The Best in Marine, From an Azimut Dayboat to the Ultra G Megayacht

Gigayacht: ‘Kismet’

The latest and largest Kismet is the third yacht of the same name for Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan. At 400 feet, it’s 88 feet longer than its predecessor, though it shares flash features such as a basketball court on the helipad, video walls, wild chandeliers, and a silver jaguar inlaid into the bowsprit. The interior by Reymond Langton is tastefully flamboyant. The full-beam, two-level owner’s apartment is accented in gold, tempered by the fireplace, marbled bathrooms, dressing rooms, and enormous skylight above the bed. Other over-the-top features include a cryotherapy chamber, a Bogányi grand piano on the upper deck, and a “Tron Corridor” with a dance floor that flashes pink and blue. The cinema may claim the Khan prize for coolest feature: Under the 150-inch television is a Nemo Lounge, a window to whatever is swimming outside.

Superyacht: ‘Malia’

Stretching 255 feet, Golden Yachts’ Malia was the largest yacht launched in Greece last year. Stefano Vafiadis’s exterior is attractive, if conventional, with its axe bow and trapezoidal windows, but the interior by Massari Design really shines. The more than 50 finishes throughout the interior include semiprecious stones with emerald and sapphire hues, liquid metals, and 16 types of marble. With so many materials, it would be easy to wander into kitsch, but the design remains restrained and contemporary. Highlights include textured-wood ceilings by Italian artisans, marble steps, and champagne-colored metal-glass chandeliers. The seven generous guest cabins are eclipsed by the full-beam primary suite, with a private office, vanity, and walk-in closet. Outside, a glass-bottom swimming pool filters sunlight into the beach club below. The lower deck includes a massage room, sauna, and hammam. Continuing the wellness theme, the gym is located on the sundeck.

Motoryacht: Arcadia A96

In this particularly competitive category, an unusually generous 4,300 square feet of usable space—30 percent more than other yachts in its class—lifted the A96 into the winner’s circle. That roominess is enhanced by a 24-foot beam that stretches six feet wider when the rear platforms are folded out. The A96 is largely designed around its open exterior: Sliding glass doors on the main deck access the cockpit, which is connected to a rear seating area and swim platform; the outside-in design is repeated on a smaller scale on the next deck. In a green nod, the rooftop solar panels generate 4.5 kW of energy for non-propulsion systems. An optional Hotel Mode system runs the vessel on emissions-free battery power for nine hours. Igor Lobanov’s interior incorporates more sustainability, using what he calls eco-compatible materials for a calming fit and finish. Despite its open layout, the A96 was designed for discretion, with separate stairways for owners and crew to promote ease of movement. 

Megayacht: ‘Ultra G’

This Heesen, one of the fastest yachts in its class, is powered by MTU diesels with a total of 22,000 hp, connected to four water jets, that deliver a top speed of 37 knots. Speed is essential for the angling-obsessed owner to reach cruising grounds 100 miles offshore. But even with a fishing platform and an angler’s lounge (with screens showing live underwater feeds), the owner refers to Ultra G as a fast superyacht rather than a sportfisherman. That’s one reason why we chose this 197-footer—its speed doesn’t compromise comfort. The other is the Harrison Eidsgaard interior, which features a full owner’s bridge deck with an aft-facing suite, private terrace, and whirlpool. The yacht’s media room includes a cinema and games table, and in addition to the requisite sauna and steam room, the wellness area boasts a snow room. A surprising architectural highlight: the central staircase that winds through a glass-topped atrium.

Charter Yacht: ‘This Is It’

Tecnomar’s 143-foot catamaran attracts instant love or hate. After a tour, we came to love the bold (if sometimes tacky) design that screams “I don’t care.” The irreverent attitude materializes in the vessel’s over-the-top use of glass, with nearly 6,500 square feet of full- height windows and strategically placed skylights—including one 11 feet above the primary bed—across the interior. Even the galley has a polarized-glass window looking into the salon. Other unconventional but appreciated details: The main suite has a private side entrance and an aft-facing balcony for the owner’s exclusive use overlooking the 48-foot-wide stern. The curvaceously asymmetrical interior, penned by the Italian Sea Group, claims inspiration from both sea creatures and the automotive world. Leather, Alcantara, oak, and gray-marble inserts complement silk wall panels and ceilings featuring bronze, platinum, and gold finishes. This Is It refuses to be ignored, even at night, when neon-blue lights trace the superstructure’s arch while white bulbs accentuate every line.

Interior: ‘Pink Shadow’

Design Unlimited’s bold interior for Damen’s 191-foot Pink Shadow was inspired by Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo. Though the interior can seem, at first glance, as chaotic as the 1980s movie set in the Amazon, it holds together in an unusual and extravagant way, partly thanks to the fact that it’s an explorer yacht. The main-salon lounge includes purple velvet sofas and a custom rug depicting Fitzcarraldo’s steamboat sailing down the Amazon. Tan leathers and pops of pink neon sit beside a giant silver crocodile sculpture and jungle murals on the walls. The upper-deck cigar bar, or Habana Lounge, includes a bespoke humidor, while the bridge enjoys wallpaper embroidered with tropical birds as well as a tabletop with crocodile teeth and scales cast in resin. The enormous beach club features bamboo walls, palm-tree pillars, and a weathered, pastel-colored wooden bar. To complete the themed treatment, the full-beam owner’s cabin, with a lounge and “siesta room,” is covered in floral patterns.

Sportfisherman: ‘Special One’

Royal Huisman’s 171-foot Special One is the largest and most heavily customized sportfisherman ever. Studio Vripack did its best to define the vessel as a serious offshore battlewagon, with a dramatically long forefoot, high bulwarks, six decks, and signature tuna tower on top. In profile, it looks like a conventional sportfisherman on steroids. In the stern is an oversize angler’s cockpit, complete with the requisite fighting chair. Four tiered aft decks give spectators a view of the action, while the tuna tower is designed for spotting pelagics many miles away. Despite the interior luxuries, this vessel is no pretender: It’s equipped with live-bait wells, rod holders, fish freezers, tuna tubes, and a bait-and-tackle room. On the foredeck, an outdoor cinema screen and studio-quality speakers provide a post-catch respite from fishing. The behemoth will be delivered to its owner in June.

Electric Boat: Tyde Icon

The 44-foot Tyde Icon isn’t the first electric foiler on the water—Candela and Navier both introduced earlier models, but they lacked the crowd-pleasing interior of the Icon, a joint project between German start-up Tyde and BMW. Though it could work as an owner-driven vessel, the Icon is designed as a tender, with an interior featuring lounge seating, a rear helm with an advanced aerospace look, and full-height windows for exceptional views. The BMW-developed batteries boast a capacity of 240 kWh, delivering a 50-nautical-mile range at 24 knots, with a top end of 30 knots. Foil benefits include efficiency increases of up to 80 percent compared to a conventional monohull, plus a much softer ride above the water for owners and guests. The 120-square-foot rear platform offers access to the water at anchor and doubles as a sizable exterior deck when the boat is running.

Detail: Ferretti Infynito 90 Foredeck

Most builders rubber-stamp bows as open seating areas, but the All-Season Terrace on Ferretti’s new Infynito 90 explorer is more astute, transforming the first quarter of the main deck into a nook that’s open on three sides but protected by an overhead roof with opening slats. This offers the best views on the boat, including directly over the bow. The lounge seating, optional bar with stools, and Jacuzzi let owners and guests enjoy prolonged time up front even while underway, rather than having to seek refuge from the sun. Competitors will no doubt appropriate this design in other guises, but Ferretti got it right from the outset.

Sailing Yacht: ‘Nilaya’

The owner of 154-foot Nilaya is a sailor who owned a previous yacht with the same name, but some 39 feet shorter. The prime directive this time around: comparable performance but without the noise of the other boat’s carbon-fiber hull. “He wanted to explore the world, but in a lightweight yacht that wins regattas,” says designer Mario Pedol of Nauta. The new Nilaya was builder Royal Huisman’s first Featherlight racing yacht in lightweight aluminum: Its engineers used a computer-modeling tool based on technology from the European Space Agency for designing the structure, saving weight and abating noise wherever possible. The build was a gamble, but the result is a fast, stylish superyacht for racing and cruising. In the latter mode, three deck areas and a beach club accommodate gatherings, while below-decks are dining and social areas, guest staterooms, and the full-beam main suite. The owner has already crossed the Atlantic twice aboard Nilaya and also claimed a win in the St. Barths Bucket, fulfilling both missions.

Dayboat: Azimut Verve 48 Outboard

Packing 1,800 hp with three 600 hp Mercury V-12 outboards, the Verve 48 has an invigorating top end of 57 mph. That speed, along with its open exterior and stepped hull, predestine the 48 for hot, sunny waters (think South Florida). Features such as the foldout rear deck that lifts to become an alfresco dining area and the large asymmetrical social area in the bow cement the Verve 48’s status as a dayboat. Its carbon-fiber construction, smart helm, and full exterior galley are major distinguishers among its competitors. The two-stateroom cabin also has a head, separate shower, and dinette for cruising potential, but at heart the Verve is a fast, fun, high-end entertainment platform for family and friends.

Innovation: Bluegame BGM75

Bluegame’s decision to create a power cat with a narrower beam had multiple knock-on effects. Aesthetically, the BGM75 has a svelte profile, unlike the typical boxy look of most in the category. There’s also excellent space for the main salon, measuring 27 feet across, while the designers extended the guest staterooms into the boat’s midsection rather than squeezing them into the multihulls.

The full-beam main suite is perhaps the best argument for the approach, incorporating a sizable bedroom and large ensuite across the front of the boat. The twin hulls also multiply the BGM75’s efficiency, with the Italian builder claiming it burns 30 percent less fuel than a 90-foot monohull with a similar volume. A minimalist helm, spacious flybridge, and full- beam tender garage put it in a category of one. The subtle luxury of the interior only increases the distance between this breakthrough design and other yachts its size. Expect copycats.

Weekender: Bolide 80

In this current era of sustainability, the Bolide 80 is almost defiantly petrolicious, a water rocket powered by triple 2,000 hp MAN engines that hits 86 mph. But speed is just one facet of a vessel that is equal parts art and engineering, all wrapped in an 81-foot, seven-inch carbon-fiber hull. Victory Marine’s “Hyper Muscle Yacht” looks fast even sitting still, the lean profile noteworthy thanks to its unusually long forefoot and curved, swept-back stern with side wind scoops. The cockpit is stylishly functional, and the helm has the requisite space-age look with large displays. And the interior is different from anything else on the water: The burnt-sienna leather walls, with light strips set into the ceiling, are combined with notable features such as a leather Pullman-style dresser and carbon-fiber arches. The Bolide isn’t an everyman vessel, but its build quality, design, and performance make it one of the most interesting we’ve seen in years.

Beach Club: ‘Leona’

The Red Bullet, as Bilgin’s 263-foot Leona was nicknamed by one of its designers, has an interior dripping in exotic custom materials. But H2 Yacht Design saved the most outrageous features for the inimitable beach club—once you see it, you can’t forget it. The 28-foot, blue-tiled swimming pool is surrounded by Aphrodite-style statues along with marble fountains and backlit wall panels. Natural light floods through three shell doors when open, creating a faux-Grecian sea terrace. When closed, a starry night sky comes into view, courtesy of the glittering fiber-optic ceiling. Of course, any beach club of this caliber would have to include a shisha smoking lounge, a wellness area with gold- colored furniture, and a gym with a mirrored, leather-trimmed ceiling. Treatment rooms and a sauna are also part of the lower-deck complex, while a post-swim movie can be enjoyed in the adjacent cinema lounge covered, naturally, in ruby-red velvet.

Comeback: ‘H3’

Returning to Oceanco for a rebirth 22 years after its delivery, the 345-foot H3 received a 33-foot hull extension—26 feet at the stern and seven feet to the forward deck line—plus a remodeled superstructure and an entirely reimagined interior. The yacht was originally launched in 2000 as Al Mirqab and later renamed Indian Empress before the current owner enlisted U.K. firm Reymond Langton to transform the formerly boxy boat into a sleek and modern gigayacht. The extra length now holds a large pool aft, with a waterfall and a bottom that raises to become a dance floor. H3 also has more accommodations for the 32 crew, and a full-beam VIP suite that doubles as a second primary. The interior includes a 33-foot-long video corridor and an LED “tech window,” both of which are softened by custom leather wall panels, bronze and nickel detailing, and backlit infinity mirrors. Perhaps the most impressive stat? Sixty percent emissions reduction following the refit.