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Silver Z

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Silver Lining

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The launch of Silver Zwei, (Silver “2” in German) from Western Australian superyacht yard Hanseatic Marine was, like her sister ship Silver two years previously, a very secretive and low-key affair. No press, no fanfare, and within days of her final sea trial she commenced her maiden voyage, crossing the Indian Ocean direct to Dubai in record time. OCEAN talks one on one with Guido Krass, founder of Hanseatic Marine.

Words Hillary Buckman Photography Mattieu Carlin (Interior & exterior), Rod Taylor (Helicopter), Marina Espen Oeino (Oman & Yas), Maren Krass (Oman)

Silver Z

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Silver Zwei cruising the magnificent fjords of Oman with Guido Krass, Espen Oeino and friends onboard.

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At 73.5-metres Silver Zwei surpasses her predecessor as the longest all-aluminium yacht in the world. With a top speed of 27 knots, she is also the fastest conventionally propelled motor yacht on

the water, in terms of her speed-to-length ratio. Powered by twin MTU V16 engines, her trip across the Indian could very possibly be the fastest non-stop voyage from Perth to Dubai by a motor yacht. Taking just under 12 days and covering 5,103 nautical miles, she averaged a remarkable 18.26 knots cruise speed with a total fuel consumption of 92,550 litres.

Silver Zwei made her international debut alongside her sistership, now owned by one of the royal families of the United Arab Emirates, at the inaugural F1 Etihad Airways Grand Prix held at the recently completed Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi. It was a very rewarding moment for Guido Krass, the founder of the Hanseatic yard and owner of Silver Zwei, to be there and have both his sleek yachting creations berthed alongside each other.

Krass, a successful German industrialist and entrepreneur, has founded over 20 companies within the renewable energies industry, focused on creating and developing green technologies. This has allowed him the freedom to create his dream yacht and follow his company vision incorporating it into the marine industry.

According to Krass, “My aim in business is to be profitable while making the world just that little bit cleaner and greener, so that our children can be proud of our new technologies to produce renewable energy and improve

the energy efficiency in our day-to-day life.”“It is very important for me to do the right thing for the environment

and not follow a lot of the ‘green’ bullshit which is out there while not doing the right thing. It is up to the owners of large yachts to challenge the industry in building a greener yacht, not the other way around,” he says.

“The only truly green yacht is a sailing yacht. Everybody wants an eco-friendly boat but we still have two MTU engines, though it is very important to us to build a yacht where our hull is of the highest efficiency. The trend is lightweight, not beamy, sleek design and low resistance. Not high on water, but a low profile and with an aerodynamic superstructure design and efficient hull we can get very good fuel figures.”

This is certainly the case when you look at the current performance figures of Silver Zwei’s ocean crossing to Dubai.

After spending a few days onboard at the Abu Dhabi F1, Krass along with good friend and designer Espen Oeino and their families spent time cruising throughout the breathtaking fjords of Oman. With a shallow draft of just 2.35 metres Silver Zwei could easily pass close to the 2000-metre cliffs, cruising with the dolphins before travelling through the Gulf to Qatar where they were the first superyacht to enter The Pearl, one of the world’s newest and most beautiful marinas in Doha, Qatar.

As OCEAN was going to print, Silver Zwei was heading back to Abu Dhabi to be on show at the Abu Dhabi Yacht Show. Next stop for the new yacht is hopefully south to Asia, where Krass plans to cruise extensively

throughout South-East Asia, then back to Australia to cruise the remote Kimberley region and the Great Barrier Reef.

So, how did the Hanseatic Marine story start?“A good combination of fun and friendship and a bit of hard work started

the creation of Hanseatic Marine,” says Krass in a feat of understatement. Working in conjunction with his good friend and renowned architect

Espen Oeino, Krass decided that he wanted to design and build an eco-friendly, fast luxury yacht, the likes of which no one had seen before. That was the start of a long journey, which brought him to Perth, one of the most remote cities in the world, to build his dream yacht.

The Hanseatic story began over eight years ago when Krass sold Pari, his beautiful 30-metre motor yacht he had owned for a decade, from 1991 to 2001.

“After owning the yacht for over 10 years and experiencing a lot of different cruising activities, you get to know what you want in a new build. From every build we have learnt something new; from Silver we had ideas on how to improve Silver Zwei and now after using her a couple of times we have even more ideas for the third build to come.”

There have been over 460 changes to the second hull, but the main changes have been the removal of the bow seating and adding a touchdown helicopter pad and different seating arrangements at the aft of the yacht. The exterior paint scheme is beige instead of grey and he has chosen an African theme for the interiors.

“I have a friend Michael Poliza, a widely acclaimed photographer, who

Above left: Guido Krass; German industrialist, entrepreneur and founder of Hanseatic Marine. Top right: Silver Zwei berthed at the recently completed Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi during the inaugural F1 Grand Prix late 2009. Right above: The top sundeck with alfresco dining area, together with sun lounges, spa pool and BBQ and bar area.

“It is up to the owners of large yachts to challenge the industry in building

a greener yacht, not the other way around.”

This page from the top right: Silver Zwei berthed alongside the 5-star restaurants and shopping area at the Porto Arabai marina The Pearl-Qatar. Silver Zwei’s stunning sleek lines designed by Espen Oeino. Under the foredeck on each side are the gullwing doors which when opened show the housed tenders and toys. All her toys on show with the garage door open to reveal the lower level beach club lounge area.

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The main saloon, VIP guest suites and entertaining areas all showcase the large canvases photographed by Michael Poliza from his ‘Eyes over Africa’ series.

In the meantime Krass was travelling a lot to the Gold Coast in Queensland where he had an investment in a software company and he always passed back through Perth on his reurn to Europe. It was during this time that he established a small office of engineers and naval architects to turn Espen Oeino’s plans for the original Silver into Lloyds class approved drawings which could then be tendered out.

“The more I did this and the more people I hired we found we all worked well together. The design office grew rapidly and all of a sudden we started thinking why should we tender it out to the world, let’s build it ourselves. It was then I decided to approach the government for assistance to set up the Hanseatic site and to build the shipyard at the AMC – Australian Marine Complex in Henderson, W.A. In 2005 I employed a key senior person David Woods from another shipyard who had the local knowledge of the area and it was from there we started Hanseatic Marine and the first part to my dream started to take shape,” says Krass.

In a global world, communications has become vital to geographically isolated yards and yacht owners who do not have the time to regularly visit during the build. Webcams make life easy but to Guido Krass being close to the business in the early years to build the operation with his manager was very important. So, he incorporated time at the yard with a week here and there exploring the region with family and friends.

Now five years later and with a lot of time spent in Perth, his passion for building a world-class yacht building facility has come to fruition. Along the way he has built up a close group of friends in the Australasian region and has enjoyed the local cruising scene.

“The Med has always been my favourite cruising ground as the you

with friend Stefan Breuer undertook a helicopter journey across Africa. They flew over 19 countries capturing a birds eye view of the beauty from that part of the world.”

From four photos Krass has decorated the interiors with rich oranges and other bold colours to complement the large canvases displayed throughout the yacht.

The interior fit-out was a collaboration between his Hanseatic yard which undertook most of the crew and facility areas, with FMCA from Brisbane and Robinson Interiors from New Zealand both undertaking the rest of the luxury fit-out.

Like the first build, Silver Zwei is a masterpiece of European design and technology blended with the expertise of Australia’s aluminium ship building knowledge and skills. The yacht complies with the stringent SOLAS safety standards, allowing 18 + passengers onboard rather than the more typical 12. Interiors have been kept simple and comfortable; room enough for large parties but also areas where you can relax and have more intimate gatherings.

When starting out, Krass made enquiries with the major ferry builders in the world but found quite early that the knowledge and skilled workforce for fast aluminium ferry construction was in Australia. He discussed the Silver project with several yards, but as they were mainly ferry builders he was concerned to overload them with the complexities and detailed requirements of building a luxury yacht, so he decided it was better to purchase the platform from them and then send it over to Europe to fit-out. That was the initial plan but in the end Krass was not able to reach agreement with any of the shipyards considered for the project.

The owners suite and ensuite with the bold orange colours taken from the African theme of the interior design.

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Artist’s impressions of their next project Hull #4, the crossover yacht. Designed as a fast world cruiser with commercial applications.

cannot beat the cultural aspect of it anywhere in the world. But the Australasian region offers so much when it comes to exceptional beauty and being able to get away from civilisation,” he says with candour.

Looking to the future Krass has now upped the tempo by designing the next series of Hanseatic yachts. “We are in full construction, even though we consider ourselves as a boutique boat builder.”

Hull # 3, Smeralda or perhaps later Silver Drei (you guessed it, German for 3) is another near-sistership to Silver and Silver Zwei with some changes and also slightly longer again at around 77-metres, though this is still another two years away from completion.

“I had always planned to build more boats, it was just a matter of what. Our next project, hull #4 is what we are calling a ‘crossover yacht’. A mix of yacht and supply vessel so it will have a very large helicopter pad, large enough to be able to land a large helicopter, as well as having owner and crew cabins. The crossover concept is a trend of the times if you look to the luxury car market – on one hand looking sporty and on the other hand a practical 4x4. Similar to the BMW X6, which is a typical cross over design. We want to create something unique so on one side as a fast world cruiser but with commercial applications, though still for private use, with cranes and tenders, you could say similar to a shadow vessel but all in the one vessel and we think this will be a leap ahead of ideas currently available.”

As for building boats for clients, Guido Krass is happy to build the first three and experience them himself so he can make improvements to his build process and iron out any problems without having a third party involved.

“As time goes by we will be prepared for clients but not yet. We want to look at it as a long term plan; we have talked to potential clients on the crossover projects and that will perhaps be the first project Hanseatic builds for a third party.”

Clearly Guido Krass’ passion for building yachts has also been a way to show off his creative skills to the world, while implementing some of his industrial and commercial experience into the design and construction of some of the most innovative and efficient, and definitely the largest Australian built superyachts.

“A good company and solid organisation is a passion for me – the greatest possible freedom is to build a yacht. When you set out to build a house you have a lot of restrictions. With a boat you don’t, you just have to deal with certain regulations. It is the highest possible freedom for an entrepreneur to realise your own creativity. This is how it started out as a passion, not taking it too seriously and having fun doing it.”

Somehow, I think the tempo in the local boatbuilding industry has been turned up a notch by Hanseatic Marine, and this is just the start for a very forward-thinking yard with a future that glitters like silver in the sun.

For further information visit www.hanseaticmarine.eu

O

“The crossover concept is a trend of the times if you look to the luxury car market – on one hand looking sporty and on the

other hand a practical 4x4.”

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Silver Z

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American Bow Thruster 150kW

C-Quip

C-Quip

AWL Grip

30,000 l

2 x Citor 18,000 litres per day

Hamann

3 x 155kWe Northern Lights

iShip

Autronica / Hein Larssen Flexifog

Plant: Trane Air Handlers. FCUs: Cruisair

Seatel 4004 TVRO & 4006 VSAT

Sperry Marine Vision Master

2 x 25kW Xband Sperry Marine Vision Master

GPS SAAB R4

Sperry Marine Navipilot 4000

Sperry Marine Navigat X MK1

Hanseatic Marine, Robinson Interiors, FMCA

Skope Refrigeration, Rational/De. Dietrich/Mareno

Windows Media centre

8 cabins/18 Guest berths

10 cabins with a total of 16 berths

2 x 7.4m Hanseatic Marine Tenders

73.5 m

67.5 m

10.0 m

2.35 m

Aluminum hull and superstructure

LR +100 A1 SSC Yacht (P) Mono G6 +UMS

545 tonnes

833

Espen Øeino & Hanseatic Marine

Espen Øeino

Danilo Silvestrin & Andreas Holnburger

Hanseatic Marine

2 x MTU 16V4000 M71 (2 x 2465 kW)

2 x ZF 7640

5 Blade fixed pitch Bruntons Propellers

2 x Stone Marine Singapore

Hanseatic Marine / Fremantle Hydraulics

Industrial Acoustics Company

27 kn max, 18 kn cruise

112,000 litres

4500 nautical miles

4 x Quantum Zero Speed

Windlass Muir

Technical specificationsLOA

LWL

BEAM (MAX

DRAUGHT (LOADED)

CONSTRUCTION

CLASS

DISPLACEMENT

GROSS TONNAGE

NAVAL ARCHITECT

EXTERIOR STYLIST

INTERIOR DESIGNER

PROjECT MANAGER

MAIN ENGINES

GEARBOX

PROPELLERS

SHAFTS

STEERING GEAR

EXHAUST SYSTEM

SPEED (MAX CRUISER)

FUEL CAPACITY

RANGE AT CRUISING SPEED

STABILISERS

WINDLASS

THRUSTERS

PASSERELLE & BATHING LADDER

CRANES

EXTERIOR PAINT

WATER CAPACITY

WATER MAKERS

SEWERAGE SYSTEM

ELECTRICITY GENERATION

CONTROL & MONITORING SYSTEMS

FIRE CONTROL SYSTEMS

AIR CONDITIONING

SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

ELECTRONIC CHARTING SYSTEM

RADAR

GPS

AUTOPILOT

GYROCOMPASS

INTERIOR FURNITURE MANUFACTURER

GALLEY EQUIPMENT

ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM

OWNER & GUEST BERTHS

CREW CABINS & BERTHS

TENDERS

maiden voyage fuel consumption4th October 2009

Fremantle, Western Australia

Dubai, UAE

279Hrs (11 Days,15 hrs)

5103 nautical miles

92,550 litres

112,000 litres

19,450 litres

1340

18.26 knots

331.72

17.83

DEPARTURE DATE

DEPARTURE PORT

DESTINATION PORT

STEAMING TIME

TOTAL DISTANCE

TOTAL FUEL CONSUMPTION

TOTAL FUEL ONBOARD AT DEPARTURE

RESERVE FUEL ON ARRIVAL

ENGINE RPM AVERAGE

SPEED AVERAGE

FUEL CONSUMPTION AVERAGE L/HR

FUEL CONSUMPTION AVERAGE L/NM

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He’s the man behind some of the most extravagant superyachts to ever grace the seas, yet his heroes are the humble Norwegian designers of small sailing yachts and fishing boats. Perhaps

it’s because there are few forerunners in the line of Espen Øino, whose business is bringing the wildest nautical imaginings of his uber-wealthy clients into the realm of existence; a field in which there are merely a handful who have enjoyed comparable success. Or maybe it’s his deep sense of reverence for the five generations of boat building tradition in his Norwegian family, and the memories he cherishes of a childhood spent sailing the waters of his native Oslo. Either way, while Espen Øino spends his days with eyes aloft to the blue sky projects of megayacht moguls, his feet are still firmly planted on the ground. Down to earth and affable, Øino speaks with a directness befitting his French boarding school education and the good humour no doubt honed during university days spent in Glasgow. Speaking over the phone from his Monaco office on a brisk morning in the French Riviera, Øino was only too happy to chat about his own work and his views on the future of yacht design.

Firstly, what do you consider good yacht design?One of the important aspects of yacht design – or design in general – is knowing what you are trying to do. You identify the major issues and try to address them in the most sensible way. For example, good design is not a boat which has all internal spaces if your client is Northern European. Of course, if your client is a Saudi, OK that’s probably what they are looking for and that would probably be a good design for them. In terms of aesthetics, that’s really secondary. In this office we have quite a variety of boats looking very different and that’s really what it’s all about. One of our most recent launches, Northern Star II, a 75-metre Lurssen, was inspired

by the previous boat we did for the same owner. It has forward inclined windows and it is very fishing boat inspired because that particular client, that’s his business, he’s a commercial fisherman and he loves the look of traditional boats. It’s very different from Silver Zwei, a very streamlined and timeless design. To discuss aesthetics is difficult, because our job is not to impose a particular aesthetic or design, but to try to make the best out of what the client has in his mind.

You must encounter a variety of owners, some who are perhaps very clear about their vision and others who rely on you to create a design for them?Yes and no, I think they often have clear ideas about what they don’t want, but not necessarily clear ideas about what they want. It’s more easy to say “I don’t like that,” than “I like that”. When they see it and it’s right, they know it. And that’s where my job comes into play; you need to come up with the design that, when they see it, they say “that’s it”. If they could draw it themselves, they probably wouldn’t need me! (laughs)

Has the global financial crisis had any impact on what owners are requesting of a superyacht design?I don’t think we have seen any new projects in the last few months which have taken a radically different approach. One of my major concerns when the financial crisis started was that things would come to a complete stop and that there would be permanent implications for how things resume – either the same, or differently. And I don’t think we have an answer to that yet, to be honest. Definitely there are still cash flow problems, there’s no credit facilities in the market for building yachts. It’s not stopped, but there is a slowdown more so for the smaller boats than the bigger boats.

Espen ØinoFrom his first major launch in the early ‘90s, Eco, down to the brand new Hanseatic 70-metre Silver Zwei, the name Espen Øino has been indelibly linked with pushing boundaries. OCEAN recently caught up with the maestro of megayachts for this interview.

Words Matthew Henry

Will the design change? One could think that it would be politically incorrect to build a large yacht in the present climate, but that doesn’t seem to have happened too much because there have been a couple of very large yachts signed up recently.

With Hanseatic Marine, we have developed something of an “island concept”, which I guess could be seen as a response to a time when there is less money around. It’s kind of a low budget, floating house which would offer many of the amenities seen on a yacht but it would be built like a houseboat, if you like. And obviously with the idea being that the budget would be much less than with a fully fledged yacht, but we haven’t really taken to testing the market as yet.

What about the current boom in “eco yacht” concepts? It’s a real buzzword. Are you getting many owners requesting environmentally friendly design?It’s on the agenda, and I think in this respect the Silver series of yachts we have designed at Hanseatic is very interesting because it is extremely fuel efficient. People tend to think the opposite – big fast boat, it must be a gas guzzler. But the trip from Perth up to Abu Dhabi was done in 12 days, burning less than 400 litres per hour doing speeds up to 20 knots. It’s quite amazing. And that’s all got to do with the lightweight construction of the yacht, the hull form and of course the main dimensions, the length-to-beam ratio. These are all design paramaters which make it a very

economical yacht and therefore a very green yacht.If you want to take it to more extremes, I would say that there are a number of designers and suppliers who have claimed that they have designed the “ultimate green yacht” – solar panels, photovoltaic cells, diesel electric is talked about as being extremely ecological, and so on and so on. None

of these advances in technology are close to beating the old sailing boat, which to me is the ultimate green boat. Of course, most yachts today comply with very stringent regulations in terms of treatment of black water, treatment of grey water and so on, and their emissions are very low. We have filters on generators and even on main engines, which are capable of dealing with power over 1000kW. I think in terms of the impact on

the environment, large yachts are actually much better off than small production boats. We’ve been looking at fitting out the 70-metre SKAT with solar panels, but we figured out with the maximum use of solar power, we could produce about 40kW. On a yacht the size of SKAT, the smallest generator is 200kW. It doesn’t take you very far. At the end of the day, Guido Krass, the owner of Hanseatic, one of his many businesses is in solar power, and he told me that it is like Moore’s Law in computing (which says the technology is doubling every 18 months and the price is halving) - but with solar power the timespan is different, it’s more like five or six years. So we’re not there yet.

“(I find satisfaction) starting off from a blank sheet of paper, drawing a concept

sketch and then eventually seeing it through to being built. All along the

process you have these little moments when you think, yeah that was

the right thing to do.”

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Lately we’ve been looking at some systems with a Norweigian scientist about biomasses. You can generate energy basically from the fermentation of biological ingredients – it could be seaweed, potatoes, food surpluses and so on. The technology is not particularly complicated, and it is being used already in remote places in Norway for fish farms to generate electricity on these remote islands. The problem is, the share of volume needed to produce a meaningful amount of energy means you fill up the hull, so it doesn’t really makes sense anymore. So my answer is – go sailing!

Have you designed any sailing boats?No.

Do you have any interest in designing sailing boats?Sure, well I started off as a young yacht designer wanting to design sailing yachts, but I started working for Martin Francis who up to that time had designed only sailing boats, but he got his first commission to design a motor yacht just when I had spent a summer of an internship. He asked me to come back once I had graduated to help him with that, and that became my calling after that. So I am very much into sailing, I used to sail Solings back in Oslo, which are a 27-foot, three-man boat designed by one of my heroes, Jan Linge.

Do you have a family history in yachting, or at least yacht design?Not so much yachting… but in boats and boat engines (laughs). Norway is a bit like New Zealand – boats are part of the infrastructure. People use boats for transportation. Of course, because of the topography of the country, there are so many islands and so many fjords that if you were to drive around it might take you two hours, but you could cross it in a boat in half an hour. Some of the fjords are more than 200km long, so obviously there are ferries everywhere, people have their own boats, doctors travel in boats and seaplanes. So yeah, on my mother’s side, they had a factory building diesel engines for fishing boats and my great grandfather was the guy who built the first diesel engine in Norway. There’s about five generations of boat building in my family.

Was it therefore a foregone conclusion then that you would end up in this field?No, for me it was something I always wanted to do. I saw something I wanted to do myself, I was very, very keen on designing and drawing, and in particular boats. Probably from the age four or five – as long as I can remember, this is what I wanted to do.

Is the excitement you derive from boats more from the appreciation of their shapes and designs, or do you enjoy being out on the water as well?Oh yes I love to drive them! I love to maneuver them. I used to drive my father nuts at our summerhouse because I would just mess around with the boat all the time, driving in and out. I would simulate and play; a captain on a ferry: in and out, and maneuvering, and coming alongside, and idling and... (laughs). So yes, I love being on them, but I love to drive them. I’ve driven most of my big boats, except Octopus and Al Said, but it’s lovely being able to feel them. Like Silver – she’s amazing. Her slenderness and her angle of entrance in the bow, and she’s so light, once you engage the engines you’re up to eight knots in no time at all with the engines in idle speed. It’s just amazing, it’s so maneuverable and so responsive to throttle.

Silver is surely an amazing yacht to look at too, but is there a design which stands out among the boats you’ve designed which is the polar opposite?Well, Silver is a 70-metre, fast and sleek motor yacht which, because of her SOLAS rating, can carry up to 18 passengers. At the other end of the spectrum, there was a very large yacht which was delivered last year – 155 metres. She’s got just one owner’s cabin – I would call it an apartment – and two VIP suites; that’s it.

What’s in the rest of the boat?Well, there’s space for about 260 crew members, there’s space for an orchestra of about 50 people – this is not a joke! (laughs) It’s a great yacht; it’s just the opposite, but it does fit the requirements of that owner.

Is there something you’ve been asked to design which you’ve thought was particularly crazy?Yeah, I am working on something a bit crazy at the moment, but I can’t talk about it – it’s a bit confidential. But recently, we had an enquiry about a “sailing boat”, which was to look like a sailing boat but really wouldn’t be a sailing boat, which I honestly didn’t quite... I couldn’t motivate myself to do that. I found it an idea which was quite contrary to my own beliefs. A “look-alike sailing boat”.

So you do from time to time have to say, “this is not the project for me”?Yes, you have to be able to relate to it if you want to do a good job. You’ve got to be enthused by it, and excited by it.

“I’ve driven most of my big boats, except Octopus and Al Said, but it’s lovely being able to feel them.

Like Silver – she’s amazing.”

Above left: The cavernous wet dock garage onboard Øino’s Octopus. This page: One of Øino’s latest designs to hit the water, the Hanseatic Marine-built Silver Zwei. Left: Angles and intersecting lines characterise the unique SKAT, reminiscent of a military vessel.

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Where do you find the satisfaction in your work?Starting off from a blank sheet of paper, drawing a concept sketch and then eventually seeing it through to being built. All along the process you have these little moments when you think, yeah that was the right thing to do. And sometimes, you think, “Shit, that wasn’t right! Let’s not talk about it!” (laughs) But most of the time, you get it right. And then eventually, seeing the thing come out of the shed and put into the water; she comes alive, with the engines starting – it’s like a birth. These are pretty big objects, and yet they are moving objects, and I think that is what is really fascinating. We’re a really small team, only about 14 in our office, yet we can create something and then see that a few years later actually moving across the water at 25 knots. That’s great satisfaction.

For further information visit www.espenoeino.com

OIs Silver a blueprint for future yachts and could it start a new trend?Well, I’ve got a crystal ball on my desk here... (laughs) I wish I knew. Personally, I think so. If you are looking for volume, you can create the same volume going in the longitudinal direction rather than the athwartships direction. If you go high, you need to go wide for stability, and your performance is affected by that. I certainly think that, in terms of elegance and not just pure efficiency, it looks much better, a boat which is slender and low. Is it going to be a trend? Well, you can often see things going in cycles, and Silver is not a new concept, it’s very much like how boats were designed and built as late as up until the 1960s when the available engine power was not as abundant and boats needed to be narrow to be able to go fast. Right now I’m just looking at a yacht from the window of my office in Monte Carlo, which in many ways has the same beam-to-length ratio and similar volume – it’s Carinthia VI now called The One. It’s an early Lurssen build and one of the early yachts by Bannenberg, designed I think in the late 1960s early 1970s. It’s a beautiful, beautiful yacht. She does about the same speed and is around the same length, so it’s not all new.

A lot of upstart designers are releasing some stunning and radical concept renderings and getting a lot of press without having ever delivered a boat. How do you feel about how computer modeling is it allowing more entries into the field?A lot of that is just pretty pictures. They are starting at the wrong end in my mind. It’s a bit problematic because a rendering can look very professional very easily these days. Even my daughter, who has just turned 12 and she’s got a modeling program for designing houses, and she can come up with these amazing little houses which look even photo realistic. But with all due respect to my daughter, it’s the brain of a 12-year-old kid who’s designed it. A lot of things could be improved greatly! The fact is, it is a bit dangerous, and I think that the whole design process has changed and it’s much better if you know how to use the tools. But the rendering process of the exterior should be the icing on the cake, not the starting point.

Any other worrying trends you see emerging in your field?Well, some clients are looking at some of these designs and saying – I want my yacht to look like that. But I have to say, it might not be the right way to do this. That’s a worrying aspect.

Also, at the moment many owners seem to lose their critical judgment when it comes to building yachts, thinking that a yacht is a yacht and anyone can build them. They say, “Oh we’ll go to China and it will cost half the price”. And others who say, “With the crisis, yacht prices must be down around 30 per cent”. We’re talking new builds here, not second hand yachts. And, it’s quite clear that they are not – certainly not for custom-built yachts. To explain to them that people are still paid the same, it still takes the same number of hours so the labour is still the same. I don’t think many people have actually reduced their salary because of the crisis. It’s a worrying trend, they think because of the crisis shipyards have huge profit margins that they can slash.

Who has been the most influential people for you in yacht design?One of my early heroes was Jan Linge, who just died a few years ago. He was a great Norweigian boat designer who designed a great number of commercial boats in Norway when I was young and, before I was born, military vessels. And he designed many sailing boats, such as the Solings and so on. He was one of my early day heroes, and still is a great inspiration.

Johan Anker, who designed the Dragon sailing boat, which is still one

of the biggest classes today. The design is very old but it is still a very active class today.

In motor yachts, Jon Bannenberg. He’s an amazing character and has probably had the biggest influence on the industry and was a pioneer of independant designers as we have today. Before him, it would be the shipyard doing the designs. He came in from nowhere – I shouldn’t say that, he was Australian! But I mean, as an outsider from the industry, he came in with some really great ideas. A design like Carinthia VI is still so beautiful – I think it was voted the best looking yacht ever built.

What can you tell us about what you are working on at the moment?We have quite a few boats going at the moment. We have a very close relationship with Lurssen, and we have quite a few going there at the moment. There’s one 125-metre, which will be launched this summer; we’re building a 68-metre, which will be launched in the fall; we’ve got some more 85-metres launching next year and others that are under construction. We’re building a slightly bigger boat at Hanseatic at the moment; another few in Turkey; we’re launching shortly another large motor yacht in Italy, a 140-metre yacht. Just before Christmas we signed up another 140-metre in Italy which will be delivered in 2014. We’re also building an interesting 38-metre carbon fibre boat in Norway, it’s quite different and will be an enviornmentally friendly boat.

When you sit down and just draw for enjoyment, what fills the page?I enjoy trying to explore geometrical features. I always try to think of myself as being onboard, imagine myself creating cool spaces onboard. Although we don’t do interior design, we do create interior spaces on the yacht and the relationships between interior and exterior spaces is very important. For example, forward view. I personally hate being on a yacht or any moving object – particularly I hate aircraft, because you can’t see forward. I think it’s very imporatant to be able to orientate yourself and look forward when you are on a moving object, so I have quite a few ideas of superstructures which offer forward view for more people.

Some ideas I have on hull forms, like planing hull forms we are playing with at the moment. Many different things.

“There are a number of designers and suppliers who have claimed that they have

designed the ‘ultimate green yacht’... None of these advances in technology are

close to beating the old sailing boat.”

Above: The Moon Goddess “tender” alongside her mothership, the 78-metre Princess Mariana. Below: Balance and style characterises outdoor spaces, even on the 126-metre Octopus. Opposite page: Madsummer, a 78-metre Øino design launched by Lurssen in 2009, bathed in the cool glow of her in-hull lighting.

Press Coverages

Press Coverages