Innholdsfortegnelse for November-December 2019 i Yachts International

In his book “Isaac’s Storm” about the deadly Galveston hurricane of 1900, Erik Larson quotes the author Ernest Zebrowski, Jr. writing about chaos theory and the butterfly effect in the context of the unpredictability of the development of tropical storms. “Could a butterfly in the West African rainforest, by flitting to the left of a tree rather than to the right, possibly set in motion a chain of events that escalates into a hurricane striking coastal South Carolina a few weeks later?” It’s an intriguing concept that plays out each summer and fall to varying result. The storms that activate form a conga line of swirling disturbances that roll across the Atlantic toward the western hemisphere. Some evolve into hurricanes while others fizzle and flitter off to sea. Some eventually…

‘Gerry is a genuine innovator and belongs to a fraternity of designers that is now disappearing in a world full of imitators.’—Naval Architect Rob Doyle With his scholarly spectacles, rumpled hair and unassuming demeanor, Gerry Dykstra looks more like a kindly professor than a single-handed sailor. Now retired, at least officially, he spends nearly as much time sailing the high latitudes of northern Europe as he does on dry land. He was literally fresh off the boat when we met at the Amsterdam office of Dykstra Naval Architects (today headed up by Managing Director Thys Nikkels), having left his 53-foot aluminum sloop in Iceland and flown home via the Arctic archipelago of Lofoten in Norway. “My wife, Loontje, and I have always preferred sailing in colder climates,” Dykstra says. “The…

Udo J. Vetter was getting toward retirement age when he decided that he wanted to sail around the world. Then, he says, he had a vision: “One day I woke up aboard a plastic charter boat, looked outside and there she was: a Perini Navi.” That boat was Liberty, sistership of the 151-foot (46-meter) The Aquarius, which the German entrepreneur and pharmaceutical executive now owns. She became his first large yacht in 2016, after a lifetime of sailing and owning smaller vessels. While some buyers may have smirked at a 1990 build, Vetter specifically wanted an older Perini: “It’s a lot easier to fix a steel boat in faraway places like Papua New Guinea than an aluminum one, which immediately limited me to the older generation of Perinis,” he says.…

The owner of TIS feels very much at home in world-class hotels such as the Hôtel Hermitage in Monte-Carlo, Le Bristol in Paris and The Connaught in London—so much so that they became the reference point for Winch Design to create the interior of the 364-foot (111-meter) Lürssen. “The yacht’s ambience is intended to evoke Edwardian elegance, a great time for grand yachting,” Andrew Winch, founder of Winch Design, says of the early 1900s period. “It was a romantic golden age of long summer afternoons and garden parties. There is so much ugliness in the world, why not embrace the beauty of the bygone era? Why not have a tearoom that makes you feel like you are having tea and scones at the Ritz?” Winch and his company have designed…

Mom had an old saying (usually when I’d outgrown a pair of jeans as a kid) that you can’t get 10 pounds of sugar into a 5-pound sack. But Mom was wrong, and the Horizon FD77 is floating proof. I never played three-dimensional chess, but I suspect that Dutch designer Cor D. Rover is a whiz at it because he’s managed to get all the niceties of a far larger yacht into a package that is 80 feet (24.56 meters) overall, including a 7-foot (2.1-meter) swim platform. That he did it without cramping anything is even more remarkable, and that includes a walkaround engine room, civilized crew quarters and a beach club hidden in the transom. Think about it: The FD77 has a full-beam master stateroom (no side decks) forward…

Chefs aboard charter yachts take pride in catering to the diverse tastes and dietary requirements of all sorts of guests. The chefs often have to create alternative dishes that are inspired, delicious and beautifully presented. That was the case during the chefs’ competition at the MYBA Charter Show in Barcelona, Spain, last spring. The theme was vegan and vegetarian cooking, and as one of the judges who sampled dishes aboard 30 yachts, I did not miss the bacon. For a variety of reasons, meat-free cuisines have gained popularity in recent years. Vegans eat no animal products at all. Vegetarians don’t eat animals, but will eat products that come from them such as milk, butter and cheese. Lacto vegetarians won’t eat meat or eggs, but will consume dairy. In the MYBA…

The single most significant influence on the exterior appearance of superyachts in the past decade has been the structural use of glass. Advances in manufacturing technologies mean it is now possible to produce glass that is up to 15 times stronger, pound for pound, than steel. The load-bearing properties translate into enormous windows on today’s yachts. The latest spectacular example is 262-foot (80-meter) Artefact, built by Nobiskrug in Germany with interior design by Reymond Langton in the United Kingdom and exterior styling by Canadian naval architect Gregory C. Marshall. Delivered to her owner last summer, she had been expected to make her debut at the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show, but instead the yacht headed north into Scandinavian waters. Asymmetry is rare in yacht design, which is exactly why Artefact’s radical,…

IN A SHRINKING WORLD of GPS navigation and Google Earth, an old-fashioned globe still has the power to delight. As a boy, I had a plastic one by my bedside that lit up. I remember thinking how squashed Europe looked compared with Africa or North America. Lying in bed at night, I liked to gaze up at the ceiling illuminated by the globe’s yellow deserts, green jungles and blue oceans. “A globe is the world in miniature and was the first way of seeing the planet in 3-D,” says Peter Bellerby, founder of London-based Bellerby & Co, one of just a handful of artisan globe-makers still practicing their craft. “Nothing else can reproduce that feeling of holding the world in your hands.” What’s believed to be the oldest extant terrestrial…

Yachting and golf are two sports that quickly become addictive passions. Being forced to choose between avocations is no fun, so combining them can be the perfect solution, no matter whether you’re cruising on a private yacht or booking a charter. “We get a surprising number of charter clients who put golf at the top of their charter needs,” says Missy Johnston at Northrop-Johnson Yacht Charters Newport. “Our captains are used to not only booking dockage and restaurants, but also organizing tee times as well.” These five challenging golf courses in the Bahamas and Caribbean have superyacht marinas nearby. And who knows? You might even bump into Tiger Woods aboard his Christensen or Jack Nicklaus on his Westport as they work their way around the Caribbean golfing circuit. Royal St.…