Galerna – A Peek Down Below

Posted on by

GALERNA – A Peek Down Below

Todays 89’ woody motor sailer – Galerna, started life in Denmark where she was built in 1973, so falls into the ’spirit-of-tradition’ woody family.

In the top photo sent to me back in Jan 2022 by Richard Amery we see her berthed at the Viaduct in Auckland. How Galerna come to be in NZ I do not know but Ken Ricketts reports that she had a major refit by Titan Marine in Auckland in 2015.

Built to take a pounding, oak planks and frames, her hull measures nearly 14” and has a stainless steel ice skirt, all that plus a 5 cyl. B&W 550 hp diesel see her hitting the scales at 190 tonne. Galerna’s cruising range is 4000 miles at 8 knots.

From the photos sent in by KR we can see that she is equipped for expended cruising in grandeur.
Can anyone tell us how she came to call NZ home?

Discover more from waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news - updated daily - 14+ million views

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

4 thoughts on “Galerna – A Peek Down Below”

  2. I believe the Galerna was owned by Alasdair Cassels in the late 90s and early 2000s. I was part of a team of conservation workers in 2002, who went up to Raoul island on the yacht, with Mr Cassels the skipper.

    A really impressive vessel, I’d love the chance to go aboard again.

    Like

  3. My father Louis Lindholm was the second owner of the Galerna. We had her five years and we spent each summer on her. She was originally built from a Danish fishing trawler hull for a wealthy couple. The only thing I remember is the wife was the daughter of the owner a Danish telecommunications company. She was a motor sailor and had two masts. Her engine was a single stroke diesel which was incredibly reliable and gave her a very distinct engine noise. She makes this Chug=Chug=Chug sound that kind of made you think of a train. She would cruise at 8 knots and could make 10 with the sails up and the wind behind her. We never ran her just sails though. She was a single screw and with her high windage could be very tricky to maneuver at slow speeds since she had to be moving in order to turn. After a nasty incident that involved the wind catching her which ended with a damaged pier my father, who was a highly experienced sailor and was also the Captain and navigator, had bow thrusters installed. After that no more maneuvering problems. We cruised Scandinavia and over the years made our way south into the Mediterranean where we went from the big fish to the country cousin compared to all the super yachts. My father had plans to sail her back to British Columbia Canada, where we were from, and use her as a charter fishing tour ship with a friend of his that was in that business. But unfortunately he had an accident with the large winch at her stern. We often would throw a line to shore, put it around the winch, and then use the winch to pull us backward into the mooring spot, but on this occasion the line slipped and my fathers hand was caught and pulled into the line around the winch, crushing it. This was in the south of France and he was taken to surgery in Marseilles, but lost all the fingers on his left hand. After that he sold the ship and the new owners sailed it down to New Zealand and operated it as a charter I believe.

    Like

  4. I am told by a person who has been out on her, that GALRERNA has a very slow running diesel engine, which pushes her along at 8 knots at just 300RPM, which as far as I can tell, from info I have gleaned from Google, is almost certainly a 2 stroke engine, & also it is started by compressed air from an onboard compressor, which must be started first, to fire up the main engine. — KEN R

    Like

Leave a comment