Palm Beach 55

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Jay Gatsby would have loved the Palm Beach 55, because it embodies all that he lusted after in The Great Gatsby: class, style and grand luxury. In fact, I’m convinced that he would have forgotten all about Daisy Buchanan after one look at this boat.

The Palm Beach 55 is the latest incarnation of the downeast-style lobster-boat-turned-yacht. There have been a number of predecessors, including those actually built somewhere in the Northeast. There have been some Down (Far) East versions built in the Orient, some Down (Over) East yachts built in Italy and a stylish Down West line from the Pacific Northwest, but this is the first Down Under lobster-yacht. And, as the Aussies say on her home turf, “she’s a right corker,” meaning something better than excellent.

Company owner Mark Richards is arguably Australia’s best-known sailor and an America’s Cup veteran, so it’s no accident that these yachts blend fine craftsmanship, thoughtful design and advanced construction materials and methods.



Our day on the water was the worst possible: 25 knots gusting to 35, and blowing against the Gulf Stream. On some yachts, it could have felt like driving a bulldozer over boulders: over one, crash, up the next, crash. But on the Palm Beach 55, it was more like riding a gently cantering horse. Green water arched to each side, yet there wasn’t a creak or a groan.

The American representative for Palm Beach, Andy Shoemaker, made a comment that I found to be true as I poked around the interior: “She has a thread of simplicity.” This is, in spite of some very clever ideas, a very simple yacht.


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Take the Burmese-teak interior. Richards gets a container of teak, picks the best pieces and sends the rest back. Simple, but even the lockers match perfectly in grain and color. I would put the woodwork on the 55 up against that of the finest megayachts from Europe, and if anyone were going to wind up embarrassed, it wouldn’t be the Aussies.