Festina Lente is a 1995 Gozzard 36 cutter-rigged, blue water yacht. She has been as far north as Alaska and has spent time in Baja California, MX. I don’t know where we will end up taking her, but I can’t wait to find out!

The model name can be a little misleading: her length over all, including the bow sprit and dinghy davits, is more than 42′.

Here are a few specifics:

Gozzard boats are different from typical yachts of their size. One of the most appealing aspects of the Gozzard 36 to me is the smart use of available space.

For example, while the idea of long passages to far-off destinations is wonderful, the reality for now is that we will take much shorter trips and do a lot of day cruising. I’ve always felt a lot of space was wasted on v-berths: most of the time, they become a junk closet or somewhere to store people’s bags while under way. Festina Lente has a convertible cabin: The “v-berth” resembles a spacious salon by default, but when needed converts into a private cabin.

Likewise, the aft cabin is open by default, but the bulkhead can be closed up to provide privacy as needed. Festina Lente can comfortably sleep two couples, and less-comfortably sleep 3 couples. Her design does have some trade-offs: there’s not a great solution for sleeping in the salon while under way, and I’d prefer the galley be more enclosed, but these tradeoffs are well worth it, in my opinion.

Instead of your typical tiny nav station that would cause a navigator to fully support NOAA’s terrible decision to end-of-life paper charts, the Gozzard 36 places the nav station where the salon would be in a typical boat, and the fold-out table’s removable fiddles allows for nice, big, dependable paper charts the way Neptune intended. This station can also be converted into a berth if needed.

The previous owners of Festina Lente so clearly loved her and took great care of her. I strive to put the same love into caring for her, making sure I do everything I can to allow her to keep me and my loved-ones safe.