Amid the chaos of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new UK-based cruise venture has been launched, fronted by former Saga Cruises chief operating officer and ex-UK Royal Navy captain Stuart McQuaker.
Tradewind Voyages — which has no connection to TradeWinds newspaper — will operate the 8,770-gt Golden Horizon, which is a unique deluxe cruiseship built to the design of a traditional five-masted, square-rigged sailing ship by Croatian shipbuilder Brodosplit.
Although the luxury vessel has yet to see any commercial service — it was refused delivery by original owner Star Clippers, when it was named the Flying Clipper, due to long construction delays — it will undergo some upgrading to reduce its capacity from 300 to 272 passenger before it enters into service next May.
McQuaker revealed that Tradewind Voyages was an initiative of Croatia’s DIV Group, which owns Brodosplit. When Star Clippers did not take delivery of the ship, DIV decided to start its own cruise venture.
“I was approached by a headhunter working on behalf of DIV last October," McQuaker said. "They were looking at several candidates from within the cruise industry.”
McQuaker, who spent most of his career with the Royal Navy commanding aircraft carriers and holding executive roles such as chief of staff of the UK Carrier Strike Group, had only recently left his role at Saga Cruises.
We are looking at people in their 40s to 70s who are adventure seekers, who want to enjoy sailing and visiting remote places in a good level of luxury
Stuart McQuaker
Shortlisted candidates were asked to submit proposals on what sort of cruise operation they would set up to run the ship.
“My interest was piqued when I was shown a photo of the ship," McQuaker said. "I thought 'wow, we’ve got to follow the trade winds'. The sailing configuration and hull shape of this vessel is specifically designed to follow the wind.”
The vision McQuaker has set for the company differs from that of most cruise lines. The Golden Horizon will not operate seven-day, port-intensive cruises in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Instead, it will offer longer voyages where most of the time will be spent under sail.
“We aim to spend 70% of the time purely under sail," he said. "In my opinion, if you have got a ship like this, you have got to sail. Our goal is to attract people who want to experience something different, who are interested in the sailing element. We are looking at people in their 40s to 70s who are adventure seekers, who want to enjoy sailing and visiting remote places in a good level of luxury.”
Following the trade winds
For the first season, Tradewind Voyages will target mainly the UK and English-speaking markets.
During the 2021 summer season, the ship will operate a series of nine cruises from UK ports to northern Europe and the Baltic states.
“We decided to bring the ship to the UK for the inaugural season to increase the visibility of the ship,” McQuaker said. "The opportunity to show the ship in its home market is very important.
“The other reason for doing so is Covid-19. We will open for bookings in September and we are not entirely sure people will be ready to book holidays to more distant places then.”
After the 2021 season wraps up, the Golden Horizon will hoist its sails and follow the trade winds around the world. It will initially follow the ancient maritime silk route to Asia, after which it will circumnavigate Australia and then sail entirely around the Indian Ocean.
McQuaker said the process of planning these itineraries was quite different to what most other cruise lines experience.
“The voyages are planned on the basis of the prevailing winds and currents around the world," he said. "We have to use old admiralty routing charts that show winds and currents at different times of the year. We can’t do this with electronic charts. It is very old school but very interesting.”
McQuaker stressed that DIV was fully committed to building Tradewind Voyages into a viable cruise operation, and suggested that more ships could be on the cards.
“It is going to be interesting to see how this pans out," he said. "Our goal is to build up a fleet of four ships by 2027.”
