Lürssen 106mt Amadea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lürssen

( https://www.lurssen.com )

ISA 43mt Agora III

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


ISA Yachts

( www.isayachts.com )

Wider 50mt Cecilia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Wider

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

Riva 33,50mt Dolcevita

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Riva Yacht

( www.riva-yacht.com )

Sanlorenzo 40mt Le Gipsy

Should you require outside-the-box thinking, it would be hard to engage a more al fresco intellect than Chris Bangle. The internationally renowned designer now turns his hand to everything from Cognac to wearable electronics at his own studio, but he’s best known as the car designer who revolutionised the aesthetic of Fiat and BMW, as well as reinventing the Mini for the 21st century.

“Our design philosophy is to treat different things differently – because they are different,” Bangle says. “But also to use the power of conflicting goals as the catalyst for innovation.” So when Sanlorenzo’s CEO, Massimo Perotti, had conflicting goals, who better than Bangle to look at his problem from a fresh perspective?

“Sanlorenzo was thinking about realising a full-beam yacht but there were a lot of doubts about it,” Perotti says. Using the full beam would increase guest space but removing side passages would hamper crew movement through the boat, affecting service, mooring operations and generally making their lives more difficult (no trivial matter when retention of good crew is a major concern for owners). The routing problem is amplified on a yacht of just over 31 metres, with a relatively small crew – if they have to be everywhere at once, you can’t put hurdles in their way.

Bangle had been engaged with Sanlorenzo in an exchange of ideas since 2015 and Perotti felt he was enough of an outsider to tackle this particular problem. While Bangle has expressed respect for Sanlorenzo in particular, he has also described most yacht designs on the market as a “mess that look like six cars have been smashed together”. He certainly does not stick to any pre-conceived notions in this sphere.

The designer’s solution? Make the yacht asymmetrical: a wide body design on one side, a side passageway on the other. Asymmetry has been seen in larger custom designs, but it has not been done on a yacht of this size or to this degree. “The idea lends itself to other sizes of course and in particular can be used as the springboard for a completely innovative design – as we proposed – or be retrofitted into a conventional design,” Bangle says.

But there’s more to yacht design than sparks of genius. “The intuition of Chris was good but the difficulty was to translate it into a real project – Zuccon International Project, together with Sanlorenzo’s technical office, worked hard to create the SL102,” Perotti says.

Bernardo Zuccon and his sister Martina penned the design, as well as the interior decor that can be seen on the first SL102, Le Gypsy, which debuted at the Cannes Yachting Festival last year.

“Preserving the stylistic hallmarks of this storied brand is law,” Bernardo Zuccon says. “It is essential for a Sanlorenzo yacht not to lose the image that has permeated the boats throughout its history – since the very outset, the lines of Sanlorenzo yachts have always remained unmistakably the same. The big challenge was to build a new type of boat, inside a container that had to faithfully reflect the shipyard’s 60-year history.”

Or as Bangle puts it, “While an innovative design can be the most striking – and get the most out of the idea – for very traditional brands new ideas need to be introduced in smaller doses.” This meant that the exterior design could not flaunt the boat’s asymmetry (and this is a very asymmetrical boat).

“One way is to visually ‘mask’ the asymmetry, by using the dark areas of gangways to complete the graphic image,” Bangle says. The designers maintained balance in profile by backing the one side passage with the same dark glass that clads the wide-body on the other side. From the aft or forward perspective, the difference is obfuscated by the matching shapes of the structural supports on both sides – it’s not uncomfortably obvious that one side’s supports cover an outdoor passage and the other is filled out with interior space.

Inside, the value of this unusual design really shows itself, and not only in the extra 25 square metres of space gained over a yacht with two side passages. “So far as the interiors are concerned, the asymmetrical concept has overturned all the classic tenets of design and layout,” Zuccon says.

The design makes a feature of a staircase leading to the flybridge deck. It cuts through the main saloon on the port side, where space is plentiful thanks to the full-beam design, and is sided in dark glass, like the sliding doors leading to the aft deck beside it. From the saloon, you can watch pedicured feet padding upstairs. It feels modern and, with the gloss of the dark glass, glamorous. Further inside, the saloon opens up in the most spectacular way.

“When we go on board a boat and stand on the line of symmetry, we have a visual relationship with the sea that is almost always the same, whether we look right or left,” Zuccon says. “With an asymmetrical design, we have two visual and lifestyle experiences. On the right, a sliding door provides access from the saloon to the classic walkaround outside; while on the left, through a section of the gunwale that can be lowered, we can have this huge full-height glazed surface: you can ‘touch’ the sea, while remaining inside.”

Laying aside the omnipresent seascape, the asymmetrical design lends a residential feel – as if the aim was just to create interesting spaces, rather than to make the most of pre-set spaces within a fixed container.

From the aft deck, the layout creates a path through the saloon and forward to the bridge, where another set of stairs switchbacks up to the forward end of the flybridge deck. At the aft end of the same deck, those glamorous stairs lead back down to the aft deck.

The owner’s suite, located on the main deck forward, has its own asymmetrical design. The space extends on the port side all the way to broad windows flush with the hull side, providing an ongoing relationship with the sea. On the starboard side, meanwhile, doors connect the owner’s cabin to the side passage that leads to a spacious bow lounge. The builder offers the option of a side passage gate, deployed at the touch of a button, to keep the entire forward area of the yacht a private space for the owners. To access the bow lounge the owner will not have to pass through a communal guest space.

Zuccon’s studio designed interior decor for Le Gypsy to enhance the feeling of continuity that runs through the boat. “We decided to reuse the colour schemes found in the exteriors for the interiors too,” Zuccon says.

“Outside, we see the colour of the teak, the white fibreglass and the black glazed surfaces. We have transferred this combination of three colours to the interiors too.” This includes teak that continues from the aft deck into the saloon, and black and white carried in from outside in the overheads.

In the main saloon the tones are low-key, muted and cool, with taupe sofas by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia that are designed for sinking-in, a low dark grey marble coffee table and at the forward end, two sliding panels in bronze by Giorgio Paolini, an artist from Rome who created them for the boat. As well as adding a burnished opulence, they hide the television.

This design may feel bespoke but it can be replicated. Le Gypsy features twin 16V MTU M96 engines – plus a bank of lithium batteries to supplement the two generators – which can push the yacht to a top speed of 28 knots, but an M86 package is also available for (slightly) lower-key cruising, reaching a top speed of 26 knots. There are a couple of different layout options too.

“The luck of the naval designer has always been to draw half a boat and then mirror it,” Perotti says. “With this boat the design path was more enterprising. It took longer but at the end we achieved a magnificent result, a creative idea that compared to a traditional layout, allows for more space, brightness, relaxation and better flexibility of use.” Who says you can’t have everything?


SanLorenzo

( www..sanlorenzoyacht.com )

Echo Yachts 84mt White Rabbit

The obvious question, really, is: why bother building a trimaran when the rest of the world is cruising around in monohulls? Why go so radically against the grain?

Vindication can be sweet – in January the team behind White Rabbit picked up the Best Naval Architecture Award for Displacement Motor Yachts at the Boat International Design & Innovation Awards. It turns out that trimarans, done right, are quieter, leaner and more environmentally sound than monohulls. The owner of White Rabbit has known this for some time; he has never been anything but evangelical about their benefits. He has almost single-handedly proven the concept in big boats and now owns the world’s two biggest trimaran superyachts: the original three-hulled 61 metre White Rabbit from 2005 and now this 84 metre version, delivered just in time for Christmas last year. There’s also a large catamaran in the fleet, a 51 metre support vessel called Charley.

Let’s tick off some of those other benefits. You might think that a trimaran platform limits interior space, but you’d be wrong. White Rabbitcarries 2,940 gross tonnes, so roughly the same as a 90 metre monohull. Sunrays, the 85 metre 2010 Oceanco, has an internal volume of 2,867GT. Solandge, the 85 metre Lurssen from 2013, has a gross tonnage of 2,899. The brand new DAR from Oceanco, at 90 metres, has an interior measured at 2,999GT, so only a snip more than 84 metre White Rabbit. All this volume is generated by the trimaran’s 20 metre beam, which makes it around five metres wider than equivalent-length monohulls. And she could be a lot more voluminous – the top deck, for instance, is fairly modest, while a bluff bow would generate even more GTs.

Such novel naval architecture surely adds to the cost, though? Not according to Mark Stothard, founder and owner of Echo Yachts, the Australian yard responsible for White Rabbit, who estimates the yacht was “significantly cheaper” to build than an equivalent-size monohull at a Northern European yard. You sometimes hear complaints about the ride of trimarans, and here, they have a little work to do. A comparison study by the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) in 2000 showed that when bow-on to the weather, at speed or rest, trimarans are more comfortable than monohulls with equivalent displacements.

But in some conditions, particularly stern-quartering seas, the motion of a trimaran can be worse. To counter this, White Rabbit’s naval architects drew on the experience gained from the 61 metre boat, installing four enormous Naiad fins totalling 45 square metres that jut out from the centre hull. These have a limited range of movement and essentially act as aircraft wings under the water, planting the hulls and evening out the ride. Each of the three hulls also carries significant flare, generating buoyancy to dampen roll. The brains behind White Rabbit claim that trimarans, unlike monohulls, are far easier to fine-tune to find a ride motion the owner is comfortable with, simply by increasing or decreasing buoyancy in the outer hulls – “so the negatives are really not negatives”, says exterior and interior designer Sam Sorgiovanni.

The very same MARIN study points out the obvious, and massive advantage of trimarans: “When the same speed is required, the installed propulsion power [in the trimaran] can be reduced by some 40 per cent, leading to lower operational costs, a reduction in weight and less environmental contamination.” And there you have it – three slender hulls are better than a single fat one. Or, as Sorgiovanni puts it: “What would you rather be paddling in? A bathtub or a kayak?” In an age when all superyacht owners, regardless of bank balances, are casting a lingering eye over fuel bills and environmental impact, comes a concept that offers you better space, value and a cleaner conscience. So naval architects’ phones should be ringing off the hook with billionaires demanding multihulls, right? Right…? Not quite.

The problem is one of perception, says Stothard. Not necessarily on the part of owners, he says, but from an occasionally reactionary superyacht industry inexperienced with the multihull form. Sorgiovanni agrees. “Why would I build three hulls instead of one?” was one shipyard’s response to a trimaran design he presented. “Meanwhile, you’ve got big-name naval architects who in their whole career have never done anything like it, so why would they endorse it? Why would they endorse something they’re fearful or ignorant of?” Whatever the reasons for the inertia, it doesn’t look like the needle will be twitching in favour of trimarans any time soon. Which is a shame, because for all the above reasons and more, this platform makes all kinds of sense – as White Rabbit capably proves.

As a rough guide, the length-to-beam ratio of a monohull superyacht in this size range is around 6:1. By comparison, the length-to-beam ratio of White Rabbit’s centre hull is 13.7:1. You don’t need a degree in naval architecture to know which one will use less fuel, but the truly impressive thing about White Rabbit is the engineering underpinning her natural slipperiness. One key demand of the owner was that Echo Yachts limit noise – and therefore engineering – in the centre hull, where he has a cabin, so designers had to rethink the arrangement seen on the 61 metre, where the main engines are located on the centreline. “The owner sat us down and said, ‘Boys, with this thing I want some engineering boldness.’ He said what was important to him was smoothness and quietness,” says Stothard. “And he gave us the latitude to go out and explore solutions.”

There are six generators on board – four Caterpillar C32s outputting 940ekW and two C18s outputting 550ekW, each brought online and off by a Kongsberg power management system. The engineers should get plenty of life out of these units because the boat can run at a 12-knot cruise with just two gensets engaged. “I’ve been on sea trials up the coast using just two C32s – and that will be cruising at 12.8 knots, with 75 per cent power to the drive system and 25 per cent, or 500kW, to run the house,” says Stothard. “That’s with four generators offline and a burn of about 320 litres an hour for everything. The crew even think they could do 12 knots on one C32 and one C18.” The boat’s eco-cred doesn’t end there: she barely creates a wake. Sea trial images included in this feature show the yacht running at around 15 knots, but she might as well be idling for all the wash she generates. The owner does a lot of coastal cruising and wanted the “ability to operate without detrimental wash impact on surrounding vessels and foreshores”, says Steve Quigley, One2three’s managing director.

The team quickly decided to go diesel-electric, with generators in the outer hulls powering STADT electric motors in the centre hull, in turn spinning two Rolls-Royce variable pitch props. Other ideas were discussed and thrown out: waterjets because the boat would be sitting idle in Singapore for lengths of time, so divers would be required to go down to pump out the jet tunnels and then plug them; Voith thrusters because the yard felt it a “bit early for them to be able to gear up to such a project”; and azimuthing pods because they would have required too much volume in the centre hull. They also looked at putting everything – engines, motors, shafts – in the outer hulls, but studies revealed the ultimate solution to be the most efficient. Just how efficient is best exemplified, again, by way of comparison: according to White Rabbit’snaval architect, the Sydney studio One2three, it requires 91.5 metre Equanimity, which has an equivalent gross tonnage to White Rabbit, 7.2MW of power to reach its top speed of 19.5 knots; White Rabbit requires just 4.2MW of power to reach its top speed of 18.7 knots – some 40 per cent less.

All this has resulted in a very quiet boat. In the lower deck master cabin Echo Yachts recorded sound levels of just 40db at 13 knots. Up on the main deck those levels dipped below 40db. “The owner was walking around with his own sound meter,” says Stothard. “He didn’t even bother going up top.” The diesel-electric set-up on White Rabbit has the added benefit that you can carry less fuel. The trimaran’s fuel capacity is 166,200 litres, for a range of 5,000 nautical miles. Solandge? 222,000 litres. Sunrays? 285,000 litres. Equanimity? 271,000 litres. That’s a lot of weight she’s not lugging around.

Smaller fuel tanks free up space, of course, but the designers weren’t fighting for volume here: there’s plenty of it. On the main deck, the boat gets very beamy, for a length-to-beam ratio of 4.3:1. Fat, but without looking it. That’s down to the skill of Sorgiovanni, whose office is not far from the Echo Yachts facility in Henderson, Western Australia. He’s the first to admit that the layout of White Rabbit is very idiosyncratic and has developed more “conventional” versions with beach clubs, gyms and bigger master cabins. But his brief from this client, with whom he worked on the 61 metre White Rabbit, was very clear: this is a multigenerational yacht, built for family use, but with a necessary corporate function. Translation: lots of cabins – two masters, three VIPs and six guest – for a total guest capacity of 30 and a wide open main deck to host upwards of 200 people when alongside in her hometown of Singapore.

“You’re spanning three generations in terms of functionality as well as style,” says Sorgiovanni, who travelled to Singapore to spend time with family members and hear each of their wants. “The overwhelming comment was, ‘We love what we’ve got, we just want it bigger.’ The words were: ‘We want [61-metre] White Rabbit on steroids.’ They literally meant it. As we started to develop the boat we realised that whatever we presented kept coming back to what they loved, which was their current boat. In a way it’s flattering to think they enjoy and love that boat so much, but it has evolved. The bigger boat has a far more sophisticated approach, both inside and out, but nevertheless there is that link there to something that is familiar.” The art deco edge on the smaller yacht has been rounded off a little on the 84 metre, but there are still references throughout – in the light column at the huge bar in the main saloon, for instance, and wall sconces.

The colours used are rich enough to keep you interested, but not so much that the spaces feel stuffy or overly formal; you’re never afraid to put your glass down. The tactile, chequer-style wall panelling used all over the yacht, made of brushed Tasmanian oak, helps with this, and brings a bit of nature to the saloons. All the cabinetry and furniture was custom made by Alia Yachts in Turkey, who Sorgiovanni worked with on 41.3 metre Ruya.

He was so impressed by their furniture skills he asked them to pitch for White Rabbit’s interior, which was fully assembled in Turkey, allowing Sorgiovanni and Echo’s project manager, Chris Blackwell, to walk through it making changes before it was disassembled and shipped to Australia for installation. This was a considerable undertaking considering the 1,200 square metres of guest area on board. The amount of space proved one of the designer’s biggest challenges – just what do you do with it all?

The main deck is the main event – and where the boat’s 20-metre beam is most evident. “And it could have been even wider,” says Sorgiovanni. “But I was very conscious about keeping it human scale. It’s just a massive area.” The designer has split the space into zones, according to generations. Upon entry, and beyond the spectacular staircase leading to the upper deck, the saloon splits – to port is a more informal lounge for younger members of the family, and to starboard a slightly stiffer seating area for elder generations. “The saloons are separated but not completely separated, because the owner didn’t want the generations split up,” he says.

Beyond, all ages come together around that attention-grabbing bar and games area and dining space. The owner dictated that there be no televisions in any of the cabins (except his), forcing kids into the light and demanding that they spend time with the rest of the family. If they want a screen, they’ll find one only in a communal area. In direct contravention of the modern vogue for massive, floor-to-ceiling windows, meanwhile, the owner was deliberately modest with his glazing choices, but the windows still usher plenty of light across the 20-metre expanse.

The upper deck saloon is tiny by comparison and used as a media lounge and karaoke hangout by the family, complete with baby grand piano. The focus of this deck is really accommodation, for both guests and crew. Strangely, the guest cabins on this level either have very little or no cupboard space, but they do have benches, “so guests can put their stuff out”, says Sorgiovanni. “They said they didn’t want any wardrobe space as guests are expected to live out of their suitcases,” which suits the kind of cruising guests are expected to join for – weekends and overnights. Up again is the sundeck, with another games area and forward-facing cinema with seats that shake to mirror the action on screen. “From a sound point of view, it’s in the right spot,” says the designer. “You can really crank it up and you’re not disturbing anyone.” The deck spaces up here are ample – and the site of the only spa pool on board – but they are under-exploited. Sitting in the sun is clearly not a priority for this family, and nor is charter a fixation. This is, and will remain, a private yacht.

The real master cabin is on the main deck, close to the family action, but there is an alternative on the lower deck of the centre hull for passages. It’s a strange feeling walking down to this level – almost like going underwater. Hull windows reveal the tunnel between the centre hull and the starboard outrigger. It’s an unusual view, but also quite an exciting one as water rushes between the hulls at 18 knots. “We decided to make a feature of it,” says Blackwell. “All the underwater lights are deliberately in this centre hull so they shine under the outer hulls as well, so you get the benefit of glow here. It creates a different ambience and shows off the trimaran concept.” The art subtly plays on this underwater sensation. “On the lower decks the artwork is all scenes from below the water; on the main deck it’s all on the water and then it’s above the water on the upper deck,” says Sorgiovanni.

The 30 guests are served by a crew of 32, who get plum real estate forward on the main deck in the shape of a huge cafeteria-like mess and crew lounge. “The boat is on call 24/7, so the owner wanted very specifically to have the crew in a very comfortable space on the main deck, with large windows,” says Sorgiovanni. In an alternative universe, this might be reserved for a vast, full-beam owner’s cabin, with crew moved to the lower deck, or voluminous guest cabins. In the same universe, those rear VIP cabins in the centre hull would become a wellness and spa area, with direct access to the water through a folding transom door. Maybe in that universe trimarans are the norm and everyone’s cruising the world using a lot less fuel than in this one. I’m not saying trimarans are the answer for everyone – obviously berthing is a key factor and some people just might not like the look of them – but the benefits definitely deserve closer attention.

It’s something the owner of White Rabbit has learned through long experience. He started out in a monohull Feadship in 1989, built another in 1995 before experimenting with a catamaran in 2001. Then came the first trimaran in 2005, and, finally, the 84 metre White Rabbit. He’s a true convert. As is Mark Stothard, the Echo Yachts boss: “If anyone is serious about building a yacht this size and they didn’t make the time to come and have a look at this boat, they’d be mad. I’ve been in this game since the early 1980s and I’ve been on some really impressive yachts in that time and this thing blows my mind. Regardless of whether we build it or not, it is unequivocally doing everything that we said it was going to do... and then some.”

With the owner of White Rabbit based in Singapore, a Western Australian shipyard was an easy-access choice. Plus, Sorgiovanni’s design studio is based near the shipyard in Fremantle, and the owner had previous Australian experience, as his 61 metre White Rabbit was built in Tasmania by North West Bay Ships. For Echo Yachts, the planets aligned on this project. The shipyard had been working on rebuilding barges for the oil and gas industry, but work slowed in 2014 as the resource downturn hit. The company started to get contracts for wind farm vessels and fast ferries but then the owner of White Rabbit approached them about this project. “I firmly believed that if we were ever going to be able to gear up to do something like that, then that was the time,” says Stothard. “The mining boom had slowed and the shipbuilding industry in general was very quiet. So I thought, yeah, I reckon we can do this. And away we went.” Steel was cut on 27 October 2014, with delivery almost exactly four years later.


Echo Yachts

( www.echoyachts.com.au )

Oceanco 90mt DAR

A group of journalists lingers over a sculptural bar, while a yard employee leads another wide-eyed writer past delicate leaf shapes traced in the floor of the light-filled spa, towards butterflies so vividly painted on the bathroom wall that they seem ready to fly away when the door opens. We’re exploring the treasure trove of details on the Oceanco DAR, showcased at the Monaco Yacht Show, and it is bewitching us. But there is one feature that stops everyone dead: the panorama of Monaco unfurling behind a glass wall.

The view dominates the upper saloon: tenders shuttling in and out of the port, white yachts in the packed marina, apartment blocks on the hillside and the blue sky above it all. Walking to the edge of the space and leaning against full-height glass produces the sensation of being suspended in mid-air. There is no distortion: it’s like we’re looking through sunglasses that enhance colours and reduce glare. To the outside world, however, the glass might as well be a magical cloak shrouding all that is within. Even with lights on, it is impossible to make out what is behind the glass from the outside.

“You can see Monaco, but Monaco can’t see you,” says Luiz de Basto, DAR’s designer. “The concept of the design is a completely connected interior and exterior.”
That immersive effect, that moment of surprise as the outside world pours in, the absence of boundaries between inside and out: de Basto had imagined it all eight years earlier while seated in his Miami office overlooking Biscayne Bay. His quest at the time was to design an 85-metre yacht that concealed its volume and decks within a shapely glass envelope that would give its owners what he says they value above all else: privacy.

“Glass was the main inspiration as a way to improve contact with nature,” he says. As he developed the idea further, he thought about one particular sea animal that eventually lent its name to the project. The shark.
“The association with the hammerhead shark jumped at me when I searched for a way to create wing stations. I’ve always been very interested in nature and the animal world, probably because of my childhood in Angola and early contact with the big outdoors,” he says.

Just as the hammerhead’s wide-set eyes give it exceptional vision, the shapely wing stations could enhance the captain’s ability to see down the long hull sides. He took his idea further. “If you look closely you see that the mast is like a dorsal fin. Everything sort of flowed from there,” he says. “In three or four pages, the yacht was born, almost like you see it here.”

Of course, it’s one thing to imagine and draw a concept; it’s quite another to bring to fruition a technically complex design such as this. The next step de Basto took was to show his idea to Dutch superyacht builder Oceanco. “I thought they would be the right match for this particular project, sportier and more unconventional than most and with lots of glass,” he says.

They had a meeting at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show a few weeks later. “We liked the overall design and the technical challenges associated with the project and started working on a design package together,” says Oceanco. The yacht grew a few metres to an even 90, but the integrity of the design remained. “We went to great lengths to keep the overall look, but also the details of his design. We remained faithful to the concept, which is strong and well thought out.”

One of the most complex aspects of the yacht was its most obvious feature – the seamless black glass that encloses the superstructure. “DAR has about 390 square metres of glass in the superstructure alone, not counting doors and hull windows. The glass panels are 1.8 metres by three metres each, glued to the aluminium superstructure with no mechanical fasteners,” says de Basto. Adding all of its windows and doors, the yacht carries about 22 tonnes of exterior glass, made by German glass maker TILSE, which developed a special sealant and glue that had to be approved by Lloyd’s. “Elaborate calculations were made to assess the interaction between glue, superstructure and glass, and to see the relative movement in a seaway to make sure the glue would be able to cope,” says Oceanco.

From a purely engineering point of view, this required a massive amount of work, which continued as construction began – once the concept had attracted the eye of a buyer.

The owners of the yacht that would eventually become DAR entrusted captain Klaudio Marcelic to make some inquiries on their behalf. The commercial team at Oceanco showed him the project they had been developing. Marcelic says he was attracted by the boat’s “clean and distinctive lines”, and in January 2014 he contacted Oceanco CEO Marcel Onkenhout. “Project Shark was outlined as we see it today from January to May and then presented to the client. The letter of intent was signed one month later,” Marcelic says.

A larger team, which now included the owner’s project manager and interior designer Valentina Zannier of Italian studio Nuvolari Lenard, went to work on fine tuning features to more precisely fit the owners’ requirements and ideas. All these needed to be incorporated within the design envelope that they really enjoyed, particularly, according to Oceanco, “the total black surface, the ‘hammerhead’ and the shark fin”.

Realising this smooth “total black” glass effect, so essential to the original design, was one of the greatest technical challenges. “The thickness of the glass varies with the location, but the heaviest is 30 millimetres and consists of three layers. In the superstructure above the main deck there are 186 windows. Of these windows, 112 are bent in one direction and 28 are double curved,” says Oceanco.

To create the look de Basto had designed, “the glass had to be in one flush surface from the main deck to the sundeck. To achieve this, a lot of special solutions had to be found, which included measuring the superstructure in 3D multiple times at different stages of the build,” says Martin de Jager, engineering project manager for Oceanco. “From this, a three-dimensional model was then developed that was used not only for the shape of every individual window but also for the thickness of the filler where painted surfaces adjoin the glass. Another challenge was where to route pipes and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] ducts. With the large glass surfaces there was little room to place piping and ducting [near] the outside of the superstructure. Usually the underside of side decks can be used for ventilation grills. In the case of DAR [which has no walkarounds for the sake of privacy] this was not possible.”

Where did all the pipes and ducts go? “We’ve put them everywhere. If you open up the ceiling, it is completely full,” de Jager says. In spite of this, the ceiling height is never lower than 2.25 metres and reaches up to 2.4 metres in some areas.

Changes made to the original layout included the addition of a helideck and the relocation of the pool from one deck to another, a 1.6-metre-deep oval basin with a waterfall that retains its trajectory even as the yacht moves, a detail de Basto insisted upon. He designed all exterior decks, including folding carbon masts for umbrellas that complement the contours of the yacht when they are stored, and a huge sofa that seems to hover above the deck as it spins on a small axis to the sitter’s desired position.

The owner’s deck includes a completely private spa pool flanked by windows that reveal the world to the owners, but not the owners to the world.

Although two designers handled the treatment of the exterior and interior decks, the overall feeling remains surprisingly cohesive and relaxing throughout. The theme of nature, represented by the shark, continues inside. “The client brief was to have a comfortable, light and very bright interior, with no dark timbers and inspired by nature,” Zannier says.

Motifs of fish, leaves, olive trees, blossoms and waves are cleverly integrated in a wide variety of materials, from paint to plaster, carved leather, engraved glass and embroideries. Linen is used in an unusual way, substituted for joinery on doors and drawers. Wood is used sparingly and when it is, it is mainly light-hued timber with an unusual finish, sycamore dyed grey, maple veneer steamed and bent into curves to form a floor detail, a little dark veneer used to contrast with limed ash.

Zannier says she is particularly fond of the staircase that wraps around the lift, which is finished in antiqued bronze – buttons and control panel included – and features a decorative glass panel as flooring. Along the wall a school of fish in Venetian plaster winds its way up the stairs, one of several pieces made by DKT Artworks. Tiny details are everywhere, including drops of resin mimicking water droplets on a window sill.

It all looks so effortlessly elegant. However, “with 120 different fabrics, 24 saddle leathers and a variety of artistic finishes and glass the interior was very complex to execute,” says Oceanco. The task of outfitting this intricate interior went to List General Contractor and Sinnex.

On the technical side, the yacht is just as impressive, fitted with a full Dynamic Positioning system and a classed integrated bridge. Its enormous garage accommodates a pair of 10.5-metre custom tenders, one open and the other a limo, built by Hodgdon Yachts in Maine.

The long foredeck conceals crew tenders and a telescopic mast, and is large enough for a helicopter to land and take off. The owners did not want teak, and de Basto opted for a grey paint that is cohesive with the overall colour scheme and does not create glare. The yacht also carries a built-in slide that deploys for a vertiginous drop from on high.

This enormous project now complete, de Basto delights in sharing the details. “I am glad to see it built and so close to the original sketches. That is amazing because of the many pressures any design of this size is subjected to from all sides during the construction process. Those pressures can derail an innovative, non-conventional design very quickly,” he says. When he walked on to the yacht for the first time, de Basto says it was like he was entering his sketch. It’s a grand design that has become an even grander reality.

“DAR’s exterior aft decks exemplify a relaxed and sophisticated yachting lifestyle,” says designer Luiz de Basto, who decided to locate the guest spaces aft. DAR has three distinct exterior decks and each one is a spectacular feature in itself. The primary outside social space is on the upper deck, which is divided into two areas: the al fresco dining area and the pool area.

The former is finished in pale-toned, easy-to-care-for Lapitec tile flooring, perfect for casual entertaining. The dining table, which seats 12 comfortably, has an unusual design feature. Its centre, made of glass and lit with LEDs, can be lowered with a remote control to create space for decorations or for ice to keep champagne, caviar or oysters chilled. In the other portion of the deck, the lap pool is raised above the deck to keep young children from falling in and provides comfortable seating for adults watching over them. A stabilised waterfall splashes into the pool from the deck above, creating a lovely ambience but also acting as a privacy curtain, shielding the pool from the dining area. The bulwarks, built in continuous glass, act as wind breakers while allowing for beautiful views. The umbrellas to port and starboard are designed to fit the deck perfectly. They don’t need to be dismounted and stowed – they pivot and lower to fit alongside the bulwarks until they’re needed again.


Oceanco

( www.oceancoyacht.com )

Amels 58mt Volpini 2

Most superyachts are the outcome of a design exercise. The 57.7 metre Volpini 2, however, is the result of an unexpected convergence of a business plan and an environmental edict. In 2011 a globally mandated reduction in engine pollution known as IMO Tier II came into force. For large yachts, it required a simple enough switch to low-sulphur diesel fuel and perhaps a few tweaks to combustion. It also laid the groundwork for adopting the next stage in cleaning up maritime diesel emissions, a massive 70 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) gases, the main cause of smog and acid rain. This was slated to come into effect in 2016.

There was a collective gasp in shipping and yacht building. This next stage, Tier III, was not so simple: it would take more than improved fuel quality – the equipment for meeting this regulation did not exist. The response from some quarters and countries was to push for postponement of Tier III to 2021. Some yacht builders began laying extra keels so that the vessels that would eventually attach to them could be exempt (the regulation would apply only to keels laid after the date decided). Some stood on the sidelines unsure of what to do.

At Dutch builder Amels, the business focus in 2012 had turned to developing a new Limited Editions model, one that could fill a market gap between its 180 (at 55 metres and 671 gross tonnes) and the 199 (62.4 metres, with its scimitar bow and hefty 1,131 gross tonne volume). “We wanted to bring the feeling of space, refinement and many of the features of our larger yachts to the segment around 1,000 gross tonnage,” says Victor Caminada, Amels’ brand and communications manager, adding that initially at least the yard zeroed in on a boat of less than 60 metres, with moderate beam but a noticeable increase in interior space.

But then in 2014, just as yacht and shipbuilders had begun to think that an objection by Russia would effectively postpone Tier III implementation to 2021, a Danish compromise began to win international support, bringing the new NOx standards into play for all vessels over 500 gross tonnes with keels laid after 1 January 2016, but phased in through certain zones at first, notably both coasts – out to 200 nautical miles – of the US and the US Caribbean.

For Amels, it was clear that because of its begin-construction-in-advance business model, both design and technology needed to be worked on at the same time – and the subject would be its nascent 188. “It would make no sense to introduce the first Amels 188 and then on subsequent builds of the design to make drastic engineering changes to comply with the Tier III regulations,” says Caminada.

With the support of its giant shipbuilding parent company Damen, Amels set to work to make the new build Tier III compliant. That was easier said than done. “We discovered that the solution wasn’t just about engines or fuel or exhaust tubes or catalysts or scrubbers alone but about all of them working in tandem and seamlessly,” says Caminada. Individual OEMs could not introduce one component without knowing what other equipment would be in the system, nor could they design parts without knowing space constraints. “We had to get our arms around them and lead them to a solution together.”

While container ships and 100-metre-plus yachts may have room for huge exhaust catchment devices called scrubbers that capture and incinerate NOx and particulates, Amels chose another path to attain cleaner emissions. This was Selective Catalytic Reduction, an exhaust after-treatment methodology pioneered by the trucking industry. However, marine fuels, the much larger horsepower at play and the marine environment in general required new kit, says Caminada. The solution would require class approval, but there was no consensus on assessment and approval for that new equipment.

Proactively, Amels’ engineering department corralled its subcontractors – MTU, Veth and exhaust supplier Hug – plus the classification society Lloyd’s Register, to hammer out a solution. Confident that one could be found, Amels unveiled the design for the 188 at the Monaco show in September 2015 and laid the yacht’s keel before the end of that year. “Our head start through voluntary compliance explains how we were the first yacht builder to deliver a Tier III compliant yacht,” says Caminada.

It’s impossible to enter the Limited Editions 188’s engine room without noticing refrigerator-sized silver boxes wedged between the MTUs and the exhaust tubes. This is where the magic happens: a 40 per cent urea solution, also known as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), is injected into hot exhaust gases from the gensets and main engines in the presence of a ceramic-based metal oxide catalyst. Here, the pollutant transforms into harmless nitrogen, water and minute amounts of CO2. The unavoidable size of the catalytic converters and the urea tank (in this case 2,000 litres) led me to ask exterior stylist Tim Heywood whether Tier III equipment necessitated a change in his design.

“Not at all,” he says. “From the beginning, we wanted to create a boat with high ceilings – 2.2 metres on all decks – and a fifth tank deck for extensive provisioning. Amels gave me the blocks of space for the luxury interior area and the machinery spaces and it was my job to create a flowing line over them while keeping the profile as low as possible.”

Heywood has penned the “flowing lines” of every Limited Editions exterior since day one. The 188 is his sixth design for the range – and Amels has since confirmed that all future 188 hulls will be stretched to 60 metres, with most of that extra space going to the beach club and stern. “No other designer has gotten so much freedom as I have with Amels. I’ve had such pleasure working with them,” Heywood says.

In listening to him talk about the styling features of the boat, it becomes apparent that he also appreciated the intellectual exercise of working out tricky design to make the yacht work as smoothly as it looks. In fact, some things that look like styling features are engineering solutions, such as the curved buttresses holding up the deck overhangs that also conceal ducting and deck drains, and stacking the aft deck staircases to preserve space while at the same time creating a little drama with stainless-steel supports and handrails.

“Each of the editions is unique, but you can tell it’s from the same hand,” says Heywood. Yes, but Heywood pushed the 188 in a slightly different direction. It emulates the style of the 199 series, which Heywood says is his favourite, but while the 188 could be built with a similar scimitar bow, hull No 1 at least has the same flared bow as most of its stablemates. What it doesn’t have are the characteristic, almost signature, Heywood wing stations. Instead, the exterior is smooth with curves and twists subtly inboard and expressed on such things as the bowed support columns aft, the form of the owner’s suite windows and the dynamic mast. The wing stations are neatly tucked inboard on the Portuguese bridge while a subtle bulge or eyebrow on the side of the deck above gives slight cover to anyone who might be using them.

In profile, the Amels 188 has a sporty look. The downward slope of the main deck bulwarks towards the stern pairs with the side deck fashion plates sweeping up and transitioning to the overhead on the bridge and sundecks, creating an arrow form. This motion is accented by sleek railings that angle outward at the stern. “In all my work I draw on the natural world as an inspiration and it can be remarkable to see that materialise,” says Heywood. “In fact, my partner, Vanessa, was very observant when she mentioned how my drawings [for this yacht] resembled a cruising swan ruffling its wings.”

The sportier look to the 188’s profile is carried into the interior as well. Amels held a competition for the interior design of the spec yacht, providing firms with a basic GA featuring a large folding balcony in the owner’s suite, a lift and central stairway, interior access to the stern beach club and a VIP suite on the bridge deck. Reymond Langton, a design firm that had not worked with the yard before, impressed the builder with an “inspirational” and highly detailed design and a “level of refinement more common on 70-metre yachts”, says Caminada. Amels proposed Reymond Langton’s renderings at that 2015 Monaco Yacht Show and, after receiving positive feedback from clients, decided to build the interior according to the studio’s concept.

“I begin designs with the lower deck – that is the start, the heart of the boat,” says Pascale Reymond. “Amels said they wanted something different, more sporty. We were not told a specific budget but they asked me to be sensible. I asked if I could use certain stones and you will see they agreed,” she says, pointing out the Crema Marfil marble, green onyx, Azul Cielo from Brazil, white Thassos and white, grey and gold Calacatta marble on our tour.

On the lower deck are four cabins off a fore and aft corridor at the bottom of a sweeping column of oak stairs that sets a new standard for indirect lighting. The treads are lit underneath as is common, but the steps themselves don’t quite meet the surrounding walls, allowing light to escape and softly wash the leather wall surface. It’s a lighting design theme that repeats throughout the yacht. Walls appear not to touch ceilings and cabinets so that light spills through the gaps, creating shadows and shapes and the illusion of even more space. In the owner’s office, leather wrapped walls are opened to create interesting pockets of light. The floating ceilings add layers. Leather – the main suppliers of which are Foglizzo, Sinn Living and Studioart – covers many of the interior surfaces as well as bedside tables and headboards, showcasing a double stitch trim detail.

Just as Heywood hid drainpipes and ductwork outside, Reymond Langton hid features such as doorways, lamps, televisions and wardrobes inside. It brings a sense of calmness to the spaces, as does the absence of any gloss lacquer. As previously suggested, this yacht, as the first of the range, was started on spec. In September 2017, less than a year before its anticipated delivery date, an owner stepped forward to claim the yacht as his own. Interestingly, it wasn’t the boat’s environmental advances that attracted him at first, but the lift that connects the three interior decks with the sundeck. He was the owner of a 49.3-metre Amels custom built in 2004 as Larissa, which he bought on the brokerage market in 2014, refitted and renamed Volpini, which means “little fox” in Italian. By sheer coincidence, both Reymond and her partner Andrew Langton worked on the Larissa project while they were in the employ of that yacht’s principal designer, Donald Starkey.

When the owner stepped into the 188 project, the designers and shipyard prepared themselves for design tweaks. “That is always quite a nervous time for designers; you worry if they are going to want to change wood or colours or reject your work entirely,” Reymond says. “Their old Volpiniwas quite classic.”

The nerves were all for naught as the new owners of what is now Volpini 2 embraced the light taupe colour scheme with its splashes of blue and aqua recalling the sea. The only structural change requested was to remove the wall and door between the owner’s sitting room on starboard and bedroom on port. Now bookcases with open shelving are all that divide the space, allowing the light from the open balcony to grace the bedroom as well. In the adjoining office, dark wood and leather furniture by Minotti creates a distinctive look. Emanuela Chirieleison, from Reymond Langton’s team, worked with the owners to manage the interior changes and accessorise the boat.

In the months since her launch and delivery, Volpini 2’s owners cruised the Med extensively, enough for the yacht’s chief engineer, Paul Vickery, to get a handle on how the hybrid electrical system, a first for Amels, and the emissions reduction package were working. Vickery kept extensive records on the exhaust output with and without the catalytic converter in operation at various loads and engine temperatures. He showed me tables reflecting reduction in NOx with the catalytic system in use. “Here’s one run with the exhaust entering the catalytic chamber at 647ppm of NOx and leaving the chamber at 66ppm. That’s a 90 per cent reduction in my book. We are only required to use it in America now, and soon the Baltic, but for the good it does, it’s definitely worth the engine room space and I plan to use it as much as possible.” The urea tankage on Volpini 2 allows for 1,500 nautical miles of NOx-reduced cruising, although Amels says it has room to fit enough storage for a 5,000 nautical mile range. “If it [DEF] was accessible, I’d use it all the time,” he says, noting that the fluid was difficult to find in the Med last summer. “We shipped it in from Germany.”

Amels also undertook to reduce total power consumption aboard the yacht, “as part of a focus on sustainability and lowering the cost of ownership”, it says. The builder analysed fleet data from existing Limited Editions yachts to create a holistic approach with waste heat recovery, dividing auxiliary power generation into one large and one small genset, and adding a compact (56kWh) battery bank for peak load shaving and shedding. The system, developed by Amels and Alewijnse Marine, works in the background to manage hotel loads, automatically adjusting the balance of engines and battery power. The system is expected to save, conservatively, €100,000 in operating costs per year.

Volpini 2’s captain, Nathan McFadyen, says: “In eight weeks’ cruising this summer we noticed that we have about the same fuel consumption on Volpini 2 as on our previous yacht, despite the new yacht being significantly [about 50 per cent by volume] larger.” I guess you could say that Volpini 2 is helping to preserve the environment by being a little foxy.


Amels

( www.amels-holland.com )

Mangusta GranSport 54mt El Leon

In an industrial area near Pisa, Italy, lies Overmarine Group’s next generation of metal yachts. The name of the new 54 metre flagship fits like a glove – the first Mangusta GranSport 54 is called El Leon, and this beast can really roar, with a top speed of 30 to 31 knots.

El Leon looks like a Mangusta on steroids: leaner, more muscular and aggressive. It would be easy to focus first on the exterior design, penned by Alberto Mancini in close consultation with the shipyard. The rush of fluid lines with a sharply slanted windshield looks potent – a lion lying low, ready to pounce. However, the story of the GranSport really starts with the rise of a new generation of boaters and a very capable aluminium hull developed to cater to them. “In our opinion, the idea of yachting is changing,” says Francesco Frediani, Overmarine Group’s commercial director. “There are first-time buyers who have a different perception of boating. They are younger, are sensitive to technical issues, but more than that they want to live an adventure on board.” In other words, they don't necessarily want to stick to the familiar yachting Meccas. They want to be able to go everywhere.

Over the years, the builder has made enormous strides in extending the cruising range of its Mangustas, which started as luxurious express cruisers ideally suited to port-hopping around the Mediterranean. By 2014, it had perfected its Mangusta 165, built in composite, a formula that included quadruple MTU engines and Kamewa water-jets for improved efficiency and increased range. However, transatlantic capability remained out of reach; to get across the Atlantic, Mangustas had to travel on a transport ship – and plenty did, as the jet- or Arneson-driven boats are ideally suited to cruising in the Bahamas, for example.

Overmarine’s first stab at building displacement-type yachts was the Mangusta Oceano line. The builder tapped a young Italian designer, who worked well with the brand’s DNA. The first yacht born of the collaboration with Mancini, the Mangusta Oceano 43, was the yard’s first metal yacht in decades, although the company’s CEO, Maurizio Balducci, has long experience of building boats in metal. When Overmarine Group built its new sheds near Pisa a few years ago, it was precisely to expand its metal-building capability with the goal of building larger yachts.

About five years ago, the yard started toying with the idea of a sort of hybrid between a displacement yacht and a Mangusta; a boat that would be fast as well as transatlantic. “We are strong believers in the Maxi Open concept,” Frediani says, “and we wanted to combine in one concept our experience in fast, high-efficiency hulls with the ability to go long distances while maintaining high performance and comfort – a real fast displacement yacht,” one as comfortable at top speed as it is capable of crossing the Atlantic. After studying the existing options for this fast-growing segment, Mangusta decided it needed to develop its own hull as few, if any, satisfied the top-speed requirement, without compromising on other specifications, such as beam.

The shipyard started with basic parameters: it wanted to develop a yacht between 45 and 50 metres and under 500 gross tonnes. Although the experienced builder has extensive in-house engineering expertise, it enlisted Pierluigi Ausonio Naval Architecture (PLANA), an Italian firm well versed in designing hulls for the navy, to achieve its performance goals – a top speed of 30 knots and a transatlantic range at 11 to 15 knots.

“In the beginning, the person who was most involved in the project was the naval architect; more so than the designer,” Frediani says. “By exploring the concept further and delving deeper into technical issues we found that the ideal hull length for efficiency and to remain below 500 gross tonnes was between 50 and 54 metres.”

What the yard added to PLANA’s hull form was its expertise in quadruple-engine packages. Like the Mangusta 165s, the GranSport 54 packs quad MTU 16V 2000 M96L, or four times 2,600bhp, coupled this time with shafts and propellers. Smaller and lighter, the new-generation engines are also more efficient. Tank testing and CFD analysis returned excellent results. “Only at that point did we start looking into the lifestyle aspect and the design,” Frediani says. Overmarine wanted to incorporate several of the features it had implemented on the Mangusta Oceano line – a beach club, a large flybridge, lots of glass and a forward lounge with a 1.8-metre deep pool.

Mancini had started working on a 45 metre version along these parameters and says he was delighted to see the length grow, allowing him to push the envelope in terms of styling. “It is a dream for a designer, because it was making the yacht sleeker,” Mancini says. “What I had in mind was a sword. I tried to strike a balance between sporty and elegant, and incorporate the Mangusta feel into a raised pilothouse [RPH] yacht. I think it is one of the longest RPH ever built.” There was a worry that extending an RPH design to that extent would make the yacht too streamlined and low. “The wheelhouse is very angled, but when you get in and sit down, it feels like a Lamborghini.” This, he adds, inspired the first owner, who was looking for a sporty yacht, to show interest in the project.

In the car world, GranSport is synonymous with high performance and comfort, and herein lies one of this flagship’s achievements. In spite of its slender profile, once on board it feels extremely spacious in every direction. The flybridge, says David Bigotti, from Overmarine Group’s interior department, was the most challenging to build in aluminium. It comprises many welded pieces to achieve its sculptural shape. It is also well protected with visually pleasing aluminium curves and glass inserts in its mid-section and, at 100 square metres, has room for yoga and a dining area under the hardtop.

The design ensures that even seated at the dining table, everyone can still enjoy water views. A spacious outdoor lounge overlooking the shallow pool is at the bow, matched by a spectacular 70 square metre beach club opening on three sides and a relaxed outdoor saloon aft on the main deck. Inside, the ceiling height is comparable to that of any displacement yacht. “On each deck, I pushed the engineer to get as much height, and we have 2.6 metres in the saloon above the dining area. I used lots of tricks to achieve this,” Mancini says.

Some of the apparent volume results from features such as floor-to-ceiling windows in the main saloon area. In turn the use of these windows pushed the engineering department to find some creative solutions for essential equipment such as the air conditioning system. Two beautiful oval pieces of furniture, flanking the dining table, were made to conceal fan coils. Wide teak floorboards run transversally to enhance the beam, a trick Mancini previously used on the Mangusta Oceano. Light is also prevalent in the elegant master suite, located forward on the main deck. As on the Mangusta Oceano, the pool’s glass bottom serves as a skylight in the master head. In addition, the full-beam cabin has a balcony on the starboard side.

The buyers of the first Mangusta GranSport were not the first-time boaters the yard envisaged. They had owned Mangustas. “The owner came to Miami during the boat show and fell in love with the design,” Frediani says. “When we explained that it was a new model with shafts and range, we found out this was actually his dream. Having had fast yachts for most of his boat life, he now has more time to spend on board and wants to explore the world.”

El Leon's owners had many ideas on how to personalise their GranSport. Decisions that made it into the finished boat included painting the hardtop a Silver Anniversary colour by DuPont and using blue-tinted skylights by Isoclima over the exterior dining area on the flybridge. They stayed closely involved with the interior choices as well.

“I trusted the clients, and the final result really exceeded my expectations as well as the owner’s,” says Mancini, who admits to a little hesitation at the outset when he discovered the owner’s fondness for glossy American nut and Macassar ebony. Wall coverings by Hermès and Rubelli combine with nubuck and other leather finishes to create a comfortably luxurious ambiance. Most of the furniture is custom designed, with a few exceptions, such as twin saloon sofas by Minotti. “It is not a super-modernist yacht, but it is very appealing,” Mancini says. A heavily veneered brown marble, similar to wood veneer, combines with a glass-enclosed Hermès animal print wall covering in the master head to suggest the idea of a tropical forest.

The owners had other requirements that pushed Mangusta towards a tailor-made layout, with an office and a larger than planned tender garage for a 7.3 metre craft designed by Mancini. Gullwing-style doors open the twin tender bays located in the forepeak beneath the pool.

Custom design beyond the choice of interior materials and accessories is not the goal, however. “We have studied the project well and are able to offer many different layout options thanks to Nicola Onori and Pier Giorgio Finatti from our technical department,” Frediani says. “We have very different layout options: a four-cabin layout in the lower deck plus social areas like a gym and cinema; master cabin on the main deck; another one with two full-beam VIPs on the lower deck; plus two guest cabins and a master cabin on the main deck. The customisation is very high if the owner enters in the very early stages, and a bit less flexible when the owner comes in the later stage.” Frediani says they can’t predict how many they’ll be able to build, but construction has begun on hull No 2 of the Mangusta Gransport 54.

After debuting in Saint-Tropez to Mangusta fans, El Leon appeared at the Monaco Yacht Show. She has ambitious plans, possibly going to the Caribbean, doing the kind of open ocean mileage no Mangusta has ever done before.

PLANA defines the Mangusta GranSport 54 hull as “fast and surface piercing”. Yacht architect Pierluigi Ausonio says it goes through the sea surface (it does not plane) but uses dynamic lift to control longitudinal trim and maintain displacement mode at high speed. Ausonio has designed fast naval vessels and worked with four-shaft arrangements and propellers since the 1980s. He has applied all that knowledge to the GranSport fast displacement hull.

CFD calculations and tank testing helped refine the hull’s round-bilge shape in the aft section to accommodate the four-shaft arrangement and maximise flow to the propellers and in the fore section, which incorporates a “dynamically surfacing bulbous bow and an effective spray rail”.

The hull’s resistance compares favourably with other fast boat hull types, such as so-called deep V or double chine hulls without bulbous bows. Calculations showed resistance to be 15 to 20 per cent less while travelling at 30 knots and 50 per cent less at 15 knots. “This huge improvement in the hull performances allows designing a fast motor yacht exceeding 50 metres, reaching a speed above 30 knots with relatively low power, cruising easily above 25 knots, but above all that, with a range of 4,800 nautical miles at 12 knots and 3,500 nautical miles at 15 knots,” Ausonio says. “So you can cross the Atlantic at 15 knots, which is unusual for any motor yacht.”

Designer Alberto Mancini worked closely with El Leon’s owners and Mangusta’s interiors department to create the stylish décor but was given relatively free rein. He enjoys incorporating features from the automotive world in his designs. There are a few on the outside of the Mangusta GranSport 54, the largest yacht he’s designed to date, but it is one interior feature, developed for luxury cars, that has him most excited. “We used a new type of veneer that allows us to create a kind of transparency. It’s a new technology by Alpi, developed for dashboards in luxury cars.

I asked the yard to use it to create backlit columns at the main entrance. The veneer includes little transparent stripes. It is so new that when the shipyard called the company that produced this kind of panel and asked how to glue it, they replied ‘Sorry, we don’t know.’ The shipyard is really very skilled and figured out how to glue it into a semicircular plexiglass material. The result is amazing.”


Mangusta

( www.mangustayachts.com )