Urban Voyage's 3D Blog

By Ellie Brade

New Zealand has produced another new superyacht order, this time from Alloy Yachts. This is very encouraging news considering the lack of new orders placed the world over during the last year. This week The Yacht Report had the privilege of being the first members of the media to see the new order – Hull number AY43 – underway at the Alloy Yachts yard,  the order for which was placed in the middle of last year.

Work began on AY43, which as of yet has no working name, three weeks ago.  She is being built for a repeat Alloy Yachts customer.  She is a 47m aluminium M/Y, 41.73m on the waterline, and is built to Lloyds classification.  Designed by Dubois, her interior is by Donald Starkey.  AY43 will have a beam of 9.19m and a draft of 2.21m, reaching a maximum speed of 17kn, and cruising at 14.5kn on CAT engines.  Alloy Yachts success in procuring a new order is testament to their solid reputation as a yard and the faith from owners in the yachts that they build.  Having recently celebrated their 25th birthday (which we will report on fully at a later date) they are long established and look set to continue their building success for many years to come.

Here, for the first time, we can bring readers a rendering of this new order.

This brings the total number of orders underway at Alloy Yachts to three:  the 44m S/Y AY40, Imagine II, which will hand over in May this year, AY41 and AY43.  AY42, Paraiso, remains suspended for now.

Whilst at the yard we were privy to visiting and learning more about the top secret Phillipe Briand designed S/Y AY41, which will deliver at the end of this year. We will bring you further information on this exciting project at a later date within our print outlets.

Full specs on all the Alloy yachts in build can be found at SuperyachtIntelligence.com

Related Links:

Alloy Yachts: company profile | company website

With the BMW Oracle team yesterday defeating Alinghi in the second of a best-of-three series match in Valencia, Spain, the America’s Cup will be returning to America for the first time since 1995. It will also resume it’s multiple-challenger format. But there are still questions about exactly where and when the next Cup will be held.

BMW Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said Newport, Rhode Island, San Diego, California, and San Francisco, California are possible venues. “We have to develop bases for many teams because it is going to be a multi-challenger event,” he said this morning during a press conference.

After two years of acrimonious court battles, which ultimately forced the two teams into head-to-head races in the waters off Valencia, the tarnished America’s Cup should regain some of its lustre.

But there is also a question regarding what the next generation of Cup yachts will look like. BMW Oracle’s 105-ft. trimaran beat Alinghi’s 110-ft. catamaran convincingly during both races, trouncing it during the second race by 5min 26sec.

In a separate press conference, Alinghi chief Ernesto Bertarelli said he would like to see multihulls as the racing boat of choice. “We had the fastest possible boats racing each other, I think that is good,” he told AFP news-wire. “Why would you want to go slowly?”

The next America’s Cup is traditionally held every three or four years, which means it could be held in 2013 at the earliest. Ellison confirmed media reports that Oracle had selected an Italian syndicate, Mascalzone Latino, as its Challenger of Record. Other challengers from multiple countries are also expected to participate.

Superyacht Business, 16 February 2010

Retired co-founder of the Vancouver-based auction house Richtie Bros Auctioneers, Dave Ritchie is putting his 67m (220ft) superyacht Apoise up for auction at the end of March. The yacht, built by Lürssen, will be sold at a no reserve auction in Grand Cayman.

Ritchie told the Vancouver Sun that he wanted to “let the market determine the vessel’s value and sell it using the same principles he built his business on.” By using an unreserved auction it would, “Allow the market to determine the value of the item on the day it’s being sold.” The building cost of the yacht when new was €65m or C$96m. Ritchie described the auction “as a fair way to value something.”

The sale has caused a great deal of interest and is being seen within the superyacht market as a unique event in that it is the only vessel of such a size to be put up for auction without a reserve price. The buyer will gain a yacht that features in the top 100 in the world and includes an owner’s stateroom and five guest suites, two Jacuzzis, six decks and a crew of 19.

Superyacht Business / David Robinson, 3 February 2010

Ever wondered what a full-scale wood mock-up of a Superyacht would look like – check out the video from Wally Hermes Yachts on this page.