BRAND NEW FULLY BATTENED MAIN SAIL INCLUDED Lyra was constructed in 1998 and commissioned in 2000.  She is one of a rare handful of rugged go-anywhere sailboats designed for a very specific purpose and built to exacting standards. To coddle its crew of two in fast efficient comfort and luxury. Sail anywhere safely, including extremely high latitudes. Bullet-proof with watertight bulkheads to survive any conditions. Easily single-handed by the on-watch partner. Commodious storage without compromising semi-light displacement. Indefinite off-the-grid sustainability. Accommodation for two occasional guests in a second double cabin. This graceful and unique Dutch yacht is a head-turner wherever she goes and is customized and adapted for very discerning and serious world cruisers.  Don’t be fooled however by her stunning lines and her classic appearance. This is a modern sailing yacht designed and built to the absolute highest current world standards using composites and epoxy – stronger than steel. The result is a light, stiff and proven seaworthy machine that is very easy to sail, even solo. Lyra is not your average production-yacht. She is the proud creation from the board of Van de Stadt in Holland, a pioneer of modern yacht design. He is responsible for the wing-section fin keel and balanced spade rudder combination, the first very fast plywood yachts, the world’s very first series-production fiberglass yacht, and the world’s first maxi – “Stormvogel”.  Lyra’s design is based on Van de Stadt’s original SAMOA 47, but the design team customized several features to achieve the outcome seen in this beautiful one-off 49’ version. The renowned yard of Adrie Pijnen in Holland, known worldwide for high-end custom composite vessels, was chosen for the specialized construction. Van de Stadt openly favors composite epoxy construction, but very few yards anywhere in the world today still use this method due to its exorbitantly high cost of production. Most Samoas have in fact been constructed in aluminum, a good material, but known for its high maintenance requirements, and not considered particularly suitable for sailing in high latitudes. Despite that, one of the most famous Van de Stadt Samoa’s is “Hawk” featured regularly in Cruising World and other magazine articles authored by owners, Beth Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger (see Wikipedia) who circumnavigated twice sailing her in very high latitudes and completing more than 100,000 miles and winning many significant sailing awards in the process. Lyra is lovingly owned by Herman and his wife Rian who have sailed this example more than 60,000 miles without incident. They are both tall-ship captains and set extremely stringent requirements irrespective of cost when they had her fitted out for their excursion. High latitude sailing is their favorite, having returned to north of Labrador and Greenland three times, circumnavigating the Americas by way of Cape Horn, and spending a summer in the Antarctic aboard Lyra.  Many custom features make this vessel quite unique and suited for any adventure on the globe where there is water!  Her fractional cutter rig makes single-handing a breeze.  While completing our broker listing-photoshoot here in BC waters, I was impressed that she could sail effortlessly 28 degrees to the wind!  At one point we made 2.7 knots close hauled with 4.4 knots of actual wind speed! Husband and wife team, Herman and Rian, now in their senior years, have spent the last 14 living their dream aboard Lyra.  They have returned to Europe to retire and Lyra is now waiting impatiently for her next custodians to continue the onward adventure.  Whether your dream is the tropics or high latitudes, this exceptional vessel will keep you safe, warm and comfortable.  Maintenance standards have been consistently stringent, logs available. The insurance survey conducted last year in 2018 is absolutely clean with zero recommendations (how novel is that?) and lists current replacement value at US$1,375,000.00    Surveys for 2010 and 2013 also available to serious enquirers. This exceptional vessel is available together with all equipment currently on board which includes tools, a huge spares inventory, dinghy, outboard, folding Brompton bicycles, pilots, charts and guides – too many to list.  Step aboard and go exploring. Upon accepted offer, the seller will travel back to Canada to spend up to two weeks with the new owner for orientation, and delivery if required.