Gunfleet 58, ELIAN

Broker’s Comments

I have been involved with Gunfleet since their inception and it is a brand that I have a lot of passion for as the build quality and design is hard to come by on many other modern yachts. The Gunfleet brand was the brainchild of former Oyster Marine owner Richard Matthews. Unsurprisingly many of the clever people at Oyster came over to help create these fantastic yachts. Built at Windboat Marine who were also responsible for building many Oysters as well as other high-end brands, the build quality is easy to see.

I have been heavily involved with ELIAN since 2019 when she first arrived in Palma. Under the owner’s instructions we have kept her in immaculate condition and have made countless improvements.

Having sailed many miles on ELIAN I can testify that she is easily handled with a small crew as everything can be controlled from the cockpit. With the centre board, performance upwind is fantastic and of course with the split rudders, she is made to munch the downwind miles. The Mastervolt CZone system means controlling the yacht’s sophisticated systems is a doddle, even for technophobes.

ELIAN is equipped with all the mod cons that you would expect to see on a yacht of this quality and her overall condition is as new. The whole yacht was repainted in 2021/22 and she is still gleaming. The amply spaced cockpit is the perfect place to sit and enjoy dinner and a glass of something cold after a day of exhilarating sailing.

Owner’s Comments

Having decided in 2016 to move up to a larger boat, we had a clear idea of what we would need when we set out to choose and specify our new yacht. Seaworthiness and safety were a given due to our hopes of extended ocean cruising, but we also wanted a 55-60 foot boat that would be fun to sail, have space to comfortably store the gear that inevitably accumulates, have a variable draft to allow access to shallow anchorages – but adequate keel depth for her to sail upwind, and critically be easy to handle with just two of us aboard.

We quickly had a shortlist of quality centre cockpit yachts, including Oyster and Discovery as well as Gunfleet. After several months of searching our decision was easy to make, with the Gunfleet 58 having plainly been designed to meet all of these criteria. The test sail was the clincher, as we found the yacht not just surprisingly rapid, but a delight to handle on all points of sail.

The build process allowed us to tailor ELIAN to meet our needs precisely. The addition of fully hydraulic sail handling and electric winches, as well as bow and stern thrusters make her easy for the two of us to handle out at sea in all conditions, as well as to manoeuvre in tight spots in marinas. She has been an extremely comfortable home during our travels to and around the Mediterranean over the last five years, where we have spent several months each season. While the heating system was useful when we visited Scotland on our maiden cruise, the upgraded air conditioning has made the heat of Mediterranean summer entirely manageable, and combined with the over specified generator and newly installed Lithium batteries, she has the electrical power to enjoy her comprehensive systems at sea and at anchor.

After seven seasons of use, our sailing aspirations have changed, and we are no longer planning to make the ocean crossings we initially intended to do. We have therefore reluctantly decided to move on, and to allow someone else to enjoy her – and hopefully realise those long distance cruising opportunities that she is designed for.