ASIA’S AWARD WINNING YACHTING LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
THE
CHARTER
ISSUE
REVIEWS
PRINCESS 75
AMELS ELIXIR
LAGOON SEVENTY 7
BENETTI’S MEAMINA
35TH AMERICA’S CUP PREVIEW
THE WORLD’S YOUR OYSTER
ISSUE 38
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YACHT REVIEW
Elixir
ELIXIR OF AMELS
LIMITED EDITIONS
The Amels 180 La Familia caused quite a stir at
Singapore Yacht Show last year. Executives of this
famous Dutch yard, Victor Caminada and Yunzhu
Jin, say fast delivery and competitive pricing make
such vessels very attractive to potential Asia-Pacific
buyers. Here we look at sister ship Elixir, which was
featured at Monaco Yacht Show late September,
and is available for charter
By Ross Wolfe
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YACHT REVIEW
Elixir
T
The Amels 180 is said to have the largest sundeck of any vessel in this range. Custom awnings are used to provide extensive shaded areas when needed
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he concept is called Limited Editions. Some superyacht
owners didn’t want to wait four years for their new builds.
But they did want custom decor, a very high quality finish,
proven design, low financial risk and strong resale value.
Enter Amels. Working with leading designer Tim Heywood, they
came up with a build schedule that has seen 27 Amels Limited
Editions delivered on-time and on-budget in a little over a decade.
An incredible record within the industry.
The secret is that once a sleek profile, tried and tested naval
architecture and many technical aspects have been established, half
the basic boat can be built before a buyer needs to start adding a high
level of custom features.
This means, in practice, that if somebody decided to buy an Amels
Limited Edition 180 at Singapore Yacht Show in April, he or she could
take delivery a year later, in time for next year’s summer Med season.
It may take two years more to build a comparable vessel at another
premium yard.
There is a free choice of interior designer. Finish is of the highest
quality. Reliability is ensured by continuous improvements based on
20 earlier sister ships that are technically identical. Amels is owned by
Damen Shipyards, which has a €2 billion annual turnover and 32 yards
around the world. And Dutch and German superyachts have the highest
resale values in brokerage markets.
Nobody really talks openly about prices, but industry dealers put an
Amels 180 at somewhere comfortably south of € 40m, and suggest that
the Limited Edition concept enables cost savings of up to 20 per cent,
quite apart from the markedly faster delivery times.
The Amels 180 or 55m is actually the smallest vessel in the Limited
Editions range. It began as the Amels 171. We well recall the Monaco
press conference circa 2005 at which the concept was announced,
creating a buzz, with the first vessel delivered on-time and on-budget in
2007, as have been the rest.
The hull platform was extended to a 177, and finally to the present
180. After that come the Amels 188 (57.7m) and Amels 199 (62m), an
example of which is the Asian-owned axe-bow Event seen in Singapore
and Hong Kong recently.
Another Amels, April, continues to cruise these waters, and Sea
Rhapsody was in the Seychelles at the time of writing. Australians
started buying big custom Amels before Limited Editions were
introduced, such as Reg Grundy’s Boadicea and Westfield founder and
soccer aficionado Frank Lowy’s extended 74m Ilona V, which is often
kept in Europe. He has others for Australian waters.
The range resumes with the Amels 212 (65m), Amels 242 (74m)
and the present flagship Amels 272 (83m), beyond which fully custom
80-110m private motor yachts are offered, taking a little longer. We
hope to be able to review the latest Amels 242 PLVS VLTRA and 272
Here Comes The Sun in future issues.
Elixir accommodates 12 guests in five generous staterooms, and her
opulent interior design by Laura Sessa, who like Tim Heywood is the
yard’s closest collaborator in Limited Editions, includes Carrera marble
and ebony Macassar complemented by a rich natural colour palette and
soft touch fabrics.
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YACHT REVIEW
Elixir
These interiors are created by the renowned Laura Sessa,
who works closely with the Limited Editions builds, but
there is a free choice of interior designer
The master suite has a private lounge and study and a steam room
in the ensuite bathroom. Other features include a European-themed
interior, cinema amid a sumptuous setting and grand piano in the
sky lounge, sauna and gym gear, a chic beach club, and arguably the
largest sundeck that has ever been created on a vessel this size, albeit
one with plenty of shade.
Pictures can speak louder than words, so we largely bow to the
layout here, while noting that Elixir is available in the Med and
Caribbean seasons via Y.CO at €275,000 per week. To conclude, as we
have comments from those involved in the build, here is what they had
to say...
The Owner: Elixir was delivered eight months after the contract
signing. Fast, and on time. A few weeks after Elixir left the yard, the
owner attended an evening at Monaco Yacht Club where those with a new
yacht were invited to share their first impressions. Out of all the owners
expecting a new yacht, he was the only one in the whole room with an ontime and on-budget delivery. That was definitely an eye-opener for him.
Before Elixir the owner started with a Riva, and followed that with a
Palmer Johnson, but his choices were driven by aesthetics rather than
functionality. The first thing he decided about his next yacht was that it
would be a full displacement boat, as he wanted to have a more relaxed
experience on the water.
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A key element was user experience. He wanted it to be solid and
comfortable. He is very sensitive to noise, so he wanted a manufacturer
who paid a great deal of attention to this. Price, of course, plays an
important role. Last but not least – and this is something that he noted
is sometimes lost in discussion – there is the question of depreciation.
That quickly narrowed his choices down to Dutch and German yards.
He was extremely pleased to see how the boat turned out. Blending
quality, durability and solidness with the rich and luxurious interior was
very pleasing. After his first weeks on the boat he could comfortably say
that it had exceeded his expectations.
The Designer, Tim Heywood: I was honoured when the owner
approached me to bring some changes to his Amels 180. He had very
interesting ideas, and we were able to create a personal style that
complements my design very successfully.
The Amels paint team did a remarkable job, particularly given the
timeframe involved. The faultless application of jet black gloss – which
is extremely challenging to perfect – around the superstructure makes
a contrast with the natural tone of the oyster white paintwork.
The look is completed with the gleam of stainless steel railings and
aft deck pillars, plus black sun awnings and uprights. These are rather
eccentric contrasts, but I think it’s a remarkably successful look, and
exactly what the owner wanted.
She’s a very personal yacht, but also one that I’m pleased to
say is widely admired. I think she’s without doubt the best looking
Amels 180.
It has been very humbling to see how enthusiastically owners have
responded to this design over the years. More than a decade ago, the
aim was always to create something a little more timeless and elegant
than other boats in this competitive market segment.
Our expectations have been far exceeded. I love the curves of those
1930s Italian sports cars and was keen to give the original design a
sense of power combined with femininity. The engineering required to
turn these curves into reality is considerable, and any blemish would
show up in the paintwork. Such is the attention to detail and quality of
finish at Amels, that Elixir looks every much the jewel I intended.
I wanted to be generous with outdoor spaces too, and equip the
yacht with features that you wouldn’t expect to find on a 55-metre
superyacht. At 25 m long and covering 155 sqm, the vast top deck
could make a very strong claim to being the largest sundeck you’ll find
on any such yacht.
Amels Design Manager, Hans Konings: Over the years since we
introduced the Limited Editions concept, our design and engineering
teams have fed back thousands of hours of custom engineering into
the design.
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Elixir
Master suite concept ensures interiors are
bright, airy and connected to the sea outside
The platform has changed enormously since the first Limited
Editions yacht in this segment, Deniki. That includes major changes
such as helipad, full-beam bridge deck lounge with larger windows
facing aft, the opening balconies of the owner’s suite and port and
starboard of the dining area to enhance the inside-out feeling, plus the
extended decks and lengthened beach club.
Perhaps even more importantly, the lengthened Amels 180 platform
contains thousands of small details that we’ve developed – many
representing the changing market and technology innovations, but also
we’ve listened to feedback from clients, captains and from the teams
here at the yard. The boat has got better, better and better again. In
terms of reliability, it’s virtually the perfect yacht platform.
Aside from Tim Heywood’s timeless exterior lines, about the
only thing we haven’t changed is the yacht’s hull shape. That gives
our clients a lot of confidence, knowing the proven pedigree of their
yacht’s underwater body and its performance in all kinds of weather
and sea state. The Amels platform is famous in the superyacht world
for its seakindliness and manoeuvrability. Captains and crews are very
enthusiastic about it.
The yacht has a slender hull with a narrow forefoot, giving her a
fine entry and good seakindly qualities, even in a big swell. This is
a hull shape that has successfully cruised the bleak and icy wastes
of Alaska and Antarctica without any modification. The longevity of
that architecture is the result of our upfront investment in research
and development, and collaborating with our parent Damen Shipyards
Group, and their extensive analytical resources.
Interior Designer, Laura Sessa: Despite the short timescale of
eight months, we worked closely with the owner to create an ambitious
interior design of changing moods and perspectives, with a high degree
of customisation in the lighting and loose furniture.
Sunlight reflects in high gloss materials and sculpted crystal,
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ensuring the interiors are bright, airy and connected to the sea outside.
Velvet and silk fabrics are shining and luxurious. Organic forms and
intriguing symbolic patterns add mystery.
We want to give the guest a different impression in different spaces
on board the yacht. The range of textures, the patterns of foliage,
mother of pearl and marble were part of this scope. The contrast of
light and dark woods – bleached maple to ebony Macassar – make the
interiors very beautiful.
At the entrance to the principal deck salon, the cabinet with backlit
onyx was specially designed for the owner, serving as a bar for guests.
and to port and starboard, folding balconies open up for an al fresco
dining feeling and uninterrupted views of the sea.
Footnote: Apart from private motor yachts, Amels has a range
of substantial Seaxplorer vessels, and Damen builds Yacht Support
Vessels, such as Garçon.
For more information: See also www.amels-holland.com
and for charters contact Y.CO