Emerald is a Kelly Peterson 44, a cutter rigged, monohull yacht. She began life in 1979, initially as a charter vessel based in St. Lucia and operated by Stevens Charters. Originally named ‘Gold Dust’, she chartered for approx. 5 years before being bought by her second owner who renamed her ‘Wings As Eagles’ in New York.
They took her up the East Coast of America and to the Great Lakes before finally settling at Eastern Point marina at Rockport, Massachusetts. It was from here that we became the proud owners in June 2004.
Emerald Becomes Ours
We hired a delivery crew to sail her across the Atlantic in summer 2004 to Brighton Marina, UK, and renamed her ‘Emerald’.
We lived aboard Emerald in Brighton whilst continuing to work for 5 or so more years. During that time we undertook some major refits including a new engine, upgrading the rigging and chainplates, and replacing all the water and fuel tanks. This was necessary as the cheap Taiwanese steel started to develop pinholes. The mast has been refurbished, lines led back to the cockpit and the underperforming deck drains replaced with scuppers.
We’ve made modifications to turn Emerald into our home such as adding a Refleks drip diesel heater. We also removed the aft head which we’d never used for its purpose and was full of stuff crammed in. Colin has converted the head space into organised storage which also created space to install a luxury item – a washing machine.
We then set off on a number of adventures – to the western Baltic, around the UK, and down to the Med where we are currently based.
Being an old boat there is a never ending list of jobs to keep her maintained. We prefer where possible to do the work ourselves which also helps with our limited budget.
Vital Statistics
LOA: 43’10” (13,36 m.)
LWL: LWL 38’8″ (11.78 m.)
Beam: 12’11” (3.93 m.)
Draft 6’6″ (2 m.)
Ballast: 10,000 lbs. (4,536 kgs.)
Disp: 30,000 lbs. (13,607 kgs.)
Sail area: (100%) 1,011 sq.ft. (93.92 sq.m.)
Ballast/Disp: .33
Disp/Length: 232
SA/Disp: 16.7
Fuel: 400 ltr.
Water: 143 gal. (650 ltr.)
Auxiliary: 75hp Volvo D2-75
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