Benetti continues to experience remarkable success with its line of “semi-stock motoryachts. Sharing identical fiberglass hulls and superstructure moldings, the yachts each have a unique interior arrangement and décor. First of the line was the 115-foot Classic. At the small end of the range is the Tradition, a bulbous-bowed 102-foot model, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in January.
The third model of the line is the Vision. At 145 feet and about $20 million, she is also the largest. The first delivery of the Vision model is Patricia, built for a Central American owner. Hull number two was under construction during a recent visit to Benetti’s Viareggio, Italy, yard, offering an “inside view of her sound construction and orderly systems installation.
Designed by Stefano Righini with an interior by Francois Zuretti, the Benetti Vision has a displacement hull and will cruise at 141/2 knots with Caterpillar 3508B or MTU 8V 4000 engines turning at 1800 rpm. Patricia has the Cats. Pull back the throttles, and her range with 17,000 gallons of fuel climbs to 4,000 nautical miles at 12 knots.
Circles are the dominant theme of the Vision’s design. Four guest staterooms cluster around a circular foyer in her mid-body. The master suite, forward on the main deck, is designed with Med mooring in mind. A semicircular array of vertical windows faces the bow, offering a panoramic view from the master berth, the desk and the vanity area. For television viewing, the master berth rotates to face aft. A centerline door leads from the master stateroom to the foredeck and a private lounge area, where a circular spa and settee, or a pair of settees, can be fitted.
On the bridge deck, a smaller but similar set of windows front the semicircular pilothouse. Abaft the pilothouse and its adjacent captain’s cabin, the sky lounge includes yet another circle. This one is an array of glass doors on tracks, closing or opening the sky lounge to suit the weather.
Topside, the flying bridge deck has a small riding seat forward, a large circular bar amidships, and a huge sunpad aft surrounding a second whirlpool spa. Tender and PWC stowage is belowdecks in a stern garage.
Like many of the Benettis I have been aboard, Patricia devotes substantial space to crew accommodations and working areas. In addition to the crew cabins at the bow, there are a crew mess and crew lounge. There are also an additional crew cabin and a utility area below the lower deck, forward of the deep tankage. A passageway leads from there to the engineroom, providing easy and unobtrusive entry and an emergency escape route. -D.D.
Contact: Benetti Yachts, (011) 39 0584 3821; info@benettiyachts.it; www.benettiyachts.it.
