I have sailed many quality yachts during 30 years of sailing.  In 2000 I visited the Contest yard and fell in love with the 48CS. Her classic lines, beautifully finished interior and performance in all conditions continue to get my pulse racing even after 13 years.  The only reason for even looking at another, larger boat is to accommodate my growing number of grandchildren.

With just one caring owner since new, PERSUASION V has provided her owner’s family with safe and enjoyable cruising both in Europe and more recently in the Caribbean. Professionally maintained whilst out in the Caribbean, she has now returned back to the UK with very little evidence of her seasons spent in sunnier climes.

Unburdened by huge amounts of bluewater cruising equipment, PERSUASION V is refreshingly simple to sail, with a fantastic fully-battened rig, push-button genoa winches and little else to fail or maintain. What she does boast in spades in typical Contest build quality and the most stunning teak joinery configured in a hugely practical 3-cabin, 2 heads layout.

RCD Status: The yacht is compliant with the essential safety requirements of Directive 94/25EC (Recreational Craft Directive) and is categorized ‘A’ – Ocean. Contest Yachts are also delivered with Lloyd’s Certificate of Hull Construction.

Hull, Deck & Superstructure Construction:

·         The hull is manufactured to Lloyd’s specifications

·         GRP hull with sandwich construction; two layers of reinforced polyester with a balsa core.

·         In places of high stress such as around chainplates, deck-hill join, engine beds, keel base and rudder support, solid GRP is used

·         Sugar-scoop transom configuration with bathing platform

·         Topsides finished in Awlgrip Flag Blue with white waterline

·         Substantial teak rubbing strake with stainless steel rub-strip

·         The deck & superstructure construction consists of GRP deck with laminated foam profiles, with a  laminate constructed of GRP resin, chopped strand mat (CSM) and woven roving (WR) with end-grain balsa wood sandwich, and solid GRP laminate in way of all deck fittings.

·         The deck & superstructure is finished in standard cream Contest gelcoat.

·         The hull to deck join is achieved by way of bolts and then laminated

·         Teak laid decking is fitted to the side decks, coachroof, and toerail capping

·         Self-draining cockpit with teak slats on cockpit sole and teak laid seating

Keel & Rudder:

·         Cast lead wing blub keel externally bolted with acid resistant stainless steel bolts

·         GRP rudder blade with seawater-proofed aluminium stock, full skeg protection

Engine & Gearboxes:

·         Perkins M135 135hp 6-cylinder naturally aspirated diesel engine.

·         Reduction gearbox with Aquadrive flexible coupling to shaft

·         Fresh water cooling via raw water intake and heat exchanger

·         12vDC engine room blower

·         Single lever throttle control on steering pedestal

·         Engine control panel in cockpit with rev counter, oil pressure, water temperature and charge alarms

Maintenance & Performance:

·         Engine hours – 1,440 as of September 2014

·         Engine serviced annually prior to winter layup

·         Cruising speed: approx 7.5 knots @ 2,200 rpm

·         Maximum speed: approx 8.5 knots

Propulsion & Steering:

·         Whitlock steering pedestal in GRP reinforced polyester with hide covered stainless steel wheel.

·         Emergency steering on rudderpost by tiller

·         Sleipner Sidepower 12vDC bowthruster with controls at helm pedestal

·         Stainless steel prop shaft

·         3-bladed Maxprop propeller

·         Rope cutter

·         Spare fixed blade propeller

Voltage Systems:

·         12VDC domestic systems with 230vAC from shorepower

Battery Banks:

·         2x 12vDC engine start batteries joined in parallel

·         5x 110Ah 12vDC service batteries joined in parallel to supply 550Ah @ 12vDC  – 2014

Battery Chargers / Inverter:

·         Victron Phoenix battery charger with charge controller

·         DCC4000 battery management system

·         Pure sine wave inverter

Alternators:

·         Engine-mounted 12vDC alternator for charging battery banks

·         Mastervolt secondary alternator with 3-step charge controller

Shore Power:

·         230vAC shore power system with cable

·         Volt and Amp meters for DC and AC currents

Other Electrical:

·         230vAC sockets within saloon

·         12vDC sockets at chart table and cockpit

·         Factory preparation for fitting of generator

Fresh Water & Water Heating System:

·         Pressurised fresh water system via 12vDC pressure pump

·         Hot water generated by engine-driven calorifier in Isotemp stainless steel hot water tank, via 230vAC immersion heater element or via Webasto Thermo 90 diesel-fired heating system.

·         Deck wash pump

Bilge Pumps:

·         Henderson manual bilge pump in cockpit

·         12vDC electric bilge pump with control at DC panel

Grey/Blackwater:

·         Showers discharge via 12vDC pumps

·         Grey water discharges overboard

·         Blackwater discharges to 2x blackwater tanks or directly overboard 

Fuel:

·         600 litres (132 gallons)  in 1x stainless steel tank

·         Tank level meter at DC panel

Fresh water:

·         750 litres (165 gallons) in 2x tanks

·         Tank level meter at DC panel

Holding tanks:

·         2x 45 litre blackwater holding tanks serving forward and aft heads and discharging via gravity of via deck suction outlets.

In cockpit:

·         Simrad DS40 GPS chart plotter repeater (requires replacement)

·         B&G Synchro wind display

·         B&G Synchro magnified wind display

·         B&G Synchro wind direction display

·         B&G Synchro speed display

·         Cetrek 2900 multi-function display

·         B&G Hydra pilot

·         Suunto steering compass on binnacle

At Chart table:

·         Simrad CP40 GPS chart plotter

·         Furuno 1832 radar with closed array scanner on mast

·         B&G Hydra multi function display

·         ICS Nav 4 navtex

Communications Equipment:

·         Uniden VHF with DSC

·         Shipmate RS8300 secondary VHF/DSC with plug-in point in cockpit

·         Skanti Iridium transceiver and satellite phone handset fitted in aft cabin

·         R&R Hawai GSM/VHF/FM/SSB/Weatherfax/Navtex aerial at masthead

Galley:

·         Twin stainless steel sinks with thermostatic hot & cold pressurised supply

·         Backup manual fresh water supply

·         Seagull filtered fresh water supply

·         Force 4 gimballed 3-burner gas cooker with oven & grill  

·         Front opening Frigoboat 12vDC refrigerator with keel-cooler

Heads/Showers:

·         Jasbco manual marine heads in both heads

·         Showers in both heads compartments

Heating & Ventilation:

·         Webasto Thermo 90 diesel-fired hot water heating system

·         Opening ventilated deckhead hatches with skyscreens

Entertainment:

·         Sony Radio/CD player with speakers in main saloon and waterproof speakers in cockpit

Lighting:

·         Deckhead mounted halogen lights throughout

·         Reading lights in accommodation cabins

·         Chart lamp in navigation area.

Summary of Accommodation:

·         Two double cabins and one twin cabin

·         Teak joinery throughout

·         White Corian counters in galley

·         White laminate counters in heads

·         Blue Alcantara upholstery in saloon and accommodation cabins

·         Blue cloth upholstery for bunk berths

·         Teak & holly soleboards

·         Cream vinyl headlinings to deckhead

·         Rollo blinds for opening deckhead hatches with flyscreens

·         Slatted mattress bases for forward and aft cabin berths.

·         Lee cloths for all single berths

Description of layout:

Forward cabin:

·         Large v-berth with infill to create comfortable double. Stowage beneath bunks. Large hanging locker, cupboard with shelves and further stowage. Seat and vanity. Ensuite access to heads.

Starboard Bunk Cabin:

·         Twin bunks with hanging locker stowage at forward end and further stowage in lockers and cupboards.

Forward Heads:

·         Manual marine heads, sink with pressurised hot & cold water supply. Separate show stall with dedicated hot & cold shower. Teak grating. Cupboard and mirror. Ensuite access to forward cabin and access to lower corridor.

Saloon:

·         U-shaped settee to starboard with stowage beneath, outboard and above. Dining table which can be dropped to create large double berth. Various stowage lockers.

Chart Table:

·         Forward facing chart table to port with chart stowage beneath. Space for navigation instruments. AC/DC panel. stowage beneath chart seat. lockers for pilot books and wet hanging locker forward of chart seat.

Galley:

·         Linear galley to port in walkthrough to aft cabin with L-shaped counter at forward end. Twin stainless steel sinks, each with covers. Gimballed gas stove with cover. Top opening cold box and front opening 12vDC fridge. Ample stowage in lockers, cupboards, drawers and shelves. Engine access inboard.

Aft Cabin:

·         Large centerline double berth. Hanging lockers to port and starboard.. Seating to port and starboard and extensive further stowage in lockers, cupboards, drawers and shelves. Access to ensuite heads.

Aft Heads:

·         Manual marine heads. Sink with pressurised hot & cold water supply. Cupboards. Mirror. Dedicated shower cubicle with thermostatic hot & cold water supply. Teak gratings.

Rig:

·         Selden silver-anodised aluminium alloy spars

·         Deck-stepped mast-head-rigged spar with 2 sets of inline spreaders

·         Adjustable rod-kicker adjustment

·         Furlex 400s genoa furler

·         Stainless steel wire standing rigging

·         Alloy rigging screw protectors

·         Manually adjustable backstay

·         Removable inner forestay with checkstays

·         Frederiksen ball-bearing battencar system for fully-battened mainsail

·         3-reefs for mainsail

·         Stackpack with lazyjacks

·         Lewmar adjustable mainsheet track aft of cockpit

·         Lewmar mainsheet system

·         Lewmar towable genoa tracks and cars

·         Lewmar staysail tracks on coachroof and further genoa tracks on bulwarks

·         Lewmar jammers

·         Spinnaker track on mast for vertically-stowed Selden aluminium spinnaker pole

·         Spinnaker kit

·         Stainless steel protective cage for radar scanner

Winches:

·         2x Lewmar Ocean 58SEST 2-speed self-tailing electric primary winches in cockpit

·         2x Lewmar Ocean 48ST 2-speed self-tailing manual cockpit winches

·         1x Lewmar Ocean 48ST 2-speed self-tailing manual halyard winch on mast

·         1x Lewmar Ocean 44ST 2-speed self-tailing manual halyard winch on mast

·         1x Lewmar Ocean 40ST 2-speed self-tailing mainsail reefing winch on mast

·         1x Andersen 10 1-speed winch for spinnaker pole track uphaul

Sails:

·         Doyle Dacron fully-battened mainsail – 2001

·         Doyle Dacron furling genoa – 2001

·         Doyle nylon symmetric spinnaker with snuffer – 2001

·         Doyle Dacron storm jib - 2001

General:

·         Stainless pulpit and pushpit

·         Mid ship gates.

·         Bow stern and mid ship cleats

·         Bow fairleads

·         Stainless steel boarding ladder

·         Folding teak cockpit table

·         Folding pushpit seats

Anchoring & Mooring Equipment:

·         Stemhead fitting with twin anchor rollers

·         Simpson & Lawrence VX2200 Pacific 12vDC electric anchor windlass

·         25kgs Delta anchor with 50m galvanised chain

·         Kedge anchor with warp and chain

·         Fenders & warps

Covers, Canvas & Cushions:

·         Blue canvas sprayhood mounting to alloy-framed windscreen

·         Blue canvas bimini on stainless steel frame

·         White canvas cockpit cushions

Tender:

·         AB Lammina 10AL aluminium bottomed semi-rigid inflatable

·         Honda BF8 8hp 4-stroke outboard engine

·         Teak outboard bracket on pushpit

·         Novalift deck crane

Safety Equipment:

·         6-man canister liferaft stowed on dedicated cradle aft of cockpit

·         2x Horseshoe buoys

·         Danbuoy

·         Cyclops II radar reflector

·         Plastimo LP gas alarm

·         Navigation lights including masthead strobe/360/tri-colour

Fire-fighting equipment:

·         Fire extinguishers throughout

·         2kgs engine room fire extinguisher

Contest Yachts was founded in 1959 by Ed Conijn, who rightly identified a clear market niche in the Netherlands for building first class boats from the latest generation of polyester materials. The first product was an open two-man leeboard boat called the Flying Dutchman, an instant success that served as the basis for the racing class of the same name. Over 600 examples of this enormously popular yacht were eventually built, giving an incredible foundation to Contest Yachts.

Ed Conijn’s next brainwave was to recognise and respond to demands for a fast cockpit sailboat. The first Contest 25 ushered in an era of series builds in Holland. Other new designs such as the Contest 27, 29 and 31 HT were unveiled during the 1960s and 70s as the yard became known well beyond the Dutch borders for its passion for innovation. Under the guidance of Ed’s son, Fritz Conijn, Contest grew into a yacht builder of global stature. Key highlights include the first yacht without an aft deck area, the Contest 33, which also broke new ground by replacing the helm with a steering wheel. Then there was the Dick Zaal-designed Contest 31HT, over 250 of which were sold.

After the victory of Australia in the 1983 America's Cup, Piet van Oosanen, designer of her winged keel, worked closely with Contest to enhance keel configurations and hydrodynamics. As the emphasis shifted from series builds to semi-custom yachts in the 1980s, Contest called in designers such as Georg Nissen and Doug Peterson. Smart teamwork has continued to be a hallmark of the Contest success story ever since as we work with many leading suppliers and create a range of exceptional interiors with wetzels brown partners.

The turn of the millennium saw the third generation of the family take the wheel as Arjen Conijn succeeded his father. Arjen decided to further increase the emphasis on performance and design, with all the yard’s range enjoying a makeover. Very much an evolution rather than a revolution, this process has been coupled with a string of new models.

The launch of the Contest 62CS in 2008 typified the yard’s commitment to a no-compromise approach to high quality and craftsmanship, and has more recently been followed up by the even larger 72CS. With a brand-new 42-footer in the pipeline and the first ever Contest motoryacht under construction, the Contest family is set to broaden even further in its scope.