BOATS AT THE CLUB This is another in the series of articles aimed at providing you with an insight into new boats and other boats of interest at the Club. Contact Pat Catley through the Club if you are interested in having your boat featured here.
Madrigal is a 1999 Moody 46 brought into the CYCSA by Miguel and Carla Alemao. Moody have a reputation for producing quality family cruisers with spacious accommodation with an emphasis on blue water cruising and Madrigal fits these criteria. She has an extended waterline and an all furling cutter rig with a self-tacking staysail. This means she can be easily sailed by two people on long passages. Her 18 ton displacement probably won’t let her win many Club races but she is deceivingly fast even under light winds. Below decks Madrigal is incredibly roomy and boasts two large staterooms with en-suite heads at each end of the boat. A small double bunk cabin provides extra sleeping or can be used for storage. The well lit U shaped galley is very enclosed making it easy to prepare meals in all weather. There is a large fridge, separate freezer, a microwave and a four burner gas stove and oven. The navigation station has a full sized chart table with radios and chart plotter. On deck the raised elongated cockpit is comfortable and roomy with good visibility and provides protection from the elements with a hard dodger. The folding wheel gives additional room when entertaining guests. She displays a beautiful teak deck which has just been restored to its former glory. A Raymarine hybrid GPS plotter is housed in a console with Interphase forward scanning sonar, windlass and auto-pilot controls. A suite of B&G wind instruments is mounted under
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the dodger and relays to the navigation station. There is a folding timber cockpit table that opens to two sizes for cocktails or meal times. Madrigal is also fitted with a bow thruster which proves very handy when manoeuvring in tight quarters. All these systems are powered by an extensive battery bank and supported by an 800w solar system. Madrigal’s engine is a Volvo Penta Turbo 75hp with a Westerbeke 7.6KVA generator which is useful for the reverse cycle air conditioner. Not many yachts can boast a work bench with tools but Madrigal’s pilot berth has been converted for this purpose. Miguel fell in love with this boat when he and Carla went to Sydney in November 2020 on a boat hunting mission and stumbled across Madrigal which wasn’t yet ready for sale. From there they never looked back. He hired a professional skipper to sail her from Sydney to Melbourne as the New South Wales border was closed due to COVID. Then, with two friends, Miguel sailed her from Melbourne to Adelaide. Miguel owned a Fast 345 (Ron Holland project) back in 1992 but hasn’t done much sailing since then. He is now ready to make up for lost time. For the next two years Miguel will get to know Madrigal as much as he can by sailing her around South Australian waters. After that he is planning on longer cruises around Australia and after that, who knows? He chose the CYCSA to keep Madrigal because of the great Club atmosphere, great facilities (berthing, etc) and probably the best all-around marina for a vessel of Madrigal’s size. I wish you and Carla many happy years of sailing and thank you for allowing me to feature your boat. Pat Catley
