Innehållsförteckning för February 2016 från Robb Report

“IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CLIENT—I HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY LOVE ABOUT SKIING SO I CAN MAKE THEM A PERFECT SKI.”—ALESSANDRO MARCHI, COFOUNDER, FOIL SKIS FOR THE FORMER competitive downhiller Alessandro Marchi, designing skis is like making a gourmet meal. “It all starts in the kitchen; you need to have good products and you need to cook properly,” he says. “The same goes with skis. You must combine the materials in just the right way in order to get the best result.” Marchi’s “kitchen” is a workshop in the Italian Alps, where he crafts his designs for Foil Skis (foilskis.com), the company he cofounded in 2014 to build high-performance alternatives to the sport’s commoditized products. Every Foil ski is custom made to fit a client’s abilities and aesthetic preferences, from…

INTRODUCED IN JANUARY in Detroit at the North American International Auto Show, the new Porsche 911 Turbo and Turbo S (porsche.com) deliver more power than their predecessors and display revised styling. Both models are available as a coupe or cabriolet. The redesign includes a new front valance, narrower LED headlights, and an array of new scoops and aerodynamic details. Together, the changes lend the cars a sleeker look. For both models, the power output has been increased by 20 hp: The 911 Turbo’s twin-turbo flat 6 now generates 540 hp, and the Turbo S’s engine produces 580 hp. The zero-to-60-mph time is 2.9 seconds for the Turbo coupe and 2.8 for the Turbo S coupe. The Porsche Active Suspension Management system is standard equipment for both models. Options include a…

THE INDIGO WATER and powdery white sand bordering the Bahamas’ One&Only Ocean Club will always be in style. The same could not have been said of the resort’s Hartford Wing, which had become an antiquated remnant of its days as a ritzy retreat owned by the American heir Huntington Hartford II. Now, following a five-month closure, the Ocean Club has reopened with its original wing back in top form. The New York–based designer Jeffrey Beers brought a modern touch to the 52-room structure’s colonial style, pairing sleek furniture and walnut-wood-trimmed walls with geometric fabrics in bright hues of azure and crimson. Unveiled in November, the wing also features a new 125-foot-long infinity-edge pool whose sun-soaked deck overlooks the ever-alluring Atlantic. WHAT: A crisp and modern new look for the One&Only…

MORE THAN A year after opening the Polo Bar, Ralph Lauren is still claiming the attention of the culinary crowd. His clubby brasserie-style venue on East 55th Street remains one of the most coveted reservations in midtown Manhattan, an area dense with fine dining options. Indeed, the American fashion mogul’s triumphs in New York City and beyond include his company’s imaginative and entertaining restaurants and, of course, his stores—establishments that bring his distinctive brand of Americana to life in locations around the world. In that tradition but with a flair all its own, Lauren’s latest venture, Palazzo Ralph Lauren, made its debut in September on a residential street in Milan. Set behind grand wrought-iron gates in the historic Casa Campanini mansion, which dates to 1941, the lavish 12,000-square-foot members-only club…

THE ALGARVE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT in Portimão, Portugal, is a 2.9-mile knot of blind corners, dizzying elevation changes, and tight and challenging twists. On this fall day, the track is testing the mettle of the new McLaren 570S. Accelerating out of the pits in track mode—which enhances power delivery, shock damping, and stability control—the 570S feels sharp, potent, and stable. And though it seems as if the car is attached to the asphalt, the wedge-shaped coupe slices through the atmosphere with relatively little grip-enhancing assistance from the wind (unlike McLaren’s higher-powered 650S and P1 models, which produce massive amounts of downforce at speed). The lack of drag, among other factors, helps it achieve a top speed of 204 mph, according to McLaren. IN THE CABIN, CARBON-FIBER TRIM HINTS AT THE LIGHTWEIGHT…

“WATCHING HIM LAND THAT ACE WAS LIKE WATCHING A MAGIC SHOW. AND THEN HE TOUCHED MY ARM. ‘WE HAVE TO LEAVE,’ HE SAID.” Author BEN MEZRICH wrote about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s crackerjack card-counting team for his book Bringing Down the House, which was made into the hit film 21. While researching the book, he experienced the thrill of the game—and the chase—firsthand. Mezrich’s most recent book is Once Upon a Time in Russia. “VEGAS. WYNN CASINO. Tuesday night, a little after 3 am, and I was running for my life. Racing past a bank of slot machines at full speed, I glanced back for the briefest of seconds. The three men in dark suits were still barreling after me, all wearing earpieces, the largest of the trio speaking…

“IT SWAM RIGHT UP TO ME—STOPPING MAYBE A FOOT AWAY FROM MY MASK.” Brown University biology professor KENNETH MILLER is renowned as an eloquent advocate for the theory of evolution, but he didn’t have an opportunity to visit the Galápagos Islands—where Charles Darwin made his seminal studies of the endemic species—until 2014, on a trip with a small group of fellow Brown alumni. “ON THE FIRST DAY, we flew to the island of Baltra, boarded the ship, sailed out to a cove, and put the anchor down. A crew member said, ‘Anybody who would like to go out for a swim, we have snorkeling gear here and swim fins.’ Swimming is a natural for me. I was a varsity swimmer in college. “Here’s what happened to me in 20 minutes…

“IT’S A DIFFICULT DIVE BECAUSE OF THE DEPTH AND THE SEARCH. . . . IN THOSE DAYS, WE DIDN’T HAVE GPS, SO IT WAS EASY TO MISS.” Children’s Hospital Los Angeles neonatologist PHILIPPE FRIEDLICH is a lifelong scuba diver who grew up in southern France with Jacques Cousteau as one of his heroes. He made his most memorable dive three decades ago off the coast of Corsica. “FOR ME IT’S about the unusual. Corsica isn’t well known for diving, because it has difficult access to the water. In the northwest corner of the island there is a natural reserve, with no road and no beach. And so this particular dive—to see the wreck of a World War II American B-17 bomber plane—could be accessed only from the water. We sailed…

DRUMS POUNDING, BAGPIPES wailing, and resplendent in spiked pith helmets and gold-braided tunics, the Royal Bermuda Regiment high-stepped through the mid-October night. At the harbor, yachts and motor launches were lit by the glow of waterfront store windows, while tourists and locals formed long lines in front of tents offering the full array of street-festival diversions: face painting, T-shirts, trinkets, fish sandwiches, and dark ’n’ stormies, the island’s traditional rum-and-ginger-beer cocktail. A troupe of Gombey dancers in colorful masks strutted to and fro while the country’s premier, Michael Dunkley, urged every Bermudan to come out and celebrate the opening of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series. “This is our time to shine,” he said, “and tonight we shine as bright as the brightest star.” This was the kind of…

The North Star set sail for Europe to demonstrate, for the benefit of the various crowned heads, how much this upstart nation had already achieved. IN THIS MONTH’S cover story, Jimmy Kimmel remarks that he has led a “buckety” life (see “The 2016 Bucket List,” page 88). Though this felicitous phrase likely applies to many of our readers, we all have items on our lists of personal goals that remain unfulfilled. One of mine is to travel the world by water. “The traveler is perfect king aboard his boat,” claimed a mid-19th-century guidebook to the Nile, according to David McCullough in Mornings on Horseback, his biography of the young Teddy Roosevelt. The object of this sanguine proclamation was a dahabeah—an opulent vessel designed to carry its passengers in stately comfort…

Creating the ultimate bucket list for a life well lived is a worthy challenge. The list can extend as far as your imagination. Swimming with nurse sharks in Belize, dining in the most intimate Michelin three-star restaurant in Paris, watching the Northern Lights from a beach in Norway, meditating with the Dalai Lama in a Tibetan monastery, or diving in the Seychelles all seem like attainable experiences. Reaching these often remote locations quickly, comfortably, and safely may be the real challenge. NetJets has been fulfilling LuVket list wishes for its Vlients for over 50 years. The Berkshire Hathaway company, with private aviation’s largest and widest ranging fleet of jets, has a global reach that extends to the world’s most isolated corners. Its new Signature SeriesTM jets now offer even Letter…

WHEN FINANCIER JONATHAN Horemans and lawyer Javier Goggins Campos couldn’t find loafers hardy enough for their jet-set lifestyle, they joined forces to create Galet (galet.com). “We needed a stylish, lightweight, durable, and versatile loafer that we could wear to the pool, to lunch, or a night out,” explains Horemans. The duo displayed the footwear collection last fall in their newly opened shop in Paris’s fashionable Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood. Made by French shoemakers, the loafers (starting at $250 for a classic leather model) feature a sturdy rubber sole and come in a range of fabrics, patterns, leathers, and skins. A recent limited edition ($850) was inspired by the Amazonian pirarucu fish. To order bespoke shoes, clients can request a private appointment.…

THE ARTISTS CAO FEI and John Baldessari will create the next BMW Art Cars (bmw-welt.com)—numbers 18 and 19 in a series that began in 1975, when Alexander Calder painted a 3.0 CSL. Every few years, BMW assembles a panel of art experts who select an artist (or two, for this year) and invite her or him to use a current BMW racecar or road car as a canvas. Jeff Koons painted the last Art Car, an M3 GT2 (shown), in 2010. The collection is on display at the BMW Museum in Munich. Cao and Baldessari will each work with an M6 GT3 and present the finished project in 2017.…

IN THE SHORT time since the Dandelyan (morganshotelgroup.com) opened in London’s Mondrian hotel, the high-concept cocktail bar has become the toast of the drinks world, topping international categories at Tales of the Cocktail, winning the Guardian’s 2015 bar of the year, and taking home design awards for a show-stopping interior by Tom Dixon. Inspired by botany, bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana—also known as Mr. Lyan—uses a full arsenal of professional kitchen equipment to concoct detailed drinks such as the Cooper, which contains seaweed-infused Redbreast Irish whiskey, oak moss, lemon, and cucumber. But he filled his new book, Good Things to Drink with Mr Lyan and Friends, with 60 inviting recipes that require no magical ingredients (or sous vide machine) to make at home.…

A FEW YEARS AGO, the corner of St. Georges Terrace and Cathedral Avenue was one of Perth’s greatest eyesores. Blighted by a cluster of decaying former state buildings—once home to the Western Australian city’s town hall, post office, and treasury—the area had been all but abandoned for nearly 20 years. Rising from the rubble this past October was Como the Treasury, Como Hotels and Resorts’ first property in Australia. Como tapped the Australian architect Kerry Hill to bring modern verve to the restored structure with a blend of custom furnishings and restored neo-Renaissance details. The hotel is not alone on the once-forgotten block, where the old government facilities are being transformed into Perth’s thriving new Cathedral Square development. WHAT: Perth’s first luxury hotel, a 48-room retreat from the Singapore-based wellness…

ON A MISTY MORNING in the Smoky Mountains just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., I push the pedal to the floor of the all-new Mercedes-Benz GLE450 AMG Coupe. Spiderwebs, covered with morning dew, tremble on the wire cattle fences that we pass en route to one of the country’s premier driving roads. The GLE Coupe models, which also include the higher-performance and higher-priced AMG GLE63 S (starting at about $109,000), are mash-ups of a midsized SUV and a four-door coupe. The GLE450 AMG Coupe, which starts at $65,100, is one of the first offerings in a new model line from Mercedes-Benz called AMG Sport. In terms of price and performance, the vehicles are positioned between the standard Mercedes-Benz lineup and the top-of-the-line AMG variants. In addition to the GLE450 AMG Coupe,…

IN ONE OF the warehouses at the Balvenie in Scotland’s Speyside region, the distillery’s malt master, David Stewart, drops a metal bottle into an open cask of 14-year-old whisky and then, once it is filled, retrieves it with the attached metal chain. “Over time, whisky takes on more oak, and this can dominate, but I didn’t want that,” Stewart explains as he pours the whisky into a tasting glass and raises it to his nose. He estimates that he has “nosed” whisky from about 400,000 casks during a career that began in 1962, when he was 17. “It needs to keep the flavors [the Balvenie] is known for: honey, vanilla, butterscotch, and marzipan.” These flavors are present in the Balvenie’s latest release: Distillery Style, a five-bottle collection of whiskies of…

The true measure of personal success is found not only in the challenges we have overcome but in the magnitude of our dreams. Since its debut in 1976, Robb Report has celebrated the human capacity to dream big; so in honor of the magazine’s 40th-anniversary year, the editors asked 15 individuals to share some of the items they have checked off their private bucket lists. Whether it’s breaking the bank in Las Vegas, racing at Le Mans, or—for JIMMY KIMMEL—fly-fishing in Montana, these remarkable experiences remind us that even if the span of a lifetime is finite, the possibilities for a life well lived are limitless.…

To relax, the chef, restaurateur, author, and television personality MARIO BATALI trades the heat and cramped confines of kitchens and TV studios for the wide-open spaces of the golf course. His home course is New Jersey’s Bayonne Golf Club, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, where he’s been a member since 2006. Batali took lessons from the famed golf instructor Hank Haney four years ago, joining boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, singer Adam Levine, and supermodel Angie Everhart as a celebrity student for the fifth season of the Golf Channel’s The Haney Project. The episodes culminated in the foursome competing in skills contests and playing a round for charity at the El Dorado Golf and Beach Club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Each year since 2010, Batali has hosted his…

“THAT’S THE GREAT THING ABOUT LE MANS: IT’S THE LAST AREA IN MOTORSPORTS WHERE AN AMATEUR CAN BE COMPETITIVE AGAINST THE PROS.” Pink Floyd drummer NICK MASON inherited his fascination with motorsports from his father, who raced a vintage Bentley in club events and produced a documentary series on auto racing. The younger Mason began racing in 1973, at age 29, in a prewar Aston Martin Ulster. In 1979, a few months before Pink Floyd released The Wall, he joined the Dorset Racing Associates team and competed in the ultimate motorsports event: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team placed second in its class. Mason drove in the race four more times during the 1980s. “SINCE I WAS a schoolboy, my ambition was to race at Le Mans. Doing…

“WHEN YOU’RE DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY IN A ’59 THUNDERBIRD, YOU FEEL LIKE CHARLES LINDBERGH FLYING ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.” Sixteen years ago, the British jeweler STEPHEN WEBSTER bought an all-original 1959 Ford Thunderbird for $5,000. Three years later he enlisted the help of his friend Jeff Feero to restore it. When the car was finished in 2007, Webster and Feero celebrated by taking it on a 10-day road trip from New York City to Santa Monica, Calif. “THE SIGNIFICANCE OF a cross-country road trip hits you almost immediately. You don’t have to go very far beyond the first gas station before you realize that this is something that almost everyone wants to do at some point during their lives. It’s everything that America and the road have to offer. I’ve…

IN 1964, ON THE DRY LAKE BED OF EL MIRAGE, FORMER OWNER TOM MCMULLEN ACHIEVED WHAT WAS THEN A RECORD SPEED OF 167 MPH IN THE ROADSTER. HENRY FORD MAY have been a visionary, but there is no way he could have foreseen the enduring allure of his company’s workaday 1932 Roadster, which went out of production just two years after it was introduced. Generations of performance-car enthusiasts have used the “Deuce” as the building block for their hot rods. Beginning in the 1940s, thousands of these two-seaters were stripped down, stuffed with high-power engines, and raced on the street, at Bonneville, and in the imaginations of builders who made this model the icon of hot-rodding. The ’32 Ford Roadster hot rod shown here is one of the most celebrated.…

SAY GOOD-BYE TO the bulky briefcase: Trim, lightweight models are all that’s needed to accommodate today’s ultrathin laptops and compact handheld devices. Men’s luxury brands, in particular, are on the case this spring, delivering options sleek and stylish—and no less equipped than their hefty counterparts to keep things orderly. Among the season’s top models are (from left) the Ermenegildo Zegna Milano Slim briefcase ($1,495, zegna.com), which has an outside zipper pocket for easy access on the go; a Dunhill document case ($1,650, dunhill.com) with a pop of color in light blue or a more subdued look in brown or black; and, for a dash of unexpected shine, a Burberry hand-painted patent-leather model ($2,395, us.burberry.com) available in a range of hues including purple, green, and the blue shown here.…

KNOWN FOR ITS luxurious clothing and outerwear, Stefano Ricci (stefanoricci.com) is introducing its first line of performance skiwear. The family-owned business, which is based in Florence, has partnered with the Italian ski manufacturer Zero to create a head-to-toe collection that includes ski jackets and pants made from Stefano Ricci’s high-tech fabrics, as well as handmade skis and poles. In addition to being durable, waterproof, and wind resistant, the ski apparel delivers the distinctive flair familiar to Stefano Ricci devotees—striking elements such as the fashion designer’s signature shades of blue. The children’s skiwear designs are in honor of Stefano Ricci’s grandson, baby Stefano.…

FIRST APPEARING IN 1952 as a racecar, the evergreen Mercedes-Benz SL (mbusa.com) arrives for 2016 as an athletic GT with a folding metal top that retracts into the trunk. That feature isn’t new, but the front-end design is: It includes a steeply raked radiator grille inspired by the 300SL Panamericana racer of the 1950s, as well as a reshaped hood, bumper, and LED headlamps. Of the four variants, the two Mercedes-AMG models—the SL63 (shown, starting at about $151,000) and SL65 (starting at about $220,000)—deliver the sportiest performance. The SL63 is powered by a 577 hp V-8, the SL65 by a 621 hp V-12.…

IT WAS A typically sunny October morning in the Southern California city of Hermosa Beach when a tiny airplane made a water landing just off the coast. The spectacle—presumed a crash landing by the local authorities—quickly drew emergency crews, ready to rescue the aircraft’s occupants. But upon closer inspection, the pilot and passenger appeared no more in danger than the tourists sunning themselves on the beach. They had climbed onto the wing of the plane, which was now bobbing in the water, and were sipping from what looked to be cups of coffee. Thirty minutes later, they climbed back inside the aircraft and flew off toward the horizon. The plane in question—the Icon A5—is carving a new niche in the world of flying. The amphibious two-person light-sport aircraft underscores an…

HIGH ON A mountaintop in West Virginia last October, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Lee Trevino gathered with golden-hued shovels in hand. The golf legends had come at the behest of Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier resort, for a ground-breaking ceremony that was, well, groundbreaking. In an unprecedented collaboration, the four championship golfers are building what Justice hopes will be a course worthy of a major championship. Scheduled to open in spring 2017, the course will be the centerpiece of the Green-brier Sporting Club’s new Oakhurst development. The community takes its name from Oakhurst Links, the United States’ oldest golf course, which Justice acquired in 2012. Built in 1884, the nine-hole links course (pictured) is played today much as it was back then, with golfers using hickory-shafted…

THE LARGE ONYX STONES covering the banks of the Gallatin River are coated with a few inches of fresh powder—remnants of a passing snow shower that blanketed Big Sky, Mont., and its immediate surroundings the night before. As the late-morning sun clears the tops of the conifers of Levinski Ridge, its rays bathe the adjacent embankment and steep cliff face rising up from the water’s edge in a warm glow—a warmth that belies the chill in the air and in the river’s flowing, shadow-cloaked waters. A gentle breeze blows snow from the pines that line the shore, filling the canyon with occasional swirls of drifting ice crystals. The landscape is a snow-globe scene come alive. At the center of this frozen vista, Jimmy Kimmel wades up to his mid-thighs in…

Canadian astronaut CHRIS HADFIELD flew to the Russian space station Mir in 1995 and to the International Space Station in 2001. He returned to the station in 2012 and served as its commander in 2013. The engaging short videos he shot during his last stay in space made him a social-media superstar: His rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” has been viewed more than 27 million times. His videos could inspire the next generation of astronauts, just as media coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, when Hadfield was 9, set him on a path to space. “WEIGHTLESSNESS IS magnificent. It’s a toy that never winds down. You play with it constantly. You spill your water on purpose. You fly, and you float, and you tumble, and you’re…

Las Vegas businessman LARRY RUVO has been lauded for his philanthropic work, which includes founding Keep Memory Alive, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. He’s also one of the few civilians who have experienced the gravitational force (and exhilaration) that elite military pilots encounter in the cockpit of a fighter jet traveling at supersonic speeds. “EVER SINCE MY good friend Steve Wynn told me about his experience flying an F-15, I wanted to fly one of the military’s top fighter jets. When I was invited to fly in an F-16 as a goodwill gesture by Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas, I knew I had to beat Steve’s performance of pulling 8.1 gs. I told my instructor, Colonel…

During an RM Auctions sale at the 2011 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy, THOMAS MAO, founder of the watch-collector community ThePuristS.com , raised his paddle and placed the winning bid for the 1970 Lancia Stratos HF Zero, a one-of-a-kind concept car that he had coveted since childhood. The car is now on long-term loan to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “I’M ATTRACTED TO cars that are exceptional in their design and in their performance. I’d find it difficult to drive an ugly car, no matter how high its performance—but I would also get frustrated very quickly if I were driving a beautiful car whose looks promised more than the chassis or drivetrain could deliver. The Zero is widely recognized as the ultimate car of the wedge…

SCOTTSDALE CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU adventureinscottsdale.com | 800.309.1428 From energizing desert hikes to thrilling off-road tours and water sports, Scottsdale’s Sonoran Desert answers your call for excitement and adventure with options that are as varied as the landscape itself. No matter what type of adventure you crave, Scottsdale offers an exclusive experience tailored just for you. MAYORS mayors.com The Birks Muse Ribbon Collection. Renowned Canadian jeweler Birks turns to its heritage to redefine classic yellow gold jewelry. Like desired muses of decades and centuries past, Birks Muse Ribbon is intended to inspire and excite the wearer. The collection offers a fresh take on exceptional quality 18-karat gold in rich yellows, uplifting through architectural swirls and curves. A marriage between vintage and modern, the designs are refined with contemporary lightness, creating…