Special Feature: The 2010 HISWA Yacht Valley Tour!

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 Y708 Special Preview

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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.

One of Heesen’s latest launches was the Omega-styled, 50-meter, displacement hull “SKY”. You can see how Heesen’s are getting curvier, including the hull form on the big boats. Is Frans’ need for speed subsiding? The interior on this boat is ultra-contemporary. Well worth seeing, but I’m not sure if we'll do a review.

Currently in build is yet another swoopy sheer, 50-meter Heesen, the 2nd yacht in the new 5000 series class, but bigger doesn’t mean heavier. Heesen is targeting the sub-500 ton mark on this boat. With a hard chine and MTU 16V 4000 M90’s, she’ll push 23 knots. Delivery is scheduled for 2011 and like most Heesen’s, expect a radically contemporary interior.

Heesen had several boats in build and they're getting bigger, such as this 65-meter Fast Displacment Hull Form designed by Frank Laupman of Omega Architects. Developed by Dutch naval architects Van Oossanen & Associates, the Heesen 6500 FDHF is an innovative hull form. Tank tests have shown that in comparison with traditional hard chine and round bilge hulls, FDHF improves the efficiency of the vessel by around 30%. The slenderness and special form of the hull result in a very low wave profile over the entire speed range, while also improving its sea-keeping and maneuverability. My guess is some of this efficiency was found in a new bulb design.

Closing Comments​

I had some reservations about attending the HISWA tour because I felt it would be better to visit each of yards independently, spending a day with owners, directors and engineers to be better versed for directing YF members to a suitable yard for a new build or for writing YF’s reviews. Yacht building is an incredibly complex task. Trying to digest all of this in a 2-3 hour visit, compounded by 2-3 yards a days is a healthy dose of information overload. And with many other writers present, it doesn’t afford the one-on-one time needed to discuss manufacturing techniques that differentiate each yard.

This was my first time attending the HISWA tour. Others have attended it numerous times, and with good reason. There is a fundamental problem that exists in the yachting press… the need for industry writers to be better versed about boat building. In some cases, these writers have no background in boating at all. While the tour provides a great venue to get a first-hand look at the complexity of the yachts being built today, it does not replace materials knowledge, manufacturing techniques and engineering logistics acquired from working in a yard, or working with yards in a sub-contracting capacity. And it certainly can’t replace actual hands-on operation, navigation or ownership of a yacht.

But worse than having NO knowledge in the aforementioned areas, it appears some writers have a complete lack of common sense. Case in point… we were in a yard known for building all-aluminum vessels. While standing inside a bare bones main deck, surrounded by welds at every ninety, one of the writers asks… “is this an aluminum or steel boat?”

There were other instances like this, but not worth repeating. The point is - there should be a mandate that people employed to write about these vessels actually have experience on them! If you’re going to preach to the people, you best know more about the sermon than the disciples.

Wanna join YF for a cruise through Amsterdam on a canal boat? Follow this link...

YF Amsterdam Cruise​

That wraps up YF's 5-day tour-de-force of Holland's finest. Literally speaking, it was a real Dutch treat. Special thanks to the Dorien Mulder from the HISWA organization for including YachtForums on the 2010 tour and for the special arrangements she made to accommodate my schedule.

And thanks for blowing my diet!

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