Brokerage boat of the month: Asgard, the 43m mahogany ketch designed by King & Winch

Every month we place a spotlight on one of the best-designed brokerage boats that have joined the market, changed agents or have had a significant price drop. For April, the 42.8-metre sailing yacht Asgard is our Brokerage Boat of the Month.

Designed as Hetairos by Bruce King with original interior by Andrew Winch Designs – as Winch Design was then known – Asgard was built of mahogany in Germany by Abeking & Rasmussen and delivered in 1993. The sloop was refitted in 2014, when Rhoades Young Design replanned and upgraded her interior, and later again in 2020 for major mechanical works.

Now lying in Spain, Asgard is asking €8,900,000. She is listed with central agent, Adam Papadakis of Moravia Yachting.

BOAT's brokerage editor says:

"Built as a high-performance modern classic, Asgard's low-freeboard, sweeping sheerline and deckhouse, designed by Bruce King, is topped with buff-coloured carbon-fibre masts and sails finished in traditional tones. Three decades on, she qualifies as a true classic yacht, the original Winch interior having been sympathetically updated by Rhoades Young Design, Dick Young having been the Andrew Winch Designs project manager during her build. 

"Abeking & Rasmussen classic sailing boats hold a special place in my heart and have played a major role in my life: I crewed on one in the Caribbean as a teenager, before taking the helm on a 20-metre A&R ketch, and later selecting Hetairos as the cover of BOAT International for my first edition as managing editor in 1995."

The broker says:

Adam Papadakis of Moravia Yachting described her as: "A sensational eye-catcher, with pedigree design & build team, she bears all the hallmarks of traditional yachting elegance. It is really hard to find a boat that brings together so many different aspects of design and specification into one single vessel, while still preserving the traditional aesthetic. Rigged as a cruiser racer, she offers great sailing performance, evidenced by wins at several regattas."

Key features:

• Six-layer thick mahogany-planked hull, sheathed
• Edwardian interior with custom design details throughout
• Oculus eight-sided skylight designed by King
• Structural beams exhibited as design features
• Fast passage-maker with shallow keel and centreboard

What makes her special?

Asgard's designer Andrew Winch explains: "Winch Design made every effort to maintain and exhibit the beautiful wood in the interior architecture which was challenging due to the dimensional constraints. She is a pilot house yacht with a superb Oculus eight-sided skylight, designed by Bruce King, which became a signature of the interior. The cockpit was elliptical – which Winch Design drew on request from the owner – which was visualised by New Zealand-based marine artist David Barker. 

Winch continues: "One of the signatures the client wanted to bring onboard was the theme of the yacht sailing around the world, painting as it travelled like the work of well-known artist Whistler. This introduced the idea of creating artworks painted onto panels, rather than fixing artworks onto the walls. It was a complicated process as all the panels were different sizes and resulted in the panels being shipped to New Zealand to be painted by David Barker, in what appeared to be watercolour paint, but in fact was something more suited to a marine environment.

"Another unique feature of the yacht was the handrails. Rather than using standard handrail brackets, Winch Design designed custom whale tail handrails which were carved in wax and then cast in bronze. Every inch of the yacht featured custom design details, epitomising the Winch signature. A piano was concealed in a built-in cupboard, a difficult feat to achieve around the challenging dimensions of a wooden hull," explains Winch.

He concludes: "The yacht has four cabins, a large amount of accommodation for her length and has completed a number of circumnavigations as well as races such as St Barths Bucket. She even visited the Antarctic, following in the footsteps of the wooden ships that visited in the earliest days".

Refit designers Rhoades Young also comments on the yacht's standout features: "The original design was extremely bespoke to the original client’s lifestyle and the new owner wanted to update specific parts to the way his family used the yacht. The refit included a new galley, crew bathrooms, new engineer's cabin and a new lower saloon and owner’s cabin. Along with this, all the fabrics were updated, and the general yacht joinery and tech were updated. Along this process we also designed new graphics, carvings and we made several updates to the exterior including the beautiful carved transom and bow."

The designer adds: "As with all refits, the goal was to weave together the design of the old and new parts so that they married seamlessly. The success of Asgard’s refit is that everything looks original and as good as the day she was originally launched."

Price comparison:

Logging in to BOATPro to see comparable yachts for sale, to the 42.8-metre Asgard, with Moravia Yachting, we found: the 40m Antares, asking €11,500,000 with Fraser, 51m Borkumriff IV, asking €9,950,000 with Camper & Nicholsons, and 44m Lethantia, asking €8,250,000 with Burgess and the 46m Antara asking $9,100,000 with Burgess and Edmiston.