It was the windows that first attracted the owner to this 50 metre Heesen. The rectangular floor-to-ceiling glazing is the first thing you notice from the outside on this yacht, which was started on spec as Project Nova, and it commands your attention inside as well, the panoramic glass pulling your gaze to the natural world beyond.
“He bought the boat because of the windows,” confirms interior designer Cristiano Gatto. “He told me, ‘my idea of being on board is to wake up and see the sea around me — I don’t want to be in marinas very much.’ We worked to simplify and minimise the interiors so that the windows are the artwork.”
It’s fitting also that this is the first hull to couple hybrid propulsion to the proven Fast Displacement Hull Form by Van Oossanen Naval Architects, allowing an owner who loves looking at nature to reduce his impact on it.
Home is another success story for Heesen’s spec-built business model. The owner bought his previous yachts on the brokerage market and didn’t want to wait three years for a new build. So when Heesen’s Thom Conboy showed him a project that had the lines, space and views he was looking for, with the ability to customise the interior within a short delivery time, it was game on.
The yacht’s lines were inspired by another Heesen, 50 metre Sibelle, says Frank Laupman of Omega Architects. The two boats share the aggressive bow, which might be right on trend but also serves a purpose, providing progressive buoyancy when carving through waves. The bow shape also means the crew accommodation can be set further forward. In order to stay under 500GT, Omega created walkaround decks, while also giving the master suite forward on the main deck the full beam.
“This worked quite well,” says Laupman. “We chamfered the superstructure and gave little knuckles in the glass, so the walkaround starts wide then gets narrower — it makes a difference psychologically.” Uninterrupted sightlines from inside are achieved with cut-out bulwarks topped by specially designed handrails.
The interior was started on spec by Sinot Exclusive Yacht Design, but the original motif didn’t appeal to Home’s owner. Gatto was called in after coming recommended. The layout, main partitions, sub-construction and some furniture were already completed; Gatto’s task was less a gut job than carefully laying his ideas on top of an already fixed skeleton.
“We had to study the design that was done and transform it,” he says. “If we needed to redesign everything completely that would have been easier, but then would have caused a six month delay. But the owner is a very fast decision maker. I met him and we redesigned [the concept for the interior] in three weeks.”
To the credit of all involved, she was delivered right on time. Her captain, Nigel Jenkins, who has served as a build captain five times, was brought in to help make this so. “Heesen were on track, but the external contractors were slow in providing information required, and so I was brought in to try and turn it around again. Straight away Cristiano and I hit it off, both with similar standards, both looking for the same thing — to produce a good boat, and a good-looking boat,” says Jenkins.
The owner’s brief was for a modern, comfortable interior; the keyword was simplicity, not minimalism. “The owner used her for seven and a half weeks back-to-back, straight from taking delivery,” says Jenkins. “He wants to be able to live on board about seven months of the year. That’s why the name Home came about.”
The style of Home’s furnishings is similar to what you’d see in the owner’s properties on shore — low, deep sofas, for instance, and usable art in the shape of chaises longues — and the palette is refined to four main hues: white, black, grey and maroon to give a splash of colour. The white materials range from wood and marble to leather and metal.
Texture, tactility and reflection were used to transform spaces. “Materials that have the same colour react differently in light, so the same colours can be transformed by the lighting, particularly white, because of the reflection and the way it absorbs light,” says Gatto.
Although all of the sub-construction of the ceilings, including the lighting, was in place, Gatto edited the lighting plan, a process that proved to be the most challenging. Focused LEDs, custom wall lamps, loose lighting and strip lighting were designed to capture the reflective nature of each of the chosen materials.
Though Gatto spent six months sourcing artworks for the interior, the owner selected just three pieces. The purposeful absence of art on board is powerful and effective as the eye is instead drawn to the scenery outside. The owner plans to use the boat in the colourful cruising grounds of the Bahamas, primarily the Exumas. “When you’re spending time in cold destinations or want to put your focus inside, you need more art. But the nature you see outside is the real artwork,” says Gatto.
The owner will use Home for work as well as play, and two offices that precede the master cabin are designed around his business needs. An inner office, connected to the cabin, is dedicated to the owner’s use, while an outer office has a desk for two so staff can work alongside.
When work finishes, however, play can start. The furniture on the sundeck is all low-slung Paola Lenti pieces, which are also functional — Jenkins points out the yoga mats stored beneath the sunloungers.
Everything is sea-fastened for safety, but movable to create more space for entertaining. There is a projector and a screen set-up, turning the deck into an outdoor cinema. The superyacht spa pool is much used, says Jenkins, and he also points out the dancing pole. “After a few drinks, if you’ve got the party wigs and silly hats on, it’s just for a bit of fun…”
But the real hotspot for dancing on board is the upper saloon. This space is the one that perhaps best shows off the holistic indoor/outdoor ethos that Gatto and Laupman pulled off with such aplomb. “We took out everything, we erased the drawings and made an extension of the outside deck — inside,” says Gatto.
The only built-in furniture is a small bar, and everything else is loose Paola Lenti outdoor pieces that can be used inside or on the aft deck. With full height windows, it’s a lovely place to sit and watch the world roll by, and the glass doors open completely so that the lines between inside and outside are blurred. Or close the doors, remove all the furniture and add a mirror ball and smoke machine to create an epic party room.
More fun can be found on Home’s foredeck, in a telescopic seat that rises from the bow, allowing uninterrupted 360-degree views. It can even be used under way if the conditions are right. It’s the ideal spot to watch dolphins riding the bow wave, especially in the clear water of the Bahamas.
It can’t be forgotten that Home rides on Van Oossanen’s Fast Displacement Hull Form. This is the third optimisation of the design, and one that the naval architect says makes her 48 per cent more efficient than other 50 metre yachts, and with a superior level of comfort. Upping the ante on efficiency is the use of hybrid propulsion.
Home’s captain enjoys the variety afforded by the four engine modes: basic diesel cruising, ideal for quicker passages; quiet mode with electric motors; boost mode, which combines diesel and electric for an added surge of power; and the fourth, which is Jenkins’ favourite: eco mode.
On our sea trial from Monaco to Antibes, we put Home’s various engine modes to the test. On the mains, the captain takes her to 17.2 knots. Boost mode kicks things up a notch, just a bit faster to 17.7. But it’s her silence that speaks volumes. We cruise at 9.3 knots on electric power, the air con louder than the engines.
Wandering into the master cabin, the quiet is disarming as we cut through the water, gazing out of the massive windows and watching the waves move by in soundless bliss. It’s easy to see how the owner will make this yacht his sanctuary, truly his home at sea.
Finding Nemo may not be part of the on-board movie collection of superyacht Barbara, but this is exactly what the crew had to do when a clownfish disappeared from the yacht’s aquarium. The story, surprisingly, has a happy ending, but then this is a boat on which nature is honoured, protected and used as a source of inspiration.
The product of an experienced designer-builder-owner team, 88.5 metre Barbara is a travelling beach house with roots in the wilds of the Asia Pacific region. As of November 2017, nine months after delivery, the yacht had already sailed from Alblasserdam in the Netherlands, where Oceanco built her, to Turkey, Greece, Venice, Antibes, Golfe-Juan, Sardinia, the Amalfi Coast, Corsica and then Dubai.
Docked across from Queen Elizabeth 2 at Port Rashid in the UAE when I catch up with her, Barbara is easy to spot with her dark hull and shapely superstructure. It’s a little tricky to make out how many decks she has from a distance, and there does not appear to be a straight line on her.
“I think that’s the appealing thing, it really is quite unique,” says Sam Sorgiovanni, the yacht’s Australian designer, whose fondness for nature is intimately woven into the styling. “The client’s brief was to create a timeless design, something that was like nothing else, and I think we’ve achieved that. It’s got a very organic feel, where everything is interrelated. There are no hard edges; even the chamfer, if you like, is concave, so it creates a shadow effect. There are many subtle things like that.”
As I get closer, I spot a group of people in matching grey shirts hunched over the side of the concrete dock a few yards from Barbara, which arrived just hours before. It turns out to be the deck crew and the yacht’s captain seeking a freshwater source. The haze that hangs over the Emirate contains fine sand that eventually falls down on to houses, cars and, yes, boats. To prevent damage to the lustrous paint, the crew has to wash the yacht every day, the captain tells me.
As I look more closely at Barbara’s finish, I realise that not all that sparkles under the sun is the result of high quality paint over a perfectly fared hull and superstructure. “Where it’s black on the superstructure, it is actually glass,” Sorgiovanni told me a couple of weeks before my visit. “I did not want to mix paint and glass, so we made sure they actually used glass. In fact, even the corners are glass, so it’s very clean and pure and flat; you can never get paint to look like glass because it’s never that perfect.” I now see what he means; large areas of glazing balance the superstructure’s white painted aluminium surfaces.
Once on board Barbara, I follow Captain Neal Roche to the bridge. The cool and quiet atmosphere is a delightful reprieve from the harsh sun and the heat that radiates from the concrete dock of the commercial port. Roche takes me on a virtual walkthrough, talking me through a chart he keeps in the superyacht's wheelhouse so I can get my bearings.
Barbara has an unusual and interesting layout that the owner devised with Azure Yacht Design and Naval Architecture, which produced the general arrangement. “He really wanted to do his own custom arrangement plan and not base it on any existing platform, even if it might save him time,” says Azure’s Hugo van Wieringen, who worked with the owner to develop the GA.
The bridge, plus several crew cabins and offices catering for Barbara’s operations, are on the same deck as the superyacht office and the upper saloon, but are completely separate from them. “In the owner’s office we have 3.5 metre ceilings,” Sorgiovanni tells me. “So in the central area of the boat, we’ve got these big opening doors and balconies that hinge down on both sides to create a massive expanse.” The doors, made by German glass specialist Tilse, are the largest Oceanco has ever installed.
Automated, weather-tight and flush-mounted, they slide on an invisible track, each a single pane of glass nearly four metres tall. Once open, they allow fresh air to flow through the office. Balconies expand the space even further, while waves dancing in the glass-bottom pool on the superyacht sundeck above send light bouncing all around the large room.
Stairs on the port side lead to Barbara’s panoramic owner’s suite with a central skylight. This amazing owner’s area is self-contained and private and, with its silk carpets mimicking retreating waves, is an island sanctuary in itself.
Installing the doors and accounting for their weight and their interaction with the metal was one of the build’s most challenging aspects. “At the moment, according to the rules and regulations of the classification society, glass is not part of the load-bearing structure,” says Van Wieringen.
“That poses an extra challenge in calculation and design for a structure with large windows and openings because Lloyd’s still requires all the strength to come from the aluminium part of the structure, even if the glass, of course, adds stiffness.” In addition, glass weighs a lot more than aluminium and does not flex in the same way.
It was also an interesting engineering and build challenge for busy Oceanco. “These particular doors could only be placed after the actual [yacht] launch due to their enormous size,” says Paris Baloumis, Oceanco’s group marketing manager. “A large crane was necessary to place the doors after the teak and all the customised items were already installed.” A tender was in radio contact with all passing commercial ships to ask them to slow down to ensure precise positioning of the door.
The yard orchestrated the complex ballet of suppliers. “More than 1,000 craftsmen touched the yacht over the entire build process,” Baloumis adds. F/List was the fit-out company responsible for the owner’s area interior, and Sinnex tackled the main deck, which is dedicated to a large saloon/party space, dining and five guest cabins and suites.
Sorgiovanni designed the interior and most of the furniture on board Barbara and sourced the artwork and the vast array of materials, which are as unique as they are remarkable. “The owners requested a relaxed, comfortable interior with a rich blend of textures and natural materials to create a resort-like feel that has become extremely popular with many of my clients,” Sorgiovanni says.
“This time we have gone for a resort/retreat feel, like a spa type of environment that you find in the Asia Pacific region, with all natural timbers and lots of exotic materials inside, such as pufferfish skin and water buffalo horn. The idea was to make the interior very friendly and relaxing, with bamboo ceilings, bamboo floors. We used fairly neutral stones because we wanted to keep it very pure,” he adds.
One of the most striking features, aside from the owner’s area, is the glass elevator-cum-staircase. Seemingly growing out of the lower deck and girdling the lift shaft is a root system made from teak and stainless steel. “In the Monkey Forest of Bali, I saw vines wrapping around tree trunks, and that’s where the inspiration came from,” reveals Sorgiovanni. “So I spoke to the artist and he created this amazing sculpture using timber and metal welded together. It winds its way up all four levels.”
The artist built the piece around a mock-up of the lift in Bali. “It took well over one year to design and construct,” Sorgiovanni says. “It is fully handmade, with individual small segments welded together and ground, using a special technique to weld the stainless steel to the wood.” Silky oak and niches in a galuchat and metal composite cover the bulkheads that surround this fantastical root system.
Sorgiovanni Designs worked closely with Swiss company Nature Squared. From the bounty that nature provides — shells, seeds, bark, stones and leathers — it chooses sustainable materials in keeping with its mission to foster environmental, economic and social well-being. Among the unexpected materials used on Barbara is frog leather. It is used on bed frames, where smaller squares (each one formerly a frog) create a patchwork of deep browns. “These skins are a sustainable by-product of the common frog that is eaten locally. Each skin is carefully cleaned and treated and exhibits a natural colour variation,” the designer explains.
“Sea urchin dots” frame some of the artwork and mirrors (endemic to tropical waters, the urchins have thick spines that form an interesting pattern when they are cross cut). Inlays of duck eggshells adorn the front of recliner seats inside the yacht’s cinema. Water buffalo horn decorates bulkheads, cabinet fronts and heavy doors designed to eliminate noise transfer. Water buffalo are important to rice farmers in Asia until they are no longer able to work, at which point they usually end up on dinner plates. Their deeply ridged horns can be as long as 1.5 metres.
Barbara also carries live creatures. Living Color Aquariums in Deerfield Beach, Florida, created the fish tank that separates the formal dining area from the saloon. The fish seem quite at peace in their properly maintained and enclosed environment. Captain Roche says that they have had good luck with their finned guests, barring a few early on.
“We haven’t lost any in quite a while now. One of the Nemos, the clownfish, went missing one day, and we were wondering, ‘where has he gone? Has he been eaten?’ He actually wound up down in the tank in the engine room [via the water filter] where they found him swimming. They fished him out and plopped him back in,” the captain says.
Barbara may be a floating workplace for her owner but she is also a platform for entertainment and relaxation. The saloon’s ceiling slides open to reveal party lights and the crew then clears the furniture to allow dancing. Of course, there is a superyacht beach club, a garage filled with toys, including custom Vikal tenders, a private spa pool and an observation deck with a fully equipped gym.
Sore muscles and tired arms and legs can recover quickly with help of a masseuse and vigorous water jets in the experience shower. “I have not been in it myself, but I have seen it working. It looks like a car wash,” the captain says.
The co-owner of Here Comes The Sun does not enjoy shiny surfaces and you will find few on board his gargantuan new toy – except for the gold discs hanging on the wall of his office. These records, The Beatles’ Let It Be and John Lennon’s Imagine, slip through the net for sentimental reasons: they are they names of his two previous yachts, 47 metre Heesen yacht Let It Be and the 65 metre Amels Limited Editions 212 yacht Imagine (since renamed Infinite Shades). Here Comes The Sun is also named after a Fab Four track, but this a project on an amplified scale.
Amels' new flagship measures 83 metres and packs in 2,827 gross tonnes of volume (compare that with 99 metre Madame Gu’s 2,991GT and 95.2 metre Kismet’s 2,700GT). But the combined experience of owner and yard meant that this team knew exactly how to use every inch of the space on board Here Comes The Sun. “Imagine was heavily used. We did 60,000 miles,” says owner’s representative Yavor Nenov, so they learnt what they needed and wanted on board – and what they didn’t.
The aspects they wanted to take to the new boat were clearly defined. “Most important for me and my partner was an owner’s private deck and open beach club and a bigger number of guest cabins in order to accommodate our families,” says the co-owner.
They wanted, as interior designer Andrew Winch puts it, “a home, a floating island” – hence the increased length of Here Comes The Sun. But height was also important. “They are both tall, the owners, so one of the signatures of this boat from Imagine is the higher ceilings, the feeling of more air, bigger spaces,” says Winch. “When you look around, a room feels nicely proportioned.”
Nenov used to work as chief steward on Let It Be – and his influence is evident in the design, as a keen interest has clearly been paid to how the crew will circulate and function. Examples include a crew staircase that runs all the way from the tank deck to the superyacht sundeck, a wealth of pantries, and hidden doors from crew areas into the main lobby on every level of Here Comes The Sun.
Amels was also a keen collaborator in this endeavour. “When we asked for some shelving in the bosun’s locker we said it could just be bolted in there,” recalls Nenov. Amels responded that it would go one better than that and measured the shelving to the bosun’s specifications, designed it, welded it and repainted the whole area.
In the engine room, Nenov says, “one of the big highlights is space, how the engineers can really work”. The generators have a separate room to contain noise and protect crew in case of emergencies. The integrated bridge, meanwhile, is covered in a glass panel and interfaced so it can be operated by touchscreen; there’s also good visibility and a comfortable seating area for owner and guests. There were upgrades from the previous boats in terms of soundproofing and they doubled the satellite domes to create two identical systems so one could operate even if the other was knocked out by a storm.
The design pairing of Tim Heywood and Winch Design is a combination tried and tested on Imagine – as well as the owners’ private jets. Andrew Winch’s studio has designed the interiors of eight other Limited Editions, while Heywood has penned the exteriors of this entire family of Amels boats. “I try to repeat some details that I’m particularly fond of,” says Heywood, “but give them a new twist and make a little change here and there to make it more original and make sure that the clients feel that they’re getting something completely different.”
For example, on Here Comes The Sun, the first Limited Editions 272 (although there are likely to be more to come), Heywood changed the beltline’s angle of descent. “It’s a more gentle curve, swept right the way round the back and into the stairwells and back outside of the stairwells, round the swimming pool.” The superstructure is oyster white, with a muted “castle” tan for the hull.
Inside, the co-owner wanted “a calm, beachy atmosphere, light materials and soft colours – a relaxing atmosphere”. Winch responded with a palette of warm browns, cream fabrics, goldtoned lighting, bronze panels with a brushed finish and antiqued patina, and furniture in curving shapes. Rather than glossy, this decorative scheme is tactile, with carved silk and wool carpets, mottled leathers, natural oak panelling and smooth “footworn” floors.
The theme of practical solutions, cleverly implemented, is also evident throughout the interior design of Here Comes The Sun; for example, press one of the sections on the smart leather-clad pillars in the main and owner’s saloons and the pillar swings open, revealing a storage cabinet.
There are plenty more happy surprises on board this yacht. The greatest is perhaps the bridge deck galley (there’s also a bigger main galley on the lower deck), which has a large opening on to the aft deck, where there is a bar and dining table for up to 24. From here guests can speak directly to the chef as he works, make little extra requests to be whipped up in front of them, or decide what they want as they sit down and describe it directly to the chef.
“You are basically in a restaurant, upstairs,” says Winch. “The chef is so good that he can do everything simultaneously and there are no service issues, no hot plates issues.” Alongside the galley, also open to the aft deck, is a small “grotto” that could be used as a smoking room or a cosy spot to retire to during inclement weather.
The sundeck above, the perfect place to recover from overindulgence, holds its own surprises. The superstructure to each side sweeps back in long curves, the aft sections of which are shaded glass. Behind these, Heywood has designed individual sunpad nooks, where guests can relax in shade and privacy.
His curving pillars aft – a tricky-to-build Limited Editions signature that Amels produces with skill – add style and have been rigged with lights and to hold awnings that can cover the aft sunbathing space. The covered central portion of the deck holds another long dining table that can be set up for glamorous dinners, while forward there’s a bar and spa pool with sunpads and cabanas.
Down on the main deck is another jewel of the exterior spaces, the pool. They wanted to avoid an ungainly ladder set-up that would make it hard to access, or giving it a height that would make the space feel cramped. “We had to modify the superstructure of the yacht, lower the whole pool to drop it down to recess into the ceiling of the beach club without sacrificing the height,” says Nenov. The result is a long, low pool that’s easy to dip into and the superyacht beach club below – something Imagine didn’t have – does not feel compromised.
This stylish space includes a central seating area with fold-down platforms to either side and aft of here, beyond a sauna and steam room, there’s an enormous amidships tender garage set up for side launching (this also stores an inflatable slide that runs all the way down from the sundeck, for thrill-seekers with a head for heights).
But the owners’ deck is arguably the most spectacular space on board Here Comes The Sun. At the aft end there’s a large lounge with a television that slides seamlessly up from a coffee table, and a broad aft deck and forward of the lobby – a highly individual cabin arrangement. To port is the owner’s wife’s cabin, and, forward, a large mirror-clad dressing room and shower room.
The style is glamorous and feminine, with cream toned fabrics and white marble, but the most exciting feature is the superyacht balcony – accessed via full height glass doors from the cabin. This broad space that curves out from the superstructure feels like an al fresco extension of the interior. “You can see the whole boat when you are standing here,” says Victor Caminada, marketing manager of Amels.
It’s the first time the yard has done this on a Limited Editions but it makes aesthetic sense to the exterior lines as well, echoing the bulge of the wing stations on the deck below. To starboard the owner’s office benefits from a similar balcony set-up, but the tone is warmer, with more natural oak, an eel skin feature wall behind the bookshelves and pony skin on the ceiling.
The owner’s cabin forward is accessed via its own corridor to starboard, lined with glass cabinets full of antique silverware and ancient artefacts. This personal museum runs past a dressing room and shower room – with carved perrera marble walls and a vanity unit in brown maron pinta marble – to the cabin, with its massive central bed and textured, dark wenge back panel. The foredeck conceals a MOB tender and a small crew tender, and can act as a touch and go superyacht helipad, but when not in operation it’s a clean, private-feeling space for the owner.
Down on the main deck of Here Comes The Sun, guests have impressive spaces of their own. The main saloon comprises, to aft, a circular dining table for 16 with curving full height glass doors to the aft deck, a central seating area with a long bar and a piano forward. Large windows throughout this deck flood the interior with light.
Forward of the lobby is a spectacular on-board cinema. The audio system combines a powerful ADA Suite Premium Home Theatre Preamplifier and a Lexicon DD-8 amplifier, plus Sonance speakers. For visuals there’s a full HD 3D JVC beamer with Vutec 123-inch projection screen and an 85-inch Samsung full HD 3D TV. The whole system is controlled by a Crestron system that uses an Apple iPad mini as the user interface.
There are five guest cabins on the same corridor, the central two of which have sitting rooms that can be shielded from the cabins by sliding soundproof doors – in this mode the sitting rooms can be converted into cabins, bumping up the total to seven.
As the backbone of an unusual general arrangement, Here Comes The Sun’s lobby is a synecdoche of the overall decorative theme. Surrounding the central lift by Dutch company Lift Emotion, monochrome marble stairs wend up from lower deck to sundeck, accompanied by a stone feature wall carved with a vine (the co-owner owns a vineyard).
On every level dark, intricately carved walnut panelling from Georgia provides a warm flourish. The effect is glamorous without being flashy – but when you’ve got all this to show off, you don’t need shiny finishes to catch the eye.
It would be easy to say that the Murano glass chandeliers hanging from the boom, the lavender baby grand piano or the velvet-upholstered end tables establish the theme for the sixth Pink Gin. Many probably came away with that impression, or perhaps a new appreciation for pewter surfaces, after seeing the yacht at the Monaco Yacht Show.
But if that was their takeaway, they missed if not the entire point then at least the driving force behind Hans Georg Näder’s new Baltic, a plumb-bowed beauty that, at more than 53 metres, is the world’s largest all-carbon fibre sloop.
“The brief was to assess everything we had learned from the previous boat and to improve and update it,” says naval architect Rolf Vrolijk, of Judel/Vrolijk & Co, who designed the previous 46 metre Pink Gin, also built by Baltic. The fourth Pink Gin (now Ngoni) was a 29 metre Baltic, showing the arc of the owner’s sailing trajectory. That his earlier yacht was a 17 metre Baltic named Bionic Elk, with a canting keel, shows Näder’s sense of humour.
Näder is the third-generation owner of Ottobock, a German orthopaedics technology company that creates advanced prosthetic limbs. He’s an inventor, an engineer and an imagineer, who teases innovation out of those around him by challenging the status quo.
He funds a working laboratory in Berlin called Open Innovation Space, where development engineers can work on multi-disciplinary solutions to product development. Näder, who holds more than 1,000 patents, is also the majority owner of Baltic Yachts since taking over the yard in 2013. Thus Vrolijk knew he could have any technological tool at his disposal and the yard’s full support.
Näder likes to cruise and quickly, but comfort is essential as he entertains on board a great deal. The priorities for the last boat were simplicity and quiet. Those issues checked off the list, the goal this time was for improved stability under sail without sacrificing performance or a sloop rig necessary for the typical light air conditions of a Mediterranean summer.
“I have enjoyed most of the summer on board and we have cruised 7,000 nautical miles. Despite her large size — in fact, because of her size — she still provides an ideal platform for relaxing and hanging out with the crew,” says Näder.
“Compared to the previous Pink Gin, [this] more U-shaped hull produces more stability for her size,” says Vrolijk. Pink Gin VI is designed with a maximum heel angle of between 20 and 22 degrees for comfort and efficiency (as opposed to Vrolijk’s racing boats that stay sailing — without easing off — with up to 27 degrees of heel).
In addition to hull form stability, Pink Gin VI has 75 tonnes of ballast, 71 tonnes of which are in her torpedo-shaped keel, which can extend to a draught of seven metres, or lift to under five metres to access shallower anchorages.
Baltic Yachts has developed a true mastery of lightweight construction since its founding in 1973. It was an early adopter of vacuum bagging and on the front lines of prepreg carbon fibre laminates. The new Pink Gin is just as cutting edge.
The design, which started at 50 metres, grew to its final 53.9 metres to accommodate both technical and lifestyle enhancements, one of which is the real technical whiz-bang feature of the yacht. It came from a year of design discussions and problem solving.
A bigger boat means more guests, and more provisions coming aboard, and getting more guests and crew on and off the boat. Näder and his former captain Henry Hawkins, who moved ashore to be CEO when Näder bought the stake in Baltic, noticed how hull doors on the crew side of some large motor and sailing yachts facilitate bringing stores aboard and serve as a discreet crew entrance.
“On many [other] yachts this size, anything coming aboard [when the boat is at anchor] has to gain access via a side ladder, move up on to the deck and then down into the accommodation,” says Vrolijk during the sea trial. “We wanted to make that easier. We thought, let’s bring things aboard on the level they will stay.”
Näder also liked the idea of opening superyacht balconies near water level, previously seen only on metal hulls. The GA for Pink Gin VI showed a great place in the transition area between the lower saloon and the galley that could be enlarged to make an entrance lobby.
The only drawback to the plan was that sort of amidships location on a sailing yacht involves a huge amount of load stress, which tends to induce bending and there was no possibility of welding in a heavy metal ring frame to carry the load.
When the engineers, naval architect and composite specialist Gurit stopped looking for ways to transfer load around the hull door and instead made the door part of the load path, the solution gelled. The hull stresses experienced when the boat is sailing and the rig is tensioned are transferred through the 1.89 metre by 2.64 metre door and its carbon frame via six 90mm stainless steel locking pins that secure the hatch in place and the hinges. So snug is the system that the backstay has to be eased in order to provide enough tolerance for the hull door to open.
The solution, developed through finite element analysis and certified by DNV GL, was such an “a-ha” moment that Näder asked if they could do two of them, the second to be a slightly smaller version to function as a balcony and the ultimate picture window for his master suite.
Matching the technical wizardry of all this, and the 200 layers of carbon fibre that make up the keel trunk, the British firm Design Unlimited created interior and deck lounging areas that are eclectic, comfortable, engaging and equally memorable.
The studio also created the previous Pink Gin’s interior, but that project would not be the starting point of this one, except for the general layout and two favourite pieces that were brought forward: a chandelier over the dining table and a vintage Louis Vuitton trunk serving as a coffee table in the saloon. Mark Tucker, founder of the studio, says the interior style defies classification. “She pushes boundaries, she surprises and she inspires,” he says.
Surfaces, finishes and textures create an artistic environment. The oak plank floors throughout Pink Gin VI are painted with a layer of gold and a topcoat of silver. Then joiners went to work with sandpaper, scuffing down the silver and gold paints, in places down to the bare wood, to create a patinated effect that will no doubt get even more interesting with use.
A soft wine colour repeats in the carpets and velvet upholstery. It’s an appropriate shade for an owner who says the boat is his place of relaxation, adding: “I don’t do yoga, I drink red wine.”
The owner’s suite and all guest cabins save the VIP are forward of the saloon. Pink Gin VI’s added length allows an extra guest cabin forward and a much larger master suite with a separate superyacht office and a walk-in wardrobe/dressing room.
The furniture in the suite appears freestanding, which increases the sense of scale, while the opening balcony creates a resort atmosphere. The fact that the en suite’s sink area is open to the cabin visually enlarges the space while the toilet and shower rooms are tucked discreetly to the sides.
The hull door that opens to create the owner’s terrace can be hidden behind sliding doors that mimic vertical blinds, matching the treatments over the portholes in all the cabins. “I like to surprise people with a different design approach and innovative materials,” says Näder.
The owner has a fondness for cruising in Cuba, no doubt related to his fondness for cigars. But he also likes modern art and his travels brought him into contact with two contemporary Cuban artists, Roberto Diago and Roberto Fabelo. The latter is responsible for the life-size sculpture of a sea nymph that graces the guest foyer. A sketch of the head of the creature also appears as a portrait. “The interior volume allowed me to express myself and provide the space that the art needs to be effective and impressive,” says Näder.
With the lounge to starboard, a dining table is to port in the lower saloon and it is a conversation piece. Danish artist Marcin Rusak has captured flower petals and leaves in a dark resin given a satin polished surface. It’s a stunning piece that looks at first glance as if a tapestry is spread across the table.
Pewter is a recurring theme as well. The cockpit table is inlaid with pewter floral patterns while the bar top and buffet table have solid pewter surfaces. It looks like “leathered” stone but it will never have to be polished. “The whole point of Pink Gin is to be able to enjoy her as a whole,” says Näder. “Wherever you are on the yacht you can find comfort and entertainment, whether it’s from the artwork, the piano, the bar, or indeed, the sailing experience!”
As for sailing technology, Pink Gin VI has a Rondal carbon fibre mast 16 metres higher than a J Class sloop and flies a massive 1,322 square metres of sail upwind. Smooth hydraulics, however, get the 755 square metre main hoisted and locked for sailing in just two minutes.
Pink Gin VI should manage 13 to 14 knots in moderate conditions and Vrolijk expects her crew to tuck in a reef when true wind speeds exceed 16 knots. Downwind, she carries a bright pink 1,838 square metre asymmetrical sail that weighs nearly a quarter of a tonne, says Hawkins.
The yacht’s high aspect rudder extends to a depth of 4.4 metres and has a surface area of more than 5.5 square metres. Electrically powered rams muscle the rudder but, to give the helmsman essential feedback, Baltic’s engineers and Swiss specialist firm Esoro developed a power steering system that mimics loads and movement caused by waves and side forces and relays them to the wheel via a control sensor, for a realistic sensation akin to direct steering.
Returning topside, the Murano glass chandeliers twinkling overhead act in complicity with the soft fabrics and the deep cushions, as if keeping a secret about the power Pink Gin VI is poised to deliver, while the eclectic art and novel light fixtures deliver the knowing wink of an owner who does not take things too seriously. It might be strange to hear the owner of a shipyard say “you don’t need a boat”, as he said in Finland.
“But — and there is a but — you need family, friends and love; that is the most healthy cocktail of life. It just happens that the ocean is the best place to enjoy this cocktail.” And Pink Gin is one powerful cocktail.
When Royal Huisman’s Project 398 was announced at the Monaco Yacht Show 2014, the yard revealed the owner’s brief: “Build me a beast. I don’t want a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Three years later, we know what he meant by beast.
“He was very clear on his ideas. He wanted something that hadn’t been done before. He really pushed Ed [Dubois] very hard,” says project manager Godfrey Cray, a Whitbread Round the World Race and America’s Cup sailor who has managed the build of 14 superyachts, including eight Dubois projects. “The owner wanted a boat that was fast and aggressive looking, a visual weapon with no superfluous systems. He wanted a sailor’s superyacht and didn’t want to compromise on speed by adding more beam or a bunch of extra cabins.”
At first, the owner’s vision outstripped that of his naval architect. “The first designs were not sleek enough, not oriented for the sheer joy of fast sailing,” says Ngoni’s captain, Iain Cook. “We had asked three architects for proposals and gave them two months to work up a design. When he saw Ed’s, he told him ‘I know you can do better.’” Thus challenged, Dubois went back to his studio and started again, using some of his earlier powerful racing boats as inspiration. “In two weeks he gave us a design that was like nothing we had seen before,” says Cook. “That was it.”
The Beast takes styling cues from Dubois’ racing boats and 66 metre Anatta (launched in 2012 as Aglaia), with copious amounts of glass defining her superstructure, but that’s where similarities end. Dubois’ enthusiasm was palpable when he presented the design at that press conference; its reverse sheer and bow shape were quite a departure from the status quo. Although the designer would not live to see the yacht’s completion, his joy for something he considered truly visionary is a happy memory for all involved in the project.
Ngoni — the word is the name for a people of eastern Africa and their language — is also unique for the non-traditional way she was managed. “It was a bit different for Royal Huisman,” says Cray. “Generally about a year into the build, a project focuses on rig and deck layouts, load factors being accommodated at that point.
“We had all of our partners in at the beginning to discuss speeds and loads that would be generated by the sails, how we would handle them on deck and how this would impact the entire design, the amount of glass, and the large tender that would be stored under deck. Only by having everyone in on the details from the beginning were we able to achieve this level of detail without revisions.”
Cook, a British sailor who brought to the table 20 years of racing and cruising experience and seven years of captaining for Ngoni’s owner, shared the development and supervision equally with Cray. The owner told them to get on with it; he’d see them in three years.
Londoners Rick Baker and Paul Morgan, who have created furniture pieces and design features for the owner for 20 years, were asked if they would design an interior around the GA developed by Cook, Royal Huisman and Dubois. They embraced their first yacht project unequivocally.
“We planned an interior that is modern, organic and curved, following on the exterior lines. We know the owner likes curves and tactile finishes. It’s nice when you can be on the same page with a client,” Morgan says. “We approached it with a very open eye. Royal Huisman was so helpful and there was a shared respect for craft. I think our concepts were eagerly awaited in the manner of wondering what we would come up with next. They kept us to a strict weight budget except for the marble in the showers and the wooden soaking tub,” he adds.
To the description modern, curved and organic, I would add youthful and exuberant. Colours and art pieces — a collage of photos that becomes a seascape by Vik Muniz, a bust of a woman with an artichoke on her head and a Stefano Bombardieri sculpture of a rhinoceros suspended in air — could be talking points for days, but the real show-stoppers are wall panels commissioned by Officina Coppola, an English company specialising in custom finishes and art panels of resin, metal and limestone.
The pieces are pressed into service as wardrobe doors and bedside wall panels; their colours and movement make it seem like you are looking at the bottom of a shallow sea.
Indeed, contact with the water was key for the owner, which is why there is no superyacht sundeck. Ngoni’s main deck is completely encircled with optically perfect glass with exacting compound curves. Only one manufacturer, BCM in Turkey, would attempt the project.
The glass, which is laminated with tinted film and heated to a near liquid state, is slumped into moulds to shape as it cools. The effect of the near 360 degree view from almost anywhere within the main deck structure is nothing short of awesome.
The forward end of the glass deckhouse wraps around a navigation and communications console on starboard and a service pantry on port. In the centre of the open area is the top of the massive lifting keel box doing double duty as a chart table and staging meal service from the galley below.
As if the curved glass wrapping around and over the coachroof frame isn’t enough, skylights give views of the towering mast above, creating an atrium-like effect on the crew space below. With the doors open, as they generally are, it is possible to see from the aft deck straight through the saloon and navigation station to the bow.
The open plan saloon — there are no internal supports — encompasses a dining table, a full wet bar with a backlit onyx top and custom bar stools matching the satinwood dining chairs by Francis Sultana, and a circular section for watching television or films from a small pop-up screen. Textures such as bleached wenge floor planks, the uniquely textured bronze-look “Boetti” bar front and matching staircase surround and coarse fabric on the sofa form a counterpoint to the glass and white painted panels.
Elsewhere, highly figured Tabu and Alpi veneers and simple leathers form the backdrop to the passing scene. Aft of the saloon proper is an outdoor lounge with enormous L-shaped sofas under a hardtop that extends aft from the roofline. Sliding side windows can make this well sheltered in inclement weather or open to the breeze and it grants a great view of the dual helms. A 75-inch television monitor pops up from a cockpit counter for an al fresco cinema next to an outdoor dining table.
From the saloon a circular superyacht staircase descends to the accommodation and guest dayhead. Two guest cabins benefit from being at the widest point of the yacht, just aft of the engine room. The rest of the lower deck accommodation is all owner’s suite.
First up is a glass-walled superyacht gym with a maple floor. Opposite is the owner’s study, wrapped in turquoise leather and panelled with a striped engineered veneer the owner spotted in Italy. Niches display books and racing memorabilia. It is a chorus of curves from sofa to desk and pleasantly cocoon-like compared to the openness of the main deck.
Furthest aft is the master suite, a double-height masterpiece of relaxation. The wardrobes and dressing area are on the same level as the gym and guest cabins but then, to gain width, the floor is raised three steps and this is the location of a stunning pewter free-form desk, a curved sofa and the master bed.
The master bath is next aft but instead of being full beam, there is a small owner’s pantry to starboard with facilities for rustling up coffee, tea or snacks. A secret staircase tucked in here provides access to the aft deck through a teak hatch.
“The boss is up, has his juice and coffee and is off for a swim all independently. When he’s finished, he’s back to his suite without ever having to go through the saloon,” says Cook.
Atypically for a yacht this size built today, Ngoni has direct mechanical steering via a quadrant, chain and cable. Royal Huisman engineered the system, putting considerable ingenuity into reducing friction at the various turning blocks in the mechanism. Considering the forces generated by the sails flying from a 72 metre Rondal mast, the request for direct rather than hydraulic steering necessitated thorough tank testing of the keel and rudder.
The stainless steel keel foil is shaped for delivering maximum lift to windward and the flattened torpedo bulb contains all the yacht’s 73 tonnes of lead ballast. “The boat is perfectly balanced with just a touch of weather helm,” says Cray.
Taking the helm as the boat cruises in light airs off the cliffs of Mallorca, I’m happy to confirm this and, as the last of the season’s sun turns those cliffs a deep gold, it’s impossible not to think of Dubois. At the press conference announcing the project in Monaco, his ultra-modern profile sketches induced gasps from the assembled press. Now three years later I’m the first journalist allowed on board.
I look aft to admire the stairs stepping down to the sea, appreciating how Dubois’ career came full circle before he died. When he burst on to the scene in 1986 with Aquel II (now Philkade), people were amazed at the yacht’s open stern with steps down to the water.
But Ngoni is not a requiem for Dubois, rather it’s a celebration. “The best part of the build experience was the people and the opportunity to utilise 20 years of experience and passion to create something special,” says Cook. “The energy and expertise everyone put into creating this very special yacht was like nothing I had experienced before. My only regret is that Ed did not get to see this magnificent yacht sailing. I am sure he would have been exceptionally proud of his final yacht.”
“I fall in love easily,” explains the owner of Dojo over breakfast at the Hotel Metropole in Monaco. Then he sighs. “When I first saw her, I knew.” This tall man with intense eyes isn’t confiding details of his romantic life, but trying to articulate why he bought and comprehensively refitted a vintage 43 metre Feadship that first tasted salt water in 1981.
He had tired of his 25 metre. “I have known bigger boats all my life. I’ve always felt comfortable on them, and it’s the only way I can really relax.” But he didn’t want a new build. Budget was not the issue — he spent well over €10 million — it was more a question of timing and style. “I was looking for something with character. To use a car analogy, I didn’t want an old Fiat 500 — more like a Mercedes with gull-wing doors.”
And that is just what he saw when he read that a Jon Bannenberg-designed Feadship, then called Branzino (ex-My Gail, Khalifah, Ramses), was for sale. A few days later he was on board. He liked her owner’s suite on the main deck, with a big entertaining space aft. He also liked her VIP cabin and two guest cabins; the wide, relaxing deck spaces and huge sofas on the superyacht sundeck. “The only thing I didn’t like was the stern.”
He asked Andrea Carlevaris of ACP Surveyors for a detailed assessment of the yacht’s condition and potential for refit, also engaging Feadship for a feasibility study on a new stern and upgrading to zero-speed stabilisers. The team spent two days measuring up the boat, and six weeks later the owner got the answer he wanted.
The first job was to commission designs for the new stern. As well as Feadship, the owner asked Italian refit specialist Lusben for a concept, which he ultimately dismissed. The brief was to create a large bathing platform close to the waterline, with steps up to the main deck. This also made room for a necessary technical space under the steps.
“We tried to do what — humbly — Mr Bannenberg would have done if he’d built a swim platform,” the owner says. “Extending at the stern three metres was never an issue of saying ‘this is a 45 metre yacht’. It was about being closer to the sea, playing with the kids and adding liveable space with a shower.”
As he talks, it becomes clear that this owner had a very clear vision of what he wanted from the start, going into the detail that many would shun. It is a theme that comes up again and again in conversation with the whole Dojorefit team. “He defined everything himself,” says Francesca Nenci at ACP Surveyors, who, with Simone Curti, managed the day-to-day details. “I was surprised because normally the wife is involved with some of the interior decisions.”
“We supported the owner, but he also dragged us along,” adds Carlevaris. “He was a whirlwind!”
At this stage, there was still no yard appointed, although both Feadship and Lusben had been asked to quote. It was something of a gamble, but in September 2015 the owner hauled the boat out at Lusben’s Viareggio yard before concluding negotiations with director Paolo Simoncini. It could have been a costly move, but the refit schedule was tight and the owner wanted the work undertaken in two parts, so that he could use the boat during the intervening summer.
Technically, it was always going to be a tall order. The yard would have to cut away the old high rounded stern and replace it with the new one, which was being manufactured off site by a subcontractor. Then there were 250 square metres of teak deck that needed complete lifting, levelling and replacing, and the hull had to be faired and repainted. All in just eight months.
“It was very difficult,” agrees Lusben’s overall technical manager Alessio Centelli as we sip coffee in the all-new crew galley. “When she arrived she was not in good condition. And as the boat is old, you don’t know what you are going to find when you start removing panels.”
As with any superyacht refit project of this size, the owner’s team had to keep a close eye on the progress of work to ensure that the tight deadline was met. Once the yard had come to terms with this, it put Centelli directly on to the refit. As the owner himself puts it: “I knew Lusben could deliver; they had the capacity. But they needed to be followed well.”
He describes a game of good cop, bad cop, with Carlevaris and him discussing tactics in the car on the way down to Viareggio for inspections. Carlevaris had local knowledge and could verify prices, while the owner took a different approach, learning the names of the workers and a little bit about their lives. “Before going in to see the boss, I would go and speak to the workers on the boat. A little interest buys you incredible results.”
After three weeks of skilled welding, Centelli’s team got the new stern attached in early 2016. By contrast, it took three months to remove the old teak decks, which were glued and screwed in hefty 35mm planking. Some 2,000 litres of levelling compound were used to fair the exposed steel surface before new teak was laid.
In the end, there was even time to squeeze extra work into this first phase of Dojo’s refit. “We had a window to do the plumbing,” says the owner. This involved ripping out all the old copper piping and replacing it with plastic and stainless steel, in line with current practice.
He took the opportunity to remove, scrub and repaint the inside of Dojo’s water tanks, as well as installing state-of-the-art filtration systems. Nobody is likely to try, but if a guest did want to drink the boat’s tap water, they would find it cleaner than Monaco’s mains water.
Clearly this is one of the owner’s foibles, and it comes down to wanting to provide the safest possible environment for his family. His other bugbear was the hygiene of the air-con system, which later led him to install an entirely new system throughout Dojo.
Aware that his negotiating hand would be much weaker if he committed both phases of the refit to Lusben, the owner decided to wait and see how well the yard dealt with Dojo’s new stern before discussing the interior work. “It’s just like a deal — it’s what I do every day,” he says.
During his summer cruise, he took stock of progress and decided to stick with the Italian yard for the difficult interior phase. The design work was to be done by Domusnova — who had worked on his apartment in Monaco — run by brothers Marco and Carlo Manzoni.
In a cosmetic refit as recent as 2014, the yacht had been restyled with a beach house feel. But no one seemed to like it, least of all the new owner. His brief was simple. “I wanted to bring the boat back to life, which meant a classic interior,” he explains. “You can’t completely change the inside flavour — if I’d wanted modern, minimalist design, I could have bought a new boat.”
If the brief was simple, fulfilling it was anything but. For a start, the tight time frame left the Manzoni brothers just six months to design and approve the concept, build it and install it. “It’s easier to completely destroy everything and rebuild it, but we had no time,” Carlo says. “So we decided what was good, then created new things around it.”
The original interior had been light, varnished oak and it had not aged well — developing a slightly yellow tinge. Nevertheless, the quality of the wood was excellent and heavily built, so it was possible to strip down and repaint large parts of the interior joinery and panelling. The brothers began with the frames around each window, then built out from there.
Key cabinetry is painted in dark tobacco, but the rich grain is still clear. This has been coupled with lustrous cream carpets, large silk panels in turtle dove grey on the walls and deep, vintage-effect leather for key items of furniture. The brothers use the top quality unsplit hide, known as pieno fiore, that is rolled and brushed for softness, then dyed.
In Dojo’s master cabin, this has been employed to great effect around the windows, and it is repeated in the other cabins. Used on the dining room sideboards, the leather gives the effect of a traditional steamer trunk, complete with brass rivets and handles.
At nearly two metres tall, the owner is a big man, so a key part of the design brief was to gain as many extra centimetres of headroom as possible. The Manzonis worked closely with Lusben to move ducting and trunking so they could raise the ceiling. “The gloss white ceiling panels create a sense of light and space,” says Marco. “In the main saloon, this brings the light from the water inside.”
The other change in Dojo’s main living area has been around the superyacht staircase connecting the bridge deck and the main deck. “It is structural, so we couldn’t do anything with it,” sighs the owner. “It was visible from both the dining room and the saloon, so we built a library to hide it.”
The Manzonis’ solution was to box the staircase into a new vestibule, accessed by mirrored doors from the dining room forward and the saloon aft. The mirrors cleverly create extra light and depth without looking kitsch, while the new walls give both areas a confidential air that the previous open plan arrangement lacked.
“I use Dojo a lot as my private escape, going there for a drink after work, for instance,” the owner explains. “Monaco is a small place, so I also use it as a private meeting place.”
The owner’s cabin occupies the full 7.7 metre beam of Dojo, with a shower room finished in bold Bardiglio marble (they went through three tones for the cabinet doors before the owner finally settled on matt white). Just aft is another room that could be attached to the master to make a suite, but is currently set up as a cabin for the owner’s daughter.
On the bridge deck, where the old davits have given way to an outside dining area, a further cabin has been converted into an upper saloon, with a sweeping view aft. There is also a pantry for the family. In each space, the Manzonis have subtly varied their key theme by using slightly different fabrics for the wall panels and cushions. It is both elegant and intimate, bringing out the classic character of the boat. “I wanted people to feel able to sit down and put their feet up if they want,” says the owner.
The crew areas below and amidships have not been ignored either. Hearing grumbling from the original crew about stuffy conditions, the owner has been particularly careful to improve the ventilation and air-con. The whole area has been given a makeover in limed oak.
It’s part of what has helped create a real sense of pride on board Dojo. As skipper Bobby Chapman puts it later as we cruise from Monaco to Villefranche through moderate swell: “To be involved in refitting a vintage yacht and bringing her back to as-new, you learn to respect the old girl more.”
Dojo was finally relaunched on a bright spring morning in early May 2017, with her topsides gleaming. After sea trials and a final snagging session, she was soon steaming her way west to Monaco, where she is now berthed. The owner knows he set a tight schedule, but sees the project as a success. “The Lusben team did a high quality job. I am very pleased with the result and, more importantly, so is my wife!”
As the interview draws to a natural close, one final question remains. Why call the boat Dojo? The owner looks at me for a moment, then grins. “I could make up some romantic story,” he says, “but the truth is I wanted something short and easy to turn into a logo. A dojo is a temple of combat and meditation, and I liked the analogy.”
Mixing business with pleasure can be a dangerous game but it’s one that the owner of Vertige plays brilliantly. He was looking to move up in size to a boat he could use with his grown-up family, but also one that could host business meetings and be used for charter too.
And he got it: a highly customised interior, with guest friendly layout, makes sure the clients are happy, and the presence of music and wine — in a boat named after his favourite white from the Rhône Valley — ensures that pleasure is plentiful for all.
Doing business with the builder, Tankoa Yachts, proved a pleasure too. Tankoa, which was established in 2008 in Sestri Ponente, Genoa, bills itself as a “boutique shipyard”, presenting top-quality concepts for vessels from 50 to 90 metres that owners can customise to suit their needs.
The genesis of Vertige backs up the yard’s philosophy: the owner saw a model for the 50 metre Tankoa S501 displacement series, fell in love with it, signed the contract in early 2015 and received his new superyacht in 2017. She is the yard’s second completed build after the 70 metre Suerte, launched in 2015. It also has a 72 metre under construction.
“All of the hull models and projects we propose are engineered, tested and ready to be built,” says Michel Karsenti, sales director at Tankoa. “We encourage owners to customise interior layouts and furnishings, but having the hull models ready and tested saves time for everyone.”
Vertige’s all-aluminium alloy hull was built in Marina di Carrara, at the foot of the marble producing mountains, because Tankoa didn’t have large enough facilities in Sestri Ponente. “But we have expanded and now do the cutting and metalworking in Sestri,” says Karsenti.
Francesco Paszkowski Design created the hull, superstructure and interior, the last in collaboration with Margherita Casprini. If you look at Vertige from her high plumb bow, her low superstructure makes her appear like a crouched animal that could unleash hidden power and pounce at any moment. But moving around the yacht, what looks like the top of the freeboard becomes part of the superstructure, a line that is carried fore to aft in a continuous, easy sweep.
“Vertige’s hull shape has proved to be very stable and smooth,” says Captain Filippo Belli. “The combination of this hull shape, slightly detuned 1,000hp MTU engines and Vosper Naiad zero-speed stabilisers is a real plus for charters. The yacht is very quiet and stable and you can’t feel any vibration at all.”
The interior, which Paszkowski designed to be under the 500GT threshold to help keep management costs down as per the brief, presents a cool, calm atmosphere. “Vertige was really a yacht that was created step-by-step by a team made up of my design studio, the shipyard and the owner, with whom we worked in harmony right from the start,” says Paszkowski.
“It was important to create visual continuity with the sea, so we used lots of large windows. The interiors are balanced between natural and bleached teak and dark polished rosewood. The rosewood, especially, was important for creating the sophisticated style that we wanted, a kind of modern interpretation of the 1950s.”
The owner wanted the outdoor spaces to be as large and comfortable as possible and he certainly got what he was looking for. On the aft main deck, sofas and loungers can easily accommodate 14 people and are shaded by awnings that admit light and air but filter out UV rays.
Two coffee tables have Vertige-themed, V-shaped supports in natural teak, while a nearby teak and golden glass bar has a convenient refrigerator and icemaker. Two fold-out terraces add extra square metres of floor space and open up the view to the water even further.
The aft upper deck’s 14-seat dining table is the owner’s favourite place for meals. Sofas and low tables are on hand nearby for coffee in a welcoming spot that can be shaded with umbrellas. For guests who can’t bear to miss a game or want to enjoy a film al fresco, a 65-inch flat screen television and speakers are hidden in the ceiling above the dining table. And a refrigerator and icemaker in a built-in cabinet at the foot of the stairs leading to the superyacht sundeck indicate careful crew service planning.
The owner paid special attention to the large saloon on the upper deck and the relaxation area forward. “This is the quiet area aboard, the place to come to just enjoy the view,” says Captain Belli. Adjustable-height tables can be adapted to make the area a huge sunning (or napping) platform shaded by the same UV-filtering awnings found on the other decks.
The sundeck is the perfect place for cocktails, in the owner’s view. The area is protected by a wraparound glass partition that reduces the breeze while keeping views to the water free and open. Forward is a superyacht spa pool surrounded by sunloungers, while aft are chaises longues that can be repositioned at will. The hardtop conceals a retractable awning and has louvres in the centre so that the banquettes and convertible tables beneath it can be shaded if necessary.
Also in the hardtop are built-in Bang & Olufsen speakers, just part of the state-of-the-art, iPad controlled sound equipment that this music-loving owner has installed throughout Vertige. There is a golden glass and teak bar to starboard similar to the one on the main deck, but with not only a refrigerator and icemaker but also a teppanyaki grill and a 42-inch television.
These three decks offer plenty of outdoor living options, but there is more. The transom opens to become a large beach platform with easy and direct access to the sea. When the transom is open, guests use the symmetrical staircases that lead down from the main deck aft to access a superyacht gym, complete with the latest Technogym equipment, and a dayhead with a spa steam shower. In port, the gym can be screened from view by light curtains. Captain Belli proudly shows off the refrigerator in the gym — another feature that makes Vertige such a special yacht. The trail of refrigerators and icemakers — four spotted so far, without entering the interior — is leads to the heart and soul of this boat.
Captain Belli leads the way through the main saloon’s living and dining areas. There is barely time to admire the views through the huge windows, or the Jerusalem stone wall with burnished brass accents, before we pass through the dramatically lit entrance hall and open a door. The entire inboard wall of the corridor is lined with a retro, illuminated, floor to ceiling wine cellar — or rather showcase, since this is not hidden away. It contains 300 bottles of the finest wines, including a generous cache of the owner’s favourite, Vertige from Domaine Yves Cuilleron. This very aromatic dry white from the north Rhône region is made from 100 per cent Viognier grapes.
“Constructing this cellar was a bit of an engineering feat,” says Karsenti, “because the different compartments contain wines that have to be kept at different temperatures. The owner’s real passion is for whites but he also stocks reds and wants them all stored correctly.” Hence coolers and icemakers everywhere.
But this is just the beginning of the story. A door from the wine corridor leads to a beautifully appointed VIP cabin with a Mies van der Rohe chair, leather fronted wardrobe, woven leather headboard and silver silk curtains. It has a 55-inch television and a mini refrigerator, naturally. The en suite is lined in precious onyx.
Another door leads to an equally beautiful, full-beam owner’s suite that is a larger version of the VIP with the addition of a study, dressing table, an Eames lounge chair with ottoman, a magnificent en suite with his-and-hers basins and spa shower, and a walk-in wardrobe. As a bonus, it also has spectacular opening side terraces. And, yes, there is another refrigerator.
Why have the VIP cabin so close to the master suite? “This layout was the owner’s decision,” says Karsenti. “He said he would be using the yacht for business meetings and couldn’t imagine entertaining an important business contact and then sending him or her down to a lower deck to sleep. It just didn’t sit well with his idea of hospitality. Two very top suites also work well on the charter market.”
So the picture becomes clearer: the owner loves music, wine and people. He uses Vertige both for and as a business, and when he is not hosting private meetings and entertaining clients, he charters. The layout includes four lower deck guest cabins — three doubles and a twin that can be converted to a double, or even a triple by pulling down the Pullman berth. There’s another mini refrigerator behind the teak panelling in the guest foyer.
The crew of nine was also chosen with chartering in mind. They come from the owner’s native France, Italy, Ukraine and the Philippines and can speak nine languages between them. However, crew and guest areas are kept separate. “Vertige is organised so that crew use the port staircases and corridors and the owner and guests use the starboard ones,” says Belli. “It works well for everyone because it keeps work paths free and protects the privacy of guests.”
En-suite crew quarters are situated on the lower deck and the captain’s cabin, also en suite, is on the upper deck next to the superyacht's wheelhouse. The crew staircase connects their quarters to a large pantry on the main deck and a pantry just off the bar on the upper deck.
Guests, meanwhile, can get to the various decks using the dramatically lit curved teak staircase with leather lined walls and floors. When the doors to the crew passage are closed, they are so well integrated into the panelling and walls that no one would ever notice them, making Vertige a yacht built for privacy as well as business and socialising — and the owner will surely want to drink to that.
The exact origins of the phrase “cloud nine” have been lost to the mists of time, but it has become synonymous with a state of supreme elation and happiness — the perfect name, in other words, for a new superyacht with an emphasis on family relaxation.
Cloud 9 represents a considerable achievement considering its builder, CRN, wasn’t exactly in a place of supreme elation and relaxation when it learned its original client for the 74 metre hull would not be able to finish the boat he had on order. Enter a new owner, with his design and build teams, who was able to find the silver lining and turn CRN’s second largest yacht into a stylish and comfortable cruiser — and one eminently worthy of her moniker.
The adventure began with a phone call in January 2014. Captain Colin Boyle was in Singapore where his yacht, the 60 metre CMN Cloud 9 was based. “One night at about 10pm the owner called and asked: ‘Can you get on a flight to Rome at 1am?’” Boyle recalls.
“He said, ‘There is a boat I want you to look at to see if it’s worthwhile’.” Burgess, who had represented Boyle’s owner on the previous build at CMN, knew he was looking to build a larger yacht. Here might be an opportunity to get one that was already well under way, but Burgess and Boyle knew it had to be the right fit.
From Rome, Boyle travelled to Ancona, Italy, where CRN project 131 was in stasis. The metalwork of the 74 metre hull and most of the superstructure were substantially completed, and the majority of major machinery installed. Underwater, it shared lines with award-winning predecessor Azteca and, higher up, styling similarities with the yard’s 80 metre flagship Chopi Chopi.
Structurally and mechanically it had great potential but the layout required substantial rethinking. As Bernardo Zuccon of exterior design firm Zuccon International Project puts it, this “forced the shipyard and the designers to rewrite the story with a new owner”. As it turns out, it is a story with a very happy ending.
“We had three months to replan and redraw it: staircases out, staircases in, top deck off, raise it up, rework the naval architecture,” the captain says. Then, once the layout and exterior details met the owners’ expectations, he gave his team and the yard 30 days to get to a mutually agreeable contract. “We signed in June 2014,” notes Boyle, and the new Cloud 9 was under way.
“The project was born with a well defined will to meet the concept of timelessness that we always value,” says Zuccon. He also uses descriptions such as “maturity” and “substance together with a great attention to the human being” about the styling. Inside and out, and in spite of her size, Cloud 9 feels utterly approachable, even from the stern platform, where the massive fold-down door forms part of a sprawling superyacht beach club.
Stairs flank a 10,000 litre superyacht spa pool with a glass bottom, which is at the heart of a recreation area on the main aft deck. Privately, the owners like to call their new superyacht “Cloud 9 Plus” and stepping through the doors that slide open into the main saloon, it’s immediately apparent how her owners came up with the nickname.
The new Cloud 9 measures around 2,218 gross tonnes, which is about twice as many as the first one. This extra volume translates into generous dimensions, apportioned in comfortable spaces that flow neatly from one to the next.
Devoid of a conventional dining area at her owners’ request, the main saloon ambiance is open, casual and sunny. A 3D porcelain panel “cloud” by British artist Fenella Elms adds movement and depth to the central bulkhead along with two Vortex sculptures by Tim Royall. “The sofa in the saloon (and the one on the aft deck) is 1.5 metres deep. It’s a lie-down sofa, which is what you want to do when you watch a movie or come up from the swimming pool,” notes Mark Mämpel, the designer in charge of the project for Winch Design.
The studio received carte blanche from Cloud 9’s owners to come up with an interior concept adapted to their family needs and future charter guests. The final result was kept a secret at the request of the husband to surprise his wife, although the 3D renderings produced at the onset are uncannily similar to the final result.
Moving around the guest areas feels easy and natural. Forward of the main saloon is a foyer with an eye catching central glass and steel superyacht elevator — in Winch design language, it is meant to represent a waterfall from sundeck to beach club, connecting the exterior blue stripe to the interior.
A long, wide corridor leads to six cabins (including two staff cabins finished as guest cabins, which could be used for nannies or teachers). Each door has a nameplate engraved with the name of a Star Wars character. They are removable, in case the next guests are not fans of the films, and underneath are elegant numbers in stainless steel.
Captain Boyle leads me through the yacht’s six decks (counting the technical deck dedicated to stores, laundry room and machinery spaces such as the pump room), patiently answering questions about his new charge in soft speech with the hint of a Scottish accent. A concert musician who studied and taught at London’s Royal Academy of Music before embracing a new career at sea, he stepped onto the first Cloud 9 eight years ago and aboard the new one in May 2017.
Within minutes of being aboard, warm lighting and silence have melted away my stresses. Heavy layered doors to the cabins, with soundproofing from specialist Cergol Engineering, shut with a muffled click. The yard achieved a 48dB(A) level in the master suite at cruising speed and 45dB(A) at anchor. Cloud 9’s not quite concert hall quiet, but she’s pretty close.
Subtle curves throughout contribute to the sense of wellbeing. The interior needed to be friendly to children, so there are no sharp corners or angles. Curved support columns are clad in limed oak veneer with thin stainless accents on the windows, doorframes and nearly all of the bespoke furniture. “Easy to draw, very hard to realise,” observes the captain, who was an integral part of the team managing the construction of Cloud 9.
This team included technical consultants from Burgess who ensured compliance with the owners’ wishes (and class rules), blending their modifications with the pre-existing project. Ed Beckett, the naval architect on the Burgess team, scrutinised the technical details and equipment, elevating some of the technical focus and integrating the new interior. Based in Scorze in Venice and part of the Ferretti Group, Zago Interiors worked with outside suppliers to produce all of Cloud 9’s polished steel details, which amount to around 4,500 metres for the guest areas alone.
What sold the new Cloud 9 to his boss, the captain says, is the owners’ deck, which contains a magnificent suite with wraparound windows looking onto a private terrace and helicopter deck below. These owners don’t intend to use the helipad, so they decided to turn the vast open space into a grand entertaining platform instead. Andreas Iseli, responsible for exteriors at Winch Design, came up with the idea of a large tent that can be installed there to shield guests from weather while they dine al fresco. It’s become a favourite spot for karaoke, too.
Other important modifications included adding an interior crew staircase and creating a beautifully finished fire- and soundproof passageway through the engine room’s top level to connect the beach club with the port tender garage for the MasterCraft ski boat and other toys, and the guest arrival lobby to starboard. This highly practical lobby also exemplifies the whole interior design philosophy.
“The biggest challenge mastered by CRN was to combine, in balance, the interior and exterior design with the functionality required by the owner,” says Raffaele Giannetti, the project manager in charge of the Cloud 9 build for CRN.
“We made that entrance lounge into a space of waves,” Andrew Winch says. From the bright sunlight, guests move into a quiet, soothing space that allows the eyes to adjust gradually after bright sun. To achieve this effect, the design team created a bespoke teak and holly design with wave details carved into it and repeated all around the room.
“We wanted it to be an envelope, a cocoon. It’s the same pattern on the ceiling and on the floor,” Winch adds. “That is an ongoing story on Cloud 9, to give you a sense of relaxation.” On the whimsical side, Winch Design interior decorator Rebecca Johnstone added table lamps with a Picasso-inspired painted design and white curtains with blue ombre that recall sky and sea.
Aft is Cloud 9’s beach club, which has an espresso bar complete with a professional machine and a seating area with wonderful views. Light streaming through the pool above bounces wave patterns all around. The owners so enjoy this space that they often like to dine al fresco here. The primary outdoor dining area is on the upper deck, protected from wind by sliding glass panels, adjacent to the main indoor dining area which is semi enclosed by glass doors.
Both areas feature large circular wooden tables that can be expanded to accommodate more guests, or removed completely to make room for a dance floor or corporate event. This may be the space that best exemplifies the goal of both Zuccon and Winch studios to merge indoor and exterior spaces.
“Certainly, the exterior spaces of the boat — in particular the cockpit on the main deck and the bow area — are key elements that testify how important it is, despite the dimensions, not to forget the real reason why boats are designed: to live on the sea in its purest form,” Zuccon says. “The work of Winch Design has been strategically important for he was able to create a perfect dialogue between the experience lived outside and the one felt once entered.”
For his part, Andrew Winch is very pleased with what he calls the “on-water house”. “I think that Zuccon designed a beautiful yacht… his style signature on this boat is pure, and I find it very lovely. I think it is a very chic, elegant exterior and we were happy to work with him to fit into it all that the owner required.” The good partnership between designers made the work easier, says the captain, and has left a lingering feeling of goodwill on board. Yet another reason for guests to feel that they are on cloud nine, when they are on Cloud 9.
When it comes to the 100+ metre field of yachts, few capture the imagination as instantly and as vividly as Oceanco’s new 110-metre Jubilee. Her exterior profile, studied from whichever angle, leaves one mesmerised and slightly perplexed even as the mind attempts to make sense of where lines begin and where they end. This level of illusionary design is not often found on this scale and makes the entire project ever more impressive. With so few details known about the yacht herself, we spoke with the man behind this captivating design, Igor Lobanov, and his studio Lobanov Design to get the story behind her unique look.
“You can say that it was a type of experiment,” he explains when I ask him how they arrived at Jubilee’s one-of-a-kind exterior. “There was no request or any kind of exterior design brief. Often when I or another designer from our studio has an idea that seems interesting we would do a quick concept sketch in 3D. Our private portfolio contains many such projects and Jubilee happened to be one such concept picked out by the client.”
There was, however, a clear motivator behind those curved shapes of Jubilee. As an ex-car designer himself, Lobanov is known to draw inspiration from several fields of design and this project was no different. “Modern architecture,” says Lobanov. Before Jubilee, we had a concept called Unfoundland which was based on a platform with above-average deck heights. The the studio looked towards solutions used in the design of buildings and real estate to arrive at a well-proportioned and sleek profile despite the immense volume of Unfoundland. “So I started to think about a visual trick on how to hide the excessive height of the yacht. This led us to the idea of having it appear as if there are more decks than what the yacht really has.” The original platform was never used but the styling and design remained to create the Jubilee we see today. “I thought that perhaps the 110-metre will look more like a 140-metre.”
Despite having the design intended to make the yacht seem somewhat larger than in reality, Lobanov wanted deck space to feel familiar and comfortable at the same time. “In our opinion, the spaces on a yacht have to be comfortable both for small groups of people as well as for larger ones.” He set out to create an opulent yet functional and, surprisingly, homely environment. “During my travels I often get to stay at grand hotels, especially in the off-season when there are fewer guests around. I find that I don’t like eating alone in large empty saloons or sit on the huge terrace of a 5-star hotel with no one else around.”
It was this sense of loneliness that Lobanov tried to avoid at all costs – something not easily achieved on such a large vessel. “On Jubilee, we wanted to offer guests with a variety of options. There is a very large and open space on the main deck, a medium-sized sundeck for mixed uses and a much smaller and cosier owner and upper decks. Imagine it is only the owner and his wife spending time on board this 110-metre yacht – now they can choose to be on their own deck designed just for them without feeling lost.” The same philosophy was applied to the layout of the interior, designed by Sam Sorgiovanni Designs, with larger saloons are accompanied by smaller tea rooms, game rooms libraries suited for two to four guests.
Such an elaborate design, however, does seem rather complex to build. But is it really? “The has more different surfaces and consequently requires more man-hours to build the superstructure. But if you consider the size of the overall project, I don’t feel there is a dramatic increase in total build time, no. Either way, if anyone could have pulled it off it would have been the project teams at Oceanco and Burgess.” The client was introduced to Oceanco by Burgess who then closely followed the project as Technical Consultants. Few know the project better inside and out than this team at Burgess which is also why they are exclusive worldwide central agents for the sale of Jubilee.
However iconic Jubilee may or may not become, Lobanov’s one-yacht one-design philosophy still applies and it is unlikely that we will see another of her kind be constructed anytime soon. “This style is not going to become our trademark as Jubilee is just one of our ideas which we are constantly generating. It is in a way a demonstration of our force.”
After her recent delivery from the Oceacno shipyard, Jubilee is spending her first summer season in the Mediterranean and will be on display during next month’s Monaco Yacht Show through Burgess.
It is fair to say that all superyacht projects around the 100-metre mark range possess a certain amount of innovation and even a few never-before-seen features that set them apart. The words ‘innovative’, ‘ground-breaking’, and perhaps even ‘iconic’ are often used to describe these projects. For one owner, this level of distinction was simply not good enough, and with a clear concept in mind that was inspired by the famous Maltese Falcon, set out to create what the superyacht world has been missing up till now. What follows are the events of how a talented group of designers and a shipyard, personally lead by a motivated and foresightful owner, came to create what will undoubtedly go down as one of the industry’s most defining projects.
When Ken Freivokh Design was contracted to take responsibility for the design and styling work on 7 July 2010, it would be the beginning of a process that would push boundaries in every area of the yacht, from her extraordinary rig to her cutting-edge power systems, green technologies, and futuristic styling details. the result would be a 96m preliminary design, codenamed nautilus, bearing the distinctive DynaRig across three free-standing masts – an outward sign of the advanced nature of the concept whose core delivers evolution and revolution in equal measure.
Given their experience with the Maltese Falcon project and the development of the DynaRig concept, it was only natural that Freivokh would introduce the Dykstra Naval Architects team to the owner, and to Nautilus. the partnership would prove highly advantageous – with the owner seeking to push both the boundaries and the technology far beyond what the Maltese Falcon project had achieved, the Dykstra team’s expertise would be critical in refining and further advancing the DynaRig system. This was redesigned to improve performance through changes both to mast shape and installation.
As the preliminary concept, preliminary design, design development and the first stage of detailed design neared completion in the Ken Freivokh Design (KFD) studios, KFD commissioned Devonport yachts (Pendennis shipyard) in the south-west of the UK to undertake a technical study of the yacht in order to complete the tendering package. The tendering process began in June 2011 through seven leading shipyards in both northern and southern Europe, and the US.
By November 2011, the Freivokh design team had extended the design from 96m to 100m, and a scale model was produced from the plans, fully machined with a CNC lathe. As Oceanco was selected for the build, in 2012 Nuvolari Lenard – who had worked with Oceanco on several previous superyacht builds – joined the team for the build of Freivokh’s Nautilus design, and influenced a handful of styling tweaks, notably the three elliptical hull windows, and elements of the superstructure including further development of the original distinctive arches.
The hull design continued to evolve, with heavy input from the owner, as various studies by the Freivokh team on the bow shape led to refinements borne from essential technical requirements. It was by the owner’s own hand that these modifications gradually evolved into the distinctive overhang-to-reverse bow concept that graces the final 106m design iteration of the nautilus concept, which would be built as project Y712 and named Black Pearl.
For the interior, while the KFD studio had created the framework and the layout, the owner worked closely with designer Gerard Villatte to develop the essential style and the detailed treatment of surfaces.
As the project nears completion, and with Ken Freivokh design – as per contract – overseeing the final stages of the build since April 2016, following completion of Nuvolari Lenard’s involvement, it is already clear that Black pearl has far exceeded the expectations of all those involved in her original concept development. not just in terms of style – creating an Avant-garde giant sailing yacht was a given, particularly with the second generation DynaRig – but also in terms of the technology, methodology and rationale behind every aspect of her systems and operation. As she undergoes sea trials and prepares for the final detailing before her summer delivery, Black Pearl will not be a yacht to lie in the shadow of the project that inspired her, but rather will be the project to show how evolved design can pay homage to and surpass that which has gone before.
