The The - Royal Huisman

The
Superyacht
TRUTH • OPINION
ISSUE 150
fEbrUary 2014
KNOWLEDGE • IDEAS
A N D E X P E R T I N D U S T R y A N A Ly S I S
annual
RepoRT
the year in view
A graphical showcase of 2013 with
fleet data, yacht sales, transactional
values and price reductions,
alongside the most significant news
of the year.
Page 129
country reports
With detailed analysis and
experts from the main countries
contributing to the order book,
we offer insight into the
performance of specific countries.
Page 103
incorporating
The Superyacht Intelligence
Global order Book 2014
ISSUE 150 / Stern Words
185
AND THE
WINNER IS ...
F
MhR announces a new
award that celebrates
the complete superyacht
experience.
or over 20 years, I have cynically
commented on the world of awards
and trophies that seem to clutter the
shelves of many a shipyard and design
studio. It’s hard to see the point of
delivering an expensive gala event with
expensive sponsorship and ticket prices,
so that everyone can dress up and pat
each other on the back for a couple of
hours, only to feel frustrated when a
competitor with a sub-standard yacht
wins first prize.
However, with industry Oscar
ceremonies popping up all over the
market and the egos lapping up the
opportunities to play ball, coupled
with judges who wander around yacht
shows inspecting the quality of the fit
and finish, I thought I would consider
our options to join the party. We have
a magazine called SuperyachtDesign, so
why not do the World SuperyachtDesign
Awards? It’s not too crowded in that
space. We have The Crew Report, so
it would make sense to deliver a
crew award, and with business and
technology at the heart of our media
mix these too might make sense.
However, after thinking long and
hard about how we could be different,
an award-winning epiphany struck me at
the end of 2013. We would develop one
award entitled The Superyacht Award
(pure, simple and clear). It would be
awarded to one yacht each year, and
be announced during the time of the
publishing of our Annual Report issue.
How would this incredible yacht be
judged and on what merit would she be
marked? Well, in very simple terms, it
would be a wide-ranging combination of
factors: the story behind the yacht, the
people involved, the design purity, the
build quality, the end result, the crew’s
passion, the voyage plan – all in all, the
absolute mix of everything that makes a
superyacht the perfect experience.
It’s not about how big, how expensive,
what name signed the drawings, which
brand built her or how outrageous her
exterior or interior is. It is all about the
journey, the success, the happiness, the
result, the satisfaction, and the winning
yacht symbolising everything that is
great about our industry.
So the inaugural Superyacht Award is
bestowed upon a yacht that has ticked
every box from the day I first saw her on
the drawing board. Not too big at 37m,
elegant in proportion and style and
definitely not revolutionary or different.
A cutter rigged sailing yacht built for an
owner who has migrated from humble
sized production cruising yachts into
the elite world of the Royal Huisman
Shipyard. Her design and build
team is experienced and respected,
with Dykstra, Rhoades young & Jens
Cornelsen all adding their quality
marque and intelligent experience
to this beautiful project. Prior to her
delivery, I met S/y Pumula at the
ICON shipyard in Harlingen, during
her commissioning trials; it was here I
realised that she was verging on perfect.
While Royal Huisman yachts are
synonymous with quality of build and
technical excellence, having toured the
majority of their projects over the past
decade, this lovely yacht caught my eye
for reasons of simplicity and purity. This
is a sailor’s yacht, built to tour the world,
and it was in Palm Beach, spring 2013,
when I next caught up with the captain
and crew, who had covered several
thousand miles on her maiden voyage.
THE SUPERyACHT REPORT
186
ISSUE 150 / Stern Words
The owner and captain are sailors,
and have both migrated up the ranks
of smaller production yachts into
the world of superyachts. The owner
of Pumula, having owned a Truly
Classic some 50 per cent smaller,
took this leap of faith into our
sector by deciding to embark on
a life-changing voyage around the
world. It was exciting to hear the
tale of passion and discovery, and
I believe this is something that
our industry needs to seriously
consider. How many people with
50ft, 60ft and 70ft yachts are
encouraged or inspired to migrate
into our world and truly appreciate
how much fun it can be to create the
perfect personal project, when the
financial and lifestyle stars are aligned?
THE SUPERyACHT REPORT
Every owner, builder or designer
could learn a lot from Pumula:
not only is she stunning and
beautifully designed, she is also
built with care and passion and
with technology and experience
that guarantees she will stand
the test of time.
ISSUE 150 / Stern Words
When the owner started his quest,
with a smaller dream of about 30m,
he soon realised he had to expand
his vision to achieve his global goal;
what is interesting is that he went
straight for the best pedigree he
could find in the world of sailing. Jens
Cornelsen as project manager and
the owner’s team leader, Dykstra as
naval architects, Rhoades young as
interior architects and Royal Huisman
as builder became a perfect recipe for
this wonderful project.
Pumula is what can only be described
as a pedigree sailing yacht that has a
beautiful sheer line and classic deck
arrangement that sits at anchor and
catches the light like a rare jewel.
She was built with private passion,
with details and personal touches
that symbolise everything good about
custom yachts, something that many
owners completely forget about. It is
hard to find fault in the yacht or to
think mistakes may have been made
here or there. Perhaps a few more
metres of length would be useful to
give the crew a little more space, but
with a crew of four or five and a good
relationship between owner and his
operators, there is no reason that they
will not develop a bond like owners
and crew of the earlier superyachting
bygone days, when many of today’s
more experienced or retired captains
started their careers on board (a
sentiment echoed while I was in
conversation with Mike Koppstein,
well-known member of the Huisman
management team).
187
Vintage leather cabinets, aged
imperfect wood floors, oak smoked
wood finishes to panelling and details,
antiqued pewter work tops and white
planking – all harmonise to create
a thing of classical beauty, a rare
space for sanctuary and relaxation.
From the minute you step on board
into the aft owner’s cockpit or the
midships family-sized social cockpit/
helm, to the gentle descent below
into the sumptuous comfortable
interior spaces, big enough to enjoy
in comfort and safety for aroundthe-world sailing, but small enough
to prevent huge groups of people
imposing themselves on the owner,
you appreciate the quality and
integrity employed throughout
Pumula.
THE SUPERyACHT REPORT
188
ISSUE 150 / Stern Words
She was built for a very simple
purpose, and on reflection she meets
the criteria of any purist owner who
understands how enjoyable it is to
just sit and sail across the ocean
come rain or shine, in warm climes
or surrounded by ice flows. Every
owner, builder or designer could learn
a lot from Pumula: not only is she
stunning and beautifully designed,
she is also built with care and passion
and with technology and experience
that guarantees she will stand the test
of time. She’s big enough to impress
at anchor or under sail, but even
alongside in port and sandwiched
between two yachts twice her size, she
will always draw attention.
There are many yachts that catch
the eye or are built to impress, make a
bold statement or display conspicuous
wealth in bucket loads, but as you
look more closely at the market and
explore which owners are having the
most fun, love their yacht and enjoy
their yacht more than others, the time
has come to explore what makes sense
and why a particular yacht is being
built, designed or owned. An awardwinning yacht should tick all the
boxes; it needs to have a proportion
that displays balance and harmony,
it should have space for comfort and
safety, it should be engineered to
require routine maintenance and
operate efficiently, it needs to sail
or cruise well in all comfortable sea
conditions and it should turn heads
for all the right reasons. So while I
bestow upon Pumula our inaugural
Superyacht Award, it is important
to highlight that the award will not
be given just to a brand new yacht
but to a yacht that tells the perfect
story of design, build, operation and
ownership.
There will not be a huge award
ceremony, or expensive cocktail party
or any other pomp or circumstance,
as some owners shy away from the fuss
and the limelight, but I am hoping
that if she does make her way to the St
Barth’s Bucket as planned, I will have
the opportunity to hand over our pure
and simple award to the owner and his
team, to say thank you for having the
vision to create, build, own and use so
wonderfully such an inspirational and
perfect project. g
iMageS kindly Supplied by TeaM puMula
To coMMenT on ThiS arTicle,
eMail: iSSue150@SuperyachTreporT.coM
wiTh SubjecT: and The winner iS ...
An award-winning yacht should tick all the
boxes; it needs to have a proportion that
displays balance and harmony, it should have
space for comfort and safety, it should be
engineered to require routine maintenance
and operate efficiently, it needs to sail or cruise
well in all comfortable sea conditions and it
should turn heads for all the right reasons.
THE SUPERyACHT REPORT