We Find Dolce Vita

Many of the best discoveries happen by chance, and so it was with Dolce Vita.

I has located a number of Bavaria 390s, mainly the 4 cabin charter layout designated the "Carabic", and a few more remote examples of the more highly prized 3 cabin owner version - the "Lagoon". Prior to flying to Spain to view an apparently attractively priced Lagoon, I took my wife to see a standard 390 in Tuscany so that she could begin to visualise the layout and type of boat that I was considering.

Astonishingly, as I climbed aboard and went to view the aft cabins, it was clear that hidden under the piles of cushions, there was only one large aft stateroom. This was a Lagoon in disguise!

The 390 Lagoon in Spain was in a sorry condition, and I did not have the stomach for the expensive refitting that would be required. I returned to Italy, and promptly made an offer for Dolce Vita. After due haggling she was ours.

The Bavaria 390 Lagoon

Unusually, for a 40ft yacht with good sailing characteristics, the 390 Lagoon has an enormous aft stateroom with equally impressive ensuite heads and showeroom. Apart from a late model Moody 42, which was outside our price range, no other yacht I had seen would provide such luxurious liveaboard accommodation.

I began to research existing owners, and found that all owners, existing and past, were full of praise for the boat. In 1990, Bavaria were a low volume production high quality yard, and the 390 cost substantially more than the equivalent Moody or Westerley of the day. Subsequently as Bavaria moved into volume production, the brand image suffered, together with the residual values of early Bavarias. As a consequence, to the uninformed, the early series Bavarias are considered as if they were merely the current cheaply constructed volumes boats but older. To those in the know, the early Bavarias were innovative and well constructed boats devalued by later changes in the brand.

Boat Selection

Inevitably, with wife and daughter and limited funds, the choice of boat would be a compromise.

I could choose a small single-handleable yacht with limited accommodation - but that would become a self-fulfilling description and I would likely be day-sailing alone whilst my wife relaxed on the beach.

My ideal would be find a vessel capable of acting as a liveaboard (and workaboard) over the summer season, that would be seaworthy and enjoyable to sail, whilst providing the home comforts and luxuries necessary to make life aboard appealing.

After much searching I came across my first images of the Bavaria 390 Lagoon.

The Adventure Begins

After ten dry years, the circumstances finally evolved that would allow me to be afloat once more. Our house in Italy was acceptably complete, our business was ticking along, and our young daughter was due, at three, to start school in the autumn.