Levantades was drawn at the New York office of Sparkman & Stephens and laid down at Cantieri Costaguta of Genova in 1960 — mahogany planking, teak decks, the lines of a thoroughbred from the American golden age of yacht design. Sixty-six seasons on, her timbers still do the work they were drawn to do.

For six unhurried hours we cast off from Rijeka Dubrovačka and trace a quiet line through the Elaphiti — caves at Koločep, lunch and a swim in the turquoise of Šunj, the slow drift home as the sun lays gold across her decks.