Growth curve: Testing driving Zeelander's 24m flagship

Sensuous lines and cushioned comfort define the Zeelander line. Sam Fortescue finds the Dutch marque’s new flagship true to type, with lavish volumes to boot.

Tall reeds rustle where river water laps at their stems. Willows droop behind the green banks of the dyke and it’s cold in a way that burrows down to your bones. This remote, rural part of South Holland feels far from the natural habitat for the yacht I have journeyed to meet. Nevertheless, this is home for the gleaming new Zeelander 8, the brand’s flagship.

It is a mild irony acknowledged by Zeelander’s founder and owner, Sietse Koopmans, when he tells me it is rare for a new yacht to stay in Dutch waters. “In the spring, we’ll ship this boat down to the Mediterranean,” he says. “The owner is a Dutchman – that’s why the waterline is painted orange.”

On the day of my visit, the boat is due to be lifted out and the mast removed so she can be reversed into the paint booth for the winter. There is just time for a tour, which reveals the Zeelander 8 to be uncannily similar to her three smaller sisters, together forming a range that runs from 15 to 24 metres. Natural enough for a brand whose aim is to offer one single, sensuously turned design in a variety of sizes.

In the 25 years since Koopmans built his first Zeelander, the lines have barely changed, even if advances in glazing and composites have permitted some cosmetic enhancements. Those lines are the work of the redoubtable Cor D Rover. “It’s an iconic, beautiful shape,” he tells me. “It’s just three or four lines, but there’s a lot of continuity in them. I think it is the ideal shape – pretty now, and it still will be in 20 years.” 

If there’s a timeless quality to the Zeelander form, it might be because his original inspiration came from the 1930s. “In those early days of streamlining it was all voluptuous curves, the use of stainless steel and new materials,” Rover adds.

Just as much of the yacht’s appeal lies in the detail, however, and that is Koopmans’s domain. For instance, that elegantly raked transom swings smoothly open to offer a 12-square-metre bathing platform, with integrated loungers. And the 4.3-metre tender can be driven into a garage behind a shell door to port. Between the flared sides of that towering bow is a foredeck lounge that converts from informal dining to sunbathing at the touch of a button.

An oval-sectioned handrail in gleaming stainless crowns the low bulwarks that curve from bow to stern. Like the bar in the cockpit and joinery all over the boat, dark Macassar ebony lends weight and presence, but nothing is quite as it seems: there is not a splinter of exterior wood. Instead, composite and stainless steel have been hand-painted to resemble the grain of natural wood – even simulating the joints. The “teak” decking, meanwhile, is also a synthetic composite material. Why the subterfuge? Well, it’s all about eliminating maintenance, down time and points of friction between the owner and the boat.

It’s a different story inside, where teak flooring and natural leathers are prominent. Like all Zeelanders, the saloon dominates the main deck, offering dining, lounging and a peerless helm station. Wraparound windows with minimal mullions offer an exceptional panorama, while opening aft windows and a vast sunroof can bring the outside inside – not something we’re moved to try on a wintery Dutch day.

Where the Zeelander 8 diverges from its smaller siblings is in its volume, I discover. Headroom above and below exceeds 2.1 metres, while the leather-panelled stairs that curve below are broader than ever. There is space for three double guest cabins – all en suite. Pride of place naturally goes to the master cabin, which fills the full beam amidships – its double bed (I hesitate to use the term “berth”) slightly recessed into a nook lined with padded velvet.

Core to the Zeelander experience is quietness, and Koopmans has consistently gone far beyond the norm on this front. “For me, luxury is silence and the Zeelander 8 is even quieter than we expected,” he tells me. “Just 65dB, so well below the 72dB limit for normal conversation. It means that you can be going at 40 knots – full throttle – and be able to speak the way we’re speaking now.”

That is no mean feat on a boat packing four Volvo Penta D13 IPS drives. The standard spec uses IPS 1200 units that deliver 3,600 horsepower for a top speed of 34 knots, or you can upgrade to IPS 1350s to hit 40 knots. Even at these speeds, it’s no white-knuckle ride. With her broad, stable hull, you experience 40 knots as you might 190 kilometres per hour in a Bentley Continental: comfortable, padded performance with very little noise.

There is one big difference, however: so integral is the driving experience to the Zeelander concept that most owners want to keep their hands firmly on the wheel – something I can fully relate to. 

“All of our boats have crew, but the owners like to drive the boats themselves,” Koopmans says. He recounts the story of a syndicate of Canadian owners, individually wealthy enough to buy a hundred boats each, but choosing the Zeelander as a way to enjoy their time together on the water. “They let the captain ready the boat, cast off, tidy the lines and so on – then they’ll drive it themselves.”

First published in the February 2025 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.