The Superyacht Design Symposium – Day 1
By the end of the first day of the inaugural Superyacht Design Symposium, with more than 170 superyacht owners, designers, builders and consultants in attendance, the synergy and creativity in the room was tangible as the speakers revealed exciting new concepts and traded ideas with the attendees on how to lift superyacht design and construction to a whole new level. Speakers, guests and the nine sponsors of the event all emerged from the session energized and ready to dive back into the conference the following day.
“The depth of knowledge of the presenters was unprecedented as experienced owners took to the floor and sparked in-depth discussions with the audience,” said Amanda McCracken, editor of Boat International. “Owners are already talking about the topics we can put forth for the next Symposium.”
In his introductory remarks to the conference, Tony Harris, CEO of Boat International Media, which hosted the event, said that one of the goals of the annual Symposium was to, “Give the microphone back to the owners.” That goal was soon realized as several owners took the stage on the first day and others in the audience questioned them about their yachts and their experiences.
The theme of the first annual Superyacht Design Symposium was “Designing the Impossible”, so it was entirely appropriate that the first speaker was Tom Perkins, owner of three-masted Perini Navi schooner The Maltese Falcon. He gave the audience a step-by-step look at the challenge of minimizing risk while designing and building the yacht’s revolutionary new “Dyna Rig” spars and rigging. “It was as if the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk said, “Let’s not do this box kite with a motor – let’s do a 747,” he said.
Perkins was followed by an informative talk from Kim Vibe-Petersen on how he turned his Perini Navi sailing yacht Parsifal III into a successful luxury charter operation. Inevitably, this meant sacrifice for Vibe-Petersen and his family as they gave up sought-after weeks aboard the yacht to charted clients. “Christmas this year has been summer – the family is trying to live with that” he said. His strategies have paid off, however, as he reported a 60- to 65-percent repeat client rate and 25 weeks of charter this season.
Owners Jan-Eric Osterlund, first owner of Adèle treated the audience to a spellbinding slide show of photos of his recent voyages, along with an authoritative look at the key lessons learned from a two year intensive around the world cruise successful. The motor yacht side of the equation was taken up by Eric Wittouck, owner of Exuma C, accompanied by designer Philippe Briand, who created Wittouck’s new Vitruvius project, being built by Perini Navi, with a design brief of “long lean and light.”
Gracious social events were not neglected during the Symposium as attendees enjoyed luncheon in the library of the Harold Pratt House. Afternoon tea accompanied by the launch of the Silverlining – The Art of Furniture, a coffee table book published by the British yacht furniture designer and builder. The day was rounded out by an elegant cocktail party that gave participants a chance to network, exchange stories – and perhaps design that new yacht on a cocktail napkin.
