Discovery 57, JUNO

Broker’s Comments

JUNO was the last of the mighty Discovery 57s to launch, featuring lovely Ron Holland lines and spectacular elliptical windows in the deck saloon that let the light flood in. She is still in her original ownership and, with this owner, has cruised the Mediterranean and Europe, transited the Atlantic, and enjoyed the Caribbean and the East Coast of the USA.

She has always been maintained to a high standard and at any price. She was very highly specified when built, and prior to being put on the market, she was refitted with new standing rigging, a repainted transom, and many other maintenance items, making her completely plug-and-play for her new owner.

With her smart flag blue topsides livery and lovely oak interior featuring marquetry and the clever use of burrs, she is a very good-looking and capable yacht. She has proven herself to be easy to sail shorthanded and wonderfully comfortable for relaxed family sailing. She is a social yacht and great fun with a boat full of people aboard too.

Sales Video

Owner’s Comments

JUNO – History

I had sailed a Beneteau 411 Celebration for ten years and 17,000 miles before my wife told me, in 2012/13, that I needed to buy a bigger boat. We looked at Oysters, Najads, Swans etc but once I had test driven a Discovery I knew the ‘bigger boat’ had to come from this stable. I thought the Disco 55 cockpit was crowded and a little unsafe in a big seaway, so was delighted when the 57’s evolved. Everything happened at the right time. A friend and I had a test sail on 57-001 in February at 2C on 57-001 and I was smitten. After bit of to-and-fro we commissioned JUNO in the summer of 2013. For the record, in choosing a boat name I offered the job to the kids and suggested the following formula – short, easy to spell phonetically on a crackling radio, probably a goddess, or similar, and pertinent to our family. Alison’s Mum (now in a constellation somewhere) was June Ford. So we arrived at JUNO. That name has become part of our family life.

I live close to the yard so visited about every 2 or 3 weeks to see the build taking place. I also commissioned a marine surveyor to perform regular checks in-build. We saw her being put together bit-by-bit. Having had a yacht of my own I had a few prejudices regarding how a yacht should be laid out. Discovery included all these in the build. (Higher pedestals, larger wheels, more structural cockpit table, full head-height clearance sprayhood, fully inlaid doors below, the iMac in the owner’s cabin, storage lockers in the companionway steps and extra bilge pumps). She was ready in June of 2014. After a few weekends of commissioning and trials we bought her ex-VAT in Guernsey and sailed her straight from St Peter Port to Gibraltar. John Eustace, then the AfterCare Manager at Discovery, joined us on the passage. He fixed glitches in all the OEM kit as they arose.

From Gibraltar we ARC 2014’ed, spent two years ticking the Caribbean, the Bahamas and the East Coast US (including a glorious year in Chesapeake Bay) off the list. We curled back down from Maine to the Bahamas before bringing her back to the UK for my eldest daughter’s wedding in 2017. I paid VAT to HMRC in that year. In 2018 we left the UK in April. We stopped in at just about everywhere en-route; Portugal and Spain (2018), the Balearics (2019), Sardinia, Sicily (2020 including during Covid) then to Greece (2021). We passed two fantastic years (2022 and 2023) in Croatia. We habitually spent something like 100 days per year on her (2020/Covid excepting) and have logged about 28,000 nautical miles in all. I have skippered her on 20,000 of those. PYD (Professional Yacht Deliveries) have sailed the remainder, specifically taking her from Maine to the Turks & Caicos, Bermuda to the UK and for the Croatia-to-home run in October last year.

JUNO is a stiff (35 tonnes fully loaded), well-found yacht. She always gets us home. Top speeds are in the 8.5-9.5 knots range under sail or motor, but she is not built for racing. Rather she is a super steady, comfortable ride and safe long-distance cruising yacht. I have serviced her fully every year; engineering, annual polishing, occasional nano-technology, rig checks, the lot. This is all supervised by John Eustace, who now looks after Discovery Yachts on his own account. I hope he says she is the best boat in the fleet. JUNO’s specification details all the kit that has been upgraded or replaced over the years. We do not limp along with failed, or failing, kit. It is replaced. Those are my kids and my friends onboard and I want them safe… and also I like her looking good. I lost count of the number of fellow travellers and tourists who come up to me in marinas to congratulate me on how she is presented.

Sailing JUNO

We have normally cruised with four on board. She sails very easily with two and I have done quite a few long solo day-runs. She is comfy for five, which is how we ARC’ed. We once crowded nine on board for a few days in the Canaries. I would advise two-up or two couples is the optimum. My crew said the second Atlantic was little too comfy on JUNO. Discuss!

The best compliment I would make of her is that, even after all these years of cruising, I would literally change nothing on her. As I have said, she is solid and safe, but fast enough to eat proper miles. She has a 1,300 litres fuel tank and a Yanmar 150 hp engine. In a neutral sea she will gently deliver 7 knots using about 6 litres/hour in overdrive (we have a Gori three-phase prop) or blast into a gale (Cape May and the Delaware River comes to mind) at 8.5-9.0 knots with the turbo operating. She has two water tanks giving 1,000 capacity and a watermaker which produces 120 litres/hour on engine or genset. The fridge and freezer are brilliant. Ice in every drink, hot showers twice a day – the secret to luxury cruising.

The sails are in excellent condition and get taken off every time we leave JUNO in the winter or through the July/August summer months – we haul her out most peak summers. They have been washed and serviced eight years of the ten so far. Both foresails are on Reckmann powered furlers. The genoa is massive and drives her nicely on any point of sail below about 15 knots true. If you are up-winding in a stronger breeze you will need to shift down to the jib, which is on a self-tacker. With the wind behind the beam you can keep a full main out until about 25 knots. The main is in-mast furling. It has jammed twice in 28,000 miles – both times when put away very wet and soggy – and not by me – otherwise it seems bomb-proof. Please ask Berthon for the three videos. One is from 2014 sailing downwind in 50 knots off Morocco where we have a smidge of main and the jib barber-hauled out. The second, taken in Trogir, Croatia is of probably 7 knots breeze with full rig – boat speed 5.2-5.5 knots. Something for everyone. Sail handling is with powered winches/motors. The winch handle spends months without use. I had an additional super-sized No1 Jib cut to fly in conjunction with the Genoa when going dead downwind on oceanic legs. Double poled-out it is an amazing way to travel. This is the third video – mid-Atlantic.

Her helming stations are bespoke to JUNO – bigger wheels and higher than most Discos – and give a great viewpoint and easy helm control (there are twin throttles and not by your ankle!). I have sailed her through a couple of cold and snowy overnights off New Jersey in April, but also in 40C in Croatia. Like most of these yachts, she is geared for lower latitudes. The auto helm works beautifully but in big seas (particularly following seas) I prefer to have someone hand steer above 30 knots true. You can steer her from down below and the raised deck saloon layout means you can see everything from the pilot table – or when dining at anchor.

You will see we have a blue-white-red tender – ALIBI II. This makes her unmissable amongst all the other grey ones! It has a 20hp Yamaha (replaced 2020) and does the job well. The davits cant down and you just scoop her up.

Selling JUNO

I bought my first yacht aged 44 and have spent 20 years and 37,000 miles having fun on yachts. At 65, and with multiple grandchildren acting as ‘anchors’ I now feel it the right time to try something different. The family is distraught! Losing her feels like arranging the details of my own funeral. As with that, I am not in a rush.

I present her now having sailed her lightly this year in the UK. She had lots of works performed in the 2023/24 winter season. I reasoned that I would better get the yacht in her best condition prior to a sale than be bid down by an anxious buyer with new problems to solve. We had the transom resprayed, some minor separation up forward remedied, the standing rigging replaced, and most of the hatches removed and resprayed. All this was in addition to the usual annual servicing of winches, engine, genset, water maker, fridge and A/C.