Today’s yachts continue to evolve in what’s become an arms race to create the fastest, the sleekest, the most spacious—insert your superlative of the day here.

But then a design comes along that strikes a chord within the soul of a true boating enthusiast. That note chimed clearly when the Wheeler Yacht Company recently unveiled the Wheeler 55.

For those unfamiliar with the brand’s history, Wheeler Shipyard Corporation created the iconic 1931 Playmate model, including the 38-foot Pilar—the boat Ernest Hemingway famously used to hunt U-boats during World War II. Years later, he penned The Old Man and the Sea based in part on the time he spent chasing blue marlin in the Caribbean from Pilar’s broad cockpit.

Some seven decades later, the brand has a new leader in Wes Wheeler—a great-grandson of the company’s founding boatbuilder, Howard E. Wheeler Sr.—as well as a new outlook. Wheeler Yacht Company is paying homage to a bygone era of yachting, with retro lines hearkening back to those glory days of elegant commuters. Outwardly appearing as a fully restored cruiser from a storied past, the Wheeler 55 proves that appearances can be deceiving. The custom cold-molded, handcrafted wooden vessel was built in the Brooklin Boat Yard in Brooklin, Maine, and features some incredible woodwork and craftsmanship throughout its design, as well as a luxurious interior. It’s powered by twin 1,000 hp MAN diesel engines—pushing it to a reported top hop of 30 knots—while also possessing the modern amenities boaters have come to expect, including dynamic trim control and gyrostabilization. A wolf in sheep’s clothing? Perhaps.

“This is a boat which was built to be ultramodern, but to look like the classics of the 1930s,” Wes Wheeler says. “The structural elements are built out of Canadian Douglas fir, which is usually what Brooklin Boat Yard likes to use for the backbone of the boat. The hull is made from sapele plywood over Douglas fir ribbands, and the entire superstructure of the boat is African sipo wood. This is a very special boat and crafted for a niche market. She was built entirely by hand, even most of the stainless pieces.”

Wheeler says the 55 is also efficient; at 1,800 rpm, it makes around 20 knots in a slight chop and burns about 50 gallons per hour. At that speed, it will provide 15 to 17 hours of running time and a range of 340 miles.

“She will hit 30 knots at max throttle,” he says. “I’m sure when you see the 55 in person, it will be the most unique boat at any marina on the East Coast.”  

A Historic Boatbuilder: Wheeler Shipyard Corporation

Howard E. Wheeler Sr. founded the Wheeler Shipyard Corporation in 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, to build yachts up to 85 feet in length. As the popularity of Wheeler’s line grew, the company leased a 21-acre tract of land in Whitestone, Long Island, in 1941 to produce vessels for the US Navy and Coast Guard to help defend America’s shores during World War II. At one point, it employed some 6,000 workers. By the time Wheeler closed its doors in 1965, the Wheeler Shipyard Corporation had built more than 3,500 hulls.

Classic Boat Awards Runner-Up

In early 2025, Wheeler Yacht Company announced that the Wheeler 55 was the runner-up in the Classic Boat Awards in the Power Vessels Over 40 Feet category. In its nomination, the 55 was heralded for being strip-planked in solid timber and for its modern, luxurious interior. 

“It’s such an honor to be recognized among other revered boatbuilders who are contributing to our vibrant industry and keeping these special maritime traditions afloat,” said Wheeler president Wes Wheeler. “Our team worked incredibly hard to bring this boat to life, meticulously engineering every detail, and we’re so proud of this custom, luxury yacht.”

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Use the right acoustics, and familiar waters reveal their secrets. Just ask Dave DeVos, who’s been fishing the same waters off Port Canaveral, Florida, for years aboard his Contender 28. DeVos thought he knew all the honey holes separating his marina from the offshore depths; after all, he’s long run similar tracks with chirp on his traditional sonar.

DeVos works as Garmin’s senior manager for marine sales and support. That’s why he got to test one of Garmin’s first Panoptix PS70 transducers—and that’s when his game changed.

“The PS70’s got such a wide sonar cone, I saw a half-dozen spots I didn’t know existed,” he says.

His reward? Big catch-and-release red snapper and newfound local knowledge.

The PS70 isn’t Garmin’s first foray into live sonar, but the Olathe, Kansas-based company’s newest transducer is smaller than its predecessors, and it sends far more power and more-frequent transmissions through the water. The result is video-style onscreen presentations across four operating modes.

The PS70 is a multibeam phased-array sonar transducer broadcasting on the 190-to-210-kilohertz frequencies and transmitting at 800 watts. It has a 120-degree (port to starboard) by 8-degree (bow to stern) sonar cone that yields live imagery down to 1,000 feet in salt water. The PS70 ($4,800) comes potted in a stainless-steel through-hull transducer that can be purchased with an optional fairing block ($200). The combined transducer and fairing displaces 10.12 pounds and measures 8.5-by-4.5-by-9.6 inches, ostensibly making it an easy refit.

The PS70 has an embedded altitude heading reference system sensor, which stabilizes live sonar imagery on rough waters. It works at all speeds, so long as there’s clean water below the transducer.

“If you’re reef- or wreck-fishing, you can pull up and see if there are any fish before you throw your gear over,” says Dave Dunn, Garmin’s senior director of marine and RV sales. “You can look for pelagic fish with traditional sonar, but that’s historical imagery, so the fish might not still be under you.”

The PS70 sports Garmin’s proprietary RapidReturn feature, which Dunn says is like chirp sonar on steroids. While chirp sonars transmit across a sweep of frequencies, they only send out a single sweeping pulse with each transmission. “RapidReturn sends out multiple pings at the same time across its frequencies,” Dunn says. “It’s six to eight times faster than chirp. It makes a big difference in deep water.”

The PS70’s four modes each have RapidReturn. The modes start with Traditional Sonar, which provides similar imagery to other 50/200 kHz chirp-enabled sonars. Triple-Beam Sonar bifurcates the PS70’s 120-degree sonar cone into three 40-degree segments (port, center and starboard), allowing users to view all three simultaneously or focus on one 40-degree swath. LiveVu Down provides a single 120-degree real-time view of everything below the transducer, while RealVu 3D Historical uses recent sonar returns to paint a 3D image of the grounds that were just covered, from the bottom structure to the water’s surface.

“With RealVu 3D Historical, if you want to see the bottom structure, it will draw a representation of the bottom,” Dunn says. “You can survey the entire area so that you can see where you want to cast, and you can also see anomalies.”

Combined, the PS70’s modes provide a great deal of underkeel awareness; however, the transducer’s imagery focuses downward, not forward. “Our PS51 transducer provides forward-looking sonar,” Dunn says. “Users could pair a PS70 and a PS51 and see everything.”

Another interesting pairing, he says, involves Furuno’s line of Omni sonars, which provide 360-degree scanning sonar returns. This combination joins Furuno’s scanning-sonar technology and Garmin’s live sonar, either on separate screens or in a split-screen presentation.

“We work with Furuno,” Dunn says. “PS70 and Omni systems are complementary. It’s not necessarily one or the other. It can be both.” Tournament fishermen were the first users to create this pairing, but the combination is also useful for surveying seafloor structure.

While Garmin designed the PS70 for serious anglers, Dunn says its RealVu 3D Historical returns are also useful for divers. “If there’s a wreck, you can clearly see the bow and stern,” he says, adding that this capability can help users plan their dives, especially if it’s their first visit to the site.

Additionally, the PS70 supports Garmin’s QuickDraw Contours feature, part of Garmin’s ActiveCaptain ecosystem. “It’s user-generated bathymetry,” Dunn says, adding that users can save bathymetry data for up to 50,000 acres on their Garmin multifunction display’s microSD card. “If you have a Navionics subscription, you get daily cartography updates, but some areas aren’t updated. You need local knowledge to run these waters. But with QuickDraw, if you’ve been there before, you know where the shallows are, which is useful if you have to do this in the dark or in bad weather.”

Users can anonymously share their bathymetric data with Garmin, allowing Garmin to incorporate the data into Navionics updates, or the data can remain private.

While the PS70 offers a lot, it’s not without its downsides. The PS70 is Garmin’s second-most-expensive transducer, and while its RapidReturn feature yields much faster return rates than standard chirp transducers, its onscreen frame rate ultimately hinges on how fast the paired screen redraws imagery. That means anyone cruising or fishing with older glass might need to refresh the display for real-time returns.

But for anyone who casts, cruises or dives with a Garmin MFD and is interested in real-time sonar imagery, the PS70 delivers a lot of underkeel knowledge. It can help skippers find hidden honey holes or interesting dive areas along commonly cruised routes.  

Selective Stalking

The PS70 provides live imagery down to 1,000 feet, and it’s often helpful for finding the baitfish that pelagic species hunt. A smart trick, the experts say, is to adjust the gain and depth to target the upper third of the water column.

Take the next step: garmin.com

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As the gateway to the US Virgin Islands, St. Thomas is an appealing Caribbean island getaway for cruising enthusiasts of all skill levels looking for some sun, some sand, and a lot of duty-free shopping using the common currency and language of the mainland United States.

Things To Do

Beach time is a priority on St. Thomas. Magens Bay on the north shore is considered not only the island’s top beach but also among the world’s finest thanks to its white sand, clear waters and excellent amenities. However, such acclaim means Magens Bay can get crowded, especially on weekends and when cruise ships are in port. Head over early for more privacy and extra time to explore the Discovery Nature Trail. For a quieter setting, pack a picnic and opt for the calm waters of Lindquist Beach, where snorkelers sometimes spot sea turtles. For guaranteed animal sightings, visitors head to Coral World Ocean Park for its undersea observatory tower and close-up encounters with dolphins, sea lions and sharks.

Charlotte Amalie is best known for its duty-free shopping, particularly its abundance of high-end jewelry stores along Main Street and in Yacht Haven Grande, Crown Bay Center and Havensight Mall. Art aficionados can check out Gallery Camille Pissarro, housed in the childhood home of its namesake 19th-century impressionist painter. The charming Mango Tango Art Gallery features works by several Caribbean artists.

The infamous pirate Blackbeard was rumored to haunt St. Thomas long before vacationers and shoppers did. For a fun look at the island’s swashbuckling days, visit the engaging Pirates Treasure: A Shipwreck Museum in Charlotte Amalie. Check out weapons, coins and other plunder, and learn about shipwrecks in the Virgin Islands and the deep-sea technology used to unearth them. The museum is next door to Skyride to Paradise Point, a gondola that takes riders up 700 feet to one of the island’s most picturesque panoramas and lauded restaurants.

Food and Drink

Prime at Paradise Point earns raves for its refined steakhouse fare, attentive service, solid wine list and stunning views overlooking Charlotte Amalie. Gladys’ Café is a laid-back local favorite for breakfast and such West Indian classics as curry goat and stewed chicken. Amble down the cobblestone Palm Passage for an alfresco meal of top-notch Spanish tapas at Amalia Café. Customers particularly praise the seafood fare, such as Galician-style octopus and zarzuela de mariscos (seafood casserole). Hop in your dinghy and head to Christmas Cove for Pizza Pi, an authentic brick-oven pizzeria aboard a 37-foot motorsailer. Its menu includes gluten-free options, frozen drinks, and signature pies with novel ingredients and names such as Moko Jumbie and Peachy Goat.

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The fastest-growing segment of inshore and offshore yacht racing is the doublehanded division. This makes a lot of sense. For a fully crewed offshore race, you need to recruit, feed, transport and accommodate a small platoon of skilled sailors, a task that’s just as costly and complicated as it sounds. For a doublehanded contest, you grab a good, trusted mate, and you set sail. Clean and simple.

In recent years, the Newport Bermuda Race added a doublehanded class; in the 2024 edition, it attracted a respectable fleet of 14 entrants. Doublehanded sailing is even more popular across the Atlantic. In 2023, the Fastnet Race—which begins in England, rounds Fastnet Rock off the coast of Ireland, and concludes in France—drew a whopping 45 boats for the “two-handed” division. There’s no denying that it’s catching on.

I got my first taste of doublehanded racing a good two decades ago, sailing with stalwart American shorthanded sailor Steve Pettengill in the 2003 running of the Bermuda One-Two aboard his 50-foot Hunter’s Child II. The Bermuda One-Two, which starts and concludes in Newport, Rhode Island, is just that: one lone sailor down to Bermuda, two crew on the way back.

Sailing “two up” offshore is kind of a weird deal: You essentially race solo for long stretches while the off-watch sailor snatches some sleep, and you generally only cross paths for quick meals and sail changes. I recall two things vividly about that experience: a nasty northerly in the Gulf Stream and staggering ashore utterly spent.

Last spring, however, I had another go at doublehanded racing, and it was a far more pleasant experience. On the lush Caribbean island of Dominica, I paid a visit to participate in the weeklong PAYS Dominica Yachting Festival to benefit the local “boat boys” who run the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services. The midweek highlight was the Race to Mero, a quite informal, roughly 12-mile contest from Portsmouth’s Prince Rupert Bay to Mero Beach on day one, and a return race to Portsmouth the next day.

Peter Bourke was cruising the islands singlehanded aboard his cool Class 40 yacht, Illusion, and needed a crewman for the laid-back event. I was more than happy to hop aboard.

Read More from Herb McCormick: Ireland’s Wicklow Sailing Club is Warm and Welcoming

This wasn’t exactly the America’s Cup; there was no starting line or finish line, and you could motor for the first five minutes while getting off the mooring and raising the sails. The six-boat fleet got underway in a zephyr of a breeze, which eventually filled in from the south. Sliding down the pretty west coast of Dominica was pleasant. Following a delightful sail (we finished midfleet), the beach party was loud and raucous. Good times.

We were greeted with a northerly the next morning. It actually filled in pretty sweetly as the day progressed, and Illusion lit up in these ideal conditions. Meanwhile, a few skippers decided not to bash upwind. They instead kicked their engines over. A few had done the same the day before. This time, Illusion was at the front of the pack back in Prince Rupert Bay.

The awards ceremony that evening, with a five-piece band and a tasty barbecue, was fantastic. And at the end of it, there was a pleasant surprise. By virtue of the fact that Illusion had completed both legs entirely under sail—and was the only entrant to do so—we were named the winner. Peter was ecstatic. The whole thing had been a hoot.

After that initial doublehanded ordeal in the Bermuda One-Two, I wasn’t all that keen to try it again. But now, after my taste of victory in Dominica, this two-person racing has a whole new appeal.  

The post Doublehanded Sailing Hits Stride appeared first on Yachting.

The Stephens Waring 8.5m Electric Commuter is a lightweight, performance-minded wood-composite runabout. Its hull is built from fiberglass-clad cedar strips, while its deck and cockpit are constructed from a plywood-and-foam sandwich. The boat’s eye-pleasing aesthetics are reminiscent of 1950s Rivas, but the Stephens Waring 8.5m Electric Commuter is propelled by a thoroughly modern 40-kilowatt RAD Propulsion electric motor and a 55-kilowatt-hour Fellten battery. The boat has a range of around 22 nautical miles at top pace.

Whom It’s For: Boaters looking for a silent, snappy and emissions-free ride that will turn heads.

Picture This: It’s July in Camden, Maine, and the wooden sailboats are contesting the Camden Classics Cup. You and your kids jump in your Stephens Waring 8.5m Electric Commuter and cruise out to West Penobscot Bay to watch the racing. Then it’s a quick, quiet ride back for scoops at Camden Cone.  

Take the next step: stephenswaring.com

The post Meet The Stephens Waring 8.5m Electric Commuter appeared first on Yachting.

“I want to show you my favorite place,” superyacht designer Giorgio Cassetta says as we climb the stairs to the sky lounge aboard the Ocean Alexander 35 Puro.

With wide windows and wood soles reminiscent of the teak decks outside, the room is barefoot-elegant. Its centerpiece is a bar that is as much a sculpture as a service area, opposite a seating area and custom-made coffee table by Poltrona Frau in Italy. This is a level of luxury rarely seen on a 113-footer. Full-glass walls separate the sky lounge from the wheelhouse, with different degrees of opacity to suit the privacy preferences of the captain and guests.

There’s another reason this area aboard Cassetta’s first Ocean Alexander project makes him so proud. “She’s the only boat in her size in probably 15 years to have an upper-deck walk-around layout,” he says.

Full-beam bridge decks have been the default ever since maximizing volume became a priority to buyers, builders and designers. Yet between the yacht’s 24-foot beam and the creativity of Cassetta’s studio, the side decks neither encroach on the sky lounge nor sacrifice safe access. The trick is inboard-angled glass, just enough at shoulder height to lend the sense of more freedom of movement.

Altogether, the 35 Puro stands apart from not only the competition but also other Ocean Alexanders. It’s high on style and doing things differently to try and help Ocean Alexander break into new markets, yet the yacht remains rooted in the practicalities that have earned the builder loyal customers. “She needed to be an Ocean Alexander through and through, but she needed to be radically different in many ways,” Cassetta says.

One of the most evident is the decor. Hull No. 1—which premiered at the Palm Beach International Boat Show in March and sold over the summer—has the Nautique style. Cassetta chose warm-toned mahogany stained to look like teak, charcoal-stained oak accents, and white soles with stainless-steel strips (for the dining area) to create a contemporary vibe for European buyers while still appealing to American customers.

These tones and textures continue outside. That continuity is crucial, Cassetta says, given how global owners increasingly treat their yachts. “It’s not a hotel. It’s a home on the sea,” he says. “It needed to be classy, but absolutely welcoming.”

Also classy and welcoming: stairways. Designers and builders of smaller motoryachts tend to treat stairways as utilitarian features. Yes, they might be crafted of wood or have stone treads, but their design and engineering largely focus on connecting one deck to another. By contrast, the external stairs aboard the 35 Puro are the Cassetta studio’s “stairway to heaven,” a hallmark of its larger superyacht designs.

Owners and guests can stand at the base of the steps on the main deck and see straight into the sky two decks up thanks to floating treads. The internal stairway from the guest staterooms to the sky lounge has an atriumlike effect, more open than is typical for a yacht this size. Similar to the stairway to heaven, owners and guests can stand on the lowest deck and see straight up to the yacht’s sky lounge.

Something large-yacht owners increasingly seek is flexible space, especially outside, where all-day living is a priority. The 35 Puro’s bow lounge has convertible configurations. For a front-row seat underway, there’s a U-shaped settee and table nestled against the wheelhouse, with a sun pad a few feet forward. For sunbathing, the sun pad slides aft over the table (via tracks) and fills in the settee, transforming it into an even larger sun pad. Another option is to fill up the hot tub, otherwise concealed beneath the forward sun pad. Or keep the U-shaped settee, but move the table halfway toward the hot tub and settle the small sun pad atop it. Now you have seating, sunning and soaking spaces.

Even with all the marked differences, the Ocean Alexander 35 Puro remains true to shipyard tradition. There’s well-planned stowage throughout, especially in the galley, which includes a 100-bottle wine refrigerator. A wet bar is on the main deck aft, at the salon’s entry. Deck crew can access foredeck gear without guests getting underfoot.

“Every passageway, every storage area, everything was optimized,” Cassetta says. “But that doesn’t mean it’s as large as possible. Everything needs to be the right size.”

He points to the custom dining table, explaining how ratios account for dish size. “Everything was really built in detail, down to this level of OCD,” he says.

Whether OCD or just smart detail, it’s exactly what Ocean Alexander wanted. “Giorgio’s done an incredible job,” says Sally Doleski, Ocean Alexander’s vice president of marketing. “The entire idea when we reached out and started collaborating with Giorgio, and hence her namesake, is a pure yachting essence.

“There really is a huge, untapped marketplace that we never really truly appealed to stylistically,” Doleski adds. “Regardless of whether [the boat] is in Monaco or off the coast of Hong Kong or down in Australia or in Fort Lauderdale, it’s going to fit anywhere in the world because it checks all the boxes.”  

Beautiful Brightwork

Giorgio Cassetta’s team rethought exterior stainless-steel handrail design. On this yacht, it resembles flowing ribbons instead of rounded rails. The yard’s welders did a “beautiful” job, Cassetta says. “It’s executed like jewelry.”

Smart Step Up

Hull No. 1 grabbed the attention of a couple seeking a larger-size yacht with striking design details and excellent alfresco spaces. The owners plan to cruise the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands and the Northeast United States.

Total Transformation

In a first for Ocean Alexander, the swim platform is a transformer, lifting up and extending out for a variety of uses. It has chocks too, since yachts in this size range often carry water toys. 

Take the next step: oceanalexander.com

The post Ocean Alexander 35 Puro Reviewed appeared first on Yachting.

Mercury’s Avator 75e and 110e are the company’s biggest electric outboards to date. Both have transverse-flux motors, three-blade aluminum propellers and recycled materials. The 75e can be ordered with a tiller or digital remote controls, while the 110e has digital controls. Both come in different shaft lengths. Owners can spec Avator 75e and 110e outboards with two to four external 5,400-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion batteries; these are paired to Mercury’s 5400 Power Center, merging power from the batteries and distributing it to the motor.

“Replacing a 6-gallon gas tank with at least two 5,400 kWh batteries isn’t the easiest task,” says Dan Ryks, Mercury’s senior category manager for electrification. “You have to find space for the batteries, and you need to consider their weight in order to deliver the best overall vessel performance.” The solution is flexible design. “The modularity of the 5,400 kWh batteries and the smaller 5400 Power Center provides boatbuilders and dealers with multiple configuration options for vessel installations,” Ryks says. The batteries can be installed horizontally or vertically.

While range and speed are vessel-dependent, Ryks says Mercury reached 16.8 knots aboard a 12-foot RIB powered by an Avator 110e.

System Ops

Mercury Marine’s Avator 75e and 110e outboards deliver 10 hp and 15 hp, respectively. SmartCraft Connect modules facilitate communication with the Mercury Marine app, which displays the available range and other data. The 5,400 kWh lithium-ion batteries recharge using AC power and a 520-watt or 1,050-watt Avator charger. The 520W charger replenishes two batteries in 20 hours; the 1,050W takes less than 10 hours to recharge.

Take the next step: mercurymarine.com

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Fenders are not usually a product that comes to mind when superyacht owners think “elegance in design.” Paul Buyse wondered, Why not?

“It has to be practical, but if you’re paying hundreds of millions for a superyacht, you should have products that are nice,” he says.

His company, Carboncraft, was founded in 2022 with a focus on yacht products that are often afterthoughts in terms of styling. Carboncraft makes things like fenders, awning systems, swim ladders and passerelles. At this month’s Metstrade industry show in Amsterdam, Carboncraft will be promoting the beach setup shown above. The company sees it as a lightweight, stylish alternative to options that superyacht crew currently use.

“If a superyacht goes to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, all they want is to have lunch at a beach,” Buyse says. “They can take the whole interior to the beach, but it’s a real mission. We created a full carbon set with four poles and an awning. There’s a foldable carbon table, carbon director’s chairs. In less than 40 minutes, you’ve got shade, chairs, a table—everything you need to serve lunch.”

All the products are carbon, made in three styles. The inner body is always the same, but the outside can be a clear coat that lets the carbon fiber show through (think auto industry). It can also be covered in another material, such as teak veneer, or any color the yacht owner desires. As an example of that last option, Carboncraft worked with the Amels shipyard to create products that matched a yacht’s specific shade of baby blue.

“Sometimes we get the paint delivered by the yard,” Buyse says. “We can use exactly the same paint that the yard is using.”

In many ways, Buyse says, the only limitation is imagination. He thinks of products such as bicycles or baby strollers that, in the past, all looked essentially the same. Nowadays, there are all kinds of styles, some of them truly elegant.

“We have our own ideas, but we listen to the market,” he says. “We just finished a flagpole for a tender. It’s clear-coat carbon. The designer sent us the drawings, and we made it. We have no minimum order quantity, and we will make it to order.”  

Tender Fender

Carboncraft’s vertical Tender Fender has several purposes. First is to keep the tender from scraping against the boat. Second is to prevent waves from knocking the tender under the swim platform by blocking it above and below the waterline. Third is to look far more upscale than typical fenders. “We’re not the first company to make this, except one is more ugly than the other,” says company founder Paul Buyse. “We came up with a lovely design.” 

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Custom Line’s Navetta 38 had a tough act to follow. Its predecessor, the Navetta 37, sold 14 hulls between 2016 and 2022. The first Navetta 38, Telli, made its official international debut at September’s Cannes and Monaco yacht shows, with a gray hull, white superstructure and black shadowing that announced the yacht’s presence as worthy of notice.

The Navetta 38 is 127 feet, 2 inches length overall, compared to its predecessor’s 121 feet, 6 inches—but with the same 26-foot-3-inch beam. The Navetta 38 weighs in at 299 gross tons, or 10 more than the Navetta 37.

In-house naval architecture is much the same, but the Navetta 38’s profile comes from Filippo Salvetti’s studio. It elevates the styling on the 37 with crisper, cleaner lines. Outside spaces are broadly similar, but the 38 has fold-down platforms aft that nearly double the size of the area, which spans around 750 square feet. Combined with the cockpit and its glazed balustrade—and steps on each side that connect the tiers—the whole stern is an entertainment zone by day or night.

There’s also the upper deck aft off the sky lounge, which Telli’s owner configured for formal dining. It is connected via a starboard side deck to the forward terrace, with seating and loungers. There’s even more space on the sun deck above. It has partial protection from an arched hardtop. Aboard Telli, there’s a wet bar amidships, loungers forward and a hot tub aft, although that top deck space is a blank canvas for owners’ interpretations.

Light plays an important role aboard any yacht, and this Custom Line Navetta 38 is no different. The open-plan main salon and sky lounge include full-height picture windows and have bulwarks rebated to deck level to maximize the views.

Interior schemes come from Studio ACPV, aka Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, working closely with the Custom Line Atelier team. The Navetta 38’s options provide a calm, soothing and contemporary vibe. Freestanding furniture mostly comes from B&B Italia and Maxalto. Walls are lined with Japanese paper-weave cloth from Phillip Jeffries, while soles, handrails and headboards are a rich blend of leathers. The enticing leather aroma is omnipresent.

The owners’ stateroom is forward on the main deck, which also includes one of the two day heads, along with the galley and a pantry. Entering the owners’ stateroom feels fantastic, with a long run of picture windows and a 16-foot-long lounge that’s as inviting as the views. Inboard are two walk-in closets. The sleeping area has a forward-facing super-king berth on centerline and a pair of en suites forward that share a glass shower.

Guest accommodations on the lower deck include four en suite staterooms, all accessed from a companionway that runs across the yacht instead of being on centerline. All have great windows and marble in the heads. The two VIPs have outboard-facing king berths.

Quarters for seven crew in three cabins are forward on the lower deck. An en suite captain’s cabin is on the bridge deck, where the helm has vertical windows and doors, a leaning post and a sofa. The console is an I-Bridge from Team Italia Marine with Simrad electronics.

In terms of performance, straight-shaft thrust comes from twin 1,400 hp V-12 MANs and ZF boxes, which deliver a semi-displacement top speed of 15 to 16 knots, depending on load and weather. Telli is reportedly quiet underway, and the quoted range at an eco-cruise speed of 10 knots is a whopping 2,800 nautical miles. Custom Line also says a hybrid version will soon be available for owners with greener tastes.

If history is any indicator of upcoming success, the Custom Line Navetta 38’s future looks bright.

Behind the Build

There are four composite semi-displacement Custom Line Navettas: a 30, 33, 38 and 42. There also are three planing composite models: a CL106, CL120 and CL140. All of them, as well as the aluminum Custom Line Navetta 50, are built at the Ferretti Group’s Superyacht Yard in Ancona, Italy. As of this writing, the yard had 26 composite Custom Lines in various stages of construction, along with 10 metal projects from 140 to 280 feet in length. The latter includes the biggest Pershings, Custom Lines and Rivas, and four custom CRN mega-yachts. 

Owner-Builders

Ferretti Group CEO Alberto Galassi is one of his own best customers. The first Custom Line 38, Telli, was built for him and his wife, Antonella. So was their previous yacht of the same name, the first new-shape Navetta 33 in 2017. Before that was the older-style Navetta 33 Crescendo in 2014, along with various other boats from different Ferretti Group brands. Antonella’s father, Piero Ferrari, heads up the group’s Strategic Product Development team and sits on its board as a minority shareholder. Piero is also the second and only surviving son of Enzo Ferrari and retains a 10 percent stake of the automotive business.

Festival Spirit

Every guest stateroom on Telli has framed color photos from the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, an “English Woodstock.” They were taken by Italian artist Franco Vaccari, and are unusual for featuring fans rather than performers and event lows rather than highs. They’re cool to those of us old enough to remember flower power.

Take the next step: customline-yacht.com

The post Custom Line Navetta 38 Reviewed appeared first on Yachting.

Monte Carlo Yachts’ 86-footer is the third-largest model in a lineup that ranged from 66 to 105 feet length overall. Entertainment spaces on the MCY 86 include lounges and alfresco dining, inside and out.

Belowdecks arrangements can vary, with the builder offering three-, four- and five-stateroom layouts.

The MCY 86 has two power options: twin 1,800 hp MAN V-12s and twin 1,900 hp MAN V-12s. Owners can expect a 29-knot top hop and a 24-knot cruise.

At press time, there were three MCY 86s available, ranging from $3.9 million to $4.7 million.

From the Archive

“When superyacht design team Dan Lenard and Carlo Nuvolari received the instructions for the new 86-foot Monte Carlo yacht, it was clear there was a mistake. They thought they had been assigned a 413-foot superyacht. Oops. I’d guess that when the mistake was discovered, they gave oh-so-Italian shrugs and said va bene (it’s OK). And it is fine, indeed. The Monte Carlo Yachts 86 is a mini superyacht.”

— Yachting, February 2015

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