Painted Lady

The sharp cumbersome lines of this boat may have won beauty contests in the late 1980′s but, like rock starts of yesterday, her looks have faded. An outdated figure, however, is not enough to make a boat pure ugly. No, for that honor you’ll need to add some paint. We are not sure which drugs the owner of this yacht was taking when he commissioned this hull “art” but he had to have been smoking something, or listening to Duran Duran.  Or both.

Signature Series

John Hancock made history with his bold and audacious signature on the Declaration of Independence. The signature series Foster yacht shares his audacious manner, but lacks the equivalent elegance.    It’s like a giant Volkswagen Beetle, comfortably roaming the ocean.

Runner Up – Dark Knight

Not ugly in the classical sense of the word, the Dark Knight might win a Halloween costume contest for its ability to scare young children. If Batman was looking for a new yacht this might be it, but for the rest of us who aren’t superheroes and don’t have a huge cave to park their yacht in, it’s just a little bit strange looking.  I mean, does it even have a bar???

This week an armada of boats lay siege on Fort Lauderdale for the year’s largest boat show and, like models during fashion week, countless mega-yachts arrive daily with hopes of seducing a billionaire to sleep in her cabin. But, for one exceptional beauty, this is not the goal.

With a sharp chiseled bow softened by elegant curves the Sea Axe is a genuine head turner. Her looks are unique and stunning but, unlike most other yachts of her type, they also serve a function enabling her to cut through chop and blaze down the face of a following sea at high speed. Even more intriguing is her lineage. The latest in a line of workboats designed by Damen Shipyards, her unique shape is based off the Fast Crew Supplier, a workboat developed  to service oil rigs in the rough waters of the North Sea. This fact, combined with her natural beauty, is what most intrigues the world’s wealthier individuals.

The Sea Axe FYS (Fast Yacht Support), as she is named, is not designed to be the primary yacht of billionaires. Instead she is designed as an elegant work horse capable of both turning heads and carrying the toys of her wealthy owners. The Sea Axe’s generous deck space provides plenty of room for a launch boat, jet skis, automobiles and a helicopter, and she is fast… capable of speeds up to 28 knots with a range of 5,000 nautical miles (at 18-knots).

Yacht design visionary and naval architect, Tom Weaver, from Weaver Price Design shares his comments:

This is the solution to the designers dilemma of engineering the support tenders and toys to fit into a regular super yacht. Under normal circumstances, designers of mega yacht tenders are faced with restrictions in height, weight and the space they occupy leading to compromises in the vehicles the guests use as transport and for play.  Now toys are unlimited, they can arrive ahead of the main ship be deployed and ready, the Sea Axe can also carry supplies of fuel etc.  A variety of “toys” are required in different parts of the world, here they can be corralled and deployed at will.

The Sea Axe’s forward sections are developed from racing sailing yachts, particularly catamarans with their narrow hull beam, where the vertical bow, fine entry and minimum reserve buoyancy is intended to go through waves rather than over them. This is efficient and reduces pitching whilst maintaining speed, and there is enough lifting strake/chine forward to deflect water when running in normal conditions.  The wide aft decks and what appears to be minimum deadrise aft create a very stable working platform to launch and deploy “toys”. The forward helm station of the supply vessel creates the large working deck and gives excellent visibility from the helm station.  This is a very functional yacht with workboat roots and a style not out of place in Monte Carlo.

In the Christopher Guest-directed comedy, Best in Show, one character is continuously approached by men she once slept with.  The details of her pre-marital love affairs, combined with her wardrobe of scant lycra pull-ups, leads her neurotic husband to compare her to “a cocktail waitress on an oil rig.”

One day the lucky owner of Sea Axe may be similarly dismissive but, this week in Fort Lauderdale, this working class girl of Aberdeen is truly the best in show.

The 127m OCTOPUS preparing to leave her covered dock at the Kiel building site shortly before delivery. Photo via Blohm + Voss

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)–German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA.XE) is in exclusive talks to sell large parts of its Blohm + Voss shipbuilding business to U.K. private equity fund Star Capital Partners, the Financial Times Deutschland reports Monday, citing unidentified persons.

ThyssenKrupp has provided Star Capital with access to “all important information” and a deal could be struck as soon as November, the newspaper says.

ThyssenKrupp and Star Capital Partners weren’t immediately available to comment.

ThyssenKrupp had previously said it is in talks with a U.K. financial investor, but hadn’t identified the bidder.

The German steelmaker and engineering company has been trying to sell all civil shipbuilding operations of Blohm + Voss–which makes luxury yachts–for the better part of two years.

A sale to yacht builder Abu Dhabi Mar fell apart in July. An offer from family-owned German shipbuilder Luerssen was dismissed by ThyssenKrupp earlier this month.

Over the past few years ThyssenKrupp has been selling off its civil shipyard business, citing massive global overcapacity and a lack of orders.

The company has said it intends to keep the part of Blohm + Voss that designs and develops naval vessels such as frigates, corvettes and submarines.

Newspaper website: www.ftd.de

-By Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires

The Perini Navi Group has launched a new series of 60 mt sailing yachts and has already signed two sales contracts for a total value of more than 70 million Euro. The two yachts, a ketch – C.2193 – and a sloop – C.2218 – will be delivered in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Perini Navi 60m: a performance yacht with maximum comfort

The new 60 metre Perini Navi sailing yacht, a natural evolution of the 56m Perini series that already counts ten sister yachts launched, has clear potential for speed, is extremely comfortable and has abundant outdoor deck spaces.

Many innovations in project conception, technology and design, have been used for this new type of yacht, available both in sloop and in ketch versions.

Project innovations

The new hull line is slimmer thanks to the use of perfect length/width proportions: 50.4m LOA with a maximum beam of 11.40 which make for a faster yacht. Hull and superstructure are in aluminium which allow the yacht a displacement of 570 tons and a gross tonnage of under 500 tons, meaning it stays within a certain yacht class. The lifting keel also has important innovations thanks to a new vertical position that makes it more efficient and quick to lift. Thanks to this keel the yacht’s draft goes from 12.30m to just 4.30.

Technological innovations

A new generation of Perini Navi reel captive winches- faster, lighter, more powerful and yet smaller than the previous, has been created and installed on this yacht. The automatic furling systems for all fore sails have also been completely re-designed and are now positioned under the deck to optimise the use of the sail surface. The masts and the boom, which has an in-boom furling system, are in carbon fibre. All sail manoeuvring systems have been designed by Perini Navi and the sail plan was drawn using all the latest technology to optimise performance without compromising safety.

Design innovations

In terms of design, the yacht’s layout has been completely redone with a lighter structure and a leaner deckhouse. This project also differentiates itself from the previous for its abundance of outdoor deck areas; it has two cockpits, one fore and one aft, that allow for generous outdoor spaces that make for wellbeing and maximum comfort. The fore deck, wide and flush with 21ft tenders in recessed wells, is like a wide terrace on the sea with plenty of outdoor space for guests.

The transom has also been designed for outdoor living. Using a hydraulic system, it can be transformed into a platform that offers easy access to the sea by means of an elegant internal staircase. The yacht also has a side platform that can be used both for moving the tenders from the lazarette and for direct access to the sea.

The interiors have been designed with the main saloon as an open space separated from the aft cockpit by a wide glass door and from the wheelhouse by a glass wall that can be darkened. In the centre a wide staircase leads both up to the flying bridge and down to the lower deck. The lower deck has four en-suite guest cabins and a full-beam stateroom, which, following the owner’s express wishes, can be divided in two to provide a total of six cabins. In the service area a large laundry has space for washing, drying and ironing with refrigerators for storage under the floorboards. There are also six crew cabins.

The Perini Navi Group closed the 2010 fiscal year with a order portfolio of 126 million Euro, while by June 2011, thanks to the sales of these two new yachts, the volume is currently of 140 million spread over 7 yachts: a SY of 45m; a SY of 40m; a SY of 50m; a sloop of 60m; a ketch of 60m; a MY of 55m and a MY of 73m.

2010 Financial Highlights: Order portfolio of 126 million Euro; Value of production growth of 10.6%

Notwithstanding a difficult market, Perini’s 2010 performance was positive. The Perini Navi Group closed the fiscal year with a value of production of 102.4 million Euro, with a growth of 10.6% compared with 2009. The principal economic indicators were all positive and aligned with the Group’s expectations: EBITDA was at 13.1 million Euro and EBIT at 7.7 million, positive values especially when compared with the trends reported by other companies.

In the year 2010 four yachts, three sailing yachts and one motor yacht, were delivered. These were Panthalassa and Melek, 56 mt ketches and Fivea, a 45 mt sloop and Exuma, a 50 mt Picchiotti from the Vitruvius® series motor yacht, the first motor yacht produced by the Perini Navi Group. On top of these deliveries, a contract for a 45 mt sailing yacht was also signed.

Since last June Fidelis – the tenth yacht in the 56 mt series – was delivered and in August 2011 the second Picchiotti motor yacht of the Vitruvius® series, a 55 mt C.2156, will be delivered. Within the end of the summer the Group will also consign the fourth yacht in their 45 mt sailing yacht series.

The Perini Navi Group with a fleet of 51 yachts on the water- 50 sailing yachts and 1 motor yacht- is the world leader in the design and construction of large sailing yachts. In 2007 the Group also began to build motor yachts with the brand name Picchiotti and the series name Vitruvius, thus re-launching the historic Picchiotti shipyard acquired in the early 1990’s. The Group is made up of the Perini Navi shipyard in Viareggio, founded in the 1980’s by Fabio Perini who invented and developed a revolutionary automatic sail control system. Another division of the Group is the Picchiotti shipyard in La Spezia where the Group constructs its motor yachts and concentrates most of it refitting work, and the Perini Istanbul shipyard in Yildiz, Turkey where its hulls and deck structures are produced. Perini Navi USA is a commercial division of the Group through whom owners of Perini Navi Group yachts can arrange charters and which also provides brokerage services for both new and previously owned Perini Navi Group yachts.

The 100-foot long History Supreme was built over a 3-year period with 100,000 kilograms of solid gold and platinum accents including a her hull which is completely wrapped in gold.  The $4.8 BILLION price tag also included meteoric stone wall fixtures and petrified dinosaur bone from a T-Rex.

To put this in perspective, each foot of this yacht cost $48,000,000 to build.

Blingmasters from Stuart Hughes of Liverpool were commissioned for this unbelievable project.

The master stateroom

The glass atrium / dining room

The aft deck. 

All images © Giovanni De Sandre www.giovannidesandre.com

***UPDATE***  There’s no freakin’ way this boat was built with 100,000 kgs of gold and platinum.  If anyone wants to say otherwise feel free, but you better send us some solid proof.  First off, tell us how the heck you get your hands on 100,000 kgs of gold and platinum…

The first and foremost source of energy is from the Sun which powers Solar Cells (covering the entire surface of the vessel) while at the same time illuminating 2 Hydroponic farms.

The second source is energy from the Wind which powers an auxiliary automated SkySail that drives the Ocean Empire to 18+knots while charging her GM ESS2 batteries through power sailing KER.

The third source is energy from Waves captured through Motion Damping Regeneration (MDR). A new form of ATMD (Adjustable Tuned Mass Damper) developed in collaboration with Maurer Sohnes Gmbh

The MDR system is basically an ATMD utilized in skyscrapers such as Taipei 101 to reduce their swaying motion. In this application 16 tons of batteries are the Mass while linear generators produce up to 50 kws of electricity as they dampen the motion of the vessel.

Richard Sauter head of design commented “The Ocean Empire life support Superyacht liberates the Superyacht community from its strict dependence on unsustainable resources by harnessing the renewable collective power ever present in the Earths Biosphere”.

The Ocean Empire LSV is a state of the art Superyacht catamaran. As such her Green Tech innovations are able to optimize what is easily the most dynamic form of ocean going platform. Her Daimler Turbo Compound BueTec engine is the most advanced EPA Diesel ever built. Her Sunpower Solar Cells are the most efficient to date as are her Voith Surface Drives.

Employing existing OEM products and costing little more than her conventional Superyacht counterparts. Ocean Empire’s Solar Hybrid design offers every available Superyacht luxury within her full range of operation which extends from a 50% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions to Ultra Green Carbon Neutral and Zero Carbon cruising.

As a Charter, a Plugged in Ocean Empire LSV is capable of feeding 360+Mwh’s of electricity to the grid. Enough energy to make up to 12,000 nautical miles of Chartered Carbon Neutral voyages every year

Why Did Hermès Design A Megayacht? While I certainly can not answer that question I can give you details on the yacht Hermès designed which is appropriately name “Why”. Gizmag tells us:

Prior to the launching of the outrageous Wally Island megayacht two years ago, Monte Carlo-based Wally Yachts was probably best known for its millennium-award-winning Wallypower 118, but with the launch of Wally Hermes Yachts (WHY), a joint venture with French high fashion house Hermes, it will almost certainly be known for its first WHY Yacht – it’s a multi-story 58 metre-long, 38 metre-wide floating personal holiday resort with almost an acre of floorspace, an ultra-stable Norwegian Ramform hull, and an energy efficiency so high and carbon footprint so low that it can be sailed to the location of your heart’s desire. It aint fast, but it can cruise at 12 knots in a Force 4 gale and has enough range to cross the Atlantic four times without refueling.

WHY is a joint-venture created in June 2008 between Paris-based luxury goods designer Hermès and similarly-positioned yacht constructor Wally Yachts, to develop a new type of motor yacht redefining the art of living on the sea. The venture was conceived as an equal partnership whereby each company becomes fully involved in all aspects of the concept and design of each project. Read More…

Video of the yacht design:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More details on this unique yacht can be found on the website Why Yachts.

I stumbled upon this while searching on, well, Stumble Upon, the tool that discovers web sites based on your set interests. In my search it referred me to Schöpfer Yachts, a new US based company that is “dedicated to the pursuit of advanced yacht aesthetics and technology.”

Now we have seen some interesting yachts in our day, including the 170 meter yacht that was just launched in Germany for the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, but this one (in concept) surely is in a class of its own in terms of forward thinking design and extraordinary style.

It is called the Oculus and it is a 250-foot vessel that was designed by E. Kevin Schöpfer, founder and owner of his namesake company.  The design is the first “design launch” of Schöpfer Yachts LLC.  Here are just a few of artist renditions for this bold new design.  More images, including details about the vessel, can  be found at SchöpferYachts.com

Now if you think that is impressive, check out the second design launch of Schöpfer Yachts called the Infinitas. Details HERE