A light touch: On board the fourth Kiboko from Southern Wind

For these serial Southern Wind owners, upgrading to their largest yacht yet was all about keeping it simple and enjoying the sailing experience. Katia Damborsky steps aboard Kiboko 4, Sailing Yacht of the Year at the 2025 World Superyacht Awards...

For 20 years, Southern Wind has been building yachts for the owner of Kiboko 4, and this is the fourth since the first 21.8-metre Kiboko was delivered in 2006. Each is an evolution of the previous one, and all of them have increased slightly in size. The evidence of the graduation is seen in the main saloon of the latest 35.5-metre Kiboko 4, where models of the hulls are lined up on the bulkhead.

Kiboko 4 was delivered in 2025 with exteriors and interiors by Nauta Design and naval architecture by Farr Yacht Design. She is the second hull in Southern Wind’s SW108 series, the first being 2024 St Barths Bucket winner Gelliceaux. While recognisably sisters, the biggest difference between the pair is that Gelliceaux has hybrid credentials, which was born from owners who were highly invested in generating power under sail. 

The hybrid tech came with a weight penalty that required a taller rig and therefore a heavier keel. The owners of Kiboko 4 had a “less is more” philosophy, according to Christophe Harvey, the project manager for the yacht. “[She] is overall a touch lighter,” which allows for a fractionally reduced sail area and reduced weight of the keel bulb. “The performance should be very similar, it’s just a different philosophy,” explains Harvey. “The whole point of this boat is the owner can drive it.”

At her core, Kiboko 4 has been designed to offer bluewater cruising capabilities without compromising on racing performance. Like all Southern Wind models, she’s built with a carbon and epoxy resin cocktail, with most of the interior components – bulkheads and fixed furniture – made in either foam or honeycomb core to keep the weight down as much as possible. 

Veneers just 0.6 millimetres thick finish most of the furniture and other interior components, with two-millimetre veneers on the floorboards; Harvey hands me a piece of the shelving unit so I can feel how light it is. With a displacement of just 76 tonnes, she is about two tonnes lighter than Gelliceaux.

On the other hand, this yacht has a distinct lifestyle focus, too. Features such as the enlarged 5.5-metre tender garage (which noses just slightly into the crew space) and the breezy, bright interior remind you that this is a boat to be enjoyed and admired as well as sailed. Out on deck, the guest cockpit sits one step lower than the sailing cockpit aft to keep the lines low and streamlined, and benefits from a bimini and sprayhood that protect guests and shelter a wide companionway bordered by coamings. 

“The aft side of the wooden flush deck morphs into ‘floating’ bench seats that provide a handy platform for winches,” explains Massimo Gino, CEO of Nauta Design, who has worked with the owners on all of their previous Kibokos. Another defining exterior detail is the “composite aft tail of the coachroof that recalls a stylised lightning bolt and provides the yacht with a low-rise, agile look when viewed in profile”. 

The wood-covered coachroof gives a warm touch with a centreline skylight allowing light into the interior, adds Gino, and the designers aimed to improve the feeling of circulation across the deck layout, Harvey adds.

I’m paying Kiboko 4 a visit in Cape Town, where she was built. Under the silhouette of Table Mountain and the cloud-shredding summit of the Lion’s Head, the day is bright, but hazy with fine dust. In spite of the fair conditions, there’s a gusty wind blowing through Kiboko 4’s sails and she picks up speed quickly, cantering along at 17 knots broad reaching with the jib unfurled. She trims down to 13 knots upwind, with six crew sailing her during the trials (but she usually operates with a permanent crew of four). Her 7.5-metre beam means she likes to heel at a relatively sharp 22 degrees.

“The volume here is in the front, which contains the beam and means the yacht’s nose isn’t pointing too far down when it’s heeling, so you don’t get any yawing,” says Harvey. Southern Wind’s chief commercial officer Andrea Micheli concurs, noting that “wide is nice, but over-wide is dangerous”. He gestures to Kiboko 4’s transom. When a boat is overly wide, “it looks beautiful in pictures, but it’s not beautiful on the water”, he says.

We nip through a white-tipped Atlantic, past sea lions lumbering onto floating buoys and a sunfish the size of a car roof exposing its pale body close to the surface of the sea. This isn’t the fairweather Mediterranean sailing I’m accustomed to. But then, these aren’t fairweather boats. Sure, not every Southern Wind owner takes their boat to the far reaches of the planet, but they’re certainly able to. “These boats have adventure in their blood,” says Micheli.

Just to leave Cape Town and sail into the Mediterranean on a maiden voyage, these yachts are looking at a journey of about 7,500 nautical miles. “Being [so remote] was a problem commercially,” admits CEO Marco Alberti. “But now, that journey is a big part of our marketing strategy.” I can imagine the slogan. You want a reliable boat? Our boats are put through their paces the moment they leave the yard.

Down below, Nauta Design followed a brief for “bright and Mediterranean colours” with plenty of personal touches imparted by the owners. “Our first big effort is listening to the owners and interpreting their taste,” explains Gino. Since this is the fourth collaboration between owner and designer, it was a smooth process. Gino and his team knew that the owners wanted something that felt light-drenched and airy, and the difference when compared to the rather darker, moodier Gelliceaux is stark. 

“The design of the saloon itself was studied to maximise the amount of light coming through the hull windows,” says Gino, pointing out how backrests of the sofas by the windows were specifically designed so they wouldn’t block out the light. A pale washed oak dominates the space, appearing on vertical surfaces, doors and the base of the furniture, contrasted by rich, dark walnut wood in the dining table, the entrance staircase and the frames of the saloon hull side panels. 

The floor carries the same oak finish, but it’s a desaturated, washed-out version that keeps the sense of space, which chimes with the ceilings made from a white silicone fabric. Bulkheads are dressed in a soft linen-style fabric and patterned Mallorcan fabrics bring a sense of playfulness to the space. It’s a nice mix of clean, uncluttered style with a pinch of fun to stop the design feeling clinical or lacking in personality.

Personality is certainly something Kiboko 4 isn’t wanting for. Her name in Swahili means hippopotamus, and at first it’s hard to see a similarity between the slender, graceful superyacht and the bulky animal. But once sailing her, it becomes a bit clearer. This is a powerful, strong and deceptively agile yacht in spite of her size and style.

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