Cloudy Bay is a Hallberg-Rassy 54 launched in Sweden in 2008. She is hull 21, out of 44 built. The design is by Germán Frers. Hallberg-Rassy 54 is a dedicated blue-water cruiser, built to stand against the worst weather conditions, but also to live in.
Why we love her?
She is one of the finest built cruising sailboats in the world! The center cockpit is comfortable, feels very safe and sheltered. The woodwork is exceptional, making the teak interior very elegant. We liked the layout with a master aft cabin, and a very generous guests cabin in front of the mast with a double berth. The walk-in engine room is a real man’s-cave, any sailor’s dream. The floor is in one level throughout the boat, which provides easy movement throughout the boat even in choppy seas.
To begin with, we felt very much overwhelmed with the size of the boat and the rig. But now, we feel in control over such an impressive yacht. And we know she will take us anywhere, in any weather. That’s a nice feeling of security.
Why named her Cloudy Bay? Derek, the previous owner, named her after the famous New Zealander wine. We liked the name, and kept it as such.
Hallberg-Rassy 54 basic stats:
Hull length 16.74 m 54’ 11’’
Waterline at rest 14.30 m 46’ 11’’
Beam 4.70 m 15’ 5’’
Draught 2.30 m 7’ 6 1/2’’*
Displacement 26.3 t 58 000 lbs
Lead keel 9.75 t 21 500 lbs
Sail area with genoa 175.5 m² 1 890 ft2
Engine Volvo Penta 180HP
Mast over water 24.50 m 80’ 5’’
The full specifications are here.
Interior walk-through video here.
23 comments
s/v Cloudy Bay is registered in Gibraltar, UK.
Just out of curiosity, why Gibraltar?
Tax reasons, Andrej. The boat had not had EU VAT paid when new, so it had to be registered outside EU VAT zone, which Gibraltar is. (So are the Spanish Canary Islands too, by the way, but we didn’t want to be based there given our first 2 years were cruising the Med.)
Wife I Love your videos and your sense of humor, the only sailing channel where the wife doesn’t show azzz in a dental floss to the world, hard to find people like you guys these days, keep up the good work.
Hi,
Firstly, great YouTube site, which makes for addictive viewing in the off-season!
I have just watched the Parasailor video and noticed Cloudy Bays bowsprit. Please can you help me? I am looking to fit a bowsprit to my Beneteau 42cc., but my challenges are the closeness of the anchor locker to the bow, and high gunwales.
However, Cloudy Bay’s bowsprit appears to have met those challenges. Please can you advise the manufacture or did you have the bowsprit manufactured? If the latter, please can you advise the dimensions (diameter, length, and distance between the two fixing points, plus the distance from the second fixing point to the forward end.
Your answers will be a big help in solving my problem.
Kind regards
David
David, we had it made in Almerimar, Spain by Arcglow. Its made from an old 50mm propshaft and bent to follow our stainless steel stem fitting. It is 1.5m long and fixed at the inboard end and mid point.
Sorry for the late reply
Hey Glen- great updates and glad to see you back in the water. You may have covered this is past updates- do you use a cellular booster on board for local connections when not offshore?
Hi Chip,
No, we dont have a cellular booster. we find our phones connect just fine, even sometimes 10-15 miles off shore. We do have a WiFi booster though, which is super good. We can get WiFi signals at anchor that our phones cannot even see.
Glen , you are a great craftsman !!! and paitiend to.
Glen and Oana,
Thank you so much for sharing a part of your work and adventures! I concur with so many others: Your craftsmanship, humor, humility, and sense of adventure are precisely what makes your channel superior to all others! You both are a wonderful inspiration!
Glen, I really enjoy your YouTube channel and have ambitions of making many of the same passages aboard my Moody 425. Aside from your adventures themselves, one stand-out is the cockpit enclosure which fits beneath your bimini. I’m in the process of designing something similar and have many screen grabs from your channel of the design. I am hoping you might be able to share some more details, particularly the fastening system aft, as well as how the strataglass window panels fir from the inside..
Many thanks!
Paul Athens
S/V Hellbound NYC, USA
Just saw you fuel up at HHS. It was a real treat to circle your boat like kids at a rock concert. I had to restrain myself from saying @i want your autograph “. 🙂 You impressively headed for the fuel dock and then used your bow thruster to swing the bow to starboard resulting in your stern pulling to port and of course a few strokes in the throttle and you were docked. The boat in front of you looked on as you docked within a yard of his stern
Just saw you fuel up at HHS. It was a real treat to circle your boat like kids at a rock concert. I had to restrain myself from saying @i want your autograph “. 🙂 You impressively headed for the fuel dock and then used your bow thruster to swing the bow to starboard resulting in your stern pulling to port and of course a few strokes in the throttle and you were docked. The boat in front of you looked on as you docked within a yard of his stern
Well, a sturdier boat I have never met! Beautiful lines, easy on the eyes, yet properly sized for bluewater passages all day long. Now, I know that Oana does NOT love the rough passages very much (who does?) but, SV Cloudy Bay makes most of them look easy. I’m super impressed with that Frers hull keeping the motion muted when the waves are high & short! A lovely beast which (Glen) you attend too like a well loved child. I laugh when you are cleaning things when the weather is still horrible! But, I appreciate the hours spent ‘finishing’ the last 10% of the work needed on the hard- at night, in the morning, etc…
Thank you for such lovely work and exciting passages!
Hello Glen & Oana,
I enjoy vicariouly following your adventures. As an engineer myself I am impressed with your courage and veracity tackling the various issues Cloudy Bay presents you.
I noticed that HR changed their hull material to vinyl ester after your boat was made. Does CB suffer from blisters? I ask because I have an old polyester resin boat that does and would like to avoid this issue in the future.
Many thanks for your reply and keep enjoying life!
Kieran Sweeney
Glen and Oanna, hello we hope you’re both good and all’s well. We love you both and your YouTube channel, and we hope very much that you’ll start making regular videos again on YouTube. You were/are among our favourite sailors on there and we’re really missing you and your videos. Will you be back soon? We certainly hope so.
All the best to you both.
John.
Hi Glen & Oana
I’ve only just found your YouTube channel and have been following your boat maintenance videos and thoroughly enjoying your attention to detail and knowledge.
But I’ve just seen that after watching maintenance number 6 from 9 months ago there are no further videos???
I hope everything is OK with you both and its just a glitch with YouTube at my end.
All the best and I really hope your both ok
Hi Baby !?!?
What´s wrong ? I don´t have news from Glen, from Oana and from the sailboat Cloudy Bay. Greetings from Mario Villamil /Buenos Aires /Argentina
Hey Guys,
Am I missing something! You seem to have disappeared. Are you both ok? Much concerned.
Regards Gary
Thank you for the videos. They are so enjoyable to watch. We have been power boaters for a long time and I am venturing into sail. I have been looking at a 54 and talking to long time sailboat captains. Can you give me a sense for sailing characteristics of the boat in heavier seas. Specifically I am told HR generally roll quite a bit? I know a heavy boat but that is what I am after bc I would like to cruise as you are.
A few of us were getting concerned at your absence, but delighted to see you are back on deck. Warm Regards Gary
Hi Glen,
this is Turker – from Istanbul, first of all your videos especially maintenence are great. watched even more than one times;
I have 42 ft Island Packet and looking a larger boat for long trips,
and HR54 is one of my favorite model ; and there is 3 pcs in second hand market; can I ask you , does this boat have any cronic problems ? hull ? rigg ? engine ??
Glen and Oana nice to see you made all they way to the pacific,
I always take a look in land at HHN to see if you guys are back I hope I can catch you one day at the marina if you are back on the Chesapeake bay.
We have a 34’ beneteau and sail on the bay….. envious of you…….