ORIANA WAS BUILT AND COMMISSIONED IN 1974 BY ACAPULCO YACHTS AND SHOWN IN BOAT SHOWS AS THE COMPANY'S OWNER'S PRIVATE YACHT UNTIL 1976 WHEN I PURCHASED HER.
ISLANDER YACHTS DID THE HULL LAYUP UNDER CONTRACT.
THE BOAT IS IN THE VERY SECURE MUNICIPAL MARINA IN BROOKINGS, OREGON WHERE THERE IS A TRAVEL-LIFT AND BOAT YARD WITH LIMITED COMMERCIAL SERVICES. FEES ARE MODEST.
This World Class sailing vessel has a long and exciting record of ocean passages. She has recently completed a twenty-year World Circumnavigation. She has dealt with everything the oceans of the World have offered her with remarkable ease. Her owner and his lover started off on their World girdling adventure with little experience or expertise in deep ocean cruising. Oriana taught them, through her forgiveness, see-kindliness and stability to become experts among their peers.
Oriana's designer, Ted Carpenter, who help credentials in both aeronautical and marine architecture, se out to design a long range ocean cruiser that would also perform well in around-the-buoys racing under the handicapping of her time. Her fine lines, both above and below the waterline attest to these influences. Due to her underwater design she could be lightly ballasted and still present a stable platform at low angles of heel. When sailed in that manor her performance is unsurpassed in her class.
The molds and tooling were designed and built by the San Pedro Boat Works, in California. However, her original commissioner soon had so much invested in the first production that he met with severe buyer resistance and abandoned his plan to go to market. Subsequently, her tooling was purchased by Mr. Garry Powell, an experienced California builder who believed he could successfully market a yacht of the highest quality. The construction of Oriana's hull was commissioned to be laid up to rigid Lloyd's specifications by Islander Yachts and the vessel was completed by experienced shipwrights as Mr. Powell's personal yacht. He presented her to the public at several Boat Shows where she generated considerable excitement. It was his misfortune that at the same time and assortment of glitzy sailboats, built in Chine and other parts of the Orient, were beginning to flood the U.S. at below market prices. His company, Acapulco Yachts, joined many other reputable and good builders of fine yachts in a march into oblivion or bankruptcy. As a move to raise capital he offered Oriana for sale and her present owner purchased her. After converting her from a Boat Show Darling to a well found and equipped ocean cruising yacht, Ed Atkin and his mate, Bernie Houston, set off from Brookings Oregon on his long dreamed of adventure: to see the World by the slowest means possible. Their Around-the-World circle was completed in twenty years, nearly to the day.
With continual upgrades, Oriana is a finer vessel today than on the day she was commissioned. Harken furling on both the headstay and babystay, a Furuno radar and the first of many upgrades of navigational electronics were added in Hawaii in 1974. In New Zealand a stainless steel show for the bottom of the keel was fabricated and installed. A teak and Kauri sole was also laid in. A Maxwell Nilsen 3500 lb electric anchor windless was added to replace the Plath manual windlass. In Tazmania a new suit of Hood sails were made. In South Africa all new foam and upholstery was added and the cabin side-walls were overlaid in "African Yellow Wood" to brighten the teak décor.
In Cape Canaveral, Fl., the 10,000 hour Perkins 4-107 engine was replaced with a new Perkins 4-108 Diesel engine and a new Walters V-drive. The Borg Warner Velvet Drive hydraulic transmission was rebuilt by a factory certified shop.
More recently Oriana was laid up in a boat works in Trinidad to receive a full, top to bottom refurbishing and repainting and her standing rigging was replaced with dieform stainless cable and Norseman terminal.
Oriana transited the Panama Canal and completed her Around-the-World circle via the clipper route to the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Washington.
Ed and Bernie took a year off from their ocean life and moved to the Nevada desert to write "One Wave At A Time, The Log Of A Dream", a four hundred page narrative and photographic essay of their incredible adventures with Oriana, on the sea, on uninhabited islands, with primitive native cultures in exotic lands. Even a terrorizing encounter with pirates in the Sulu Sea. Since that time Oriana has spent three additional years in Mexico and four more years in the Caribbean, finally crossing the Gulf pf Mexico to take an overland voyage back to Winchester Bay, then to Brookings Oregon.
ABOUT THE DESIGN
The Acapulco 40 was created to provide comfortable cruising for two to five persons. This is a vessel which is pleasing to the eye and a joy to sail. The cutter rig was chosen for its efficiency to windward and ease of handling. The hull design is unique, combining the full keel-attached rudder profile with a relatively low wetted surface. The keel gradually deepens as it runs aft: resulting in a hull that delivers good performance to weather and easy steering downwind. The fine entry of the bow and the unique angle of attack of the surfaces resist the hull ever pounding into the sea. The ballast to displacement ratio is 28% which indicates the boat derives stability from hull design rather than depending on a large amount of ballast, (6250 lbs.).As a result this boat is a stiff sailor without the uncomfortable quick roll period usually found on vessels that depend mostly on ballast for stability. The lead ballast is encapsulated within the keel and bonded over.
Custom made hard dodger of sandwiched fiberglass/foam with fixed side windows and opening windshield
Stainless steel tubular from bimini over steering station
MACHINERY
Perkins 4-108 engine (approx. 2100 hours) with Borg Warner Velvet Drive transmission and Walters V-drive
CABIN
Six foot four inch Settee
Fixed dining table, featuring laminated world map, with wrap-around seating, chart storage under the table top
Large hanging and dry storage lockers
LIQUOR CABINET
Taylor diesel furnace
Alpenlite lighting fixtures
Chelsea chrome-brass chronometer, barometer set
A compliment of linens, table services, cook ware and provisions
Spare Tecumseh refrigeration compressor
Perkins engine injector pump – Value $2000
Extra propeller
Anchor windless motor (spare)
60 amp Alternator
Perkins fresh water pump
TOOLS
A large inventory of hand tools
Assorted power tools
Brothers heavy duty sewing machine for sails and canvass
Refrigeration system evacuator pump, service gauges
Emergency rigging cutter
Accordion type blind rivet gun
DINGHY
10.5ft AB hard bottom inflatable
4 hp Suzuki, two stroke outboard
CURRENT REPLACEMENT COST OF ORIANA
$295,000-$325,000
CLOSING STATEMENT BY SURVEYOR
"I found Oriana to be very sound structurally, clean and cosmetically pleasing. The vessel is sturdily built and well maintained. I find it to be a sound and serviceable vessel suitable for serious pleasure sailing, and with the right crew, ready to sail worldwide."
OWNERS DISCLAIMER: The above information is all true and correct to the best of my knowledge and memory. Oriana, much like a space ship, is equipped to be self-sufficient, in an harsh environment. In all our years of sailing her, in company with many vessels of her size and class I have never found one that I would trade for Oriana. She is as fast as many sailboats with longer waterlines. However it is the full responsibility of the person or persons purchasing Oriana to satisfy themselves that the yacht has been faithfully represented and is acceptable as-is.
The co-owners, Ed Atkin and Bernice Houston's book, "One Wave At A Time, the Log of a Dream", relates many of their adventures and describes the performance and sailing characteristics of Oriana in a greater variety of sea states, in fair and stormy weather. On their world-girdling travels under sail.
Available from the authors or: www.amazon.com (search 'Ed Atkin' or book title)
