Liberty: Southern Wind delivers fifth hull in SW96 series

Southern Wind's 29.3-metre sailing yacht Liberty has been delivered, following the completion of sea trials earlier this year in Cape Town. The yacht has since embarked on her 7,500-mile maiden voyage to the Mediterranean, where she will spend her first summer season.

Commissioned by a second-time Southern Wind owner, Liberty has been designed to balance comfortable cruising with family with more performance-oriented experiences. Construction on the carbon-fibre cruiser began in 2022 with lines by Farr Yacht Design and interiors courtesy of Nauta Design. Ebony Design, an interior design firm based in Cape Town, also contributed to the yacht's decoration.

Built in a carbon sandwich with a foam core and infused carbon skins, Liberty benefits from lighter weight and improved sound insulation. She is fitted with a high-modulus carbon mast and boom as well as EC6+ carbon rigging. Other features include a fixed bowsprit, twin rudders and a lifting keel that brings her draught from 5.5 metres to 3.4 metres.

The owner opted for a raised saloon configuration with a low-profile coachroof, allowing natural light to fill the saloon through panoramic windows and hull portlights. A full-beam main saloon greets guests entering from the cockpit, with a smaller snug with television lounge forward to starboard. Accommodation is for six guests in a three-cabin layout with additional bunks for four crew and a master cabin with "ample storage space".

A standard two-cockpit arrangement offers minimal level changes between the aft cockpit and the guest area, assuring easy and safe circulation when cruising under sail.

"Every yacht we build represents an adventure, and the one with Liberty has been a memorable one. This is the kind of project Southern Wind loves to build," said project manager Niki Jennings. "The brief closely aligned with our own principles of building elegant performance cruisers that are practical and seaworthy. That is not to say that aesthetics, and the occasional folly, did not play a role. They certainly did. Liberty would not be a true Southern Wind if she didn’t have the characteristic Italian style."

"The final product has fully met my expectations of building a performing yet very stylish yacht," said the owner. "I was very pleased with all the choices that we made and I’m looking forward to [sailing] her extensively with my family this summer in the Med," he said.

Liberty marks the fifth delivery in the South African yard's SW96 series, joining sisterships Nyumba, Ammonite, Seatius and Sorceress on the water. The fourth hull in the series – Nyumba – was the first Southern Wind yacht to be designed with hybrid propulsion.