When a Season Ends – Farewell to CATA DEL MAR and Looking Forward to MANAIA

After many years together, our time with CATA DEL MAR is coming to an end. While the Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42 is being prepared for handover to her new owner, anticipation for our new Lagoon 47 MANAIA is growing.

Our season with CATA DEL MAR, a Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42, has come to an end.

The last trips are behind us, the days are getting shorter, and a quieter time of year is beginning in the marina toward the end of October. For us, the phase that follows every season is starting: inspecting, maintaining, caring for, repairing, and preparing.

This time, however, it is not just the usual winter service, because our CATA DEL MAR will be leaving us.

After several years full of vacations, trips, bays, harbors, and countless memories, the boat is now being prepared step by step for handover to its new owner.

And that is exactly why this winter feels different.

A Boat Eventually Becomes Part of Your Own History

CATA DEL MAR was never just a catamaran to us. She was our home on the water for several weeks each year. With her, we spent vacations, experienced long days at sea, drank our first coffee in quiet bays in the morning, and sat in the cockpit in the evening when the sun disappeared behind the islands.

We discovered Croatia and its beautiful regions with her, experienced perfect sailing days, improvised, planned, and realized time and again how much a boat becomes part of your own life over time. It is not even necessarily the big moments that stay with you.

Often it is the small ones: the sound of the anchor chain in the morning. The first jump into the water. A beautiful stretch under sail. Breakfast in the cockpit. A bay that suddenly becomes almost empty in the evening. A glass of wine on deck. Or simply that feeling of being on the move. A boat itself does not store memories, but eventually you associate so many with it that it feels exactly that way nonetheless.

Now the Final Work Together Begins

Before CATA DEL MAR is handed over to her new owner, there is still a lot to do. Winter work will begin soon, and the list is long. The boat comes out of the water, technology and systems are checked, maintenance is performed, wear parts are inspected and replaced, small traces of the season are removed, and the boat is prepared step by step for the handover.

Engines, electronics, rig, deck, and interior – everything is looked at closely once more. Our standard remains the same as always: we want to hand over CATA DEL MAR in a condition where we ourselves would be happy to cast off the lines at any time. For us, that is part of the process.

You do not just give away a boat that has made so many beautiful experiences possible over the years. You take care of it until the very end.

While CATA DEL MAR Departs, MANAIA Is Created

The special thing about this winter is that the farewell does not stand alone.

In parallel, the next chapter has long been in the making. Our new Lagoon 47 MANAIA did not just appear on a price list and get ordered. Behind the new boat is a lengthy decision and purchase process during which we considered very carefully what our future vessel should look like.

This included conversations, comparisons, technical decisions, and of course appointments directly in France. A particularly important part of this was our visits to the plants in Bordeaux and Les Sables-d’Olonne. There, from a model name and initial designs that we were allowed to view at the time – upon signing an NDA – a real ship slowly emerges. And then we finally saw her live at the International Boat Show in Cannes a few weeks ago.

Suddenly, you are no longer talking abstractly about options and equipment, but standing in front of components, materials, solutions, and details that will influence every single day on board later on.

A New Boat Emerges from Many Small Decisions

When buying such a catamaran, it eventually becomes about much more than just the question of which model it should be. That is when the detailed work begins.

What equipment do we really need? Which solutions make operation easier? What do we likely not need? What increases comfort for our guests? What gives us more self-sufficiency? And what things have we missed on previous boats?

Many decisions regarding MANAIA are therefore consciously based on our experiences from past years. The options lists are long, and many a detail on them might be considered necessary at first glance, but after some thought and reflection on our own experiences with other boats, we choose not to select everything.

Many smaller details that look unspectacular on paper make a big difference in daily operation. We might have decided some things differently a few years ago. Today, we know better what actually counts on board.

And we owe a large part of this experience to boats like CATA DEL MAR.

From Brochure to Own Ship

The exciting part of this process is the change in perception. In the beginning, you look at floor plans, technical data, and renderings. Then, eventually, you stand in front of the ship yourself.

You walk through the salon. You look at the cabins. You stand at the helm. You check pathways, sightlines, storage space, and work areas. Suddenly, an order becomes something very personal. For us, it was clear by Cannes at the latest that we had done everything right up to that point and had chosen a boat with which we want to offer our guests the kind of sailing vacations we love starting in 2027.

The Farewell Still Won't Be Easier

All this anticipation does not change the fact that the handover of CATA DEL MAR will be a special moment. Eventually, the winter work will be completed, and eventually the moment will come when we step off board one last time and know: now CATA DEL MAR is no longer part of our everyday life.

That is not necessarily something you look forward to. Not even when the sale was planned and something new is beginning at the same time. Because with a boat, you are not just passing on technology, fiberglass, engines, and sails. You are passing on a place where you spent many beautiful weeks.

And Then the Next Big Adventure Awaits

After the handover, our gaze will finally turn forward. Because with MANAIA, the next big chapter is waiting. After the takeover in France, the transfer to our base in Croatia begins.

Atlantic - Cape Finisterre - Portugal - Gibraltar - The Western Mediterranean - Balearic Islands - Sardinia - The Strait of Messina - Otranto - And finally the Adriatic.

This will not be an ordinary boat pickup. It will be the actual beginning of the story of MANAIA. And perhaps that is exactly the right transition. The old boat says goodbye. The new one does not just arrive in a marina at some point. We pick it up ourselves and bring it to where the next chapter is to begin.

The Passage We View with Respect

One section of the transfer is already on our minds particularly: the Strait of Gibraltar. Not because of the heavy ship traffic, but because of the Iberian orcas.

Since 2020, there have been repeated interactions between orcas and sailing yachts along the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal as well as in the area of the Strait of Gibraltar. The animals often focus on the rudder. In many cases, it remains a short contact; in others, rudder systems were heavily damaged or destroyed. In a few cases, the damage even led to yachts sinking. To the best of current knowledge, no humans were seriously injured.

Why the animals exhibit this behavior has not yet been conclusively explained. Experts discuss play and learning behavior among other things. To speak of targeted "attacks" on humans would therefore not be correct. What is certain is that for a sailing yacht, such an encounter can have significant consequences.

However, one is not entirely helpless. Authorities and sailing organizations now publish current information on risk areas and behavior during an encounter. The recommendations have changed over the years and should be checked again against the current situation immediately before our passage.

In addition, we intend to carry a technical deterrent system, the so-called Wal - PAL v3 (pat.). This is an acoustic system used behind the ship that is intended to keep the animals at a distance through sound signals. Initial reports are described positively.

For us, this will mean: following current reports, planning the passage carefully, and leaving nothing to chance. If necessary, we will wait another day or two before crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. And then, of course, we hope for the simplest thing: that we see the orcas at most from a distance – and bring MANAIA into the Mediterranean undamaged.

From CATA DEL MAR to MANAIA

With CATA DEL MAR, we spent many beautiful weeks on the water: quiet mornings in protected bays, long sailing days with good wind, and cozy evenings at anchor. It was a varied time with many miles and experiences that we look back on fondly.

Now one last winter with CATA DEL MAR lies ahead of us. After that, we wish the new owner equally beautiful journeys and much joy with the boat.

At the same time, our new Lagoon 47 MANAIA is taking shape in France. We are already looking forward to the first miles with her and the upcoming sailing vacations.

CATA DEL MAR goes. MANAIA comes.

And eventually, it will be time to cast off again.