Some yacht designers trace their passion for their profession back to art school. For Cristiano Gatto, it all started with puzzles for kids.

Gatto vividly remembers his parents completing books of crossword puzzles when he was 3 or 4 years old. He also recalls sections for kids in those books, with dots with numbers to connect, creating a design. “I was passionate about that because from nothing I was able to design,” he says. “And still today, I think I’m doing the same things.”

For Gatto, creating a yacht’s exterior lines, designing salons and staterooms, and fashioning furnishings all starts with an idea. “I’m just connecting thoughts,” he says. “Like a miracle, the design comes up.”

With his eponymous studio’s headquarters and his team near Venice, Italy, Gatto has contributed to more than 200 yachts, with a few dozen yachts and residences in the works. Whether it’s a penthouse apartment, a 180-foot superyacht, or specialty lighting for foyers on land and at sea, imagination is at the heart of each contract. “When you are young, you have the idea that everything is possible, and you can do whatever you want in a different way,” Gatto says. “We still have hope for new ideas, and that is the most important part of my job today.”

Growing up in Venice, Gatto was influenced by the thousands of years of history reflected in the architecture. The same is true of boats plying the city’s 100-plus canals. The designer also says he was always fascinated with colors and graphics. The way design involved hues and shapes especially caught his attention. “It was the only thing that I was good at doing in school,” he says.

After enrolling in the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice (he graduated in 1993), “everything was about sketching, designing, colors and materials,” Gatto recalls. He specialized in sculpture, “trying to build up things that my mind was trying to create for the first time.” Still to this day, Gatto says yacht design and sculpture are largely the same things. While sculptures are made of different materials, they all begin with creating a mold, and then painting and finishing the object after it’s removed from the mold.

“The exterior-design process is very, very similar,” he says. “In my opinion, it’s even more so because you’re building a space. There is a bit of theatricality to any material, and you work with perceptions, volume, space, lights. When you do sculpture, you do a very similar exercise. I don’t see big differences between them.”

A prime example of Gatto’s sculpture in superyacht design is Crazy Me, a Heesen from 2013. To say the custom 164-footer was—and remains—daringly different is an understatement. Complementing Gary Grant Design’s avant-garde exterior styling, Gatto worked with the owner to execute a contemporary ambience emphasizing geometry and volume, along with fine materials. Arguably, the pièce de résistance is the central guest stairway. Made of glass and polished steel, it has cantilevered, bamboo-treaded steps that illuminate from within to augment the sensation of light, which is already significant because of large overhead curving windows along the decks. A skylight further illuminates the staircase.

When asked what he considers the more successful projects in his 22 years of heading his own studio, Gatto says, “Sometimes I joke and say, ‘The next one.’” He quickly adds, “Some of the projects that I have in my memory maybe are not the most known, but it’s more the people whom I work with who teach me something, or an experience. They make the project become so special. And frankly, for different reasons, there are many different projects that I have this connection with.”

The owner of the expedition yacht I Nova, a 164-footer also from 2013, certainly fits the bill. Gatto’s studio handled styling and interior design for this ice-class custom yacht, built by Greece-based Cosmo Explorer. At the time, Gatto was contemplating luxury versions of research vessels and showing the concepts to clients. He had a model of a luxury expedition vessel on hand when a client entered his studio. Gatto recalls: “He looked at me and said, ‘What is that ugly boat?’ And I said, ‘I have this idea to have all the toys on board and to be able to circumnavigate the world.’ So, I was looking to create a boat that’s not really a yacht for fashion, but more to live aboard and visit the different areas of the planet. And he said, ‘I like the idea,’ and from that moment, we started to sketch and design it, and then build it.”

For someone who says his studio started from “minus three—not zero, but minus three, because we had a lot of ideas but not a lot of experience”—Gatto has come a long way. Just as when he was 3 years old, he connects the dots between owners’ visions and what’s possible, while respecting the engineering and build teams as well as the crew who need to live and work on board. To him, owners want unicity, the quality of being unique. “Any experience with any clients in reality is unique; it’s a subjective aspiration,” he says. “You know your job is not to produce an object that is equal for thousands of people.”  

Singular Sensation

“The boats that we design are tailor-made,” Cristiano Gatto says. “Each person is different, so the identity or personality—or unicity—is important in a world where everything is multiplied, where we have a thousand of everything.”

Land and Sea

Beyond yacht design, Gatto’s clients seek out his team’s expertise for luxury homes. Gatto is collaborating with a few clients who have residences in Miami and is designing a palace (his third) in Dubai. A number of his residential clients are also yachting customers, requesting similar looks and feels on land.

Superyachts and Sculpture

Gatto sees a deep connection between yachts and sculpture. “When you make a sculpture, normally people are walking around the object,” he says. “In this case, people are walking inside the space, but you can consider any object [like a door handle] a micro sculpture. In reality, it’s the work of micro and macro.”

Take the next step: cristianogattodesign.com

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Forty years ago this past September, in the waters of Rhode Island Sound just off the coastal city of Newport, a crew of Aussies shocked the sailing world. The 12 Metre Australia II defeated the American boat Liberty to win the 1983 America’s Cup and bring the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year defense of the Auld Mug to a conclusion. It’s safe to say the Cup, and my hometown of Newport, have never been the same.

I spent a lot of time on the sound that summer taking in the action, so when I signed up to volunteer on a marshal boat for the latest edition of the 12 Metre World Championship regatta in August, I found myself on the very same waters, which turned into a pretty nostalgic voyage down a nautical memory lane. But the graceful Twelve I couldn’t take my eyes off wasn’t the winner of the Modern Division, Challenge XII, or even the victor of the Traditional/Vintage Division, Columbia. Nope, I was more or less transfixed on the runner-up to Challenge XII, a striking-blue yacht called Freedom. Of all the entries in the 10-boat fleet, to me, Freedom was easily the most historic and memorable.

Three years before the Australians absconded with the Cup, in 1980, with the estimable Dennis Conner in command, Freedom won the contest in dominant fashion, and it seemed like the New York Yacht Club’s winning streak would go on forever. It was designed by the legendary naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens, which had drawn the lines of every Cup winner but one since 1936. Conner was back on the helm in the losing effort in ’83, but he would find redemption, winning the Cup back for the United States in Western Australia in 1987. But for S&S, Freedom marked the end of an illustrious era. The firm would never again create a Cup winner.

For the 12 Metre Worlds, ironically enough, the navigator aboard Freedom was a lanky old Aussie mate of mine called Grant Simmer, who’d served in the same capacity aboard Australia II for his country’s winning effort way back when. With the exception of the gray hair, he looked exactly the same.

This time, however, Simmer couldn’t work his magic. Unlike the America’s Cup, where boats compete in one-on-one match racing, the World Championship event is fleet racing, with everyone out on the track at the same time. It’s a different game. And Challenge XII had a ringer of its own: the president of North Sails, Ken Read, also a longtime America’s Cup veteran. As far as I was concerned, Freedom was easily the prettiest of all the Modern yachts. When push came to shove, though, it was no longer the fastest.

Today’s America’s Cup competition, conducted on closed-course race tracks in skittish foiling catamarans—about as far removed as possible from a stately 12 Metre racing in the open ocean—bears little resemblance to what the event looked like in the early 1980s. And Newport has undergone a radical makeover as well. The shipyards where the Cup boats used to reside between races have been replaced by condos and hotels, and the only real remaining trace of the America’s Cup is the boulevard of the same name. It’s a reminder that the only true constant in life is change.

But for a few afternoons last August, I could shut my eyes for a moment of reminiscence and open them up to see what I can only describe as a fleeting image of a bygone time. Freedom may be a footnote in the history of yacht racing, but the big, beautiful blue boat still looks powerful and fantastic all the same.

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The CL Yachts CLB65 pairs traditional good looks and a timeless profile with impeccable planning for short-handed cruising by owner-operators. It’s also the first CL Yachts model with an aft galley, a design choice that underlines a clear objective: entertaining.

Seaworthy touches can be found in spots such as the cockpit, where a joystick control station is concealed in each cabin side to make docking painless, and where husky warping winches are on each stern quarter to take the muscle out of line handling. But at the same time, the entire after bulkhead of the yacht’s house is glass that folds up or hinges to the side, opening the salon for alfresco living. With the galley aft, the chef can pass food to the casual dining settee to starboard or across the cockpit bar to the outdoor table. Inside, a U-shaped couch is forward with a cleverly designed coffee table that morphs into a laptop desk.

The decor is also designed to look timeless and, for owner-operators, to be easily maintained. Off-white bulkheads are accented by exquisite joinerwork. The wraparound galley has Corian counters, a Bosch four-burner cooktop, a Vitrifrigo stand-up fridge, two under-counter drawer fridges and a convection oven.  Stowage reaches into the farthest corners, and dishware is secured in a dedicated pull-out drawer. A wine chiller is accessible from the salon or cockpit.

At the helm, there’s a double-wide Stidd seat abaft dual 17-inch Garmin multifunction displays. The list of standard electronics spans three pages and includes Fantom 54 radar and VHF radios. Four cameras (aft, on the side decks and in the engine room) share the monitors, and the entire package is duplicated on the flybridge. Other controls include the Volvo Penta IPS joysticks, a CZone electrical panel and Volvo Penta active Interceptor trim tabs. Next to the skipper, a pantograph watertight door opens to the side deck.

The side decks are comfortably wide at 20 inches with high coamings capped by 40-inch-high rails for safety. They lead to a sitting area on the foredeck with a couch and chaises, ideal for a private moment at anchor or when Med-moored. A stout Maxwell windlass handles the 200 feet of chain rode.

Another interesting detail is that the CLB65 is built on a shortened version of the CLB72 hull, so this yacht has the nearly 20-foot beam of the longer yacht. Designed by Howard Apollonio, this hull design is noted for its comfortable seakeeping ability. Construction is of exceptional quality, with multiaxial E-glass using blister-preventing vinylester resin. Carbon fiber is used in load-bearing areas, and the CLB65 is built to the RINA class that starts with the original drawings and continues with regular inspections during construction.

When it comes to accommodations, the CLB65 takes full advantage of that wide beam. The full-beam owner’s stateroom is precisely amidships for minimum motion at sea. Its king-size berth is offset to allow for two full-height closets, bureaus and a vanity. The master’s head (with a one-piece ceramic sole) has Euro-style his-and-hers sinks with Grohe faucets, while the stall shower has a wall spray and a rain shower. Hidden outside in the companionway is a full-size GE washer-and-dryer setup.

The forepeak VIP has an island queen-size berth, a cedar-lined closet, hidden lighting and a vanity. Its en suite head also has the ceramic sole and stall shower. Off the center corridor is the en suite guest stateroom, with twin berths that convert to a double. On the CLB65 that I got aboard, a utility room abaft the engine room was optioned to become an en suite crew cabin.

Up top, the flybridge is accessed via gentle stairs. There are two wraparound seating areas, along with a dining table, a fridge, an ice maker, a grill and a sink. Much of this area is shaded by the fiberglass hardtop that is integral to the radar arch.

The engine room showcases CL Yachts’ commercial shipbuilding experience with rails around the engines for safe underway checks, space to access all systems, and meticulously labeled wiring and plumbing that is secured to high standards. A shiplike electrical panel fills the forward bulkhead, and oil and water filters are at knee level. The 27 kW Onan genset sits on a raised platform, and a Delta-T system reduces moisture. The CLB65 I was aboard also had the optional Seakeeper gyro, CMC at-rest stabilizer, Blue Water watermaker and Besenzoni passerelle.

Power for the CLB65 is a pair of 800 hp Volvo Penta IPS1050 diesels, which provided fingertip precision for maneuvering and docking, and a surprising turn of speed. This yacht hit 24.4 knots and settled into a 21-knot cruise at a cost of about 50 gallons per hour, a testament to Apollonio’s slippery hull form when moving 40-plus tons of luxurious fitments.

With beautiful lines, impeccable detailing, a robust build and solid performance, the CL Yachts CLB65 is worth a look for owner-operators who want timeless styling, cruising adventures, and at-sea entertaining with friends and family.

Volvo Penta Interceptor System

Conventional trim tabs raise or lower a yacht’s bow when running, or correct heel from wind or weight. Volvo Penta Interceptors, part of the company’s Electronic Vessel Control setup, have an auto mode to adjust the boat to its most favorable running angle. But unlike hinged trim tabs, Interceptors drop vertically to create the same effect. They’re built with corrosion-free materials, so they do not require protective anodes.

What Is RINA Class?

RINA (Registro Italiano Navale) is an international classification society for boatbuilding safety in design, construction and maintenance. RINA’s team starts by approving yacht-design drawings, and then monitors vessel construction and provides periodic surveys to maintain a yacht’s RINA status. 

Take the next step: clyachts.com

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The Westport 40M is a trideck superyacht with serious capabilities for outdoor entertaining. Its flybridge has a covered outdoor dining area for 10, a hot tub and a wet bar. Inside, the galley has a dishwasher, a wine chiller, an ice maker, a stove on an island with a bar, and a double-door stainless-steel refrigerator. 

Belowdecks are four staterooms: two VIPs with king berths and two guest rooms with twin berths. The master is forward on the main deck. At press time, there were three Westport 40Ms available, ranging from $12.9 million to $17.9 million.  

From the Archive

“They’re constantly improving their product, sometimes building in extras in advance of needing them, and always with the long term in mind. When talking about the new 40M, which is built on the hull of the hugely popular, William Garden-designed Westport 130, [Capt. Fred] Hammond cites this vessel’s ABS class and MCA compliance as an example of something they started working quietly toward on previous builds.”

— Yachting, March 2010

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When it comes to Tiara Yachts, the talk around the dock is that its boats are “overbuilt,” meaning they are constructed to handle harsh conditions. This compliment is born out of the company’s Great Lakes heritage, where the tighter wave periods and unpredictable weather patterns can make things uncomfortable in a hurry. The Tiara 48 LE, the flagship of the builder’s outboard-powered sport lineup, lives up to that rugged reputation while leveling up the luxury amenities.

The cockpit is the most noteworthy area on the boat, with several great features for socializing. Start with the power-actuated rotating lounge module. With the push of a button, it will rotate a full 180 degrees. Its tracking system stops and locks it in place at any angle that’s desired. Facing forward, it creates a great conversation pit with the aft-facing lounges under the hardtop. Fold out the wings on the high-gloss teak table, and fire up the electric grill. Facing aft, the rotating lounge provides a great view off the transom while at anchor. Turned to port, it offers seating to enjoy the fold-out terrace, which provides water access away from the outboards while at rest. The integrated swim ladder makes for easy reboarding.

Let the socialization continue in the salon, which is bathed in sunlight, thanks to 360-degree windows. Retract the sunroof to create a more open feel. The glass door to the salon slides open, and the window to starboard electrically retracts into the bulkhead to create an open flow with the cockpit. Everything adds up for a boat that’s primed for entertainment.

The captain has a double-wide helm seat with built-in teak toe kicks. The Garmin Marine Navigation System displays are easy to read at the dash and are bolstered by companion multifunction displays in the settee to port, so someone can take on navigator duties without crowding the captain.

With regard to design, the deep-V sport hull that tapers to 21 degrees of deadrise at the transom handles rough water outside the inlet with aplomb. Adding the optional Seakeeper 6 gyrostabilizer takes the boat’s already excellent seakeeping to the next level.

Natural Light

Belowdecks, the master and guest staterooms are brightly lit and feel bigger than they should, thanks to the hullside windows. The master has an en suite head with a separate stand-up shower that has a built-in bench. The guest head also has a separate shower with a bench. In a nod to modern technology, Tiara built in wireless phone chargers on either side of the master berth.

Sporty Performance

Tiara powers the 48 LE with triple 600 hp Mercury V-12 Verado outboards. With six people aboard and 442 gallons of fuel, plus 50 gallons of water, the 48 LE hit 46.5 knots at wide-open throttle (6,450 rpm). It climbed onto plane in 7.4 seconds with minimal bow rise, so the captain never loses sight of the water during acceleration. The Mercury joystick system is integrated with a bow thruster to make docking and close-quarters handling far easier.

Closer Look

The starboard-side boarding area in the cockpit is a prime example of the steps (literally) that Tiara takes to enhance comfort and safety. Along with the boarding door built into the starboard gunwale, there’s a built-in step-down into the cockpit, with a handhold to ensure easy transfer from the dock to the boat.

Take the next step: tiarayachts.com

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“Person overboard!“

Few phrases conjure darker fears among mariners. The good news, of course, is that contemporary beacons and geofence-breaching pendants can swiftly alert a skipper and crew about an MOB emergency, and can often help with rescue efforts. The less-than-cheery news, however, is that this equipment requires crewmembers, guests and family to carry or wear the equipment. This scheme can also presuppose that a person who has gone overboard is still conscious, treading water and capable of activating a beacon, probably in a seaway, maybe at night.

For the owners and captains of superyachts that carry at least 18 feet of freeboard, MARSS Group’s groundbreaking MOBtronic system provides safety without active user participation.

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 mandates that all cruise ships operating in US waters carry equipment that can detect or capture imagery of people who have gone overboard. The resulting ISO standards are strict: Systems must achieve a 95 percent probability of detection while recording no more than one false alarm per day, on average.

Flash-forward to today: UK-based MARSS has developed a solution called MOBtronic, which it has been selling to a few superyachts longer than 300 feet. While MOBtronic currently has a significant freeboard requirement, it employs active-detection technologies rather than pendants or beacons. It can autonomously sense a person overboard and immediately advise its human-on-the-loop operator.

MARSS is also exploring a solution with lower freeboard requirements for smaller yachts. While this technology is not currently available, MOBtronic offers a look at what’s possible when sensors and hybrid intelligence converge.

With regard to hardware, each installation involves a network of MOBtronic sensor pods that are installed along a vessel’s upper decks. Collectively, this equipment creates 360 degrees of coverage. There’s a virtual or physical server running NiDAR CORE, which is MARSS’ hybrid intelligence system that blends detection technologies and human input. There’s also a dedicated touchscreen display. Each sensor pod measures 14.1 by 10 by 3.6 inches, weighs 14.55 pounds and carries an IP66/67 rating. Each pod houses Doppler-enabled, microsize solid-state radars that constantly sweep an area measuring roughly 262 feet long and 26 feet wide (and at least 18 feet high). The package also incorporates a thermal-imaging camera and a processor. Additionally, owners can spec a daylight camera, but this isn’t required by ISO standards.

For scale, a large cruise ship might be fitted with 12 sensor pods, while a 300-plus-foot yacht might carry six.

“The sensor pods themselves have computers built into them, and they are doing most of the heavy-lift processing,” Mike Collier, MARSS’ business development manager, says of the radar- and video-feed analytics. “It’s very light on data that has to go back to the central server.”

The way MOBtronic works starts with radar, which effectively serves as the system’s tripwire. From there, it progresses to thermal imagery and analytics. Each MOBtronic radar pipes its signal to its processor, which has been trained via digital signal processing to identify an overboard person’s volume, size, shape and velocity (think bird mode, but for finding human beings).

Should the radar signal detect a possible match, the pod’s thermal-imaging camera begins working to verify, via video analytics, if this is actually a person in the water.

“It’s a five-stage process,” Collier says. “It takes data from the radar and does two calculations on that, and then it looks at the thermal-imaging-camera data and does some analytics on that as well. And if both things match, then an MOB alarm is raised.”

A human operator is then notified, and that person decides whether and how to escalate the situation. Go-to procedures include conducting head counts, notifying rescuing authorities and nearby traffic, and launching rescue craft and drones.

MOBtronic provides the vessel’s networked navigation system with its GPS location at the time of the emergency. In turn, the nav system can often calculate the person overboard’s predicted set and drift. Some nav systems can also cue a networked camera to follow that real-time position.

MOBtronic doesn’t track the person in the water, at least not outside the area of sensor coverage—but Collier says this isn’t the point. “The system was always focused on the detect part because that’s the most difficult part,” he says. “The bit that was always missing from the puzzle was accurate detection of someone falling from a vessel, and that’s what we focused on. The operator of the vessel can make the decision what they do next.”

As for the system’s 18-foot freeboard requirement, which is currently a limiting factor for many yachts, Collier says it has more to do with meeting and exceeding ISO standards than it does with sensor blind spots.

“It’s really difficult to achieve 95 percent probability of detection and only one false alarm a day,” he says. “We need to give the radar sufficient time to create a track … and for that track to continue all the way down to the water.”

Relaxing the freeboard requirement for use outside of the cruise-ship sector is already in the works. “It won’t be the same technology,” he says. “It might be something slightly different.” One possibility is to add a form of AI called machine learning to the camera feed, which could help MOBtronic understand what’s happening faster and with greater accuracy.

In addition to superyacht-level freeboard requirements (and costs), the system will generate some human-on-the-loop work for the bridge or helm watch. That said, these drawbacks are small prices to pay for an active, autonomous detection system that requires zero participation from the people it’s protecting—especially on a charter yacht, or one with landlubber guests who make unseamanlike decisions. Going forward, this technology could be a compelling safety proposition for many yachts. After all, few things assuage fear faster than situational awareness.

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About a decade ago, when the MegaDock opened at Safe Harbor Charleston City, the 454-foot Lürssen Rising Sun pulled in. Folks in South Carolina were treated to a sight normally reserved for the likes of Southeast Florida, Monaco or St. Barts.

Now, the marina is building a new MegaDock to welcome even more of the world’s biggest yachts. While the original MegaDock held Rising Sun, the new one will be big enough to take four or five of them.

“We’re planning to have a portion of the new MegaDock up and running by January,” says David Isom, the marina’s general manager. “These new concrete floating docks that are being custom made for us—they make the original MegaDock look small.”

Plans are for the whole project to be completed by December 2024. The superyacht spots will have high-speed in-slip fueling that can pump 150 gallons per minute as well as shore-power plug-ins capable of handling vessels that size. And the amenities will be accessible to smaller yachts too, Isom says: “The MegaDock typically does around 5,000 transients per year, all kinds of boats, and we sell over a million gallons of diesel fuel. The goal with this project is to double that business.”

Inside the marina, docks are also being built to handle catamarans, whose owners often have trouble finding wide enough slips. Isom says for all types of boats that pull in at Safe Harbor Charleston City, the goal is to make sure they receive the same level of service and amenities found at top locations in South Florida or Newport, Rhode Island.

“The marina space is stuck in the motel world. Thirty, 40, 50 years ago, our parents went to motels,” he says. “Now, we have hotels. Safe Harbor is turning the motel business into the hotel business of marinas. There’s a network. Every property is different, but the goal is the same: to have high-end amenities, first-class service and state-of-the-art facilities. That’s what we’re making.”

Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor Charleston City is part of a network of more than 130 marinas. Superyachts are a focus at locations such as Rybovich and Lauderdale Marine Center in Southeast Florida, as well as at Newport Shipyard in Rhode Island.

• Membership in the network includes unlimited complimentary transient nights wherever there’s availability, making the marinas a fan favorite among long-distance cruisers.
• E-Boat experiences are an option at some of the properties. The company has a partnership with e-boat builder X Shore.
• Amazon lockers are also available at some locations, giving cruisers a place to have packages delivered and waiting.

Charleston

Downtown Charleston is a blend of history and modern expansion, with the city dating to 1670 and still growing today.

• King Street is the heart of the historic downtown, with shopping, restaurants, art and antiques.
• South Carolina Aquarium overlooks the harbor and has touch tanks, educational exhibits and kid-friendly experiences.
• The Gibbes Museum of Art has a first floor that is free and open to the public, with tours available on Wednesdays and Fridays.
• Fort Sumter is at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. It’s overseen by the National Park Service, whose ranger tours offer a chance to learn about where the Civil War began. 

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When I arrived at the marina, I asked the dock master where the Ocean Alexander 32E was moored. He grinned and said, “Oh, you’ll see it.”

He was right. The 32E didn’t so much float as tower head and shoulders over most other boats in the marina. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger at a debutante ball, or Kilimanjaro above the plains of the Serengeti. This is a yacht for grand adventures on the seven seas.

The 32E’s profile is forward-loaded, tapering aft from a tall plumb bow. It’s clear that the two decks aft, off the bridge and salon, are designed for alfresco living, with a beach club at the transom. The swim platform is full-on watersports, with a 2,500-pound crane to handle tenders from about 16 to 18 feet long, as well as personal watercraft. There’s also room here for toys and dive gear. Both hull sides butterfly out to expand the yacht’s beam from just under 22 feet to 27 feet. The air-conditioned beach club provides a lounge for guests to watch the action in comfort.

On the main deck, the salon has defined zones for entertaining, including leather U-shaped Poltrona Frau couches from Turin and a formal dining area for 10 guests, with electric sliding doors on each side for fresh air.

The enclosed galley is pure gourmet, arranged around an island that allows two chefs to prep, cook and plate without crowding. Equipment includes a 30-inch, five-burner Wolf cooktop and a Fisher Paykel fridge, and there are Berwyn quartz counters.

A companionway leads to the owner’s main-deck stateroom. It spans the yacht’s beam (no walkaround side decks) with a king berth and two walk-in closets. The head has a free-standing hot tub, a heated stone sole and twin vanities. The lower deck has four en suite staterooms for guests. The VIP is forward with a queen berth and a love seat. Two mirrored staterooms are abaft the foyer with queen berths, and there’s a guest stateroom to port with twins.

Ocean Alexander has a long-standing mantra that “happy crews make happy owners,” which is why the 32E has a crew space abaft the engine room. Access is safe in all weather scenarios with 24-inch-wide side decks. There is an en suite captain’s cabin and a high-low bunk stateroom with a head for crew. The mess has a kitchenette with a sink, a microwave and a fridge, and a washer and dryer are provided for the crew.

What Ocean Alexander calls the bridge deck, I see as a sky lounge with an outdoor component. It stretches full beam from the four-person hot tub (wrapped by a sun pad) aft to the forward helm. Along the way is a Poltrona Frau sofa facing a full bar to starboard with four swivel stools and sole-to-ceiling windows. A day head is convenient to the deck and the sky lounge.

The helm, as expected from a builder with a long history of producing oceangoing yachts, has a trio of 24-inch Garmin touchscreen multifunction displays for navionics as well as a closed-circuit camera feed from the engine room and on deck. A Garmin remote is built into the armrest of the skipper’s pedestal seat. Two husky pantograph doors lead to the single-level foredeck, with a forward-facing dinette/lounge and a convertible sun pad that faces fore or aft.

Standard power for the 32E is twin 2,000 hp MAN V-12 diesels, and they live in an impressive engine room. The engines are separated by a diamond-plate walkway with safety rails, and there is access to all sides. Outboard are a pair of 40 kW Kohler gensets with equally good access. The 32E sets a benchmark for color-coded, secured piping and electrical runs. Delta-T intake and exhaust fans have vents in the cabin sides, rather than the hull, because Ocean Alexander expects the 32E to shoulder through big seas. The engine beds are welded stainless steel surrounding large structural stringers. There’s a smart lube-oil-change system for the mains and the gensets, and a Gulf Coast fuel-polishing system should ensure clean food for the diesels in faraway ports.

This 32E is also outfitted with Side-Power Vector zero-speed stabilizers, a 53 hp bow thruster and a 42 hp stern thruster. The Dometic air conditioning is rated for extreme tropical climates, with heating designed down to 40-degree water temps. The 50 hz Atlas Marine Power Converter allows automatic marina connections anywhere in the world, and the aerospace-designed Octoplex provides sensors and controls for the ship’s systems and lighting.

Underway, the Ocean Alexander 32E is going to cause immediate cravings for anyone who has dreamed of anchoring off the volcanic peaks of Moorea or nudging a glacier to get thousand-year-old ice for a gin and tonic. This yacht exuded power and strength from the moment the bow touched the Gulf Stream, and I found myself glancing at the fuel gauge to consider how far the 3,600-gallon capacity might take us. On the pins, the 32E topped out at 21 knots, in case owners need to outrun a squall. That’s impressive speed for a yacht with a 274,233-pound displacement. Dropping back to 800 rpm and 7.1 knots (the MANs will last forever), the yacht has a 2,430-nautical-mile range. That’s about the distance from New York to Panama or Los Angeles to Honolulu.

The stabilizers held the yacht rock-steady in the lumpy Gulf Stream, and departing from and returning to the marina was fingertip easy with the thrusters. The 32E that I got aboard also had optional engine controls on each after corner for even easier docking.

Creating such a solid ride starts with the 32E being built tough. It has an infused-fiberglass hull and closed-cell structural foam with unidirectional carbon-fiber reinforcement on stress areas, such as stringers. There is a reinforced collision bulkhead forward, and watertight bulkheads are forward of and abaft the engine room.

Owners of this yacht could throw a dart at a world map to choose their next waypoint. The Ocean Alexander 32E is ready to go.

Meet the Designer

Yacht designer Evan K. Marshall says he grew up with a stack of Yachting magazines in his closet and doodled boats on his notebooks in school. Marshall introduced the split-level owner’s stateroom to yachts. From his office on the River Thames in England, he produces innovative designs for builders from Ocean Alexander to Hatteras Yachts and more.

Robust Reinforcement

Ocean Alexander reinforces the 32E’s hull and deck with straight aircraft-grade aluminum beams that are reportedly 10 times stiffer than wood or fiberglass, but that help keep the yacht’s overall weight low for safety and seaworthiness.

MAN Power

The 2,000 hp MAN diesels on the Ocean Alexander 32E are Tier 3 compliant for Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards, and they have a MAN gold-standard warranty for 60 months. A V-12 designed for luxury yachts, this four-stroke engine has strong torque to 2,100 rpm and displaces 24.2 liters (1,476 cubic inches).

Take the next step: oceanalexander.com

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The Dutch island of Curaçao is a Technicolor getaway. Its reef-rich seas shimmer with every possible shade of blue. Vivid hues glow from the historical architecture and street art of the capital, Willemstad, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Cruisers can soak in the vibrant offerings by land and by sea.

Curaçao by Land

Christoffel National Park in the Westpunt end of the island offers an enticing array of guided activities in the largest and most diverse protected nature area of the Leeward Dutch islands. Choose among mountain climbs, bird-watching walks, history tours and Jeep safaris; check out the park’s website for more details. (En route to the park, keep an eye out for flamingos in the salt flat near Kokomo.) Afterward, head to nearby Restaurant Playa Forti for breathtaking sea views, cliff jumpers, and delicious seafood and local specialties such as keshi yena.

In Willemstad, a stroll along the colorful, mural-lined lanes in the neighborhoods on both sides of the iconic Queen Emma pontoon bridge reveals one incredible creative tour de force after another. Dancers leap and gardens sprawl across entire buildings. Parakeets the size of humans perch on a corner; a row of regal women returns your gaze. The free Amazing Punda Art & Culture Walk on Google Maps can get you started in the Punda neighborhood. Many of the murals in the Otrobanda neighborhood are pinned on Google Maps of Willemstad.

While in Otrobanda, dine at Ceviche 91 in Rif Fort, built in 1828 to protect the island against pirates. You can take in the waterfront views as you select from mouthwatering ceviches, tapas, sashimi, sushi rolls and Peruvian entrees.

If you have room for dessert, stop at Don’s Ice Cream Shop before exiting Rif Fort for the nearby Curaçao Maritime Museum. Models, maps, charts and other artifacts chronicle more than 500 years of Curaçao’s nautical and national history. Docents offer a historical harbor-walking tour every Wednesday from 2 to 3 p.m.

And by Sea

The fringing reef surrounding Curaçao makes the island a top destination for scuba divers and snorkelers of all skill levels. There are around 100 dive sites, the vast majority of which are shore dives. Tugboat, which lies in just 15 feet of water, is a popular site for its easy access and variety of marine life. Pair it with nearby Director’s Bay for a rewarding two-tank outing. Connect with one of the island’s 15 PADI 5-star dive shops to line up dives during your stay.

If you’re more of a beach person, check out either Cas Abao or Playa PortoMari. Both beautiful white-sand beaches along the west coast of Curaçao offer clean bathroom facilities, chair rentals, food and drinks, and even massages.

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A funny thing happened to Nordhavn chief of design Jeff Leishman one day while he was standing on the docks, looking out at the boats. Before him were a Nordhavn 120 and a Nordhavn 96, docked side by side. He knows each model inside and out, but in that moment, he realized just how different in size the two vessels were, and how hard it might be for owners to move up from one to the next. “It was evident that we needed something in between,” he says.

Enter the Nordhavn 112, which the company hopes will appeal not only to buyers looking to move up to a bigger boat, but also to buyers who want to downsize from larger yachts with extensive crew into something less complex.

“I think this design would be a perfect fit for anyone who has owned a large yacht with lots of crew and is looking to simplify things,” Leishman says. “Or anyone looking to upsize from something smaller and wants a true expedition yacht. She’ll be versatile enough to be ideal for a number of different buyers.”

Leishman expects the Nordhavn 112 to come in at less than 400 gross tons, with more manageable equipment and systems that can be handled by a small crew. The full-displacement steel hull will be able to carry enough fuel for transoceanic crossings, and the superstructure could be built in either aluminum or FRP.

Accommodations will include five staterooms for 10 people: a master and four queen-berth guest spaces. There also will be quarters for six crew, along with superyacht-style amenities such as fold-out balconies, a flybridge hot tub and a gym. The deck abaft the pilothouse will be sized to carry a 26-foot tender in addition to a smaller inflatable and personal watercraft.  

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