Bold carries a certified helideck with a D value of 13 making it suitable for a craft such as the 3.2-tonne, twin-engine, eight-seat AgustaWestland AW109S Grand. Equipped with proper lighting and fire-safety gear, it is far from any structure that can create turbulence and features opening bulwarks to expand the deck width. While there is plenty of room to stow the craft on deck, the ocean environment is notoriously detrimental to delicate electronics, and big waves or wind can tip even a large heli over. So Bold transports its helicopter over long passages in a garage with a ceiling that adjusts in height to accommodate the craft with its rotors removed.
Standout superyacht helicopter decks
Once the luxury of a select few, the not-so-humble helipad is having a bit of a moment. With the explosion of interest in the explorer yacht market, a touch-and-go landing pad is becoming more of a necessity than the extravagance it once was. Sure, a tender will get you from shore to superyacht in good time, but there's nothing that quite compares to touching down on the bow. We take a closer look at some of the best helidecks afloat...
Bold
Skat
Designed in a military-inspired style by Espen Øino, the helideck area on 71 metre Lürssen Skat was the first to be penned by the designer for a superyacht. Located on the aft deck, the helipad has a dual purpose as a landing site for choppers and also providing shade to the deck space below.
Ace
Lürssen superyacht Ace features a foredeck helipad marked that bucks tradition by replacing the usual "H" sign with a giant "A" to represent her name. But this distinctive helideck is not actually the main landing site for arrivals from the air. Instead, landings would usually take place on support vessel Garçon, leaving the forward end of Ace, which features a swimming pool and sunbeds free for fun.
Ragnar
Ragnar is one of the coolest conversion projects to splash in recent years. Having started life as an icebreaking tug, even the harshest environments are a walk in the park for this Viking-inspired explorer. Unsurprisingly, Ragnar is jam-packed with some serious tools for exploring ashore, including an Airbus EC145 which sits atop a certified helideck, perfect for whisking thrill-seeking guests off for an afternoon of heli-skiing.
Hodor
Hodor's 220 square metre helideck is fully certified and a CAP 437-compliant helipad sits aft of the 66-metre catamaran's upper deck. The Incat Crowther shadow cat features an Airbus H145 helicopter in matching stealth-grey among its plethora of superyacht toys.
Octopus
Octopus is perhaps one of the best known explorers on the water. The 126 metre Lürssen hit the water in 2003, commissioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and was designed for far-flung global adventures. She has two helipads on board, one fore and one aft, with a hangar that can store two aircraft. Since her delivery, Octopus has explored the coast of Antarctica, traversed the Northwest Passage and discovered the wrecks of long-lost WW2 battleships off the Philippines.
Planet Nine
To prepare her for adventures in the Antarctic, Planet Nine's helipad was designed with a lifting platform that allows the aircraft to be stowed in the hangar beneath when not in use. This also enables the 73 metre explorer yacht to carry two helicopters at once, allowing guests to arrive on board by chopper while the owner's own helicopter is stowed safely away.
Madsummer
The fully certified helideck on board Madsummer is located at the bow and capable of supporting an EC135 helicopter, which weighs around three tonnes. Elsewhere on the 95 metre Lürssen is a seaplane berth on the sundeck. The superstructure had to be strengthened to support the 590kg weight of the Husky A-1C 200 seaplane.
Stella Maris
Yacht designer Espen Øino re-imagined the typically utilitarian helicopter deck on VSY’s revolutionary 72 metre superyacht Stella Maris. Øino envisioned a superyacht helipad that was a focal point. Rather than trying to disguise the helicopter deck, it defines the exterior profile on Stella Maris, jutting out on the upper aft deck. When not welcoming helicopters, the huge deck is put to good use as a space for sunning and socialising.