Innehållsförteckning för November 2017 från Yachting

“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…

PIRELLI IS KNOWN for car tires, but boats? Actually, yes. Pirelli, founded in 1872, has been making tires since the early 1900s. Then, in the 1950s, it started building rubber boats. In recent years, Pirelli partnered with Italian builder Tecnorib to license a line of high-performance, stylish tenders and day boats. The Pirelli 1900 is the latest model from the collaboration. The RIB’s aggressive lines and stepped-hull form come from Sweden’s Mannerfelt Design Team, which is known for off shore racing craft: Sixteen Mannerfelt designs have won world championships, so the 1900 has a high-performance pedigree. Twin 800 hp MAN diesels and resin-infused carbon-fiber construction support her go-fast look. And, of course, the tubes have a Pirelli tread design. WHOM IT’S FOR: The large-yacht owner who likes wind in his…

WHEN YOU SEE A ROOSTER TAIL BLASTING OUT behind a silver streak of a yacht doing 45 knots, there’s a good chance you’ve just witnessed a Pershing 90 doing what she was created to do: go hard, go fast. She’ll cruise all day at 38 knots. Notable features: Twin 2,435 hp MTU diesels were standard issue. The salon stretches about a third of the 90’s length overall, and double sliding glass doors connect it with the cockpit. Belowdecks: Her standard European layout has four staterooms. The American version has three, with the extra space converted to a lounge. Availability: At press time, seven Pershing 90s were on the market, ranging from $2.1 million to $3.2 million. FROM THE ARCHIVES “This American second lounge provides a light, elegant hideaway. Coming complete…

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…

I’M GOING TO give away some sensitive information here, but only because it’s vital to my point: I tested my first Sea Ray in 1973. That entire boat would have fit in the salon of the Sea Ray Fly 400, with space left over. Space is the right word too, because that’s what this 40-footer is all about. The salon is high, wide and bright, with plenty of room to savor life afloat. The interior is airy, with oversize windows and triple-pane sliding doors that turn the cockpit into an extension of the interior. The Fly 400 is all about flow, because (unlike that itsy 1973 model) the boat is easy to move around. Having one level from the forward helm to the transom means there’s nowhere to stumble. The…

IT’S TRUE. W E ADORE THEM. Today’s yacht tenders are proper day boats unto themselves, purpose-built for everything from serious off shore fishing to family watersports to making a glamorous entrance when pulling up to the restaurant dock. These tenders are stylish, even when they’re packed with practical features, and they’re comfortable, even if tearing through the water at 60 to 80 knots. We want to collect these boats like fine wines and craft beers, appreciating each one for her unique characteristics and the way she leaves us feeling as the sun comes down. INVICTUS 240CX Christian Grande, known for his work on superyachts, designed this little sister to the Invictus 280CX. The 24-footer is meant for day cruises, with a foldout head and stowage belowdecks, an on-deck dining space…

FOR THE GRAND BANKS 60, I came a long way. Thirty-nine-thousand round-trip air miles to be exact, spread out over a flight to the builder’s factory in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and another to the 50th annual Sydney International Boat Show in Australia, where I put her through her paces. In Malaysia, the Grand Banks brass spoke with acein- the-hole confidence about how the unfinished vessel was going to change the course of Grand Banks’ history — a dramatic statement indeed. In Australia, I found out exactly what they meant. The yacht — flush with carbon fiber and enviable performance data — represents a turning point for the famed trawler manufacturer. And as I cruised the coast just off Sydney’s rugged headlands, I came to a realization: Grand Banks had come…

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…

STORMS WALLOP the Caribbean each autumn, and the intrepid owners of everything from marinas to conch shacks rebuild in time to welcome the winter season’s charter yachts. This year, however, it may be different. The people in the northern Caribbean remain as resilient as ever, but the structures that are the season’s service hub rarely experience the level of destruction that Hurricane Irma wrought. From marinas and fuel docks to waterfront shopping and dining to some key airports, total reconstruction is going to take time. ¶ Even still, enticing natural scenes like the one in the photograph at right, on Antigua, remain — and superyachts are self-sufficient, easily able to charter for a week or longer without heading ashore to resupply. The businesses that do reopen this season will be…

She’s a 10accommodates 10 to 12 guests in five staterooms, 0 including two with king berths, two with doubles plus a single, and a master suite on the upper deck. CAROLYN ARONSON IS PREPPING FOR A FIGHT. We are standing below the vaulted ceilings of her South Florida mansion, between the kitchen and the fully stocked bar, as her makeup artist puts on her final touches. In a few hours, Aronson will be cage-side with her husband, Jeff, CEO of Titan FC (think of it as Minor League Baseball for the Ultimate Fighting Championship), at a title fight featuring Jose “Shorty” Torres — a diminutive but impossibly tough scrapper out of Chicago. A fan favorite, Torres will draw an enthusiastic crowd to the Pembroke Pines Civic Center, and Aronson knows…

IT ALL STARTED ON A FIRST DATE, THE TIME WHEN CONVERSATION begins to reveal two people to one another. “My dream is to sell everything, get a yacht and go cruising,” Dan said. Sandy simply replied, “Me too.” ¶ “So I asked her for a second date,” Dan says today, 11 years later, as the couple is fulfilling that dream aboard their Outer Reef 610 Motoryacht Sandana. ¶ The duo spent more than three years looking at boats and builders before choosing Outer Reef because, as Dan says, “They were willing to make every change we wanted.” ¶ Speaking of which, there’s a quirk to this tale. Most people who cruise the way this couple do are retirees — but not Dan, who continues his career in business development. “In…

ONE OF THE coolest hydrofoil concepts should become reality in 2018, with the launch of the 40 Open Sunreef Power. The Polish builder, known for pushing the boundaries of catamaran design, incorporated four adjustable hydrofoils into a twin-hulled speedboat. Sunreef is one of several European builders (including Evo, Fjord, Wider and Wally) transforming the open day-boat category with creative designs. Beyond its hydrofoils, the boat’s cockpit has side “wings” along the aft gunwales that fold out at anchor, widening the beam from 17 feet to 22 feet 9 inches. With inboard power, the 40 Open should make about 50 knots, according to the builder. With quad 400 hp Mercury Racing outboards, the boat is designed to soar past 60 knots. Sans foils, the planing-hulled catamaran has a reported top-end of…