Golden Dream     Owners  Chris and Wendy Le Cornu, moored Port Cygnet

 Golden Dream is a custom design and custom built S&S 50 footer. Its design is based on a Swan 47, which was an S&S design. It was redrawn by S&S to incorporate features from both versions of the Swan available at that time. It was built by Ces Quilkey in his Sydney yard. Ces was famous for building successful S&S designs such as Salacious and Love and War.
Ces says she was his masterpiece.
Like the other S&S yachts of the time, she is built of cold moulded Oregon and Dynel sheathed. She weighs 15 tonnes, of which seven tonnes is in her lead keel.
Our boat was originally known as Centrefold and was launched in 1982. She competed in a number of Sydney Hobarts and many Gosford to Lord Howe Island races. She was designed with a lifting centreboard (as fitted to another S&S design, the New York 48), so that her draught is only 1.8 m with the board up. The Lord Howe race faded away because most modern race boats have much deeper draught and can’t get into the lagoon.
Centrefold was built as a luxury cruiser/racer, and was fitted with a saloon to seat 8, a large freezer, an ice maker, a liquor cabinet and a microwave. There is also a generator to power all the appliances and a water maker.
On our delivery trip from Sydney to Tassie, the generator stopped working. My brother, who had taken on the role as chef, was aghast. “We won’t be able to use the rice cooker! Dinner will be ruined.” Wendy explained to him that it was possible to cook rice on the gas stove top!

When we bought the boat from the original owner, in 2013, Wendy said she was way too old to be a centrefold, so we changed the name to Golden Dream. We also changed her hull colour from white to maroon. I had always admired Condor of Bermuda, and thought if ever I had a suitable boat, I would copy Condor’s colour scheme.
We made a trip to Brisbane in 2017, living on board for 8 months, and found her to be very comfortable. She is also a very competent ocean cruising boat, belying her S&S pedigree. She is an absolute joy to sail to windward, with one finger on the wheel.
The only downside we have found is that she is a big boat, and that means big loads, big forces, and big bills. It takes 10 litres of antifoul to cover her ample bottom! Her tall mast means that you only get two halyards out of a 100m roll of rope!
But, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think she is a beauty. We consider ourselves very lucky to be the custodians of this fine vessel.