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Terry Disdale once brought me crashing back to earth when I told him I admired a particular, slightly more "out there" yacht design: "Yeah, but how are you supposed to clean it?". Of course, I had no answer. I'm sure the designers of the extraordinary catamaran that graces this month's cover thought about this, but I still don't envy the deckies that will be hanging down the side of the boat with a sponge and a bucket as the sun bounces off all that glass (page 128). I remember it had one of those carpets in the master cabin that showed the print of every single foot that crossed it, so the interior crew might have their work cut out for them too.
But I quibble. This Is It has its fair share of detractors but I am not one of them. Frankly, I am delighted there was someone out there crazy enough to conceive it and a shipyard ambitious enough to build it. It surely represents the terminus of current design thinking: volume, height, light. In those terms, who cares what the boat looks like from the outside if you mostly experience it from its wide open decks and soaring interior> Let them scoff, as you stroll with your morning coffee across all 14.5 metres of beam. It would serve as an excellent party boat, too. If you're ever lucky enough to be a charter guest on This Is It, you are going to have one incredible time.
An area of the world you won't see This Is It, however, is the Antarctic; it leaves that to no-nonsense yachts like Hanse Explorer. Our travel editor braved the icy depths and leopard seals on a recent visit to the frozen continent on board the 48-metre. Read her report on page 145, which kicks off a whole host of adventure-related content. We've got it all: a plunge at Point Nemo, tracking whales in the Dominican Republic, exploring the wilds of Scotland – and an important update on the effects of attacks by Houthis on commercial shipping on the superyacht industry (page 196). Meanwhile, BOAT International is starting out on a new adventure of its own. In case you missed it, we recently became part of the Informa Group. So it's new horizons all round.
Stewart Campbell
Editor-in-chief