Willow's History

Willow was built and subsequently launched in 1990 on Hamilton Island in Queensland by Danish carpenter / shipwright Kim Pilegaard Jensen. Kim emigrated from Denmark in 1986 and finally settled on Hamilton Island in 1987 working as a shipwright for Hamilton Island Charters who operated one of the largest charter fleets in the Whitsundays at that time.

Kim had been restoring and playing around with boats since he was 14 years old, and it was on Hamilton Island, with the beautiful backyard that is the Whitsundays, he finally decided to build a cruising yacht. Kim’s aim was to build a comfortable liveaboard cruising yacht suitable for the tropics in which he was living.

Willow was and still is the only yacht to have ever been built and launched on Hamilton Island.

Over the course of her 14 years on the water Willow first went cruising with Kim and his family – both up and down the Queensland coast (Brisbane to Cooktown) and then almost two years cruising the islands in the Pacific (New Caledonia to Papua New Guinea).

Willow returned to her place of birth, Hamilton Island Marina, and it was there on New Years Day 2004 that a visit from a friend and a chance remark lead to the next stage in Willow’s history – her voyage to Hong Kong for new owners Bruce and Lindsey.

Bruce prepared Willow for the 4500 Nm passage from Hamilton Island to Hong Kong; and with a crew of one, completed the voyage - via Papua New Guinea, Yap and the Philippines - in 51 days. On arrival, there began an 18 month project to upgrade and add to the safety features and comforts already onboard, in preparation for extensive tropical cruising.

Willow's first passage in 2006 began from Hong Kong, bound for Thailand. Along the way we cruised the Philippines and the northern coast of Borneo. Then across to Singapore, and through the Malacca Straits. We visited many ports of interest along the way, as well as some fantastic 'desert islands'. A number of people joined us on the journey; their time aboard varying from 5 days to 7 weeks! Novice sailors, meteorologists, photographers, sun-worshippers, linguists, yachtsmen, divers, and globe-travellers all gained some unique memories during their time aboard.

We are now offering you the chance to spend some time aboard Willow for an adventure of your own.
If interested then then please check out the related pages (see both Adventure Charters and Sail with Us pages) on this website to find out more ....