Cruising aboard a Linssen Grand Sturdy 410AC

With the 2019 season now only a few short months away, to provide a little inspiration, we take a look at the 2005 Linssen Grand Sturdy 410AC ‘SALTY DOG’, available for sale with Grabau International and let her owners walk you through the thought process of her purchase and all the great adventures that they have had with her.

“In 2004 I was entertaining an American friend, boat fanatic and bored about Tuscan countryside, so I took him to the Genoa Boat Show. When, by pure accident, I spotted a Linssen boat at the Show, the last thing that crossed my mind was “what a great canal boat…” what I really saw was a sturdy Steel boat, single engine, beautifully built. Something clicked inside me. When on board I sat in the protected cockpit imagining to be at the sea, stepping inside I was struck by the quality of the woodwork, no plastic in sight, in the engine room everything was in the right place and a lot of care and experience went into the electric panels, well designed and accessible. First I thought: “these people know a thing or two about building boats!” then I thought: “this would be the perfect boat for a pensioner plus a crew of one to go back to sea for extended cruises in the Med and have fun”.

As a matter of fact, we were already considering a safe, comfortable, easy to handle, marine boat. We fell in love with the American Trawler concept; we actually had already arranged a visit in Newport for a sea trial on a Nordhavn. We were to leave the following morning. I had just switched on the TV when my wife told me “stop watching disaster movies and pack you bag”. It was September 11, 2001. We are not really superstitious but the Nordhavn project was shelved for good.

In June Salty Dog enters in our lives, delivered to Port Napoleon. I was taking a really big gamble, all the money spent for customizing the boat without knowing my wife’s reaction to cruising, let alone cruising for months.

So far in eleven seasons we’ve done 21,900 miles, we have detailed logbooks of the last 10 seasons and many thousands of pictures we have enough material for a book. Margret wrote a long article published in Serious Pleasure in October 2007 and May 2008 with a few nice pictures, that gives a good idea on how life in the Med could be.

Are Linseen boats suitable for sea going?

Yes, not only they are suitable but also they are probably the best choice for extended Med cruising providing some “adjustments” are made in specific areas.

The Mediterranean is our playground, we like to enjoy our meals in the open air with a bottle of wine on the table while under way, we want to get in and out of the warm waters several times a day and enjoy the sunset with some good music in our large cockpit when at anchor and discover new places on the way.

Whenever we go we attract a lot of attention and admiration, our boats always stands out from the entire usual white plastic crowd.

We like a safe boat and steel is the answer. We like a quiet boat and insulation on our boat is the best I ever experienced, only a few weeks ago while approaching the refuelling station in Maddalena (Sardinia) the guy asked us whether we had an electric engine. We like low running costs and diesel consumption in our boat is ridiculous”.

At the same time, we want a boat that can handle bad weather. The shape of the Grand Sturdy, with her look of a “Nordic Tug Boat” gives a lot of confidence to us Med’s people, used to light fast but flimsy boats!

Displacement boat means 7.5/8 knots, not enough to run away from a sudden storm, or from a change in weather during a long passage, if it comes you’ve got to be prepared.

Our boat can handle F.8 from astern, F.6 sideways, F.7 on the nose. From astern leaving the autopilot in charge, sideways holding tight, on the nose reducing speed to 5 knots.

In a nutshell we bought Salty Dog for sea cruises only and proved her to be perfect for the job, it was one of the best decisions in my life, I enjoyed going to sea more than ever before, we use our boat “only” once a year for up to three months, two days after out return the boat goes to dry storage until a couple of days before the next cruise, this solution assures the best possible “conservation” of our precious boat maintaining her in like new conditions.”

Linssen Grand Sturdy 410 AC – Salty Dog – now just Euro 230,000 VAT paid – full details here

Do you have a yacht like this to sell? Grabau International are always looking for new high quality cruising yacht listings both in the UK and internationally. For further information about our tailored brokerage services, please look here or feel free to contact us.