Jumeirah has added a transatlantic full charter aboard The Maltese Falcon to its Jumeirah Privé collection, sending the 88-metre sailing superyacht from Gran Canaria to Antigua across ten days of open ocean this December. The passage has been made twice a year since the yacht’s launch, though never with guests aboard. Reserved for a single private group of up to twelve, the charter treats the crossing itself as the destination, with the group’s kitchens, wellness team and service standards carried out to sea.

The Atlantic is usually something to be got across, however, this excursion has taken a different view, and built the entire charter around the water rather than the land at either end of it, offering ten days in which the horizon is the only thing on the itinerary.

Departure follows with a fortnight of extraordinary privacy, capped by three days at anchor in Antigua. The whole yacht belongs to one group, the crew answer to twelve people, and the trade winds do the rest.

Ten days at sea

Departure from Gran Canaria falls at the beginnings of December, timed beautifully to the trade winds that have carried sailing vessels west along this route for centuries. The yacht leaves the crisp light of the European autumn behind and runs towards the warmth of the Caribbean, gaining a little more daylight with every passing morning. The air softens, the swell lengthens and the water turns from deep cobalt to a luminous sapphire that seems to light the hull from below.

Antigua arrives at the end of it, emerald hills and coral reefs framing the view as the yacht comes in under sail. Three days follow at leisure, the sort of slow, earned arrival that no flight can offer. By then the rhythm of life on the open ocean will have taken over completely, and the return to solid ground will feel like the compromise.

DynaRig engineering

The yacht’s reputation rests on one of the great pieces of modern sailing engineering. Three rotating, freestanding carbon-fibre masts carry 2,400 square metres of sail, and the entire set unfurls in six minutes without a single crew member leaving the deck. There is no standing rigging anywhere, which gives the vessel that clean, unmistakable profile recognisable from several miles away.

Since its launch in 2006 the yacht has collected more than 18 awards for innovation, craftsmanship and timeless design, and an extensive recent refit has brought a refreshed aesthetic across the interiors and exteriors alongside state-of-the-art engineering upgrades. Few sailing yachts have ever combined performance and beauty on this scale. Watching all three masts rotate together as the sails fill remains one of the finest sights in yachting.

Life on board

Space is the great luxury that a hull of this size affords, and this one uses it superbly. A three-deck atrium sits at the heart of the yacht, lit by a skylight and wrapped by a sweeping staircase that curves around the main mast. Up on the flybridge, a rotating circular sunbed follows the sun through the day, which is a small piece of engineering indulgence that guests tend to remember.

Evenings bring an outdoor cinema projected onto the lower sail, film and starlight and the sound of water going past the hull all at once. A dedicated wellness area with massage room and fitness studio takes care of the calm days, and Jumeirah is layering its signature culinary programming, wellness expertise and famously anticipatory service across the whole voyage. Everything the brand does on land comes with it.

An Exclusive Excursion

Accommodation runs to twelve across a full-beam master suite, four double cabins with ensuite facilities, and a private VIP deck on the flybridge with direct terrace access of its own. One group takes the yacht in its entirety, so the guest list is whatever the charterer wants it to be, and the crew shape the days around them.

Reserved exclusively for that single private group, the crossing sits among the most exclusive experiences in the brand’s global portfolio anywhere in the world. It has taken twenty years for this passage to open up to guests. Pricing is available on request.