Few events have ever affected yachting as much as the sinking of the 60 meter Yogi. The largest yacht to ever sink, its wreck strongly hit the Turkish shipbuilding sector and made owners take a hard look at their insurances and dangers, even though no one was hurt. Despite the accident, Yogi was no less of an exceptional yacht.
Yogi was the largest yacht ever built by up and coming Turkish shipyard, Proteksan Turquoise at the time of her delivery in 2011. Reminiscent of an explorer style yacht through her design by Jean Guy Verges, Yogi featured oversized portholes in her hull that brought in tons of flight into the yacht's cabins.
Built for Stephane Courbit, a French media and TV millionaire valued at €450 million, Yogi was built to be operated as a charter yacht part of its hotel collection. Maximizing space, the yacht had many amenities for her size including a swimming pool, beach club, wellness center and media room.
Yet, on February 17th 2012, just as the yacht was days out of leaving the yard where it was undergoing warrantied maintenance work, it sank in the Aegean sea. The weather was particularly difficult during that day and yet it seems to be an engine failure that, tied to a number of circumstantial events, led to the 60-meter yacht sinking to the bottom of the Mediterranean.
The report did, however, clear Proteksan in the quality of its build, focusing on what was a mixture of human oversight and extreme conditions. A Turkish investigations arrived at similar conclusions. Manned by a skeleton crew of 8 during this voyage, it took an hour to evacuate by helicopter the yacht's crew as seas at their peek featured waves of up to 7 meters.
Virtually new, the sinking of the 60-meter Yogi send shockwaves throughout the yachting space. In addition to engine issues that were believed to have triggered the chain of events that led to Yogi sinking, misuse of watertight doors may have been an issue according to the report. A fact worth noting is that the yacht took over five hours to sink into the Aegean Sea.
The largest yacht to have ever cruised with the French flag, Yogi was part of Courbit's Lov Collection, a holding company that includes the Les Airelles palace in Courchevel as well as the Pan Dei hotel in St Tropez. Built with charter in mind to its existing and new clientele, the yacht commanded prices of up to €378,000 per week and featured 800 square meter of interior space in a particularly luxurious interior.
A key element in Yogi's design was her large pool with overflow that sat aft of the yacht's main deck, directly on top of its beach club. In the middle of the pool was a glass porthole that flooded the area underneath with light. All around the pool were lounging pads for Yogi's guest to take in the sun when the yacht was anchored off in a bay.
To complement the swimming pool aft of the main deck, a Jacuzzi was also placed aft of the sundeck, for guests that wanted to enjoy the sun in a hot tub. Also surrounded by sunpads, these feature a common beige design throughout the yacht with colored pillows. Same can be said for the customizable lounging area aft of the upper deck.
On the inside, Yogi was reminiscent of Courbit's luxurious hotels. Featuring a beige and creme tone throughout the yacht, the 60-meter was fitted with floor to ceiling windows that visually increased the size of its 800 square meters of interior space. Its main salon was structured into a lounging area and a TV sector with a wide screen built into the wall.
Stretching across the full beam of the yacht, Yogi's master bedroom was no less spectacular with both lots of light and space. A king sized bed throned in the middle of the suite with access through a central corridor to a dressing room and his and hers bathrooms.
The yacht's guest accommodation didn't also pale in comparison with the owner's stateroom. Finished in the same style, the double and twin guest cabins could be connected or separated through double sliding doors. In total, Yogi could accommodate a total of 12 guests across 6 cabins.
Tall windows could be found throughout the yacht and were a real differentiating factor from competition on the market for Yogi. 'The idea was to have a yacht that could be chartered and run just like a resort.' detailed its designer, Jean Guy Verges in a later interview. 'She has been designed to the specific request of her owner. I think this jewel offered more than you would expect of a yacht her size.'
Another interesting amenity of Yogi was her observational lounge up on the sun deck. Finished throughout in glass, the area boasted a 180 degree view into the yacht's surroundings through a climate controlled environment. Equipped with custom furniture from the likes of Hermes, this media lounge separated the sun deck into a Jacuzzi and a raised dinning area.
Down on the upper deck, which also featured a covered dinning room, guests would find an extensive lounging pad with tiles that could be raised or flattened to create lounging chairs or sun beds. Connected to iPods and iPhones, which in 2011 was still rare, Yogi featured an advanced system for her time with TVs that slid out even in front of lounging pads.
Viewed by many as a step forward for the Turkish yacht building sector and as an endorsement of their quality, when Yogi sank, the whole country took a hit. By 2011, yacht owners and charters had started outgrowing the stigma of building in Turkey and the market was picking up for local builders. In fact Yogi was the largest yacht ever built by Proteksan.
Yogi's delivery was followed weeks after by their newest flagship, a 70.5-meter reminiscent of a Dutch-build quality, Talisman C. Shortly after it followed the 72-meter Vicky and it looked like Turkey would emerge as a yacht building destination. This all ended when Yogi sank in February 2012 and owners' stigma towards Turkey developed once again.
Although some Turkish shipyards continued to prosper, many faded down their ambitions in a global recession. This ultimately culminated with the acquisition of Proteksan Turquoise by Dutch-based Oceanco. Backed by billionaire investor Mohammed Al Barwani, the Dutch superyacht builder since set out on a mission to make the yard competitive and got an order for a 77-meter yacht now under build.
Having initially started his career in television in the 1990s, Stephane Courbit where he built a reputation, eventually starting his own production company behind hits such as Miss France. Eventually acquired by Dutch holding Endemol, Courbit exited from the company in 2001.
His LOV Group currently includes companies in the audiovisual space with several production companies behind some of France's most popular game shows. Other investments include several betting sites, which he started in acquiring in 2007. One of his fastest growing divisions has now becomes the Airelles collection of hotels.
After investing nearly $200 million into the purchase and renovation of the five star Courchevel palace, Les Airelles, Courbit acquired the Pan Dei Palace in St Tropez. His hotel portfolio then grew with the Bastide de Gordes in 2014. Two more Airelles hotels are set to open in the next two years, one in Versailles and one in Val d'Isiere.
Majesty 120 is a stunning 37.07-metre luxury yacht, which was first announced as the new flagship of the UAE yard Gulf Craft during the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show.Gulf Craft is happy to announce that the first unit has completed sea trials and is listed as a yacht for sale. She features a naval architecture and an exterior design by the yard.The interior designer Cristiano Gatto created a space for up to 10 guests to stay in five staterooms with an asymmetric design.Cristiano Gatto, the designer said:For me, the Majesty 120 perfectly captures the direction in which this innovative brand is heading with her dynamic profile, balanced outdoor spaces and sophisticated interiors that are all designed with true yachtsmen and women in mind.Gatto described the interiors as “fresh and light”, with key materials includes “lacquer, light woods and marble.”The vessel is the first Majesty model equipped with fully airborne electric drive equipment, leaving only two 2600-hp MTU engines and diesel generators.The highlights of the boat include a Jacuzzi on the sun deck and a ‘hybrid’ beach club, converting to a tender storage.
August 10, 2020
Italian designer Pierpaolo Lazzarini unveils his latest yacht concept 39.9-metre Xenos. This bullet-shaped hyper yacht concept was inspired by Bugatti and aims to be the fastest superyacht in the world in its class. The design combines futuristic performance with luxury spaces. The energy company Architaly has integrated a solar system into the roof, which will let Xenos to be capable of up to eight hours of autonomy in electric sail mode.There are two available versions for this custom yacht: the Hyperyacht and the Seajet Piercer. The Seajet Piercer will be for a passenger transport version since it can carry up to 180 passengers. The Hyperyacht is designed to be a private recreational vehicle.The Hyperyacht version features a deck lounge, living room, threespacious suites and a large lounge at the top. To the aft, guests can store water toys and use the adjustable bridge to allow the fabulous Bugatti to come in and out.The $39,000,000 Xenos comes with a $3,000,000 luxury supercar Bugatti Chiron. Made from aluminium and carbon, modern shape of the Xenos is designed for comfortable high speed rides and equipped with twin, triple or quadruple engine set ups with horsepower range from 7,300 hp to 15,000 hp. Xenos will reach a top speed of 90 knots, setting the record of the fastest yacht in her size.
August 7, 2020
Hasna is a 73-metre luxury motor yacht, built by Feadship in 2017. She has been the first yacht in Dutch shipbuilding history ordered by an Australian customer. According to Forbes, the superyacht has been owned by Australian loan magnate John Symond and believed to cost him $75million. She has been listed for sale asking € 97,500,000 two years after delivery. Later the price was reduced down to € 92,500,000 and she was sold and renamed Lunasea, thanks to Y.CO and Burgess.Gary Wright, Co-Founder and Chairman of Y.CO commented:Hasna marks the third Feadship Y.CO has sold in recent weeks and demand among our clients for well-built, quality yachts remains strong. Completing a sale of this magnitude in the current climate has taken an extraordinary amount of commitment from everyone involved and we would especially like to thank the Captain and crew for their support throughout this sale.We are pleased to be taking over the operational and charter management of the yacht - under her new name of Lunasea - and our team is already working closely with the new owner’s team and crew to transform the onboard experience and strengthen her charter reputation.With a beam of 11.9 m and a draft of 3.45 m, she has a steel hull and aluminium superstructure.The highlights of the superyacht include an 8m infinity pool on the main deck aft, a 10-seat cinema on the main deck, a wellness centre with a massage room, a hairdressing salon, an elevator, a sun deck lounge with inside-outside bar and a jacuzzi.Ben Ritchie of the Y.CO sales team said: We are thrilled to have secured this very recent and exceptionally well-maintained Feadship on behalf of our client. Not only does Hasna exude quality, but she has every amenity you could possibly want on board, which we anticipate will make her extremely popular on the charter market. With stunning interior and exterior design by RWD, we believe Hasna to be one of the finest Feadships ever built and we are pleased to add her to our Y.CO Management fleet and to be able to offer her for charter.Hasna was designed by Redman Whiteley Dixon and can accommodate 12 guests in six staterooms, including a full-beam owner’s suite is located on the main deck, two VIP staterooms, two double cabins, and a further double cabin on the bridge deck. Also, the superyacht offers accommodation for a crew of up to 21. Twin MTU diesel engines provide her a top speed of 16.6 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots, with a transatlantic range of 5,500 nautical miles at 12 knots. She is powered by MTU engines of 1850 hp each.
August 6, 2020
The legendary yacht Trinakria, which has been launched in 1927 in Austria at the Wienerwerft in Vienna, was seen in St. Tropez. Trinakria is a 49.06-metre luxury sailing yacht.The gaff-rigged schooner a steel hull and wooden superstructure. Trinakria was entirely refitted over a 10 year period, from 2004 to 2014. The refit started in Agadir in Morocco at the luxury yacht builder Chantier Naval HESARO. Unfortunately, technical difficulties and the failure of the local shipyard lead to a long and ambitious eight years refit. However, in 2012, she was sailing to La Rochelle. It took two more years more to complete all the works.Her interiors have been returned to their former glory, featuring warm polished woods, classic white planked ceilings and crafted leather furnishings.The sailing yacht can accommodate 10 guests in five traditional, yet luxurious staterooms, each with private ensuite facilities. Her decks are laid to teak and offer a vast amount of area to relax, socialize and sun. The main deck has 2 alfresco dining options, one just forward of the helm, seating guests comfortably under a Bimini cover if requested. This deck is raised providing uninterrupted views. An additional alfresco dining table is forward, in a more intimate setting, perfect for casual dining.With a beam of 7 m and a draft of 3.3 m, Trinakria is powered by CAT engines and has a cruising speed of 10 knots. This magnificent yacht can often be found cruising the Mediterranean, where she is available for charter with the price about €70,000 - €80,000 per week.
August 6, 2020
Italian builder Azimut Yachts has completed the Azimut Magellano 25 Metri and revealed first look images of the boat. She is their first 25.2-metre pocket superyacht, which was created in collaboration with interior designer and architect Vincenzo De Cotiis. Exterior designer Ken Freivokh was responcible for “chic and sophisticated” exterior lines.Built in GRP and carbon fibre, the pocket superyacht was created to "convey the feeling of a penthouse overlooking the sea" because of her fully glazed superstructure, the yard said.The vessel can accommodate up to 10 guests across five cabins including an owner’s suite, which features a walk-in wardrobe and polished brass details, two VIPs located on the lower deck, one double and one convertible twin cabin.There are other stylish highlight of the boat design such as “retro-style” windows in the hull and slatted teak panels either side of the aft deckhouse. There is a large lounge area and an ‘infinity terrace’ at the bow area, which is perfect for warm weather cruising with sofas, converting into sunbeds and a bar aft and an outside dining under a retractable sunroof. The boat features twin MAN engines with 1,400 hp each, a Humpree electric fin stabilisation system, and a V-Drive in-line transmission. She can reach a top speed 25 knots or cruise at 21 knots.
August 5, 2020