Lürssen 106mt Amadea

From the outset, Amadea’s owner was determined that his 106-metre Lürssen should be a project to leave others in the shade. “The key to his brief was to make Amadea one of the most detailed vessels ever built: millions of hours spent on creating and assembling… and then finding the smallest snagging points,” says Evgeniy Kochman, founder and CEO of broker Imperial, which acted as the owner’s representative.

Monaco-based Imperial has a reputation for, shall we say, exactitude. The very name sends a frisson of fear down the spines of boatbuilders, who recognise that Imperial requires total precision in every element of the yacht, particularly the finish.

Yet despite Amadea’s astonishingly detailed finish, she was built quickly by the standards of a yacht of this size. From the first steel cutting, delivery took just 31 months. “That is very fast,” says Michael Breman, sales director at Lürssen. “We were given the opportunity, in order not to waste time, to use engineering solutions previously arrived at.” In other words, the technical innards of the yacht were based on an existing project – Quantum Blue, launched in 2014. Even so, the captain says they had the time to personalise and polish every detail of the boat before delivery: “The warranty list pretty much didn’t exist,” he tells me over coffee and patisseries from Amadea’ s classically trained French pastry chef. That’s partly because a flurry of late upgrades, notably in the galley and owner’s bathroom, added about six months to the build – at the same time taking time pressure off for fixing small problems. And it’s partly that Imperial’s rigour in planning means that there are no question marks left when work begins.

“We are recognised for being ‘inflexible’ and above the expectations of our client,” Kochman tells me. “But this is what success is made of: the partners working with us have to deal with this philosophy, and so far… we can proudly say this vision has been followed by the greatest yards and designers of our industry.”

I board Amadea along the passerelle, because she is berthed port-side to in the harbour at Vilanova, Spain. But most visitors will arrive in one of the custom Windy tenders, where their first view will be the teak of the beach club, which is partly overhung by the 10-metre pool on the main deck, overflowing down a glass wall behind the boat’s backlit name. It is an impressive way to make the boat’s acquaintance. “I tried to make it dramatic,” says exterior designer Espen Øino of the pool. “Loungers at either side kind of float in space, and look like two wings coming off it.”

Assuming you’ve hurried up from the beach club, eager to get on board, you would have missed the angular base to the transom – just one of a myriad of tiny details Øino dropped in. “You can naturally sit down there and take your shoes off without putting chairs out,” he tells me, before asking, “Did you notice it?” I confess that I did not, and move quickly on to what really did strike me: the large number of small, personal corners where you can relax unobserved. And nowhere more so than at the front of the superstructure, where a wing creates a private nook on each deck, which has been well filled with cushions and loungers.

But here again, I’ve missed something. “It’s a clamshell arrangement,” Øino tells me – a comment that makes more sense when I see the aerial view of this part of the boat, which resembles three overlapping shells cascading down from the four silver satellite domes. And it turns out this feature is something that Øino introduced after personal experience on board yachts. “I visit a lot of these boats and I receive [commercially sensitive] phone calls,” he says. “Sometimes there can be a lack of cosy spaces.”

Unexpectedly for such a large yacht, cosy spaces are not in short supply. Even the main deck saloon – which has clearly been built to impress with its double-height atrium, hand-painted Pleyel grand piano, leather-book-clad walls and full-beam dining table – offers warmth. Much is down to interior designer François Zuretti’s vision, which pairs the grand with the intimate: hand-painted Michelangelo clouds on the ceiling above the dining table; or the dozens of warm organic tones delivered via the backlit whiskies, brandies and rums in clear bottles behind the bars. “The [owner] asked for an authentic classic representation with the integration of classic furniture from the 18th century,” Zuretti tells me. “Alcohol, books and accessories are part of the design.”

But Øino has also been clever with the layout, which offers lots of recesses for seating and magnificent sea views through drop-down bulwarks. “Detailing such as the stainless steel, onyx panels, deck motifs – a lot of work went into it together with the owner,” says Øino. “Normally, the good boats come out of clients that are really engaged with the project.”

The owner of Amadea has taken great care to stay out of the limelight, and yet his influence is everywhere on this yacht. Just look at the vast art deco-style albatross that soars off the bow. “We worked with Willem Lenssinck, an artist from the Netherlands, who built it from stainless steel. It was then welded on to the hull,” says Øino. It weighs a staggering five tonnes. Or take the galley on the top deck. It gleams with copper pots and pans, offers a huge grill area and even a live tank for lobsters. “It’s a guest area really,” says the captain. The idea is that those on board can get involved with their food if they want to. It serves the so-called winter patio – a dining area that will seat up to 24 in a space decked with ferns and painted with lianas.

Water tinkles softly down the slate wall, and indirect light falling through opaque ceiling panels looks like daylight. It feels like a secret Parisian eatery, not the top deck of an ultra-modern yacht. And yet just a few centimetres behind the greenery, the main exhaust runs up to the vents above. Such is the build quality that not a decibel escapes through the multiple layers of insulation.

The deck outside, however, is built to be anything but quiet. Here, 20,000 Watts of built-in speakers, plus lights and even lasers, are very much designed to be heard. For this is the party deck, where a good-sized spa pool flanked by sunbeds can be converted into a stage where bands and DJs plug straight into the ship’s audio system. “We’ve only ever had it up to half volume,” says the captain with a mock grimace, “but you could feel your chest pounding.”

“It’s a party area,” says Øino. “The deck terminations are inverted on this deck and the one below, so the structure lends itself very well to anchoring lights and speakers. The geometry wasn’t accidental.” A storage area to one side reveals equipment including a teppanyaki grill, a rotisserie and a hog-roaster. There’s even a crane available to lower it over the side so it can be taken ashore for a beach party. “This is something completely unique,” says the captain.

Equally unique, to my mind, is the cinema on the bridge deck below. The projector and big screen fully retract when not in use, but there is something special about the two main sofas. The captain hits play on the rocket sequence from the 2014 film Interstellar and my whole seat begins to move. As we blast through the stratosphere, it tips forward, wobbling like crazy, then suddenly we reach space and there is an eerie stillness. This is D-Box motion control. All that’s missing is a popcorn machine, I reflect, before spotting exactly that behind the bar.

Another key part of this boat’s appeal is the way that space has been divided up. Naturally, there is a private office on the owner’s deck, but it is not huge. Zuretti has given it the glorious feel of a private room in an old-school gentlemen’s club, complete with overstuffed armchair and a hand-painted map of the world on the ceiling. But it is an intimate space. For less personal business, there is a small conference suite on the lower deck by the guest boarding platform (next to the humidor and wine cellar, it turns out).

The owner’s deck has all the features you would expect of such a large yacht: a dressing room, a bathroom with an ornate bath recessed slightly into the floor, a beauty salon and a gym. But by far the biggest space is devoted to the owner’s cosy saloon, bar and dining area. Yes, there are marbles, rare woods, exceptional stone and wood inlay work, but the result is warm and inviting. Step outside on to the huge aft deck, and there is a large circular wooden table to seat eight. Clever design means that extra circular leaves fold out and turn it into a table worthy of King Arthur and his knights, with room for 16. Glass windbreaks can be opened when not required, and there’s a firepit and comfy sofa area.

More evidence of the obsessive detailing comes from the ensign staff here, which would make a decent mast on a classic boat: hidden hydraulics rotate it inboard for polishing and maintenance. And at the other end of the deck, the owner’s cabin opens out on to a private terrace with a mosaic-lined spa pool: as you recline on the stainless-steel bathing rack, observe the glittering light show above your head. All the signs of the zodiac have been included in a panorama of the night sky. “You’d have a heart attack if you could see behind that panel,” Lürssen’s electrical technical officer (ETO) tells me. “There are 2,000 fibre-optic cables and a spinning disc for the twinkling effect.”

Lighting is a subtle presence on board wherever you are. Indirect LED strips outline many items of furniture on deck and are even built into the stainless-steel poles that can be planted in lugs in the deck to support the extensive awnings. Everything, from the entertainment to the curtains and blinds, is controlled via dedicated iPads. “There are 6,500 devices in the interior design,” adds the ETO.

No expense has been spared in equipping Amadea. For instance, her helipad, which can accommodate a craft of up to 3.5-tonnes take-off weight (an Agusta 109 or an EC135), features a glide path indicator. Resembling for all the world a dormant party light on the foredeck, this is far beyond class requirements. And when it comes to the full-beam tender garage, the captain can’t help lingering. There’s the mandatory limo tender, a Pascoe beach lander, but the real attraction is the cabrio sports boat, known on board as the “boss boat”. With styling that echoes the mothership, the two custom Windys are works of art in their own right – something that Espen Øino is also keen to point out. “You are going to mention them in the article, right?” he wants to know. “People don’t realise that we designed those as well.”

After four hours on board, I’m still discovering details as I reluctantly retrace my steps down the passerelle to the waiting taxi. None of it has happened by accident. “Imperial’s managing style is very thorough, attentive to details,” says Zuretti, who had worked with them only on smaller boats in the past. “Suppliers also need to step up and reach quality requirements.” Øino agrees. “They are very thorough in the way they go about things. Sometimes that means more work for us, but at the end it’s all useful; all good. As these boats get bigger and bigger, the investment is considerable. One cannot go light-heartedly into such a project.”

And yet it’s clear that he enjoyed the experience – there is fun in the design. “In general, creativity and corporate structure don’t always go very well. It went very well on Amadea. I really felt in symbiosis with the owner. It was like a game of ping-pong getting faster and faster with more pace.” And it looks like everyone won.

Among the many elements of Amadea’s immaculate interior, the hand-painted Pleyel piano stands out. This Paris piano builder has been in business since 1807, founded by a talented Austrian musician who adopted French nationality. Over two centuries, the brand has been embraced by artists from Chopin and Ravel to Daniil Trifonov and Vanessa Mosell today. Pleyel no longer manufactures pianos, but it still accepts occasional custom orders, such as this Directoire baby grand. Measuring 1.9m x 1.5m, the piano’s soundboard and ribs are built of solid spruce from Italy’s Fiemme Valley. Pleyel’s famous metal frame revolutionised sound quality in the 19th century, and it is still in use today, albeit computer-optimised now. It features a Renner action and a Laukhuff keyboard in spruce. All the hardware, from pedals to hinges, is in 24kt gold. The vines and flowers hand-painted on to the body of the instrument were completed by master painter Pierre-François Battisti. All told, the piano took 18 months and thousands of hours to build.




Lurssen Yachts

( https://www.lurssen.com/en/home/ )

Arcadia Yacht 23,90mt Sherpa XL

When you go around comparing yourself to Apple, you had better make sure you’ve got some impressive products to back it up. Arcadia Yachts made just this claim at the Cannes Yachting Festival, and fortunately for the Italian builder, it also launched the yacht to prove it. Called the Sherpa XL, it is a more roomy, 24-metre version of the headline-grabbing 18-metre Sherpa model – the “Plus” to the standard iPhone, to continue the analogy.

Arcadia’s claim to trend-setting innovation is staked on its rather different-looking yachts, with their rounded semi-displacement hulls and the mass of the low superstructure forward. Designed to cruise efficiently at speeds in the mid-teens, there was nothing else quite like them in 2009 when the first A85 emerged from the shipyard on the Gulf of Naples. The yachting industry dismissed it as an outre design that had appeared at exactly the wrong moment – just as the financial crisis of 2007 was tightening its grip.

Ten years on, the critics have been proven wrong. Not only is Arcadia still very much in business, but its growing Sherpa line has pushed the aesthetic even further. The ninth Sherpa has just been ordered by a client in Australia, and the company will reveal a Sherpa XXL project at Boot Düsseldorf 2020. “At the start, no one took us seriously,” says Arcadia’s Francesco Ansalone. “These lines, these shapes are now part of yachting culture.” So much so that Arcadia now claims other yacht builders are imitating it.

But at Cannes, all eyes are on the brand new Sherpa XL. Viewed in profile, it shares the same high, snub bow as the smaller Sherpa, with successive chines that give it a hard-working look. It has a similar boxy bridge deck, which extends right forward, wings in the superstructure and the large aft deck runs down to the bathing platform. Milan design outfit Hot Lab clearly drew the lines of the XL with one eye firmly on its predecessors. “The brand identity is so strong that every designer involved in their project will have to somehow put aside their own styling desires and bend them a bit towards the yard’s approach,” says Hot Lab’s Enrico Lumini.

At the same time, though, there are subtle differences. The sundeck on the XL extends a long way aft, shortening the amount of open deck space below. And the lines are a little different on the bigger boat: windows, bulwarks and the tender garage all interrupt the smooth run. Coming at a higher price point (€5 million vs €1.8 million) and packing many more features, the Sherpa XL looks a little less utilitarian. “The design of the original Sherpa was well balanced with her philosophy; more easy-going than the XL, which is a proper yacht,” Lumini continues. “In being considered a megayacht, even being only 24 metres, of course, the interior and the exterior design had to be a bit more ‘serious’.”

The Sherpa may have grown up, but its soul is still very much intact. It’s there in the huge external entertainment areas; the big windows that open, connecting you to the sights and smells of your surroundings; and, of course, in the 35-square-metre solar array encased in the glass roof of the main saloon. The boat aims to re-engage owners with the sea – a principle that Ansalone sums up as “making the blue economy – yachting – greener”.

In the heat of a Mediterranean day, the boat’s solar panels can pump 3kW of energy into the 30kW battery bank. It’s enough to run most key systems without firing up the generator, so you can spend the evening enjoying an anchorage in perfect silence, or keep the boat in quiet mode overnight if you’re sparing with the air con. “We always try to give the maximum surface area to solar panels,” says Ansalone. “It is a trademark of Arcadia, at the same time preserving the line and the beauty that every yacht must have. The light and shade that the panels create is fabulous.”

Of course, large glazed areas on a yacht can easily undo all the benefit of collecting the sun’s energy in the first place – no one wants to have to shout over the sound of the air con running flat out. “We further improved our heat insulation system, which is characterised by multi-glazed glass with insulating gas between glass panes,” says the yard’s plant manager Salvatore D’Ambrosi. “This technology can be appreciated in the sky lounge in particular, which can be fully enjoyed reducing the use of the air-conditioning system to a minimum, and sometimes not using it at all.” The insulating effect is similar to that of a 20-centimetre-thick brick wall, the yard says, enough to support a temperature difference of 18°C between the exteral and internal glass surfaces.

However, the idea behind this yacht is to minimise the use of air management altogether. In cool weather, that means keeping in as much heat as possible. “Our yachts are also defined as ‘jardins d’hiver’,” says Ansalone. And when it’s hot, you can simply lower the windows. Just like the original Sherpa, the XL has electric windows all the way around the main saloon – each controlled independently, so you can let in just as much sea breeze as you wish.

This “outdoors, indoors” quality also helps to connect the boat’s three principal spaces. The main aft deck extends to around 65 square metres and is really the social hub of the boat. There’s a large teak table that seats eight, but can be extended for up to 10 people. Two-metre-high glass panels on both sides can be slid out of a hidden recess in the superstructure to protect against draughts. A low console between the table and the sofa area contains a 127-centimetre pop-up television, turning the aft deck into an outdoor cinema. Or you can move back to the lounging area, where deep, comfy sofas make the perfect spot to admire the view. There’s a big sunpad here that overhangs the bathing platform with its transformer.

Ringing the differences between this boat and its smaller sister is the addition of a completely new sun lounge, reached up a half-flight of stairs from the saloon. It’s a very clean, geometrical shape containing some freestanding sofas by Meridiani, a bar and icemaker, plus storage. “A big awning provides cover up here,” says Ansalone. “We want this as a private area for the owner and guests without crew.”

This concept of privacy, separating crew and guests, was not a major concern on the smaller boat, since the original Sherpa was an owner-driven boat and offered two guest cabins. The XL can afford a dedicated crew area right in the bow with two bunks and a shower. Access is via stairs next to the helm, which can be closed off with a sliding glass panel. Crew use the port side deck to get between their cabin, the galley and the working areas of the boat. You can even opt for a glass wall to separate the helm station from the rest of the saloon if you want.

Other than that, the key choice is between a three- or four-cabin yacht. With the former, the galley is on the lower deck and has its own set of stairs to avoid any awkwardness with guests running into the cook bearing platters of steaming lobster bisque. Alternatively, the galley is in a room carved out at the back of the saloon on the port side – small, but well equipped with Bosch appliances.

That generous 6.98-metre beam allows an impressive owner’s suite amidships on the lower deck, filled with natural light thanks to windows that can be opened. “When stepping into the cabins you feel like being on board a much larger yacht,” says Lumini. “This was again a main characteristic of all Arcadia yachts we had to follow and respect.” The bathroom area fills the starboard side and Arcadia has left the sink and vanity units open to the cabin. The mirror is a mobile panel in front of the windows that you can slide one way or the other depending on whether you want to admire yourself or the view.

The finish is sophisticated Italian – a mixture of polished stainless steel, gleaming black Marquina marble, grey-stained oak panelling and deep, white carpet. Indirect lighting lifts the beds off the floor, and the headboards are all in light grey Alcantara. Arcadia has won a sense of space from a game of half levels, where you step up from the owner’s cabin to the guest cabins. In this boat, they are configured as two twin cabins, ideal for children, and a VIP cabin forward which is the lightest of all the cabins with three windows on each side. Naturally, Arcadia can tailor the interior finish to the owner’s wishes. Even the furniture can be custom-built.

The final ace up the Sherpa XL’s sleeve concerns the technical areas. The brand firmly believes that tenders should be hidden away, not carted around on the stern for all to see. But while the original Sherpa used a precisely engineered storage space with a crane accessed under the sunpad, the XL has gone for the more superyacht approach of a shell door at the waterline. “Considerable attention in terms of design and testing was focused on the new side garage system, which is one of a kind in the 85- to 90ft [25- to 27-metre] segment,” says D’Ambrosi. “It provides clean profiles and allows guests to use the entire yacht at all times.”

This system increases the tender size of the original Sherpa to around four metres. And crucially, it doesn’t require guests to vacate the sunpad. A crew member simply climbs down into the garage via a hatch concealed in the plinth at the side of the aft deck sofa and operates the winch from there. The use of twin Volvo Penta IPS drives for propulsion means that the engines are right aft, freeing the space amidships for the tender garage.

Innovative? Certainly. Intuitive? At times. And definitely employing slick design. Sound like the products of a certain Californian megabrand? Well, let’s not get carried away. Arcadia is flourishing with its quirky take on outdoor living and slow yachting, but it isn’t trying to become a trillion-dollar company. As Ansalone concludes: “Arcadia aims to continue being a thought leader, an innovator. We do not aim to be a leader in turnover or big numbers.”

Optional twin Volvo Penta IPS 1350 drives give the Sherpa XL a top speed of 23 knots, but this is not her calling. Arcadia’s “back to nature” philosophy appeals for owners to take their time and enjoy the ride, not merely transfer from port to port. “If we did not invent it, I can say without any doubt that Arcadia strongly contributed to the ‘slow yachting’ concept,” says Francesco Ansalone.

At 12 knots, fuel consumption is just four litres per kilometre, “almost 30 per cent less than other yachts in this segment”, he adds. “The majority of yachts go below 15 knots and get a certain efficiency, or they go faster and efficiency is not part of the equation. We wanted to give something more.

In fact, the new XL is even more efficient than the original Sherpa. Although it is nearly twice the size and weight, it consumes only 32 per cent more fuel per nautical mile at 10 knots – 4.6 litres instead of 3.5 litres.

It is all part of the wider trend in yachting since the financial crisis. More and more yards are specialising in comfy, slow motor yachts, while designers say clients are less interested in speed. As Philippe Briand, designer of the Vitruvius line, puts it: “This school of efficient, displacement hulls is for clients who have already learned that fast speed on a power boat is not usable, for reasons of comfort first and durability second. So they look for a yacht with a practical cruising speed.”


Arcadia Yacht

( www.arcadiayachts.it/en/ )

Incat Crowther 66mt Hodor

What to do when the decks of your superyacht can’t accommodate your favourite playthings? The owner of a particular 87 metre has solved this conundrum by commissioning what could fairly be called the world’s largest floating toy box.

With stealth-grey paintwork lightened by a vibrant orange stripe, she could easily be mistaken for a warship ready to steam into battle – were it not for the colour-matched Airbus H145 helicopter and similarly liveried and conspicuously large tenders dotted about the upper deck.

“The idea was to get all the clutter off the mothership and on board a dedicated vessel – and the Incat Crowther catamaran platform provided the perfect answer,” says Hodor’s first officer, Troy Eriksson, after welcoming me aboard.

Australian naval architect Incat Crowther is better known for designing high-speed catamaran ferries than receptacles for fun objects that fly, drive, oat and dive, but all that could change with the creation of Hodor, the first of a new breed of “shadow cats” designed to make the storage, maintenance, launch and recovery of superyacht toys as efficient as possible.

Based on Incat Crowther’s all-aluminium 55-metre fast ferry platform, Hodor was created by stretching the standard hull by 11 metres and then fitting it out to the exact specifications of both the owner and the full-time crew of 17, who manage her on a day-to-day basis.

“The fact that the boat has two hulls and is based on a commercial vessel means there are huge load areas and storage spaces,” says Eriksson, “so there was no need to restrict the quantity of toys we put on board. The owner just let us go ahead and fill it with cool stuff.”

Indeed, there is so much cool stuff aboard Hodor that it takes more than an hour to walk around her. In the huge garage below decks I discover she is carrying nine jet skis, four Yamaha quad bikes, two Yamaha side-by-side ATVs, four Yamaha TW200 trail motorcycles, two Laser dinghies and one Hobie Cat. The leftover space is already earmarked for a soon-to-be-delivered Seamagine Aurora-3 submersible.

The larger items, however, are stowed elsewhere. Resting on cradles atop a hydraulic lift that drops between the hulls for instant launching is the biggest beast of all, a 17-metre Nor-Tech 560 Sport centre console. It was the safe handling of that particular boat that steered the construction team to Incat Crowther. “We looked at every other possible option,” says project manager Robert Smith, of YCTS, “but the big issue was always the Nor-Tech – loading it on and o another boat is a very serious business that needs to be treated with respect. Incat Crowther’s existing catamaran design meant we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel, because it’s so big and stable that it allows such manoeuvres to be carried out in safety.”

Incat Crowther was willing and able to adapt its platform. As Dan Mace, its technical manager, says: “We have a number of vessels with fast launch and recovery systems, which we simply scaled up to a suitable size to allow the chase boat to be launched easily and quickly between the catamaran hulls. The submarine garage is housed in the centre of Hodor, and its launching system uses air casters to locate from the garage to the beam cranes.”

It’s amazing what else has been accommodated. On the top deck are a 7.3-metre Novurania catamaran RIB, a nine-metre Metal Shark landing craft, a 16-metre Hydra-Sports 53 centre console sports boat with quad Seven Marine 627 engines, a Ski Nautique and an insane 388 Skater race boat, capable of a genuine 240km/h. This selection of toys will keep even the most easily bored guest amused for weeks.

But the fun does not end on the water. Within the two voluminous hulls is a dive room stocked with oxygen, Nitrox and compressed air. In case of emergencies, Hodor also has a decompression chamber, stretcher and triage area. To support the fleet of toys is a petrol room capable of holding 7,500 litres of fuel and an engineer’s workshop.

Since the boat will function as a toy-carrying shadow vessel, there are only two interior guest areas – a small but luxurious lounge, which can be accessed directly from the tender dock, and two spacious bathrooms intended for anyone who might want to freshen up. Oliver Design, the Spanish studio, was responsible for the modular interiors used to complete the fit-out at the Astilleros Armón yard in Burela.

Despite the fact that the seating area is likely to be used only briefly, it is equipped with top-grade furnishings, a fully stocked bar and plasma television, while its walls, and those of the staircase that accesses it, are clad in fretwork Corian panels that have been meticulously laser-cut with a Moorish design. The remainder of the accommodation is dedicated to the crew who, thanks to the commodious nature of the catamaran layout, get to enjoy light-filled, open-plan communal areas and generous cabins with full-sized bathrooms. “[The owner] asked for the crew’s input in order that we ended up with a boat that we would all love to live on and work on,” Eriksson says.

Hodor might be the first of its type, but its creation has already brought Incat Crowther further orders. “The demand for shadow yachts is increasing as owners see the opportunity to have a broader range of yachting activities and options, without the need for a larger mothership,” Mace says. Let’s be glad that there are still people around who aren’t afraid to think big – really big – when it comes to having fun.



Incat Crowther

( http://www.incatcrowther.com )

Carlo Riva 30,50 mt Vespucci

The owner of 30.5-metre classic yacht Vespucci had a favourite boat when he was a child. It wasn’t one that floated, but that did not seem to matter much. In 1978, when Philippe was just shy of 10 years old, he accompanied his father to Monaco Boat Service – known for its cave-like vault of classic Rivas – and was mesmerised by an oversized model of Carlo Riva’s own boat. The steel and aluminium motor yacht had just been launched that year by CRN to a design by Carlo, a pairing that foreshadowed the Italian marques of Riva and CRN eventually coming together under the umbrella of the Ferretti Group.

“The white hull, the wood, the modern lines, the fittings, everything was perfect,” says Philippe, who went in to look at the model many more times. “I even asked my father if we could buy it, thinking it could be like a toy boat.” That young boy had no way of knowing it at the time, but one day he’d be the proud owner of the real yacht that had inspired the model he admired so much.

For many years before buying a boat, Philippe and his wife, Miene, were avid charterers who gravitated to classic yachts. Miene heard about a motor yacht that she thought would suit them, and Philippe went off to inspect it with few details known beforehand. The broker casually mentioned that Monaco Boat Service still had the original model of the yacht in its shop. Philippe had all but forgotten about his beloved model boat until that moment. “It was a total surprise,” Philippe says. “I knew Riva made bigger boats, but it wasn’t clear from the description that this was the boat.” He was filled with emotion to finally see “the mythical Carlo Riva yacht”.

Stepping on board Vespucci, however, Philippe was greeted by a rather unpleasant, dusty and damp smell. A run-down appearance matched the odour. “The fabric smelled, the electronics were outdated and there was a huge, ugly television in the wrong place,” he says, referring to the forward bulkhead over the dining table, where a beautiful red painting now resides.

Despite its condition – or maybe because of it – Philippe and Miene saw a world of potential in Carlo Riva’s former boat. From the outset, they were intent on restoring her as faithfully as possible to her original beauty, with the addition of comforts such as more outdoor seating and modern electronics, the latter of which required the ceilings to be cut open so that 1.6 kilometres of cable could be installed in the yacht. Carlo Riva had put the yacht to good use with his family for many years, and she had only two other owners before Philippe and Miene purchased her in 2016. Vespucci had had minor refits over the years, but never anything as thorough as what Philippe and Miene were about to embark on. Though it would be their first refit, and first time owning a boat, the couple loved a project and were ready for it.

The owners were introduced to Captain Benjamin Calzaroni by their sales broker, and in turn the captain led the owners to Monaco Marine for the refit. “We compared three different yards, and we thought Monaco Marine was the best for the price and the fact that they had all the specialists in-house, from steel to joinery. That was important, because when we found a problem, we didn’t have to ask a sub-contractor, which saved time,” says Philippe. Still, it wasn’t a quick refit by any means, taking 18 months and 20,000 work-hours.

It was one of the most challenging and expensive refits that Monaco Marine has completed, according to the yard, but they were fully in step with the owners’ precise restoration goals. “Our main objective was to give her back her initial radiance,” says Kamel Fekhart, Monaco Marine’s site director. “The owners were very involved in this project and were easy to work with. It was clear from the beginning that the most important aspect was to preserve and to respect the spirit of this beautiful boat.” The owners also contacted Monaco Boat Service to nail down the finishing touches. They didn’t have to carry out too much research, though, as Philippe was already a self-avowed Riva geek. As a kid, he had learned to waterski off the back of his grandfather’s Aquarama and has been fascinated by Rivas for as long as he can remember.

Like most classic yacht refits, Vespucci’s problem areas were revealed incidentally. When the decks were being replaced, opening up the flooring showed that the pipes and a portion of the hull were rusted. “Some pipes were almost clogged with rust,” says Fekhart. More than 260 metres of Vespucci’s old steel pipes were replaced. And then when the teak was being reinstalled on the main deck, the yard noticed a substantial disparity in the levelling of the deck, requiring more than 80 square metres of surface to be smoothed out.

Vespucci’s owners and captain were hands-on during the refit. Philippe and Miene visited the yard at least twice a month, and Captain Calzaroni oversaw all the exterior work. The crew also lent a hand, refinishing and varnishing the joinery, the majority of which is original. The owners sought to restore and retain the yacht’s numerous historic details, from the original lamps to the black toggle light switches and the joinery to the portholes, the latter of which were also caked in rust. The portholes were carefully removed, cleaned and restored while the yacht got a fresh coat of paint.

The original engines, a pair of Caterpillar D346-TA diesels, were rebuilt with Monaco Marine custom-making parts that were no longer available to purchase, including the engine exhaust. The yard replicated or ingeniously found replacements for several original parts and structures in the refit of Vespucci, including the plumbing manifold, fairleads and the front bulwark structure. “Most of the parts that had to be replaced were no longer manufactured, but thankfully our team was able to find solutions,” says Fekhart.

This commitment to a faithful restoration was a cause of dispute between the owners and the designer who had been hired for the refit. “He wanted to change too much, and we had to fight to keep and restore everything,” says Miene, who previously worked for an auction house and understands the value of vintage materials and furnishings. “It was very important for us to keep as much of the original boat as possible. Not the fabrics, of course, because those need updating. But the rest is part of the design. Carlo Riva was a great designer, so it’s important to keep what he created.”

Much to Miene and Philippe’s chagrin, the refrigerator in the galley, which had been designed by Carlo specifically for the boat, was removed without their approval. “It was a pity – it was a fantastic, huge fridge that still worked even though it was 40 years old,” she says. When the designer and owners eventually parted ways, Miene took the reins on the interior while Philippe, who works in architecture, guided the exterior design.

At the owner’s behest a new foredeck seating area was created, which also hides additional storage space. Philippe is an avid diver and underwater photographer, so the boat is stocked with scuba gear and water toys. On the flybridge, an al fresco seating area was added to port, which is the owners’ preferred spot for breakfast. A tender is located in the original spot, aft on the flybridge, but the old cradle, which was fixed, has been replaced with one that can be moved so the deck can be fully enjoyed. “We wanted to have a big deck space like you see on modern boats,” says Philippe. A table can be placed on this area when the tender is launched, creating another al fresco dining option, or the deck can be left clear for cocktail parties, as the owners were able to put to the test during the MIPIM real estate conference in Cannes. “We had more than 50 people on deck and we had more than enough space.”

Miene’s goal for the interior was to create an atmosphere that was elegant but understated and homely – “no bling allowed”. The result is an interior that feels true to the era of the late 1970s whence Vespucci came, without being kitschy. A round dining sofa and table are set in the corner against the bulkhead and paired with three retro stools. The sofa and stools in the main saloon are all covered in a light champagne fabric, which is soft to the touch. The stand-up bar across from the sofa hides a built-in television that rises from its top.

Throughout the yacht, the refreshed, gleaming teak and light materials create a warm and welcoming effect. Bright artworks and carefully chosen accent materials add a pop of colour. The tones found inside and out are a nod to Carlo Riva, recreating his trademark sky blue and lobster red shades, which Philippe and Miene had researched. The aft VIP cabin, with beige bed linens, has a chaise and another retro stool covered in a patterned material with a “Riva red” inspired colour scheme – this material is also used in the twin guest cabin on the throw cushions. The spacious full-width master suite and the second twin guest cabin, meanwhile, have sky-blue cushions. It might seem a simple detail, but it’s something that will be noticed and appreciated by true Riva fans. Even Lia Riva, Carlo’s daughter and the CEO of Monaco Boat Service, commented on the cushions when she came on board post-refit.

Vespucci might have been refitted with the dedication of a historian, but she is more than a showpiece: her owners plan to use her often. Fortunately for other Riva fanatics, Vespucci is also on the charter market and has already enjoyed a busy summer. Perhaps another young boy – or girl – will lay eyes on her and plot their own dreams of owning a Riva one day. Custodians of historical yachts, like Philippe and Miene, are invaluable in keeping classic boats sailing into the next century.

Today’s silver-hulled Riva superyachts are not the first “big Rivas” to ply the water. Though the brand is often associated with classic mahogany runabouts, Carlo Riva had a few bigger boats up his sleeve too. In the late 1950s, he began drafting designs and then a client began raving about the quality of Dutch shipyards. In the early 1960s, Carlo collaborated with Feadship De Vries and De Voogt Naval Architects. This meeting of minds brought three yacht series to life: the 26.7-metre Atlantic; the 35.2-metre Viking; and the 22.5-metre Caravelle. The latter – a steel-built, fast yacht powered by two GM V8 diesel engines – was the biggest success, with seven models between 1961 and 1965. One of the 1965 Caravelles, Absolute (ex-Quien Sabe), recently completed a year-long refit at Feadship’s Makkum facility. In the 1970s, Carlo returned to his Italian roots, striking up a collaboration with CRN shipyard. The fruit of this was Carlo’s personal yacht, Vespucci.


Riva

( www.riva-yacht.com )

Amels 67mt Aurora Borealis

Nobody likes waiting for the arrival of a new purchase. Superyachts are no exception –a quick delivery is the most common demand of a new-build owner despite the numerous practical limitations. For the seasoned owner of 67.6-metre Aurora Borealis, for example, it was important that he have his new boat in time for the 2019 summer season. This would put pressure on Amels to deliver what has become its first Limited Editions 220 in just 32 months, which is four months – yes, four months – faster than the listed time.

“I received a call from the owner mid-July 2016, which turned out to be the trigger for the project,” recalls Fraser sales broker Antoine Larricq, who was en route to meet Andrew Winch of Winch Design to discuss New Secret, one of Amels’ Limited Editions 242 projects.

“It was the second hull that was under construction at the shipyard at the time, following the delivery of Plvs Vltra, so I took him to see the project in build.” While the owner liked what he saw, it quickly became clear he didn’t want a motor yacht above 70 metres, ruling out the 74-metre 242 platform. However, the Dutch shipyard had a smaller model that would offer greater length and volume than his previous yacht, 52-metre Latitude, while remaining under 70 metres. The solution was the 65.7-metre Limited Editions 212. Well, almost.

Although the 212 was a good boat, it hadn’t been as commercially successful as some other models in the Amels range, such as the 55-metre Limited Editions 180, Larricq tells me. So the shipyard worked up new drawings with designer Tim Heywood and modified the package to evolve the 212 into something more appealing. The changes would give life to what the shipyard calls the Limited Editions 220, a 67.1 metre with a distinctive beach club – a key requirement for Larricq’s client – and slightly different exterior. “The Amels 220 draws on pedigree and in particular the design of her predecessor, the Amels 212,” explains Victor Caminada, the shipyard’s head of marketing.

“She is strong, athletic, feminine and sleek,” adds exterior designer Tim Heywood. “The fluid lines, particularly aft, flow through the design and I particularly like the long shape of the wing stations.” Caminada goes on to explain how the design captures the essence and tradition of luxury yachting. “It is an evolution of an existing proven and successful design – one that has evolved to meet today’s yachting lifestyle,” he says. “What distinguishes her is the updated and elegant design with elongated decks and large windows for lots of natural light.”

As we stand on the transom, Larricq and Captain Paul Bickley reveal some of the reasons for extending the standard 220’s length by 50 centimetres to 67.6 metres. “When we measured a sun lounger, it sat very close to the edge of the swim platform. The boss wanted a bit more length in order to allow a person to safely and easily walk past it,” explains Bickley. “We’ve opened the transom to give a greater feeling of space, which has been helped by pushing the passerelle outboard. Also, the previous 212 model had these ears on the aft extremities [of the swim platform], which we got rid of to create a smooth curved transom.”

“These customisations were also important in order to make the space child friendly, as the owner has young kids,” adds Larricq. The additional 50 centimetres have allowed for a steam room – decorated with a handmade Italian pietra dura mosaic artwork and a fibre-optic starlight ceiling – and an ice fountain spa and shower. Aft of this is a bar with a Giallo Silvia Oro stone top and a panel of subtle sycamore diamond marquetry below. These light colours, together with sycamore-panelled walls, create a relaxed space, highlighted with oil paintings by British artist Heather Duncan. “A calm, harmonious, refined and restrained Scandinavian-influenced design is enlivened with touches of glamour and intricate details,” says Greig Jolly, associate at Winch Design, as he describes the theme and vision for the interior, realised by German outfitter Metrica.

As we make our way forward into the garage, it is clear the team has included the largest tenders possible. “Initially this was built for charter, like our previous boat,” says Bickley. “We had 380 days of third-party charter over nine seasons, which was possible because the owner rarely used the boat. We wanted to repeat that success on this boat, and to be able to load up with toys. It would have been good to have more space down here.”

Tenders supplied by Pascoe International are stowed with only centimetres to spare between the forward and aft bulkheads. The first is an 8.3-metre Beachlander, while the second is an 8.3-metre Landau Open, which is finished in the same anthracite colour as the superstructure and won Best Tender Design in the 2019 BOAT International Design & Innovation Awards. “Pascoe came to us and said, ‘Can we run with this idea?’ and I said yes, and on seeing the finished boat I’m really pleased with it,” says Bickley. “She has a James Bond feel with a carbon fibre champagne bucket among a number of features. It isn’t enclosed – there is a spray hood should you need it – but this is really ideal for enjoying places such as Porto Cervo and St Barths.”

Forward of the tender garage is the engine room, home to a pair of workhorse Caterpillar 3516C engines. “Mechanically, underway, she is like a Swiss watch, silent and very fast,” Bickley says. “These engines work best at 90 per cent load and are unhappy under 75 per cent load.” This, in turn, means the most efficient way to run the boat is on one engine, achieving a cruising speed of approximately 13 knots and a top speed of 17 knots. “Being the first Amels 220, Aurora Borealis had to be comfortable,” adds Caminada. “She offers unrivalled stability, low noise and vibrations, plus the perfect arrangement for the classic yachting experience at the highest level.”

Amidships is a staircase that extends from the tank deck up to the sundeck, while a glass lift runs from the very top to the lower deck. Backing the staircase is a vertical stretch of backlit cloud-cut honey onyx, the steps and handrail finished with tan buffalo hide and macchiato cowhide. The lobbies on each floor are variations on a circular theme, with the most engaging found at the main entrance on the main deck.

“The floor is grey oak with polished almond gold inlays arranged in a circular pattern inspired by sunrays and Saturn’s rings,” says Jolly. Above this is a custom ceiling lamp with illuminated gold leaf on the inside and a straw marquetry finish on the outside. The repeated circular pattern varies along the main deck companionway, from the saloon aft to the owner’s suite and office forward. A full circle inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the owner’s vestibule visually connects it with the owner’s office. The latter has been finished with bleached rippled sycamore and includes silver highlights and polished almond gold accents.

“Foot-worn oak floors and pale sycamore timber walls create a calm, cool atmosphere,” explains Jolly of the main saloon. The circular motif in this space is achieved through a hand-tufted silk carpet by Tai Ping that defines the sitting area, mirrored above by a circular lighting fixture, and through the 14-guest round dining table, centred with petrified prehistoric wood. The saloon is also home to a pair of stunning curved, starburst straw-marquetry panels that sit opposite each other and visually separate the dining area from the saloon. In front of each panel is a European walnut credenza with Italian Botticino Fiorito marble top, while a third unit between them is finished with straw marquetry.

Aurora Borealis sleeps 14 guests, the most striking suite being the owner’s, forward on the main deck. “The full-beam owner’s suite with a central bed features two bespoke bleached-oak loungers beneath large, full-height windows,” says Jolly. “A spectacular five-metre-long landscape artwork of gold-leaf divides the sleeping area from the master bathroom.” The master suite includes an enclosed head and shower with a centrally located oval bath carved from a single block of crema liria stone. In front of it is a high-gloss capiz shell panel from Nature Squared with polished almond gold inlays, while behind it is a striking petrified wood panel concealing a secondary (emergency) exit.

Drop one deck and you find a twin and three double en suites. “Each cabin has a different theme – earth, air, water, fire – which is reflected in the subtle variations in the choice of fabrics, carpets, artwork and accessories,” explains Jolly. While these cabins feature silk carpets, good storage and marble vanity units, the VIP suites on the bridge deck are not only bigger, but they also have a penthouse feeling when combined with the upper saloon, just a few steps away towards the stern. “The two cabins are themed around the concept of the North and South Poles with subtly different colour schemes, fabrics and artwork,” says Jolly.

At the top of the staircase is a skylight flooding the stairwell with natural light. Forward is a spa pool with a gym and shower aft, leading out to an open deck area with sunbeds and Summit sun loungers, as well as a table for al fresco dining and a projector for entertainment. Another modification was the deletion of the helipad aft on this deck. Despite having met the owner’s wishes, Aurora Borealis is for sale. Now complete, she is perfect for someone looking for a new fully loaded superyacht. At the time of writing, she had an asking price of €83.5 million including the owner’s supplies – and of course that priceless attribute, the absence of a waiting time.


Amels

( www.amels-holland.com )

Feadship 87mt Lonian

Dutch yard Feadship has revealed first-look images of the 87 metre superyacht Lonian following her launch last year.

Interest in the yacht has been strong however, evident in a time-lapse video of Lonian's construction, which received more than five million views on Feadship's YouTube channel. Now the yard has released the first images of the yacht.

On her adventures around the world, in which Lonian spends as much time away from marinas as possible, the yacht travels with a "flotilla" of toys and tenders, as well as a 66 metre support vessel, which transports more equipment and an additional crew of 22.

Lonian's exterior design, which is characterised by a deep blue hull, plentiful stainless steel and extensive glass, was penned by Sinot Exclusive Yacht Design.

“The result is a Feadship with the presence and stance of a beefy motoryacht wich simultaneously retains and elegant and slender air," the yard said.

A total of 22 openings from interior to exterior create an "unrivalled open feel on board," Feadship said.

One particularly dramatic feature is the swimming pool, the translucent bottom of which doubles as the ceiling of the beach club below. A cinema screen, not visible in these daytime shots, is also integrated into the edge of the pool.

The transom hatch meanwhile features a swim platform that opens and closes like the roof of a convertible car, with the teak hatch opening and aft door descending before the hatch closes again.

The large flush foredeck on the dedicated owner's deck features a Jacuzzi which can be heated and cooled to a range of temperatures between 10 and 38 degrees. This feature was specifically requested by the owners, who enjoy using the chilled plunge pool after working out in the bridge deck gym.

Lonian's helideck accommodates an AW169 helicopter and also features a crane capable of lifting 3.5 tonnes.

The interior of the yacht, which remains private, was created by Sinot in collaboration with Richard Hallberg Interior Design. While the interior has not been revealed, Feadship revealed that it contains a glass elevator serving all five decks and a main deck lounge with panoramic full beam views.

Accommodation on board is for a total of 14 guests in seven cabins, including the owner's stateroom, four large guest staterooms and two VIPs. The crew quarters meanwhile consists of 15 crew cabins and one captain's cabin.


Feadship

( www.feadship.nl )

Lürssen 106mt Amadea

From the outset, Amadea’s owner was determined that his 106-metre Lürssen should be a project to leave others in the shade. “The key to his brief was to make Amadea one of the most detailed vessels ever built: millions of hours spent on creating and assembling… and then finding the smallest snagging points,” says Evgeniy Kochman, founder and CEO of broker Imperial, which acted as the owner’s representative.

Monaco-based Imperial has a reputation for, shall we say, exactitude. The very name sends a frisson of fear down the spines of boatbuilders, who recognise that Imperial requires total precision in every element of the yacht, particularly the finish.

Yet despite Amadea’s astonishingly detailed finish, she was built quickly by the standards of a yacht of this size. From the first steel cutting, delivery took just 31 months. “That is very fast,” says Michael Breman, sales director at Lürssen. “We were given the opportunity, in order not to waste time, to use engineering solutions previously arrived at.” In other words, the technical innards of the yacht were based on an existing project – Quantum Blue, launched in 2014. Even so, the captain says they had the time to personalise and polish every detail of the boat before delivery: “The warranty list pretty much didn’t exist,” he tells me over coffee and patisseries from Amadea’ s classically trained French pastry chef. That’s partly because a flurry of late upgrades, notably in the galley and owner’s bathroom, added about six months to the build – at the same time taking time pressure off for fixing small problems. And it’s partly that Imperial’s rigour in planning means that there are no question marks left when work begins.

“We are recognised for being ‘inflexible’ and above the expectations of our client,” Kochman tells me. “But this is what success is made of: the partners working with us have to deal with this philosophy, and so far… we can proudly say this vision has been followed by the greatest yards and designers of our industry.”

I board Amadea along the passerelle, because she is berthed port-side to in the harbour at Vilanova, Spain. But most visitors will arrive in one of the custom Windy tenders, where their first view will be the teak of the beach club, which is partly overhung by the 10-metre pool on the main deck, overflowing down a glass wall behind the boat’s backlit name. It is an impressive way to make the boat’s acquaintance. “I tried to make it dramatic,” says exterior designer Espen Øino of the pool. “Loungers at either side kind of float in space, and look like two wings coming off it.”

Assuming you’ve hurried up from the beach club, eager to get on board, you would have missed the angular base to the transom – just one of a myriad of tiny details Øino dropped in. “You can naturally sit down there and take your shoes off without putting chairs out,” he tells me, before asking, “Did you notice it?” I confess that I did not, and move quickly on to what really did strike me: the large number of small, personal corners where you can relax unobserved. And nowhere more so than at the front of the superstructure, where a wing creates a private nook on each deck, which has been well filled with cushions and loungers.

But here again, I’ve missed something. “It’s a clamshell arrangement,” Øino tells me – a comment that makes more sense when I see the aerial view of this part of the boat, which resembles three overlapping shells cascading down from the four silver satellite domes. And it turns out this feature is something that Øino introduced after personal experience on board yachts. “I visit a lot of these boats and I receive [commercially sensitive] phone calls,” he says. “Sometimes there can be a lack of cosy spaces.”

Unexpectedly for such a large yacht, cosy spaces are not in short supply. Even the main deck saloon – which has clearly been built to impress with its double-height atrium, hand-painted Pleyel grand piano, leather-book-clad walls and full-beam dining table – offers warmth. Much is down to interior designer François Zuretti’s vision, which pairs the grand with the intimate: hand-painted Michelangelo clouds on the ceiling above the dining table; or the dozens of warm organic tones delivered via the backlit whiskies, brandies and rums in clear bottles behind the bars. “The [owner] asked for an authentic classic representation with the integration of classic furniture from the 18th century,” Zuretti tells me. “Alcohol, books and accessories are part of the design.”

But Øino has also been clever with the layout, which offers lots of recesses for seating and magnificent sea views through drop-down bulwarks. “Detailing such as the stainless steel, onyx panels, deck motifs – a lot of work went into it together with the owner,” says Øino. “Normally, the good boats come out of clients that are really engaged with the project.”

The owner of Amadea has taken great care to stay out of the limelight, and yet his influence is everywhere on this yacht. Just look at the vast art deco-style albatross that soars off the bow. “We worked with Willem Lenssinck, an artist from the Netherlands, who built it from stainless steel. It was then welded on to the hull,” says Øino. It weighs a staggering five tonnes. Or take the galley on the top deck. It gleams with copper pots and pans, offers a huge grill area and even a live tank for lobsters. “It’s a guest area really,” says the captain. The idea is that those on board can get involved with their food if they want to. It serves the so-called winter patio – a dining area that will seat up to 24 in a space decked with ferns and painted with lianas.

Water tinkles softly down the slate wall, and indirect light falling through opaque ceiling panels looks like daylight. It feels like a secret Parisian eatery, not the top deck of an ultra-modern yacht. And yet just a few centimetres behind the greenery, the main exhaust runs up to the vents above. Such is the build quality that not a decibel escapes through the multiple layers of insulation.

The deck outside, however, is built to be anything but quiet. Here, 20,000 Watts of built-in speakers, plus lights and even lasers, are very much designed to be heard. For this is the party deck, where a good-sized spa pool flanked by sunbeds can be converted into a stage where bands and DJs plug straight into the ship’s audio system. “We’ve only ever had it up to half volume,” says the captain with a mock grimace, “but you could feel your chest pounding.”

“It’s a party area,” says Øino. “The deck terminations are inverted on this deck and the one below, so the structure lends itself very well to anchoring lights and speakers. The geometry wasn’t accidental.” A storage area to one side reveals equipment including a teppanyaki grill, a rotisserie and a hog-roaster. There’s even a crane available to lower it over the side so it can be taken ashore for a beach party. “This is something completely unique,” says the captain.

Equally unique, to my mind, is the cinema on the bridge deck below. The projector and big screen fully retract when not in use, but there is something special about the two main sofas. The captain hits play on the rocket sequence from the 2014 film Interstellar and my whole seat begins to move. As we blast through the stratosphere, it tips forward, wobbling like crazy, then suddenly we reach space and there is an eerie stillness. This is D-Box motion control. All that’s missing is a popcorn machine, I reflect, before spotting exactly that behind the bar.

Another key part of this boat’s appeal is the way that space has been divided up. Naturally, there is a private office on the owner’s deck, but it is not huge. Zuretti has given it the glorious feel of a private room in an old-school gentlemen’s club, complete with overstuffed armchair and a hand-painted map of the world on the ceiling. But it is an intimate space. For less personal business, there is a small conference suite on the lower deck by the guest boarding platform (next to the humidor and wine cellar, it turns out).

The owner’s deck has all the features you would expect of such a large yacht: a dressing room, a bathroom with an ornate bath recessed slightly into the floor, a beauty salon and a gym. But by far the biggest space is devoted to the owner’s cosy saloon, bar and dining area. Yes, there are marbles, rare woods, exceptional stone and wood inlay work, but the result is warm and inviting. Step outside on to the huge aft deck, and there is a large circular wooden table to seat eight. Clever design means that extra circular leaves fold out and turn it into a table worthy of King Arthur and his knights, with room for 16. Glass windbreaks can be opened when not required, and there’s a firepit and comfy sofa area.

More evidence of the obsessive detailing comes from the ensign staff here, which would make a decent mast on a classic boat: hidden hydraulics rotate it inboard for polishing and maintenance. And at the other end of the deck, the owner’s cabin opens out on to a private terrace with a mosaic-lined spa pool: as you recline on the stainless-steel bathing rack, observe the glittering light show above your head. All the signs of the zodiac have been included in a panorama of the night sky. “You’d have a heart attack if you could see behind that panel,” Lürssen’s electrical technical officer (ETO) tells me. “There are 2,000 fibre-optic cables and a spinning disc for the twinkling effect.”

Lighting is a subtle presence on board wherever you are. Indirect LED strips outline many items of furniture on deck and are even built into the stainless-steel poles that can be planted in lugs in the deck to support the extensive awnings. Everything, from the entertainment to the curtains and blinds, is controlled via dedicated iPads. “There are 6,500 devices in the interior design,” adds the ETO.

No expense has been spared in equipping Amadea. For instance, her helipad, which can accommodate a craft of up to 3.5-tonnes take-off weight (an Agusta 109 or an EC135), features a glide path indicator. Resembling for all the world a dormant party light on the foredeck, this is far beyond class requirements. And when it comes to the full-beam tender garage, the captain can’t help lingering. There’s the mandatory limo tender, a Pascoe beach lander, but the real attraction is the cabrio sports boat, known on board as the “boss boat”. With styling that echoes the mothership, the two custom Windys are works of art in their own right – something that Espen Øino is also keen to point out. “You are going to mention them in the article, right?” he wants to know. “People don’t realise that we designed those as well.”

After four hours on board, I’m still discovering details as I reluctantly retrace my steps down the passerelle to the waiting taxi. None of it has happened by accident. “Imperial’s managing style is very thorough, attentive to details,” says Zuretti, who had worked with them only on smaller boats in the past. “Suppliers also need to step up and reach quality requirements.” Øino agrees. “They are very thorough in the way they go about things. Sometimes that means more work for us, but at the end it’s all useful; all good. As these boats get bigger and bigger, the investment is considerable. One cannot go light-heartedly into such a project.”

And yet it’s clear that he enjoyed the experience – there is fun in the design. “In general, creativity and corporate structure don’t always go very well. It went very well on Amadea. I really felt in symbiosis with the owner. It was like a game of ping-pong getting faster and faster with more pace.” And it looks like everyone won.

Among the many elements of Amadea’s immaculate interior, the hand-painted Pleyel piano stands out. This Paris piano builder has been in business since 1807, founded by a talented Austrian musician who adopted French nationality. Over two centuries, the brand has been embraced by artists from Chopin and Ravel to Daniil Trifonov and Vanessa Mosell today. Pleyel no longer manufactures pianos, but it still accepts occasional custom orders, such as this Directoire baby grand. Measuring 1.9m x 1.5m, the piano’s soundboard and ribs are built of solid spruce from Italy’s Fiemme Valley. Pleyel’s famous metal frame revolutionised sound quality in the 19th century, and it is still in use today, albeit computer-optimised now. It features a Renner action and a Laukhuff keyboard in spruce. All the hardware, from pedals to hinges, is in 24kt gold. The vines and flowers hand-painted on to the body of the instrument were completed by master painter Pierre-François Battisti. All told, the piano took 18 months and thousands of hours to build.

Lürssen

( https://www.lurssen.com )

ISA 43mt Agora III

European shipyards are used to tailoring their offerings to clients based outside the Med, in the Middle East or Russia, for instance. But for Ancona-based ISA Yachts, its first ever client from Japan meant the yard had to radically rethink a few established conventions. The result, 43-metre Agora III, is now the largest private yacht in Japan.

“First of all, I think it’s important to understand that the owner is Japanese,” says Luca Dini, the yacht’s interior and exterior designer. Dini had penned the owner’s previous boat, a 32 metre built in Taiwan, so he was schooled in his tastes and culture. But this time, says Dini, “His dream was to have an Italian yacht – Italian, as in not only being from Italy but also with the recognisable design that is from an Italian pencil.”

This led designer and client to ISA, part of the Palumbo Group, which also owns the Columbus Yachts, Extra Yachts, Palumbo SY (refit) and Mondomarine brands. A proven semi-displacement platform was chosen in aluminium but, says Gianpaolo Lapenna, project and product executive director at ISA Yachts, “We adjusted everything which is above the waterline.” It became a highly customised project under the ISA brand that “comes directly from the idea of the owner and of the designer”.

The Italian styling that the owner desired was translated into sporty exterior lines. “He didn’t want to have three decks, because it is too high,” says Dini. “So this boat has two decks, but if you look at it from outside it seems to have a raised bridge, so we maintained the sporty line, and we’re giving him a lot of volume inside.”

Aside from this, the owner’s priorities were very different from what the Italians were used to. “This is quite an unusual yacht because the Far Eastern idea of a boat is completely different to our understanding,” says Lapenna. The project started “from the beach club” – not an uncommon obsession among owners – but this one was supersized for a very unusual reason. “This boat has no tender and no way to carry one,” says Lapenna. “In Europe we consider a yacht as a mother vessel, used with toys in order to enjoy the sea. This is the Western way. In Japan I understood that they have a completely different way to enjoy boating, which is to stay on the boat – no water toys, this is a floating house.”

The beach club allows the owner to enjoy the sea from the boat, in shaded privacy. Because the design did not need to assign volume for a tender and toys, this is a cavernous space for a 43-metre yacht. And whereas the beach club can sometimes feel like an afterthought, with a basic bar and couple of deck chairs shoved on the swim platform, as much design attention has been lavished upon this area as on the more traditional spaces inside. The teak-clad interior contains a cosy coffee area with custom-made teak chairs, a bar and fridge, plus a small dressing room and a dayhead forward. The broad swim platform aft is extended by the fold-down door that encloses the space during passages. Touches such as underlit stairs and a glass partition both delineate the indoor and outdoor portions of the space and add a dash of glamour.

This isn’t the only exterior area that’s worth a special mention. “There is a huge space for sunbathing on the upper deck. I think it’s amazing for this size of boat,” says Lapenna, “but I am 90 per cent sure that they will never use it for sunbathing.” This was another difference from sun-worshipping European owners – while a cooling al fresco breeze was welcome, UV rays were not. This space is therefore covered with an awning on carbon fibre poles, with a dining area forward, protected by haunches of superstructure on either side, a neat coffee area and – just poking out of the awning at the end – a couple of loungers.

The main aft deck below is almost entirely shaded by the overhang of the deck above. Inside, the layout is relatively conventional, with the owner’s cultural heritage infusing the decor. Dini describes it as a mix of Japanese and Italian style, both pared-back aesthetics that he says blend well. “Japanese style is very clean, very minimal, very natural. With this kind of soft touch that we give to the boat, I think the result is something that is really different.” It translates to, for example, shoji-inspired pillars between the seating and dining areas in the main saloon. They may be more substantial than the traditional paper and bamboo screens (and contain hidden storage for crockery and glasses – handy since the floor-to-ceiling windows don’t allow side cabinetry), but like shoji they divide the space while letting light through, and the dark wenge wood has an Asian feel. Meanwhile, a long panel of notched wood that runs down the centre of the space is reminiscent of tatami matting used in traditional Japanese flooring – a look echoed in the dark lines that break up the silky carpet into panels.

The style is neutral, calming and restrained, with a cool richness imparted by ceiling panels in a suede-like microfibre called Alcantara and marble in unexpected locations, such as on the walls just inside the main saloon, or on the tops of the dining and coffee tables. It’s also profoundly comfortable, homely, even residential – in line with Lapenna’s evocation of a house at sea. Take the sink-in chairs and sofas by Minotti in the main saloon, the proliferation of potted plants or the built-in display cases for books and objets d’art in the lobby. In the main saloon sitting room, terraces fold down port and starboard, enhancing the villa feel. The upper saloon has a cosier atmosphere but the space is still well lit via windows in the sloping superstructure. The main deck owner’s suite packs in plenty of comforts for spending long holidays on board, including a dressing table, desk, built-in bench for reading by the window and sofa, plus more marble in the forward en suite.

Crew areas and stairs sequestered in the centre of the main deck allow easy service throughout the boat, while staff can access the engine room via the beach club. Lapenna notes that naval architect Francesco Rogantin and the yard team did a “unique job fitting the engine room and the auxiliary apparatus on the side of the beach club in a very tight space.” Timescale was another achievement – construction took less than 18 months.

The finished boat, the largest private yacht in Japan, will be kept in Kobe and cruise among the islands there. “I made a brief investigation and I have to say that it is a wonderful place; it’s full of small islands and the sea looks incredible,” says Lapenna. “Surely it is something that we don’t know.” Perhaps discovering it will be another step in this fruitful cultural exchange.


ISA Yachts

( www.isayachts.com )

Wider 50mt Cecilia

The stereotype of growling motor yachts snarling up the Riviera, spewing fumes and decibels and rocking little sailing boats has become a little old fashioned. Today, in a leaner, greener world where we know the delicate balance of the oceans has been upended, blind hedonism on the water looks, well, blind – and rather passé. It has left the yacht scene longing for a new kind of boat that is quiet and economical. But still fun.

At the vanguard of this (literally) quiet revolution for the past few years has been Wider, the Italian brand specialising in diesel-electric yachts that offer hushed cruising and sensible fuel consumption – but also super-sized and glamorous social spaces, and a “more is more” approach to hidden tricks and fold-out gizmos. It is sensible and excitingly eccentric at the same time.

“The propulsion systems of ships – yachts are not an exception – combined with many variables, are the cause of, at least, 20 per cent of the total sea and air pollution,” says Luciano Cardini, engineering manager of Wider Superyacht Division. “The use of new technologies, more ethical behaviour and a professional approach are the key. In so far as we can, Wider took up the challenge of being among the companies that make sustainability an approach to the market.”

First of the company’s big boats was the Wider 150 Genesi in 2015 (renamed Bartali by her Canadian owner) and last year a big sister landed: the first Wider 165, Cecilia. Both share a beamy, technical look, side decks that protrude distinctively on the upper deck and a vivid orange boot line. As their designer Fulvio De Simoni puts it: “Cecilia was born after the experience of the Wider 150, from which she takes the general philosophies and ideas and [reinterprets] them in a bigger size.”

Less obvious from the outside is that both boats were also awarded the RINA Green Plus Platinum and the RINA Comfort Class notations, for ecological credentials and low levels of noise and vibration. Both benefits are largely down to Wider’s carefully designed diesel-electric propulsion systems. Gensets drive the boat at the same time as powering lithium polymer batteries, which then power onboard services from bridge controls to air conditioning and hot water. With the generators shut off, the batteries can also drive the boat by themselves, at a modest speed but in silence.

While Cardini notes with honesty that we can call a hybrid “ecological” only up to certain speeds, on the all-aluminium Cecilia the yard worked hard to minimise energy loss in its Wider Power Management System “to keep consumption below the standard” even at higher speeds. This translates to 265 litres per hour at 13 knots, or 189 litres at her 11.7-knot cruising speed (including 40kW hotel loads). The zero-emission mode, meanwhile, can “power the yacht at five knots for hours or to stay comfortably at anchor during night-time in complete silence”, he says.

But it’s not all nuts and bolts on board, and in fact the fun starts in one of the techiest spaces. Whereas on the 150 the batteries were housed aft and the generator room in the bow, the 165 places the whole caboodle in the bow; the batteries in a temperature-controlled case on an aluminium rack. This is to make room in the tender garage for a submarine. On Cecilia, a three-person U-Boat Worx SYS3 (complete with a Jules Verne-esque manipulator hand – which clutched a bottle of Bollinger at the last Monaco Yacht Show) sits in its own specially designed nook at the forward end of the space.

“For sure, the handling of the submersible has been a complex theme to study and develop,” says De Simoni. It slides out on a sophisticated crane installed overhead. Aft, an eight-metre tender sits in a floodable float-in dock. If a client preferred, instead of the sub this space could be designed to hold a 10-metre Wider 32 tender – big enough to operate as an independent dayboat. On Cecilia, with the space flooded, both vehicles out and the aft end closed up, the tender bay becomes a saltwater pool, while broad swathes of superstructure fold down either side to open up the space and supplement the sunbathing area on the long stern platform.

Fold-outs are something of a signature on Cecilia. Balconies open up in the full-beam master cabin as well as in the gym and sauna area, both on the main deck. Each has two opening mechanisms: a window and, with that closed, a whole terrace, complete with teak decking that slides out to sit flush (so you don’t have decking running up the wall when the balcony is not in use) plus railings that pop up electrically. Even the crew get in on the action with two fully automated concealed wing stations for berthing.

In the main saloon, meanwhile, Cardini adds that “a television unfolds from the ceiling, rotates 180 degrees to be watched from both sides and lowers itself to reach the right height – if you’re seated on a table in the dining area you may want it higher or if you’re seated on the sofa in the living area you want it lower”. The set-up can also be used for business, with a concealed camera in the television frame, and two automatic pop-up columns for conference calls built into the crystal dining table.

The interiors of this boat are spacious and airy – thanks in part to doing away with the traditional engine set-up and placing the power generation equipment in the bow. To this point there are two VIP cabins and two twin cabins on the lower deck amidships, where you might expect to find the boat’s engine room. And although the diesel-electric system has won awards for its quietness, this also places any humming equipment well away from areas where guests are sleeping.

The main saloon is full of natural light thanks to sets of full-height windows that open up to allow a breeze to flow through the seating area, with its chocolate leather sofas. The wooden floor creates a feeling of flow between the interior and the aft deck, out through broad glass doors. The upper saloon, with games table and more seating, has a similarly flowing set-up with its own broad sliding doors. In both spaces there are surprises – in the main saloon, a glamorous bar is disguised as a cupboard, and in the upper saloon there is a little pantry space with a dumb waiter to the galley, again behind fold-away panelling.

The decor, by Ideaeitalia, enhances Cecilia’s fundamental qualities with a soft, light style. “The purity of the white colour together with light and fresh materials and the great natural brightness give an uncontested spatiality,” says Alessio Battistini, co-founder of the studio. The designers used a lot of bleached oak, which they scarified and then treated to “contaminate the nuances of white with sand tones, increasing their three-dimensionality”. There is polished steel in furniture and mirrored detailing for gleam, as well as buttery leather and fine marble – milky Calacatta in the owner’s bathroom, rich Bronze Armani in guest en suites. Materials with lustre and texture are used throughout, from the copper of the staircase to the oak bathtub in the master.

But it’s the exterior spaces that really pile on the features. There’s a foredeck touch-and-go helipad, which the yard recognises will more often be used for sunbathing and socialising. So there’s a removable sun awning on carbon fibre poles, as well as built-in lights and space for a DJ booth (with necessary power sockets). Aft of this is the first of two spa pools, with coffee tables and lounging space. The second is directly behind, up on the sundeck (you could probably throw a beach ball from one to the other).

This highest level is sequestered into three areas, for sunbathing, conversation and dining – with a bar that contains a concealed barbecue, fridge and freezer. And, the pièce de resistance – glass bulwarks that light up at night. It’s a straightforward articulation of this boat’s nature: fun, that’s guilt-free.


Wider

( http://www.wider-yachts.com )

Riva 33,50mt Dolcevita

Since Brigitte Bardot was first spotted on board her Riva Super Florida Nounours off Saint-Tropez in the 1960s, the Riva brand has been synonymous with glamour, speed and classic good looks. It’s a heady combination that has earned the Italian builder a loyal fan base. Vintage Rivas are so legendary, in fact, they are some of the few yachts to increase in value as they age – the last wooden-hulled Aquarama to be built was sold at auction for $975,000 (£763,000) nearly 40 years after its launch.

The question was, as Riva moved into building fibreglass motor yachts in the 2000s, could the style, grace – and success – of a classic Riva ever be replicated on a larger scale? The builder’s latest fibreglass flagship, the 33.5 metre 110' Dolcevita, is specifically designed in the hopes of answering this query with a resounding yes.

“Bringing the iconic Riva styling into a larger boat was the target since the beginning of the project,” says Giordano Pellacani, head of sales and marketing at Riva, under the Ferretti Group umbrella. “If you look at the previous Riva models, they were not exactly in that style.” The Dolcevita is a step up from the 29.9 metre Corsaro model that, while good-looking in its own right, did not carry forward the trademark Riva styling to the same extent that the Dolcevita aims to.

Riva embarked on a thorough review and development process, spending twice as long in the planning phase as they usually would on a project. “We interviewed many customers and found they wanted something that reminded them of smaller Rivas, with attention poured into our classic details – but on a megayacht,” Pellacani says, referring to Riva’s trademark use of mahogany wood, gleaming stainless steel and rich leathers. These features loom large on the Dolcevita, but with a modern twist. The team at Officina Italiana Design – the exclusive designer of Rivas since 1994 – was inspired by classic Rivas but was careful not to create a retro boat. The new Dolcevita had to perfectly balance modern styling with the timeless luxury that clients associate with Riva.

“Riva design centres around clean, spare lines, resulting in elegant boats,” says the CEO of Officina Italiana Design, Sergio Beretta. “The 110' Dolcevita is in the spirit of Riva tradition. The lines are clean and elegant, including throughout the model’s interior, where the style was personalised to suit the owner’s requirements.” With an integrated flybridge and a silver-grey paint job, the 110' Dolcevita has a sporty look. Gaze closer, however, and you’ll notice sinuous exterior lines that are detailed yet well-balanced, providing just enough handsome Riva styling while meeting the design team’s maxim that less is more. The black windows on the main deck form a continuous band, a feature that defines the exterior but is best appreciated from inside, where such glazing allows for 270-degree views.

“The saloon has unusual windows that run for most of the yacht’s profile, creating a sense of visual space and breadth aft because there is no structure,” says Mauro Micheli, chief designer of Officina Italiana. “From an engineering point of view, it was an interesting challenge. The idea was, how can we give something to owners that no one else has in this size range? You might see windows like this on a much larger yacht, like Vava 2 or Musashi. But how could we create this atmosphere on a smaller yacht? When we told the engineers what we wanted, they said, ‘You’re crazy’.”

To conjure up an open feeling reminiscent of a Riva runabout inside a superyacht was no small feat. Riva’s engineers devised a “spider structure” that allowed for huge windows supported by minuscule mullions. Four transversal and four longitudinal pieces of stainless steel combine to make a frame that is attached to the hull, supporting the stress of the yacht and connecting the hull and superstructure. The result is what Pellacani calls “the crystal palace” – a light-filled interior with seamless windows, remarkable indoor-outdoor continuity and panoramic views.

The abundance of glass lets in massive amounts of light to the wood-filled interior, illuminating the high-gloss joinery. “We used a lot of wood, as per Riva tradition, but in this case we went for rosewood,” Micheli says. Rosewood is similar to mahogany, but has darker veining and a dense grain that makes it very durable, and the wood takes a polish well.

For 70 per cent of its boats built these days, Riva uses pre-engineered woods to avoid mistakes, knots or misalignments showing in the veneer. “For Dolcevita, we opted to use real wood and keep the defects in, we wanted to see them, then apply our love of detailing,” Pellacani says. “We use more material this way – because sometimes you need quite a big piece for the furniture – which is reflected in the price point.”

The wood is refined by a team of in-house carpenters, the same craftsmen who work on smaller Rivas. Real wood, in all its natural glory and coated in gleaming varnish, certainly elicits the richness of a classic Riva launch. Deckheads are raised and the ceiling inset with shining rosewood, which gives a warmth to the spacious saloon.

To complement the light-reflecting rosewood, Officina Italiana Design brought in a pale-grey matte finish for the walls, which matches the light grey sofa. The interior has an understated elegance. Classic nautical materials combine with modern furnishings, such as the glass dining room table paired with leather and stainless-steel chairs. “There are a lot of details in leather and stainless steel that is the leitmotif for the interior and exterior,” Micheli says. The Riva branding is signalled in this and in more literal detailing, like the curved silver door handles imprinted with a Riva logo.

Nine Dolcevita hulls have been sold so far, heading off to locations ranging from Asia and the Middle East to Europe and the US. Half of those owners already have a smaller Riva and were looking for something to represent their love of the brand on a bigger scale. Hull five was the first to be seen by the public at the Monaco Yacht Show last September; the first four were delivered quickly and are being enjoyed by their owners. The new offering seems to appeal to both to Riva loyalists and to those looking for interesting amenities in a smaller package.

Feedback from one owner, who was looking for “big boat features but on a smaller scale” inspired Dolcevita’s unusual layout. While nearly every large yacht has the guest passageway to starboard and the crew to port, this Riva has the hallway leading to the full-beam owner’s cabin on the port side.

“We looked at our bigger 40- to 50-metre boats, and one of the things they must have is a dayhead near the main saloon, because owners throw dinner parties and do not want people in the guest cabins,” Pellacani says. “So we decided to have a very large dayhead on the left side of the main deck.” This dayhead is tucked under the port-side superstructure, set in a wide hallway just before the door to the owner’s suite.

Like the saloon, the master cabin is adorned with rosewood, grey soft goods and carpeting, and chocolate-brown leather chairs. Stainless-steel details also decorate the raised ceiling and are used for the wardrobe door handles. A smoked glass wall across from the bed adds depth and conceals a television. This recurrent theme of “Riva details”, reaffirming the yacht’s ties to its heritage, is carried through into the guest cabins as well. Four are found below, with the layout customisable. The owner of hull five opted for three VIPs and one cabin with twins and a Pullman berth. The rosewood details are even seen in the guest bathrooms.

Exterior spaces aim to recreate the feeling of flying jauntily around the harbour on a much smaller Riva. One such space is the foredeck lounge, accessed via a stairway leading forward from the starboard side. This sunpad-laden spot encapsulates the feeling of sprawling out on the back of an Aquarama, but with even more comfort. The foredeck lounge can also be customised to the owner’s wishes: this one has a rumble seat all the way forward, while another Dolcevita has a spa pool built on the bow.

The stylish helm stations bear the hallmarks of a classic Riva with more wood, leather and stainless details. A second helm is found on the sundeck, which also brings in carbon fibre detailing in the hardtop.“The Riva tradition also is for the exterior area to have a lot of details,” Pellacani says. This presented another challenge, as all the exterior elements of the yacht – from the ceiling of the flybridge to the inside of railings to the bases of (fixed) deck furniture – are painted to match the hull and perfectly polished and flawless to meet Riva’s standards. “It’s very expensive and very detailed, and to paint these items and protect them from scratching during construction is challenging.”

Intense attention to detail is what makes Riva stand out, for instance installing screws and then painting their heads in the same colour as the hull. So it makes sense when Beretta says, “We don’t think of 110' Dolcevita as a ‘superyacht’ – she is simply a yacht built in the spirit of iconic Rivas.”

Iconic is an overused word. Many claim it, yet few are truly deserving. The undoubtedly iconic Riva runabouts like Ms Bardot’s are an exception. Only time will tell if the 110' Dolcevita will reach such legendary heights. So far she is certainly making Riva fans sit up and take notice – and place their orders, too.


Riva Yacht

( www.riva-yacht.com )