De Fever 50 Passagemaker Takes Jerry Hart Anywhere, Any Time (1973)
"She can take me anywhere, any time," says noted cruising writer, Jerry Hart.
Eleven hundred miles from the last electric outlet and over 400 miles to the next fueling port, Yellow Bird has just dropped anchor at tiny Isla Gamez in an archipelago off Panama's south coast which yachtsmen seldom use.
The solid comfort of our home afloat and the peace of mind that goes with an uncomplicated, no-problem boat means that we can fully enjoy the tranquility and beauty of faraway gunkholes like this.
The heavy weather test in our California-Florida shakedown cruise came on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal where unusually strong gale conditions laid Yellow Bird over at times at 50°.
Tough on the crew but no match for the boat which, thanks to her high and distinctively flared DeFever bow, rose to each huge "greybeard", never submarined nor took green water aboard, never rolled her prop out of water, and slammed only a couple of times when waves literally dropped out from under her.
Such conditions are never fun, but they are the real measure of a long-distance trawler type that has to take the weather as it comes.
Whether you meet the unavoidable gale with apprehension or confidence depends on the soundness of the boat under you, both structurally and design-wise.
My DeFever 50 has proved to be just what I was looking for. She can take me anywhere, anytime.
"Me real cruising man's cruiser!"
De Fever Passagemaker
Costa Mesa, Calif. 92627
Kettenburg Marine, San Diego, Calif.
Robert Staats Yachts, Newport Beach, Calif.
Rex Marine Center, Norwalk, Conn.
Underwood Marine, Miami, Fla. Harbor West,
Underwood Marine, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Underwood Marine, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Lippincott Boat Works, Piney Narrows, Chester, Md.
Offshore Cruisers, Saagstad Marina, Seattle, Wash.
Harbor Marine, Milwaukee, Wisc.
A Bangor Punta Company
GG Archives REF: BPDFP-003-1973-C-AD
