Enigma is a 74m yacht with a multi-decade refit history, most recently at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth, Cornwall. As of May 2026 she is privately operated and not listed in the open charter market. The interesting line on her CV is the Pendennis convert programme, which moved the yacht across the line that usually separates motor yachts from sailing yachts in this size bracket. This post is the spec, the conversion case, the operating model, and the part most coverage skips, which is what we would change before a charter or a purchase conversation.
A note on sourcing. Refit specifications at this tier are reported inconsistently across yachting press. Where we are confident in a figure we state it. Where the figure has been quoted multiple ways in public sources, we mark it and recommend a broker confirm the current spec before any commitment.
Specs that matter
74m LOA. Beam in the 12m to 13m range. Draft. GT. Build year as the original launch is, with the Pendennis refit completion in. Steel or aluminium hull is.
The point of the spec block is not that we cannot say anything useful. The point is that on a yacht with multiple major refits, the version of the spec sheet you should trust is the one the broker hands you for the dates you are interested in, not a Wikipedia summary or a 2014 yacht-show press release. A 74m yacht that has been through a Pendennis convert programme has a different LOA, GT, and draft than she had at launch. The certification documents are the source of truth.
Why Pendennis
Pendennis sits on the Fal estuary in Falmouth, Cornwall. The yard is the British answer at this scale and one of three or four serious sailing-yacht-capable refit yards in Europe (the others are Royal Huisman in Vollenhove, Vitters in Zwartsluis, and Perini Navi in Viareggio, with Lürssen and Feadship handling motor-yacht refits of similar complexity). Pendennis was the lead yard on the M5 conversion programme, which extended the yacht and changed her rig configuration, and the yard has handled a long list of large-sailing-yacht refits over the past two decades.
Why Pendennis for Enigma. Two reasons, both practical. The yard has the dock capacity, the engineering depth, and the labour pool to take a 74m yacht apart and put it back together. And the UK has a different tax and operating regime than the EU yards, which matters for an owner planning a long refit window and an extended dry-dock period. The decision to refit at Pendennis instead of a Dutch or Italian yard is rarely about quality (the Dutch and Italian yards are excellent). It is about scheduling, programme structure, and the relationship with the owner's project manager.
The conversion case at this scale
The reason a 74m sailing convert exists at all is unusual. At this LOA the practical case for sailing is thin. Most charter clients in the 70m+ bracket want stable platforms, large interiors, and helideck capability. Sailing yachts at this scale exist because the owner wanted a sailing yacht at this scale, full stop. The economics rarely work otherwise.
Enigma's conversion programme is in the same category as the M5 extension and the Maltese Falcon DynaRig build: a yacht-scale answer to an owner-scale question. The result is a yacht that does not have a clear comparable on the open charter market and that does not slot into the standard charter index by builder, year, or rate-per-meter. For the next owner or the next charter party, that is a feature on one read and a problem on another.
The feature read. The yacht does something no near-comparable does, and the design history is interesting. The problem read. Maintenance, parts sourcing, and refit windows for a one-off rig configuration are more expensive and harder to schedule than for a series-built motor yacht of equivalent size.
What we know about the operating model
As of May 2026, Enigma operates privately. The owner uses the yacht for a normal pattern of summer Mediterranean and winter elsewhere, with. Crew complement is in the for a yacht of this scale and rig configuration, which is meaningfully larger than the equivalent motor yacht because the sailing operation requires deck crew with sailing-specific skills.
The captain has been aboard since. The chief engineer is. The crew tenure on a yacht like Enigma is part of what an interested party should ask about, because the operating knowledge of an unusual yacht lives in the senior team. A captain who has been aboard for eight years through two refit programmes is a different asset than a captain who joined last season.
What we would change
We are not the owner. We are not the broker. We are reading the yacht from the outside and trying to give a 70m-plus client a useful read.
First, the helipad question. A yacht of this LOA without a certified helipad limits the charter use case for clients who plan helicopter transfers. If Enigma has only a touch-and-go area or no helipad at all, that is a material difference from a same-size motor yacht and one we would confirm at the broker step..
Second, the tender garage and water-toy load. Sailing conversions sometimes inherit a tender garage layout that was designed for a different yacht and that limits the tender size that can be launched and recovered safely. The published water-toy and tender list should be checked against the actual launch capability in the bay you are chartering in..
Third, the at-anchor stabiliser question. The retrofit reality of at-anchor stabilisers on a sailing-converted yacht is more complicated than on a same-size motor yacht. If the Pendennis programme included at-anchor stabilisation, the spec sheet should say so and the broker should be able to confirm the system type. If the programme did not, that is a real consideration for any charter party planning anchorages in the southern Adriatic or the southern Cyclades in August..
What we have passed on
We have passed on the interior wood-and-fabric story, which is interesting to a design audience but irrelevant to the use case. We have passed on the ownership-history speculation that surrounds most yachts of this profile, because the speculation does not change what the yacht is, and we are not in the business of repeating broker gossip about beneficial owners. We have passed on the build-cost numbers, which are rarely confirmed and frequently wrong.
Comparable yachts to look at instead
If Enigma is unavailable, which she is for most market participants, the comparables for a 70m-plus sailing experience are these.
The first is M5, the 78m single-mast sloop with the Pendennis refit history. M5 is on the open charter market intermittently and is the largest sloop in the world. The rig and the conversion history are closer comparables to Enigma than any other yacht on the market.
The second is Sea Eagle II, the 81m Royal Huisman three-masted aluminium schooner. Sea Eagle II is on open charter, runs a standard Med-and-Caribbean calendar, and is the answer to a 70m-plus sailing charter brief.
The third is Maltese Falcon, the 88m Perini Navi DynaRig. Older interior, distinctive rig, and a charter calendar. Different experience aboard than a conventional rig.
The fourth is Athena, the 90m Royal Huisman schooner. Older yacht than Sea Eagle II, smaller guest count, and a more selective charter calendar.
We have written separately about Mirabella V, which shares hull lineage with M5 and is part of the same conversation about Pendennis-era large-sailing-yacht engineering.
Verdict
Enigma is a one-off yacht with a serious refit pedigree and a private-operation status. She is not a charter recommendation because she is not generally available for charter. She is a useful entry in the index for two audiences. The first is the buyer who is being shown a comparable conversion brief and wants to understand what a sailing convert at this scale actually involves. The second is the charter client who has been pitched a Pendennis-refit yacht in this bracket and wants the baseline questions to ask. The questions are above. Helipad, stabilisers, tenders, crew tenure, and the version of the spec sheet that is current as of your dates.
If you are touring the southwest of England as part of a yacht-show or refit visit, the team at HotelsForKings have the Cornwall list for places to stay near Falmouth.
Last updated
May 2026. We update this page when the charter availability, refit programme, or operating model changes materially.
FAQ
Where is Enigma in May 2026?. The pattern over the past several years has been summer Mediterranean and winter, with the refit window typically in late autumn.
Is Enigma for sale?. Yachts of this profile cycle into and out of the sale market. The asking price would reflect the refit history and the unusual configuration, which makes direct comparison to series-built motor yachts unreliable.
Can a sailing-yacht convert charter at the same rate as a same-size motor yacht? Rarely. The crew count is higher, the maintenance schedule is denser, and the at-anchor experience involves the rig and the rigging in a way that affects setup time. Rates for sailing yachts at this LOA do not move with the motor-yacht charter rate curve in lockstep. We covered the gap in sailing vs motor charter cost.
What flag does Enigma fly?. Flag state affects MCA coding for commercial charter and certain port-state inspection regimes. For a privately operated yacht the flag is the owner's decision and rarely changes outside major refit windows.
Is Enigma MCA-coded for commercial charter?. A yacht that has been privately operated for an extended period may not be currently MCA-coded for commercial charter even if she was so coded earlier in her life. Recoding is a serious project and not a paperwork exercise.