Genevieve is a Hylas 54 cutter rigged sloop designed by renown marine architect German Frers. She was built and launched in 2007 and became ours in June 2015. Genevieve is a serious blue water cruising boat but also perfect for coastal cruising Her design is classic German Frers with a powerful raked bow, flattish bottom, and large swim platform aft. The hull is white fiberglass reinforced with Twaron, a kevlar-like layer making her hull incredibly strong. At the bow are double anchor rollers, a very large sail locker and anchor rode locker. The anchor locker is a watertight collision bulkhead forward with independent overboard drainage. A watertight stern section is behind the dual aft lazarettes port and starboard with dual Bailey latches for watertight seal. The teak swim platform has a stern garage with a dedicated bilge pump with manual override in cockpit. The deck’s molded contrasting non skid is whisper gray. Her canvas is white. Genevieve has Selden made spars with in mast reefing and roller reefing Headsails making her very easy to sail despite her considerable sail area.
Down below, Genevieve has 6′ 11″ head room in the saloon. At the pointy end there is a large visitors cabin with oversized bed, plenty of storage and a full head and separate shower. There is also a port side bunk room for 1 or 2 that also houses a washer/dryer. The beam is carried well aft for a large master cabin with its own head and separate shower. In the galley there is a large fridge and freezer, double sinks, microwave, gimbaled gas stove and oven… and of course an ice maker! The interior solid teak and the upholstery is deep blue ultra suede. We have a TV, stereo system allowing music below and in the cockpit, and ability to power DC and AC electrical appliances.
At anchor we rely on our faithful dinghy “Mimi”. She lives on davits at the stern when underway, but once in the water with her 18HP outboard attached she can fly around the bay or harbor with surprising agility and speed.
The naming convention. We wanted to call our boat Genevieve after Aunt Gen who was a matriarch of John’s family and whose beach house we now live in a cherish. She had an adventurous soul and would have approved of our antics on the sea. Plus, Genevieve just feels like a good name for a lovely yacht! And a proper yacht must have a female name. We have another small boat in Long Island, a Chris Craft Corsair, which is named Molli after Martin’s mother. But we created a conundrum..Miriam (Mimi) Kiriluk, John’s mother, had NOTHING named after her. So to keep the peace we decided to name our dinghy Mimi. The dinghy has an oversized engine, is grey, and demands a lot of attention…so the name is very appropriate!
Sailing Genevieve... 