16 ShowBoats Design Awards 2016 winners

Naval Architect:  Van Oossanen Naval Architects

I__nterior Design: Sorgiovanni Designs

Builder: Alia Yachts

Rüya’s owner wanted to focus on cruising comfort rather than speed. While the brief insisted on keeping gross tonnage under the 500 GT limit, he nevertheless envisioned the amount of living space typically associated with yachts of 45 to 50 meters.

The solution was a clever exploitation of the benefits of advanced composite construction, which allowed significantly more accommodation on the main and upper decks without compromising weight and stability. An ample waterline beam of 8.7 meters enhances seaworthiness and comfort. A relatively deep forefoot allowing a surprising tank deck under the crew area forward trails to a long, comparatively deep 2.4m keel protecting the running gear, which is set in slight tunnels.

The lines of the displacement hull flatten aft for stability and added buoyancy. Able to cruise very quietly at 10 knots and with enough range to cross the Atlantic at 11 knots, the yacht’s 750 kW Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines can deliver top speeds of between 14 to 15 knots thanks to the weight savings of the construction.

This award is sponsored by Clyde & Co.

Naval Architecture: Azimut Benetti SpA

Builder: Benetti Shipyard

Benetti’s 38.1m Vivace model _Iron Man _presents an interesting application of azimuthing propulsion in a relatively small motor yacht and an innovative hull designed to transition smoothly from displacement speeds to semi-planing and a sprightly top end of 24.5 knots — two knots faster than predicted.

An 18-month development period of what Azimut Benetti calls its D2P hull utilised CFD to refine every element and appendage, evolving a hull shape with a pair of asymmetrical chines and a wave-piercing bow. Its smooth underwater profile and reduced forward resistance result in a 20 percent higher cruising speed. At 11.5 knots Iron Man burns 100 litres per hour. A weight control budget utilising carbon fibre in the hull resulted in 40 percent less weight when compared to traditional structures. Azimut Benetti chose pod drive propulsion with a forward pulling propeller for increased efficiency and enhanced maneuvering.

The ShowBoats Design Awards judges were also impressed with the efficient design of Palumbo Group’s 40.1-meter motor yacht, Divine, with naval architecture by Hydrotec. This all-aluminum yacht achieved nearly the same efficiency rating as Iron Man, but, it should be noted, with diesel/electric power and traditional shaft propulsion.

This award is sponsored by JFA Yachts.

Exterior Styling: CG Design

Builder: Feadship, De Vries

Based on the number and strength of candidates for this ShowBoats Design Award category, the judges chose to split motor and sailing yachts.

Savannah is a yacht that presents herself differently from various angles and if seen bow-on only, the judges remarked that the straight lines of her exterior seemed completely at odds with her curvaceous interior architecture.

Yet yachts are truly 3D things and soon the cascading curves of her aft decks became apparent, as did the smoothness of the metallic seafoam-green profile — which bears no lumps, bumps or glass seams — and matches the sleek contemporary nature of her interior architecture. Just as the dark, tempered glass appears as an unbroken line on the exterior, the interior hides window frames within sleek architectural features.

There is no sense that any area of the yacht inside or out has less stature than any other and stainless steel is used inside and out. The custom treatment for deck furniture and exterior lighting was also part of the detailed design approach. The fact that one hand guided both interior and exterior made for an uninterrupted aesthetic vocabulary and harmony unequaled by any other contenders.

This award is sponsored by MTN.

Exterior Styling: Nauta Design

Builder: Baltic Yachts

Sailing yachts are an area where interior and exterior features and styling are expected to work together, so choosing a standout in this category is a difficult task and the two representatives of retro styling presented strong contenders.

Digging deeper, the remark “cool serenity” was heard more than once as the ShowBoats Design Award judges reviewed the design sketches and finished photos of Nikata. They were familiar with the minimalist Scandinavian interior approach that often accompanies yachts built by Baltic, but this time Nauta Design seemed to deliberately play to that strength, creating an interior that is just as smooth as the iron gray topsides.

Among the features the judges liked was the use of a strong rectangle shape introduced in the cockpit coaming and its repetition in the fixed portlights and the skylight. The planked floors of the salon and linen wall panels echo the theme of the bleached teak of the deck above.

Everything about the yacht inside and out – even the crew area – seemed dedicated to simplicity, speed and efficiency, achieved with use of top technology and materials. Apparently, it’s a program that works, as Nikata reportedly reached 28 knots on her first transatlantic crossing.

This award is sponsored by Kymeta Panasonic.

Jury Chairman Roger Lean-Vercoe notes that the Young Designer of the Year Award judges were impressed with the high quality of the 28 entries submitted for this year’s award, and this made selecting a winner from among six finalists a particularly difficult task.

All were highly accomplished designs, and while each young designer excelled in certain areas, the judges eventually homed in on one design that best fulfilled the identical project brief given to all the competition’s entrants.

Cercio was created by Baoqi Xiao, a student of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Well considered and visually attractive, Baoqi’s GA, interior design and exterior styling for a fast 45-metre motor yacht, created to entertain the guests of a female Italian fashion designer, was considered by the judges to be a good starting point for a vessel that would completely fulfill its imaginary owner’s specific wishes.

The judges particularly admired the clear presentation and well-executed hand-drawn sketches, while the originality and harmony of the exterior styling that blended well with a highly competent general arrangement plan and understanding of the client’s lifestyle was also praised. This is a worthy winner.

The Young Designer of the Year Award is in association with Oceanco.

There was little doubt that Frits de Voogt would be involved with boats; he is, after all, a Dutchman, but the fact that his father, Henri de Voogt, was a naval architect set him on his path. The fact that he was the first Secretary of a fledging venture called Feadship made the critical difference, to his son and to yachting.

Frits studied at Delft with the idea of designing great ships; in fact, the common feeling around Delft was that yachts were “silly things”. He took engineering seriously and was not interested in the small steel cruisers his father began drawing in the late 1940s. “I thought I was getting away from all of that to do big, important ships,” he says. “Then my father became both ill and busy. He insisted I come home at the end of my studies to help him… that turned out OK,” he says with his characteristic dry understatement.

Even though Frits had been a member of the 1952 Dutch Olympic rowing team, he had to earn his stripes in the design office year by year. The first yacht he points to as being truly his own is the 1960 Camargo V. That 116 footer was a “nice one”, he says.

“That’s when boats were getting bigger and we could put things in that people wanted like stabilizers and air conditioning. We got the idea to start making our own equipment.” Putting gensets on Feadships freed up space, and with that came de Voogt’s research into reduction of noise, vibration and soot, and development of desalination and sewage treatment plants.

Feadship had started with the idea of impressing American boat buyers with Dutch quality and Frits would take that to new levels, pushing for the intangible aura of quality that set the product apart. Once, while interviewing him about a new yacht, I asked if it was built to Lloyd’s. The already very tall de Voogt squared his shoulders. He seemed to have gained another foot and his impossibly bushy eyebrows were aimed like darts. “We build to Feadship standard,” he boomed.

The characteristic look of unbroken sheer, graceful flared bow and balanced profile are one thing but Frits uniquely combined design with creating the dream that sold the yachts.

Henk de Vries believes Frits de Voogt made modern day Feadship possible. “He was the glue that managed the individuals and the decisions he made, he made for the good of all.”

Frits shrugs off such notions by talking teamwork. “We were three families but we were of the same mind. You have to work, but hard work is especially fun. I was simply a developer and refiner of possibilities.”

This award is sponsored by Centtrip.