Custom Ocean Flyer 55 Just Listed

BIG SKY is a 55 foot aluminium expedition sailing yacht, an Ocean Flyer 55 designed by Don Brooke of Ewbank, Brooke and Associates in Auckland and built by Weidewick Boat Builders in Kumeu, New Zealand, in 1996. Conceived from the outset for long passages with a small crew and for sailing at high latitudes,

BIG SKY belongs to that rare category of yachts built to handle any sea and any weather, ice included.

Her story begins with an American couple who commissioned her and sailed her from New Zealand back to the United States by way of the Red Sea and the Panama Canal before spending several years cruising the American west coast.

The current owners bought her in California in 2018, then carried out a complete refit in Seattle between 2020 and 2022, relaunching her in the fall of 2022. Since then, BIG SKY has sailed to Florida via Panama, crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and reached Tahiti at the end of 2025

Her robustness comes from her all aluminium construction, hull and deck alike, with closely spaced transverse frames that give her an uncommon rigidity and resistance to impact, typical of expedition yachts built to face the ice.

Her welded, elongated bulb keel, integral to the structure, along with her offshore cutter rig with permanent running backstays and preventers, complete the picture of a boat built to take on any weather without flinching.

Her range matches her ambitions, carrying 528 gallons of diesel for roughly 2,500 nautical miles of motoring range, 200 gallons of fresh water supplemented by a watermaker producing 113 litres per hour, and 540 watts of solar power. Enough to go far, and for a long time, without depending on a port of call.

She is also fully insulated and fitted with a forced air heating system throughout, making her perfectly suited to sailing in cold latitudes as comfortably as in the tropics.

The current owners carried out a complete refit in Seattle in 2022, with new standing and running rigging, sails entirely remade by Ballard Sails of Seattle, a full B&G electronics suite, and, above all, a custom built aluminium dodger, which effectively shelters the helm station and crew from the elements, a genuine safety gain for offshore sailing in any weather.

BIG SKY is, in every sense, a yacht ready to carry you safely through any ambitious sailing project you can imagine, from a quiet coastal cruise to a full circumnavigation through the highest latitudes. Proven, refitted, and battle tested across three oceans, she is waiting for her next adventure and her next owner.

A full survey with an ultrasound survey is available on demand.

Plus taxes if applicable.

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