CNSO Mikado · 1979
Sixteen metres of teak, polyester and stories
A 16-metre ketch built in 1979 by the French yard CNSO. Two circumnavigations behind her before we ever met.
The boat in figures
Length
16 metres
Rig
Ketch
Year
1979
Yard
CNSO
Hull
GRP
Circumnavigations
Two
Engine
Perkins 6354M
House system
24 V LiFePO4
Electronics
B&G Vulcan 9
Still to be measured and added: sail area, draught, beam, displacement.
What she has already done
Our boat is a good deal more than a boat: she is a 16-metre ketch loaded with stories. Built in 1979 by the French yard CNSO (Construction Nautique du Sud-Ouest), she was drawn from the start for one thing — voyaging. And she has not disappointed.
Before she ever crossed our path she already had two circumnavigations in her wake, along with long Atlantic and Mediterranean passages. Step aboard and you can almost hear the murmur of the oceans she has already crossed, as though every piece of timber carried the memory of a voyage.
Why this one
We did not choose her only for her history, but for everything she offers. Her deck is wide and uncluttered, and it pulls you outside: working, tinkering, watching the horizon, or simply sitting in the sun. Below, several cabins mean friends and crew can come aboard without anyone treading on anyone else. The big saloon, warm and full of light, is the heart of the boat — where meals, plans and daydreams get shared.
And then there is the enclosed wheelhouse, a real asset. It keeps out the cold, the rain and the hard nights, and it opens right up to let the sea air through. A space you can change to suit the latitude, made for heavy weather and for the finest days alike.
She is the ideal companion for the road: solid, experienced, welcoming. She is exactly what we were after — a boat that can take us a long way, with room, with comfort, and above all with freedom.
Her name
Our ketch carries a name that tells you the whole spirit of the project on its own: CQS Evidence.
CQS, for Claro Que Sí — “of course yes”. It was the name of my very first sailboat, but above all the name of our team on the 4L Trophy rally. A rallying cry, almost a mantra: of course we can pull this off, of course we dare, of course we go.
Evidence, because in French une évidence is something self-evident, something that goes without saying. That is exactly how this idea of living and travelling on a sailboat came to us — self-evident as a way of life, as a wish, as a rhythm.
— Claro que sí.
— Evidence.
As though the boat herself were answering our ambition. Of course yes. It goes without saying.
On deck
Below
