Perini Navi 'Legacy'

RHP · May 9, 2016

I'm sure we all remember the 158' Perini Navi that got caught in Hurricane Wilma and driven onto the tidal flats in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary back in 2005, taking 2.1/2 years to get her freed, then a further 6 years to eventually win the insurance case.

Whatever happened to her? Her owner resolved to restore her to her former glory however it's close to impossible to find any recent news or pictures.

Anyone know what happened?

RHP · Jan 12, 2017

Any news on Legacy?

JosephT · Jan 12, 2017

Boy that does look like it was a fiasco. This is the latest article I could find which offers the lessons learned while insuring a big boat like this.

"1) “The first thing is to assume you’re going to get screwed,” Halmos says. “Don’t believe their [insurance company’s] crap. That ‘we’re here to help you and are on your side’ is all bull.”

2) The second thing is to hire a lawyer right away."

http://www.allatsea.net/peter-halmos-insurance-claim-tips/

RHP · Nov 25, 2017

Anyone know whether she is still stranded or been recovered. The internet (surprisingly) has no news.

Angélique · Nov 29, 2017

RHP said: ↑

Anyone know whether she is still stranded or been recovered. The internet (surprisingly) has no news.
Click to expand...

When this and the older sister thread started Legacy's hulk was already docked in a near Key West marina on the Bahamas, where she serves as a kinda waterfront cabin for her owner Peter Halmos and his son Nick.

In ± 2008 they dredged an about mile long trench through the seagrass flats in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary where she was marooned by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and floated her 11' draft hulk out off the shoals where she rested for ‘only’ 2½ years . . . .

Angel's note: I've added little accentuations in the below quote regarding what I've read here about the root cause of this shipwreck + on some other details.
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Keeping to his pact owner continues SY Legacy's recovery

Posted on Jan 2, 2014 by Tom Serio

Nestled in a marina near Key West, not far from where she laid for several years beaten and tattered from Hurricane Wilma in 2005, S/Y Legacy remains under the care of her owner, Peter Halmos, and her recovery remains a work in progress.

It’s been eight years since that fateful day when the 158-foot Legacy, Halmos, then Capt. Ed Collins and crew were sucked out of Key West Harbor and ravaged by Wilma, only to be deposited a mile into the Great White Heron National Sanctuary in three feet of water. Wounds were deep: both masts snapped, windows broken, hull and superstructure gashed. Pockets had to be deeper.

Halmos spent several years and unimaginable resources to get Legacy out of the sand while entrenched in legal, federal and natural constraints. Why?

“Because I made a pact with the boat” he said recently, relaxing in the shade of the aft deck. “I told Legacy that if she saved us [during Wilma], that I would save her.”

And for a man who has battled federal and local agencies as well as insurance companies and just about anyone else who got in the way, he holds true to the promise he made during a storm that could have well been his last stand.

The root cause of the shipwreck points to the ground tackle. The anchors required 50 percent more weight to be added to them as per the manufacturer, Perini Navi, which was done prior to 2001. But there was no instruction to upgrade the connecting swivels to handle the new loads. In 2001, while anchored off the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach, Legacy’s starboard anchor was fouled by an unmanned vessel adrift, likely compromising the starboard anchor gear.

Halmos contends that due to Wilma’s speed and resurgence as it came off the Yucatan Peninsula, making a beeline for the continental U.S. with Key West its first stop, Legacy couldn’t outrun it.

When Wilma hit in late 2005, Halmos and crew were on Legacy, anchored in Key West Harbor during an expedition for Spanish treasure. As the storm bore down, the starboard anchor failed when the winds were about 60-70 knots. Thinking they were just dragging, Capt. Collins powered up to try and reset the anchor, to no avail. In addition, the strain to the port anchor gear was too much and that swivel failed also.

By then it was too late to abandon ship. A call to the local Coast Guard station for assistance came with the reply to “ have everyone on board write their social security number on their arm to help us notify next of kin ” Halmos said.

Legacy’s anchors have not been recovered, despite efforts, and remain somewhere near Key West.

Legacy sat on the flats two and a half years until, in February 2008, the idea to dig a trench deep enough for the 11-foot-draft yacht to float out on. But since the area is under federal protection, Halmos couldn’t damage more of the sanctuary and instead had to “go out the way you came in” a mile-long path through the seagrass. Even as the trench finished, Legacy remained in place while legal issues were debated. In June 2010*, she motored* out and headed to the Bahamas*.
< Edit = added by Angel: * This was after the salvage team towed her in 2008 to Fleming Key in Florida while ongoing legal issues were debated, and for the first repairs to make her ready for the short sea trip to Bradford Marine on Grand Bahama, to do more repairs there. >

Time has changed Halmos’ attitudes, perspectives and goals. Now 70^{= 74 y/o in Nov 2017}, and with most of the court proceedings behind him, he waxed philosophical regarding what the entire event has done to him. He doesn’t consider Legacy an inanimate object. Basically, Halmos offers the understanding that Legacy is essentially an extension of him. And to restore her is “ the right thing to do ” he said.

His days of high adventure and sailing the Seven Seas are behind him, as he’s more akin to sailing locally, “maybe a run to the Tortugas or Caribbean, or just anchor out off of Key West” he said.

Looking trim after dealing with a few health crises over the past few years, Halmos has a renewed outlook on life, albeit at a slower pace.

“I’m more a part of the environment” he said, and rightly so, as he lived aboard Legacy and then the Aqua Village he constructed to oversee Legacy’s recovery. Aqua Village was a series of as many as eight houseboats and barges rafted together and anchored a few miles from where Legacy grounded. Halmos spent the majority of the recovery time living there.

During those years, he learned to identify specific birds and fish, not only by species, but individually. He would go on afternoon junkets to quiet shallows, jump in the water and be engaging with the fish so much that at times they would follow him. Sometimes, he’d feed the barracuda that befriended him.

Per doctor’s orders, Halmos stays out of the sun, hence the fabric tarps that cover the fore and aft decks as well as his signature floppy hat.

“I could just sit here, listen to the waves and enjoy the breeze” he said as several hammocks swung with the yacht’s motion on the upper deck.

Sitting around the aft deck table, Halmos shared an update on Legacy’s restoration. He’s added battery systems, extra bilges, a solar system and water generators, not to mention the restoration of the engines and interior.

“We’ll put her back to what she should be, but she is an 18-year-old yacht, and systems need to be replaced, like AC units and generators” he said.

Built of fine mahogany, the interior woodwork was awash in saltwater from the storm. Bringing it back to its original luster has been an effort but is paying off.

“We still have spots to fix” Halmos said as he showed a window frame and evidence of corrosion in the corner. One area that still needs attention is the inside helm station. Several of the windshields are shattered and finding the exact, properly curved glass panes has been, well, a pain.

And it may be some time before Legacy is once again sporting her 146-foot main and 120-foot mizzen masts, or her 10,650 square feet of sails. But with a capacity of 11,000 gallons of fuel and her twin 12V MTUs, Legacy has gotten out a bit, motoring up to Palm Beach during the boat show a couple years ago.

Capt. Collins has since retired and returned to his family in the U.K., so Halmos had to find another captain, the one who worked on Legacy from 1995 to 2003. In 2010, Capt. James Cooper returned to help Halmos with his efforts, which included a transit to Bradford Grand Bahama to have the hull repaired, new rudder installed and stabilize the keel. Halmos beamed speaking about Capt. Cooper.

“We had a wonderful time [on Legacy] and he loves her” Halmos said.

Capt. Cooper is currently the only full-time crew onboard, though Halmos pulls in dayworkers as needed as well as local trade professionals to handle big work.

Halmos’ family has mixed feelings about the yacht. His son Nick was recently onboard with his fiancé and seems to be the one likely to carry on the legacy. At home fishing or skipping across the surface to his next waterborne adventure, Nick may be displaying traits a younger Halmos once had.

Legacy has become the platform in a way for father and son to spend time together. His other son and wife aren’t interested in the “Robinson Crusoe” lifestyle, he said.

Legacy’s resting spot after Wilma has been cleaned of all debris and the trench that was dug to release Legacy from the shallows has refilled. The houseboats of Aqua Village are gone, and any outward signs of the shipwreck are now in the stories that may be told around town.

The legal program, as Halmos explained, wasn’t about money in the end; he was paid from the insurance policies. It was about what he had to go through to get to the end.

“We could have decreased the amount of damage and impact if the policy was settled on time” he said.

Halmos said he hopes to get her out exploring a bit again soon.

“We’ll get out and do some treasure hunting again” he said, pointing to a few large boxes filled with sonar gear. He may not be another Mel Fisher, but then again, Peter Halmos doesn’t pretend to be anyone other than himself.

Would he ever sell Legacy?

“I’m content here and can’t sell her” he said. “She’ll need a home someday, but I can’t see it yet.”
Click to expand...

The photos belonging to the above article . . . . .

Yacht Forums → Legacy on the Hard Nov 18, 2005 → Post #317 Jan 2, 2014 ↓

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Angélique · Nov 25, 2017

There's an older sister thread, with the same name: Perini Navi 'Legacy'

P.S. - I suggest to carry on with the SY Legacy discussions here on this newer thread.

Angélique · Nov 25, 2017

↓ - Legacy beached - (many pics)

‘‘ This is the 158 foot S/Y Legacy, an Italian-built Perini Navi super yacht, the property of American tycoon Peter Halmos. Hurricane Wilma carried the yacht onto salt flats near the Florida Keys on October 25, 2005. ’’

↓ - Court Case Over Legacy’s Salvage Coming to Conclusion - May 19, 2011

‘‘ . . . . Finally, in February 2008, Legacy was free at last, after several unsuccessful attempts. Specially commissioned equipment displaced the sand in front of her, foot by foot, allowed a towing vessel to begin pulling her forward. The full process took six months. Halmos and the salvage team towed the sailing yacht to Fleming Key in Florida, then to a shipyard in the Bahamas for repair. . . . . ’’

RHP · Nov 27, 2017

Angélique, thanks so much, I don't know how I missed the fact that she'd been successfully recovered. I knew about the insurance court battles but missed out on the boat's movement. It seems a shame the owner doesn't re-rig her and get her sailing again but I can imagine the cost, I guess if the insurance had covered that he would have gone ahead with it. I wish him well.

Angélique · Nov 27, 2017

Well Richard, it was a pleasure digging it up, but I'm afraid we have to speak about M∙Y Legacy for a while, and only heaven knows for how long . . .

Robert Bader · Mar 30, 2021

I believe the legacy might have went back in 2018 to Perini Navi (at least I believe it says so on their site). Anyone seen this vessel around? Hopefully it was finally restored back to its full glory.

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Perini Navi 'Legacy'

RHP Senior Member

RHP Senior Member

JosephT Senior Member

RHP Senior Member

Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

RHP Senior Member

Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

Robert Bader New Member

Do you know this rig (Navicello)?

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