This year’s Design & Innovation Awards were unusual to say the least but, despite the Covid-19 crisis, builders still managed to deliver outstanding yachts and submit them for our prestigious event by the third week of October 2020. It was a competitive year, and 15 judges – all designers and industry professionals – selected winners by studying supporting materials including photos, videos, statements and specifications from a large field of entrants. Since in-person meeting was impossible, the judges’ debate was moved online. The virtual meeting took place over two days of discussion and voting, and we are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s awards – and two special Judges' commendations.
The 2021 Design & Innovation Awards event are held in collaboration with Event Partners Oceanco, Benetti and Videoworks. Plus, Viraver as Supporting Partner.
The Winners
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 24m to 39.9m: SX112
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 40m to 59.9m: Blue II
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 60m and above: Lana
Outstanding Exterior Design, Sailing Yachts: CeFeA
Best Interior Design, Motor Yachts 499GT and below: Club M
Best Interior Design, Motor Yachts 500GT and above: Artefact
Best Interior Design, Sailing Yachts: Geist
Best Naval Architecture, Semi Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts: Touch Me
Best Naval Architecture, Full-displacement Motor Yachts: Artefact
Best Naval Architecture, Sailing Yachts: Sea Eagle II
Outstanding Lifestyle Feature: Luminosity Beach Club
Best New Series: Riva 88’ Folgore
Eco Award: Geist
Innovation of the Year: DC Hybrid Power Grid on board Artefact
Tender of the Year: T/T Radiant
Lifetime Achievement Award: Tim Heywood
Judges’ Commendations
Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 60m and above: La Datcha
Naval Architecture, Sailing Yachts: Morgana
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 24m to 39.9m
SX112
In this very competitive category, the SX112 distinguished itself for its great use of space and glass. The flagship of the SX line presents several new features, but one engineered with great care, is particularly interesting. An integrated davit in the boat’s side is invisible until it pivots to offload a tender stored on what is an exceptionally large beach platform/aft deck (8.5 sq. metres) for a boat of this length. With its unusual layout, styling features that emphasize connection with the environment and oversized beach club with multiple openings, the judges felt it creates an entirely new boating lifestyle.
Name: SX112
Length: 34.16m
Exterior Design: Zuccon International Project
Interior Design: Lissoni Associati
Naval Architect: Sanlorenzo
Builder: Sanlorenzo
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 40m to 59.9m
Blue II
Judges were impressed by the charm and nostalgia of the design, its colour scheme and its well-considered open deck spaces. The cleanness of lines and consistency of details update a familiar look for a genre that never really existed in the past – explorer yachts – and helped the boat’s appearance remain true to itself in form without compromising function. The long open aft deck houses two large tenders or a submarine below yet this open deck is also classic workboat style. The proportions of the superstructure are pleasing and appropriate to the style
Length: 56m
Exterior Design: Hoek Design Naval Architects
Interior Design: Hoek Design Naval Architects, Vickers Studio
Naval Architect: Hoek Design Naval Architects
Builder: Turquoise Yachts
Outstanding Exterior Design, Motor Yachts 60m and above
Lana
The boat’s sleek proportion belies its huge size. Smooth surfaces and long lines created by tinted glass and metal structures (such as the brows along the main deck’s bank of windows) pull the eye toward the horizon, which is in keeping with a yacht of such long range. The eight-metre pool structure forward is an interesting twist on typical placement and helps divide various functions of the sundeck, which is an important consideration for a yacht that can carry many guests. Combining this open area with the open space requirement for a helipad on the deck below shows clear thinking in terms of balancing the yacht’s look, and the plumb bow supports the modern style.
Length: 107m
Exterior Design: Benetti
Interior Design: Benetti
Naval Architect: Benetti, Pierluigi Ausonio
Builder: Benetti
Judges' Commendation Exterior Design: La Datcha
The judges debated at length about shapes and proportions in the exterior design above 60 metre category and how subtle features can get lost is very large boats. While Lana pulled ahead in the final point tally, the judges were impressed with the impact of the styling from Azure Naval Architects for the Damen Yachting SeaXplorer La Datcha. They felt her strong, inventive lines created an instantly identifiable, purpose-driven look for this booming genre of explorer yachts.
Length: 77m
Exterior Design: Azure Yacht Design
Interior Design: Vasiliy Shprits
Naval Architect: Damen Yachting
Builder: Damen Yachting
Outstanding Exterior Design, Sailing Yachts
CeFeA
Modern styling with an ultra-sleek coach roof and two separate spacious cockpits, one connected to the owner’s stateroom for privacy, won the nod from the judges. They also appreciated how shrouds, winches, runners sheets and mooring lines were kept well away from guest areas for safety. The twin wheels are well positioned up and aft of the guest area so that the captain has a clear view of crew and guests during maneuvers, which judges noted was a good safety feature. The innovation of casting the upper half of the aft bulkhead of the master suite in glass to overlook the private aft cockpit is a feature that deserves to be repeated.
Length: 33.77m
Exterior Design: MYT
Interior Design: MYT
Naval Architect: Javier Soto Acebal
Builder: Solaris
Best Interior Design, Motor Yachts 499GT and below
Club M
This interior tailored to the owners was deemed the standout thanks to plethora of architectural details – curved shapes in the ceiling and seashell-inspired steps on the main stairs, for example – and sophisticated and soft materials that convey warmth and luxury. Achille Salvagni chose most materials for their softness and ability to bend around curves and even stones were fashioned to look supple. The designer drew nearly every piece of furniture to create a fantasy that allows the owners to escape to their own private world while maintaining a purity of line from the exterior.
Length: 39.75m
Interior Design: Achille Salvagni Architetti
Exterior Design: Horacio Bozzo Design
Naval Architect: Baglietto
Builder: Baglietto
Best Interior Design, Motor Yachts 500GT and above
Artefact
From an outstanding owners’ office to the stunning luxury of space and the perfect integration of artwork, Artefact was a clear winner in this category. The unusual layout is perfectly suited for the owners’ plans to spend extended stay on board with family. The custom furniture, including a stunning table made by Silverlining, plays off the yacht’s abundant windows, which Reymond Langdon smartly integrated into its design. Materials and shapes were chosen strategically to achieve the owners’ desire for a cosiness that is hard to achieved with walls made of glass. The layout also shows great attention to the needs of the crew.
Length: 80m
Interior Design: Reymond Langton
Exterior Design: Gregory C Marshall
Naval Architect: Nobiskrug
Builder: Nobiskrug
Best Interior Design, Sailing Yachts
Geist
Innovative and stunning are words that just touch the surface when it comes to one of the most bespoke yachts we have seen. Following the directive for organic shapes and no straight lines, Rhoades Young and Spirit Yachts have created a yacht interior that truly flows. The all-wood interior hides all systems, support and structural elements – indeed all storage, too – behind a gleaming curvaceous façade of clear-finished sipo, which forms the interior skin of this cold-moulded yacht. There is no reliance on loose designer furniture or decorative elements. Light, shadow and sensuous shapes define a saloon and four staterooms that seem simply to unfold like a dream. As evidenced by the fact the yard had to invent a new way to steam-bend walnut for the furniture, the joinery skills and labor hours needed to execute this interior are off the chart.
Length: 33.9m
Interior Design: Rhoades Young, Spirit Yachts, Tom Smith
Exterior Design: Sean McMillan, Spirit Yachts
Naval Architect: Sean McMillan
Builder: Spirit Yachts
Best Naval Architecture, Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts
Touch Me
In the popular category of yachts that have to do two things well, Touch Me stood out for stunning performance achieved through smartly modifying the yacht from the standard Pershing envelope first shown in 2019. The owner’s requirement for a top speed of 38 knots sent the design and build team back to their computers to rethink appendages, weight and balances as well the horsepower required to propel a 43.3m yacht with a luxury interior to high speed. Hull tweaks, including use of interceptors for trim and water jets for propulsion, were developed in CFD and then proven in model testing. Even the angles of the raw water intakes were adjusted to reduce drag and gain the last fraction of speed. Designers also provided a detailed weight management plan for the construction.
Length: 43.3m
Naval Architect: Pershing/Ferretti Group
Builder: Pershing
Interior Design: Fulvio De Simoni
Exterior Design: Fulvio De Simoni, Ferretti Group
Best Naval Architecture, Full-Displacement Motor Yachts
Artefact
Aside from looking at numbers that show efficient fuel consumption and form stability, the judges in the naval architecture category evaluate how well the platform answers the owners’ criteria – which Artefact does so well, since it was in fact built from an extremely detailed brief that went in depth into performance expectations and means to achieve them – but also how well it helps advance superyacht engineering. Artefact was rigorously tested from top to bottom to ensure it met the owners’ expectations in terms of stability, noise, comfort and efficiency. Tunnel test and several tank tests helped fine tune the results. Not only do the numbers work, the innovative hybrid propulsion and DC grid electrical architecture, which will help future proof the yacht, helped the 2,999 GT yacht stand in a class of her own.
Length: 80m
Naval Architecture: Nobiskrug
Builder: Nobiskrug
Exterior Design: Gregory C Marshall
Interior Design: Reymond Langton
Best Naval Architecture, Sailing Yachts
Sea Eagle II
In the most intricately quantitative category, the numbers determined the two top candidates to be the ones most unalike, one a race-ready yacht and the other a cruising schooner. Surprisingly the science behind their designs, their hull and sail plan efficiencies and performance under power were very similar. While both are custom designs, Sea Eagle II was the more novel concept and presented the larger design and innovation, given the owner’s brief and the loads and complexities associated with her size and 1,027-tonne displacement. She is not just a large cruising yacht with global capability but a beautiful boat that sails well.
Length: 81m
Naval Architect: Dykstra Naval Architects
Builder: Royal Huisman
Exterior Design: Dykstra Naval Architects
Interior Design: Mark Whiteley
Judges' Commendation Naval Architecture: Morgana
Based on a performance calculation total almost identical to the winner and on the work shown for design refinement via CFD, plus tank and wind tunnel testing by her naval architects Reichel Pugh and builder Southern Wind, the judges award a special commendation to 30.5m Morgana.
Length: 30.5m
Naval architect: Reichel Pugh Yacht Design
Builder: Southern Wind Shipyard
Exterior Design: Nauta Design
Interior Design: Nauta Design
Outstanding Lifestyle Feature
Luminosity Beach Club
As the largest yacht entered in competition by gross tonnage, you would expect Luminosity not to disappoint when it came to the lifestyle offered by her enormous beach club and wellness area, and it did not. It really is a guest destination with an enormous pool offset to starboard and an icy plunge pool on centreline, a treat for those who might have enjoyed a steam in the hammam or dry heat in the sauna. There is an area to dine decorated in cabana colours, a juice bar and areas to relax, work out, do stretches and yoga or grab an update on news. Changing rooms and all manner of tenders and water toys are at the ready. With hull doors open on both sides providing limitless views and fresh air it is the ultimate indulgence.
Length: 107.6m
Builder: Benetti
Naval Architect: Benetti, Pierluigi Ausonio
Interior Design: Zaniz Jakubowski
Exterior Design: Zaniz Jakubowski/Reymond Langton/Giorgio M. Cassetta
Best New Series
Riva 88' Folgore
This new addition to the Riva brand seduced the judges with its sleek exterior and warm and elegant interior. Built in composite and finished with mahogany and stainless-steel detailing (as well as carbon fibre), its design does not break with tradition but rather reinterprets the Riva brand for modern times. Judges remarked on the beauty of the boat’s fleeting lines and a highly developed interior package that can easily be replicated or tweaked to suit different tastes. With a top speed of up to 39 knots, they remarked, not only does it look like a Riva, it handles like one.
Length: 26.9m
Exterior Design: Officina Italiana Design
Interior Design: Officina Italiana Design
Naval Architect: Ferretti Group - Riva
Builder: Ferretti Group - Riva
Eco Award
Geist
The owner’s clear wishes that this yacht have minimum environmental impact in both build and operation impressed the judges, as did the yard’s ability to deliver on all counts – even to the use of aluminium anodes, which do not contain hazardous cadmium. Built primarily of a renewable resource – wood – Geist is almost exclusively powered by wind and water. When she is sailing, the propeller on her Torqeedo electric motor becomes a shaft generator, delivering power to 160kWh of Lithium batteries that can be used to run the household conveniences at anchor or power this vessel silently through an anchorage. Lights and appliances, including cooling and air conditioning, were selected for efficiency ratings. Even the mattresses use biodegradable materials, and the sails are EU-certified recyclable.
Length: 33.9m
Builder: Spirit Yachts
Naval Architect: Sean McMillan
Interior Design: Rhoades Young, Spirit Yachts, Tom Smith
Exterior Design: Sean McMillan, Spirit Yachts
Innovation of the Year
DC Hybrid Power Grid on board Artefact
Artefact’s DC Grid-based hybrid power system by ABB was a runaway winner in innovation. This DC-based Grid enables simple and flexible integration of various energy sources, from variable speed gensets to batteries. Computer controlled, it does not require the intervention of a ship’s engineer and automatically and instantly allocates energy in optimal fashion, according to the ship’s operation requirement, resulting in important energy savings. Its modular design allows making the yacht future proof because it can be upgraded to newer technologies as they become available, for instance the integration of fuel cells in place of generators.
Length: 80m
Developer: ABB, Nobiskrug, owner’s team
Builder: Nobiskrug
Naval Architect: Nobiskrug
Exterior Design: Gregory C Marshall
Interior Design: Reymond Langton
Tender of the Year
T/T Radiant
This 12-passenger, 45-knot tender was designed to replace the yacht’s previous owner’s limo tender with one that was quieter and had extra luxury features such as a fully opening glass roof, a galley and a day head. It had to precisely match the mothership’s livery and ethos, have both fore and aft boarding options and complete separation of guests and crew. Its AV and lighting package includes thoughtful amenities such as fold-down armrests with USB ports and illumination. All lights and entertainment electronics, including an underwater camera, are controlled via a Crestron touch screen just like the mothership. Technical features such as a near-silent gearless bow thruster are matched with ultimate luxury such as the dove grey interior leather seats stitched by a master saddler who works with supercar brands.
Length: 11.46m
Interior Design: Yachtwerft Meyer, Dolker & Voges
Exterior Design: Yachtwerft Meyer
Naval Architect: Yachtwerft Meyer
Builder: Yachtwerft Meyer