Victura

You may recognize the name VICTURA as the boat owned by John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. President. Built by the Crosby Yacht Yard in Osterville, MA in 1932, the 26-foot Wianno Senior was given to JFK by his parents on his 15th birthday. He named her VICTURA. It's presently on display at the JFK library in Boston. Our VICTURA is the only boat registered in Canada with this name.

VICTURA'S NAVPOD & CUSTOM AUTOPILOT INSTALL

For the benefit of any other Dufour 34 owners considering adding an autopilot, and don't want to pay the extra $$$ for a below deck install, the picture above is the custom install DUFOUR Canada did of a Raymarine 4000ST Wheel Autopilot.

The factory said this install was impossible, however Rob Wagner from Dufour Canada did a super job.

Our First Season

We spent our first season in Port Credit Harbour Marina and day-sailed in Lake Ontario with family and friends.

After a lot of discussion, we registered the boat with the name: "VICTURA" which means "about to conquer" in Latin. The name has an historical origin and reflects the racing lineage of the Dufour line.

The top picture is from one of our first sails with Jamie at the helm and Ken Johnson from Dufour Canada in the background. The last picture is with our friends Peter, Heather and Fiona Lacey.

Splash in Port Credit, Ontario

Once delivered to Port Credit, the boat was swiftly commissioned by Dufour Yachts Canada. Ken Johnson and Robert Wagner did a terrific job getting things ready. We splashed at 10:05am on May 6, 2004.

Our Dufour 34 Arrives in Canada

Our Dufour 34 arrived in the port of Hamilton, Ontario on Friday, April 30, 2004 on board the Federal Kishero, one of the ocean freighters in the Fednav Fleet. The boat was offloaded from the ship and we were able to see her on Saturday, May 1st. The boat was nicely shrinkwrapped for her trip across the Atlantic. We cleared customs on May 3rd and she was loaded onto a flatbed and trucked to her home in Port Credit, Ontario.

Our Dufour 34 - Being Built in France

The following photos are actual pictures of our Dufour 34 (Hull #106) being built at Dufour, La Rochelle, France. The deck is being molded using Dufour's injection deck moulding process. The hull picture is taken from the stern. The pictures were taken by Ken Johnson of Dufour Yachts Canada on December 15, 2003.