LADY PENELOPE
Model: Stevens 47
Year: 1981
Design: #2390
Builder: Queen Long Marine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
LADY PENELOPE on her inaugural Mirs Bay Race (Photograph credit - Hebe Haven Yacht Club)
Lady Penelope was built in 1981 (hull #16) by Queen Long Marine in Kaohsiung, Taiwan for Stevens Yachts. She started life as a charter boat and appears to have changed hands at least four times since then until she was purchased by a couple who refitted her in Trinidad and embarked on a charter business in the Pacific en route to Sydney, Australia. She was put on the market in Sydney after her previous owners purchased a catamaran that was better suited to a local charter business and we found her armchair shopping one evening in Hong Kong.
We booked our flights to Sydney, fell in love and took ownership of Lady Penelope, so named because she has a ‘driver’ named Parker. From there, Lady Penelope went to Brisbane for some TLC and updating (her instruments may well have been original and we wanted something from this century for the journey back to Hong Kong).
LADY PENELOPE at anchor, Sunshine Island, Hong Kong
From Brisbane, she headed north and cleared out of Australia via Cairns. Three challenging days later (which included breaking the steering cable), Lady Penelope cleared into Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to switch crew as our friend could not get an Australia visa. She stopped in Ambon, Indonesia to refuel, crossed the equator and cleared into Cebu, Philippines two and half weeks later. Work called and we left Lady Penelope at the Cebu Yacht Club alongside a big ‘sistership’ - an S&S Swan 65 of similar vintage.
The next chance we could, we sailed her over to Subic Bay, Philippines where she cleared out to head home - Hong Kong. Up to this point, she had been sailed double handed but we opted to go with three for the final leg to Hong Kong knowing what the South China Sea could throw at us. But as these things go, it was a very uneventful trip.
We have had and look forward to many more wonderful adventures on Lady Penelope exploring the islands in Hong Kong and the rest of South East Asia when the world opens up again.
LADY PENELOPE at the Shelter Cove Marina, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club