Excess 11
Last Week: Neel - 4 Rue Virginie Hériot 17000 La Rochelle, France
This Week: Lagoon - 162, Quai de Brazza, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
Winery: 1186 Rte de Castres, 33650 Saint-Morillon, France
Complete Data Source: CatamaranShow.Com
Welcome back to Naval Gazing at Camp David.
This week's guest yacht is a the next generation of a new brand from the world's largest catamaran manufacturer.
The Excess 11!
Today we are going to
1. Review its specifications, pricing and layout against three similar new vessels
2. Do a full tour asking, "What would Sylvia say?"
3. Naval Gaze at an innovation and/or adjustment that might make life aboard easier
4. Have a look at the used market for 3-5 year old comparables
5. And finally give it a "Dave Score" and compare the result with all our previously reviewed yachts.
All this fun will be sandwiched between a wine pairing from the same region as the guest yacht and a look at a favorite sample of art from the same region. Yachts, waves, ideas, wine and art…what a civilized way to spend 30 minutes, so let's get going…
Starting high above Vancouver Canada, we fly East across North America and across the Atlantic to the north western shores of France and the home of last times yacht at the Neel ship yards. From here we hop south down the coast to the Lagoon/Excess yards where the new 11 is built. Finally we head further south to our wine pairing this week, Château Villa Bel-Air Graves 2016.
Château Villa Bel-Air is located in the Southern part of Graves, in the parish of Saint-Morillon, near La Brède. Villa Bel-Air's buildings have been listed as part of France's historical monuments and are a perfect illustration of the French Revolution period.
In 1988, the Cazes family, already owners of Châteaux Lynch-Bages and Les Ormes de Pez, bought Villa Bel-Air. Jean-Michel Cazes undertook an important programme of restoration and enlisted Daniel Llose (General Technical Manager for the Cazes family) and Guy Delestrac to improve the vineyards. The old parcels of land, which had been pulled out, were replanted and the property was equipped with a new drainage system.
The production at Villa Bel-Air is done with great care and the wines are traditionally fermented in stainless steel. After blending, the wines are oak aged for 12 to 15 months and each barrel is racked every three months. The wines produced are supple, elegant, well balanced and display luscious tannins.
Innovation Corner
• Excess 11 Website: www.excess-catamarans.com/our...
• Below deck Code Furler: www.reckmann.com/en/161/cz/
Wine of the Region: www.terredevins.com/actualite...
Art of the Region:
View of part of the port and the docks of Bordeaux, known as the Chartrons and Bacalan, Oil painting on canvas made in 1804 by Pierre Lacour Pere (1745-1814). Born: April 14, 1745, Bordeaux, France
Died: January 28, 1814, Bordeaux, France.
Pierre's first artistic studies were in the workshop of the engraver, André Lavau (1722-1808). In 1764, he went to Paris to continue his studies with the painter, Joseph-Marie Vien. He was awarded second place in the Prix de Rome of 1769. He spent some time in Rome sometime around 1771 and became an Agrégé at the Académie nationale des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Bordeaux [fr] in 1772. Two years later, he was named an Academician.
His first exhibit at the Salon came in 1796; the same year he was named a corresponding member of the Académie des beaux-arts. Three years later, he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.. In 1801, he founded the Musée des beaux-arts de Bordeaux and became its first Curator.[3] In 1803, he became a Professor and, from 1804 until his death, served as the Director of the School of Painting and Design.
In addition, he was placed in charge of restoring the Palais Rohan.