Sophie B’s History
Sophie B is a classic Swan 411, designed by the New York firm of Sparkman & Stephens and built by Nautor (Finland) in 1979. She is the 25th of 42 hulls built of this model.
Her brief biography is
- Launched in 1979, and used for the honeymoon of the Nautor CEO. (This may be apocryphal)
- Sold to Bruce Owen in 1979, and sailed in the (in)famous 1979 Fastnet race. Although she did not finish, she survived the race. We are in touch with one of the crew in that race, and hope to bring you his account of sailing her soon.
- Sold again in 1981 to a family based in Cape Town
- Sold again in 1991 to a South African buyer
- Bought in 2014 by her current owners
Sophie B is moored at the V&A Marina, Cape Town, South Africa
Sophie B 
Sophie B was named after my daughter,the spelling of her name in actual fact is Sophy. Bruce Owen was one of my oldest friends and Bruce was Sophy’s godfather,hence the name. Bruce has passed unfortunately but would be delighted that it is in the waters she is in. Just as an added bit of nonessential information,I went to naval school on the Hamble where Francis Chichester started his round the world single handed trip in Gypsy Moth
Sincerely
Jonathan Boreham