About & Vessel
The Founders
Blue Horizon Expeditions is founded and run by Sue and John Hutchinson, who have owned and sailed Gran Blau, a Belliure ketch, around the Mediterranean since 2019. That ownership period was used to carry out an extensive refit, fitting her out specifically for true blue-water cruising rather than coastal use alone.
Blue Horizon Expeditions grew out of years of hands-on ocean sailing, not a standing start — sharing that experience through expedition berths, an open online journal, and a growing community following the voyage.
The Vessel
Gran Blau is a classic 50-foot Belliure ketch, built and equipped for genuine offshore ocean voyaging. She has been based in the Mediterranean since 2019 and carried an extensive blue-water refit over that time: rigging, safety systems, and onboard equipment all reviewed and upgraded for genuine ocean passages, not just coastal sailing.
Below the waterline she carries a fully encapsulated lead keel — cast in and glassed over rather than bolted on — together with a skeg-hung rudder, where the rudder blade is supported along its leading edge by a full-length skeg rather than standing alone on its stock. Together, this pairing gives exceptional strength and stability: the keel has no bolts to work loose or corrode over years of ocean passages, and the skeg protects the rudder from damage and impact, and keeps her tracking true and predictable when hand-steering through heavy following seas.
Accommodation & Layout
Gran Blau isn't a stripped-out racer with berths bolted in as an afterthought — the whole interior is proper, classic teak joinery, laid out for real living aboard on passage, not just a weekend aboard at the dock.
A full-size saloon table, comfortable seating for the whole crew, and a proper chart table and nav station — not a fold-down afterthought, but a genuine working space for passage planning, separate from where everyone eats and relaxes.
Multiple cabins mean guests and crew each get proper, private space rather than sharing one open berth, with dedicated heads and washing facilities aboard — genuine liveaboard comfort for extended passages, not a boat that only works for day sailing.
The Shipyard
Gran Blau was built by Belliure, a family shipyard founded in 1953 by Vicente Belliure in Calpe, on Spain's Alicante coast. Belliure began building and repairing wooden fishing boats, then moved into fibreglass leisure yachts in 1974 — producing a well-regarded range of 30 to 50-foot sailing yachts designed by naval architect Peter Ibold, before later building 63 to 86-foot yachts designed by Ron Holland. The yard was known for traditional lines finished to a high standard, with careful attention to joinery. After more than 60 years in business, the original Calpe yard closed in 2017 — making Gran Blau part of a boatbuilding lineage that's no longer in production.
With no yard left to return to, keeping a boat like this in genuine blue-water condition falls entirely to her owners. That's exactly what Sue and John have taken on since 2019 — carrying the standard of the original build forward through their own refit, rather than letting it fade.
The Refit
Gran Blau had a full refit in 2002 at the Belliure yard, and has been continuously upgraded since — most recently with a systematic run of rigging, safety, power, and electronics work to bring her up to true offshore standard.
New standing and running rigging (2021) and a new suite of sails (2024).
New mast and new cockpit winches.
Lithium batteries and solar panels for reliable, quiet off-grid power.
New watermaker (2025) for extended, self-sufficient passages.
All seven seacocks replaced with GRP TruDesign fittings (2026), plus a new 60-litre Vetus blackwater tank (winter 2025) serving both heads.
Induction hob run from a 3kW inverter — no gas carried on board.
Full Raymarine upgrade: instruments, chartplotter, Doppler radar, AIS, and VHF radio.
Secondary autopilot planned before the 2028 Atlantic crossing, backing up the primary system on long passages.
Two Vulcan anchors, a Mantus snubber and a spare kedge — proper ground tackle for genuine blue-water anchorages.
Founding Principles
There's no room to cut corners out here. These three principles come before revenue, and everything else follows from them.
Rigorous maintenance and real seamanship knowledge, backed by systems and safety standards shown openly rather than just claimed.
Boat systems, maintenance logs, and safety standards are shown openly, so guests can verify before they commit.
Respect for crew, guests, and the sea guides every decision made on board and on shore.
Looking Ahead
Right now, the focus is the website, the journal, and the first passages. Further ahead, we'd love to add a second vessel and open up the same kind of expeditions in the Pacific.
See the Expeditions