Royal Huisman's shipyard in Vollenhove, Holland is as clean and well organised as an operating theatre, and while the 57.5m Dubois-designed and RWD-styled ketch, Twizzle was built to immaculate standards in these perfect conditions she is just too big to be finished there. As a result, she was loaded onto a barge and shipped to the deeper waters of Harlingen on the north coast of The Netherlands, using the local canal network (irreverently called Huisman's 'berthing canal' by the yacht's owner) and the waters of the Ijsselmeer inland sea before passing into the North Sea port of Harlingen, having passed through the locks of the North Sea Dyke.
It was here, in Harlingen, on Monday 12th July, that she was officially given her name by the owner's daughter in a charming ceremony witnessed by some 150 guests, whose number included Alice Huisman the CEO of the Royal Huisman Shipyard, naval architect Ed Dubois, Justin Redman, a principal of the design house Redman Whiteley Dixon who also designed the yacht's interior, and Emily Todhunter of Todhunter Earle Associates who were the interior decorators.
Built for a hugely experienced owners who were central to the project, Twizzle is laid out with a raised pilot house and flying bridge and is powered by some 1,780m2 of sail set on carbon-fibre masts. The mainmast, of 62-metres air draught is the largest which will enable her to pass beneath the Panama Canal's Bridge of the Americas, endows her with the title of 'Panamax' and identifies her as a true 'go-anywhere' world-roaming yacht. Below the waterline of this 499GT beauty is a 3.8m draught keel which houses a centreboard that will enhance her windward performance, while 120 tons of internal ballast will aid stability.