Cecile, a native of France, is a long-time resident of South Florida. She trained as a journalist, worked in daily newspapers, and explored other fields, including hospitality, until a chance encounter revealed a new career path as a marine journalist and later as editor of a glossy yachting magazine. She joined the BOAT family in 2013 as an editor for ShowBoats International — now BOAT International US Edition. She loves to write about design and people especially, although she has seldom encountered a topic that did not interest her. Aside from writing and editing, she co-chairs BOAT’s Design & Innovation Awards.
Captain Oscar Vallejo switches sail for power on one of the most talked-about charter market entries by Cecile Gauert.
Oscar Vallejo spent five years as captain of the 176ft, 340GT Pink Gin VI before following his boss into the design and build of the 191ft SeaXplorer Pink Shadow. “It’s a big-volume 58 meter,” he says. “If you compare it to other boats, it has a volume of some 65 meters [213ft] and the doors that this boat opens for us are incredible.”
I catch him for a quick phone call just after a captain license refresher course in Fort Lauderdale, following a few exciting weeks in the Caribbean on board Pink Shadow and a trip to Uruguay with the yacht’s owner, Hans Georg Näder.
“It’s cool,” Oscar says of his new charge, painted with Awlgrip in a deep green with accents of dark copper. “We made some noise in St Barths.”
If he is now at ease with his role as the captain of one of the most noteworthy new yachts to the charter market, just a few years ago his career track wasn’t all that clear. Becoming a captain had not occurred to the Mallorca native. At 17, like many people his age he did not know what to do after school. He worked as a part-time dive instructor in Palma, making a little cash while finishing his studies and trying to find out what to do next. That’s how he met the captain of the 112ft schooner Seljm, who needed a hand with some underbody work. Oscar sorted him out and declined payment. “I was just happy to help,” he says. Surprised and pleased, the captain offered Oscar a tour of the schooner. Next thing he knew, Oscar was packing a bag and embarking on a crossing to Antigua as a deckhand on Seljm. He learned the ropes and taught himself English by watching the television series Homeland on repeat.
Eventually, he took a job as a mate on board the Baltic Pink Gin V. When what turned out to be a kidney stone incapacitated the yacht’s captain during a transatlantic, Oscar had to step up. Then the owner invited him to take on the lead role aboard the new carbon rig he’d just finished, the Baltic 175 Pink Gin VI, the largest carbon sloop in the world (at least at the time). There followed several years of happy sailing to destinations far and wide, including multiple trips to South America.
But the owner had a growing desire for greater comfort. “We were sailing less and less,” Oscar says. “Sometimes it takes half a day to get sailing, then the breeze is gone, then you have to put all the sail away, all 3,000 square meters [32,000 square feet], and his desire for comfort became more than enjoying a Sunday sailing.”
The owner eventually bought and refitted a Damen yacht support vessel, the former Pink Shadow, and took it on a 12,000-mile round trip to South America while the sailing yacht was preparing for a race. “We had so much fun.” So much in fact that halfway into the trip they found themselves talking with Damen Yachting about a new build.
The shipyard had laid the hull of the 180ft SeaXplorer, which meant it could shave a year off the construction time. It wasn’t 100 percent aligned with what the owner, who loves to entertain, was looking for, but the yard was willing to make changes. These included a significant rethink of the aft end of the boat with a larger swim platform, a glass-sided pool, opening side bulwarks, and a side launching tender system instead of the initially planned slipway. For the interior, the owner returned to the British studio with whom he’d worked on multiple projects, Design Unlimited. The interior of the boat, partly inspired by the 1982 movie Fitzcarraldo, reflects the owner’s extensive travels, past and future.
Although a refined yacht inside, Pink Shadow has extraordinary hauling capacity. The tender garage on the main deck holds two 28ft Rupert tenders, which Oscar says “fit to the millimeter.” What’s special about that is that the space is also a fun bar, framed by totems, which the team calls “Tahiti Plage.” In addition to this fun space protected by louvered sides that open down, what may have caught more than one onlooker’s attention in St Barths is what Pink Shadow carried on her upper deck. “On the helideck, we have a car, two motorbikes and a container,” Oscar says. “We were thinking about retrofitting it as an outdoor gym, putting side doors and painting it the color of the hull.” They would then have the option to use it dockside as a gym. A massive knuckle boom crane lifts it easily off the upper deck. “It is my favorite toy. We had the same one exactly on the [previous] Pink Shadow and I’m very familiar with it,” he says of the crane.
The transition has been interesting. “There are many differences that we could talk about,” he says. Oscar acknowledges operating the boat is entirely different. In truth, while there may be a few things he misses about sailing, “I’m always learning so much that I’m a bit too busy to miss it.” When he has a delivery captain, he often travels with the boss, taking care of other business and planning new adventures. “We’re always brainstorming what’s next.”
Helping with the transition is that he has been able to bring along members of his former crew. “[The owner] is very well known to keep crew for a long time.” This allows Oscar to run the boat “family-style.” “We are like a small boat in this regard, aside from the regulations we must follow; I like to bring that humane part of it, not like we are on a cruise ship,” he says. As a result, a different approach was taken with the design of the crew spaces. Unlike most crew messes and bunks that are white and clinical, Pink Shadow brings the jungle wallpaper down to the crew deck. “We didn’t want the feeling of a hospital.”
After the Med season, Oscar is looking forward to returning next year to South America, where he has often been with the owner, who is a big fan. “The coolest part is we are to head to Patagonia and South America for charter,” the captain says. “From January we will go from Uruguay down to Ushuaia, Patagonia, and we are going to try to get off the beaten track if we can. Hopefully it brings us to the other coast — I’d love to go there.”
It looks like that free job in Palma years ago paid handsomely after all.