Solar-powered pride

The owner of Sól didn’t intend on buying a new yacht, much less a catamaran. The story as to how this 80 Sunreef Power Eco came to be is as fascinating as it is funny. Although he and his multi-generation family had spent 25 years cruising aboard a 27-metre between New England and the Bahamas, they decided to sell the yacht about 12 years ago. Not ready to give up cruising, though, they spent the next decade chartering.

“We thought, that’s the way to go, it’d be crazy to buy another yacht again,” the owner remembers. “And then,” he adds laughing, “my family ganged up on me.”

His wife and grown kids said they missed the days of close time together. Although charters were nice, they just couldn’t compare. “I said, that’s great, but I’m not buying or building a diesel boat. We are climate-impact investors, doing business and philanthropy around climate change and sustainability – I’m not buying and running a boat that burns 50, 100 or 200 gallons an hour.”

The family’s response? “They started sending articles about electric yachts – I didn’t even know it was a thing,” he explains. “Pretty quickly, I did a bunch of homework.”