Construction
The keel of the Carolus Quinto was laid up at the RYCG in 1998. The construction started in all earnest in november 1999, with just 8 months to go until the Défi.
Through the organisation of the Défi des Jeunes Marins we received the building plans. Because constructing a Bantry Bay Yawl is a precise job. Each boat has to be an exact replica of the original. Only the colour scheme and the soul of the ship differentiates one vessel from the others. And the crew, of course.
You can keep juggling figures like that, but it will never reproduce the atmosphere of activity which ran allthrough the months leading up to the Défi. 20 youths helped Hendrik 'Rik' Morael with the construction, and so learned the ancient art of ship building. The advise on life by the master carpenter was thrown in for free.