Arun Maheswaran is excited. This past September, he displayed his Octoport outdoor yacht furniture for the first time at the Monaco Yacht Show, advancing the dream he’s been working to achieve since he started the company in 2017. From his showroom near the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, Germany, he brought chairs like the one above, which is part of his new Oyoso collection. He also displayed folding chairs that can be taken to the beach, and bar stools from his bespoke collection—all of it lightweight and in styles and colors possible to create because of Octoport’s carbon-fiber construction.

“The feedback was really, really good,” he says. “A lot of owners and owners’ reps, also designers, they said it was the first time they were seeing furniture like that.”

The way the seat appears to float above the base is a signature element of his designs. Each piece is painted similar to the way a carbon-fiber yacht hull is painted, with hundreds of available colors (as well as custom ones). “This kind of design will not work with teak or steel,” he says. “It would be really heavy, or there would be joint creaks after some years.”

All the crew needs to do is clean the furniture the same way they clean a carbon-fiber hull, and it should last for 10 to 20 years, he says. The carbon-fiber material helps to keep the yacht’s weight down, and allows styles like the folding chairs to be more compact for stowing and transporting in a tender that’s headed off to the beach.

Yacht owners are starting to place large orders, Maheswaran says, with one refit happening in Greece that will include a substantial amount of Octoport furniture on board. An American owner bought several of the folding chairs at the Monaco show, at a price point of at least $5,400 apiece.

Pricing is made to order, like the furniture itself, with fabric and color selections affecting the final tally. Quantity also matters, he says: “We can go cheaper if the owner wants 20 of these chairs.”

Maheswaran adds that he is delighted to see yacht owners and designers opening their minds to the possibilities: “I want to bring this freshness to the industry.”

The post Octoport’s Carbon-Fiber Yacht Furniture Elevates Life Onboard appeared first on Yachting.

The Argos Nautic GT14 is a six-person center-console RIB that is intended to serve as a can-do tender for 70- to 100-foot yachts. Owners can customize each GT14, including upholstery, paint, Hypalon tube textures and colors, and rub-rail aesthetics so the tender can match the mothership in various ways.

Whom It’s For: Yacht owners who want a capable, stylish and highly customizable side ride.

Picture This: Your main ride is berthed at the Harborside Inn Marina in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard, but the breeze is on and your friends want to go kiteboarding. You load up your Argos Nautic GT14 tender and cruise over to Cape Poge Bay’s protected waters for some fun in the sun. Everyone has a blast, and you make it back in time for dinner at the Atlantic Fish & Chop House.  

Take the next step: argosnautic.com/gt14

The post Customize Your Ride: The Argos Nautic GT14 RIB Tender appeared first on Yachting.

David Burgess says he grew up with a fishing rod in his hand on forays with his dad to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Over the years, he’s owned a variety of vessels from builders including Carolina, SeaCraft and Fountain. As an equity-fund manager, he can work from anywhere. These days, he keeps his 30-foot center-console on a river near his home off Chesapeake Bay, and his 26-foot twin V-drive cat at his Florida condo. But the jewel of his current fleet, for rambling through the British Virgin Islands with family and friends several times each year, is his Moorings 464PC My Wish Too. It’s at the charter company’s base on Tortola.

The 464PC is the second power catamaran from South African builder Robertson & Caine that Burgess has purchased through The Moorings’ yacht-management program. He’s happy to rattle off several of the program’s benefits: Dockage, maintenance and insurance are all covered; he receives a monthly check from The Moorings, which charters the vessel when he’s not aboard, giving him guaranteed revenue that exceeds his regular finance payment and puts cash in his pocket; and he can enjoy a number of cruises each year while having access to charter vacations on power cats (and sailboats, for that matter) at any Moorings destination. For Burgess, this way of owning a power cat is a win-win-win.

There is, however, one caveat that he wishes to make clear: “If you’re just going to go once a year, or every other year, just charter a boat, don’t buy it. But if you’re going to go three or four times every year, on trips that can cost up to $25,000 apiece, this is a great program.”

The program has been around for a long time, initially with sailboats, says Franck Bauguil, senior vice president of yacht ownership and product development at The Moorings. “We first started getting involved with powerboats around 2003,” he says. “Some private owners buy a boat and put it in charter for a few weeks to offset expenses. That’s not what we do. We’re an established company with multiple bases globally, and we operate out of fully staffed bases with mechanics, technicians and boatbuilders. As with our sailboats, we offer bareboat charters where you drive your own boat, but we also have fully crewed options with a skipper and chef.

“Our fleet of boats, including the three power catamarans in the program, are all privately owned, but we take care of operations and management,” he adds. “You buy the boat, you own it and name it; it’s very much a regular purchase. But with that purchase comes a management agreement where we maintain the boat on behalf of the owner and charter it to a third party when they’re not using it. We take all the issues out of the owner’s hands and incur most of the expenses. We make sure the maintenance is done, the warranties are checked, the vessels are clean, the batteries are topped off—there’s nothing for owners to do except enjoy it when they’re aboard.”

As with any boat purchase, owners can lay down the cash or go the finance route. According to the boat-show special at last fall’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, when it comes to the Moorings 403PC, most owners put down 20 to 25 percent of the cost of the yacht (about $1 million). The down payment is just shy of $200,000. At an 8.25 percent interest rate on a 20-year loan, the monthly payment of about $6,700 is offset by a guaranteed income of just under $7,500.

Bauguil says The Moorings continued those guaranteed payments after Hurricane Irma decimated the fleet in 2017, and during the height of the pandemic, when chartering essentially ceased. Management contracts generally run five to six years, after which the owner can keep the boat, trade it in, or have The Moorings’ brokerage operation place it for sale.

As far as usage is concerned, owners receive 84 points per year, with the cost of trips equating to two points per day. Of those 84 points, 42 can be used to reserve trips in advance, and 42 can be employed on short notice. (Owners can’t sublease their vessels, but they can offer them to friends or donate the time.) Generally, this breaks down to four to six weeks per year of in-season cruising, or up to 12 weeks per year in the offseason. Yachts are standardized across the company’s destinations, with identical engines, watermakers, electronics and so on, so if an owner chooses to charter a boat in a distant location, no surprises await.

Burgess generally divvies up his journeys among his pals, his family or other couples. With his retirement on the not-too-distant horizon, as well as that of one of his boating friends, he’s gone in half on a partnership for the new boat. And while he’s always used his boat in the BVI, for the first time he’s planned his next adventure on a sistership in the Bahamas.

It’s always good to have options, and with The Moorings’ yacht-management program, he’s found plenty.  

The Destinations

The Moorings has 18 worldwide destinations, including six islands in the Caribbean, a trio of bases in the Mediterranean, and locations in the Seychelles, Tahiti and Thailand. The 403PC and the 464PC are available at the Bahamian bases in the Exumas and the Abacos, as well as the BVI, Greece and Croatia. In addition, the 403PC is available in the Seychelles. 

The Alluring British Virgins

Perhaps the most popular of all of The Moorings’ cruising bases is the original location on Tortola, where the bareboat charter industry was basically launched in 1969. With Tortola’s easy navigation and protected anchorages, this spot remains the company’s crown jewel. Currently, there are seven 403PCs and two dozen 464PCs in the BVI charter fleet.

The Boats

As of this writing, The Moorings has a pair of flybridge power catamarans available in its yacht-management program, both built in South Africa by Robertson & Caine, which also produces the Leopard line of sail and power cats. The Moorings 403PC is powered by a pair of 320 hp Yanmar diesels with a cruising speed of 15 knots and a top hop of 17-plus knots. The Moorings 464PC is also powered with a pair of twin Yanmars and has a four-stateroom, four-head configuration. 

Take the next step: moorings.com

The post Cruising Made Easy with The Moorings appeared first on Yachting.

Scenic seaside Bar Harbor is the gateway to Maine’s Acadia National Park, one of the 10 most popular national parks throughout the United States. The Pine Tree State’s abundance of breathtaking scenery and stellar dining options satisfies all the senses—on and off the water.

Top Acadia Sights

It’s worth the early start and extra layers to watch the sunrise at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, elevation 1,530 feet, the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard. The effort will be rewarded with stunning views of the glaciated coastal and island landscape, overlooking Frenchman Bay out toward the Schoodic Peninsula and beyond. Allow a good half-hour for the drive up the mountain. From May through October, both a national park pass and a car reservation are required; the latter can be booked on recreation.gov.

The 27-mile Park Loop Road accesses the park’s top attractions, including Otter Cliff. The 110-foot-high granite precipice is a popular scenic overlook for photos. Nearby, Sand Beach is noted for its (chilly) aquamarine waters and stunning views, as well as for ranger-led stargazing programs. In between these two attractions on the 2.2-mile Ocean Path Trail is Thunder Hole, where the churning waters one to two hours before high tide create a deafening roar and wave sprays as high as 40 feet.

Read More: Cruising to Historic Portland, Maine

Sieur de Monts is referred to as the “heart of Acadia.” Its nature center has exhibits on the science behind the park’s scenery. Its Wild Gardens of Acadia include more than 400 plant species native to the park. Its short hiking trails range from steep Schiff Path, which connects to the summit of Dorr Mountain, to the leisurely Jesup Path boardwalk favored by birdwatchers on the lookout for the park’s 20-plus warbler species.

Dining

Bar Harbor’s dining scene satisfies at any time of day. After the sunrise atop Cadillac Mountain, refuel with breakfast at Café This Way, known for its blueberry pancakes and corned beef hash. Partake in a park tradition by booking afternoon tea at Acadia’s Jordan Pond House. Enjoy the delicious popovers, first served in 1893, while looking out over the luxuriant lawn along Jordan Pond. Mount Desert Island Ice Cream is considered a requisite stop in Bar Harbor. Order a flight to sample several of the creative, ever-changing flavors, which range from Maine Sweet Cream to Bay of Figs to Salt Wildflower Honey.

A lobster meal is mandatory in Maine. The Travelin’ Lobster, a casual outdoor venue, is worth the wait for its lobster bisque, lobster bake and flavorful, generously sized lobster rolls. (Save room for blueberry pie.) The Reading Room Restaurant serves up a refined seafood repast along with spectacular harbor views and live piano music. And don’t miss Havana for its award-winning wine list, craft cocktails and inventive Latin-inspired fare.  

The post Top Bar Harbor Maine Sights For Visiting Cruisers appeared first on Yachting.

Sunreef yachts continues to try and position itself at the forefront of eco-minded boatbuilders. It already works with solar panels that are built right into yacht hulls, propulsion and other systems that reduce the use of traditional fuels, and onboard furnishings that run the gamut from leather and animal-skin alternatives to sustainable and reclaimed woods.

Now comes the use of recycled PET bottles in the construction process for composite superstructures. “This innovative use of structural foam, composed of up to 100 percent recycled PET materials, represents a significant stride toward more eco-conscious yacht construction,” the builder announced in April.

According to Sunreef’s team, the recycled thermoplastic core comes with quite a few benefits. The material has high resistance to process temperatures, “exceptional” chemical resistance, strong adhesion, and mechanical properties. It’s also fully recyclable. “The construction of an 80-foot sailing catamaran requires approximately 2.4 tons of this foam core, equivalent to recycling around 600,000 PET bottles,” according to the Sunreef team.

Other companies in the marine industry are thinking in similar directions. Earlier this year, North Sails announced the debut of its Renew line, which is made with bio-based and recycled raw materials.

The team at North Sails says it took a few years to figure out the process to source the materials and make the sails, but product director Tom Davis is confident in the result: “This product has been tested to the absolute limit, and we are confident that a sail constructed with Renew will offer comparable, unbeatable durability and sail shape for our cruising customers without compromising on performance.”

What Else Can It Be?

Recycled pet bottles are used in all kinds of products today. They can be turned into polyester fiber for clothing and carpets, a stuffing-type material for pillows and sleeping bags, straps to keep items secure on carts and pallets, and various types of packaging such as egg cartons and food containers.

The post Sunreef Yachts and North Sails Champion Eco-Friendly Build Materials appeared first on Yachting.

For years, I ran dual monitors on my desk: one for email and web browsing, and the other for writing. This setup worked fine, but the separation between screens—measured only in inches—disrupted my workflow. Then a friend persuaded me to get a single 27-inch Apple Cinema Display, and my work life improved. My eyes no longer had to perform sideways somersaults, and the setup looked cleaner.

Almost 15 years later, similar thinking has reached multifunction displays. While ultrawide displays have existed in vehicles and offices for years, Simrad’s NSX Ultrawide is the first fully featured multifunction marine display from a major manufacturer to use a widescreen format. Its shape is akin to running two smaller side-by-side screens, letting yacht designers and owners reimagine helm and flybridge configurations. Price tags are a click astern of Simrad’s flagship displays, bringing the ultrawide option into range for more boaters.

NSX Ultrawide displays come in 12 and 15 inches. The 12-inch display ($2,900) measures 13.3-by-5.82 inches, while the 15-inch model ($3,550) is 15.55-by-6.71 inches. Stephen Thomas, Simrad’s product director for digital systems, says boaters can think of the 12-inch displays as being the equivalent of two 7-inch Simrad screens, while the 15-inch display is like two 9-inch screens.

“Customers have been asking for this format,” Thomas says. “Boat designers take their cues from the automotive industry. The trend has been coming for a long time.”

Automotive and marine screens share many environmental requirements, including the ability to survive wide temperature ranges. The challenge, Thomas says, was finding a screen that met boaters’ needs and could then use Simrad’s existing software to control it.

Thomas says the displays aren’t vying for top-dog status within Simrad’s product pantheon. While NSX Ultrawide displays use the same screen technology (including in-plane switching) as Simrad’s flagship products, they use slower, less-powerful quad-core processors and a different operating system. NSX Ultrawide displays also have comparably limited sonar capabilities.

The advancements are the screens’ shape and the places they can go, Thomas says: “Certainly, moving to the NSX Ultrawide with the Neon operating system gives [customers] access to a better charting experience because we support C-Map’s Discover X format. It’s an all-vector-based charting system, and it just scales better.”

Critically, these displays can interrogate the information within their vector cartography (say, bathymetric data) to generate onscreen C-Map safety alerts. “It’s another layer of safety so you know you’re not headed into [dangerous] areas,” Thomas says.

The screen was officially unveiled earlier this year at the Miami International Boat Show, where boatbuilders had installed NSX Ultrawide displays on nine new boats.

“I see it changing helm design,” Thomas says. “I think above the helm, or places where people want access to information, but they don’t necessarily need access to it front and center all the time.”

NSX Ultrawide displays support customizable screen views and instrument panels, and the activities sidebar makes it easy to switch applications. While an over-the-helm NSX Ultrawide display won’t replace the yacht’s main multifunction display, it could be a dedicated, task-specific addition. For example, skippers could dedicate an over-the-helm NSX Ultrawide to engine and engine-room monitoring, or to instrument data.

Another possibility is that the displays could allow yacht designers (or yacht owners doing refits) to lower flybridge helms or dashes, enhancing the skipper’s field of view. “There are industry standards that dashes can’t exceed certain heights,” Thomas says, adding that with the NSX Ultrawide, a lower dash could still “give the consumer an experience where it’s easy to see and to operate the screen.”

Thomas also says designers and vessel owners could add touchscreen glass to areas that were previously clad with fiberglass or wood veneer. “It’s another tool in the toolbox,” he says.

Bigger ultrawide-format screens could be in the offing. This could be especially interesting if Simrad released a widescreen display with the company’s best processors and sonar capabilities. For now, however, the displays are proving popular with boaters who are swapping out two older, smaller screens for a single NSX Ultrawide display. “It comes down to an aesthetic preference for what looks better,” he says.

Given the screens’ relatively modest size and price, they also can serve as the main glass aboard tenders and side rides. For yacht designers or owners contemplating new builds or refits, the possibilities can be significant.

As for my office, my sole regret was that I bought a single 27-inch Apple Cinema Display, not two. Given the size and screen formats of contemporary monitors, that’s a price I plan to pay on my next refit.  

The post Simrad Unveils Game-Changing NSX Ultrawide Displays appeared first on Yachting.

Few harbors showcase as salty a New England scene as Nantucket’s does during the annual Race Week festivities. This year’s celebration is scheduled to take place August 14-18, with regattas, events and parties for sailors of all ages. Powerboaters get a free show, with colorful sails and some seriously competitive skippers filling the water views.

On shore, Nantucket is a favorite destination all summer long too. The local culture and tourism department has maps for self-guided walking tours, birding enthusiasts, and pocket parks where cruisers can get off the boat to enjoy a snack or read for a bit. During the summer months, there are two guided walking tours daily, each of them with about 60 minutes’ worth of island and whaling history included.

Straight Wharf is a great place for a stroll through the shops, with the Nantucket Peddler offering island-themed T-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants and jackets for wearing the whole rest of the year. Straight Wharf Restaurant has dinner seating as well as spots in the bar, where the finger foods include house-spiced olives and smoked bluefish pate.

Another memorable stop is the Egan Maritime Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum, which is expected to have two new exhibits this summer. The Monaghan Gallery will showcase the US Coast Guard and its Nantucket missions of rescue, environmental protection and maritime law enforcement, while the recently renovated boathouse will host the exhibit Risk, Rescue & Recognition: Nantucket’s Heroes of the Sea. During July and August, this museum also offers outdoor activities for the whole family.

For boaters who prefer to visit Nantucket in the autumn months, after all the summer tourists are gone, September and October offer an unusual sight: the flooding of the Milestone Cranberry Bog for harvesting. This is the largest bog in North America, and it turns red during this time of year. On Columbus Day, there’s an Annual Cranberry Festival.

Boat Basin

Renovated cottages at the Nantucket Boat Basin reopened in April, giving visiting boaters a place to kick back and relax on land if they need time ashore. The marina has high-season rates from June 20 through September 8, with boats smaller than 60 feet paying as much as $11.50 per foot and yachts larger than 125 feet paying up to $16.50 per foot. Services include bicycle rentals, help with taxis, restaurant reservations and daysail bookings. Check-in is at 1 p.m., and the Boat Basin monitors VHF channels 9 and 11. The fuel dock sells gas and diesel, and has pump-out services. Pump-out can also be done slipside during certain hours.

Whaling Museum

This popular attraction is less than a half-mile walk from the Nantucket Boat Basin. Four centuries of history are documented in the museum’s nine galleries, which contain more than a thousand works of art and artifacts. Cranberry pickers is one notable recent acquisition by Eastman Johnson, the primary artist of national importance associated with Nantucket in the late 19th century. Kids activities include a historic properties scavenger hunt, along with activity books about locally inspired topics such as scrimshaw and whale ships. The museum shop sells apparel, house and home items, and art objects including Nantucket lightship baskets. 

The post Cruising into Adventure: Discover Nantucket appeared first on Yachting.

We’d slipped through the drawbridge at the entrance to Simpson Bay Lagoon on the southern shore of St. Maarten at the 1030 opening late last March, bound for the island of Dominica, some 170 nautical miles more or less due south. My old sailing buddy Hank Schmitt’s well-found Swan 48, Avocation, was headed for the second annual Yachting Festival in support of PAYS (Portsmouth Association for Yacht Security), a recently formed group dedicated to serving cruising sailors calling in the island. It sounded like a cool event, but what I was really savoring were the overnight sails to and from in the steady easterly trade winds. It had been a while since I’d spent a night at sea.

The derivation of the word “posh” is supposedly from British passengers who booked tickets for steamships bound for India. They were happy to pay a premium price for staterooms on the shady side of the vessel, which meant to port on the way over and to starboard on the way home (POSH: port out, starboard home). But the word also described our passage down the trades, a port tack (wind coming from the port side) heading south, and a starboard tack on the return trip to St. Maarten.

We were closehauled on the voyage south, and it was a bumpy ride, but there were some definite highlights. Off St. Barths, we caught a glimpse of the fleet of superyachts competing in the annual St. Barths Bucket regatta. At sunrise, we enjoyed a respite from the relentless easterlies, sluicing down the lee of Guadeloupe. The last 17 miles were sporty, but Dominica was straight ahead, the light at the end of the tunnel. Exactly 26 hours after passing through the bridge, we picked up a mooring in the coastal town of Portsmouth on Dominica’s northwest coastline.

It was a good, hard sail. The one back to St. Maarten a week later was even better.

As it was a relatively short passage, Hank did not set up a watch schedule, and I took the opportunity after our departure to hit a bunk for a few hours. I wanted to get the full night-sailing experience. And man, did I ever.

Read More from Herb McCormick: Reflections on Offshore Sailing

I popped up on deck at exactly midnight and was greeted by something I really didn’t expect: the Southern Cross, sitting pretty above our transom. Who knew it was visible in this part of the Caribbean? The moon had not yet risen, and the sky was brilliant, a virtual planetarium full of stars, including many a shooting one. It was mesmerizing. The rising of the three-quarter moon dimmed the light show a bit but was also magnificent.

We had to point a bit higher to skirt the windward side of Montserrat, but the wind had freed a little, and once around that volcanic isle, we were able to crack off a few degrees onto a powerful reach. I’d grabbed the wheel and was in no hurry to let go. The sailing was as good as it gets. The gusty trades fluctuated between 15 and 22 knots, the absolute sweet spot for a thoroughbred like Avocation. The boat was locked in at 8.5 knots of boatspeed, with the occasional burst over 9 and even 10 knots. We were definitely hauling the mail.

There’s never a better place to catch a sunrise than on the ocean, and with St. Kitts on the horizon, it was a pretty great one. We shaved a couple of hours off the trip on its return leg, and precisely 24 hours after departing Dominica, we dropped the anchor off Simpson Bay to await the next bridge opening, with plenty of time for a refreshing swim.

I’ll always recall with fondness the lush island of Dominica, but what I’ll really remember is sailing through those Caribbean nights.  

The post Unforgettable Caribbean Voyage: Sailing Through St. Maarten and Dominica appeared first on Yachting.

Tiara Yachts entered new territory with its EX 60 last year, and its EX 54 follows that same magic in a smaller package. Like the EX 60, the EX 54 has modular seating in the cockpit, allowing each owner to tailor the yacht to a specific mission.

My educated guess says that the Lounge module will be the most popular, with a pair of settees facing across a folding teak table. Not only does this setup make for great alfresco entertaining, but the aft settee also incorporates a sink, grill, fridge and optional ice maker across the transom.

The Adventure module has fishing written all over it, replacing the aft settee with more foot space and a console with five rod holders, tackle lockers, a cutting board and a sink.

The last module is the Glass Patio, which replaces the backrest of the aft settee with a laminated glass bulkhead so guests (and parents) can keep an eye on the watery action off the stern. I’d recommend the optional hydraulic platform (a 5-foot platform is standard) with steps descending into the water and built-in chocks to stow a tender. All the cockpit modules raise electrically to reveal a garage for water toys and gear.

Like many powerboats these days, the Tiara EX 54 has foldout hullsides to create extended cockpit space, but Tiara goes further with flush-mounted boarding doors on each side. This design makes for easy step-aboard access while leaving nothing to stub toes with the sides folded down.

Forward of the seating modules and up two steps on the mezzanine level is an aft-facing table with twin hassocks (with stowage). Forward of that and to port, with an electrically disappearing window, a pair of stools create a salon-facing bar. The adjacent two-panel sliding doors can open the salon entirely to the cockpit.

In the salon, which has a Herculan teak sole, a convertible dinette to port forms a berth by lowering the high-gloss teak table. (It’s the same size as the one on the EX 60.) The galley is fitted out for cruising, with a two-burner Kenyon induction cooktop, cookware, a microwave/convection oven, a two-drawer fridge and a stainless-steel sink. Behind the galley countertop is a pop-up 43-inch TV that faces the lounge. The absence of overhead cabinets makes for a panoramic view, with stowage in drawers and lockers.

Just forward, the skipper can use the sliding pilothouse door for easy side-deck access. This, along with a clever outboard sliding armrest on the Stidd double-wide helm seat, lets the skipper stand on the side deck and use the Volvo Penta joystick for docking. Overhead is a Webasto electric sunroof.

The dash is fitted with Volvo Penta’s Glass Cockpit, including two 22-inch Garmin GPSMap 8622 displays and a row of backlit buttons for systems. The equipment includes a Garmin autopilot, Fantom 54 radar, VHF radio and aft-facing cockpit camera.

Opposite the helm is a double-wide companion seat that, at the push of a button, slides aft so everyone can join in the action while running to the next waypoint. The seat also slides forward to create a U-shaped dinette. That companion seat has a console with an optional Garmin GPSMap 8622.

Step down into the airy, bright atrium from salon level, and a door leads forward from the foyer to the VIP stateroom with a walk-around island queen berth. It lifts to reveal lighted stowage for suitcases. A door allows private access to the guest head—also off the foyer—with a VacuFlush head and stall shower. Across the foyer is a second stateroom, ideally for kids, with bunk berths.

The full-beam owner’s stateroom is aft with 6-foot-​5-inch headroom and a queen-size pedestal berth. The EX 54 that I got aboard had the full bureau to starboard. (A settee is optional.) The space had 23 drawers for extended cruising, plus a cedar-lined hanging locker like the ones in the other staterooms. A GE washer-dryer was tucked away in the passageway to this stateroom, and the private head included a Lacava vessel sink, stowage and a stall shower.

Going forward on deck is made secure by solid coamings capped by stainless-steel rails. The bow area has a multiuse lounge with sun pads and a removable table. The all-chain windlass is tucked under a hatch, with a wired remote as well as helm controls. I liked the two walkways on each side of the windlass locker, allowing deck crew to look down securely on the anchor.

Power for the EX 54 is twin Volvo Penta IPS2 950 diesels paired to pod drives, and the engine room is clearly arranged for service techs or hands-on owners. A five-step ladder leads down from the cockpit, and everything from the oil changers and seacocks to the 13.5 kW Onan genset is readily accessible.

Underway, the EX 54 is pure fun. We started our runs in smooth water on the Intracoastal Waterway, where I checked a 33.7-knot top speed and indulged in some doughnuts and swoops. I recorded just 70 decibels at full throttle with the sunroof open, making conversation easy. Once offshore, the yacht’s fine entry and 14-degree transom deadrise handled the lumpy Gulf Stream, throwing spray far to the side and providing a smooth, predictable, stable ride. I didn’t need handrails, but I did take note that Tiara has provided a plethora of them, often neatly concealed (next to the forward sun pad, for example).

Whether for entertaining, cruising with friends, fishing or simply enjoying the water, the Tiara Yachts EX 54 can be tailored to fit many owners’ ideas of fun.  

Pod Power

This second-generation Volvo Penta diesel IPS2 950 pod-drive system punches out 750 hp, driving through a 1.7:1 gearbox with a jack shaft that allows the engines to sit closer to the center of the yacht. With Volvo’s P4 props, cruise speed was 26 knots for a range of about 300 nautical miles.  

Built To Take It

The EX 54 has a no-wood hull. The yacht’s hull, deck and topsides are backed by closed-cell foam coring that provides strength as well as soundproofing. A fiberglass grid supports the engines and interior, adding strength and rigidity. 

Garmin Glass Cockpit

Optimized for use with Volvo Penta power, this user-friendly interface combines navigation (a chart plotter, GPS, sonar and radar) with operations (engine data and multitouch systems screens). Preloaded with BlueChart G3 coastal charts, it provides detail to 1 foot with contours for fishing, as well as depth shading and shallow-water warnings.

Take the next step: tiarayachts.com

The post Unveiling the Tiara Yachts EX 54: A Comprehensive Review appeared first on Yachting.

Ocean Alexander debuted its Puro series earlier this year at the Palm Beach International Boat Show with the line’s first model, the 35P. The 35-meter yacht was designed in collaboration with Italian designer Giorgio M. Cassetta and naval architect Andrea Agrusta of NavalHead, also in Italy.

Puro is one of four series that the builder offers, and Ocean Alexander says it wanted this line to have global appeal. Hence, the yacht has a number of options and features that can allow owners to customize the way it looks, and that can be used differently in various destinations or cruising scenarios worldwide.

Multifunctional features on the foredeck include a hot tub with a lounge pad whose center section slides on tracks, allowing it to be used as a sun pad and U-shaped settee. Alfresco dining is on the bridge deck and in the cockpit, giving owners and guests multiple options for making the most of the view in any anchorage or underway.

Raising the transom door reveals a seaside sunken beach club with direct access to the hydraulic swim platform, along with lounge seating and stowage. Owners can choose to have a traditional tender garage instead.

Interior styling options include two palettes: the warmer Nautique style that evokes a sense of comfort with mahogany finishes and light neutral tones, and the tranquil Sereno, which has more gray tones.

Furniture placement helps define the salon’s social zones, with an L-shaped settee and square coffee table to port, positioned across from a sofa to create a conversation space. Formal dining is forward with an oval table. Up a level, the Sky Deck has an L-shaped settee to port and a bar to starboard, as well as a day head forward.

Accommodations include a main-deck master along with four staterooms belowdecks for eight guests. The two VIP staterooms are amidships to port and starboard, each with queen-size berths and en suite heads. The forward two en suite guest staterooms mirror each other with side-by-side twin berths that convert to queens.

Power for the 35 Puro is a pair of 2,000 hp MAN V-12 diesels, which push the nearly 114-foot trideck motoryacht to a reported 17-knot top speed. Ocean Alexander expects the 35P to have a 2,100-nautical-mile maximum range cruising at hull speed, allowing more than enough distance to explore in style.  

Take the next step: oceanalexander.com

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