Yachting November 2015

My fishing guide, appropriately named Captain, powered down the motor on our flats skiff . He got church-mouse quiet as his eyes scanned the horizon. I dared not whisper. Taking out my camera, I held it a mere inch or 2 above the gin-clear water to capture, to some degree, what my eyes were seeing. It was a seemingly infinite stretch of nature at its finest: clean water, massive mangroves, acres of birds and fish. Lots of fish. And there wasn’t another soul in sight. We were off Turneffe Flats in Belize, attempting to catch my first bonefish on a fly rod. Full disclosure: I am no fly-fishing expert. The majority of my angling hours are spent pursuing pelagics like marlin and tuna. I was out of my piscatorial comfort…

They stood almost as if at a memorial wall, next to wives and brothers and fathers and mothers, holding the hands of children still too young to fully understand. Some used their eyes, others their fingers — with the lightest, most respectful touch — to scan the thousands of faces. Before them was a hull wrap featuring the photos of every worker who has built Princess boats since the first 31-foot model splashed in 1965, a hull wrap commissioned by the British builder to honor its employees following the restoration of Charlotte, one of the first Project 31s that Princess ever built. Today, Princess Yachts has more than 2,300 employees, distribution in more than 65 countries and a product range of 23 models (including the new 115- footer shown below),…

THE YACHTSMAN’S SUPERCAR Camper & Nicholsons International has partnered with British sports-car builder BAC on the Marine Edition Mono, a yacht-friendly version of the 170 mph speedster. It’s designed to be carried like a tender, weighing just shy of 1,280 pounds to allow crane hoisting, and it comes with an environmental control container to protect against corrosion. Price on request. STRENGTH IN BEAUTY The Bull Ring ($10,080), part of Mattioli’s Urban Animals collection, is 18-karat rose gold and hematite. PLATINUM OR GOLD? V-Moda lets you build custom headphones in precious metals. Prices vary to $25,000-plus. WATER-READY The TNT Royal Retro GMT 1/2 Hour by Pierre DeRoche (about $27,000) can dive to 328 feet. A CUT ABOVE Reinstein Ross offers these custom-handle knives ($30,000 to $100,000) in its Mokume collection.…

PUT AWAY YOUR OLD STAMPS with cutesy designs. This handsome new Forever stamp from the U.S. Postal Service is what you want to stick on your mail, honoring the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard. Aviation artist William Phillips of Oregon created the image in oil paint and Masonite. It shows the three-masted, 295-foot cutter Eagle — “America’s Tall Ship” — and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, which the Coast Guard regularly uses as a rescue craft. Even better, the back of the stamp sheet includes information about the history of the Coast Guard, which started with a law signed by President George Washington in August 1790. It provided for 10 vessels, nicknamed “revenue cutters.” They guarded the Atlantic Coast, thwarted smugglers and collected duties on goods brought into the…

Personal submersibles are a musthave toy in any superyacht tender garage these days, and Dutch builder U-Boat Worx is upping the ante on comfort and style with its new offering. The C-Researcher 3 is reportedly the first-ever design that can dive to 5,577 feet with a spherical acrylic pressure hull, allowing the three people inside to sit upright with panoramic views of the ocean depths. The C-Researcher 3 is intended to be launched from yachts without a dedicated support vessel, and options for budding scientists include features for collecting bottom samples and marine organisms, measuring water conditions and creating 2-D or 3-D underwater maps. The possibilities for amazement are only as limited as your imagination. Take the next step: uboatworx.com…

THE WATER around Newport, Rhode Island, has had its surface creased by the wakes of the most illustrious boats in yachting’s history. It’s only fitting, then, that I am powering across these waves in command of the formidable 32 CC from Hunt Yachts. From the helm, I feel the boat rise and accelerate with a rare grace in response to throttle input. Even at speeds near 50 knots, the ride is comfortable and acceleration is muted. The Hunt 32 CC delivers on more than performance. Her styling boasts a conservative aesthetic that’s endemic to New England. Its sheer and flare are generous and effective. She looks as at home lying side-to the dock of a tony waterfront eatery as she does at the weigh-in station of a fishing tournament. Her…