Claire Griffiths is Dockwalk’s contributing editor in the Mediterranean. She fled to the sunny south of France from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Claire has a background in journalism for national and regional UK press and a career in political and corporate PR prior to that. Claire’s hobbies include eating, sleeping and dancing at inopportune times. She tries to avoid sheer drops and Olympic bobsled runs. Email Claire at claire@dockwalk.com
The 55-meter M/Y Reliance is the eighth in Heesen’s Steel series, and Capt. Bartek shares his experience with the build.
Capt. Bartek Ciemnoczulowski grew up in Łódź in central Poland. In his teens, he was packed off to the U.S. because his parents said it was time he learned some English. “So I did,” he explains. “And I have the feeling I got to know the real USA in Mississippi!” He says it was the best thing that happened to him. He returned to Poland to study law at Łódź University. But he never practiced.
“I was always interested in boats in the Baltic. My yachting career started as a flotilla captain, then I joined a catamaran on a round-the-world trip.” He went on to work on the 57-meter S/Y John Walker & Sons Voyager (ex-Montigne) on another world trip and a hefty 10-month long commercial charter as bosun.
Since then, he has worked on, among others, M/Y Miraggio, M/Y Lady M, M/Y RoMa, M/Y Ebony Shine, M/Y St David, and M/Y Atomic. Before joining the Reliance project, he spent three years skippering M/Y N2H.
Started on speculation and attracting an owner 15 months into the build, the 55-meter M/Y Reliance was delivered in September 2023 as the eighth in Heesen’s 55-meter Steel series. Steel hulled with an aluminum superstructure, she has a top speed of 15.5 knots and a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles when navigating at cruising speed. She has a gross tonnage of 760 GT and a 9.6-meter beam. Thirteen crew attend to 12 guests who are accommodated in six staterooms.
Capt. Ciemnoczulowski joined at the last stage of the build. Geoff Moore from West Nautical remembered him from another yacht in the fleet and decided he would be a good fit for the project.
“The most challenging part was arranging changes at the last minute without making new change orders that incur more costs and time. At the end, everyone becomes involved in decisions, like the position of lamps or sofas (the owner, project manager, designer, etc.), and my job was to find the human element in people, bypass the system, and keep everyone happy,” says Ciemnoczulowski.
“Another challenge was that all the owner’s stock also came in three weeks with all the crew being hired at the same time.” Once the yacht left the Heesen yard, Ciemnoczulowski spent another half a million euros on modifications to the boat: “We did this but still managed to keep the warranty of the yacht. It was additional carpentry work, flooring, metal work, and new chocks for the tenders.” Much of the work was completed by the WOSA shipyard in Italy.
The yacht features a roomy swim platform, beach club, and wellness center that has gym equipment, a sauna, and a hammam. Other attractions include the spacious sundeck with Jacuzzi and an al fresco dining area on the upper deck. The toy box is full of the favorites, like Seabobs, electric surfboards, Jet Skis, and two tenders.
Inside, designer Luca Dini has blended taupe and cream tones with dark textures. The full-beam owner’s suite is forward on the main deck. Two twin guest cabins and two doubles are on the lower deck, and one VIP is on the bridge deck, forward of a full-beam skylounge.
“It was a great pleasure for me to cooperate with the shipyard. I was particularly impressed with the carpentry, which is such good quality,” he says. “It’s a series boat, so she can’t be modified 100 percent, and as number eight in the series, we learned a lot from previous boats. Things like a massive improvement in storage, electrical lighting, and hot/cold and fizzy drinking water taps in all the pantries.” The latter reduces the yacht’s environmental impact by avoiding bottled water on board.
Capt. Ciemnoczulowski shares that the yacht is convenient to operate, so crew are able to respond and perform duties efficiently and relatively easily. “The chief stew is happy with her extra storage space, the chef has a good-sized area to plate up, and the chief officer is happy that the lines are easily accessible to wash and there’s not too much rope work for cleaning.” Most of all, department heads are happy that they all work on rotation. “I fought very hard for that,” he says.
Reliance spent the winter in the Caribbean and is now preparing for her first Mediterranean charter season. The captain’s ambition is to make Reliance the best charter yacht in class in the Med. He adds, “A good captain knows how to lead but he also knows how to get involved and engender loyalty with his crew. You need your crew to stay and pass on crucial knowledge, especially at the beginning and the end of seasons.”