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Available For Viewing In Vicinity Of Monaco Yacht Show And Then Competing In Les Voiles De St Tropez

When William Fife was asked the qualities of a great yacht, he answered that she should be both fast and bonnie. Unlike some others ALTAIR was originally designed built to cruise the world, today she also enjoys winning regattas. The perfect combination.

ALTAIR set the standard for vintage yacht restorations and she is a benchmark to which many are compared but that none match.

In her restoration it has been proved that not only is an authentic restoration possible but that having achieved it, the end result is superb in all respects. The press coverage that Altair has received is a pale reflection of all that she stands for, but saying this, she has been featured on more than a dozen front pages and many complete articles.

Of the large high-quality pre-war yachts that survive today be they restored or not, only a very few will ever be able to match ALTAIR’S originality. The unique nature of this yacht is beyond question and her future is of an importance way beyond that usually associated with a particular yacht.

ALTAIR, built in Fairlie by William Fife & Sons as yard number 789 was launched in May 1931. As such, she is one of the last descendants of the famous fleet of schooners that revitalized schooner racing around the turn of the century William Fife’s “Cicely” and “Suzanne” being particularly notable members of this fleet. More specifically, ALTAIR’S origins lie in the desires of her first owner Captain H. MacCaw for ‘a sound, safe cruiser; safe to go to the South Sea Islands in with no difficulty’ as he wrote to William Fife in 1929. After some considerable correspondence, a design was finally settled on and the price agreed at £21,500.

In actual fact the rather elderly MacCaw never made the world voyage he had planned, and after two years of ownership he sold her to Walter Runciman (later Viscount Runciman) Liberal MP for St. Ives. Sailing her on the south coast of England and west coast of Scotland, he in turn sold her in 1938 to Sir William Verdon-Smith who enjoyed her for two seasons until she was bought by the Admiralty to play her part in the war effort. Following the war, ALTAIR was extensively refitted in 1948 and left England under Portuguese ownership passing into the hands of Miguel Sans Mora two years later. In this ownership she remained based in Barcelona until acquired by her next owners in 1985. It is largely thanks to the great love that Sans Mora had for ALTAIR that during 34 years she was maintained in the tradition within which she was built.

ALTAIR’S new Swiss owners committed her to the now famous and much written about restoration / refit at Southampton Yacht Services with a dedicated and hand picked team that would go on to create Fairlie Restorations, this was completed in 1987 and her owners set about cruising, racing and enjoying ALTAIR.

ALTAIR was then sold to a well known Spanish family and again in 2005 ALTAIR was sold to her current American ownership – please see the accompanying press book for the remainder of ALTAIR’S fascinating story to date.

(Notes on the layout plan, the head to starboard of the companionway is now a shower room and forward of the Captains cabin (forward of saloon to starboard) where the plan shows a double bunk cabin, there is now a crew head and bathroom and the berths forward of this are now symmetrical with the port side crew berths.)

ALTAIR – 40.79m  ⁄  133' 10"

1931 William Fife & Sons, United Kingdom
price: EUR 7,000,000  (VAT exempt)

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