For decades, ocean devotees Georges and his wife have revolved family holidays around sailing Superyachts. Now their grown-up children are opting for Southern Wind to continue the much-loved tradition. Here the pair share why they all can’t get enough of charter adventures
For the last three summers, sea-loving couple Georges and his wife have chartered Southern Wind boats – South African-built thoroughbreds famous for their sleek good looks and effortless performance. Vacationing at the pinnacle of the sailing world, it must feel like a lifetime ago that they were learning the ropes on Oppies and Toppers. But their combined childhood experiences of wind and sand have moulded a lifelong passion that led the couple to Cape Town in search of the perfect yacht.
Focusing on charter with their family has given them the opportunity to try out different Southern Wind yachts while exploring some of the Mediterranean’s greatest dive spots. Sørvind, the fifth and final boat in the successful SW105 miniseries, provided the backdrop to the family’s first holiday with the company, but their charter story really began much earlier. As a successful global executive in management consulting and insurance, Georges was posted to Beijing in 1999, then to Japan and Hong Kong. It was in Asia that the couple rediscovered the joys of sailing with their young family.
“My wife finally found an opportunity to charter a 23m sailing boat in Thailand with a French skipper,” says Georges. “It was a Joubert-Nivelt one-off built for the Whitbread, then converted for mid-level charter. We started by doing four to five days to try it out, but everybody loved it and we ended up doing the same thing on the same boat for 10 years – each time with a longer and longer stay. We had a great skipper who taught us all scuba diving,” he continues. “It was a proper high-performance sailing boat and that defined chartering for us – the yacht had to perform under sail, because that’s what’s enjoyable.”
Their youngest daughter was just four for the first sailing holiday, but now the children are fully-fledged professionals and it is they who book the trips. As the repeated Southern Wind yacht charters show, their desire for performance is just as strong as their parents’. There was a false start on the eve of the pandemic, when the family had booked a surprise charter for Georges. But fate finally relented in 2023, and circumstances allowed that particular trip to go ahead.
“Because we had lived in South Africa, I knew about the yard, of course,” says Georges. “But also from reading magazines. I always thought Southern Winds’ boats were some of the most beautiful I’d ever seen. When my family told me about the plans to charter one, I was delighted. It was exactly the boat I would have chosen.”
At that time, Sørvind (the more efficient Norwegian term for ‘southern wind’) had just been launched by the yard and sailed from Cape Town to the Mediterranean. Her profile was sky-high after winning Sailing Yacht of the Year (30-50m) at the 2023 World Superyacht Awards. It is hard to imagine a more prestigious start for a new generation family
sailing charter.
At 105ft (32.27m) length overall, Sørvind is a big boat. But as the family had grown to include a three-year-old granddaughter as well as kids’ partners, the full eight berths were needed (two doubles, two twins). Service was excellent thanks to a crew of five who ensured the boat ran like clockwork and everyone was well looked after. As befits a yacht of this scale, the itinerary for this first year was around Greece’s windy Cyclades islands – long a playground for well-heeled sailors. The odyssey began in Mykonos, where on-trend nightspots jostle with a battery of venerable windmills and narrow, whitewashed streets. But the family was intent on getting under way and finding more remote anchorages in which they could enjoy each other’s company and launch the watersports kit. Highlights included Amorgos, the backdrop to Luc Besson’s film Le Grand Bleu, and the Temple of Apollo on Delos.
“We had great wind – a steady 15 knots and no burst of Meltemi [Aegean Sea summer winds],” remembers Georges. “It is remote and we did it in late August, when there’s much less traffic. It gives you the possibility of being pretty much alone among those islands. The most amazing thing was sailing into Santorini,” he says. “It’s something you’ll remember all your life. I had been there on land 30 years previously, and always thought I’d like to come back with a sailing boat. It didn’t disappoint.”
Among Sørvind’s most appreciated features were the huge, well-protected cockpit, which is designed to be free of sail controls, and the drop-down bathing platform. Stowage space is generous, with room for a Williams Sportjet 435 tender, a Seabob, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, wakeboards, waterskis and a wing foil. The family, with their love of diving, also hired scuba gear. “The charter provided a rare opportunity for the entire family to reunite after a long time apart, as well as to introduce our three-year-old granddaughter to the world of sailing,” says Georges. “Since then, we’ve done it every year with different-sized boats.”
A smaller group of six allowed the family to book a slightly smaller Southern Wind the following year – the magnificent 82-footer Ammonite from 2016. Her three cabins provided more than enough accommodation, and the crew was smaller too – just three people. This clearly appealed to the couple, who enjoy the intimacy of the family group. “We found Sørvind to be a super sailing yacht and had a great experience,” says Georges. “At the same time, we asked ourselves whether it was too many crew for us – we had been used to a three-crew boat in Phuket. We are used to doing a lot of things ourselves, and as a mother, I don’t want our children or grandchildren getting too used to service.”
Ammonite was based in Croatia, so the holiday unfurled between Split and Dubrovnik, taking in the old-world splendour of Hvar, the strange, lunar wilderness of the Thousand Islands and well-trodden Game of Thrones territory. Then they swooped south and cruised in among the mountains of Montenegro. “It was probably the most spectacular of these trips,” says Georges. “We sailed throughout the inland seas, and at times had quite demanding conditions. The innermost of these saltwater lakes reminded me of Switzerland, but one evening we had 40 knots that arrived in, like, 10 minutes, so you have to be cautious. All of us would still go back in an instant.”
One lesson to come from this unforgettable cruise was that a crew of three is too small for running the boat and managing with young children. This was one of the reasons that the family chose the SW94 Aragon for their 2025 charter – whose greater length permitted four crew. This time, they explored Sardinia’s fabled east coast. An extraordinary range of experiences awaited here, from the chicness of Porto Cervo to the storied squares of Cagliari, via national parks and deserted coves.
Diving in the protected Lavezzi islands was a particular highlight, but they also benefitted from the long legs of the yacht. “We started around Porto Cervo, where I’ve never seen so many Superyachts in my life,” says Georges. “That was fun for three or four days before we went down the coast, and it became much more deserted and low key – the diversity is what I like. This is where having a high performance boat makes a difference,” he explains. “If you can do 10 knots under sail, you have a much greater degree of freedom than at six knots. In this way, a Southern Wind gives you a lot of extra range. With less performance you might end up motoring more.”
Besides the exhilarating performance of these yachts and their obvious comforts below, Georges also highlights the experience of chartering through Southern Wind. “They try to create a family feeling across the different yachts and crews, and it’s true, because the skippers know each other.” That pays dividends if there’s a problem with a tender or a piece of equipment, and another of its boats can help.
The company’s attentiveness to the wishes of individual charter groups is particularly important when it comes to facilitating their scuba-diving ambitions, for which an external divemaster would bring in equipment for the day. “Our charter contact helped us find the right dive shop so we had a local divemaster who really knows the place,” says Georges. “That way we could access the best dives with the best guide. But it’s also important that you have a crew that actually likes using the toys on board, so they can take the kids for a session of water-ski or foiling.”
Georges is modest about his own sailing skills, despite cutting his teeth in a Salcombe Yawl and an elderly sailing trawler, then getting years of competitive regatta sailing off New England under his belt. “I’m not a proficient sailor and these boats are so complicated that you need to have a crew to exploit their performance,” he says. “But when you helm one, the sensation of flying on the water is so strong it has eliminated our interest in any other boat. We always want it to feel just as fast and responsive.”
So it is little surprise to hear him say that the family would love to buy their own Southern Wind. “Beyond owning a piece of art with superb high technology, you can decide on your own voyages,” he muses. “I would love to sail to faraway places around the world. My dream yacht would be the new Southern Wind SW100X. I had the chance to see the first hull at the factory: it offers high-end guest quarters with four beautiful cabins, which would allow our whole family to come. And the new Seaside Lounge will be stunning – an amazing innovation. For me it offers the best compromise of long-range sailing with an edge.”
GEORGE’S TOP DIVE SITES:
Panderonissi Cavern on Paros Island in the Cyclades:
“A beautiful underwater cavern with magnificent sunlight coming through
the entrances”
Santorini:
“You sail and dive in the spectacular caldera, a true wonder of the world”
Amphora dive site near Hvar, Croatia:
“Hundreds of Greek amphorae in incredibly good shape are all lying in the water, and you can (nearly) touch history when you see them”
Blue Cave near Mamula Island, Montenegro:
“Look out for the dramatic lights as you go through the narrows and tunnels”
PR38 Tunj patrol boat, near Mamula Island:
“Marshal Tito, the ruler of Yugoslavia, decided to see what a torpedo does to a boat. The answer is a lot of damage!”
Lavezzi Islands between Corsica and Sardinia:
“Beautiful fish and underwater corals – you feel like you’re at the edge of
the world”
ITINERARIES:
Recent journeys the family have enjoyed with Southern Wind, in full:
2025: Sardinia, 10-20 August:
Portisco – Porto Pollo – Isola Budeli – Porto Palma – Isola Molara – Cala Ganone – Cala Galoritze – Cala Sa Figu –
Campulongo – Pula – Marina Cagliari
2024: Croatia, Montenegro, 16-27 August:
Sibenik – Kornati – Maslinica – Hvar – Vis – Korcula – Susac – Lastovo – Mljet – Uvala Spilice – Kobas – Dubrovnik – Kotor - Tivat
2023: Cyclades, Greece, 21 August-1 September:
Tourlos – Ormos (Mykonos) – Delos - Naoussa (Paros) – Antiparos – Agiassos (Naxos) – Koufonisi – Amorgos – Alimias (Irakleia) – Nsis Ofidousa (Schinoussa) – Chora (Ios) - Santorini
