Special Feature: The 2010 HISWA Yacht Valley Tour!

Amels has found a niche in semi-custom yacht building, utilizing the talents of designer Tim Heywood to base their “Limited Editions” series on. The Limited Editions start at 171 feet, but are now growing into the 177’, 199’ and 212’. Here's the new blunt-bow 199'...

While the exterior design remains fairly constant across the LE range, the interiors are highly customizable. Most importantly, the real beauty of these boats is the level of engineering and care used throughout the build process. I came away from Amels most impressed. Apparently, a few others have too because Amels is ‘full-up’ with 4 boats in build. Soon, this new 212' will join the civilian fleet...

Amels parent company Damen is expanding the Sea-Axe fleet. They’ve built quite a few of these boats, with 24 now sold and 18 delivered. These are superfast supply boats, capable of 28 knots, are fitted out with luxury interiors not before seen on tag-alongs.

At the press breakfast, Victor announced a new Sea Axe 6711, a 67-meter lumberjack in the Fast Yacht Support Vessel class. This toy hauler on steroids is beyond big. It’s an island unto itself with every toy needed to explore the same. It will be built by Damen Shipyards and boasts 360 square meters of exterior deck space and 140 square meters of interior deck space. It’s scheduled to for delivery in Spring 2012, at which time it will be declared a new continent.

Moonen Groot-Ammers Yard

The next stop on Thursday was a lunch date with ‘Livia’, Moonen’s latest 97’ for a cruise up the river and a chance for the press to unwind and enjoy the subject we write about. We arrived at the Groot-Ammers facility, recently acquired by Moonen to build yachts up to 50-meters, further expanding Moonen’s capacity from the ‘s-Hertogebosch facility that builds up to 35-meters.

Moonen’s Emile Bilterijst and daughter Dorien were present to greet the press and get us underway. Once aboard Livia, we were met with an Artline interior, as well as the designers Marilyn Bos-de Vaal and Frank Pierterse. But Livia had another special guest onboard, YF’s very own ‘Nilo’, Salim Erdem who recently acquired Moonen and has partnered with Emile to expand the brand.

Moonen recently accepted a contract for a half-built boat. An owner who had Dixon 120 design in build at Royal Denship found himself in the unenviable position of having to find another builder when Royal Denship was unable to finish the boat. So, he went to Moonen. Just one little catch; the half-built boat was fiberglass. Moonen builds in metal. Never one to turn down a challenge, the Moonen crew has taken up the gauntlet and bringing in Green Marine to finish off the fiberglass aspects of the build. The rest will be standard Moonen procedure.

Moonen recently signed a contract for their biggest build to date, a 133’ styled by Rene van der Velden, named Sofia III. She will be a world explorer, both above and beneath the ocean because she’ll be toting a submarine. More on this build as information is released.

Oceanco Shipyard

Transcending time, space and the logical mind, we arrived at a very secure facility. Armed with a guard gate securing a very ominous looking building, it felt like a throw-back to the cold war era; top secret stuff. Insurgent spy and HISWA tour driver Paris Boulamis, aka Oceanco’s public relations manager, led us through the gate where we were promptly ID’d, tagged and had our cameras removed. It felt just like old times. I knew I would be right at home here.

Entering Oceanco’s command center, a place we fully expected to be run by a military regime, overseen by political dignitaries, we were quickly surrounded by dozens of the curviest models in the Netherlands. Not your average swimsuit models, but big, maximum draft types. The kind that make grown men groan and young girls squirm… oh yes, Oceanco’s fleet of mini-me models, standing like testaments to shrunken shrines, these models are large enough to strap an outboard on and go fishing. Not your typical boat show display models, they could easily be berthed in their own slip.

Oceanco had several advanced projects in build and I think we went onboard one of them, but I can’t remember anything after we visited the debriefing room and I had a flash stick waived in front of my face. Must be one of those… “if I tell you, I had have to kill you” things. However, I was able to squeeze off a few shots from my cufflink camera and they made it through the de-magnetizing scanner after the tour. Sorry for the quality. It’s the best I could without getting caught…

The first is Oceanco’s ES117. The ES stands for clothing designer turned yacht stylist Elie Saab. The number 117 designates meters. I’m guessing Elie never had a model this big doing the catwalk. Personally, I’m not a fan clothing designers jumping ship, sorta speak.

The next is Oceanco’s Y708, styled by Igor Lobanov. We’re pretty sure we’ve seen these design elements before, somewhere on YF! It’s looks rather ‘Blingy’. A full YF feature can be found here…

Oceanco returns to good design roots with yet another Nuvolari & Lenard design, this one will be 110-meters in length. In speaking with Oceanco’s Director or Projects and Production; Arie van Andel, they are very pleased with the drawings and engineering schematics they receive from N&L, having no issues with the execution or tolerance on the plans.

The last picture I was able to sneak out is this Sam Sorgiovanni style that looked a little militant, compared to the swoopy sheer line of Anastasia. With a destroyer bow and corporate superstructure, this boat is all business.

We urge Oceanco to consider "BLING" by Lars Modin for their next 100-meter build. It already has overwhelming acceptance from the largest group of yachting critics in the world. Here is BLING...

Heesen Shipyard

On Friday, Heesen hosted a press breakfast at our hotel covering Heesen’s history, boats in build and bigger boats to come. After the conference and due to my many questions, I hooked a ride with Hans Boerakker, Heesen’s managing director, someone with a similar background as my own. He was the build engineer behind one of John Staluppi’s speedsters. After a spirited drive, reminiscent of the Minis in the Italian Job, we arrived at Heesen and set about touring some new builds. I had the pleasure of meeting David Weiss from Omega Architects, who walked us through a boat in build. David’s a talented young designer who’s certain to influence the shape of things to come. He’s a virtual designova, sorta speak.