Winners Revealed for the 2020 BOAT International Design and Innovation Awards

Race

Length: 49.9m

Exterior stylist: Officina Italiana Design

Naval architecture: Riva

Builder: Riva

The task for the design and build team behind Riva’s flagship Race was to combine the beauty typical of the Riva brand with the functionality of a superyacht and incorporate the owner’s demand for an all-round experience of the sea and an uninterrupted view of the coast or horizon. Designers Officina Italiana Design incorporated Carlo Riva’s classic Riva design language, which includes trademark materials such as stainless steel details and varnished mahogany handrails, along with a balanced and appealing profile. The decks are defined by strong horizontal lines and masculine angles, unlike the feminine curves of many of her Riva predecessors. Although the 120m² sundeck sports a substantial hardtop for shaded al fresco dining, there are naturally a lot of sunning spaces, including a walkaround bridge deck and forward seating area plus an elegant cockpit at the bow. The built-in exterior furniture is crisp and neat – inkeeping with the yacht’s lines – and covered in the consistent dark mahogany veneer. Race narrowly edged out another Italian builder, Pershing, and its flagship 14 Chorusline, which the judges noted had several bold and innovative styling features.

Lady S

Length: 93m

Exterior stylist: Michael Leach Design

Naval architecture: Feadship De Voogt

Builder: Feadship

Michael Leach Design hid the yacht’s high volume within a contemporary low profile, with a near plumb bow, a visible chine and complex shapes and beauty lines that employ shadow rather than paint to break up hull surfaces. Bands of black glass emphasise the yacht’s length. Judges appreciated the open and very liveable deck spaces and the transparency between decks brought about by balconies with glass inserts and a clever wasp waist that makes the helipad/sundeck seem like a special destination while ushering light to the owner’s deck below. The way the gym’s full-beam skylight transitions to opening glass walls presented an engineering challenge to builder Feadship, as did the owner’s insistence that there be no exposed hinges on any exterior doors or opening panels. Maximising sleekness, stern bollards hide below sections of deck and air intake grilles are disguised by strips of glass. A massive pool on main deck links the stern beach club to the living areas and guest accommodation. A touch-and-go landing area forward of the master suite can be rigged as a sports court in minutes and three huge hatches open the beach club, sports bar and massage room to the sea at the stern.

Excellence

Length: 80m

Interior design: Winch Design

Naval architect: Abeking & Rasmussen

Builder: Abeking & Rasmussen

Yacht lighting has improved steadily during the tenure of this awards programme yet there are yachts whose designers and builders push the envelope to create special ambience and extra dimension through lighting. Judges debated several interior design contenders as deserving special mention for the use of artificial light, but gave the nod to the stunning 80m Excellence. The yacht has a very personal interior inspired by the owner’s interest in automobiles, art and sculpture. Its well-executed lighting plan, which includes column details, discreet downlights and well-placed spotlights, such as a beam trained on the centre of a coffee table, strikes the right tone and emphasises all the right areas. Tunable and warm, the lighting is a perfectly balanced complement for the yacht’s bright, contemporary interior. Clever use of mirrors throughout the interior adds to the effect of the lighting. There are mirrors behind louvres in the main saloon, making the casing around the ventilation shafts disappear, and thin mirror strips around the top of the walls in the cabins give the impression of even more space. The use of indirect lighting then enhances these effects.The judges also noted that Excellence’s multistorey atrium with its exceptionally large wall of windows presented both an opportunity and a lighting colour balance and fixture location challenge for the design team, one that they handled beautifully.

Liara

Length: 34.1m

Interior design: Adam Lay Studio

Naval architect: Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design

Builder: Baltic Yachts

The overall decor and the usefulness of Liara’s interior layout earned the top score in this category. Weathered-looking oak joinery and easy- care textured materials in warm colours met the owner’s brief to recall the look of the Channel Islands and lend an appealing backdrop for world cruising. An open plan flows from the cockpit accessed through a wide glass door to the recessed saloon and down three steps to a study occupying the same level as the master and VIP cabins. The deckhead recessed between structural beams creates a feature and maximises height in the sleek, low deckhouse. The dining and coffee table surface finishes mimic ripples – as when a pebble is dropped into a pond. Hanging locker doors are also designed to echo the appearance of water or tree bark and lighting is carefully positioned to highlight these elements. The experienced owner was closely involved with the design of a sliding track and box system to utilise undersole stowage spaces and a requirement for large crew quarters with clear separation between laundry, crew mess and galley. A ship’s office thoughtfully converts to an extra crew cabin for regattas.

Zalanka

Length: 27.3m

Naval architect: Dominator

Builder: Dominator

Evaluating supplied data from very different types of yachts, especially when they have a variety of propulsion methods, makes for an interesting number-crunching task for the naval architecture sub-committee. As contrasting as their above waterline appearance is, their hull materials, underbodies, power, design speeds and propulsion are equally different and first had to be considered for their appropriateness to the yacht’s stated mission. While all three finalists did well on that basis, Dominator’s Illumen 28, Zalanka, the fourth hull in this model series from the Austria- headquartered, Italy-based builder, achieved the best total score on the basis of achieving higher marks for her seaworthiness, hydrodynamics and cruising range.The hull shape uses a combination of methods to increase efficiency and was developed using computational fluid dynamics followed by model testing in a towing tank — always the best practice although a more costly approach — and the entire naval architecture solution included finite element analysis to pinpoint ways and places to reduce weight aloft for greater cruising economy and passenger comfort. In the judges’ opinion, that’s exactly what was achieved in Zalanka.

Najiba

Length: 58m

Naval architect: Feadship De Voogt/Philippe Briand

Builder: Feadship

There were six highly qualified finalists in this competition and the final analysis was made more difficult by the secrecy surrounding one of the contenders, nevertheless, our naval architecture sub-committee was able to rate the data. Of particular attention in the full displacement category are the issues of efficiency as borne out by details of range and horsepower for given displacements, and efforts made to reduce drag. The two top scorers in this analysis were an unlikely pair with very different gross tonnages, Najiba and Flying Fox.Interestingly, the core mission for both was the same – comfortable long-range cruising. While Flying Fox had advantages stemming from waterline length (at 124m), Najiba exploited the benefits of a relatively narrow beam (at 11m). In comparative analysis, the approach taken by a naval architect noted for his sailing yacht designs – Philippe Briand – working in concert with De Voogt Design presented a more efficient hull form and one more innovative and forward - looking in its approach. In sea trials, Najiba had average fuel consumption of just 11.4 litres per nautical mile at 12 knots and a range of 6,000nm-plus, more than 1,000nm over the estimate.

Canova

Length: 43.3m

Naval architect: Farr Yacht Design

Builder: Baltic Yachts

The entries put forward in this category this year included both cruisers and racer/cruisers yet the system developed by our expert judging sub- committee can quite fairly score them together. Of the finalists, both Liara and Canova are fully custom yachts developed to match specific owner briefs and were able to show more R&D detail. While both achieve their performance targets, Canova steps ahead on innovation, being the first large yacht fitted with a DSS foil and contributing to the science on this method of enhancing stability. Adding up the points applied for all factors, Canova displayed a higher overall naval architecture profile along with a higher mark for hydrodynamics. While our judges noted that the entry did not have enough miles under sail to adequately note the impact of the foil purely on speed, Farr’s hull itself was impressive. Sea trials confirmed predicted performance numbers and showed that Canova could comfortably achieve boat speeds equal to wind speed in moderate to strong conditions. Deployed by the push of a button, the foil’s positive impact on Canova’s stability and righting moment was obvious both in data and in videos of the yacht under way.

4-Ply Complex curve structural

On board: Syzygy 818, Feadship

Developer: Jarkko Jämsén/EOC Engineering/Feadship

Naval architecture: Feadship De Voogt

Featuring giant slabs of perfectly clear glass that are both vertically and horizontally curved, Syzygy 818, the first superyacht designed by Finnish naval architect Jarkko Jämsén, displays a remarkable feat of engineering and construction. This all-glass envelope is an integral part of his theme, bringing the outdoor environment into intimate contact with the interior. Jämsén took the concept of structural glass a step further by curving the glass to control and slow the movement of reflection across the surface. The glass envelope on two and a half decks is fundamental to the watertight integrity of the yacht and was meticulously examined by Lloyd’s. These panels are coupled to each other on the sides, with connections to the ceiling and floor constructed so that the boat flexes around the glass. Being structural from ceiling to deck, the four-layer panels are made of two types of low-iron glass. One has a reflective coating, while a neutral grey film interlayer controls the amount of sun light entering without distorting colour. Eckersley O’Callaghan, a London-based company famed for its award-winning work with structural glass, developed a unique mathematical formula for each panel, some of which are 3m wide, 2.7m high and 4.5cm thick.

Tender 15

Length: 4.5m

Builder: Schaaf Yachtbau

The winner of the open tender category – the Tender 15 – stood out for the judges with its unique features, including its petite dimensions and ease of use, which make it a good contender for smaller yachts – indeed, it was designed and built to accompany a 30m Sunseeker. At 4.5m long by 2m of beam, and just 1m high, it is small enough to be stowed on many a yacht’s bathing platform, which means it can be launched and retrieved without the use of expensive equipment or heavy cranes. Built in carbon composite by German custom boat builder Schaaf Yachtbau, with two integral “skids” to support it without a cradle, it is also light (730kg of dry weight including its 80hp Mercury outboard) and sturdy enough to be parked on the hard in a marina. Those “skids” are also an essential part of the distinctive and modern design language of the Tender 15. If need be, it can accommodate up to seven passengers and carries around 70 litres of petrol or diesel fuel (for the inboard version). The hull shape gives it a dry ride. Easy water access makes it useful for diving or tow sports. Judges appreciated its innovative, simple design that is reminiscent of the original Boston Whaler dinghy.

Valentin Weigand

Concept Name: Plato

Nationality: German

Education: ENSA Nantes

The aim of the Young Designer of the Year competition is to identify the best trainee designers and encourage them to join the superyacht industry. The task that is set for entrants is, by intention, always difficult. This year it was especially so as it tested four essential skills of a yacht designer – digital rendering, hand sketching, planning a yacht’s general arrangement, and creating a decorative style for its interior. Competitors were also required to look into the mind of a young client and create a yacht that was both future-proofed and complementary to his lifestyle requirements. Among others, these featured a love for fine dining and good wine, partying, cinema and adventurous sports. The entrants were given four A4 pages to illustrate and explain their ideas, with the contents of each page clearly specified so that the jury of 15 eminent yacht designers who gathered in the Linley showroom in London could easily compare the submissions. Following a detailed study and discussion of the entries, the field was reduced to 12 before a secret ballot produced the six finalists. The honours eventually went to Valentin Weigand, whose accomplished forward-thinking design fulfilled every aspect of the given task.