Cariad, one of the most impressive classic yachts still sailing today, is currently in Mallorcan waters, moored in the Bay of Palma. Built in 1896 by Summers & Payne in Southampton (England) for Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven, Cariad (a Welsh word meaning “beloved”) was conceived from the outset as a racing yacht. Two years after her launch, she achieved her first major victory by winning the Vasco da Gama Cup, a competition covering the passage from Lisbon to Bombay to commemorate the fourth centenary of the Portuguese maritime route to India.
The 20th century carried Cariad from South African ports to Pacific islands, from the Côte d’Azur to the Caribbean, where she experienced both glory and decline. In the 1980s she underwent a first major refit, but by 1993 she had been abandoned in Taiwan. Rescued by the Japanese Charter Yacht Association, she sailed again, only to fall once more into neglect, this time in Bangkok. Between 2006 and 2008 she was practically rebuilt at PSS Shipyard in Thailand, but the financial crisis forced her sale before the works were completed.
Forgotten by her owner, the yacht deteriorated in Singapore for over a decade. Heat, humidity, and lack of maintenance took their toll: rotten timbers, useless rigging, damaged interiors, and even three partial sinkings.
Cariad’s fortunes changed in 2021, when shipping entrepreneur Tim Hartnoll decided to take on the challenge of restoring her to former glory. Hartnoll had shown interest in the yacht years earlier, and this time he did not hesitate: he brought her back to PSS Shipyard, reassembled part of the team that had worked on her in 2008, and enlisted British naval architect Paul Spooner to lead the restoration. Standing on her immaculate deck today, Hartnoll could not hide his pride in having returned Cariad “to the place where she belongs”: the arena of great regattas.
Beyond being a racing yacht, Cariad is a floating testament to the history of sailing. Eight months ago, she returned to competition at the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta in Thailand