New flagships. First-of-their-kind features. Largest-ever builds. These descriptors are becoming regulars in conversation about the world’s leading superyacht yards, whose newest hulls are breaking all kinds of boundaries.
Heesen’s 163-foot Project Nova, launched in April and christened Home, is the builder’s first Fast Displacement model with hybrid propulsion. The 125-foot Soprano, also launched in April, is the first Hakvoort to earn a Lloyd’s Register Green Passport. The Ferretti Custom Line 120, scheduled to debut this summer, is the first planing hull by Francesco Paszkowski Design. Riva’s 110, the builder’s new fiberglass flagship, is coming this autumn.
And the list goes on. Feadship’s 316-foot Faith, which arrived in Antibes this spring, has the first-ever yacht interior by Paris-based Chahan Design. The largest-ever Limited Editions model from Amels, the 272-foot Here Comes the Sun, left the yard this year. Dynamiq laid the keel of its first GTT 115 in Italy, with interior styling to come from Studio F.A. Porsche in Austria. The next Christensen 164, to launch in summer 2018, promises innovations in sound and vibration dampening, along with minimized power consumption for air conditioning. Sanlorenzo was preparing this spring to deliver its first 52Steel, the 170-foot Seven Sins. Bilgin Yachts is continuing construction on its first 263-footer, to be delivered in 2019.
Even the expected cruising grounds of superyacht owners are bending boundaries. Baglietto used the Singapore Yacht Show to introduce its 180-foot V-Line model, calling Asia “an area that we expect may greatly develop in the nearest future.” Evidence suggests that this thinking is right: Lürssen’s Project Thunder, more than 393 feet length overall, launched in April and is preparing to cruise Asian waters.
