A priority with any new superyacht design should be of providing the owners with the ability to enjoy their surroundings to the absolute fullest while giving them the means and options for proper privacy.

We’ve picked out three new standout yachts we have viewed which achieve just that, but in different ways.

All were launched during the pandemic and are high performance cruising yachts which have a prized asset in the form of their accommodation layout, superstructure design or both. And they afford their owners some truly special space.

Here’s hoping that before long the learnings from such design combinations trickle down to smaller yachts too.

CeFeA – Solaris 111

Solaris Yachts’ new flagship is a performance pin-up, but on top of CeFeA’s beamy, powerful, alluring lines, towering sailplan and ultra clean deck, there’s something else that surely grabs your attention – the sheer amount of space sculpted out of the aft section.

Now consider that this is only the exterior portion of a vast owner’s area. The concept’s goal was to create the type of master cabin you might find on a mega motoryacht, a suite which links directly to its own private terrace on the sea. The result is nothing short of spectacular.

CeFeA was built for Luxemburg businessman and yachtsman Marc Giorgetti and named, like his previous Solaris 72DH, after his three children (using a combination of their names). Last year Giorgetti became the majority shareholder and president of Solaris Yachts.

His Solaris 111 is the first of a series of semi-custom high-performance superyachts by the Italian brand. The lines are by its go-to designer Soto Acebal, while the exterior, interior and engineering was placed in the experienced hands of MYT Design’s Carlo Torre.

Light and fast but principally designed for cruising, CeFeA was built in prepreg carbon and epoxy at Performance Boats, the Forli facility Solaris bought in 2014. This composite specialist produced Wally Yachts over the last two decades, led by production manager Lorenzo Mascarucci, and has the new Wally 101 in build.

The Wally similarities don’t only lie with the construction and engineering or the aft terrace design. Think Wally’s style, performance and easy handling, but with a hefty measure of luxury and comfort added in.

As the pictures show, CeFeA sets a considerable amount of canvas, which includes a 650m2 main and self-tacking jib hoisted up a 50m Southern Spars high modulus mast. The key, though, with a yacht designed mainly for cruising is to make sure it’s practical to do so. Sheets and halyards are led under deck and MagicTrim hydraulic pullers are used for the main and jib (a system also long favoured by Wally) – so as Mascarucci points out, you can ease sheets when reaching with no one needing to go near winches.

And then it happens

Torre told me how Solaris wanted a semi-custom platform at this size to appeal to clients who did not necessarily have the time or experience to start custom projects. A telescopic keel with no trunk helps allow the yard to adapt the layout easily.

The interior has a light, modern and relaxed feel, with warm materials and finishes and lots of natural and indirect light. There are two enormous guest cabins aft of the saloon (which include ensuites with twin basins and marbled showers). The mix of walnut trim, leather, fabrics and alcantara – not to mention the cashmere carpets – create a tactile finish.

And then it happens. Little can prepare you for entering the owner’s cabin – it’s certainly on a scale unlike anything we’ve seen before. The doors leading out to an aft terrace format has nods to the Wallys of the 1990s and 2000s, Tiketitan, Sensei and even the mighty Esense. But the crucial difference here is that CeFeA uses modern (delta style) hull shape to the utmost, positioning this cabin in the max beam of the boat.

“You can’t find another cabin like this on a boat this size,” Mascarucci reasons. Not only does the cabin itself boast nearly 40m2 in area, thanks to the astonishing beam, but at the push of a deckhead button the glass doors slide open and you’re straight onto another 40m2 section: the terrace complete with its inviting sunset loungers.

Most superyacht owners, whatever the size of boat, will always feel like they are sharing space with crew when they walk on deck/into the cockpit.

Instead, imagine waking up and breezing onto that sea terrace with a coffee and only the horizon to greet you. It’s a design which enables a true sense of privacy.
A louvred headboard creates a privacy screen at the forward end of the master cabin and its island berth. With nearly 8m of beam, there’s space for his and hers bathrooms, an office to one side of the berth and a sofa area the other.

The forward accommodation, beyond the raised saloon and dining area, comprises another twin guest cabin, and a ‘playroom’, an adaptable snug/games/mess zone. The galley and crew section comprises three cabins for the four or five permanent crew, plus a small laundry area with access to the low yet wide engine room.

CeFeA’s commanding aesthetics are set off by the cool-looking coachroof with its tinted wraparound windows. The owner wanted that more classic style seen on his previous 72DH. But it’s the layout and space available which impresses as much. In short, thanks to the freeboard and beam, the accommodation and volume is more equivalent to a 130ft+ yacht.

Prevail – Y-Yachts Tripp 90

Prevail is a unique, bold and arresting design inside and out. Modern, refreshing, intriguing, the project has taken an established performance hull shape and given it a completely bespoke spin. It’s a team effort the German builders, Tripp Design and Winch Design were rightly proud of when they showed us around the yacht and its multitude of details.

The result of creating that distinctive and substantial deckhouse as the yacht’s heart is striking and provides its owners with the ability to truly enjoy their surroundings from within a lightweight fast cruiser. It also helps give the effect of a much larger yacht, a capacious superyacht.

“Design and architecture-wise the deckhouse style is a lot more interesting,” thinks Bill Tripp. “A flush deck boat is fine for racing and hiking crew – otherwise, you want that inside/outside experience. It’s so much more interesting to draw a house to go outside.”

The extra long pilothouse he conceived expands the volume and feeling of space within, together with its vertical windows, which also help encourage light in while restricting glare and heat. Tripp considers this reminiscent of 1900s pilot cutters, with L-beams overlapping each other, a style he has been wanting to do for years. “Prevail’s owner came from one of our 65’s that had the distinctive deckhouse design developed for the Baltic Black Pearl (2009),” Tripp explains while swiping through designs on his iPad. “When he saw the first impressions of this more radical deckhouse he liked it.

“We’re always looking for something new yet timeless.” The project started at 85ft and grew – to 88ft, then 90ft – so that it could take part in Bucket regattas.

For the Winch Design team responsible for the interior, it was their first big sailing yacht project since Inoui in 2012. Their enthusiasm for it shows: below decks is sensational. All the more so when you consider how it was achieved… during a pandemic. “It was one of the only projects we’ve had to manage fully remotely,” confirms senior partner Ignacio Oliva-Velez.

Prevail has a true decksaloon in that it is sited at deck level for 360° vision. “The owner wanted to be able to sit in the saloon and see the sea all around,” says Winch Design’s senior project manager Joost Roes. Add to that the volume and beam afforded to the engine room space below and you really appreciate the benefits the decksaloon brings.

Another particularly impressive feature of the layout, and one of the largest challenges for the design team, is one you cannot see: the APM lifting keel has been integrated so neatly so you wouldn’t know it was there.

In fact, the amount of luxury and space on offer disguise the fact that this is a lightweight (55 tonne) carbon speedster. “This is an ocean going full performance cruiser and Andrew’s [Winch] philosophy is that this has to work for a sailor, hence there are handholds everywhere,” Roes explains, while also pointing out the bevelled edges to the wooden furniture.

Materials gain

The turn of the century style which Tripp brings with the pilot boat inspired deckhouse is subtly echoed on the interior, including the use of plank-style deckheads and plenty of timber. Roes says that Prevail’s US owners were very involved in the build and styling, in particular the plethora of materials and different wood finishes. The abundant joinerwork is in stained anigre, a tropical hardwood – “the owner liked cherry, but this is a little subtler and lighter,” Roes clarifies.

Polished stainless steel and clear-coat carbon fibre help to bring the outside in, replicating materials seen on deck. There is also plenty of fine leather on show, in cream, white, tan and blue on handrails, headboards and sideboards. These holistic details and finishes have been finished in superb quality by the German yard.

The companionway steps are a favourite feature, a true work of art. Smoothly crafted from oak to avoid any sharp edges, they cascade like a waterfall seamlessly into a secondary set of steps leading to the aft accommodation. Indirect lighting is used subtly to enhance the flowing curves. Alongside here is more cabinet-making mastery: a dining area dresser with Rosewood doors framed in darker Macassar wood.

The lower saloon seating area features a Barcelona chair and Poltrona Frau sofas, while the snug area forward of the saloon is a clever space which connects saloon to master cabin. Here the combination of a large wooden desk, together with a curved sofa which can become a berth, makes for an adaptable work or relaxation space. The owner is a musician and an area to sit and play and have his favourite guitar hung on the bulkhead was a must.

The owners also wanted a galley that they could feel at home cooking in and not feel too segregated from the crew. Yet when privacy is required an electronic sliding door separates the galley and the crew quarters from the main accommodation. The U-shaped galley, finished in bright blue with white countertops, is practical with plenty of headroom, natural light and worksurfaces. The latter are, like the bathroom sinks, man-made Caesarstone, which feels like marble, but is finished here with radiused edges and fiddles.

It is very rare to find a yacht that offers such crossovers: high performance yet easy handling, the space and comfort of a much larger yacht, and one designed to be practical at sea yet with a first class luxury look and finish.

Path – Baltic 146

All 146ft of this giant from Baltic Yachts, including the prominent deckhouse and its extensive hard bimini aft, has been designed with input from a deeply practical owner, writes Sam Fortescue. That means a fast hull, light carbon layup and a tried-and-tested rig geometry. And when it comes to the interior, the philosophy was very similar: creating a bullet-proof, bluewater yacht.

The large deckhouse amidships is flush with the boat’s supersized cockpit. It’s a brilliant seagoing design which affords extensive protection to crew and guests as well as the surface area for meaningful solar power. In fact, Path has arguably the ultimate modern day deckhouse, a concept which again offers fine views from the dining table, chart table and deep sofas, all in considerable space.

Down below, there are three flexible double guest cabins, but it is the owner’s cabin amidships that is really intriguing. Its double bed can be split into two singles for more comfortable sleeping on the heel, with integrated leecloths. An antechamber fitted with Poltrona Frau recliners is separated from the sleeping area by a glass screen. The flick of a button turns this opaque so that it can be used to project navigational info, including charts and NMEA data. A cabinet fitted between the two armchairs contains specially shaped compartments to accommodate a whisky decanter and tumblers with magnets in the base that cling to the cabinet top.

The owner is an IT wizard, and his office on a half level just behind the mast reflects this. Where some might have put a hull window, it has a 7ft-long LED screen, used to display images of fish in an aquarium when I visit. Technicians are also busy relocating the server set-up from the anonymity of a locker to the desk, where it is to sit in plain view.

Another nice touch in the eight-strong crew area is the retractable navigation station. Press a button and a plotter screen set in a busy chunk of cabinetry descends to divide the mess from the navigation station. There is independent access to this area via an aft deck companionway.

The styling itself doesn’t offer many surprises, with warm teak, stained oak floors and an array of beige, white and blue upholstery. Interior designer Margo Vrolijk of Judel/Vrolijk explains the latter: “You can spill anything on the fabrics – wine; chocolate – it will still stay the same colour.” It all adds up to a beautiful but conservative finish.

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