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About HaCienda
Welcome aboard HaCienda ... once our floating home
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She is a Hans Christian 43 Traditional cutter, built in Taiwan in 1986 by
the Hans Christian Yacht Company (now building in Thailand) and she is
HC43 hull #99. She carries Australian Ship Registration and her official
number is O.N.854806 with her home port being Southport, Queensland. She has
already made passages as far apart as to Tasmania and across the ocean to
Vanuatu, the Solomons and New Caledonia.
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Constructed of GRP (fibreglass), she is 49'11" overall with a length on
deck of 42'7", she has a beam of 13'10' and draws 6'2". With a weight of
just over 17.5 tons, she is no lightweight but is built like the
proverbial outhouse.As one would expect, she has a very kindly sea action
and is a great passage maker.
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A feature of HaCienda, and all Hans Christians, is the magnificent teak
timberwork both on deck and in the cabins. On HaCienda, the previous
owners chose to leave it untreated above decks (silvering is the correct
term). She has a real "ship" nautical flavour with storage
boxes port and starboard at the foot of the mast as well as a storage box
aft of the Sampson posts.
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When I first saw a sister ship to HaCienda, La Marquise, the
feature that won me was the beautiful bowsprit. Constructed of Apitong
hardwood, it projects forward and makes her look like she'll take on the
world, a remark that I hoped would prove to be correct within the next few
years. I have come a real bowsprit fanatic since owning our previous
vessel, the Roberts Spray 33 cutter Tringriz and many a relaxing time was
had sitting on her bowsprit. The Hood Seafurl self furlers for the yankee
and staysail are attached to the bowsprit.
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When you go below decks into the cabin, you are confronted by an
emormous main saloon area and the size is accented by the beautiful
gull-wing hatches over the centre of the saloon. The dining table can
seat six and the storage space aboard is breathtaking.
According to the 1st February 1999 issue of the US publication, Practical
Sailor, they say about the accommodation - "the result is
spacious having the warm feeling of a leather and panel Fifth Avenue
Boardroom. Brass kerosene lanterns look like they belong here. In each Hans Christian, the headliner is white tongue and grooved
accented by teak beams. Teak bulkheads have 15 to 20 coats of varnish and
the cushions are covered with heavy fabrics. A shiny mast compression
post is located near the forward edge of the dining table".
Little wonder I fell in love with her, eh?
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![Picture 6]()
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Of course the "piece de resistance" is the galley and
here she has copious storage space with a three burner LPG oven and
grill, eutectic and 12v refrigeration and the dual stainless steel sinks
are supplied water from the 850 litre water tanks via gold plated taps (oh well, there has to be some decadence surely!!). The bronze hinged port
holes add real beauty and that old time nautical feel to her.
In an example of progressive thinking, the 72hp Nanni diesel engine is
situated underneath the sinks and is easily accessible from all sides and
above and there is space to drain the oil at oilchange time from the base
of the engine sump.
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Up forrard is a cabin with acres of storage and hanging space and its
own private dressing area. A doorway separates it from the main saloon
and galley and there are also separate cabins aft with a double and single berth.
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And here is my cubby hole - the navigation area. HaCienda is equipped
with a Codan 4000 HF radio, Shipmate VHF, Furono GP50 GPS and Koden MD300
radar. The chart table is big enough to hold a full sized chart and as
you can see from the size of the electrical panel, running her is like
running a small city.
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Readers of the Tringiz Logins with my passage making on
Tringriz would realise that I am strong on the "brakes" section
i.e. anchors and HaCienda comes with a 60lb Manson CQR type anchor and a
45 lb CQR, both on 10mm chain with the 60 pounder on 300' chain.
My flying instructor, an ex-WW2 bomber instructor pilot, told me when I
learnt to fly in 1977 that there were three things useless to a
pilot. They are air above you, runway behind you and fuel on the ground.
For a sailor, you can add to that anchor chain in the chain locker.
In the sails section, she has Hood yankee and staysails on Hood Seafurl
3250 series self furlers and the main is hydraulic in mast self furling.
That then is HaCienda. If you would like go see more on these beautiful
vessels, you can go to the
Hans Christian Yacht Companies site
and the
Hans Christian Owners Association International site.
HaCienda was sold on 20/12/01 to Stephen and Helen Berry of Sydney and I wish them as much fun aboard her as I had.
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