For John Tilley and Kristina Costalos, the idea of learning how to sail and one day sailing off over the horizon was something they always knew they wanted to do.  When the Covid pandemic came along, they found themselves unable to work. Instead of a setback, they took this as an opportunity, and they looked at each other and said, “Why wait? Why don’t we just go now?”

WHY WAIT? WHY DON’T WE JUST GO NOW

A thrilling two-year adventure unfolded, during which they purchased Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 50DS, Tucana, and sailed her along the Australian coast from Melbourne to the Whitsunday Islands and Lizard Island and back. Along the way, they chronicled their journey on their YouTube channel, Kristina’s Travels, which quickly gained popularity. So much so, that today, Kristina’s Travels has been viewed over 26 million times, making it one of the most popular sailing channels on YouTube!

In October 2022, Jeanneau America’s Paul Fenn received a text message from Kristina, announcing that she and John would be attending the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis as part of a YouTube promotion and would love to finally meet in person. Paul and Kristina had been communicating back and forth for several months but had never actually met so this would be exciting for both of them. Coincidentally, Paul Blanc, the newly appointed Director-General of Jeanneau, also happened to be attending the show. So all four of them got to sit down and talk about John and Kristina’s grand adventures aboard Tucana.

Paul and Paul soon learned that John and Kristina had sold Tucana and were now thinking about their next boat and their future. During their conversation, the idea arose that John and Kristina might enjoy spending a few weeks sailing around the Mediterranean aboard the new Jeanneau Yachts 55. Paul Blanc explained that the JY 55 was a very different type of Jeanneau with a unique design, ideally suited for live-aboard couples, and he hoped they could put it through its paces and provide first-hand feedback. He went on to explain that having an experienced couple providing feedback after sailing and living aboard it for an extended period of time, would provide great insight for the designers of the boat, Philippe Briand and Andrew Winch as well as Jeanneau itself.

Fast forward to July 2023, and John and Kristina are waving goodbye from the cockpit of the new Jeanneau Yachts 55 as they depart downtown Barcelona for Palma de Mallorca. Over the course of their six-week adventure, John and Kristina plan to visit Corsica, Sardinia, Nice, and several stops along the French coast before returning to Barcelona. It will be another grand adventure for sure. And while it’s unclear what John and Kristina’s future plans are right now or what their next boat may be, one thing is for sure, for now, they certainly are loving living aboard the all-new JY 55.

Be sure to follow John and Kristina’s amazing adventure by subscribing today to Kristina’s Travels. You’ll be glad that you did!

PBS will host our own Jeanneau Sail Show at Middle Harbour Yacht Club August 4-6 in conjunction with our Jeanneau Power associates who will have their range on display nearby at the D’Albora Marina. Our show will coincide with the Darling Harbour Boat Show, so for those visiting Sydney we look forward to seeing you at Middle Harbour.

On display will be the:

• Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410
• Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 380
• Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349
• Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300

Despite a reschedule the current lockdown means that yet again we’ve had to cancel the final race of the Jeanneau Cup season. We would like to thank Middle Harbour Yacht Club for trying their best to accommodate us, and for hosting us for the first two races.

Congratulations to David and his co-owners on the JOD35 “Starstruck”, which with a 3^rd and a 1st took out the win. They race the yacht really well and it’s great to see it have a new lease of life under their ownership. Hard luck to the co-owners of the Sun Odyssey 440 “Ca Va” who missed out on the podium on a countback!

Results:

1^st           Starstruck            JOD35                  David Ferguson                 4.0 points

2^nd          Pinta Bay             SO349                  Frank Milner                      6.0 points

3^rd          Galan                    SO409                  Mike Gallagher                 7.0 points

4^th          Ca Va                    SO440                  Peter Lewis                        7.0 points

5^th          Eau Well              SO349                  Lee Hawksley                    11.0 points

6^th          Arawai                 SO349                  Derek Minihane                15.0 points

7^th          Beyond Cool      J51                        Mark Clement                   17.0 points

8^th          Imagine               42DS                     Tom Ayrton                        19.0 points

9^th          Elysium                SO349                  John de Meur                    20.0 points

10^th        Slac-N-Off           SO39i                    Martyn Colebrook           22.0 points

A total of fifteen entries was a great turnout in the circumstances, with a wide diversity of models, eight in total taking part. A special mention for Frank Milner who brought his 349 down from Pittwater especially for both races. On the subject of 349’s we are delighted to have confirmed our 28^th order to NSW, so the fleet continues to build!

We would welcome feed-back from owners re events for next season. A dedicated 349 event is on the cards, and perhaps our own courses for a 3-race series out of MHYC, keeping to the ocean side of the Sydney Harbour bridge. Email info@performanceboating.com.au .

We had intended to show-case the new Sun Fast 3300 at this weekends last race. This is a really phenomenal racing yacht, so keep an eye out on Sydney harbour as there are two here now which will be racing out of the CYCA once the restrictions are lifted. We believe that there could be five of them doing the Hobart this year, four of them 2-handed.

Jeanneau’s have continued with club racing success with reports from owners of division wins in multiple clubs all around NSW, from Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Pittwater and Sydney Harbour.

** The overall series trophies will be delivered to the award winners as soon as possible.

Despite a miserable weekend of weather and all of the concerns re the current crisis our annual owners get together on the weekend of the 14th & 15th of March was a roaring success. Returning to Sydney Harbour for this year’s event with the fleet overnighting in Darling Harbour was a popular choice, and despite multiple understandable cancelations in the week prior we still had 33 yachts attend, 22 of which made it into Darling Harbour while a full gale blew outside.

Those yachts that sailed down from Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, and Pittwater on Friday afternoon had champagne sailing and made their way to the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia for a breakfast briefing on Saturday morning.

The morning was bleak with rain and winds gusting 35 knots, so prudently the decision was made to cancel sailing on the harbour, and for those confident to berth in Darling Harbour to do so.

The CYCA was a perfect venue for the morning briefing and we would especially like to thank The Quays Marina for sponsoring it. Also thanks to the staff at the club for being so accommodating and finding space for all of our yachts.

While we were very disappointed to have cancelled the sailing for the first time ever for a Rendezvous a very enjoyable afternoon was spent by everyone inspecting each other’s boats and sharing ideas and experiences.

And so before we knew it was time to walk to the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel where we had a large function area to ourselves which was perfect for the 139 attendees. The food was terrific and atmosphere with live music and lots of banter was quite special. In attendance from Jeanneau was Mathilde Dalfour, the Asia/Pacific sales manager and we would like to thank her for taking the time to be a part of the event.

As usual we had a draw for spot prizes and we would particularly like to thank The Quays Marina for offering two $1500 antifouling vouchers, SB Marine Trimming for two $500 vouchers, Vacuwash a $500 voucher, three $300 vouchers from On Deck Rigging, $300 voucher from Marine Tune, $300 from Skinner Shipwrights, $200 voucher from Michaels Boat Detailing, Champagne from Boatstripes, a marine stereo and speakers from Ocean Phase, Hood Sails discount voucher, two Club Marine insurance vouchers, and multiple spot prizes from boatcrew.gear.com, Harken, and Yaffa Media. I’m sure that I speak for all of our owners when I say how much we appreciate the generous support of the industry around us.

So, despite multiple challenges the day was a great success based on the feed-back that we’ve received, and I would personally like to acknowledge the huge amount of work that Jay McEvoy here at PBS put into making it so.

An enjoyable night was spent at Darling Harbour and leisurely morning before the bridge opening at 10am. For those yachts heading back North a brisk S ’Easterly made it an exciting sail and a great way to top off the weekend.

It’s with great pleasure that PBS has just been awarded Jeanneau Dealer of the Year, a great team effort over the past 12 months, so thank you Jay, Nicola and Damian. This is the third time PBS has been recognised for a combination of sales achieved, owners feed-back to Jeanneau, the promotion of the brand, and our commitment to our valued customers in servicing them and putting on events to help them to enjoy their yachts to the maximum. Noted in the letter we received was the Rendezvous rally that we held in May on Sydney Harbour, culminating in a Jeanneau Rendezvous fleet overnighting in Darling Harbour, the biggest such gathering noted anywhere in the World, so a big well done to all of you who came and participated and made that event such a great success!

We strive to improve our systems and marketing all of the time and have recently updated our computer system to a cloud based technology, though until the NBN is available in our location next year we won’t be able to benefit from the full functionality of this technology.

With the latest generation of the Jeanneau Sun Odyssey yachts breaking new ground we are excited about the future with Jeanneau and very much looking forward to the next new design in the series, the Sun Odyssey 410, arriving in May of next year.

We also hope to be making an announcement about a major new venture for the business in coming months. Onward and upward!

We want your feedback! With spring now here we’re already planning events for this coming season. Here are the proposed dates and we welcome your input before these are finalised:

Sun Odyssey 349 event – Australia Day 26^th January. Based on the successful SO349 event held back on the June weekend owners are keen to have a re-match, so we will again avail of the facilities of MHYC and run three races on the day.

Jeanneau Rendezvous 2019 – March 30^th cruise in company to Newcastle from Pittwater. All Jeanneau owners will be invited with harbour based boats likely to sail to Pittwater on the Friday for an impromptu get together at Coaster Retreat, then the fleet sail to Newcastle on the Saturday to stay overnight at the yacht club where a function will be held. For those yachts heading for Sail Port Stephens the following weekend a bus service will be booked to bring you back to Sydney on the Sunday morning so that you can resume your delivery to Port Stephens the following weekend. The remainder of the fleet will return to Pittwater/Sydney on the Sunday. Yachts from Lake Macquarie will also be invited to come and join in the occasion with a sail in company.

For any comments, suggestions or questions please send an email to info@performanceboating.com.au

The Quays Marine Centre on Pittwater has been our facility of choice for commissioning new Jeanneau yachts on Pittwater in recent year, and on the basis of the level of service that PBS has experienced we are now using their services for more and more work which we have carried out on customers yachts, including annual antifouling and other service work.

Contact Damien Goff our PBS Service Manager to arrange and coordinate any of your servicing requirements on Pittwater or Sydney Harbour – service@performanceboating.com.au

The Quays marina operates a one-stop shop called Q Service, and here Marina Manager Stephen Hosking outlines the latest news at the marina.

“Our persistent search for improvement, innovation and expansion within Q Service never ends, and with that in mind, we are very pleased to announce that we have just placed an order for a NEW 35 TONNE TRAVEL LIFT which will replace our existing machine. We expect to see the new Travel Lift up and running early in January next year. This new Travel Lift has a greater capacity than our current machine and the reason is that we have more exciting new plans for the future of Q Service. These plans, to be introduced over a number of stages, will expand our service offerings here. We’ll keep you posted as we go along the way.

Now, a little reminder about Q Service and what’s on offer here ……

Q SERVICE was established some years ago with the ethos of the business being, firstly, a ‘One Stop Shop’ for boats and their owners. The main objective being that everyone can have their maintenance work for their boat attended to, as well as the odd bit of unscheduled work, diligently, professionally and at a competitive price. Secondly, we wanted to create an environment full to the brim of talented people who are the ‘best of the best’ in their respective fields within the marine game.
Judging by the constant feedback we are getting, we have succeeded in our aspirations.
The backbone of Q SERVICE is a dedicated team of people who operate, manage and maintain the yard and hardstand area. These are the guys, rain hail or shine, who lift your boat out of the water, set the boat down in preparation for the antifoul and any other work that may be scheduled in for our other trades to attend to. They also pride themselves on the appearance of your boat when completed and also love to hear the stories about how well the newly antifouled yachts and powerboats perform after some TLC.

WHO’S AT Q SERVICE

As a reminder, here are the people, and the businesses, that call Q Service home:
Jason Bott – Marinetech Engineering
Probably the most respected and sort after diesel Engineer in Sydney.
Darren Skinner – Skinner Shipwrights Services
Extremely talented individual with a bevy of skilful tradesmen around him.
Scott White – Marine Performance Services
The petrol motor genius; precise & professional. Also home to the ever reliable Tohatsu Outboards
Tim Dempsey & Shaun Quinn – Total Marine Electrical
Gifted and accomplished Marine Electricians
Marc Eady – On Deck Rigging
Extremely knowledgeable and accomplished with all things rigging
Jenny & Emma – Top Quay Trimmers
Skilled and deft in their work with covers, clears and all things material
Buffman & Rubbin – Detailers
With an eye for detail, Morgan Downey-Price is a well credentialed Detailer with many years experience

These people make up an offering that is without peer in Pittwater and probably Sydney wide. They are gifted individuals that have chosen to call Q Service home and will always be attentive to your needs – Stephen Hosking”

Contact Damien Goff the PBS Service Manager to discuss and arrange any of your Jeanneau servicing requirements – service@performanceboating.com.au

Here at PBS we’re constantly looking at ways to improve how we communicate to the boating community, so we have regular reviews to see how we can improve what we do. To this end we are delighted to announce a completely new website platform to better present all of the aspects of our business, from new and new yacht and power sales, to service and advice. It will also be more easily found in searches in this new format and the mobile version for iPad’s and smart phones is vastly enhanced.

You can view the site here and we would welcome any constructive feed-back to info@performanceboating.com.au

Jay McEvoy provides an overview from his recent trip to France to represent Performance Boating at Cannes:

I had the honour and pleasure of attending the 2017 Cannes Yachting Festival on behalf of the Performance Boating team from 12^th to the 17^th September. The Cannes show is the lead-off event in the annual circuit of European boat shows and celebrated its 40^th anniversary this year. Cannes is the largest in-water show in Europe and this year presented 600 boats ranging from 2.1m to 65m.

The Jeanneau group was well represented with a total of 27 vessels on display with quite a number of new launch models debuting – details below;

Jeanneau had an excellent show, breaking an all-time record in sales during the boat show with most of the new models selling out for the 2018 production year including both of the new Sun Odyssey 440 & 490’s.  PBS have however managed to reserve a limited number of slots for PBS customers with two slots available on the SO440 for late 2018 and one SO490 available mid-2018. So, call us if you are potentially interested in securing one of these special limited availability slots for 2018.

The launch of the new Sun Odyssey 440 & 490 was one of my key focuses in attending the show to enable PBS to get an early and detailed look over these innovative 8^th generation launch models on behalf of our three existing PBS clients. The response and feedback from the crowds was extremely positive with numerous viewer commenting that these were their pick for ‘boat of the show’.

The new full length hard chines present an aggressive but eye-catching line on what is a state of the art stable and powerful twin rudder hull. The new hull also translates to a significant increase in internal volume, which is quite astounding as you enter the saloon and allows for the full size rectangular berths in all cabins. With fantastic natural light and a very high standard of finish throughout the interiors stood out from the competition. Great thought has been given to practicality throughout the design from improved deck circulation with the new side ramp walkways / options for opening cockpit coamings for huge sun lounges / lowered gooseneck for easier sail access / optimised storage capacity throughout and the list goes on…

The Sun Odyssey 440 has already been nominated among the finalists for European Yacht of the Year 2018 and in my personal view will be strong contender to take the title.

Among the Jeanneau powerboat models, the new NC 33 and the Cap Camarat 7.5 Bow Rider will participate in the finals for the European Powerboat of the Year 2018.

Also in Europe, the Merry Fisher 795 Marlin and the Leader 33 have been honoured with nominations for the title of Best of Boats, respectively in the categories, “Best for Fishing” and “Best for Family.”

The European boat shows are a massive logistical task with more than 100 Jeanneau sales staff manning the stands in the most important shows like Cannes, Paris or Dusseldorf with additional factory and admin support staff assisting. Jeanneau also have a dedicated team of a 12 staff traveling ahead of each show to work with local contractors to manage the set up of the stands and logistics for boat relocations to ensure we have a consistent brand presentation across the European show circuit.

The Cannes Yachting Festival was a somewhat overwhelming but memorable experience for me with the size and scale of the event and the range and diversity of boats on display. I however left with a confidence that the Jeanneau product remains well positioned in the market place and is continuing to innovate, ensuring a lead position in product development in the production boat market.

I’ve already offered to endure the pains of this European tour again next year on behalf of the PBS team!!

Performance Boating Sales have locally developed a prototype 3D model of the Jeanneau 51 which provides a unique opportunity for you to explore the deck and internal layout options of this amazing yacht due to commence production in Feb 2017. With two Jeanneau 51’s already on the initial production order list for PBS customers we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first model into Australia in June 2017.

The Jeanneau 51 will be a feature display at the 2017 Sydney Boat Show.

This prototype model is best displayed on a larger format screen (although it will work on any device) and displays the standard transom rather than the optional aft terrace, but provides floorplans to view the 3 internal configurations all of which vary the aft port quarter. The model also provides a visual representation of the internal timber options;

• 3 Cabins (3 heads)                                                     – Standard Teak and Light Oak floorboards
• 2 Cabins with Workshop (2 heads)                        – Standard Teak and Light Oak floorboards
• 2 Cabins with Skippers Cabin (3 heads)               – Optional Natural Oak with Dark Oak floorboards

Please call if you wish to discuss or require any further information – any feedback on this prototype model would also be appreciated.

To view the interactive 3D model click here