Her forward mast with proper crow’s nest, a large 6-person Switlik liferaft canister mounted on the open foredeck next to her fo’c’s’le, the high bulwarks of her side decks, all add credence to her heritage. The dark blue hull and gray topsides were a sharp contrast to the white-on-white look of the surrounding yachts. But at least it wasn’t hard to locate the Romsdahl among the other yachts at Bradfords!Īpproaching Ulysses, with her bow forward in the slip, the image was all-Romsdahl, a serious North Sea explorer. Lauderdale over the last couple of years, even though she really looks more at home idling past a glacier in Iceland or Alaska, or anchored in a lush tropical lagoon, instead of being nestled among a bunch of 175-foot monster motoryachts. “Her last insurance claim was for $3,000…to repair a dock,” Jerry added with a laugh, giving me a bit of perspective.
But he quickly added that she is no lightweight trawler. He told me she was 53 feet overall, which isn’t as large as many of the breed. I first spoke to Jerry Taylor to arrange the tour on Ulysses when I hadn’t yet been aboard. As I noticed when I dropped by for a quick look, the Taylors’ GB reflects their experience from many miles at sea-the boat is a study in simplicity. When not caring for Ulysses, or off on delivery duties, the couple lives aboard their Grand Banks 36 on the New River in Ft. So much attachment developed with the owner and boat during those initial miles that the Taylors have stayed involved with Ulysses ever since, in one way or another, including managing a major refit of the trawler in 1995. The Taylor’s association with Ulysses began when they first delivered her for her new owner from San Diego, through the Panama Canal to Florida. Wendy, an athletic New Zealander, told me, “We’ll move any boat anywhere, but not for anyone.” East Coast.Īs successful professionals in a tough business, the Taylors are selective in the assignments they take on. Jerry and Wendy are a professional, no-nonsense delivery crew, accustomed to delivering 50'–80' yachts around the Caribbean and the U.S. When her owner is absent, the vessel is often under the care of Jerry and Wendy Taylor. The present owner of Ulysses has owned her for the last 27,000 miles. During my visit, even some of those crewmembers came over for a visit to see “the real thing.” Yup, if you appreciate the look and feel of the traditional trawler, you’ll no doubt find a yacht like Ulysses incredibly appealing.
#Ulysses yacht professional#
Sitting in a slip, surrounded by huge super-yachts at Bradford International Marina, Ulysses seemed a bit out of place among the glitzy mega-yachts, all with their 6–10 person professional crews. Built in 1963 with a steel hull and aluminum house, Ulysses has the look and feel of a small ship, and, at over 120,000 lbs. At 53 feet, Ulysses isn’t as big as many of the wood Romsdahls built in Norway, but she is every bit the true bluewater explorer. Lauderdale from a long distance cruise up and down the U.S. I have always had a fondness for the look and style of the traditional Romsdahl trawler, and I was excited to go aboard a steel vessel that had recently returned to Ft. Today there is still much active ship building in Norway, but after the 1960s, the diverse demands for supply ships, fishing trawlers, purse seiners, passenger transports, research vessels, and yachts changed the role of the traditional design-so many more shapes and sizes were launched, even in the Romsdahl region. The Romsdahl tradition continued through the 1960s, although later boat construction was done mainly in steel. Up through the 1950s, these trawlers were all built in wood, in sizes from 35 feet to 70 feet. The success of Hameraas’ boats was so universal that soon all of the other Romsdahl builders took inspiration from him, and the tradition of the Romsdahl-style was soon rooted in maritime history.Īround 1900–1905, the trawlers began trading their sails for husky and reliable engines, and the canoe stern trawlers continued to fish for herring off the Storegga Banks, and the larger codfish off Norway’s northern waters. He built the first of these incredibly seaworthy fishing cutters (which were sailboats) to a design closely related to the Scottish trawlers of the time. There have always been scores of boat builders located in the Romsdahl region, whose capital city is Molde.Īccording to Norway’s Bergen Maritime Museum, in Bergen, Norway, the history of the Romsdahl-style boat goes all the way back to the 1870s, and a boat builder named Lars Jensen Hameraas. If you look at a map of Norway, you’ll likely find that the nearest large city to this county is Ålesund. In northwestern Norway is a county of about 150,000 inhabitants known as Romsdahl.
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