The Superyacht Design Symposium – Day 2
October 28, 2008
Following on the heels of the highly successful first day of the inaugural Superyacht Design Symposium – capped by an elegant cocktail party that gave the 170 yacht owners, designers, builders and other industry experts in attendance a chance to compare notes – the creative conversation continued unabated on second Day 2.
Owner Michael Bradfield, who recently completed a three-year circumnavigation on his former yacht, a 55.5-metre Feadship, began the Day 2 proceedings with a dynamic talk on “Building Perfection – Attaining High Reliability from Launch,” something he has learned from experience is possible to do with a custom yacht, given the right combination of shipyard, project team and owner. “We believe the best boats get built by the most passionate owners who get involved in every aspect of the build,” he said.
Bradfield announced that he and his wife are building a 57.5-metre sailing yacht with Royal Huisman Shipyard. He appreciated the opportunity the Superyacht Design Symposium gave him to confirm his ideas for the new build with fellow yacht owners like Jan-Eric Österlund and Eric Wittouck, who presented a session on “Building the Perfect World Explorer” on Day 1. “All the things they talked about yesterday afternoon; we’ve ticked off all those boxes,” Bradfield said. “I was really chuffed.”
The future of superyacht design and technology was a focus of several of the Symposium sessions on Day 2. Michael Eaglen of High Modulus and Jay Miner of Delta Marine conducted a “myth-busting” session in defense of building large yachts in composite materials. Calling steel “the metal of the Industrial Revolution,” Eaglen declared, “You all know that composites are the future, but something is holding you back.”
If there was one thing everyone attending the Superyacht Design Symposium agreed upon, it was that yachts of the future will have to be “greener”. Naval Architect Ed Dubois and Jan Bokxem of Royal Huisman Shipyard gave attendees an inside look at the alternative solutions they evaluated in developing the new Ethereal project for an owner whose brief was to build a truly environmentally friendly yacht that is not dependent on fossil fuels. “The rule was that there were no rules,” Bokxem said. “Our instructions were that we had to think outside the box.”
Dubois hit the nail on the head when he remarked to his fellow yacht designers in the room, including Philippe Briand, Martin Francis, Ron Holland and Bill Tripp: “Our job has changed beyond all recognition from the days when we were trying to win the America’s Cup.”
The fact that passionate yacht owners are driving the future of superyacht technology was abundantly clear from the day’s presentations and the conversations taking place during networking sessions held over coffee and luncheon in the Harold Pratt House, the Symposium’s elegant venue. “I think the owners are getting new ideas and confirming their own ideas with owners who are doing much the same thing. And they are talking with the industry about what they think is important,” said Roger Lean-Vercoe, chairman of the Superyacht Design Symposium and Superyacht Editor for Boat International Media, which hosted the event. “We look forward to providing many more forums like this one in future.”
