Chardonnay III Offers New Cruises from Monterey

April 13, 2021 – The Chardonnay III—a world-class Santa Cruz 70 racing boat—is now offering sunset cruises out of Breakwater Cove in Monterey.

The sleek sailing vessel weighs anchor at 4:30pm and 6pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and takes passengers out to tour the bay, observe sea life and catch the sunset. The one hour and a half tours cost $70 for adults and $35 for children ages 10 to 14. They include pizza from Pizza My Heart, along with wine and beer from Seabright Brewery in Santa Cruz.

The Chardonnay III is a sister boat to the popular Chardonnay II which has been a fixture on the Monterey Bay for 25 years and sets sail from the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor almost every day of the week.

The bright red Chardonnay III is easy to spot out at sea. It was acquired in 2015 by Jim Beauregard—who owns the boats with the Seaside Company. Up until now it was used exclusively for charter sails, corporate events and team building exercises, and can still be chartered for group excursions.

When Beauregard decided to add a second craft to the fleet, he was especially interested in getting another Santa Cruz 70, which like the Chardonnay II was hand-crafted in the Soquel Hills by legendary boat builder and longtime Port Commissioner Bill Lee—often called the wizard.

There were only 19 of the vessels made before Lee “broke the mold” so the search didn’t take long. All the Santa Cruz 70s were built to be world-class racing boats, particularly for the Trans Pac race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. They use light-weight carbon fiber construction and a flat bottom that mimics a surfboard and allows the boat to glide over the waves and swells. All except for the Chardonnay II, which was built especially for leisurely excursions around the Monterey Bay.

The one Beauregard located was called the Thirsty Tiger and had originally been purchased by a midwesterner to race up and down Lake Michigan. Due to freezing winter temperatures, it spent much of every year in dry dock and was still in excellent condition. 

Since Beauregard bought the racing yacht and moved it back home to Santa Cruz in 2015, vessel manager Adam Koch worked to retrofit the boat so that it could get Coast Guard approval to carry passengers. “We added 6,000 pounds of ballast to make it more stable and safer and had to remove fittings on the deck so people wouldn’t trip,” he said.

An outside railing was also added and new less racy sails, but otherwise the boat remains the same. It currently carries 30 passengers and its crew observes all Covid protocols. Temperatures are taken before passengers are permitted aboard and masks are required during check in and boarding.

As the new cruises catch on, operators are hoping to add additional days and begin collaborating with more restaurants in the Monterey area. They also hope regular customers from Santa Cruz will choose to travel to Monterey to experience a different sailboat and new scenery.

Buy tickets and find out more here.