Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i Boat International

Germany has yielded a total of 314 superyachts since about 1950, averaging 58.5 metres in length and 1,703GT in volume. It is the size and complexity of these vessels, however, that has helped it to carve out a discernible niche within the superyacht industry. Dubbed “the land of the giants”, Germany is responsible for 70 of the 180 yachts delivered with an LOA of 80 metres or more (38.9 per cent). For 100-metre-plus yachts, the nation's share of the global fleet increases to 49.4 per cent. According to BOAT International research director Raphael Montigneaux, Germany was one of the first countries to build at the top end of the superyacht sector, with several of the nation's earliest shipyards - such as Blohm + Voss and Abeking & Rasmussen - still…

“We could not have wished for a more spectacular venue for this incredible America's Cup dinner” HENRY HAWKINS…

BOAT LIFE Hybrid power has been around in the boat industry for more than a century: sailing yachts use the wind when it's available and an auxiliary engine or two when it's not, when precise manoeuvres are called for - or, of course, when the skipper hasn't time to hoist the canvas. But in the luxury car world, plug-in hybrids which combine combustion engines with electric motors powered by externally rechargeable batteries - have had a decidedly lukewarm reception. The main problem is that most offer such limited battery-only range that the complication of adding the electric power train seems hard to justify, especially as its extra weight impacts fuel economy and handling and blunts the performance of the combustion engine. But having spent eight hours behind the wheel of…

The mercury is falling in the Rocky Mountains, giving skiers and snowboarders a chance to test their mettle on the slopes at the start of the winter season. The sporting life in these mountains is certainly high octane and, during the pandemic, the most upscale resorts were also the spectacular backdrop for one of Covid-19's most compelling property stories. After a long period of slow and steady growth, sale prices shot up in Aspen, Vail and Whistler, as urban buyers freed from the office rushed to pick up a property in the clean fresh air. But the boom proved to be as short-lived as it was dramatic: prices have been slowing, and in some cases falling, ever since. Aspen is the most expensive of North America's mountain hotspots. The former…

WINCH DESIGN REVEALS STRIKING GLOBAL 6000 REFIT Winch Design has unveiled what could be its most beautiful jet refit to date. The British studio is renowned for its bespoke interiors, and its latest project transformed a 10-year-old Bombardier Global 6000 both inside and out. The interior is relaxed and refined, with a base palette of walnut timber, light neutral leathers, natural textures and almond gold metal accents. An ocean-like aqua blue flows throughout, front the wave-like carpet to the soft furnishings and the stitching on the leather inlays. A highlight of the light and airy cabin is the slatted wooden bulkheads, which add depth and character to the contemporary space. The exterior, meanwhile, is bold and striking. The new livery features a dynamic white graphic slicing through the metallic teal…

Aviation The race is on for the Middle East's potentially lucrative advanced air mobility (AAM) sector. It's a scramble for market share between the world's prevailing makers of eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles, or air taxis) between China's EHang, the US's Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, and Germany's Volocopter and Lilium. The business landscape of the region is uniquely conducive to the propagation of AAM, with favourable government regulations and relatively uncongested skies. However, the key driver is the ambition among Gulf nations to establish sustainable “smart cities” and the AAM sector is a vital part of this. In the UAE alone, according to BlueWeave Consulting's assessment, the air taxi market is set to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 5.02 per cent to £184 million…

I've been in love with boats all my life, although growing up in Yorkshire I had no experience of boating. I remember being on holiday in Puerto Banus as a kid, constandy looking at the boats. In 2019, my wife, Suzanne, and I visited the Southampton Boat Show with no real idea of what owning a yacht involved. We had only done a few day trips on small boats. Sunseeker told us about a 2014 Sunseeker 28 Metre and we agreed to a deal. However, we then found out that it needed new teak decks and an overhaul of the engines. What started as a small refit turned into a year-long, £1 million interior and exterior refit. It was character building for our first boat purchase, to say the least!…

I was devastated to hear about the recent death of Liam Payne. I gigged with him on a few memorable occasions at Anjuna Beach and he even chartered my 45-metre Perini Blush. He was very close to my kids, too, so his death at just 31 has hit the whole family hard. He was a wonderful guy who loved his boats. The death of anyone at such a young age is a tragedy and it's hard to fathom how or why it happened. Being a music-mad Irishman, I'm obviously close to Liam's former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan and I can't imagine what he and the other guys must be going through at this moment. I remember having such unbelievable times with Liam. At one gig, Poppy and Cara Delevingne…

“The angrier she became, the harder I laughed. And the harder I laughed, the angrier she became. We were in a vicious cycle” One July, we were enjoying a three-week vacation on our 35-metre classic schooner. We had anchored off a gorgeous Greek island with our family, friends and crew. It was beautiful and peaceful… until another classic 35-metre schooner entered the bay and dropped anchor a hundred metres off our port side. Everyone on both yachts was lined up and waving, and it wasn't long before they had invited us via VHF for post-dinner drinks. It was a special evening, with more than 30 guests and crew getting to know each other on the beautiful teak deck, exchanging stories under spars that first hoisted sails in 1902 and enjoying…

The fourth Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous in September demonstrated how the marina industry can use sustainability as a tool to drive real change. The two-day event by Monaco Marina Management, held at the Yacht Club de Monaco (YCM), gathered individuals and organisations, front marinas to startups, scale-ups and architectural firms. It was followed by a prize-giving ceremony to honour industry innovations. Supported by key partners including the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Extended Monaco, UBS, MB92 Group and Bombardier, this year's event highlighted the importance of technology and cross-sector partnerships to meet today's environmental challenges. Panel discussions tackled the role of technologies in optimising marina experiences, the challenges of financing sustainable development and the need for close collaboration between architects and engineers to combat environmental challenges. Bernard…

BOAT LIFE A 90-minute drive west front the centre of Paris takes you through the gently curving hills of Marne and on to Reims, where the road leads straight to Épernay's main street. Slicing through this small but well-known town, the impeccably kept avenue is lined with grand chateaux, giving it its colloquial name: the Champs-Élysées of Champagne. Home to some of the world's most respected marques - think Pommery, Bollinger and Perrier-Jouët - the historic champagne house of Moët & Chandon sits at the epicentre. Occupying both sides of the road, to the left at number nine lies the Résidence de Trianon, a private home that was built as a counterpoint for Jean-Remy Moët's own house as a gift for his daughter Adélaïde in 1833. It is here and…

When it comes to moving guests between land and vessel, the fastest and most exciting means is usually by helicopter. But it is capable of so much more than passenger transfers. It is currently unique in its ability to take off vertically, travel long distances quickly and land in a small area. With the yacht a moving base with a helipad, the helicopter is a bit of a time machine. It goes far inland, able to land at several locations in the same day and, as such, extracts the most front that precious commodity: time. Successfully operating a helicopter front a yacht helipad or heliport requires careful planning and a lot of important decisions. Choosing a suitable helicopter is critical and building its requirements into a new yacht project yields…

Superyacht owner Paul Darrouzet is picturing a perfect day on Big Sky, the 48-metre Oceanfast he bought last year: “Waking up with a gorgeous girl beside you, having a nice breakfast, a Bloody Mary and then a nice lunch and after that, maybe some snorkelling or water skiing, then off to a beautiful beach…” He's been messing about with boats ever since he can remember. “As a child we mucked around in tinnies (small aluminium boats) and then in the mid 1990s, I hired a Whiting 47 sailingyacht called Kakini with a bunch of friends in the Whitsundays and I actually fell in love with the physical beauty of the area. It's just sensational.” Following that first charter, Brisbane-based Darrouzet continued to travel to the region, an archipelago of over…

Owner of Freedom Length: 37.7m Year: 1986 Location: Monaco How was your 2024 season? It was fantastic. We managed to sail 4,000 nautical miles in almost five full months on board. We decided a long time ago that the Mediterranean in summer is the most beautiful sea for holidays. We have been all over, including Bizerte in Tunisia, which is a well-organised and duty-free bunkering point Where else did you go? Following Tunisia, we went to Corfu, Zakynthos, Crete and a host of other beautiful islands on the way to Bodrum. We stopped at the super-luxurious marina in Yalikavak on the Bodrum Peninsula. We didn't know what to expect of this facility but we were very impressed and I'd recommend it thoroughly to anyone thinking about cruising in Turkey. On…

Cover boat SAN From the moment you step on board SAN, you can see this is not your typical 45-metre motor yacht. Actually, it's more about what you don't see that sets this boat apart. Standing on the aft deck gazing forward, you get a clear shot all the way through the main saloon to the exterior foredeck lounge. There are no bulkheads blocking the view, nor any of the typical trappings of a main deck layout, like a galley or forward master cabin, to clutter things up. Just an absolutely obstruction-free sight line from bow to stem, which is exactly what the owner wanted. This was just one of the exacting details of the unusual brief - along with clean exterior lines, immense swathes of glazing and minimal interior…

Mention the word “runabout” and many boating enthusiasts will picture a gleaming mahogany Riva carving an effortless furrow across a glassy lake. Intriguing, then, that Ernesto Riva wasn't the first to build runabouts - he wasn't the first European and perhaps not even the first Italian to do so. Various boatbuilders from Hacker-Craft to Boesch claim to have invented the genre. Brands have come and gone, but the concept of a fast, sexy open boat that leans towards watersports has endured. Indeed, the desire for this kind of craft is growing steadily, according to the likes of Hacker or Cockwells. And while the gleaming mahogany deck is still ubiquitous, there is a wealth of cutting-edge technology lurking just beneath the veneer. Just look at Sweden's J Craft, whose roots go…

Voyage Inspiring your next adventure SKI SPECIAL Chalet Aurelio's elevated position on the Schlegelkopf piste means it's one of the few properties with views over the charming Alpine village of Lech. The chalet is just far enough front the centre of town that no music or voices can be heard front your private balcony. In fact, the only sounds are the rushing of the Lech River and the gentle swoosh of skis when the lifts open. Available as a single booking or as part of the hotel, the eight-bedroom chalet is arranged around a double-height central atrium crowned by a vast chandelier. A Steinway concert grand piano sits in the corner of the drawing room, and there's also a library with an open fireplace where guests can cosy up after a…

If fortune favours the bold, the story of Jaquet Droz is undeniable proof. Founded in 1738, and now under the helm of CEO Alain Delamuraz, the Swiss watchmaker doesn't rest on its laurels. “If you have the strongest and oldest traditions, it's your mission to show a new direction; to challenge yourself, to be responsive, to change,” says Delamuraz as we sit down to talk. “But don't go against tradition,” he adds. “Put some more spice, some pepper in the sauce and reinvent it.” When it comes to spicing things up, his recent move could be likened to a hot curry - for rather than let the brand continue competing in the luxury watch sphere as it had been for decades, in 2022 Delamuraz decided to give it a radical…

The Chinese sage Confucius noted, “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” That's a doctrine that encapsulates Beijing's game plan for self-sufficiency in its aeronautics sector and is integral to the nation's broader “Belt and Road” strategy. The Comac C919 short/medium haul jet, launched in 2008 as China's challenger to the Airbus A32oneo and Boeing 737 MAX, has taken 15 years to reach commercial deployment (with China Eastern Airlines in May 2023). That's a long gestation period by aeronautical standards, and yet, the C919 has now garnered 1,000-plus orders, mainly from China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Air China, plus a raft of domestic operators. And the sales keep rolling in. Last year, Brunei's airline startup GallopAir placed the first overseas…

“Planet Nine is a spectacular boat. Huge thanks for inviting us on board” WEST DUKER…

An agreeable waft of warm, pine-laced air helps push our gleaming new Swan 88 off the dock. Not the frivolous billowing heat of the French Riviera, but something more earnest that suggests it is a fleeting visitor to these waters. Here in Jakobstad, Finland, just a few hundred kilometres from the Arctic Circle, fine conditions are to be celebrated. It presents a conundrum for a review of a sailing yacht, however. On one hand, Nautor Swan's first 88, DreamCatcher, can demonstrate her comfort credentials - wide, sophisticated lounging space in an impeccably designed cockpit and saloon. On the other, she never gets to stretch her legs in the way that her pedigree suggests she can. And that is really a shame, because after a tour of Swan's boatbuilding facilities on…

The Princess S8o's genealogy is suitably imperial. It's the latest sportsbridge chapter in a story that can be traced back more than a decade to the Princess V85-S, an impossibly powerful and daring yacht at the time. Since then, this British builder has been a leader in sportsbridge design - planingyachts with sporty looks to match their high performance - leading us to this 70-tonne model, hitting around 35 knots with twin 2,000-horsepower MANs. These figures are important because the boat the S80 replaces is the 50-tonne S78, which can reach 38 knots with 1,900-horsepower MANs. Performance and speed are key for any genuine sportsbridge model, and yet we start with a new boat that is heavier and slower than its predecessor - but that's because it is also bigger…

Any keen skier will agree that it's not easy to peel yourself away from the slopes in favour of another Alpine pursuit - especially when there's a snow report for a light dusting of powder and midday sun. But for a select few resorts, the non-skiing option is well worth exploring. While many resorts offer activities - from paragliding in Zermatt to dog sledding in Megève - skiing is the real draw. But, in the case of Courmayeur, an Italian ski resort located in the heart of the Italian Alps, non-ski options are good enough to entice even the keenest of skiers from the slopes. “You can see the Matterhorn from here,” says Mariachiara Caneparo, marketing manager of Courmayeur, as she gestures to the peak in the distance. “It's actually…

British Columbia | Whistler Blackcomb With 3,300 hectares of terrain, 16 bowls and three glaciers, Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski area in North America. It is also famous for a top snow record, buzzing après scene and luxurious accommodation. Whistler's backcountry is vast - 50 times larger than the Whistler Blackcomb marked ski areas, with reams of ski-touring climbs and options for heli-skiing in the Garibaldi Provincial Park. Starting from the heliport in town, a guided experience will open up 173 glaciers and untouched runs. How to do it: Whistler has everything one could wish for in a ski town, with more than 170 restaurants and après bars. The Four Seasons is tucked into Whistler's Upper Village and has views over the snow-capped forest. Backcountiy skiing and other activities…