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Oddity is large enough to live on, but handy for two to sail and small enough to go through the French canals. Pete had never owned a gaff rigged yacht before, but this sail plan allows all the spars to be lowered by hand and fit within its overall length.
The little boat rows beautifully, according to Pete, and has a lug rig for sailing. It was built from a local mould. “One of the old fishermen said it came from the best of the boats that went out from Cawsand and Kingsand to the old [trading] luggers,” he says.
A crucial event in the 1980s was signing the contract with Carolina Herrera to create and market all her fragrances. The success with her perfumes spread into the area of fashion industry and the company started producing Herrera’s fashion. In late 1990 one of the first celebrities who created their personal fragrances, Antonio Banderas, formed an agreement for production with Puig. The company’s business grew more and more and they turned on acquiring even more brands and expanding the portfolio of their products. They moved on with Nina Ricci in 1998. Bennett flew out to Brazil in March to inspect the damage. “It’s pretty sad, really. The boat’s completely flooded. There’s only about an inch of freeboard. I had to step down into it from the dinghy. The mast was broken at the second set of spreaders.” The boat had been holed in several places, below the waterline at the bow and along the topsides. “There was heavy damage all along the side. Something had cut into the unidirectional fibres in the hull and in parts had punctured it. Some of the keel bulkheads have also given way now. The upshot is the boat is trashed.” There are clues to Pete Goss’s racing history in the details of Oddity. The twin rudders and daggerboards are reminiscent of his Open 50 Aqua Quorum, which he raced round the world in the 1996/97 Vendée Globe. Another successful collaboration with a famous artist started in 2008 with worldwide star Shakira. The company developed a line of new signature products inspired by and created for the singer. It is in 2009 that the company changed its name what it is today—simply, Puig. A license agreement was signed with Valentino to launch their new fragrance. One of the latest success was acquiring a majority stake in the Jean Gaultier fashion house.
A hero’s welcome for Goss after his Southern Ocean rescue of a fellow Vendée Globe skipper. Photo: PA Images/AlamyPete Goss has time for every passer-by. He answers all their questions and invites one man on board to look around. He listens to descriptions of their own boats and sailing history, but he doesn’t counter with his own. Pete Goss is one of the humblest people you could ever meet, and you might never realise the full story: this boat is the creation of one of Britain’s most heroic ocean racing sailors. ender Qwerky is suspended from a galvanised steel gantry. Note transom board that’s also a bathing platform… and a ladder. Photo: Lloyd Images In its way, the eccentric-looking Oddity is the expression of sufficiency, yet it manages to be one of the boldest little yachts you’re likely to come across. Who else could it be for other than a pair of unconventional free-thinkers? A few years ago, this wasn’t even on the horizon. In 2017 they launched Pearl, a Garcia 45 Exploration named to commemorate their 30th wedding anniversary, and set off across the Atlantic with the intention of sailing slowly round the world through the Tropics.
The badly damaged carcass of the famous yellow Open 50, formerly Pete Goss’s Aqua Quorum, is currently lying near Recife in north-east Brazil while a legal tussle over salvage fees is settled. Her present owner, Alex Bennett, abandoned the boat near the Canary Islands in December after the hydraulic rams controlling the canting keel sheered. Since then the yacht has drifted, been boarded and stripped, flooded and finally towed to shore.Pete Goss planned Oddity to be the perfect yacht for the kind of cruising he aims to do. Photo: Lloyd Images
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