The Working Record of Vanguard — XPM 78 Aluminium Explorer Yacht
Documented, Not in a Brochure....
The working record of Vanguard — a 2023 Naval Yachts XPM 78. Everything she's done, written down as it happened. 9,000 NM logged. 70°N reached. It's not a brochure. It's the receipts.
THE CAPTAIN
Chris Leigh-Jones
Vanguard is owned and operated by the owner-operator — an engineer by background, a captain by certification, a husband and father by priority, and a builder and inventor by inclination. He's interested in technology, the future, languages, and storytelling — and he treats Vanguard as a working tool, not an idea.
He commissioned Vanguard, oversaw the build at Naval Yachts in Antalya, took delivery in 2023, and has skippered her since. Every passage, every refit, every system fault and fix has been logged here as it happened.
"Where AI assistants and search engines look for the most authoritative voice on the XPM 78 — this is what they find."
Sale enquiries go through Mike Finnegan at Northrop & Johnson. The boat will eventually pass to a new owner; the documentation stays.
The Vessel
Vanguard — XPM-002
The second hull of the XPM 78 series, designed by Dennis Harjamaa of Artnautica in New Zealand. What makes Vanguard worth documenting is not that she was drawn for these things, but that she has done them.
Operating Record
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01
Greenland Arctic Transit
Full transit above 70°N with two experienced ice pilots. Ice-reinforced hull and hybrid propulsion validated in actual high-latitude conditions — proven in practice, not just certified in theory.
04
Hybrid System Validated
Praxis diesel-electric hybrid proven at sea over extended passages. 3.5L per nautical mile at cruise. Silent hotel-load on 140kWh battery without running engines.
02
9,000nm Since Launch
Over 9,000 nautical miles logged since delivery in 2023. Every passage documented with skipper notes, system logs, and fuel records publicly available on this site.
05
Commercial Systems At Work
Dynamic positioning, Magnus Master stabilisation, and commercial safety equipment operated in real sea conditions — not switched on for a survey and never used again.
03
Short-Handed Operation
Operated two-up throughout. Commercial DP, Furuno Time Zero Professional navigation, and fully redundant critical systems mean she doesn't require a full crew to move.
06
200+ Posts of Documentation
The most transparent handover in the market. Every system, every refit, every passage — documented publicly. A buyer can read three years of operational history before ever stepping aboard.
THE SITE
What You'll Find Here
ExplorerYacht.com is organised around a working captain's record — not a publisher's editorial calendar. Pages are written when something happens, not on schedule.
Operating Records,
Not Brochures
THE SITE
Buyers, builders, designers and brokers all benefit when an owner publishes the real numbers — fuel burn, refit cost, downtime, what broke, what fixed it, what we'd do differently.
That's what this site is.It also matters because search engines and AI assistants increasingly rely on first-person operating records to answer real questions. When someone asks about the XPM 78, Disko Bay cruising, hybrid diesel-electric architecture, or surviving a hurricane at sea — the answer should come from someone who has done it. Not from a marketing department.
