Boat International US Edition April 2020

I remember seeing the designs for BOLD a few years ago and being taken aback by her almost brutalist styling. Up close and personal, she’s much softer than she seems, but still packs all the passage-making punch promised by those no-nonsense lines. In fact, while still extreme, her styling seems to fit right in with a modern crop of superyachts that really push the design envelope. Just look at the latest Excellence , whose owner, Herb Chambers, is interviewed in this issue. Could this spell the end of the wedding cake look? Not likely, but it’s great to see boat owners being braver in their design choices. These decisions are often enabled by technological advances, especially, in recent years, in glass. The huge areas of structural glass on board Excellence…

Robert Johnston Robert is a London-based journalist with over 30 years’ experience writing for titles such as The New York Times and the Financial Times. For this issue, Robert considers the best clothes for travel (page 58). On which journey do you find the best-dressed travelers? They’re in Business Premier on the Eurostar between London St Pancras and Paris Gare du Nord – though the passengers speaking French tend to be the more stylish! The most ridiculous thing you’ve seen worn on a plane? Flying back from Girona in Spain I sat next to a man wearing a helmet. That was weird What’s the most overdressed you’ve ever felt? I’ve sat in a pew at a wedding dressed in a morning suit while the person next to me was in jeans. But, frankly, I wasn’t embarrassed And the…

Moonrise has emerged from the shed where she has been in build for the past 18 months or so. Hull 1008 arrived at Feadship’s Makkum facility in August 2018. Her launch confirmed a length of 327ft 11in. Due to her hull shape and plumb bow, there is very little difference between overall length and waterline length, which sets a new record for the Dutch yard. Feadship has not yet disclosed the yacht’s volume, but she is nearly 51ft across and sports high ceilings. In spite of her generous dimensions, Studio De Voogt gave Moonrise a sleek appearance with long hull windows, which have been a hallmark of the Dutch builder in the past few years, slimming her appearance. The interior, which remains a guarded secret, is by French designer Rémi…

No question, there are some owners whose first yacht measures 230ft. But the classic yachting “career” looks more like this: an owner starts small and “grows up” with their boats, gaining a few feet every few years until they reach the superyacht segment and buy a semi-custom boat between 80 and 100 feet. Of the 10,863 yachts longer than 80ft that have been delivered, 4,165 (or 38 percent) belong to this segment. The average length of these yachts is 86ft 7in and only 8.6 percent are sailing yachts. “For many owners, the first large yacht with crew is between 24 and 30 meters [80-100ft] long,” says Peter Hürzeler, managing partner of Ocean Independence. “Later, many of these buyers move up and acquire a larger format. That’s why we take very close care…

Wider goes greener Wider CEO Marcello Maggi has committed to take the Italian superyacht builder all electric within five years. The company is well positioned for it, having already delivered two innovative hybrid yachts and now with the resources to push boundaries since its recent acquisition. At the BOAT International Superyacht Design Festival ( see page 38 ), Maggi revealed new areas of development. Through Wider’s parent company, it is revisiting an old technology that shows renewed promise with the introduction of graphene, the super-thin, super-strong and super-conductive material. Wider intends to use thermionic converters (TCs) as part of the hybrid system that will power the Wider 180 currently under construction. TCs transform heat into electricity through the transfer of electrons between metal plates. Although they showed great promise as reliable,…

PROJECTS TRITON AND ELECTRA This 164ft sistership of Omaha , built on spec, has an exterior design by Clifford Denn inspired by classic car design and a Reymond Langton interior that the yard describes as “contemporary.” The all-aluminum Electra is also 164ft long but is radically different from Triton ( pictured ). Her Omega Architects design goes hand in hand with her Cristiano Gatto interior. heesenyachts.com MERAKI The classically styled aluminum Meraki was built at Vitters for an experienced sailor. Her lines by Hoek Design with low deckhouses provide far-reaching visibility from the helm. Rhoades Young worked closely with the owner on the “contemporary, classic” interior. vitters.com INK Benetti’s first Diamond 145 yacht Ink is the Italian builder’s flagship fiberglass yacht. Designed by Giorgio M Cassetta, Ink features long windows and a “customized cosmopolitan” interior…