The boat had just been delivered, the engine was almost new, and the crew included a couple of landlubbers - thoughtful natures would not have travelled further than the nearest club harbour for the time being.
Not so three new Elling E4 owners. With their brand new, 14.95 metre long series-produced motor yachts, they set off for the big time: across the Atlantic.
"Duke", "Valentina" and "Elling" took exactly 15 days and six hours to complete the 2580-nautical-mile trip from the Canary Island of La Palma to the Caribbean pearl of Sint Maarten last December.
"It looks like a bit of a risk, but everything was well thought out," says Anton van den Bos, who steered the "Valentina" across the ocean.
Van den Bos is co-owner and director of the Dutch shipyard Neptune Marine Shipbuilding, which has been building Elling E3 and E4 boats since 1997.
The yachts are certified to CE category A, so they can take a beating: Wind forces of over 8 Beaufort and wave heights of more than four metres. Blue water is the element in which an Elling feels at home.
And so it was clear to van den Bos right from the start: at some point, we'll take it across the Atlantic.
