Kleven explorer yacht 107mt Ulysses

The 107 metre Kleven explorer yacht Ulysses has been delivered to her owner, where she has been spotted cruising in the western Mediterranean.

The superyacht, said to have been commissioned by New Zealand businessman Graeme Hart, is the first private superyacht build undertaken by Kleven. The Norwegian family-owned shipbuilder, which is better known for its commercial vessels, announced the giant explorer superyacht order in March 2013.

Ulysses was moved unfinished from Norway to Germany in August 2015 and Dörries Marine was working on the final outfitting until a fortnight ago.

The builder's commercial roots have influenced its first superyacht. The Kleven hull 366 is designed by Norway's ship design company Marin Teknikk, who has previously worked with the builder on its offshore, commercial vessels.

Ulysses is designed for long-range passages in the most testing of sea conditions and has oceangoing capabilities fitting of the Ulsteinvik yard's heritage. Kleven said the 107 “blends a robust, hard-working character with luxurious added extras”.

Unlike the vast majority of the world's superyachts, the steel hull of Ulysseshas not been faired, which just emphasises its nature as a tough explorer yacht.

Making use of its ample size and huge 18 metre beam, Ulysses can accommodate 60 guests over seven decks. It has interiors by H2 Yacht Design and amenities include a helicopter landing pad, helicopter garage and a swimming pool.

One of the most notable features is the huge 21 metre tender that requires two specially designed cranes to lift it onto the foredeck. A host of other tenders, which provide options for any situation, can also be seen stored on the foredeck and high up on both sides of the yacht.

Kleven has collaborated with Teknikk on many of its offshore vessels, bringing his oceangoing yacht know-how to the new build.

Ståle Rasmussen, CEO of Kleven, said: “We have worked with Marin Teknikk for many years, developing numerous offshore vessels together, and the collaboration between us always works well. This vessel is a good example of our ability to develop and build specialised vessels and prototypes.”

Svein Rune Gjerde, CEO of Marin Teknikk, said: “This has been a different and interesting project for our design team.”

This robust type of yacht seems increasingly in vogue, as exemplified by the 76.6 metre Yersin, which is equipped to protect the planet as well as explore it.

Ulysses is currently the world's fourth largest explorer yacht, but will be overtaken by its big sister. The 116 metre version of Ulysses, Hull 370, iscurrently being constructed at Kleven for the same owner.

Kleven

( www.klevenmaritime.no )

Baglietto 43,65mt Pachamama

Attaching the adjective “family” to “superyacht” rather cools the simmering sexiness of the most exciting word in the nautical lexicon. Toddlers in the spa pool? Nannies patrolling the aft deck? A large yacht makes a fabulous platform for a family holiday but this is not the stuff of James Bond fantasies. Until, that is, the Italians get involved. Living up to a trio of cultural stereotypes, the La Spezia yard Baglietto has crafted a bambino-friendly boat with serious style – and speed.

“I’ve made some sea trials on a displacement yacht, but I’m not ready yet for that kind of boat,” says the owner of 43.65 metre Pachamama. “I wanted an express boat from the start because I prefer to cruise at 26, 27 knots – at least.”

It made perfect sense for such an owner to approach Baglietto, which specialises in fast aluminium yachts. But this owner is also the (rather cool) father of a 12 year old and a nine year old, as well as a keen cook and entertainer of friends. He needed a boat that would comfortably accommodate relaxed gatherings of friends and family, as well as impress on the water.

The designer engaged to perform this balancing act was Francesco Paszkowski, who has been penning boats for the yard since 1991.Pachamama’s spare, sporty and faintly military lines are distinctively Baglietto (military boats make an appearance in the yard’s 20th century repertoire).

“She combines the past with new elements such as the shape of the superstructure and the black side windows running from the stern to the bow,” says Paszkowski. “Both were reinterpreted according to contemporary design trends and requirements.”

Of Baglietto’s previous launches, she has most in common with 44 metre Monokini, which hit the water in 2013, a few months after the Gavio Group bought the yard – but many of Pachamama’s spaces have been tailored to this owner’s needs.

The dining saloon and galley of Pachamama are perhaps the best examples of the boat’s social soul. The idea was to create one large area that could be partitioned into three parts as necessary: a dining saloon, a galley and a smaller, informal dinette forward of the galley, that the owner could use for laid-back breakfasts. Between the glossy cream galley and main dining saloon is a bank of cabinets, with a glass panel in the middle. With this partition raised, the space is set for a formal meal, cooked by the chef; with it down, the owner can whip up meals and snacks himself while chatting to his guests. There’s also a TV in here, in case there’s something unmissable on. “I like football very much,” says the owner, “and this year we have the Euro 2016 in France.”

The main saloon is a broad space, well lit through large windows. It sweeps to a short entrance hall with skylights and out on to the aft deck. The furniture on Pachamama is low, simple and comfortable – a relaxing open space for family and friends – and throughout the boat the colours and materials emphasise that feeling. “We realised a contemporary design using just a few materials: teak, limestone silk and dark brown leather,” says Paszkowski, who designed the interior in collaboration with Margherita Casprini. “Natural teak was used for the floor and a checkerboard-like teak panelling for the walls, while ceilings feature white lacquered surfaces. Limestone silk was chosen in the bathroom floor and the tops of some furniture.”

It is a decorative scheme chosen for pragmatic as well as aesthetic reasons. “The style is very simple, very easy,” says the owner. “My idea is to have something that doesn’t bother you over the years. Because maybe when you buy a boat, you like [its ornate décor]. Then after two, three years, you feel that you did something wrong. So you keep the style simple.”

The aft deck features a long L-shaped built-in sofa and a table for alfresco dining – but the show-stopping outdoor space is up a starboard staircase from here. The massive bridge deck has a cosy, private atmosphere that makes it feel like an outdoor saloon. Aft there are sunloungers, over which a sun awning can be set up. In the centre is a huge sofa and coffee table area, while forward is a dining table with adjacent fridge, icemaker and teppanyaki grill. Where’s the spa pool? Unusually, it’s right down on the tip of the bow next to a spacious row of sunpads, creating a third outdoor lounging area. That bumps up to four if you also include the fold-down platform by the aft garage. This arrangement allows family and friends to come together when they want to and do their own thing when they prefer some time alone, without anyone having to hide away inside – an unusual luxury on a yacht of this size.

But in terms of family friendliness, the most exciting area of Pachamama is the wheelhouse. Aft of the captain’s station are two large sofa areas for observing the yacht’s impressive speeds – she can hit 33 knots – and a PlayStation for when even this cannot hold the children’s attention. “The solution we chose for the settees aft is deeply rooted in Baglietto tradition. Just look back to [44 metre] Apache II,” says Paszkowski. Here, the theme comprises glossy finishes and dark grey leather, and the state-of-the-art bridge is lit with futuristic purple lights. Different from the décor elsewhere, this marks it out as “the technological heart of the yacht”, says Paszkowski.

Down in the engine room of Pachamama things stay predictably slick. Two MTU engines drive the aluminium planing hull to its impressive speeds, but stabilisation was also important – with four ABT Trac stabilisers – while insulation was carefully planned to prevent noise and vibration. “What I felt when I’ve been on the boat – you can reach 30 knots and you’ll not feel that you are running 30 knots,” says Michele Gavino, general manager at Baglietto. “This is, I think, the most beautiful sensation you can have on a boat.”

All guest accommodation is on the lower deck, with three twin and one double cabin amidships and a full-beam master aft, with a large en suite and walk-in wardrobe. The palette remains calming and simple, with splashes of lime green, cornflower blue and warm orange in soft furnishings, art and lamps. The cabins open on to a good-sized lobby, where a modern staircase in stainless steel and glass leads up to the main deck.

The crew and captain’s accommodation is forward of the guest cabins and many of the same finishes and materials have been used here. These cabins are also of a comparable size to the guest cabins. The compromise is that there is no dedicated crew mess – they will use the dinette forward of the main deck galley when the owner does not need it. Paszkowski explains this unusual blurring of crew and guest space thus: “Although the boat features, of course, separate areas for the crew, the crew is essentially part of the family on board.” It’s a solution that could work, depending entirely on how the boat is used.

Another 43 Fast is under construction at Baglietto, a hardtop version with an enclosed lounge behind the wheelhouse. That boat’s launch is scheduled for the end of the year, with delivery in 2017. The owner of Pachamama has had some interest in his boat, too, although he would like to get some use out of her before thinking about selling. “Even if just for this summer,” he says. Although Pachamama could just as easily prove a firm family favourite for years to come.

Baglietto

( www.baglietto.com )

Heesen Yachts 50mt Ann G

In the world of superyachts, patience is both a virtue and an anomaly, perhaps even an anachronism. In truth, many yacht builders prosper by understanding that their customers prefer, if not instant, then certainly speedy gratification.

It’s all the more interesting then, that Heesen, a company that started by building custom yachts but found a strong niche in semi-custom series boats, begun on speculation for faster delivery, courted a client with plans for a fully custom yacht, a more challenging journey that took them back to their roots. In doing so, the yard delivered one of the stand-out yachts of 2015, the 50 metre Ann G.

“It was a great experience to work with such a committed owner,” says Heesen’s sales and marketing director Mark Cavendish. “The yard and the owner’s team really worked well together on Ann G and the owner was at the yard frequently.” Of the 10 current projects at the yard, four are full custom, with four more in discussion.

The project came to Heesen by a rather unusual route – a designer the yard had never worked with – and developed in a rather unusual way – via collaboration driven by the owner and designer Clifford Denn involving naval architects from several yards.

Together they explored and rejected extras such as a helipad, revised the yacht through several lengths and beams – even considering both displacement and semi-displacement hull types – to arrive at the look, the layout and the technical envelope of Ann G that matched the owner’s vision.

It started in 2010 when a France-based broker asked Denn to meet a prospective client who wanted either a semi or full-displacement yacht around 50 metres. Denn, who worked for Foster + Partners and Martin Francis before setting up his own studio near Antibes in 2003, recalls the brief was “a unique yacht that stands out from other yachts of its size and has a real identity”.

Ann G was to be a five-cabin yacht with a side-loading tender bay to allow a beach club aft, as well as a large sundeck with a covered living area in the middle that could divide or unite the entire deck by means of sliding glass panels. The owner had seen an 85.5 metre Oceanco called Sunrays that was styled by the late Bjorn Johansson and wanted Denn to explore introducing that yacht’s floating deck look.

“He also mentioned the lines of the 47 metre Benetti Imagination Series, particularly the curving stern stairs,” Denn says. Designers were asked to present exterior styling and a preliminary GA for a 52 metre, with both the influence of Sunrays and original design.

By October the owner had chosen his favourite look from numerous Denn sketches. What emerged was a 55 metre concept more masculine than Denn’s original idea and more flowing than Sunrays. With a 3D CAD model for guidance, in spring 2011, Ann G's owner asked various yards to develop it based on their platforms – and all responded with larger plans and over-budget construction costs.

“The owner had been very clear about how much he intended to spend and the estimates were above that,” Denn recalls. “We received the rendering back from him with three distinct red lines on it to indicate how to convert the 55 metre into a 50 metre under 500 GT”.

At that point, the autumn of 2011, with the global financial crisis grinding on, the project stopped. “The next summer, I heard from the client again. He had a new manager and was ready to go,” says Denn. Designing resumed at the 50 metre/500 gross tonne limits, with Arcon Yachts managing the project and Heesen developing a new round-bilge hull form, combining the lines of its 47 metre displacement hull with the GA and beach club of 50 metre semi-displacement Satori.

Sketches went back and forth, but besides the dark blue hull and wide, gentle stairs, the one element that both the owner and Denn kept returning to was an “arrow” feature, a sharp downward and outward angle on the upper deck bulwark that creates a dramatic space for the bridge wing station. That taut curve became Ann G’s defining style line. Heesen’s only difficulty seemed to be fitting a six metre tender on the bow. Try as they might with the original sheerline, it would be peeking over the rail and impacting the helmsman’s sightlines.

In November 2012 the owner gave the OK to start building. “We had a very short time to transfer the exterior styling forms to the new Heesen platform,” Deen recalls. “I had two hours to transfer the actual 2D profile to the proposal before the owner arrived to sign the build contract. The breakthrough I had was to lift the wheelhouse to see over the tenders and raise the foredeck bulwarks to hide them in profile.”

The owner chose for his interiors Pascale Reymond and Andrew Langton– on the day they opened their London office. “He told us he liked the masculine and square elements of art deco, the colours blue and cream, and stainless steel,” says Reymond. “He made it clear he had high expectations but gave us carte blanche.”

Reymond picked up a vibe from the profile that reminded her of cars in the 1920s and 30s and began drawing an interior with lots of contrast; glass, steel, white onyx and ebony, but the client asked for the details to be “more square, more modern”.

Reymond Langton responded with chunky, masculine details such as the stainless steel inlays in the foot of each bed frame. It is a style more Gotham than Paris and perhaps London’s Daily Express building or New York’s Chrysler building as its godparents.

“The core of the yacht is the staircase. It needed to be a big story; it connects everything,” says Reymond. Its centrepiece is a custom light fixture by Crystal Caviar. Extending two decks, backed by macassar ebony and framed by leather and ebony stairs, this is more giant sconce than chandelier and looks unmistakably like a glowing skyscraper. The stair surround features an intersecting lattice of cool-toned LED strip lighting set in leather panels that projects a graphic design on the black Portoro marble at each landing. “Strong diagonal lines aren’t deco but we used them to freshen the style,” says Reymond. It is a theme that reappears throughout.

The main saloon of Ann G is designed for entertaining, with an intimate seating area adjoining a bar built of macassar and backlit onyx. Extending aft through sliding glass panels, it visually and thematically links the interior to the aft deck.

Forward, an elegant dining area is anchored by a three-tiered rectangular crystal chandelier, which contrasts with the planked floor below, while an ebonised tray ceiling detail and macassar window frames establish the homage to squares in the design.

The owner’s suite is forward on the main deck and incorporates an office, full-beam cabin and large bathroom flanked by his and hers dressing rooms. The primary design palette is white leather wall panels, cream carpet and macassar furniture banded in steel. Rich blue fabrics give relief to the contrast theme but the trump card is a silk velvet wall covering behind the headboard.

“We designed the basic motifs for this wall covering and those in the guest suites and Sabina Fay Braxton executed them as one-of-a-kind murals,” says Reymond. Braxton once worked as a textile designer for the fashion house Lacroix. Her love of colour and texture in fabrics is down to her parents – a painter and a writer – who carted their daughter along as they lived and worked around the world.

Braxton’s medium is a medieval Japanese wood block embossing process – called gauffrage in the West – that was used to mimic woven damask patterns in the 17th and 18th centuries. Coincidentally, the process was “rediscovered” during deco’s heyday and used to emboss 3D patterns on velvet upholstery.

Braxton’s take on the process, “gilded gauffrage”, embosses the silk pile with heated carved blocks, encrusts the fabric with metal powders and paints broad areas with inks to create a patinated and luminous effect.

“The pattern in the master is based on a compass, but with a sort of sci-fi, ‘After Earth’ approach,” says Reymond. “We picked the same compass circle motif but in concert with the geometry of deco for the mosaic tile surround in the master bath and paired it with honey onyx and black Portoro gold marble flooring.”

The upper deck saloon is subdued, with parchment wall panels. Here the dark/light contrast is downplayed to serve as a backdrop to the views through windows on three sides. The bar, instead of being a focal point, is tucked against the forward bulkhead.

As the original driver of the GA, the beach club on the lower deck is the most contemporary space in style and function, with gym equipment, steam room, bar and a seating area offering uninterrupted views of the horizon when the transom door is open.

Here, the joinery switches to elm and teak in sand-mimicking tones. The proximity of the water is reflected in the striking backlit blue agate of the bar face.

But Ann G is far more than a pretty face. On sea trials before delivery last July the yacht exceeded the contractual speed by 0.6 knots, reaching a top speed of 15.6 knots on a pair of 1,300hp MTU 8V4000 M63 engines.

Arcon’s project manager Konstantin Kolpakov says: “The entire project was a big challenge for everybody. It was the owner’s decision to push everything forward to save space for the beach club, even though it meant the tenders would ride atop his cabin. With Heesen, we did our best to build in efficient noise and vibration reduction.”

Of the fact that Ann G launched five years after the start of her design process, Kolpakov says: “We had a courageous owner who wasn’t afraid to try something new; we spoke night and day about the yacht. This is the kind of person [who] is moving the industry forward.” As well, of course, as creating a truly moving boat.



Heesen Yachts

( www.heesenyachts.nl )

Feadship 62mt Sea Owl

Personal and enchanting, 62 metre custom Feadship Sea Owl is a portal to a different world, where children learn as they play and adults can enjoy family time, work or relax miles away from land. Aside from her one-of-a-kind fantasy inspired interior, the yacht has a sophisticated custom-designed security system to allow her occupants to venture far afield in safety.

Sea Owl’s lead designer, Andrew Winch, grew up near Kensington Gardens in London, where a bronze statue of Peter Pan has bewitched generations of children since it mysteriously appeared in 1912.

Peter Pan is only one of several fairy tales and scholarly books that have inspired the décor, as the designers worked closely with family members to personalise each room and encourage the children to explore real and imaginary worlds.

On the bridge deck is a staff cabin decorated with frescos of fossilised seashells that a young Charles Darwin identified during his first trip onHMS Beagle. This doubles as a classroom, allowing the children to learn about Darwin as the yacht explores the Galápagos Islands.

On the lower deck is a delightful pirate-themed room; next to this is one of the daughters’ cabins with scenes from Alice in Wonderland. On the sun deck, a toothy shark grins on the walls of the freshwater spa pool.

Three decks below, a book painted on the ceiling appears to be defying the laws of gravity to fly away from the library wall – it’s Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, naturally. While the décor is playful, it is never kitsch, reaching a level of artistry even grown-ups can appreciate.

The results surprised the Sea Owl’s owner. "Although I was tangentially involved in the design of the boat and kept abreast of how the build was progressing, I was truly astonished by the level of craftsmanship and tastefulness that distinguishes every nook and cranny," he said, adding that this success "is largely due to the close collaboration between the design team at Winch Design and my wife and daughter who are endowed with both exceptionally good taste and exceptionally strong opinions."

While children were the inspiration for this project, making this dream happen was anything but child’s play. Winch, who has designed seven Feadships to date, including the 99 metre Madame Gu, says Sea Owl was one of the most complex projects he has ever handled.

Part of the complexity resides in the number of details in this high-volume explorer. There are those you can see, such as a silk and wool carpet hand-knotted in Nepal, the Dale Chihuly chandelier made of Venetian glass, or the basin carved like a gem from a single block of crystal.

And there are the ones you don’t – security cameras with a 360-degree view at the waterline, fingerprint-recognition keypads and a sophisticated entertainment system.

A detailed description of this interior would fill a book, but a few details are enough to illustrate the yacht’s spirit. The central stairway features a mural, carved from Peruvian mahogany, of a magical tree rising four decks high in one continuous design, the roots grounded in the lower deck’s sole and branches reaching the sun deck.

The guest lift is much less noticeable from the outside but on its inside walls are trompe l’oeil murals depicting, among others, a garden scene and the family dog awaiting a treat.

The owner, gifted with a mathematical mind, has an office where he can be introspective behind closed doors but find inspiration in the oceanscape unfolding in front of him. This room is part of the owner’s private suite.

Its centrepiece is an exquisite copy of an 18th Century French desk by French furniture designer Serge Mirochnikoff, who created several other special pieces on board. On the ceiling is one of many frescoes commissioned by Winch Design, this one a depiction of a world map circa 1800. Such details bring character to a yacht that the owner wanted to serve as an ideal holiday home for his large family.

Soon after starting construction of their previous Sea Owl (now Shadowl), a 43m Burger of which Winch Design designed the interior, the owners realised the need for a bigger boat to accommodate their growing family and, in 2007, began discussing the new yacht with Winch Design and Anthony Sands of Edge Yachts, their representative.

The Burger’s green hull and white superstructure colour scheme was shared with the new yacht, which is painted in the Awlgrip shades Jade Mist and Oyster White.

A bid to build the new Sea Owl went out to seven shipyards, and a contract was signed with Feadship in 2008. Construction began two years later on what may be, at close to 1,500 gross tonnes, the biggest 62 metre yet built.

"We knew from the very start that Sea Owl was going to be an extraordinary vessel, but also one that would pose challenges in her design and construction due to the high aesthetic standards the owners were trying to achieve, coupled with the yacht’s cutting-edge technological sophistication," Sands said.

"The experienced Sea Owl team from Winch Design knew that the yacht’s exterior and planning was the answer. It’s to the entire team’s credit that we achieved on all counts, including construction deadlines and budget."

For the new Sea Owl, her owners wanted big spaces and wide-open vistas but within the length of 62 metres, which while generous by other measures, proved challenging when it came to accommodating all the family’s wishes.

This puzzle was left to Winch Design to resolve. The experienced team designed a yacht that is exceptionally beamy (12.2 metres overall) with a very large superstructure.

The sun deck is partially enclosed to create a light-filled dining saloon with an adjacent pantry that occupies a good part of the interior on this deck. Winch and his team, which gave the yacht elegant and classic lines, used the wide beam to maximum effect.

As the owners value privacy and security, access points are limited to what’s necessary and the accommodation stretches across the full beam where convenient. On the bridge deck, a light-filled Caribbean-inspired upper saloon stretches between windows, while forward, two balconies unfold to offer up panoramic views to guests.

Throughout, Winch pursued an organic design. "Symmetry makes the environment feel controlled," he said, which was far from the desired effect. The layout is very different from the rigid patterns found on many yachts. While there is practicality in the way the decks are organised (the layout is being kept private at the owner’s request), few linear patterns are on board.

The main dining table, set in front of a Venetian fresco, for instance, is off centre. Glancing forward from the saloon, you get an open view up to a library wall that conceals the owners’ walk-in wardrobe.

As amazing as what you can see, is what you do not see. It is not obvious that the custom-made furnishings, most built in-house by the Feadship craftsmen, are all sea-fastened for safety.

The custom rosewood self-playing Steinway baby grand piano in the main saloon is not only affixed to the deck sole, but also interfaces with the music library and can play any piece of music stored in the Kaleidescape audio visual system.

The yacht features WiFi throughout for iPad use, while most tables, including those on the outer decks, have hidden power sources to recharge tablets or laptops.

Security consultants worked closely with the shipyard up to the last few days before delivery, and while the effective and discreet security system does not distract from the magic of the décor, accommodating it added a layer of complexity – one that even the experienced Feadship shipyard acknowledges.

"It added weight on the boat, which we had to account for and balance with the class requirements," said Koos Zitman, sales director at Feadship. "You can only assign the space once."

Asked what design features were borrowed from other Feadship projects – perhaps the large windows, the saloon door that recedes to fully open the upper saloon to the aft deck or the twin tender bays forward – Zitman said the project was entirely owner driven. Even the large radar mast was done at the owner’s request.

Conscious of their surroundings and the pristine areas they want to discover, the owners also opted for a dynamic positioning system, which allows the yacht to stay in place without deploying anchors.

In early July 2013, the yacht and her crew of 18 set off on the first of her extended journeys to the Norwegian fjords after a handover ceremony in front of Amsterdam’s National Maritime Museum. Adventure is built right into this stately yacht’s design.

Feadship

( www.feadship.nl )

Benetti 63mt 11.11

Timing is everything. When the original owner of Benetti hull FB265 walked away from the project 10 months before delivery, an opportunity was presented, of the kind the boat’s new owner has made a living out of exploiting.

“Let’s just say there was a clear opportunity for a mutually beneficial deal to be done,” he says when we meet on board 11.11. The British businessman had been in talks with Benetti throughout the summer of 2014 about a new project, and when FB265 was left ownerless two-thirds of the way through construction, he made a list.

Cons: layout was largely fixed and engineering installed to a different owner’s specification. Pros: he’d get a brand new boat in less than a third of the time it takes to design, commission and build a new one. He spent the rest of that summer weighing it up.

“11.11 is only the second bluff-bowed boat Benetti has ever built, after 65 metre Nataly,” the owner says. “I was on a boat in Porto Cervo in 2014 and Nataly was there. I just kept looking at her and asked for the tender to take me around the boat. I grew to love the shape more and more. It was exactly what I wanted, so I was sold on the exterior design of FB265.

The question was whether we could turn her interior into something which would suit our family, from a design, style and functionality point of view.” The fit-out was about 40 per cent complete when the commissioning owner walked away and some of his choices were a little eccentric.

“There were no bars,” 11.11's owner says, “and it was designed for a Rolls-Royce Phantom to be kept in the tender garage! I didn’t need any of that. The sundeck was all wrong – everything was too small, the Jacuzzi, the seating. Inside it was like a Russian tsar’s palace. I’m not saying that’s bad but it’s not my family’s style. It was too heavy, too classical and it was quite dark. We needed to de-wood it, basically.”

Delivery, too, was a consideration. If he bought it he wanted it for the tail-end of summer 2015, an aggressive schedule that had a few people at Benetti sweating. “I lost a bit of hair,” Benetti project manager Marco De Cosmo jokes. “But the owner is such a nice guy – it’s difficult to say no.”

The deal was eventually signed in October 2014, spurred on by news that one or two other buyers were circling, and a delivery target was set for 11.11: July 2015, giving the Livorno shipyard just 10 months to turn a palace into a home.

“I had to make a quick decision – go for it or pull out. I was actually in Hong Kong airport on my way home from a business trip and I said ‘let’s do it’. The deal was closed at the airport,” the owner recalls.

Delivery was nudged back throughout the transformation and FB265 emerged from the yard just weeks before the 2015 Monaco Yacht Show, where the yacht was introduced to the world as 11.11. “If you compare the finished boat with the initial renderings we did for the first client, you would not say they were the same boat,” De Cosmo says.

It’s hard to imagine she was ever anything but the monochrome masterpiece she became. Where it was impossible to change styling left over from the first owner, such as the dark, patinated wall panelling throughout, it was made to look deliberate: the dark wood was offset with lighter colours to create a sort of deco-lite interior, for instance.

“We wanted that kind of look anyway,” the owner, whose company also designed the interior, says. “Our home in Los Angeles is art deco, too.” Splashed throughout is artwork from the owner’s collection, including, much to his daughter’s delight, interactive butterfly displays by Dominic Harris in the main saloon that flutter at your touch.

“We’ve had great feedback on those,” the owner says. “I had a guy building a 90 metre at Lürssen on board and he said: ‘I have to have that for my boat.’ Everyone’s stealing my ideas!”

The art animates spaces on board 11.11 that could otherwise get a bit two-tone and one piece stands out above all: a Tracey Emin neon perfectly located behind the bar in the upper saloon that says: “Move me”. A very close second, however, are works from Hans Kotter, Helmut Newton and photographer David Yarrow.

Defying the modern trend for hard, minimalist edges, the main living spaces of 11.11 offer softness and comfort. Part of this comes through the owner’s desire to create a home on the water, but also because it was built into the contract that the boat had to be child-proof: curves are preferred to edges at toddler height and the two main seating areas in the lower and upper saloons cluster around coffee tables you can bounce off, or fall asleep against “while watching Peppa Pig”, the owner smiles.

It’s the kind of attention to functionality that comes from having owned boats previously; 11.11 is the owner’s third superyacht, after a 45 metre Benetti and a 62 metre. “I’ve made mistakes in the past. I’ve designed stuff which looks great, but then you sit on it. My wife told me: ‘I’m not sitting on another sofa that’s uncomfortable,’ ” he says. “Functionality and comfort are the most important things.”

The owner’s wife was heavily involved in the design of 11.11 throughout and it was a collaborative decision to take the major step of restructuring the sundeck, the biggest job on Benetti’s to-do list once terms were signed.

With the transom garage housing a custom Benetti limo tender (the first one it’s ever built) and RIB instead of a beach club, 11.11’s top deck is the pre-eminent leisure area. “It was our first project when he bought the boat,” De Cosmo explains.

The pool was initially placed where the seating is currently but the new owner wanted it all the way aft, surrounded by sunpads. “The deck was completely redesigned, destroyed and rebuilt,” the project manager adds.

To avoid welding and other “hot activities” so close to delivery, the pool structure was built in fibreglass, and painted to make it blend in. Comfortable seating was added along with an Italian stone-clad bar and a gym was replaced by an intimate seating area and kitchenette – a favourite spot of the owner and his young family. “We tend to end the day up here, with afternoon tea,” he says.

The mornings are spent around the second spa pool on board 11.11 – forward of the superb panoramic owner’s suite on the upper deck. Despite being out the front and feeling a little exposed, it remains a private area and can’t be seen from the bridge above, making it an exclusive little enclave.

It wasn’t always obvious that this would become the owner’s deck. It’s got the view but the VIP on the main deck has the beam – all 10.8 metres of it. “It came down to outside space in the end,” the owner says. “You have a boat because you’re going to spend a lot of time outside, and it’s great to see our little baby daughter running around the front, which is all enclosed.”

Lucky guests, then, who get quartered in the VIP suite, with its vast acreage, private study, walk-in dressing room and six huge portrait windows. The rest of the guest accommodation is on the lower deck – two twins and two doubles feeding off a central lobby. Each is dressed in the same art deco style, with Italian marble in the bathrooms – personally selected by the owner’s team at the quarry – and Lalique taps.

The design throughout 11.11 offers a “polycentric experience”, the owner says. “It’s all about your senses coming alive, in what you see, hear, touch and feel. That’s when you’re going to have the best experience of your life, and hopefully we’ve managed to achieve that with this interior.”

The exterior charges a few of those senses, too, and will inspire comment wherever 11.11 sails. She’s not built on the same platform as Nataly but the similarities are clear, although whereas Nataly’s design was from the boards of Redman Whiteley Dixon, 11.11’s exterior is identifiably Benetti’s work.

The decks bubble up behind that long nose, which ends in a near-vertical blade. A significant spray rail runs aft, to keep water off the decks – a common problem on boats with such an upright stem.

The hull’s efficiency gains are still to be properly recorded but the captain, Vaughan Hill, is happy so far, reporting engine loading of just 65 per cent at her cruising speed of 15 knots.

“We got her up to 17.5 knots on the run to Monaco from Livorno,” he says. “We had a head sea, with two metre swells. She stayed nice and buoyant and rode over the top, rather than falling into the holes.” Not that he has to worry about anyone getting seasick – the owner’s wife was a sufferer but she was treated by famous British hypnotist Paul McKenna and hasn’t had a dose since.

The benefit of 11.11's bow is more volume forward, and this has been well used in a big bosun’s locker and mooring area on the main deck, and generous crew quarters down below.

The yacht runs with 16 crew currently and the happiest of all is surely the chef, whose main deck playground puts the galleys of much bigger boats to shame. It’s also a superbly finished space, with – to the chef’s delight – big windows over the water and a central island.

The owner didn’t spend a huge amount of time at the yard overseeing the finishing of this and other spaces, relying instead on his design team, but did make one very important visit towards the end of the build. “I flew from LA to London to Pisa for a single day, just to see 11.11, and went back to LA the next day. I wanted to see it before my family got on board – I’m a perfectionist,” he says.

As soon as 11.11 was handed over, he snuck in some holiday time before the Monaco Yacht Show, visiting Capri, where music mogul and friend Simon Cowell was a visitor. “We had a nice day with Simon in Positano, and then after headed up to Cannes, Monaco and St Tropez.”

The owner’s winter cruising ambitions extend to the Caribbean – and might include the latest hot destination, Cuba. Plans could then include a tour of the Bahamas, Exumas (“so my daughter can swim with the pigs” - a Caribbean bucket list favourite), St Barths and Mustique before heading back across in 2016 for the start of the Med season.

It’s a trip that wouldn’t have been possible this year had the owner not seized the opportunity of buying a part-built boat. The timing was auspicious, like the name of the yacht itself. The 11th of the 11th is the owner’s daughter’s birthday, but 11 is also considered a “master number”, emanating all sorts of positive vibes. It’s definitely doing its job so far – doubly so.

Benetti Yachts

( www.benettiyachts.it )

Camper & Nicholsons 63mt Creole

In the words of veteran photographer Gilles Martin-Raget, Creole is “a boat outside all the norms of size, aesthetics and history”. Certainly, at 63.03 metres, the three-masted schooner is rated the world’s largest wooden sailing yacht and her beauty is unquestionable. Yet it is the word “history” that resonates here because Creole’s back story is interlaced with suicide, jealousy and murder – beyond most norms, certainly.

Sailors tend to be superstitious souls and “the curse of Creole” is a phrase not unknown in yachting lore. It seemed it had struck again when it was reported from Italy that the vessel’s owners, Alessandra and Allegra Gucci, were being investigated for alleged tax dodging. How is it possible, a rational person might ask, for a boat to infect its owners with ill fortune? How indeed.

Yet deep scrutiny of Creole’s past reveals some strange facts, including an episode in which a medium was hired to exorcise “evil influences”. And a highly respected Italian newspaper once carried a headline that claimed “The Creole betrayed Maurizio Gucci”, her then owner and father of Alessandra and Allegra.

The omens were not good when it took three attempts to break the magnum of Champagne on the bow of the big schooner when she was christened Vira at Camper & Nicholsons’ yard in Gosport, Hampshire. It was 1927 and the vessel was considered a masterpiece of her time, not least by her architect, the esteemed Charles E Nicholson. The yacht was at the forefront of design and technology, with two generators, electric refrigeration and central heating throughout her apartment-sized suites.

But trouble began early on. When her owner, the immensely wealthy US carpet manufacturer Alexander Smith Cochran, saw the towering rig he quailed. It would be unmanageable, he said, and ordered the yard to shorten her spars by three metres. It was not enough, he maintained, after the work was done. Cut them down some more.

Vira finally left Gosport with a stumpy rig that didn’t suit her ballast. Lead was taken out at a yard in Spain, but they overdid it and she became hopelessly tender. Then, the frustrated and unhappy Cochran was struck down by tuberculosis. He died a year later, aged 55.

Vira was sold to South Coast yachtsman Maurice Pope, who renamed her Creole, apparently after a particularly delicious dessert created by his chef. In 1937 she was bought by financier Sir Connop Guthrie, who had just been made a baronet. Guthrie was a dedicated sailor who restored Creole’s rig and keel and raced her successfully until the outbreak of WWII in 1939.

Guthrie loaned Creole to the Admiralty and, with her rig removed and her deckworks changed to accept armament, she became the mine-hunter Magic Circle.

Guthrie died, aged 63, in 1945, the year that Magic Circle was returned to his family. She became Creole once more but was almost unrecognisable after her war service. Following the death of Sir Connop she languished in a sorry state until spotted by Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping tycoon.

It was 1947 and Niarchos, like his great rival Aristotle Onassis, was growing fabulously rich thanks to the post-war shipping boom. He snapped up the forlorn schooner and began a restoration that would cost many millions but which returned Creole to the beautifully appointed and wickedly fast yacht her designer had intended.

Niarchos added the capacious varnished deckhouse Creole has today and her cabins were hung with valuable works from his art collection. She became his floating home for long periods; his most treasured possession and, ultimately, a silent witness to tragedy and a sensational mystery.

As Creole’s restoration began, Niarchos courted Eugenia Livanos, the beautiful 21-year-old daughter of another shipping magnate. They were married, had four children and, despite his affairs, remained together.

In May 1970, they were on holiday on Niarchos’s private island, Spetsopoula, in the Aegean. With them was Athina – Tina – Onassis, Eugenia’s sister. What happened on the night of 3 May is, to this day, the subject of speculation and dark whispers, but the official version is that Eugenia killed herself with an overdose of barbiturates. At a post mortem on the mainland, the pathologist reported severe bruising on Eugenia’s body and the prosecutor in Piraeus began an investigation.

Niarchos became a suspect but he was later exonerated. According to some sources, he was cleared after the intervention of Greece’s ruling military junta, with which he had close links. It later emerged, in an account said to have been based on the testimony of a witness who was on the island, that Eugenia had caught Niarchos trying to force himself upon Tina, her sister, and a violent fight broke out.

In another account, Eugenia was said to have taken a lethal overdose in her cabin aboard Creole. What is certain is that Creole was used to bring Eugenia’s body back from the mainland to Spetsopoula, where she was buried in the Niarchos family mausoleum.

The death of Eugenia ended Niarchos’s love affair with Creole. He went on to marry Tina and sold the yacht, in 1977, to the Danish government for use as a sail training vessel for youngsters, including those in a drugs rehabilitation programme. Such work took a heavy toll; after five years, the cost of maintaining Creole was more than the Danes could justify and a new owner was sought.

In 1982 the schooner – then well over half a century old – began the phase of her life that continues today. She was bought by Maurizio Gucci, whose lavish spending surpassed everything even Niarchos had done. And, it must be said, the horror that was to unfold transcended, too, the tragedy that had befallen Creole’s previous owner.

When Maurizio Gucci bought Creole he was 35 and already on his way to heading the renowned Gucci family fashion house. He was married to Patrizia Reggiani, the daughter of a Milan businessman and mother of Allegra and Alessandra. Patrizia was one of Milan’s great beauties, an Elizabeth Taylor lookalike, with violet eyes and a captivating smile. She was also unashamedly materialistic. “I’d rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than laugh on a bicycle,” she once said.

Despite being rather hard-nosed, Patrizia was deeply superstitious and stories about the “curse of Creole” troubled her. She persuaded Maurizio to hire Frida, a medium and practising psychic, to exorcise the evil spirits Patrizia believed haunted the yacht.

The episode is detailed in Sara Gay Forden’s acclaimed book, The House of Gucci. Forden wrote that Frida “went into a trance” and walked through Creole mumbling incomprehensibly. “Open the door, open the door,” Frida cried out suddenly as Maurizio and Patrizia looked at each other, puzzled. They were standing in an open corridor; there was no door. But the Sicilian crewmember turned ashen. Before the restoration of Creole, there had been a door in that very spot, he said.

Forden goes on to say that Frida pointed to a place where, the psychic said, Eugenia Niarchos’s body had been found. Then she snapped out of her trance, said, “It’s all over” and declared Creole “free of evil spirits”.

Malign forces were at work, however. The Gucci family was tearing itself apart, riven by jealousy and resentment over ownership of the celebrated brand and the millions it was earning. Maurizio was accused of buying Creole by illegally diverting funds through a Panama-based company. The police and fiscal investigators launched an inquiry. In June 1987, the Italian papers were full of it. “Gucci in a storm over a dream yacht; arrest warrants issued” ran a headline in La Repubblica. “The Creole betrayed Maurizio Gucci” was the banner in Corriere della Sera.

Creole was sailed out of Italian waters to Mallorca to put her beyond the reach of the police and Maurizio made his own escape by riding his red Kawasaki motorcycle over the border into Switzerland.

In 1988 Maurizio was indicted for illegally exporting the money he had used to buy Creole, then was swiftly acquitted because changes in the law meant capital export was no longer a criminal offence. He rode out numerous legal storms and eventually returned to Italy, where he sold his shares in Gucci for more than £100 million.

By now Maurizio was separated from Patrizia and busy spending his fortune, a lot of which was lavished on Creole. The designer Toto Russo helped re-work the yacht’s interior, with the deckhouse decorated in sumptuous style, featuring artworks and handmade pieces carved from solid ebony and marble. There were just four guest cabins, for two people each, with their own bathroom. Her usual crew numbered 16. Guests were handed a white sweatshirt and slacks to wear on board. The top featured Creole’s emblem, a pair of intertwined seahorses.

As Maurizio enjoyed his yacht, Patrizia looked on, becoming increasingly jealous. She raged over the money it was costing – at one point it emerged he had spent €800,000 on just one area of the accommodation. It was not known whether this included the cost of buying the stingray skins that lined the bulkheads.

Patrizia was living in an apartment with her daughters, growing more and more resentful by the day, especially when she learnt that Maurizio was thinking of marrying his young girlfriend, Paola Franchi.

Then, on 27 March 1995, as Maurizio arrived at his office in Milan’s Via Palestro, a man stepped into the lobby of the building and fired three shots. Wounded, but probably not fatally, Maurizio slumped to the floor. The gunman fired a fourth bullet into his temple at close range, killing him instantly. Maurizio was 46.

Almost two years later, in January 1997, police arrested Patrizia. It emerged later that she had hired a killer, through a friend with underworld contacts, to murder her husband. She was convicted and served 16 years in jail.

Maurizio’s daughters Allegra and Alessandra inherited Creole and keep her in the style to which she has become accustomed. She is occasionally seen at classic events in the Mediterranean, although in recent years her role has been as mothership to the other, smaller Gucci classic, Avel. The Gucci sisters say Creole keeps their father’s memory alive, and certainly the yacht is associated with some of the happiest times in Maurizio’s short life.

Rationally, of course, one cannot attribute horror and tragedy to a jinx said to cling to a sailing yacht. Yet, there may always be some who will look at Creole’s dark story and experience a shiver down the spine. 

Camper & Nicholsons

( www.camperandnicholsons.com )

ISA 54,6 mt Forever One

There is very little about the 54.6 metre ISA Yachts Forever One that conforms to what we are used to seeing in a superyacht. With her imposing volume, more than 1,050 gross tonnes, lofty bow and flashy white and red livery, Forever One stands out wherever she goes and rarely leaves people indifferent.

Passion seems the most appropriate word to use when describing the yacht’s build. The project stems from an experienced Mexican owner, Bruce Grossman, who entrusted Fernando Nicholson of Camper & Nicholsons International and designer and naval architect Horacio Bozzo to fine-tune his ideas.

“Bruce was adamant that the design should be both unique and reliable,” says Nicholson. “He wanted a yacht that distinguished herself from the crowd, the right place to spend long, relaxed holidays with his beloved wife, Elsa – the ‘forever one’ to whom the yacht is dedicated. He wasn’t interested in building a yacht with resale in mind.” Thinking about resale value and charter use, as most owners do at the time of purchasing a new boat, would have affected design and layout options, and Grossman didn’t want such constraints.

The Grossmans owned several yachts before this, the last being a sporty jet-driven Mangusta 130. “My wife and I spent memorable holidays on board our Mangusta, but despite our enthusiasm, the Mangusta didn’t suit our needs any longer,” Grossman says. “We needed a large displacement yacht that might allow us to sail comfortably whatever the season and weather. As we spend months and months on board our yacht, just the two of us or together with a restricted number of friends, my new Forever Onehad to be a floating home. The projects brought to my attention by many reputed shipyards and designers neither matched my needs nor expectations. I wanted a yacht that was shaped on our lifestyle. We do love having both private and social areas providing us with all comforts, space and amenities we are used to at home.”

Bozzo, an Argentine naval architect and designer based in Italy and founder of Axis Group Yacht Design, had already worked out a concept with Nicholson for a yacht featuring an almost-reverse bow, massive volume and muscular exterior lines. When they showed their idea to Grossman it was love at first sight. The winning concept rapidly evolved into a project and ISA Yachts was entrusted to build it. Throughout the project’s development, the overall design remained nearly untouched while the interior layout took shape according to her owner’s input. With the creativity of a passionate designer and the meticulous approach of a naval architect, Bozzo designed everything down to the smallest element; he provided the builder with detailed instructions on how to build the complicated transom door, as well as how to align the coaming with a hinge or handrail socket.

Bozzo also created hundreds of sketches and renderings and discussed every detail with Nicholson, the owner’s captain Colin Skinner and the yard’s technical department. The owner, initially closely involved in refining the concept, left the project’s management to his trusted team.

Forever One is a complex yacht whose massive volume encompasses very large folding balconies, gullwing side hatches that required considerable research into longitudinal and torsional bending forces, and an articulated transom that opens up as a magnificent on-the-water lounge.

This beach club is a bold statement of design and technical skills. Grossman asked for plenty of cosy social areas, so its interior was designed and furnished as an area that can be used when under way. A window and a hatch that hinges upward allow fresh air and light into the room. Teak panels cover both window and hatch to form an extended, flush, walkable area when the door folds open at anchor.

As the project took shape, Alessandro Massari, a young and talented designer, joined the team with the mission of defining Forever One’s interior décor. The main saloon sets the tone for the inspired, refreshing interior design.

With its Hamptons-style, shore-inspired colours, the interior is bright and breezy. Discreet window treatments let plenty of natural daylight pour in. White, creamy hues of seashells, whalebone, rich earth and sand colours make up Forever One’s palette. Dark-brown wood frames the predominantly white fabrics, furniture, doors and walls with hints of colour brightening the scheme. The grand saloon on the main deck doubles as a cinema. Full-height glass sliding doors open onto side passages and fold-down balconies that, when opened at anchor, double the room’s width. The weathered dark-oak floor is a tactile experience for bare feet.

A full-beam, multi-purpose dining room is located in a separate area on the main deck, forward of the large lobby and the round glass lift that connects all decks. In this dining/lounging room, standalone furnishings allow small groups of guests to pursue different activities at once.

Alongside a custom square dining table, which can be extended to host up to 12 guests, this homey environment encompasses a games table, armchairs, comfy sofas, plus a bar with high stools. Forever One has five bars so guests can be served quickly and easily on all decks, both inside and outside. Guests have at their disposal versatile indoor areas and expansive exterior living spaces, and anyone who wants to will find nooks where they can relax.

“On board Forever One, I want to offer my guests the best comfort and amenities,” says Grossman. “I love to spend time in good company; nevertheless, my wife and I need our privacy. This is why we have our own apartment on the upper deck aft, where on a yacht of this size, a panoramic saloon would normally be. Abaft our suite, a lounging area opens onto the aft terrace. This is our intimate retreat.” The master suite also includes his-and-hers large bathrooms, two walk-in wardrobes and a room dedicated to his shoe collection.

As Forever One is not meant for the charter market, this yacht only has three large guest suites, all on the lower deck. A fourth room is fitted withhigh-end gym equipment. On the same deck, the roomy bow shape allows for comfortable crew quarters encompassing six double cabins, a generous dinette and a pantry directly connected to the galley on the main deck. Besides being spacious, the crew quarters boast a finish and joinery comparable to guest areas.

“Our crew is at our disposal all year round, and the yacht has to be perfectly maintained and ready to leave whenever we decide,” Grossman says. “We take into great consideration captain and crew, so as we spend prolonged periods on board, sometimes we go ashore in a hotel to give them a little rest.”

From the crew area, a flight of stairs leads to the bilge deck with abundant storage, refrigerators and freezers, cold rooms and laundry. On both sides, stabiliser compartments are easily accessed. A split-level engine room houses two Caterpillar 3512C engines producing more than 1,900 horsepower each – ensuring her top speed of 16.5 knots.

Forever One’s maiden voyage took her owners north to Venice in the Adriatic Sea. They were delighted with the yacht’s performances in all conditions and reported how comfortable they felt in their new floating home. She has indeed proven herself to be a special, life-enhancing yacht.

ISA Yachts

( www.isayachts.com )

Tankoa Yachts 69.30mt Suerte

Measuring 69.30 metres, the steel and aluminium superyacht Suerte was built by the Italian shipyard Tankoa Yachts and completed earlier this year. Making her debut at the 2015 edition of the Monaco Yacht show, Suerte is the inaugural vessel to come out of Tankoa and has been met with considerable praise from the industry.

Her exterior lines come from the drawing board of the renowned Francesco Paszkowski, who has created a modern yacht with generous living spaces. Her interiors also come from Francesco Paszkowski, in collaboration with Margherita Casprini, who together have designed a chic yet welcoming environment.

Throughout Suerte an abundance of natural materials have been utilised - as per request of the owner - which elaborates the aforementioned warm and welcoming ambiance on board whilst still remaining contemporary. This is certainly present in the accommodation on board, with several sophisticated cabins for guests to fully enjoy.

The upper deck master suite is particularly impressive, with a capacious plush bed centred in the oval bedroom overlooking large windows, flooding the area with natural light and allowing the owner to enjoy spectacular 180 degree views both day and night. Furthermore, the owner’s suite also features a private terrace, with a large sofa and intimate Jacuzzi surrounded by sun pads.

On the starboard side of the aft deck is a sofa/bed facing a flat screen TV hidden by a glass panel. This section will be used as a casual TV room but, thanks to sliding walls, it can be isolated to be turned into an extra cabin with bathroom. On port side, there is a Sushi Bar with stools and restaurant styled tables. The center aft portion of the deck is a panoramic salon with giant flat screen TV, fireplace and baby grand piano. The ceiling, here, is a masterpiece with high glass skylights installed in the bottom of the swimming pool.

The panoramic deck is shared between the all integrated glass panel wheelhouse, the captain's office and the captain's cabin. The aft part of the deck is the gym, with state of the art equipment, bathroom, and elevator to access the crow's nest as well as a rest area.

Consisting of a large VIP suite and four additional cabins, guest accommodation is located on the main deck - a welcome contrast to the usual lower deck arrangement. All cabins enjoy the presence of natural light thanks to oversized windows as opposed to the conventional portholes. Decoration is a mixture of washed teak, elegant piano black lacquered details and black marble with some touches of rich leather upholstery. The lower deck is entirely devoted to crew.

Elsewhere inside, the main saloon has been conceived as a truly family orientated space, with a comfortable U shaped sofa surmounted by a library and two deep armchairs able to fit a total of 16 people. A 4K TV measuring 88 inches means that a cosy cinema style environment has been achieved. To the front of the main deck, a stylish formal dining area is found, again comfortably seating up to 16 people. This area features floor to ceiling windows as well as a unique partition wall highlighted by a fish tank, while the fore bulkhead is a giant wine display created by Paszkowski.

Aft of the main deck a beautiful winter garden is found, entirely surrounded by glass walls offering a nice transition between outdoor and interior space and featuring a cosy bar area. Decoration of this area has been clearly inspired by Japanese houses, using a palette of greens with floor to ceiling windows and slate floors.

Outside, she boasts a wealth of The beach club is dressed in washed teak panels, while the back wall is entirely made of slate. In the center of that wall, a central staircase leads directly to the main deck and its reception area. The upper deck is equipped, in its aft section protected by the overhang of the sun deck, with a 16 person dining table, a lounge and two L-shaped sofas allowing perfect view to the sea whilst enjoying the very best of al fresco dining. The usual stainless steel balconies have been replaced by tempered glass.

The sun-deck, aft of the top deck, is another great social area for guests to enjoy, with a touch-and-go helipad. At night, the heli-deck becomes a dance floor with lights, speakers and a DJ station. Further to the front of the top deck, two sun pads as well as a five metre swimming pool are found, complete with built-in stools to enjoy drinks at the bar that ends the pool. The pool is also equipped with a waterfall flowing like a water blade from the superstructure.

Another interesting feature is the crow’s nest that has been designed on the roof where owner and guests will surely enjoy navigation. This area is accessible via an invisible ladder or using the second elevator leading there from the gym.

In her garage, Suerte houses Seabobs Cayago F7 as well as two 7.5 metre tenders for up to 12 passengers, whilst multiple jetskis are installed in the two side foredeck garages. In regards to her performance, she is powered by twin CAT 3516B of 2,480 hp each. This gives her a top speed of 16.5 knots, a cruising speed of 15 knots, and boasting an impressive transatlantic range in excess of 5,000 nm at 12.5 knots.

Michel Karsenti and Yacht-Ology are the sales and marketing force at Tankoa Yachts, and commented on the success of the yard’s inaugural vessel: “This launch was very emotional for all of us. The entire design phase conducted with Francesco Paszkowski was heading towards creating a modern yacht that would still look very good in ten years down the road. Seeing her sitting perfectly in her lines gave all of us the feel of a well-achieved teamwork. Getting to such level of technical achievement with a first yacht is the living proof that an Italian yacht builder when investing wisely can compete with the world’s best shipyard.”


Tankoa Yachts

( http://www.tankoa.it )

CRN 55mt Atlante

Atlante was designed by the Italian design studio Nuvolari Lenard. The naval architecture was done by the CRN in-house engineering team.

Atlante’s strong and sharp exterior design was inspired by military vessels. She has 5 decks and a beam of 10.20m. She reaches a top speed of 15 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots with her twin 1230 KW Caterpillar diesel engines.

CRN’s Chairman and CEO Lamberto Tacoli says:

“Launching a new yacht is always a moment of great pride for the entire Shipyard as emotions go hand in hand with the satisfaction of knowing that each and every one of our products is going to represent our brand and Made-in-Italy yachting across the world’s seas. The ‘ATLANTE’ is an extraordinary jewel – a very innovative one – we can truly be proud of. We are deeply grateful to the Owner Company for choosing us to build such an extraordinary yacht; to the design firm Nuvolari Lenard, that through the ‘ATLANTE’ have once more confirmed their incredible creativity; and to all CRN’s workers and subcontractors who were involved in this project from its very beginning to its final completion”.

Dan Lenard commented:

“We conceived and created this new yacht together with CRN following the requirements of the Owner Company. The outer lines have been developed having in mind a specific final look – aggressive, but at the same time very proportionate. Seen in her entirety, this is a high-impact yacht, whose determined military look becomes soft on the sea. This is why we found some original solutions, such as a non-traditional bow and areas entirely devoted to guests, like the side doors of the main deck that, once the tenders have been launched, can be exploited to the fullest”.

Spanning over five spacious decks, super yacht ATLANTE is run by twin 1230 KW @ 1800 RPM CATERPILLAR diesels, delivering a top speed of 15 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots.


CRN

( www.crn-yacht.com )

Lürssen 66mt Ester III

Ester III’s distinctive lines are the work of Espen Øino, and he calls the conception of the yacht “both an opportunity and a risk”, for the simple fact that the owning family are his “good personal friends”.

The lines of the yacht are strong and business like, with a number of keynote features outside. The dedicated helideck above the wheelhouse is certainly there to be regularly used. “It enables the owner’s family to arrive and leave the yacht without interfering too much with life on the aft deck,” Espen Øino says. Gull-wing doors forward reveal a spacious tender garage, which also serves to free space aft for a spa area.

“Food and hospitality is a big thing for the family and the top deck dining is organised around a barbecue and teppanyaki-fitted kitchen that doubles as a bar. Entertainment on deck includes external cinema and a disco/stage – as well as amenities for golfing!” he says. The exterior spaces have also been maximised for differing weather conditions, with appropriate levels of protection.

The Reymond Langton Design inside is equally blessed with highlights. “The owner requested a French classical theme, but with an authentic contemporary interpretation of this style. French classical with a twist!” says Pascale Reymond. At the heart of the yacht is the set-piece staircase that displays the marquetry skills of Silverlining, and uses wood veneers, leather and metal. In the main deck salon there is a cosy fireplace, as well as seating and dining areas, while the vast owner’s suite is forward on this deck. There are five lower-deck guest cabins, each with a unique theme “derived from bespoke fabric artworks that rise from the headboard and wrap onto the ceiling”, says Reymond Langton Design.

The lower-deck spa, with its Assyrian influence, boasts a massage room that doubles as a hair salon, and a sauna and steam room. Ornate mosaic inlays and a full-sized wall relief carved in stone in the gym combine to form a relaxed, calm yet energising ambience, with direct access to the sea.

“Two world-leading design studios, each adding unique ingredients to the successful recipe, together with a number of owner-commissioned artisans, have allowed us the opportunity to create a truly unique vessel that opens the eyes to new possibilities in designing spaces for living. Combined with Lürssen engineering and expertise, the end result is a superyacht that will provide decades of seaworthy enjoyment,” says Lürssen.


Lurssen Yachts

( www.luerssen-yachts.com )

ISA 66mt Okto

If silence is a virtue, then Italian yard ISA’s biggest launch could be the best boat afloat; the experience of 66 metre Okto is one of pure design expertise allied to the uncompromising use of fine building materials.

We’re out past the breakwaters of Port Hercules before I realise we’re moving. Owner’s rep George Mourkakos motions at the cabin porthole and I almost stumble, my brain suddenly recalibrating as the water flashes by. We’re in the rearmost guest cabin, lower deck, starboard side. There’s a single bulkhead between me and the main machinery spaces and yet I hear nothing. Nor am I vibrating, despite the nearly 5,000 horses warming up just feet from where I’m standing.

Before I can say anything, Mourkakos tells me to wait and goes into the opposite guest suite, closes the door and flushes the toilet. Or at least that’s what he tells me he did when he returns – I didn’t hear anything. This whole lower deck is arranged so no headboards abut the same wall, drawers have to be lifted up and out to avoid rattles and all the doors – at a mere 120 kilos – have rubber stoppers that drop down when closed, creating a soundproof seal. It’s all one massive study in shhhh.

This is best demonstrated in the main deck master suite. Aretha Franklin is warbling at about 70 per cent volume in the study behind the owner’s sleeping quarters, but close the door and she’s instantly muted. Mourkakos smiles – point made.

It says something that for a boat as cool as Okto, the thing that impresses most is the serenity she offers, with sound levels in the cabins while underway around 47dB(A) – like a dishwasher in the next room – and vibration one-third to half that required by the contract. Yes, the pool is amazing, the deck spaces abound and the Alberto Pinto interior is very, very special, but it’s under the waterline and down in the engine room where this 66 metre ISA truly excels. Mourkakos has worked with the owner, whose previous boat was the 82 metre Oceanco iconic yacht Alfa Nero, for 10 years.

“I know the owner, I can anticipate him. We never specifically discussed things like noise and vibration, but we both wanted to do something the industry would notice,” says George Mourkakos. And it has.

ISA’s biggest launch to date was built with a no-expense-spared approach. The tank testing alone took four months, with BMT Nigel Gee working with ISA to develop the hull, which is carried all the way forward into a tall, wave-slicing blade. James Roy, BMT’s yacht design director, says a “significant” team from his company, covering naval architects and structural and mechanical engineers, was deployed to work on the yacht, culminating in a testing regime “more in-line with the testing carried out on specialist commercial vessels”. There were also smoke tests to make sure the superstructure didn’t create dragging vortexes, or leave any exhaust gases swirling around the decks.

If it’s hard to tell that the engines are running, it’s even harder to tell when we’re turning. Out towards Antibes, we start weaving before about-facing for the passage back to Monaco, but there’s no lean – not even a trace of one. Bluff-bowed boats do tend to be tilt free, and she’s hardly some slab-sided, top-heavy wedding cake, but still the ease and level of the turn – albeit with a bit of cavitation out the back – is impressive. The penalty for that upright bow and lack of flare can be a sloppy ride in a big sea, and the captain, Sebastian Gerads, confirms that she may ship a bit of water when pitching, but says he’d rather have this than a lolling, uncomfortable slam-fest.

“It just cuts through it, like a knife through a cake,” he says. Compared to a 100 metre he skippered previously, Gerads is much happier on Okto: “[The 100 metre] had a big bulbous bow and even in 1.5 metres of sea there would be vibration. Sixty-six metres is the perfect size: it just fits between the waves,” he says. She runs lean, too, “consuming much less than expected”, adds the skipper. “Compared to a 60 metre I had before, she’s way less thirsty.” Okto hit 18.75 knots on sea trials, above her contracted requirement of 18, and that was in two metre seas, says Gerads.

It’s hard to ignore that pool for too long, however. As on Alfa Nero, it’s the first thing you see when wandering up to her on the dock, and makes quite an impression. Andrea Vallicelli designed Okto’s exterior and says the pool – 6.5 metres by 4.7 – was one of the most delicate parts of the entire project, “because the aft of the boat is visible and quite narrow”.

It’s narrow because two wide stairways lead up from the bathing platform to the main deck, then again up to the bridge deck, and once more to a perch at the top of the boat with a spa pool and gym. These mirrored stairs up the boat are something of an ISA signature, and while they pinch volume from inside, they also provide a wonderful flow between decks that’s hard to beat.

There’s 80 square metres of open deck on the bridge level alone – plenty of space for lounging. But this is also the dining and dancing deck, with its 1,000W speakers fed by Videoworks software and free-standing seating around a table set out for eight. Although the touch-and-go helideck forward – good for a Eurocopter EC135 – has also been pressed into use as a dance floor on occasion. Unusually, real teak for the decks has been eschewed in favour of synthetic Esthec, in a blondish hue, with broad planks running along the centreline narrowing towards each beam.

“For the plank thickness we studied mathematical progressions,” says Vallicelli, “like the Fibonacci Sequence. It was very challenging connecting this type of decoration with the detailed design of the fixed external furniture.”
The Italian designer had a bit more fun with Okto’s fluid exterior lines, the brief for which was pretty open. The 66 metre platform could comfortably take a proper third deck, but Vallicelli wanted to keep things low.

“The only recommendations were to design an original yacht, unique, and outside any known standard,” he says. “All main technical configurations, like the forward helipad, the aft swimming pool or the gym on the top deck, were conceived to maintain a sleek and stylish profile.”

It’s a design that flows pretty seamlessly into the interior, which flirts with flashy but never crosses the line. Whether entering on the upper or main decks, the first thing you encounter are circles: a formal dining table below and a circular cinema room above. Both operate as inside-outside spaces thanks to enormous doors opening them onto the decks.

In the case of the main deck, the doors are some of the biggest yet installed on a yacht in Italy, according to Mourkakos, and when fully drawn back – at the touch of a button and whisper quiet – open up a five metre aperture. The fabrics used in the seating on the main deck reflect this openness, and have a beach club feel. A lot of work went into the design of the seating to maintain views out over the water, even when you’re at maximum recline. “The owner was fed up owning boats with main decks that never get used,” says George Mourkakos, who also demanded high ceilings – at least 2.2 metres throughout.

Okto was one of the last boats the late Alberto Pinto worked on before his death in 2012 and the owner’s whatever-the-cost philosophy is underscored with the choice of fit-out contractor List of Austria to bring Pinto’s designs to life. List’s considerable reputation is confirmed in the flawless edging, precision alignment of cabinetry and wonderful clunk as you close lockers and cupboards.

Pinto’s studio is now run by his sister Linda, who says, “The owner was looking for a style that was simple yet dynamic. The boat has a sporty allure, which can be found in the interiors by the choice of materials in harmony with the spaces.” The studio also worked on Alfa Nero, so had a useful understanding of the owner’s style.

“The owner asked us to continue in the same spirit as the previous vessel, which is a modern, easy to live in luxury yacht. He wanted it to be as open as possible with beautiful openings to the exterior. The grand windows let much light in, so we worked with dark woods for the main lounge and a zebra wood for the upper deck lounge. As for the owner’s cabin, it was worked with whitened sycamore wood and the finishes were done in shiny varnish which thus reflects the slightest ray of light.”
The owner’s quarters definitely need some explaining. Adjoining the main master suite is another cabin, with a big double bed. It’s a study-cum-nap room, but could also serve as a VIP cabin, or a bedroom for young children who don’t want to stray too far from their parents. As a study it works beautifully, with an enormous window offering fantastic views when sitting behind the desk. Such is the quality of the sound insulation, though, that it can be used completely independently of the owner’s cabin, so friends could stay here too. In this arrangement, the only access to the owner’s cabin is through a dog-legged corridor, lined either side with hanging space. The master bathroom and an intimate vanity area are to port, and the corridor isn’t so much a walk-in wardrobe as walk-through one.

No windows are forward in the master cabin, but a good amount of light makes it through skylights in the deckhead, and to starboard is a fold-down balcony – but with a difference. No owner wants crew trudging through their quarters with stainless steel guardrails that need to be slotted into the balcony when folded down, so Mourkakos demanded a solution that required zero crew. The answer is a system whereby guardrails fold up out of the balcony at the touch of a button, and fold down flush when the balcony folds back up. It’s all push-button owner operation. Even cooler – literally – is the technology keeping the bugs out. When the balcony is down, a precise air curtain starts flowing, creating a barrier to insects, and keeping air-conditioned air inside.

The supreme lounging space is upstairs. “The owner hates projectors on board,” Mourkakos explains as he switches on the outrageous 103-inch plasma screen in the upper deck saloon. Close the doors, lower the curtains and lights with the iPad interface, and select a film from the Kaleidescape entertainment system and you’re set for a night in. This is a very popular place, Mourkakos reports. It’s served by a big, practical pantry, accessed from the main deck crew area. The galley is narrow but long, and the crew lounge on the lower deck is split into two – so two films can be watched at the same time.

A lot of thought has gone into crew movement, with deckhands able to access the forward tender garages from the crew accommodation, as well as a superb tunnel on the tank deck running to the double-height engine room. There’s no beach club on Okto: the owner could have specced it, but chose extra tender storage instead. It’s a good decision, since the intrusion of the deep pool doesn’t mean there’s acres of space. And when up a few easy steps is one of the best pools on the water, why do you need an extra entertainment area so close? Much better to stuff it with toys and a 6.2 metre Ski Nautique.

We tuck back into Monaco harbour, and I watch from the bridge wing station as skipper Gerads expertly moors us stern-to alongside Quai Rainier 1er. It suddenly occurs to me that I haven’t asked the obvious question: why did the owner downsize from an 82 metre to a 66? “He said to me, ‘George, every time I come on board [Alfa Nero], I see new people, new crew.’ So he wanted the same luxury and quality but in a smaller package,” Mourkakos explains.

He found it at ISA Yachts in Ancona, which has delivered in Okto a boat with all the hallmarks of a Northern European production. As I grab my bag to leave I crane my neck so I can hear if the skipper’s turned the engines off. It’s no use: I can’t hear a thing, except that Aretha song in my head: R.E.S.P.E.C.T.


ISA Yachts

( www.isayachts.com )

Lürssen Yachts 95mt Kismet

As owner of NFL franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham Football Club, yacht owner Shahid Khan knows the sporting maxim: you don’t change a winning team. So when he wanted a new, bigger, better yacht, he knew exactly what to do to create his new 95 metre Lürssen Kismet. Launched in July, 2014, Kismet took a win at the 2015 World Superyacht Awards, claiming top spot in the Displacement Motor Yachts of 1,3000GT to 2,999 GT of 75 metres and above category.

When Shahid Khan ordered his first Kismet, in 2004, the gist of the brief to his design team was “make it impressive”. Not only would his family be using the boat for their own enjoyment, but Khan wanted it for corporate entertaining as well as for charter service. That 68 metre motor yacht, launched in 2007 by Lürssen, was successful on all counts, but in the intervening years Khan’s business and his corporate guests have both increased in size. He now owns two football teams, one in the UK and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the US. The American footballers, in particular, mean that Khan does have some pretty bulky guests to accommodate. Sixty-eight metres just wasn’t cutting it.

Enter the new Kismet, launched last year, all 95 metres of her. Her size alone is impressive. Then there is the four metre silver statue of a jaguar, its paw resting on a football helmet, that graces the bow on game days; the two helipads and all that space – enough for his Jacksonville Jaguars to stage a practice. The number of decks for owner and guest use – five – is the same as on the previous yacht, but the scale of those decks, the accommodation afforded by eight suites, and especially the size of the areas dedicated to entertaining, are where the new Kismet really scores.

There are obvious advantages when the team responsible for a successful superyacht project is reassembled for an encore and, indeed, the owner brought all the original Kismet players back together: Moran Yacht & Ship, to develop the specification package and oversee the build, which again was at Lürssen; Espen Øino, for the exterior design; and Reymond Langton for the interior. Just as important in ensuring that the new yacht functions as smoothly as the first, is the fact that Captain Kyle Fultz and his wife Gerry, who serves as purser, have crewed for Shahid Khan for 15 years and have the benefit of knowing how the family lives, works and entertains. The Fultzes made frequent visits to the yard over two and a half years implementing the owners’ wishes for the new luxury yacht.

“They made it what it is,” Shahid Khan says. “Sometimes they would have to take on the yard, sometimes the designers and sometimes they would have to take on the owners,” he chuckles. “They would say to me, ‘yes, you can have that but you would have to give up this function.’ I knew the design of Kismet had to follow the function.”

Khan, who left Pakistan as a teenager to attend the University of Illinois, personifies the American dream with a story that starts with him washing dishes and selling ice-cream, takes in marrying his college sweetheart Ann and results in him owning a $4.4 billion auto parts company with 13,000 employees. He first tested the waters of yacht ownership in 1999 by purchasing a 39 metre Feadship named Gallant Lady from his friend and customer, the late Jim Moran, a car dealer and philanthropist. He told yacht broker Rob Moran, founder of Moran Yacht & Ship, that if he liked yachting, he would have a boat built. Apparently, he found yachting more than suitable and, after several years aboard the Feadship, started talking about building from scratch.

“We were six months into the specs for his next boat when the economic crisis began,” Moran recalls. “Two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, we had a meeting. The market was falling about 1,000 points a day. We were prepared to hear [Khan] say he was halting the project; instead he said: ‘Everybody thinks I’m mad but I’m going to do it.’ He’s a forward-thinking progressive and he makes decisions other guys wouldn’t.”

They started with a design of about 85 metres. “What was originally offered is not what you see today,” says Moran. “He challenged the designers a lot. He’s heavily influenced by automotive shapes and he pushed the designers to the max.” The max became 95 metres.

Pascal Reymond, of interior design firm Reymond Langton, says: “He asked us to scale up the drama of the first Kismet; he had seen [our work on 134 metre] Serene and wanted that level of detail.” Her lead designer on the project, Jason Macaree, credits a collaborative process. “She (Ann Khan) has a clear idea of what she wants things to look like and he (Shahid) drives things to be at the edge. He presents ideas, they are good ideas, and we would work on them, bounce them back and then they would just grow.”

One example of this process is the video walls in the space separating the main saloon from the forward section of the main deck and flanking the stairs to the deck above. Originally a pair of curved stairs, like a double helix, was envisioned to rise between the floors through an open atrium and the renderings showed curved artwork surrounding the staircases. “Then it was Shahid’s idea to have one staircase only with a video wall and open space opposite. Ann said she thought there might be room for a piano there and that led to the idea of creating a more intimate lounge in that space. We made a presentation on that idea and, in the middle of that presentation, she asked if the piano could be integrated into a bar. Well, you’ve seen it, it’s a piano that can be heard through two decks and it’s a bar, but it’s really a work of art. That’s the way this entire project evolved,” says Macaree.

It is why Kismet, despite her size and the fact that her remit is to charter, is so intensely personal. Shahid Khan says he has space to host parties for 270 people and yet there are also comfortable places to go when he’s alone on the boat.

The video walls – with one extending two decks high – are a unique piece of work, made up of 42 individual 140-centimetre monitors. Yes, they can show Fulham's football games, news or films, but they are also programmed to show digitised, high-definition moving artwork as a backdrop to life on board. The system, installed by Atlanta’s Techno Gurus, also links to a pair of high-def cameras mounted outside that can convert the walls into virtual windows.

The massive art deco staircase between the video walls leads from the main saloon to the upper deck lounge, but is not, in fact, the yacht’s centre of circulation – that is farther forward and comprises a lift and offset stairs leading to all decks. But it is the link between the four primary indoor guest entertainment areas on two decks: saloon and cinema on main deck and dining room and lounge above. It’s a feature, amongst others on board, that had Lürssen’s engineers scratching their heads.

“There were, of course, many challenging design features both inside and outside, which gave our engineers some headaches but as expected we were able to solve them all,” says Peter Lürssen, the yard’s CEO. “Particularly, the level of detail on the exterior furniture with its decorative features, was something we hadn’t done before to this extent. And the stunning staircase is a feature that has brought many engineers and craftsmen a few more grey hairs. But that’s our job."

An etched glass walkway spanning the atrium connects the bar with the dining room. It is a masterful way to keep the party connected between decks while exterior stairs link the two aft decks. During inclement weather, sliding glass panels flanking the aft owner’s deck turn that space into a winter garden and outside dining area in all but the worst winter or tropical downpours. The adjacent V-shaped bar – back-lit onyx with RGB colour controls – is party central, but to get celebrations off on the right foot, the aft main deck begins with a convivial outdoor bar. The entire area becomes one big social loop. Add in the bridge-deck lounge above, which looks out over the aft helipad, and the spacious sundeck higher still, with both pool and spa pool, and large-scale entertainment is guaranteed.

One of the challenges Reymond Langton faced was in creating enough intimacy for family use or small charter parties on such a big yacht. Smaller spaces such as the up to date cinema, which is adjacent to the six guest cabins on the main deck and doubles as a guest saloon or reading room, the bridge deck lounge up top and the gym and spa below, show that they have not forgotten the value of cosiness. In fact, there are four fireplaces aboard to ensure just that.

Kismet really shines in details. Each of the five guest suites has not only a unique colour scheme, but uniquely themed door trim. Their position on the main deck means that the suites are wide and multi-windowed. It also has an unusual feature called a sea cabin, carefully placed on the lower deck on portside amidships, where motion will be at a minimum for guests who suffer from seasickness. Of course, its placement adjacent the guestgym, the spa and the starboard side fold-down tender dock would make it equally coveted for other reasons.

“You can go one of three ways with a spa,” says Pascal Reymond. “You can either put it up top and make it surrounded by glass walls for light and views; you can put it adjacent to the beach club at the stern, but that ambiance might suffer when the stern door is closed, or you can put it deep in the ship where it’s naturally going to be dark and cosy and restful with little motion. This is what the owner chose for Kismet. It’s very much a meditative space.”

Indeed it is. Dark stones and interesting juxtaposed textures – from smooth flat rocks to glass to various wood surfaces, including a door that had patterns routed into its face and then was singed for effect – provide just the right amount of physical stimulation while the hammam, spa pool, cold plunge pool, steam shower and massage room are focused on relaxation. The light is soft and soothing.

Behind all the beautifully, exotically finished owner and guest areas lies the heart of the yacht: not just the engine room, which is a typical two-deck Lürssen paean of efficiency, but rather the attention that has been put into the operation side of things, or “back of the house”.

“The first Kismet was the first Lürssen with the ‘Moran cathedral’ engine room: two storeys, with a separate control room,” says Khan. “Some people thought it was a waste of space, but we have factory experience and know how much good visual connection improves the work.”

The crew passages and their connectedness to stores, exteriors and the areas they need to access quickly and repeatedly for service are brilliantly thought out. The main deck placement of the galley, for example, might be considered atypical yet it was arranged to service interior and exterior dining areas above and the social areas on the main deck as well as to receive provisions. The spa also has hidden access so crew or visiting therapists do not travel through owner areas.

The under-deck crew passage contains copious amounts of linen storage and connects to the laundry on the same deck. Like most of the things aboard this yacht, it is well worth the space allocation and adds to function and maintenance: key design elements that are often, unfortunately, overlooked by less experienced project teams or owners. “The crew areas, their cabins and the crew gym as well as the passageways and work spaces, have a positive impact on crew retention, our charter operation and resale,” says Khan.

Kismet itself is a Turkish word that means destiny or fate, perhaps resulting from random forces set in motion long ago, like a 16 year old arriving in America to study engineering and ending up with a superyacht.


Lurssen Yachts

( www.luerssen-yachts.com )