S/Y Esprit

Q&M spent hours and hours on brokerage listings, yacht forums, classified ads, (you name it, we did the research) and climbed aboard boats from Seattle to San Diego in search of the right boat. Well, that just wasn't enough. We had to look farther. East Coast of the USA? Yep, considered that too. Finally, we found the boat in Colon, Panama! At first, it was a desperate joke between Q&M but eventually we built up enough courage to email the owners. A month after that faithful request for more information, we had secured a down payment and booked flights to Panama. February 21st, 2018, a year after we seriously got to business with Q&M Travels, we stepped aboard the boat for the first time. After a transit through the Panama Canal on March 18th, 2018 we embarked on a life changing sailboat delivery to San Francisco.

Performance

The hull and deck are styled to the late 1970’s but remain timeless. They were revolutionary boats built for the performance minded cruisers. The rig is tall but the sails are easily handled thanks to the end-boom sheeting and oversized genoa winches. The deck is large with working space on both bow and stern. The center cock-pit allows for easy access around the deck as well as large and private quarters down below.

Comfort

Entering the forward companionway shows a large galley to port with passthrough to a useable workshop. Moving through the salon you'll find a comfortable settee for six to starboard and long sette to port. Continuing forward is the large guest head and forepeak bunk. Moving aft you'll pass the navigation table to starboard of the galley. Then into the passthrough and the aft master cabin. In the passthrough you'll find the engine room inboard and a large storage space outboard. The aft cabin is large with queen berth and head with shower. Then up the aft companionway returns you to the cockpit.

1990 to Present Day, a Quick Review.

S/Y Esprit is the last Kelly Peterson ever built. That's means a lot, given that estimations say there were hundreds of them built. The 44's from the late '70's started a revolution in production cruising boats and that sparked a couple of less quality offshoots dubbed the Formosa and Spindrift 46's. Eventually the original designer and broker got ahold of the production and build standards again and in the mid 80's hired the most respected yacht builders in Taiwan, still building the highest quality boats today, rolled out 30 more of the finest KP's ever built. S/Y Esprit was built for the original owner to cruise and compete in prestigious yacht races like the Trans Pac and was maintained to the highest standards. In 2000, an engineer and geologist with a young son bought her to circumnavigate the globe. Over 17 years, they did just that. Thankfully, they too, maintained Esprit to the highest standards and she is ready for another circumnavigation!

We recently found the race entry information for the 1999 Trans-Pac race form Los Angeles to Hawaii. She finished second in her class!