IHC Verschure 77mt Legend

A former Soviet icebreaker, Legend has come in from the Cold War and been transformed into a sumptuous 77 metre explorer. But she still can’t stay away from the white stuff...

Lightning strobes across the horizon as our tender slogs through the heave and chop of the Mediterranean just off Beaulieu-sur-Mer, towards 77.4 metre explorer yacht Legend. Whipping rain, cracks of thunder — it certainly feels as if the Côte d’Azur is lavishing its most melodramatic weather on this ultra-tough vessel.

But it’s not making much of an impression. The thing you notice, as you step on to Legend’s stern platform from a rolling tender, is her rock-like stability. For her, this doesn’t really count as weather.

Legend’s adventures will begin with charters in Antarctica this Christmas, on to South America and Greenland in spring, summer in the Baltic and then back again to the frozen south for winter. Her owner, Jan Verkerk, says: “My plan is to follow the polar summers and allow Legend to provide a luxurious cruising platform for anyone looking for a real adventure.”

Delivered this summer after a 12-month refit at Icon Yachts in the Netherlands, Legend started life in 1974 as an icebreaking tug from Dutch yard IHC Verschure. She was sold to a private owner and converted into a yacht - Giant - from 1999-2003, then laid up in 2005. Verkerk, who had spent years exploring the Antarctic aboard his classic yacht Sherakhan, saw a “gap in the market” for a true expedition yacht and the potential of Legend’s hull - thoroughly rebuilt - to fill it.

“She was built as a Class 1 icebreaker - an icebreaker, not just Ice Class. This is something important. As is her reasonable fuel efficiency and her obvious safe and solid structure,” he says. “I have been able to create a vessel that can go anywhere in the world, but also provide the luxuries that have become standard in the superyacht industry.”

Legend certainly feels solid. Her 6.4 metre draught is nearly twice as deep as many yachts her length, and the same can be said of her weight. Aesthetically, she also balances Verkerk’s portfolio nicely. “Legend was built for the Soviet Union during the Cold War and has seen active service. I like this part of her history and I believe that this shines through her personality. I say ‘she’ but with her powerful lines Legend really is a ‘he’. Sherakhan is more of a classic, old lady. She was built just a few years before Legend, but in those years shipbuilding technology saw significant changes,” he says.

While Verkerk admired the boat’s bone structure, he was bold about the rest: by the end of the refit at Icon, 100 tonnes of new steel and aluminium had been added. Major structural changes put function first. “Legend had a canoe stern — round, closed — but the use of the boat really asked for a big swim platform, where you could moor the tenders and have a closer relation to the water,” says Hans-Maarten Bais, creative director and naval architect at Diana Yacht Design, who was responsible for the exterior design and engineering of the rebuild.

The answer was lengthening Legend’s stern by 3.6 metres, allowing for not only a new swim platform but also a massive 16-person superyacht spa pool— with waterfall — for when the ocean is not suitable for a dip. And there were other fundamental challenges further forward.

“There was a huge tender amidships, which really broke up the boat into a fore-ship and an aft-ship,” says Bais. The solution was removing a massive secondary mast from this space, adding an extra deckhouse and extending the forecastle deck back to join more substantially with Legend’s aft deck. There’s still tender storage amidships - both on this deck and the one below - but Legend’s two halves feel united. As Bais puts it, the change “brings back the balance”.

Also added to Legend’s adventurous kit was a commercial-standard superyacht helideck on the owner’s deck aft, suitable for a six-person Eurocopter EC135, along with its state-of-the-art fire extinguishing systems, an eight tonne helifuel storage tank and bunker systems. There will also be a smaller chopper, for emergencies, to be craned from the helideck to sit on the extended forecastle deck. Rotor blades will be stored neatly in new foredeck lockers and both helicopters vacuum-wrapped to keep them pristine on crossings.

Legend packs in every superyacht water toy a guest could hope for as well as the necessary extra staff — she can take an expedition crew of 10 (helicopter pilot, doctor, expedition leaders, naturalists and so on) on top of the 19 regular crew. Their accommodation is forward on the lower, main and boat decks — giving easy access to every level of guest accommodation. The captain’s cabin and the ice pilot’s, meanwhile, are up behind the revamped wheelhouse.

“The new bridge layout is intended to reflect the atmosphere of the old passenger liners,” says Legend’s captain Bernard Vivegnis, “so you have free-standing consoles rather than a steering desk up on the windows. It is quite nice as you can actually walk up to the window in front of the consoles and check the view. The consoles themselves group navigation, conning and communication in separate units in an efficient way so that the watch is always an easy task.” There’s also a conference corner to plan the next day’s activities with the guests and expedition team.

Up front, the Legend refit project extended the foredeck tender garage so it could accommodate two snowmobiles (fitted with trackers in case guests lose their way) and the ultimate exploration gadget - a three-person U-Boat Worx C-Explorer submarine. Lifted by a foredeck crane through a hatch in the ceiling and into the water, it can dive to 300 metres with two guests and a pilot, and do seven 45 minute dives a day.

“I made a dive with it in the Norwegian fjords,” says Thom Beerens, Legend’s purser. “It’s a really cool, strange experience, sitting there like you’re in a car or an airplane. You see the water level rising, it gets dark, then you switch on the lights and see whatever’s in front of you. We were suddenly looking at a shipwreck.”

But to get her 26 guests to such fantastical locations, rather more prosaic considerations had to be taken into account - especially with a charter yacht that needs to meet standards for a passenger vessel. “The use as a PYC-classed vessel required major modifications of the staircases and fire-retarding bulkheads,” says Jen Wartena, CEO of Icon Yachts. “Other safety systems required replacement of all ceilings.”

The owner’s experience of cruising extreme latitudes also served to bulk up Legend’s safety credentials further. “Because the approach is to sail in Antarctica — the owner has a lot of experience sailing there with Sherakhan — and the aft windows were quite low to the water and massive, he didn’t want to have the risk that a big wave could blow them out. So we made them smaller. The total area of glass is the same, we just extended the area of the windows and divided them into smaller portions. And we made the glass really, really thick so they can withstand the biggest waves.”

In terms of the engine room, as Wartena puts it, “the only things that are still the same are Legend’s beautiful and very powerful main engines, gearbox, shaft and propeller. It is really impressive to see them, and is wise to keep them as part of the history of the boat.”

They certainly seem to work well in concert with the capable hull. “Legend handles nice and easy in any sea state,” says Captain Vivegnis. “Her draught and inertia make for a very easy rolling that the stabilisers compensate for adequately. A following sea is sometimes more annoying as we have built new nice social spaces very close to the sea aft, so that is taken into account when planning a day’s navigation. “I brought Legend from Italy in 2014 without stabilisers. That was in January and Biscay was wild, but the ship handled well then. Now, with the refurbished stabilisers and new software, it has become a really easy ride.”

It’s also important to note that Legend will comply with the IMO Polar Code that comes into effect on January 1, 2017 and covers safety measures and environmental protections for yachts venturing into defined polar waters. She satisfies technical requirements for her category of navigation. The pending requirements are procedures, loose equipment and certification of the officers, but these will be taken care of by the beginning of Legend’s first Antarctic season.

In terms of lifestyle, Legend’s layout has been thoroughly shuffled. “From the main deck up, the luxury interiors have been replaced — all new lounges, a VIP and owner’s area as well as the new wheelhouse and captain’s cabin,” says Wartena. Only four of the original guest cabins remain and they have been comprehensively revamped.

Legend’s owner and his Verkerk Yachting Projects planned the interior design with assistance from Beerens — selecting materials, creating sketches and mood boards. They passed these on to an interiors company for technical realisation. “Our main goal was that every door you open you say, ‘wow’,” says Beerens. “We wanted to make a walk through Legend an adventure by itself. Even if we had clients on board for four weeks, in the third week they should still be finding new things. With the destinations Legend is going to, they stay on board much more than they do here [in Europe], where at night you can go out for dinner. In Antarctica there is no restaurant.”

A sense of fun and excitement certainly comes through in the design but it is most apparent in the lobby forward of the main saloon. This is a whisky bar and (air treated) cigar room, with extensive libraries of both - although the books on the wall are only for show. Legend’s décor has a nautical glamour, with wood panelling, monochrome floor tiles centred with a compass star and sofas in a smart humbug stripe.

“We’re going to get a big chunk of ice from Antarctica and put it in a cooler with a glass vitrine,” says Beerens. “So our clients can take a 30, 40, 50-year-old vodka or whisky, take 2,500-year-old ice with a hammer in their glass and drink it.” To port from here there’s a 14-seat cinema that feels - in the spirit of glamorous adventure - like sitting in the first-class carriage of a classic train. To starboard you will find Legend’s superyacht gym with gear by Life Fitness Parabody, including an inset treadmill for taller guests.

On an explorer yacht it makes sense to promote this space from its traditional position lower down, since guests spending long periods on board Legend will likely use it more than Med cruisers, who can opt for an evening stroll on shore. They’ll appreciate the light and being close to social life on board. And, as Beerens notes, “one of the crew is a fitness instructor and two are masseuses”. The latter will pummel muscles in Legend’s Balinese spa below the saloon, with its decorative woodwork, a central spa pool, sauna and massage rooms.

The large saloon is the cosiest area on board Legend, with space to dine in company and warm up around an ornate fireplace. Up a level, the aft boat deck saloon is a modern, light indoor-outdoor space that gives the feeling of relaxing al fresco even when conditions won’t permit actually venturing on deck.

Inside, there’s a bar, TV lounge, self-playing Mason & Hamlin piano and white modular seating around a central artificial fire. Out on the aft deck these shapes are echoed, with a circular barbecue grill taking the place of the fire. The 13 en-suite guest cabins on board Legend include two VIP suites, five double and five twin cabins (some convertible) and a forward owner’s suite ranged across the owner’s deck. “Her accommodation is designed around big cities, with each room containing an element of the city it has been named after,” says the owner.

The colours and ambience inform the accent tones and materials - particularly evident in the VIPs Moscow (dark glossy wood and red leather upholstery) and New York (sweet little Art Deco bar). In cabins and throughout Legend there are artificial Opti-myst fires that run on steam, for cosy nights in frozen places.

The master suite, Paris, features the muted tones of pale grey and warm woods. There’s a central bed, a little sitting room, a big bathroom and it can be joined with the suite just aft (Amsterdam). And just aft again there’s a kitchenette, where guests can help themselves to coffee in privacy. Much like Legend as a whole there’s a balance between cosiness and adventure, toughness and romance. As Wartena notes of the spa pool: “It must be great to bubble in this mega hot tub while sailing between icebergs, orcas and penguins.”

IHC Verschure 

Amels 73,50 mt Plvs Vltra

Amels’ Limited Editions concept is one of the superyacht industry’s great success stories. Each boat in the range offers a high degree of interior customisation and there’s just enough in Tim Heywood’s curving exterior lines to make a yacht feel individual, while a shared technical platform hacks time and cost off a project. And, with every repetition, the process gets smoother, the unknowns diminish.

Heywood maintained the Limited Editions signature look, which he says is “strong and functional”. “It complements the flowing lines very well, which I describe as athletically feminine,” says Heywood. “I must admit that these curves are not necessarily the easiest forms to build, but Amels rose to the challenge.”

The paint — jet black between Matterhorn white decks — gives Plvs Vltra a dose of individuality. “I also added those curving jet black highlights to echo the curve of the wing station and then reversed it in the superstructure,” he says. “That form is echoed again in the mast structure. And finally the marlin blue waterline stripe.”

The owners previously had the Limited Editions 180 yacht Step One, which was also project managed by Moran Yacht & Ship and delivered in 2012._ "The owner and his family greatly enjoyed _Step One and he decided to build a larger yacht with Amels as he was happy with the shipyard and struck up a strong rapport with sales director Rob Luijendijk," president Rob Moran adds. The Plvs Vltra project was managed for the owner by Moran Yacht & Ship.

But lifestyle needs meant the layout required a thorough rethink for Plvs Vltra. “The main requests were a large swimming pool on the main deck, two 10 metre tenders, a large master suite forward on the upper deck, a huge spa with all of the features of a top class facility, and large exterior areas to enjoy with friends and family," Moran continues.

“They want their family to be with them and they want to spend a lot more time on board”, says Andrew Winch of Winch Design, who penned the interior. “They said, ‘At this size, we don’t really want to get off’.”

In short, the owners wanted a full-time residence, not a holiday boat. That informed every aspect of the design, splitting Plvs Vltra’s accommodation into an owner’s deck, two VIPs on the main deck and three guest cabins on the lower deck, so that three generations can have their own space or come together as desired.

But as Winch puts it: “The spa was where it kicked off at the beginning.” This lower deck, amidships space incorporates a spectacular central spa pool, massage area, steam room, bar and sauna with a window on to a broad, fold-down balcony to starboard.

There’s an elaborate mosaic of a dandelion by Sottoriva on the wall of the steam room and, on the floor, mystery white and rosa egeo marbles curve out from the superyacht spa pool in a shell pattern. Above the pool there’s an artwork of gilded porcelain shells by Valeria Nascimento. All this enhances the feeling of it being a space to linger in, rather than a utilitarian area to use and then leave.

“It’s quite normal for them to go there for four or five hours,” says Winch. “They can have an oil massage on the bed and when they’ve finished have their hair done. And when they leave the spa they are ready to put a dress on and go and party. It is a sequence of functions that are all about pleasure. Each area is a passage of time.”

The superyacht balcony, with an inflatable watertight seal, is positioned high enough that even stray waves that did make it to this part of Plvs Vltra would be unlikely to worry guests — but there are prodigious drains inside, just in case.

Routeing has been thought about carefully, with a smooth-running glass-fronted lift that whisks the owners down here directly from the lobby aft of their upper deck suite. There’s also a side-boarding ladder from the main deck to the fold-down balcony that means children can spend whole days outdoors, padding from Plvs Vltra’s aft deck swimming pool, with its counter current jets for lap swimming, extensive sunpads and bar, down to the superyacht spa.

But the position of the space is arguably Plvs Vltra’s greatest asset. “It was a deliberate choice of Amels to put the beach club in the middle, or tipping point, of the ship,” says Konings. “It is the most comfortable place to be at any time at sea. So when it gets a bit rough, the Jacuzzi can stay filled and guests can actually use the spa area.” This position also leaves the aft of the boat as a purely functional garage for tenders and toys.

Another consideration towards creating a more residential feel in Plvs Vltra is the absence of long corridors — a feature usually distinctive of planes, trains and boats. Where possible, the design eschews them in favour of more useful or atmospheric spaces.

Outside the main deck VIPs, for example, the area is divided into a circular lobby with painted, lacquered blue and white panels designed by Canadian artist Peter Gorman. Just aft, there’s a small library with two armchairs. “The two windows are lined up with the two windows in the ship’s hull, so you have natural light,” says Konings.

Slanting windows flood the VIPs themselves with light while the lower deck guests get spectacular marble en suites — and the head height throughout is excellent.

Décor was just as vital to the project as layout. “If you take a look at some of the hotels in the South of France, such as the Hotel du Cap, they are classical and they are about wonderful sea views with very light interiors,” says Winch. “They wanted, architecturally, a classic interior, classical mouldings, classical selections of marbles and furniture. They wanted variety and individuality to the boat.”

It’s a highly decorative design, with intricately veined marbles, stained woods and plenty of crystal but, thanks to the blend of neutrals with soft Cote d’Azur tones of blue and yellow, the effect remains light and relaxing — and more like a house than a boat.

In Plvs Vltra’s main saloon, there are substantial pillars, hand laid with moon gold leaf, customised Italian upholstery in ivory velvet by Pozzoli of Milan, crystal-based lamps with silver leaf and silk shades by Baldi, as well as a bespoke silk and wool carpet by Winch Design with Tai Ping.

The mosaic in the main deck lobby is as much a work of art as the bronze Alexander Krivosheiw sculpture that stands over it — slivers of marble in mystery white, blue jeans, labradorite weiss, golden spider, calcite azzurra and cream Valencia in an intricate pattern by Winch Design, created by stone artisans Magma in Sicily.

Other aspects of this detailed residential effect were a particular challenge. “We have never been asked before to do chandeliers that appear to be free-hanging,” says Winch. “If you go back to Victorian yachts, they would have free-hanging chandeliers but here you can’t afford a rattle, something to be tinkling or breaking.”

The solution for these fittings, in the main and dining saloons, was fixing the hundreds of individual crystal droplets with tiny metal pins. They were penned by Winch Design and manufactured by Czech crystal specialist Preciosa.

Up in the owner’s lounge things are more relaxed, with blue-stained sycamore panelling, loungy seating in front of a concealed cinema screen and full-height windows that open on both sides, for a breeze that runs all the way through.

Forward, there’s a limited edition Parallèle piano by Hilton McConnico and aft, a backlit rock crystal bar, behind which the wall is clad in pearlised lacquer with copper brick inlays. Back again on the long aft deck there’s a dining table and bar.

The full-beam master suite forward on the upper deck has a central bed and access to the foredeck from doors either side of the windows. The palette of green, neutrals and metallics is repeated in the organic patterns of the silk and wool carpet, again by Tai Ping and Winch Design, as well as lustrous Rubelli curtains.

The most spectacular piece is a hand-painted and embroidered silk wall covering of birds on a blossoming tree, penned by Winch Design and produced by Fromental.

All of this interior refinement was achieved on a pre-agreed budget, as Moran explains: “The biggest challenge our team faced, was that the client would not accept any cost changes. We accepted this gamble and we met our promise. Andrew Winch, who is a very good designer, is not known for his frugality, but we managed to provide an exquisite interior that came within the budget. Such a task has never been previously achieved on an Andrew Winch designed yacht.”

Aft of the master cabin, a corridor was necessary to lead between his and hers en suites to the bedroom, but it has been enhanced as far as possible. “Because of the way we planned the positions of the showers, with their own windows and inboard curved walls in glass, you get light through both bathrooms and into the middle of the corridor,” says Winch.

Those en suites are as decadent as they come, with sand-etched, curved glass panels enclosing massive showers with every bell and whistle, as well as glamorous vanities with rock crystal fronts that glow in the sun.

The owner’s office, off the lobby between owner’s suite and lounge, strikes a very different note from the rest of Plvs Vltra’s décor. It is dark and serious: black stained Newood, red lacquer, gold leaf panels and an ebonised timber desk with gilt detailing and an oxblood red leather top. “It’s a more male space,” says Winch.

Up on the bridge deck things are far brighter, with a much-used superyacht gym that leads out to a sprawling combined aft deck and touch-and-go helicopter pad, with an oversized elliptical sofa for watching films on the screen that drops down from above the gym door. Plvs Vltra’s sundeck has a spa pool and sunpads made ultra private by a position forward of the mast.

Heywood really went to town on the mast, with a sculptural form and decorative stainless steel touches. Other less glamorous aspects of the build have been thought through carefully, too. “We have a main stairwell and right on the back of it there is a stairwell for the crew, so the crew can service the whole ship without ever being seen by the guests,” says Konings.

A full-beam crew mess on the tank deck leaves the whole nose of the lower deck for crew accommodation, while a good-sized galley sits amidships on Plvs Vltra’s main deck.

Apart from consulting Damen Research to reduce noise and vibration through calculation and simulations, the generators are insulated in their own room — an idea taken from another Amels 74 metre, Ilona — giving better maintenance access than by boxing them in, while protecting the eardrums of those who work in Plvs Vltra’s vast engine room all day.

“It surprised everybody. The sound of vibration is phenomenal, unbelievable,” says captain Simon Truelove. “Plvs Vltra’s a big boat, she’s got a lot up top as well, but she’s got stabiliser systems that balance out. The 180 is a great boat and standing on the bridge this seems exactly the same — but actually there’s another extra 20 metres on the back of her and you’re higher up.” It’s one aspect in which the yard will be pleased to know that two of its Limited Editions can’t be told apart.


Amels

( www.amels-holland.com )

Blohm+Voss 74.5mt Enigma

Martin Francis’s iconic creation is finally stepping into the spotlight 25 years after her launch. The designer reveals all about the birth of Enigma, her remarkable first owner, and those amazing windows...

Martin Francis has been waiting 25 years for this. Enigma’s designer was denied the opportunity to speak to any media when the yacht was launched back in 1991 and so she has remained true to her name ever since — off the radar, a little mysterious.

But now Enigma’s for sale, the shroud has been lifted and Francis is basking in this long-delayed moment in the sun. “I’m terribly emotional,” he says on board. “I’ve given so many years to this boat.”

Born Eco, renamed Katana and finally Enigma, she is still a gut-punch of a design: a long, lean destroyer dressed in silk. Technically, she’s a profound achievement. She was the first superyacht to be fitted with an underwater foil, which provides 120 tonnes of lift at the stern to help her achieve that outrageous top speed of 36 knots.

Those iconic windows are a masterstroke of design and construction. And, after all these years, Enigma’s still totally vibration-free — even when the centrally mounted gas turbine is flicked on and winds up to its max output of 18,500hp.

This boat should be fêted, up in lights, on the marquee in massive capital letters — ENIGMA. Francis, meanwhile, should be one of the most in-demand superyacht designers in the world.

Yet… Francis’s phone didn’t ring for eight years after Enigma was launched. Meanwhile, some of the exciting young designers he had incubated at his South of France studio — Espen Øino, Dan Lenard, Mark Smith and Jonny Horsfield — drifted off to conquer the world on their own.

“It doesn’t always pay to be ahead of the curve,” he says a little ruefully as we tour the yacht. But regrets? Not one. Enigma was Francis’s first motor yacht design after a career spent penning sailboats and working with the likes of Norman Foster, and the pride he feels when showing me around the boat is evident. “See the shower drains?” he motions in the master cabin’s bathroom. “I even designed those.”

It’s easy to recognise the brilliance of Enigma’s design today, but back when she was launched the reviews weren’t all glowing. Naval architects queued up to rubbish her: the bridge is on the wrong deck; the windows will break; who sticks a big appendage under the water when you’re trying to reduce drag? “The boat initially came in for an enormous amount of stick,” Francis remembers. “It was really quite vitriolic.”

Fortunately, he was working for a man who occupies a special place in the pantheon of visionary superyacht owners: Emilio Azcárraga. The Mexican billionaire was a media titan, owner of mega-brand Televisa, which ran — and still runs — TV networks and radio stations across Mexico and the US. He was, Francis says with genuine feeling, “the most amazing client I’ve ever had”.

Designer and owner became almost symbiotic, with Francis going on to design a number of projects for the Mexican, including a roof for the giant 100,000-seat Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Azcárraga loved the boat Francis designed so much he chose to die on it. “He had homes all over the world, but he lived the last six months of his life on board, in Miami,” says the designer. In the six years of his ownership, Azcárraga became famous for the time he spent on board, including six transatlantics.

In one memorable season, he joined the yacht in Hamburg, took it up to St Petersburg, then across to the UK, down into the Med and the Balearics, then across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and up to Los Angeles. To assist all that passage-making, Azcárraga’s rep, the ageless George Nicholson, of the Camper & Nicholsons dynasty, bought a tanker so she could refuel mid-Atlantic.

“I found it in Denmark,” he recalls. “It was the smallest tanker that I could buy at 1,000 tonnes. We called her Eco Supporter. It would buy fuel at the best prices, then clean it so we always had a 200-tonne tank full of clean fuel. We used to send the tanker way ahead of Eco and make a rendezvous somewhere at sea.”

Nicholson also remembers the owner fondly. He sold him a 36 metre CRN, Caribe III (now Nordic Star), in 1974, kick-starting a long association. Azcárraga then went on to buy two Feadships, Azteca (now Lionwind) and Paraiso, both designed by Jon Bannenberg.

In the mid-1980s, he started thinking bigger and asked Bannenberg, Francis and the famed car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro to dream up some concepts. “The ideas and suggestions from Martin were by far the most radical and pleasing to the client,” Nicholson says.

But Francis recalls the process of settling on a final design being slightly tortuous. Initially Azcárraga asked for something akin to Azteca, the 1983 Feadship designed by Bannenberg in his faceted, militaristic style, but he wasn’t happy with the proposals he was getting back.

Frustrated, Francis says he stormed back into the office one day and said: “Throw everything he said out of the window. We’re going to make it long and with everything curved.” So conceived was the legend.

Those windows are the first thing you notice. The idea came from curved Parisian windows, which are designed to limit internal reflections. Their installation on Enigma didn’t serve any practical purpose — it’s all about style — but the effect they have on the view from inside is dramatic. All the glazing was made by Flachglas in Germany and caused a few palpitations when first proposed.

“At that stage we did not know if the hull and superstructure would be really stiff, and were afraid that these large and special windows would crack,” recalls Nicholson. To date, in 25 years, only two panes have.

“It was a work of art to get them right,” says Francis, not least because the Lloyd’s surveyors weren’t big fans, thinking the frames fronting the bridge wouldn’t be able to take the force of a big wave — a problem on slender boats like Enigma, which tend to be wet.

They demanded Francis design some removable mullions that are supposed to be slotted into place to strengthen the screen in a big sea. “We’ve still got them,” says Enigma’s captain, Stuart Lees. “We never use them.” The 19mm toughened glass has withstood it all — helped by a locker-cum-wave breaker on the bow.

The positioning of the bridge on the main deck was the main thing that riled rival designers when Enigma first appeared, with one even suggesting that placing a wheelhouse at this level should be illegal. The original plans had it higher but Azcárraga wanted the best views for himself.

“He said, ‘but that’s the best place. I want to be there. The pilot of my plane never looks out of the window. I don’t see why the captain needs to’,” remembers Francis. “And that was that. He had spoken.”

The current skipper says he has no complaints about the positioning, and often finds himself piling on the power when the water starts hitting the screens. “Sometimes, when it gets rough and the sea is picking up, especially if we’re heading straight into it, we’ll go faster and it just lifts the bow a bit and it almost wave-pierces through, so where you’re actually pitching quite heavily at 15 knots, at 25 knots you’re wave-piercing through it and you pull yourself out of bad weather.”

When it comes to Enigma’s power, Francis loves one particular story. “On one of the first sea trials, we were having a problem with the gas turbine. We got it sorted out around lunchtime. We were off Palma and Azcárraga said: ‘Captain, let’s go to Porto Cervo’.

“The mistral had been blowing so we set off in a swell and had a Mexican lunch at about three and a siesta, and then watched a few movies, and a late dinner, and at midnight we were in Porto Cervo. There’s nothing out there that will do that. Nothing. Twenty-five years later there’s nothing that will do that.”

Speed was central to the brief from the start, Nicholson says. The engines chosen for the job were heavy-duty Deutz lumps, outputting 5,000hp. They were coupled to Kamewa waterjets, since Azcárraga loved nosing into deserted — and often poorly charted — anchorages, and had damaged props in the past.

The two diesels will get Enigma up to nearly 20 knots, but the punch to top speed is provided by the central General Electric gas turbine. “It was the first production turbine for civilian use,” says Nicholson. “I had to sign an official secrets paper in order to buy it. The Aga Khan bought the next three engines for his transatlantic record-breaker, Destriero.”

All that muscle comes at a cost — Enigma is a thirsty ship at speed. At her 36 knot top end, she’s burning 5,000 litres an hour. In 48 hours at full pace she can empty her 240,000 litre fuel tank. “I know because we’ve done it several times,” says Captain Lees.

Drop back to her cruising speed of 18 knots and Enigma’s range extends to about 2,200 nautical miles. Her efficiency is helped by a piece of revolutionary hydrodynamic hardware — a large underwater wing that sits slightly aft of the transom jets and attaches to the hull with two struts.

It took 11 tank-testing campaigns to settle on a final design for the hull and foil, which not only prevents the stern from “squatting” at speed, it also limits Enigma’s trim, which varies just 1.5 degrees from zero to 36 knots.

It was originally thought hanging so much steel off the boat would have drag penalties at low speed, but in fact it was found that at 18 knots efficiency improved by almost 20 per cent. “The foil wasn’t in the original spec,” says Francis, “but when they saw how much performance it gave them, they couldn’t afford not to put it on.”

What was in the spec from the get-go was the Maule amphibious seaplane, which was stowed on the expansive aft deck. Azcárraga had lost a number of friends in helicopter accidents and so the plane was the only choice — and quite a challenge to incorporate into the design. It could be stored on board without folding the wings and was powerful enough to take off and land in the boat’s length.

The plane was ditched by Enigma’s second owner, Larry Ellison, who turned the aft deck into a basketball court. He also added a glass-enclosed superyacht gym on the main deck aft, a new exterior stair to the upper deck and a spa pool on the top deck’s wing station.

Plug-in controls (now removed) meant the yacht could be controlled from this level and legend has it the former captain used to moor the boat while having a soak. Zero-speed stabilisers, meanwhile, were added in 2009.

The layout has been fiddled with rather than ripped up by the three successive owners — an upper deck dining room is now a saloon, for instance, while the position of the bed in the owner's cabin has changed a few times. Each time someone has wanted to change Enigma, they’ve called in Francis. He designed her interior originally with François Zuretti, working on his very first yacht.

A beam of 11.2 metres is modest for a 74.5 metre yacht, yet you don’t feel too pinched on Enigma’s main deck. High central topsides mean the guest accommodation enjoys the full beam, and large windows give a real immediacy to the view.

The upper deck is the owner’s enclave and can be isolated from guests with a partition door. Another door on the deck above means the owner can turn the forward part of both decks into an exclusive duplex.

Sitting in that sundeck saloon, looking out at the world through those convex windows is a unique experience, doubly so because they’ve never been copied. In an industry sometimes notorious for producing “just another big white boat”, Enigma stands truly alone.

The only coverage Azcárraga would allow about the yacht all those years ago was an article in the February 1992 issue of this magazine, about her incredible performance.

“Eco is one of those very special superyacht projects where the designers and builders have been encouraged to redefine the boundaries of their trade; to explore the limits of their ideas and to push the frontiers of technology and engineering,” we wrote.

Were Enigma launched tomorrow, those words would still apply — and might still in another 25 years. She is an icon, a great, a hall-of-famer and, after a quarter of a century, unmasked.




Blohm+Voss

( www.blohmvoss.com )

Pendennis 85,60mt Aquila

Hulking in Pendennis’s 150 metre dry dock, 85.6 metre Aquila is an imposing refit project. When launched as Cakewalk in 2010 she was the largest yacht built in the US since the 1930s, and here she has become the biggest vessel yet refitted in the UK.

But gazing up at her hull, and knowing how quickly she’s been transformed, it is the speed as much as the scope of this superyacht refit project that seems Herculean. “No single job was that tricky,” says Stephen Hills, project director at Pendennis, who managed the Aquila refit programme, somewhat surprisingly. “The challenge of this project has been the volume of the changes in the timeframe that was set.”

Indeed, one year was all the Cornish yard had in which to transform the elaborate, traditional design of Derecktor’s 2010 Cakewalk into a clean, elegant yacht that could pass as freshly launched. That’s 85.6 metres — in one year.

“Nine hundred people between England and Germany have been involved in this project,” says Tony Dixon, design director at the studio responsible for the refit, Redman Whiteley Dixon. Not to mention craftsmen all across the US. “Something like 750 square metres of floor area has been gutted and rebuilt, similar to the total area of a 55 or 60 metre motor yacht.”

With an ambitious brief, the Aquila project would involve major structural changes and gutting the interior. There was also a transformative design by Redman Whiteley Dixon and Susan Young Interiors, making this the second yacht project on which the two studios have collaborated for this client.

Layer upon layer of complex alterations had to be seamlessly choreographed to prevent a carpenter installing a cabinet before the electrician had finished wiring behind it, or a designer placing a panel of silk while a chippy could still get a dusty fingerprint on it.

Pendennis took a military approach to the Aquila project. “The way we’ve gone about it is to treat it as three distinct projects,” says Hills. “So the interior is one and is run by its own dedicated project manager. The exterior paint programme and modifications are the second project, with a project manager on it.

“And the technical changes and upgrades, again with a separate project manager. So by being very clear from the outset that it’s split, with clear leads in each area, you start to break the whole Aquila project down into more manageable amounts.”

And then, of course, there’s the unexpected, which had to be expected. Crucially Aquila’s owners trusted the yard to take decisions. As Hills puts it: “They bought into the idea that it’s better to take a decision, move ahead and achieve the programme, with the risks that involves.”

One of the most substantial elements of that programme was totally reordering Aquila’s superyacht sundeck. It had always been sequestered into fore and aft sections by a trunk of interior areas — the central staircase, lift, dayhead and various technical and service spaces — which have remained mostly intact. On Cakewalk the aft portion of deck space was sliced up by a central spa pool, along with a step down to an aft row of sunloungers.

The new configuration has removed the pool and placed it on the forward section of the deck. The now larger aft deck has a light-up bar, central seating area and loungers further back. It’s a sign of the uncompromising nature of the Aquila project that the old step was removed and a new one added, just a couple of feet further aft, to give the upper space a little more sweep.

This update involved re-teaking the whole area. The forward portion of the sundeck, meanwhile, places a large superyacht spa pool surrounded by sunpads at the more private forward end (they had to strengthen the bulkheads below), and there’s still room for a bar and sofa. A pantry has been converted to a massage and spa room inside, too.

While there is an improved superyacht beach club on the lower deck, Cakewalk’s design precluded the sort of spectacular on-water area that you might find on an 85 metre launched today. Therefore, says Toby Allies, sales and marketing director of Pendennis, “the whole idea of this deck is to create that kind of beach club scene, but on the higher sundeck area”.

On the aft bridge deck below, outdoor lifestyle has also been enhanced. Teak pillars were refreshed and the deck has been sparingly furnished with modern, low-slung furniture, the pièce de résistance of which is circular seating with a fire pit in the middle. Forward, at the entrance to the bridge deck saloon, large wooden cabinets have been removed. Now the broad glass flank floods Aquila’s new interior with light.

The décor throughout is the polar opposite of Cakewalk’s honey tones — cool off-whites and dark smoked eucalyptus woods, taupe suedes, blue and grey velvets and nickel highlights. It was installed by German superyacht stalwarts Metrica, whose precise methods fit well with the exacting nature of the Aquila project.

“The brief was to transform it into a really elegant, modern yacht, within the existing framework,” says Dixon. “He likes a traditional style, with panelling, and she prefers the more modern treatment. By using flat panels and a lot of fabric on the walls, it doesn’t look like a study anywhere that it’s not supposed to. Dark panelled interiors with white look really crisp and sharp.”

The owner’s deck saloon, one level below, has a gentlemen’s club feel with a spectacular bar that Redman Whiteley Dixon and Susan Young Interiors coated with tobacco leaf to give it a rust brown patina, backed with ripple-faced mirrors and metalised fabric wall surfaces by Silverlining, which also made the dining table and bubble-glass doors in Aquila’s bridge saloon.

Sliding glass panels backed with a mirror-like coating were installed behind the bar to create a dramatic foil-like feature. They slide to reveal two TVs, transforming the use of the space. These panels were designed by Susan Young Interiors and fabricated by Peter David Studio.

Forward, in the owner’s cabin, the design was also fundamentally reimagined. An exterior ladder ran from the bridge deck to the foredeck, cutting down the centre of the owner’s cabin’s forward windows. That has been removed and a proper floating staircase has been created, set apart from Aquila’s superstructure, allowing much more light into the large master suite.

Inside, things changed substantially, too. “The whole owner’s deck was reconfigured,” says Dixon. “We moved the cabin bulkhead aft, opening the whole boat up at the front.” The cabin now takes in part of what was a broad lobby-cum-sitting room that covered nearly as much space as the cabin itself, but offered far less functionality.

And there’s still room for a grand entrance hall in grey veined marble and leather panels, two spectacular bathrooms to either side, his-and-hers dressing rooms, a hairdressing and massage room, pantry and large study.

With the enlarged cabin and the bed moved to port — “having a bed on the centreline, you waste a lot of space because you end up with essentially passageways on either side,” says Dixon — there was space for a sitting room to starboard. There is also now direct access from the cabin to Aquila’s foredeck, which has been enlarged from a technical access walkway to a 60 square metre Portuguese bridge-style deck that provides a neat private enclave for fresh air.

If the owner’s deck got the biggest dose of glamour, then Aquila’s main saloon one level below has become a family haven. “There was a dining room, all enclosed with sliding doors, and these massive wide walkways down either side,” says Dixon. “Then you had this fireplace at the back with a couple of armchairs — a funny little lounge that no-one would have used.”

A new dining table replaced the seating area aft and the semi-enclosed dining saloon forward was demolished and a high-tech cinema was put in its place. The 98-inch widescreen has a professional grade 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos surround system of seven in-wall Genelec speakers and four overhead speakers, plus two Artcoustic subwoofers with powerful 1kW amplification, with a Crestron control system.

“The inside of the cinema has its own false floor,” says Hills, “with a resiliently mounted deck, so that it’s independent from the steel structure underneath it and you reduce structural-borne vibration into the cinema. And when the cinema is in full blast, there is as little as possible transmission of the noise out of the cinema.” On top of this there are heavy doors with acoustic seals and special insulation in the bulkheads.

Forward on the main deck, new flooring, hardware and en-suite bathrooms have been upgraded throughout the guest cabins on Aquila. Even where there are remnants of the older boat, the way they have been used is impressive. “The main staircase is probably one of the most striking changes,” says Hills. “There’s much more of a wow factor to it now — you would not have thought that just changing wall claddings and colours and finishes could have such an effect.”

The floral carpet has gone for a silky grey, and curling wrought ironwork replaced with stainless steel bars, but the wooden base and handrail remain, albeit stained darker. And the central chandelier by Czech company Preciosa is, as Hills puts it, “quite a piece of engineering in its own right”.

On her lower deck Cakewalk already had a spectacular tender garage that opened on both sides — with a Riva Aquariva and a Vikal Limousine tender, both fully serviced in the refit. This area has remained largely unchanged but the beach club aft has been reconfigured and a skylight built in.

Access has also been improved, with a stairwell added to starboard and the watertight door from the tender garage moved to that same stairwell, so the beach club won’t be used as a corridor to the stern platform. There’s also a top-notch superyacht gym on board Aquila.

The crew mess has a new layout, with better seating and counter space, there’s new AV and showers in crew cabins, and functional improvements were made in Aquila’s galley. The factory-sized engine room had a five-year survey and gained a new Hug exhaust filter system. Air-conditioning has been replaced throughout, as has the lighting/blind control system, now by Lutron. She’s also been rewired for LEDs and tech upgraded to UHDTV, high-end audio and state-of-the-art WiFi.

Outside, the finished article was given a suitably cool-toned repaint by Pinmar with a midnight blue hull and ice white superstructure, electrostatic paint guns ensuring a super-even finish. It’s one of a mass of jobs undertaken with a thoroughness that has resulted in a superyacht that feels every bit as fresh as a brand new boat.


Pendennis

( www.pendennis.com )

Feadship 70mt Joy

His first yacht, Joy is a 70 metre Feadship, but this is one owner for whom size is not everything, says Stewart Campbell.

The bigger the saloon, the less it gets used. Despite this being one of the few generally accepted rules of superyacht design, boats are still pouring out of sheds with wide-open acreage on their main and upper decks. Designers earn their money making these spaces feel as comfortable as possible, but there’s often no hiding the fact that they’re just really big rooms. And who feels comfortable putting their feet up in one of those?

Clearly not the owner of 70 metre Joy, who has pulled off something of a magic trick with this, his very first yacht: he’s made it feel cosy. “I did not want some floating villa with vast internal spaces compromising the relationship with the ocean and the interior,” he says.

“We did not need to be compromised by some preset platform or convention. We designed Joy with our own lifestyle and vision in mind.” To achieve this, volume has been turned right down. Joy carries fewer gross tonnes (around 1,100) than any other 70 metre motor yacht on the water.

Even Heesen’s low-slung and sporty Galactica Super Nova is packing a bigger interior. Benetti’s stacked 70 metre Freedom, by comparison, has almost twice the internal volume, at 1,975GT. “I wanted a yacht that was progressive and not afraid of challenging convention,” Joy’s owner adds, consigning the superyachting mantra of “more and bigger” to the dustbin.

Actually, that’s not quite true of the whole boat. By keeping the interior human-sized, the decks have been exaggerated. You can comfortably walk two abreast down Joy’s ample side decks, protected the entire time by the high bulwarks and deck overhang above.

The owner’s deck, meanwhile, should really be known as the “promenade deck”. You can stroll hand in hand around the entire superstructure, all on one level. You could even jog in tandem. Feadship claims there’s more teak on Joy than any other comparable superyacht. I can believe it — it just keeps going, ending up on the owner’s deck in a basketball and badminton court all the way forward.

Joy wasn’t always going to have such expansive outside spaces; she grew from 50 metres to 63 metres and finally to 70 metres. Simon Rowell, creative director at Bannenberg & Rowell, which designed her exterior and layout, says: “Once Joy was mapped out and engineered [at 63 metres], the owner asked us to study a longer prow, in essence for two simple reasons: he felt that a longer external foredeck visually gave more breathing space between hull and superstructure and leant the yacht an elegant stance on the water; secondly, he would benefit from a very large terrace forward of his suite, effectively extending his family deck significantly.”

It was a savvy move from the young owner, whose defiance of yachting norms extended to his choice of collaborators in the creation of his boat. Joy is the first exterior design by Bannenberg & Rowell to hit the water, while for the interior he turned to London-based Studio Indigo, which had designed boats before but never on the scale of Joy.

The company is led by Mike Fisher, who said he was asked to create an interior that was “unique and non-boat like”. He continues: “The client and his wife are young, energetic and visionary. They look to the future and rarely to the past. They hoped the design of Joy would create a real sense of contentment and comfort, without making the boat feel like every other yacht and avoiding the clichéd details that would date in years to come.”

The approach has led to an interior that’s not easy to pigeonhole, but which Fisher describes as “vintage, without being overtly fashionable”. Equally outside-the-box is Joy’s superstructure, which looks as if it was carved.

“We wanted to connect with the surroundings, to garner the best views,” says James Carley, director of exterior design at Bannenberg & Rowell. “Chamfering the edges [of the superstructure overhangs] effectively raises the external deckheads, both around the side walkways and the overhanging aft decks.” This drive to provide a generous outlook from every internal space led to some “ongoing but friendly” battles with Feadship, says Rowell, who with Carley pushed to make sills and coamings on Joy as minimal as possible, to allow the maximum possible glazing.

The best example of this is to the rear of the bridge deck, where the entire space has been given over to Joy’s glass-walled superyacht gym, kitted out with the latest Technogym equipment. It’s a hybrid space — both inside and outside — and was an important requirement for the owner, who says enthusiastically: “The gym on the bridge deck may be the best place to work out anywhere in the world!”

Carley adds that he would have removed the entire structure from this area if he could, but the exhaust casings were non-negotiable. Still, Joy’s gym is an incredibly bright and inviting space, one that is actually quite hard to walk through without an urge to better yourself — a benefit of placing a wellness area like this in an unavoidable part of a yacht, rather than squirrelling it away on a lower deck.

Double stairs forward sweep up to the superyacht sundeck and its pool, which together create an exclusive perch at the top of Joy. The gym’s blurring of what is exterior and interior extends across the main and upper decks, which both have winter gardens that can be closed off with glass to take them from outside to inside with a nod to a deckhand.

The challenge for Studio Indigo was managing this interface, to make sure there’s no jarring as you enter the yacht proper. “We used a great many finishes and textiles as well as materials and styling of furniture to make the exteriors feel like an extension of the interior spaces,” says Fisher. “Moreover, each living area has windows looking out on to the wide walkways — making the rooms feel much larger than they are.”

Then there are the carpets in Joy’s upper and main saloons that demand you walk barefoot, drawing you into the comfortable interior. The main saloon’s is silk and nettle and made by German firm Jan Kath, represented by Front Rugs. The seating in here is low and comfortable, while an Irish whiskey bar to starboard, made in the UK by Silverlining, keeps things social.

The only other saloon on Joy, on the upper deck, couldn’t feel more different. This is very deliberately a family space. “There were certain vital principles that we were determined to achieve to make the yacht work and flow with different groups and situations,” the owner says. “There are elements such as the owner’s deck, which is almost a penthouse so I can be alone with my family.” Joy’s layout reflects this, with a master suite forward and a pair of double cabins amidships for the two children the only accommodation on this level.

Studio Indigo used more than 250 finishes throughout Joy — “too many to mention!” jokes Fisher. “We gave each area its own unique and highly individual character by using diverse materials and patterns. We didn’t just want to give each cabin a theme, we wanted to make each one an experience — a memorable space full of colour and texture.”

The design for each room started with a single item, playing on the owner’s love of tactile materials. A Yastik cushion, for instance, was the initial building block for the owner’s and VIP cabins on Joy. Hand-woven ikat fabric from Indonesia and Suzani textiles from central Asia informed other areas. “These materials tell their own stories using colour, weave and pattern. The story of these cushions seemed to fit perfectly with the client’s vision and the feel of what we were all aiming to achieve,” adds the designer.

His proudest achievement on Joy the central cantilevered superyacht staircase, which winds up from the lower deck around a lift shaft. You ascend on hand-woven carpeted pads past windows, beautiful églomisé panels made by DKT Artworks and oak marquetry.

You emerge at Joy’s bridge deck, which, apart from the gym, has an office that is treated to its own fold-down superyacht balcony, mirroring one on the starboard side. No hydraulics or electrics are used — “they have been developed to be operated manually, by simply pushing down”, says Carley.

Electrics and hydraulics are required, however, for the other openings on board Joy. Two sections of bulwark fold down pantograph-style, forward on the main deck, to release the tenders stored there. And the large transom door levers up, to create a shade for the bathing platform and to open up the superyacht beach club.

The other access to the beach club is via a set of bomb bay doors on the main deck. They reveal a cinema space, with beanbag chairs and a huge video wall made by VBH, which can be used to screen movies or play computer games. And in the teak floor — the owner’s star sign displayed in LEDs.

It’s Rowell’s favourite part of Joy. “The combination of bomb bay doors and pivoting transom door is very successful. The visual connection between decks, particularly when one considers having parents on the main deck and kids on the swim platform, really proved worthwhile. The geometry and engineering of these features is not easy, but the relatively compact lower deck beach club ‘den’ is immeasurably improved by this interaction.”

Feadship has kept everything squeak-free, as you’d expect. It’s a testament to Joy’s build quality, too, that while underway, even with all that glass and those huge overhangs — features that terrify engineers tasked with keeping a yacht quiet — there is not a rattle to be heard.

In fact, the ship is almost eerily silent when running, even when weaving figures of eight in two metre seas for the photographer in the helicopter hovering above. “She is my first Feadship,” says the captain after the shoot. “I have been impressed with the overall build standard and attention to detail. Joy is very stable and quiet as a mouse underway.”

To stay out of the images, everyone on board is asked to hide away in Joy’s main saloon. I sink into the sofa scattered with Holland & Sherry cushions to wait it out, as the skipper swings us left and right. It’s only a few seconds before I’m forcing down the urge to put my feet up on the custom coffee table. But the fact that I want to — feel irresistibly compelled to — tells you everything you need to know about Joy.


Feadship

( www.feadship.nl )

Heesen 45mt Amore Mio

The rewards of delayed gratification can far outweigh the frustrations, something that the owner of Heesen’s custom-built aluminium 45 metre Amore Mio learned firsthand. Just as the serial yacht owner was due to take delivery of another Heesen yacht, 40 metre Galatea (now called Taurica), an offer came in that was too good to refuse. He sold the 40 metre and found himself at square one and boat-less, a frustrating position for any yacht owner.

Luckily, there was something ready on the shelf at Heesen. The Dutch builder’s first ever 45 metre sportster, then known as Project Necto, was a year into build at the yard. Started on spec, all the aluminium — hull, deck and bulkheads — was finished. Taking the financial gains from the quick sale, he turned his 40 metre into a 45 metre.

“It’s a great stage to come into a build, because you save all the time it takes for that rough construction process, as long as you like the general layout — and we did, the owner loved it,” says Amore Mio’s Captain Tripp Hock, who has worked for the owner on various builds, including multiple Heesens, for 16 years. The spec-built semi-displacement 45 metre motor yacht was at an ideal stage for the owner to come along and put his stamp on her while not having to wait too long to enjoy her.

What he had on his hands wasn’t just any Heesen, but a unique blend of high-performance and long-range capabilities, bold exterior lines and a layout that put a priority on outdoor living. The latter was perfect for this owner, who was looking for a summer house on the sea, to be enjoyed by the family and used for outdoor fun, with a bulging toy box that far exceeds what you’d find on other yachts of similar size.

Amore Mio might be the first Heesen of her kind, but she has a strong familial heritage. Designed by regular collaborators Omega Architects, who have penned more than 90 designs for Heesen including concepts and builds in progress, that’s no surprise.

“We combined the comfort of a three-deck yacht, like 42 metre Alive, with the sportiness of a raised pilothouse yacht like 40 metre Galatea,” says designer Frank Laupman of Omega Architects.

“Furthermore, Alive’s exceptional bow was used as inspiration.” The result is a 2.5-deck yacht, as Laupman describes it, with aggressive exterior styling, dominant knuckle bow and bold angles. Family likeness aside, Amore Mio has no problem standing out amongst her kin.

“This is the next generation,” says Laupman. “The sporty rocket-style exterior with chiseled lines and the long hard chine forward emphasises her sharp and edgy appearance.”

Laupman used window placement artfully and expressively in Amore Mio’s exterior design. The bridge is set between the main deck and superyacht sundeck, with wheelhouse windows wrapping around like a heavy black brow. “The upward curving glass windows give her the character of an open sportster,” he says. “They were created from three straight windows instead of five — beauty goes with functionality, non-curved glass prevents distortion and offers a less obstructed view.”

The main deck glazing that looks like one continuous swathe of glass stretching from master to aft deck is, in fact, two distinct sections that parts midway on the side decks, marking the path to the bow and the entry to the crew quarters on the port side. The bulwark is lowered to encourage excellent views from inside. Amore Mio’s hewn lines and a black stripe along the bulwark flow all the way back to the gently sloping transom.

Amore Mio is one of those boats that looks fast when she’s sitting still. Powered by twin MTU 16V diesel engines, she packs a punch to match her energetic exterior profile, reaching top speeds of 30 knots. Sitting up top at the open helm on the sundeck when she’s moving at speed, it’s evident that Heesen’s largest sports yacht to date is designed for performance. She’s also intended for longer-range excursions, with a range of a 2,750 nautical miles allowing her to pootle around the Med or cross the Caribbean without having to fill up the tank.

However, Amore Mio’s owner has spent most of his time since taking delivery bobbing off Malta and using his summer home at sea as intended. The owner arrived on the build scene at the point where it wasn’t too late to change a few things he wasn’t in love with, such as the superyacht spa pool and bar on the flybridge. The owner preferred to rip these out for more deck space where he and his wife could roll out their yoga mats, part of their daily routine when on board. As far as the owner is concerned, what’s the need for a spa tub when the sea is right there?

Instead, the toy box is ample, with everything from Seadoos to flyboards and high-flying towables to stand-up paddle boards. A 5.9 metre Boesch mahogany tender is stowed in the garage. The 90 square metre sundeck seems massive without a spa to clutter the way. The hardtop shades an al fresco dining table and teppanyaki grill station.

“The exterior spaces are vast for a 45 metre boat,” says Captain Hock. “I think it’s smart; minimise the interior to what you need, and all the emphasis goes to the beautiful outdoor space, massive sundeck, great aft deck for a 45 metre, having both a dining table and a separate aft seating area.” There’s also a bow seating area, with a sofas and sunpads.

While the priority is placed on the exterior, there isn’t any skimping on the interior with a total of ten guests accommodated. The forward main-deck owner’s suit is full-beam and has a dressing room and bathroom with tub. The lower deck arrangement is traditional but ample, with two equally sized VIPs and two twin guest rooms. Space is intelligently used — by creating a smaller lobby on the lower deck, 6.5 square metres were able to be saved and redistributed amongst the guest rooms.

The elegant interior is designed to match Amore Mio’s beach house purpose, as interior designer Cristiano Gatto tells it. “The owners arrived on the project in quite an early stage, and we developed the colour board and the material selection in close collaboration,” says Gatto, of his fifth collaboration with Heesen. “[Amore Mio’s] designed to be contemporary but without the modern trappings of cold, impersonal interiors.”

Gatto’s interior is all about consistency and harmony, with a subdued palette, linear shapes and round edges all meant to convey softness and warmth. Calnetto walnut and white lacquered wood blend with leather, parchment stone and steel details, while cushions and throws in blue, green and red provide pops of colour.

The simple interior design belies her many nuanced details. “Take a look at the dining table edges,” says Gatto. “The table corners are four half spheres of leather whose stitching has been executed manually by extremely skilled artisans. And all marble surfaces on board Amore Mio come from a single block of Breccia Sarda. What I’ve tried to do with this project is to make consistency and coherence win over complexity.”

A special feature is the guest staircase set abeam in the main saloon. Topped by sliding glass at its apex on the bridge deck, there is an atrium affect with light filtering into the living spaces below. The superyacht staircase is fronted by a wall of floating walnut beams supported by polished stainless steel columns and sanded glass, all giving a further illusion of height and openness, and adding a wow factor to the dining room.

The layout is planned so guests and crew avoid collision, with this separate guest staircase leading from the lower deck through the main deck saloon to the sundeck. The separate crew stairway is placed forward, creating an easy thoroughfare from the crew accommodation, past the galley and through the bridge to the top deck.

Based on his years of experience, Amore Mio’s captain added in his own innovative solutions and storage requirements. He points out panels that move away to reveal storage where you’d least expect it. One interesting feature he promoted is a bespoke man-overboard system. When such an incident occurs, a life-saving device is instantly deployed to the victim in the water while the spot is marked and tracked via GPS so the captain can easily find them. It’s a safety measure that’s sure to assure a family cruising with young children.

Combining high-performance, long-range capabilities, expansive outdoor living and singular style, it’s easy to fall in love with Heesen’s new 45 metre aluminium motor yacht. So will Amore Mio see sisterships in the near future? While the aluminium 45 metre was started with the intention of being a series, the builder may be looking to even larger yachts for its spec-built offerings and a second hull isn’t yet in the works. But any would-be Heesen owner could certainly order this hull. Or for those to hate to wait, they could buy Amore Mioherself.

Her owner’s love affair has been on the passionate but short side. After only one season enjoying his summer house on the sea, Amore Mio is offered up for sale as her owner is already looking ahead and building his next — and bigger — yacht with Heesen. Once again, he’s choosing to delay gratification for greater rewards.


Heesen Yachts

( www.heesenyachts.com )

Wally 33,51mt Barong D

The 33.51 metre Wally 110 sailing yacht Barong D has been delivered to her owner, the Italian yard has confirmed.

This all-carbon sloop was developed for an existing client of the Italian builder. The new owner, an experienced yachtsman, previously owned 28.5 metre Wally Barong C and before that 24 metre Barong B.

Barong D was designed by Frers Naval Architecture and has been created with performance in mind. “Wally employed all its advanced know-how to produce a fully equipped cruising superyacht displacing only 65 tons: two tons lighter than predicted,” explained Wally's president and CEO Luca Bassani.

“We succeeded in delivering a truly exceptional performance cruiser that accommodates in full comfort the owners who spend several months of the year on board.”

As well as the use of pre-preg carbon fibre throughout, advanced technologies and materials have also been used on the electrical system and the hydraulic systems, which can provide up to 350 bar of pressure.

The interior was built in blocks to achieve the maximum quality while reducing the weight. Designed by Wally and Luca Bassani it includes a forward owner’s suite with two large separate beds for comfort under sail. On top of the two en-suite double guest cabins there is a main saloon, while the four-person crew and service area features a galley, crew mess, two double cabins and engine room.

“As often happens with happy owners, Barong D is the larger evolution of their previous yachts, featuring similar style and deck and interior layouts,” Bassani added.

Auxiliary power comes from a single Cummins QSB6.7 diesel engine, giving Barong D a top speed under power of 13 knots and a cruising speed of 10 knots.

Other projects currently under development at the Italian yard include hull number four in the Wally Cento series and the upgraded WallyPower 52 dayboat.



Wally Yachts

( www.wally.com )

Lloyd Weft Luna 115m Refit

Pinned to the wall of the well-appointed captain’s office on board the 115 metre explorer yacht Luna is an ambitious plan for a world cruise, laid out in a series of printed sheets, with routes and ports of call marked in red. Included are some of the world’s finest cruising grounds — the Galápagos, Sea of Cortez, Alaska and the endless archipelagos of the Pacific.

Captain Lui Anphin catches me staring. “We’ve been planning it for a while,” says the native of Copenhagen, who has been with Luna since her launch in 2010. In all that time arguably the world’s most famous explorer yacht has done remarkably little exploring, instead sticking mostly to familiar cruising grounds in the Med.

But all that might finally be about to change. With new owners and fresh from a 14-month, €50 million refit, Luna is looking good — and ready to take on the world.

Originally envisioned as a more elegant version of 113 metre Le Grand Bleu, Luna, when launched, made headlines for two reasons: the celebrity of her first owner, Roman Abramovich, and in more specialist press for that long, low aft deck that sacrificed interior volume for sun worship. That famous pool, the biggest ever seen on a superyacht at the time, is still jaw-dropping, especially when empty and its full scale is revealed.

It was designer Frank Neubelt’s idea to devote so much space to outdoor living. “I wanted a real pool, and lots of relaxation zones for friends and family,” he says today.

Luna was bought by her current owners in 2014. They spent a season on board in the Med before releasing the yacht in October that year for an extensive refit that would wrap in her five-year survey.

The yacht's swimming pool is netted, the crew are busy washing the decks and superstructure, and canvas hides all the sunloungers, but the huge spaces that make Luna so special are impossible to cover up.

And even on this grey, overcast day in Gibraltar, her hull absolutely pings: flawless, faired and painted a special new colour christened “Luna Blue”. It’s a marked difference. The yacht’s first owner wanted to reinforce her rugged aesthetic by making a show of her plate seams and welds, but giving her a shiny new coat was the biggest item on the to-do list when Luna was laid up at German Dry Docks in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, in late 2014.

“The previous paint wasn’t very attractive,” says the owner’s representative. “Just a top coat over bare hull. Luna now has the most high-quality paint job to date on such a vessel. It’s a complete mirror finish.”

The work was done by local firm Thraki Yacht Painting and constitutes the biggest single change to the boat in its six-year life. It took 70-80 painters eight months to fill and fair more than 2,000 square metres of hull, while also refinishing Luna’s superstructure. But first the hull was sandblasted to remove any remnants of the old paint.

“We then applied more than 20 tonnes of filler,” says Thraki’s MD Ritvan Metso. “This was followed by two epoxy primers, a show coat and top coat.” The result is an uninterrupted shine as you look down the hull, with no blemishes or movement in the finish. “This is what Luna was missing,” adds the owner’s rep with clear pride.

Neubelt led the design team from German studio Newcruise in defining Luna’s exterior lines. He calls it a “boy cool” look — tough but elegant. It was the first major motor yacht project worked on by the German designer and remains the biggest.

Outdoor life, obviously, was key to the design and, of all the proposals put in front of Luna’s first owner, he was “most amazed by the idea to create a very open outer deck”, says the designer. “So we quit all the earlier concepts with lots of toys on board and I was free to create her style.”

The deck below might not be rammed with superyacht water toys but there is still plenty of room — in fact, more than you’d think. To port, two tender garages sit opposite a gym and behind all of this is Luna’s expansive beach club wrapping round a spa, with steam bath, plunge pool and sauna.

This whole area was changed extensively in the refit. Updated equipment from Technogym has been installed in Luna’s superyacht gym, alongside new mirrored panels lining the length of the space. “Gym equipment keeps changing — and we only like the best,” says the owner’s rep. The glass means you can fold down the huge 12-metre shell door and look out over the water without anyone seeing you sweating inside.

Conversely, the platform means it’s possible to do morning routines outside, with the water lapping almost at your feet. A further shell door opens behind and Luna’s transom door folds up, to create the feeling of a single, open, water-level space.

The teak throughout this area has been replaced, alongside a host of other cosmetic changes: new mosaic on the walls in the steam room, upgraded AV and a new pantry area to ease service. The sofa in the rearmost section of the beach club now faces backwards — with a view of the sea instead of a TV on the bulkhead, in place of which is now a beautiful fish-eye sculpture discovered in Greece on one of the yacht’s travels. “Who wants to see a huge TV in a beach club?” asks the rep. “Luna is a boat to relax on! There are 80 other TVs on board.”

Included in the new sofa design are drawers for storing shoes, the idea being that you board via the bathing platform, sit on the sofa, put your shoes in the drawer… “and relax”, he adds. Luna’s boarding steps have been modified, too: they’ve been opened up to allow guests to walk directly up from the tender, instead of being forced sideways, making it much safer, and easier for crew to assist guests.

Luna’s owner and his family sometimes take breakfast at the beach club dinette to port, a space they’re already planning to change in the next big yard period by adding a large new shell door on the port side — bringing the number of major openings in this space to six — and 18 portholes in the transom, to give a view and let in light even underway.

Beyond the superyacht's beach club, the entire lower deck is dedicated to Luna’s crew, who are well served with spacious cabins forward, all of which were upgraded with new upholstery, curtains and AV/IT. Further crew quarters are found on the deck below, but the main attraction here are the machinery spaces.

Big yachts such as Luna have large, impressive engine rooms, but this one stands apart, not just in the volume dedicated to housing the engines and electric motors, but in the polish applied to it. “It’s the most spotless engine room I’ve ever worked in,” reports chief engineer James Burden — the result of a fastidious owner who regularly visits the crew areas.

As a result, the chequerplate floor is polished once a week and you could shave in the cylinder heads. “We even painted the toolboxes the same colour as the engine to keep things neat,” he adds.

Luna’s seven generators output a total of 15,000hp and they power electric motors coupled to each shaft. “Diesel electric, in terms of operating a ship, is great,” says the chief. “It’s less real estate taken up, it’s less vibration, it’s more economical, it’s more flexible for the owner and it’s more flexible for us to operate.”

She’s got massive power — designed to nudge Luna through shallow ice — and can run at her full speed of 21 knots and still have one generator offline. With all generators engaged and running at full revs, Luna could power a town of 25,000 people. In the yard, the shafts were taken out for survey and maintenance, and seals and bearings were replaced, while air-con was added in a number of the working areas to improve conditions, among a host of other jobs.

The main hot work happened in the living spaces decks above. The lounge fronting Luna’s observation deck has always been a superb place to be when coming into a new port or anchorage, but it’s been made even better by an extended deck cut-out, creating an entirely new exterior seating area.

“You can now walk to both sides, relax or sleep on the sofa and use it for dining,” reveals the owner’s rep, who has spent considerable time on board Luna. “It was incredible being up there when coming into Cuba. The new exterior observation lounge was very useful.”

Other changes have been made to the rear of the bridge deck, with new extendable wind breaks installed to protect this main outdoor dining space when it’s blowing. The teak has been perfectly re-caulked all over the boat and the two helidecks are now clad in Future Teak from Bolidt, embellished with Luna’s name and logo.

Donald Starkey was the original interior designer for Luna but joined the project when the yacht was only about 70 per cent complete at its build yard of Lloyd Werft. He worked hard to impose himself on a boat mostly built and won some concessions — extending headroom throughout the living spaces and adding a dining room, which wasn’t on the original GA.

“I did this by subdividing the upper deck lounge on the starboard side,” he says. “I separated the lounge and dining room by a wall incorporating a fireplace, which can be appreciated from both sides.” The stone-panelled finish to this unit is contextual in an interior that leans heavily to the natural.

“My intention was to try and create an elegant but calm feeling, away from the hard-edged traditional glossy interiors,” he says. This extended to sourcing oak panels in Germany cut from large logs that could be sliced into 70cm veneers, to avoid too many joints. The panels were then wire-brushed to expose the deeper grain and stained pale.

Starkey’s original intention had been to lay the oak floor using antique 17th century beams, but was dissuaded by concerns about splintering and combustibility. Modern oak was used instead and “aged” to create the same effect, which extends throughout Luna and grounds the entire design.

The floor, it should be noted, is also an absolute pleasure to walk on. One of the quirkier design flourishes involves the main deck guest corridor on Luna, with its arched separations, which not only add visual interest to an otherwise straight corridor but also serve to hide watertight bulkhead divisions.

Six years on and Starkey’s interior is still pristine, thanks to an owner with a meticulous eye for imperfections and a crew dedicated to making sure there aren’t any. Some updating was done in Luna’s refit period, including the addition of new fabrics in the corridors and updates to all cabins, but the soul of Starkey’s design is very much intact.

And while the owner gets the pick of those cabins, with its huge views and access to a private terrace forward, it’s the guests that get the easiest access to Luna’s headline feature, through the guest corridor on the main deck that leads straight out on to the aft deck. It’s a proper playground and perfect for the family’s children to run around, in complete safety.

A new raised section of this deck, just aft of the pool, was added in Luna’s refit and helps create distinction on the massive platform. The area can be tented and is a great spot for “tea and fruit in the afternoon”, says the rep.

Throughout Luna’s 14-month refit, around 130 jobs were completed, ranging from the tiny (the installation of new wine fridges) to the tricky (the separation of the ballast tank system) but, taken as a whole, they have managed to improve on a classic.

Until now few people have ever seen inside Luna and, as for being featured in a magazine, forget it. But finally here’s proof of her pedigree — Luna has risen. And if all those plans pinned to the captain’s wall become actual, real-life passages, she’s coming to a port near you soon, wherever you are in the world.

Lloyd Werft

( www.lloydwerft.com )

Rossinavi 49mt Polaris

Polaris is the second in the powerful Prince Shark superyacht series from the Italian builder Rossinavi. On the outside, she closely resembles her predecessor, Param Jamuna IV, but her owner pushed the designers, architects and family-owned shipyard to achieve further refinements, particularly in terms of performance.

The Prince Shark concept was developed by Team for Design with naval architecture by Arrabito Naval Architects. Designer Enrico Gobbi’s dynamic and clean lines give the aluminium, semi-displacement Polaris a sporty and aggressive look.

Details recall commercial or military ships, such as the reversed pilothouse glass installed at a 45-degree angle, a style line echoed in port and starboard fashion plates and the supports for the fixed awning on Polaris’ sundeck.

Another goal for the series was to create well-proportioned volume that guarantees comfortable and spacious interiors within a superstructure sized to remain coherent with Polaris’ sleekness and especially to fit below the 500GT threshold.

Strong horizontal elements and stretched windows make Polaris appear longer than she really is but this streamlined look does not come at the expense of views. The extensive use of notches in the coamings in front of key windows, which reach nearly full height in the saloon and the owner’s suite, guarantee panoramic vistas and plenty of light on the main deck.

“All elements of this project have been carefully studied to obtain the optimal proportions that compose the yacht’s architecture,” says Gobbi. Polaris, even with three decks and a flying bridge, maintains harmonious volume, ensuring an elegant line, which is not so common in yachts of such volume, he adds. In recognition of her excellence, the yacht won the 2015 World Superyacht Awards class for 40-metre or above semi-displacement or planing three-deck motor yachts.

One of her best features is the large lounging and sunbathing area at the centre of the foredeck, a position that guarantees good views while Polarisis underway and privacy at anchor. The most impressive exterior area, however, is the flying bridge deck. An arch that incorporates large smoked-glass windows shields passengers from the wind and sun but allows them to enjoy optimal views from more than nine metres above the water.

The aft section of Polaris’ flying bridge is designed around a 3.6-metre superyacht spa pool. A recirculating waterfall from the louvred hardtop cascades down a glass panel separating the pool from the dining area, so that guests can enjoy the sound of water even if the sea, from this high vantage point, is too distant to be heard. The whole deck boasts details in crisp teak and stainless steel, while the pool bottom is lined with Murano glass tiles, a detail that reveals something about the designer’s proud Venetian origins.

The interior of Polaris features a compromise of contemporary influences with a dash of eclecticism stemming from the personal taste of the owner, a young entrepreneur. Precious materials convey timeless elegance and opulence. Varnished ebony, used primarily for the custom-made furniture, and other dark materials are found in combination with a light ivory-coloured maple and high-quality leathers in off-white.

The choice of materials creates a chiaroscuro enriched with marbles that give Polaris her distinct personality. Embossed and polished stainless-steel details used on the furniture and the walls, together with some deep colours, add a touch of modernity.

“We have worked intensely on the details with the entire team to make a welcoming and warm atmosphere [that is] luxurious and distinctive,” says Gobbi. “The fitting out of all areas plays an important role in giving Polarisher eclectic and exclusive style. Cottons, silks and velvets hail from Armani Casa’s textile collection. Decorative objects in Murano glass have been placed in prominent areas, where they are highlighted by means of a clever lighting system.

“Last but not least, a selection of fine paintings, including two rare works from the 18th century, confer importance and prestige on Polaris’ lobby area, ensuring a sophisticated welcome to the guests stepping on board.”

The main hallway offers an impressive welcome and guaranteed “wow”. Here, Gobbi left Venice to embrace the rigorous geometry of Swarovski’s Austrian glass artisans. A chandelier made of thousands of Swarovski crystals, three decks high, fills the space within Polaris’ superyacht staircase and projects awesome flashes of light onto the surrounding walls.

All these beautiful spaces and materials made the work of the naval architects a little more challenging. Giuseppe Arrabito, owner of Arrabito Naval Architects, explains what makes Polaris so complex. The owner wanted the most volume for this length, while remaining under the 500GT threshold.

Next, the full-beam decks, the enormous superyacht sundeck, the pool and the decor – including over nine tonnes of stone – added substantial weight, as did acoustic insulation, an advanced system of floating floors and the most complete array of state-of-the-art equipment and electronic entertainment systems available. Yet Polaris’ owner did not want to compromise on performance.

“[The owner] requested that we reach a maximum speed of 23 knots and a cruising speed of 16 to 17 knots and, weight notwithstanding, obtain optimum fuel consumption for long-range crossings,” says Arrabito. “This weight, much of it at the top, made it more difficult to comply with the performance and, above all, Polaris’ stability requirements, and mandated a very accurate and refined study of the hull and lines.”

He is justifiably proud that Polaris floated exactly on her lines at launch and that no fixed ballast was required to obtain correct load-line trim. Moreover, the yacht, with her two MTU 12V 4000 M93L engines creating 3,460 horsepower at 2,100rpm, exceeded requirements and reached a maximum speed of 24.3 knots during sea trials, which were undertaken in less than ideal conditions.

Param Jamuna IV topped out at 23 knots. The surveyor’s report noted that the tests were carried out in Force 4 sea and wind conditions with gusts up to 30 knots. The hull form also met the requirement of low fuel consumption. Fuel burn is only 90 litres per hour in total at a speed of nine to nine-and-a-half knots, giving a range of more than 4,800 nautical miles at this “transfer speed”. At the cruising speed of 17 knots, consumption is around 580 litres per hour, whereas pushing to full speed consumes around 1,300 litres per hour.

There are a few differences between the first and second Prince Shark that account for different performance results. In contrast to Hull No. 1, for instance, Polaris does not have a superyacht elevator and has one less cabin in the forepeak area. At full throttle heading into the sea, the surveyor noted the vessel “is particularly dry, showing a very good performance of the spray rail”.

Federico Rossi, COO of Rossinavi, says: “With Polaris, we have reached even better performance than on Param Jamuna IV by adopting various weight-saving measures.” He recounts with pleasure the sea trials conducted with RINA. “The yacht, going at 24 knots, had to turn at full radius and remain within a set heel range. We all grabbed on, expecting a big heel, and instead the incline was limited to two-and-a-half degrees.

“This performance is due to the hull form, which is straight at the bow and then widens quickly to provide lift and stability. As to the comfort level,Polaris has obtained the highest rating available in RINA’s comfort class, thanks to the yard’s vibration and noise-dampening techniques, with decibel numbers comparable to those of a displacement yacht.”

The next chapter will come with the third Prince Shark iteration, which is already under construction in a large waterfront shed that the Rossi family owns in an industrial area near Pisa, a few miles from Rossinavi’s Viareggio home base. No. 3 is being built in steel and is a full-displacement hull.

While the three Rossi brothers who founded this company began building yachts under their own name only a few years ago, they have worked with steel and aluminium materials since the 1970s. They constructed hulls and parts for other well-known shipyards in the Viareggio area of Italy, and later launched a series of passenger ferries.

Their office in Viareggio, which now employs two generations of Rossis, includes an engineering department that designs custom parts such as hatches, doors, hinges and accessories. One of the brothers, Paride, heads that department, while his nephew Federico, the COO, who also has an eye for design, has been instrumental in building a portfolio of enticing projects, including the Bahamas series which he created with Axis Design to appeal specifically to the US market.

“We are very pleased with the work done, including at Rossinavi and in particular with our relationship with [CEO] Claudio Rossi, who has been a reliable partner, passionate about his work,” says Polaris’ owner, embarking on his first cruise.

“Polaris has met all my expectations, be it in terms of exterior or interior design, and exceeded them in terms of performance. And she was delivered on time!”


Rossinavi

( www.rossinavi.it )

Heesen 70mt Galactica Super Nova

The largest Heesen superyacht ever built, 70 metre Galactica Super Nova, has been delivered to her owner, following four days of extensive testing in the North Sea.

This is not only the biggest superyacht built by the Dutch shipyard to date, but - with the benchmark of yachts entering the Top 100 Largest set at 78.3 metres - Galactica Super Nova comes in just a few metres under the world’s largest rankings.

Size, however, has little to do with this yacht as this yacht offers far more. The revolutionary Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF) technology by Van Oossanen Naval Architects and the addition of a third engine to power a booster jet, means Galactica Super Nova will be able to reach top speeds of more than 30 knots.

The design, drawn by Espen Oeino, and interior decor by Sinot Yacht Design is both an evolution of Heesen’s long experience in the superyacht sector and combines that pedigree into one incredible project.

Beyond size and speed is efficiency, and further more, luxury. Galactica Super Nova’s toys and tenders are housed in the garage located forward, which doubles as a beach club to bring owners and their guests much closer to the water.

Other key features include the 13,500 litre swimming pool on the main deck aft with contra flow system for swimming, a waterfall and integrated Jacuzzi - not forgetting the glass bottom which allows natural light to filter through to the beach club below.

Another feature, found forward on the main deck, is the touch-and-go helipad which doubles as an outdoor cinema, completing an enviable lifestyle which offers owners and guests the highest levels of luxury.

Twelve guests can be accommodated in absolute luxury across six stateroom with the master suite on the main deck forward, four guest cabins on the lower deck and a VIP found on the wheel house deck aft. All of this is enclosed in a beautiful Espen Oeino exterior which is built on an established engineering platform provided by Heesen in-house experts.

She will be undergoing extensive sea-trials in the North Sea before being delivered to her owners in May and journeying to Montenegro and the Mediterranean for the summer in time for her debut at the Monaco Yacht Show 2016.

Heesen Yachts

( www.heesenyachts.com )