awesome sailing trip that I would thoroughly recommend to all those who love the sea:) It took me several days to come back down to earth when I arrived home afterwards. Friends,. Island hopping, exquisite sunsets & views, refreshing swims, masses of laughter, banter, sundowners 😉 yummy food, underrated restaurants. No Shoes is the perfect stylish, comfortable brand new catamaran that lacked nothing for a short or long trip. Having a skipper who takes on masses of responsibility allows you to fully relax on your sailing trip if you want to, or like me, are not too experienced. Having said that, this awesome trip has reminded me about where I am at my happiest; on the water and I visualise sailing lessons, licences and perhaps a gorgeous cat in the future. After all the kids leave home eventually (don’t they) by which time, I’ll have Nick (hubby) fully on board with the plan, excuse the pun 😂 Thank you so much to Em and @nils_gruttner @NoShoes-Resoled For a truly memorable experience 😊
Fab, glad I could plant “the seed” 😆
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Google Photo has been sending me reminders I’d what I was doing a year ago – Sailing on No Shoes Resoled. Fab memories. If only I could be back in Croatia on it again…
Yes Emily, totally agree. Have booked for end of August. Let’s see what happens …
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Hi Nils,
I am about to confirm renting your Helia 2. july until 9.july 2022. We will be my Wife, 3 grownup Kids with their girls and boyfriends.
I have been sailing for 35 years and would like to live out my dream of sailing when i retire. I really enjoy reading about your experience of sailing her to Croatia.
I promise to look after her the best way and give her water under the keel.
Best regards
Tom Q
That is so awesome. Send looooots of pictures and have a good look over her. I have booked her in August for 2 weeks but would love to hear what you think. She is my retirement dream as well. We might just meet again one day👍
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