Yachts International Spring 2023

kwooton@aimmedia.com Fans of the Netflix drama series The Crown who waded into season five last fall noted scenes meant to be aboard the former royal yacht Britannia. Sadly, her presence in the story doesn’t celebrate the stately majesty of her classic lines or the impressions she made as she laid down more than a million nautical miles over her 44 years of service to the royal family and to Britain. In the series, she serves as a metaphor for the monarchy itself: in decline, out of date and in need of a refit. In these days of surging populism, I suppose an argument could be made that a state yacht, no matter her value as a vehicle for projecting power—and for being a place of respite and privacy for her busy, coddled,…

Goga, the first Benetti B.Yond 37M, is very much the brainchild of Azimut-Benetti President Paolo Vitelli. The 121-foot (36.9-meter) project sprang from his desire to do something different, to build a steel yacht in a size category more commonly associated with fiberglass, and with a design for clients who would see it as more than just an expensive plaything. “An important consideration was to keep the dimensions reasonable,” Vitelli says. “I’ve been all around the Mediterranean, and I love the small harbors where generally the limit is around 40 meters, or 130 feet in length. So, part of the dream was to have a yacht that could still enter these places and be close to the town or village life, rather than always anchoring outside.” There were other drivers. Exceptional for this…

The fourth Sherpa 80 XL from Arcadia Yachts, Mabelle, is an exercise in optimizing multifunctional space on a compact explorer footprint. Launched in summer 2022 on Italy’s Sorrento coast, the 78-foot (24-meter) boat—which Arcadia likens to a “pocket rocket”—was built for Italian owners who have years of sailing experience. Their previous boats include the 192-foot (58.4-meter) Alloy Kokomo, the 163-foot (49.7-meter) Fitzroy Zefira and the 107-foot (32.6-meter) Vitters Ribelle. Mabelle is the owners’ first foray into motor yachting. It is also their smallest commission to date. The Sherpa 80 XL, with exterior design by Italian studio Hot Lab, is one of Arcadia’s most successful models, with a customizable platform and expansive open-deck spaces. A 700-square-foot (65-square-meter) aft terrace and “patio on the sea” create seamlessness between the indoors and outdoors. Mabelle’s custom layout…

Gulf Craft is not always an obvious candidate for Americans deciding which yacht to buy next. Many other shipyards have better-known names and bigger marketing budgets to get the attention of U.S. yachtsmen. Mohammed Alshaali, Gulf Craft’s co-founder and CEO, aims to change that. He started his boatbuilding venture with his brother in 1982, just up the coast from Dubai, making runabouts, fishing boats and dayboats for local boaters. The company has built thousands of boats and, over the years, widened its horizons considerably. “The U.S. is very important for us,” he says. “In fact, we see the country as our future market.” Alshaali might have better qualifications than most when it comes to understanding what American yachtsmen like. In his earlier life, he spent 35 years as a diplomat, retiring in 2008…

Like the Grand Banks 60 that made its debut in 2017, the new Grand Banks 85 is a game-changing semi-custom cruising yacht that takes the legacy builder to a new level in appearance, performance and construction. The yacht made its U.S. debut in March with a style that blends the familiar with a conservative, yet near-endless array of shapes, curves and detailing. It is an eye-catching design with practical cruising appeal. The 85’s appeal to cruisers comes, in part, from the boat’s “warped” hull design. Boatbuilders often say performance is solely related to horsepower and weight, but Grand Banks CEO Mark Richards’ decades-long sailboat racing career taught him that a winning design relied on the boat’s wetted surface, reducing the energy needed to move the boat through the water and its…

Architect and superyacht designer Francesca Muzio has left her mark on more than 150 projects. She is the founder, along with her husband and managing partner Luca Boldrini, of her own firm in Italy, and she helps to manage a staff of 40 people. But in her earlier days in the marine industry, as creative director of the interior design department for a well-known shipyard, she sometimes had to make a wardrobe change just to be taken seriously among the team of nearly 800 men. She recalls a meeting where a client would only address his questions to the men at the table. The next day, she decided to wear traditional worker overalls instead of a dress. “Only then did I get the attention of the client,” she recalls. Today, clients take Muzio…