Grand Banks 59 Aleutian RP, TUSK – the conoisseur’s motor yacht

We are delighted to be able to present this well-known local Grand Banks 59 Aleutian RP to the brokerage market. We have all admired TUSK from afar. She is a gracefully woven tapestry of classic lines, muscular stance, fabled sea-keeping and also renown as a longer distance passage-maker. She has regularly stopped by at Berthon in Lymington for an early Spring haul-out, with a Spring-clean and early season maintenance schedule to follow. Here is her 2026 story.

You can watch her sales video here

Arrival and Haul-Out at Berthon

She arrived on 6th January 2026 and was lifted that morning, followed by a scrub, and was actually very clean over her hull, with only a light scale on her sterngear (she had a pair of NiBrAl Faster Propulsion 5-bladed propellers), and was blocked off ashore under the careful supervision of her long-time skipper. Once ashore and secure, Berthon’s team inspected and checked her seacocks, and replaced one suspect skin fitting, gate valve, and hose tail. Elsewhere, she received a smooth new coat of Interspeed Ultra 300 antifoul in smart Navy Blue. Her sacrificial underwater anodes (including twin shaft, twin bowthruster, and twin sternthruster protection) were checked and replaced as necessary, and her shaft seals were visually inspected. She was relaunched on the 22nd, and I was fortunate enough to be invited on board to help with her delivery back to the Beaulieu River on the 23rd.

Delivery Trip Through the Solent

With a boisterous Force 6 blowing from the South, and a couple of feet of short sea forecast in the Solent, we cast off at 11:00.

Maneuvering in Lymington River: Tight Turns and Low-Speed Control

With her bathing platform facing due South and into the weather, we ease off the hammerhead under gentle throttle (the Low Speed function is phenomenal – giving enough gentle thrust to pull out of tight confines, whilst not upsetting the natural balance of her fine, fully-keeled hull) and spin in a couple of feet of her boat length (and that’s pretty tight in the Lymington River, with a trot of moored yachts at one end, and a fairly sold marina at t’other). Her gearboxes engage softly, and we are heading South into the freshening breeze.

Helming from the Flybridge: Sailing Comfort and Visibility

Being sailors at heart, we helmed from the flybridge – after all, it was only a bit of wind, wasn’t it? – and it was a lovely day to be out on the Solent. Down at the main console, all was calm, with just a hint of the stormy conditions outside, and the occasional whip of white spume was thrown over the three big windscreens.

She was totally safe to move about under way (her Naiad fin stabilisers made light work of any roll, and we could not notice that we were in a beam-sea, blowing from the South onto our starboard side). Handholds were many and easily landed upon, with a substantial overhead bar stretching right the way from the aft cockpit doors to the solid Stidd seat at the main helm.

The acid test was my orange Bodum insulated cup (I’m sure many other brands were available – but I had that one, in fact I had two… because cups, hot tea, and yacht-brokering were not happy bedfellows…) stayed upright in the sink drain, from casting off to warping on.

Performance and Handling

Apart from the grey shape of a BF cutter, we were the only Vessel at sea, and it was a beautiful place to be. TUSK sat at a steady 15 knots (1500 RPM), burning 150 litres per hour, and we had some helpful tide as well. As we turned North and dropped our revs, we slid gently into the welcoming cradle of the Beaulieu River – or so we thought. In fact – just inside Dolphins the Southerly breeze was driving the tide over the shallow bar, creating a confused 200 metres of bumpy water – but the semi-planing hull beneath the waterline of this Grand Banks simply muscled it out of the way. This was a hugely confidence-inspiring hull, capable of meeting challenging water and barrelling through it, with scarcely a sign to those on board.

Scenic Arrival at the Beaulieu River

A couple of seals played idly off the mudflats, and a colony of gulls passed low overhead as we meandered upstream, past Gins and the wonderful lawns and houses on the banks of the Beaulieu. Still nobody but us was out on the water, enjoying the elevated view from TUSK’s flybridge, as we glided past Bucklers Hard and HMS Agamemnon’s mud-berth. Then came the quick scrabble for lines, deployment of fenders, and a short burst of power to spin nimbly into the breeze and the flooding tide, which helpfully both stopped us and pinned us to our home berth. Without needing to step ashore, or even the rasping intrusion of those thruster things, we were held fast and secure by our mid-line. Little was said as warps passed through chunky fairleads onto equally chunky cleats; it just happened. It was a truly wonderful experience, and many thanks were due to the Owners and skippers of TUSK for allowing me on board.

TUSK is available now through Berthon International, and we invite viewings by appointment on this singular Vessel.

You will find her full Sales Particulars here
https://www.berthoninternational.com/yacht-sales-brokerage/yachts-for-sale/grand-banks-59-aleutian-tusk/

For more information, please do get in touch with hugh.rayner@berthon.co.uk.

About Hugh Rayner | Meet the Berthon Sales Group