Every month, superyacht owners share where they are and where they’re heading. This time, Tim Ciasulli reveals how his experience aboard the first Benetti Oasis inspired the groundbreaking Maiora 42 Exuma, explains his passion for water-jet propulsion and shares why the Exumas remain his favourite cruising grounds after more than 1,000 days on the water.
Tim Ciasulli
Yacht: 50 Shades of Play
Length: 33.7m
Year: 2025
Location: Fort Lauderdale, US
We hear you have a new boat in build…
The first Maiora 42 Exuma. I helped father the boat. A lot of how the boat was designed came from our experience in owning the first Benetti Oasis.
What was your input?
We started with the concept of how do we improve on this incredibly different design but better serve the way that we use the boat. We looked at areas like this beautiful saloon that we just pass through to get to the aft deck. And we spend most of our time on the next two decks up. We’ve got all this space dedicated to a saloon that we don’t use that much – let’s make that area smaller.
Let’s take the suites that are sort of in the dungeon below, and move them up a deck, like you see on 70-metre boats, and give them huge windows and make the owner’s deck the deck above, and make it zero bulkheads from the stern to the bow. Like the Oasis, it has fold-down sides, but on two levels, not just one. And we put the pool up on the owner’s deck and made that glass-bottomed so it shines all this blue light on the area below.
When will it be delivered?
Next year. I think we’ll start with a season in the Med then bring it over to the US, to South Florida and the Bahamas.
And in the meantime?
I bought the AB110 as a sort of interim boat and was able to use it last summer in the Med. More recently, we were in the Exumas, which is one of my favourite places. I’ve spent 1,000 days boating there.
Is that why the new model is named Exuma?
It’s just a coincidence that I love the Exumas and the model is Exuma. I won’t say there wasn’t a little serendipity though.
Will the 42 Exuma be fast like the AB110?
Well, it won’t be as fast, of course. It’s much bigger, probably four times the volume. But it has water-jets like the AB. I love water-jets. In yachting, they’re particularly useful because they open up a lot of shallow-draught areas you can’t go in with propellers. And there is this incredible lack of vibration, because you’re not swinging these big props that are hooked up to big horsepower engines, so there’s a lot less torque feel in the boat. So, yes, it goes fast. It’s designed to do 30 knots.
First published in the June 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.
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