At first BLUSH


It’s not your usual delivery voyage, but then it’s not your usual yacht – we join the crew on board Eddie Jordan’s Sunseeker 155 Yacht bound for Monaco Text: Mike Owen Photos: Mike Owen and Sunseeker


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av lights, klaxon!” A loud, shocking blast and shouts as crew and skin part company. “Ha! Gets them every time!” laughs captain Sean Read as he and chief officer Danny Clare run through the


final pre-departure checks. It’s time to cut the chord. Sunseeker’s largest boat yet, Eddie Jordan’s 155 Yacht Blush, is leaving her Poole birthplace bound for Monaco via the Bay of Biscay and Gibraltar. Farewells made, the yard’s project chiefs step down the passerelle for the last time. In


the bridge, Danny dabs a touchscreen and nods to his skipper. “All doors and hatches locked for sea,” Sean voices into the handheld radio all crew carry. “Crew, beware, seals on sliding doors activated. Foredeck, Stuart [bosun], do you have an anchor ready?” The affirmative fires back and Sean moves out to the wing station with engine controls and a clear view down the high, four-deck side of Blush. The intercom swaps in and out, “Two metres to port, holding two metres, Chris [2nd engineer] just give me clearance on the starboard bow.” To me, given that we’re 47 metres long, the marina exiting manoeuvre seems horribly


tight. On board, all remains calm. “Port quarter clear, four metres starboard quarter”. The thrusters punch. “Starboard clear, free to go”. With fenders the size of Mike Tyson’s punch


bag packed away, we shoot out of Poole Harbour at 1800, next intended stop Gibraltar, 1,200 miles south. This is quite some maiden voyage, particularly in mind of the weather legend of the Bay of Biscay. For Eddie Jordan’s full professional crew of


ten this is an immersive chance to learn the ways and workings of the boat. Skipper Sean has come to the project late but still some months before launch. He’s pretty well acclimatised. The hand-picked crew, though,


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