OASIS

A 20-metre schooner built around one owner's brief, and it shows. Steel hull, mahogany joinery below, teak underfoot — a combination of materials chosen for longevity rather than effect, with the restrained, slightly British character that comes from a yacht designed to be lived on rather than looked at. A refit completed in 2010 brought her up to date. She accommodates up to nine guests; your BellaYacht advisor will confirm the exact cabin configuration for your dates. Under sail, this is a yacht that rewards patience. Her natural cruising ground is the north-west corner of Sicily — the Zingaro Nature Reserve, where the coastline drops straight into clear water and the coves are reached far more easily from the sea than from land, and the Egadi Islands a short passage further west. Days here tend to organise themselves around the wind and the light rather than a schedule: a morning under canvas, an afternoon at anchor, the sound of water against a steel hull. The crew handles the sailing, the meals and the anchorages, and adjusts the itinerary as conditions dictate — which, on this stretch of coast, is part of the pleasure rather than a compromise.