Top 10 stories of the week

Celebrating its 40-year anniversary in 2022, Gulf Craft opens the Experience Center, which will deliver a personalized luxury experience to its rapidly expanding international clientele. Clients will be able to touch and feel the luxurious finishings which go into every yacht such as high-quality marble, carpets, and wooden veneers, as well as place new orders and get professional advice on servicing and maintenance. Virtual reality is available for clients to explore the variety of yachts Gulf Craft has on offer.“As our global presence continues to expand at a significant pace we must adapt and change the way we do business with our international clients, which is why we are incredibly proud to be delivering a luxury experience through our new hub in Dubai’s Port Rashid. As we look to the future, we will continue to see Gulf Craft strengthen its reputation as a globally recognised manufacturer of the world’s finest vessels which can be found in marinas all over the world.” says Mohammed Hussein AlShaali, Gulf Craft’s Chairman.Today, 92 per cent of all vessels built at the company’s Umm Al Quwain shipyard are exported across the globe. The Gulf Craft Experience Center creates an additional touchpoint for existing and new clients alike, to further support the company’s rapid global expansion. The Center is designed to elevate and heighten the unique and exclusive experience of yacht customisation. A process usually reserved for later in the yacht purchasing cycle, Gulf Craft have developed a fully interactive experience that can be enjoyed by serious buyers and yacht enthusiasts alike.“We are witnessing the growth and demand of the industry, and in response to this we have made the strategic decision to expand our UAE operations to Port Rashid. The city is a hub to the world, and our new luxury Experience Centre connects the Gulf Craft brand to its international yachting community with a focus on becoming closer and delivering an exceptional experience,” says Talal Nasralla, Gulf Craft’s CEO.Since the company’s inception in 1982, Gulf Craft has grown to become one of the top seven shipyards in the world: once a builder of small fishing boats in its modest premises, which was a genuine passion for Gulf Craft, they then established their credentials as a leader of innovation and technology in the yachting industry. With five brands in their product portfolio ranging from 31 to 175 feet, Gulf Craft manufactures yachts and boats that appeal to a wide audience, such as touring passenger vessels, Silvercraft family day boats, Oryx Sport Cruisers, Nomad Explorer Yachts, and the flagship Majesty Yachts.Credits: Gulf Craft

The 80m motor yacht Tatiana was sold with Leo Jordil from IYC representing the seller and Alex Krykanyuk from Fraser representing the buyer. Tatiana is the first 80-meter Bilgin 263 superyachts that was built by the Turkish yard. She was launched in 2020. The 1,670 GT vessel was built in accordance with the latest IMO Tier III standards and comes fitted with a special exhaust system for “100% clean air emissions," according to her builder.Tatiana's exterior design was made by Unique Yacht Design, while the interior was drawn by H2 Yacht Design.Tatiana's layout contains generous living areas, with a beach club and a huge spa. She can accommodate 16 guests across eight staterooms, including an owner's cabin on its own dedicated deck, four additional guest staterooms located on the main deck and one guest stateroom on the lower deck. The centre of the yacht is directly connected to the main saloon via a staircase and comes complete with a 9m swimming pool, as well as a wealth of amenities, including a bar, sunbeds, hammam and a massage room.In terms of performance, Tatiana's well-balanced and optimized superstructure enables her to reach a top speed of 19 knots with zero dynamic trim. Credits: Bilgin Yachts

Cantiere Delle Marche has launched the 43m full custom explorer Acala. Acala has been com­mis­sioned by an ex­pe­ri­enced yachts­man who, over the years, owned yachts built by ship­yards such as Fead­ship, Lürssen, Blohm and Voss. He is a re­peat client for CdM, his pre­vi­ous Acala, a Dar­win 102, cruis­ing in the Med but also sail­ing the ex­panses of the Pa­cific Ocean, the At­lantic and reach­ing the wild beauty of re­mote des­ti­na­tions and the best div­ing spots in the world.“I am de­lighted and proud of this mile­stone launch. The trust this owner con­firmed in CdM gives us the high­est rea­son for pride. The mu­tual trust es­tab­lished be­tween with this client and CdM team has been piv­otal to the good re­sult of the whole process that lead to the com­ple­tion of such a com­plex pro­ject,” says Vasco Buon­pen­siere, CdM’s co-founder and sales & mar­ket­ing di­rec­tor.“The work on tech­ni­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tions has been ex­tremely de­tailed and it lasted al­most 12 months to achieve a dou­ble re­sult: to build a 43-meter yacht with the most de­tailed and com­pre­hen­sive specs we have ever drawn up and to pro­ceed with no need of ma­jor mod­i­fi­ca­tions as con­struc­tion pro­gressed,” continues Vasco Buon­pen­siere.Acala’s eye-catching lines were drawn by Viareggio-based Ho­ra­cio Bozzo De­sign. She features a large win­dows on the main deck whose mul­lions seem not to join the su­per­struc­ture that are un­doubt­edly Acala pro­file’s sig­na­ture fea­tures. Her full dis­place­ment hull was made by Ser­gio Cu­tolo/Hy­dro Tec. Acala’s in­te­rior de­sign was penned by Mex­i­can ar­chi­tect Si­mon Hamui. Guest ar­eas are spread over three decks and a sun deck. Acala can accommodate 12 guests across six cabins. A large lobby sits in be­tween the main sa­lon and guest night quar­ters. The full beam main deck, from amid­ship for­ward is ded­i­cated to guests and own­ers. Three large VIP’s and an owner suite to star­board side are flooded by nat­ural light from large win­dows. Two twin cab­ins are lo­cated on the lower deck.A spacious panoramic sky lounge located on the up­per deck and includes the din­ing area. A large cock­pit fea­tures din­ing and loung­ing ar­eas, a swim­ming pool and lots of space to re­lax. A par­tially shaded sun deck in­te­grated into the pro­file pro­vides the so­cial hub for Acala’s guests with an al fresco din­ing, bar, vast sun­bathing area along­side a sec­ond swim­ming pool. A dumb­waiter con­nects the gal­ley lo­cated on the lower deck to all deck, sun deck in­cluded, to con­vey food and drinks and ease the work of crew.With a to­tal length of 43,10 meters, a beam of 8.60m, thanks to hull geom­e­try, 62 400-liter fuel tanks, and the ex­tremely fru­gal con­sump­tion of her twin Caterpillar C32 Ac­ert en­gines 746kW each, Acala will have a range of above 5 000 nautical miles at 10 knots and a top speed of 14 knots. “Be­ing cho­sen by ex­pe­ri­enced own­ers such as this gen­tle­man who de­cided to have his sec­ond yacht built by us, af­ter hav­ing owned yachts built by the most re­puted North­ern Eu­ro­pean brands, is the best pos­si­ble prove that our com­mit­ment, ded­i­ca­tion, tech­ni­cal skills and qual­ity are sec­ond to none,” says En­nio Cec­chini, CdM’s CEO. CdM's story begins in 2010. The facilities cover an overall surface of 16˙000 square meters, including 7˙000 sq. m of workshops and 1˙000 sq. m of docks. Since 2015, the shipyard has been the world’s leading builder of explorer yachts. Based in Ancona, Cantiere delle Marche builds yachts from 26m to 43m in length.Credits: CdM

Design firm Isola Corvus together with beiderbeck designs introduces a new sailing concept, the 41m Velarca 135. She is designed to fill the missing spot in the yachting industry. “Velarca 135 is our answer for the sustainable future and to the environmental goals set in Glasgow 2021,” says in the company statement.Velarca has a streamlined, motor yacht like profile featuring a very large beach club at the stern, providing a stylish lounge area and a very large swim platform, with additional space for effortless indoor-outdoor living and entertaining. For functionality and easy access Velarca 135 has a lift to the front bulkhead of the beach club which makes all decks and areas safely accessible for everyone.The generous layout has two versions. The deluxe version with the large owner’s cabin will accommodate 10 people, the charter optimized layout has cabins for 12 guests. All cabins are large and equipped with a private toilet and shower with plenty of window space. Cabins are located nearby the staircase that leads to the large dining and living room upstairs. The yacht's general arrangement and styling as well as the main technical features such as the completely new kind of rig are specifically designed to make the transition from motor yachting to a more low carbon alternative, sailing, as effortless as possible. Even though the nature of Velarca is clearly a cruising yacht, the hull shape, keel and the rudder are the latest available technology from offshore racing circuits. The yacht also comes with three different keel options depending on the intended use and the sportiest fixed keel version provides a racing yacht like performance.Velarca 135 has a completely new kind of rig with three self-tacking and hydraulically furling jibs (The “Fisherman sail” being upside down) that can be opened or reefed by using the push buttons at the cockpit. Handling the sails of this yacht doesn't therefore require a small army of deck crew but instead it has been automated as far as possible. Isola Corvus Oy (Ltd) is a Finnish newcomer in the super yacht industry. Company is founded by Sami Lehtonen and Sanna-Kaisa Koivisto, offshore racing partners, innovators and entrepreneurs. The Velarca project started, when these two sailors and explorers found out through intense market research that there is room for a specific kind of sailing yacht in the market and decided to act. The beiderbeck lmmo Lüdeling and Tim Ulrich sketched the Velarca 135 design.Credits: Isola Corvus Oy

The 62m Nobiskrug’s project Cap d’Ail (formerly known as Project 794) will be completed at Lürssen. The vessel that left the Nobiskrug's Rendsburg facility on January 22, arrived at the Lürssen site in Bremen last weekend. The hull was originally laid in June 2019, but since the Nobiskrug has financial difficulties it will be finished at Lürssen. The exterior design was created by Espen Oeino. The yacht spreads across five decks and has expansive exterior deck spaces. Details were hidden from the public, but it’s known that she will feature a spa area with a seven meter glass pool, a spacious tender garage and plenty of water toys. Imperial Yachts, as the owner’s representatives, will oversee the final construction phase up to delivery of the yacht. Project Cap d’Ail is scheduled for completion in spring 2021.Lürssen is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Aumund. Founded in 1875, Lürssen is one of the world's leading builders of custom luxury superyachts and has launched many of the largest yachts in the global fleet.Credits: DrDuu /Imperial Yachts