007 is for Sale – Discovery 57, JUNO

Splashed in 2014, JUNO is the last of these great Ron Holland’s to emerge from the Discovery yard, and she was built and specified to a very high standard. Still with her original owners, she has been meticulously maintained and the work continues including recent standing rigging.

This is how she looks today – videographer Harry Shutler and I did this walkthrough in January:

Exploring the Accommodation & Deck Equipment of Discovery 57, JUNO

The Discovery 57 has all the Discovery DNA that you expect from the iconic series of bluewater cruising yachts:

• Solent rig.
• Sail handling from the cockpit.
• Genuine deck saloon.
• Excellent galley.
• Large owners’ stateroom.
• Good machinery access.
• Powerful and sparkling sailing.
• Massive amounts of storage.

The Discovery 57 has elliptical windows, so light floods into the deck saloon. JUNO has a work room with a full sized washer/dryer and perfect access to engine and genset. The interior is hand crafted and enhanced with the use of burrs and intricate detailing. She also has powered furling for her front sails as well as electric in-mast furling.

You can read her specification here:
https://www.berthoninternational.com/yacht-for-sale-specs/discovery-57-juno.pdf

History of Discovery 57, JUNO

JUNO is perfect for family sailing. Read a bit of her sailing history below:

“I had sailed a Beneteau 411 Celebration for ten years and 17,000 miles before my wife told me, in 2012/13, that I needed to buy a bigger boat. We looked at Oysters, Najads, Swans etc, but once I had test driven a Discovery I knew the ‘bigger boat’ had to come from this stable. I thought the Disco 55 cockpit was crowded and a little unsafe in a big seaway, so was delighted when the 57’s evolved. Everything happened at the right time. A friend and I had a test sail on 57-001 in February at 2C on 57-001 and I was smitten. After bit of to-and-fro we commissioned JUNO in the summer of 2013. For the record, in choosing a boat name I offered the job to the kids and suggested the following formula – short, easy to spell phonetically on a crackling radio, probably a goddess, or similar, and pertinent to our family. Alison’s Mum (now in a constellation somewhere) was June Ford. So we arrived at JUNO. That name has become part of our family life.

I live close to the yard so visited about every 2 or 3 weeks to see the build taking place. I also commissioned a marine surveyor to perform regular checks in-build. We saw her being put together bit-by-bit. Having had a yacht of my own I had a few prejudices regarding how a yacht should be laid out. Discovery included all these in the build. (Higher pedestals, larger wheels, more structural cockpit table, full head-height clearance sprayhood, fully inlaid doors below, the iMac in the owner’s cabin, storage lockers in the companionway steps and extra bilge pumps). She was ready in June of 2014. After a few weekends of commissioning and trials we bought her ex-VAT in Guernsey and sailed her straight from St Peter Port to Gibraltar. John Eustace, then the AfterCare Manager at Discovery, joined us on the passage. He fixed glitches in all the OEM kit as they arose.

From Gibraltar we ARC 2014’ed, spent two years ticking the Caribbean, the Bahamas and the East Coast US (including a glorious year in Chesapeake Bay) off the list. We curled back down from Maine to the Bahamas before bringing her back to the UK for my eldest daughter’s wedding in 2017. I paid VAT to HMRC in that year. In 2018 we left the UK in April. We stopped in at just about everywhere en-route; Portugal and Spain (2018), the Balearics (2019), Sardinia, Sicily (2020 including during Covid) then to Greece (2021). We passed two fantastic years (2022 and 2023) in Croatia. We habitually spent something like 100 days per year on her (2020/Covid excepting) and have logged about 28,000 nautical miles in all. I have skippered her on 20,000 of those. PYD (Professional Yacht Deliveries) have sailed the remainder, specifically taking her from Maine to the Turks & Caicos, Bermuda to the UK and for the Croatia-to-home run in October last year.

JUNO is a stiff (35 tonnes fully loaded), well-found yacht. She always gets us home. Top speeds are in the 8.5-9.5 knots range under sail or motor, but she is not built for racing. Rather she is a super steady, comfortable ride and safe long-distance cruising yacht. I have serviced her fully every year; engineering, annual polishing, occasional nano-technology, rig checks, the lot. This is all supervised by John Eustace, who now looks after Discovery Yachts on his own account. I hope he says she is the best boat in the fleet. JUNO’s specification details all the kit that has been upgraded or replaced over the years. We do not limp along with failed, or failing, kit. It is replaced. Those are my kids and my friends onboard and I want them safe… and also I like her looking good. I lost count of the number of fellow travellers and tourists who come up to me in marinas to congratulate me on how she is presented.”

For imagery of JUNO see here:
https://www.berthoninternational.com/yacht-sales-brokerage/yachts-for-sale/discovery-57-juno/

JUNO Is available for inspection at our Lymington HQ. Please contact us to arrange to view.

For further information contact sue.grant@berthon.co.uk.

About Sue Grant | Meet the Berthon Sales Group