Yachting November 2017

THE FIRST TIME I rounded the corner and saw Virgin Gorda’s Bitter End Yacht Club in the British Virgin Islands, my eyes stretched wide and my ticker skipped a beat. The lush green landscape seemed never-ending, and cozy thatched huts were set naturally into the scene. Balmy trade winds and an aquamarine sea flooded my senses. It was awesome on overload. Plus the people were Santa Claus-friendly, always ready to greet me with a smile. As an on-the-water enthusiast, I felt like I was home. I made several return visits to cruise, snorkel and explore this natural wonderland. And every time, I left with a new experience etched into my mind’s hard drive. In the Florida Keys, I caught my first sailfish, plus I ate my first hog snapper. I’ve…

THIS YEAR’S MONACO YACHT SHOW was destined to be a coming-out party of sorts for the Passenger Yacht Code, which lets specially built yachts charter with 36 guests versus the usual 12. As of this writing, Lürssen was scheduled to show the 278-foot Areti, and Oceanco was bringing the 361-foot Jubilee, which is for sale through Burgess Yachts. ¶ “So you have two PYC projects — the first time for a PYC project at a boat show,” says Ed Beckett, a Burgess naval architect who worked on Jubilee. “It will be the first time that a lot of people will have been aboard a PYC. ... It will be very interesting for people who have all these preconceptions that getting on a PYC is like getting on a cruise ship…

AGED FOR A HALF-CENTURY Just 159 bottles of Black Bowmore 1964 ($25,000) exist. The single-malt whisky was distilled 53 years ago. Glasstorm made the bottles, which are topped in Scottish silver. BEAUTIFUL BLADE William Henry’s Spearpoint Nami pocketknife ($45,000) is hand-engraved. The inlays are 18-karat gold, and the bladerelease button is inset with a black diamond. TIMELESS STYLE The Tourbillon Casino de Monte-Carlo by Ateliers deMonaco (price on request) has an 18-karat white-gold dial and an engraving of its namesake casino on its face. ELECTRIC CHIC This electric bicycle by Avionics ($9,450) is scheduled to debut in spring 2018 with just 60 units available. It’s made of steel, wood and leather to look classic, even though it can hit 36 miles per hour. The wooden saddle is suspended on a…

“THIS IS THE FASTEST, STURDIEST most seaworthy Benetti ever built, and she will not be beaten!” bellowed Andrew Beeby, chief engineer of the 146-foot Benetti Checkmate. Beeby stood beside his vessel with his shoulders pinned back and his hands tightly clasped behind his back, looking like the former British Navy man he is. He all but glared at the host of Azimut- Benetti executives, employees, vendors, captains and crew gathered before him as he let his bold claim set in. ¶ Then the crowd began to giggle. Miffed, Beeby glanced at his boat and let a small smile slip across his face before going Navy-stern again. ¶ The thing is, he wasn’t standing next to Checkmate. He was alongside a 10-foot-long cardboard-and-plastic boat he had helped build that shortly would…

ABOUT A DECADE AGO in Norway, a designer reinvented galoshes. He kept them weather-resistant but added style — and the Swims brand was born. ¶ In 2010-11, Swims debuted its take on the Italian driving loafer, with a water-friendly nod to the Scandinavian lifestyle. Now comes the fall 2017 Cruise Collection, which evolves the loafer further, especially in terms of color. ¶ “We inject fresh colors into a time of the year when our customers are already looking to escape winter and find a taste of summer,” says Jake Brandman, president of Swims. ¶ The Braided Lace model is molded construction, while the Breeze Lace is mesh and lighter. “Both perform equally well,” he says. “The Breeze Lace is sort of a nod to a sneaker.” ¶ And a nod…

FERRETTI YACHTS’ 920 expands the builder’s line to 11 models, from 45 feet to 96 feet, including both owneroperator vessels and fully crewed craft. The 920 has a wide-body superstructure, allowing the interior to take advantage of the yacht’s 22-foot-2- inch girth with a full-beam, main-deck master that has a walk-in closet and en suite head. The space also allows for either four or five staterooms. The four-stateroom layout has two portside VIPs belowdecks with double berths and en suite heads; the fourth stateroom is across from the VIPs with twin berths. In the five-stateroom setup, the aftermost VIP’s berth changes position from fore and aft to athwartships, and the head moves from starboard to port, opening up real estate for another stateroom with twin berths. The design’s space also…