Dream Once upon a time, far far away, in a tiny little country called The Netherlands, there was a sailor who wanted to build a yacht that could sail self-supporting. Be off grid. Endlessly. No diesel needed. No petrol, no gas, just by generating your own energy. No water from hoses ashore, but rainwater caught by the deck. Living by the wind.
Plan He gathered some enthusiastic people. They formed a team. Sponsors supported the project.
Do A Duurzaam Jacht (Sustainable Yacht) was designed, developed and built. Hi-tech and low-tech, and everything ‘from the shelf’. Many people followed this. This stage ended by baptising the Sustainable Yacht and calling her ‘Ya’.
Some 5 years after, the champaign all over the bows.
Sail The Ya started sailing a fossilfree circumnavigation – the first ever! She drew a lot of attention. Every Dutchman, sailor or landlubber, wanted to know how it was done. The Ya became a real demonstration yacht. She was invited on boat shows in Holland, but also in the international Dutch Maritime Museum in Rotterdam. This yacht has demonstrated successfully that everybody can sail a sustainable yacht and any wharf can build it. From a demo yacht the Ya has grown to a fossil free sailing globetrotter. She departed from the Netherlands and sails all over Mother Earth.
A pictured history of Sustainable Yacht the Ya
Here the highlights of the development of the Ya, the dreaming, designing, doing, from recent to old.
The Ya has a Parasailor! The Parasailor is the very solution if you want to make enough speed in an easy, comfortable way. You hoist it, unsniff it… and there you sail. Much much calmer than spinakers or genakers. Now the Ya is able to get enough speed in light weather conditions, enough to make the Autoprops deliver electricity. This was our weak point and we solved it! Read this article if you want to know all details about the hydrogenation on the Ya. Bruntons Propellors was willing to sponsor it, distributor Bomarine sponsored. Last but not least, Van de Gruiter sponsored again with all necessery running rigging.
May 2018. Arrival of the Ya in Medemblik after the succesfull fossil free circumnavigation. A warm welcome by the Mayor and many sailors, on their boats and on shore. A prize for outstanding achievement and in Fryslan music and fossil free festivities,
2016-2016. The Ya toured fossil free around the world, always with the helping hands of crew. Also thanks for the pictures they made.
2018, March 9, on her way home, just having passed the Doldrums, the Ya crossed her route and hence she made the first fossil free circumnavigation ever done.
2016, September, Medemblik. The Ya departs for the first fossil free circumnavigation ever made in history.
2015. Shortly after the baptise, the Ya went to the Haringvliet (an old sea arm) and famous Dutch photographer Laurens Morel of Salty Colours organized a photo session, with this little film.
2015. 9 years old Yfke baptises the Sustainable Yacht with the name ‘Ya’. The bottle of champaign comes out of the sky.
2014 Setting the masts is the big thing for every sailor. Funny: the carbon main mast weighs only 55 kg, which is lighter than the 95 kg weight of the shrouds, stays and halyards on it .
2013-2014 With our high sustainable ambitions, we were glad that we kept the carpenting, construction, engineering and rigging in our own hands. Here our ships carpenter Tsjerk Adema. 2013 In June the hull is ready. The first time she touches the water.
2012-2013 A time lapse on building the hull in 2 minutes.
2012 The construction of the yacht starts. Here the turning of the hull.
2012 Sponsors start sponsoring the Sustainable Yacht project. Recession or not, the sponsors like the project and finally we collected the necessary 120.000 Euros. 2011 The first volunteers join the project. Riemer builds the website www.duurzaamjacht.nl, Bert helps on sustainable design and Andreas has the hands on the first building matters.
2011 Naval architect Dick Koopmans (here on the right) has build a 1:15 model and she sails here, We are all enthousiast (even our dog Piet). 2011 Naval architect Dick Koopmans draw the first concept. A self supporting yacht of 10 meter, a comfortable beam of 4 meter and she only draws 65 cm (2 1/2 feet) to get you anywhere there is some water. And sustainable or not, she should be CE-A (Ocean) approved. 2010 – The essential step in the development process was the first Energy Balance. Peter started working one out. Many sailors were consulted and -although every sailor knows the best- there was a sort of agreement that in theory it was possible to sail fossilfree. 2010 The first step. Peter put a windmill and 3 solar panels on his house and connected a battery bank to it. From then he measured the generation and consumption. Would it be enough for safe sailing? By the way, from now the office of the Clean Wave Foundation was energy neutral!
