So you pay a few million for a boat you can't board?

Or not...

Possibly the builder envisioned that if the boat wasn't moored stern to the dock (as is common in the Med) it would be boarded by way of a gangway?!...

I really can't see classy females with dainty high heeled shoes boarding the way those anti-slip patches would allow...

Is this the official pick on yacht builder design months for Pascal? hehehe

Where there's a will there's a way

Years ago a guy in Lauderdale wanted to propose to his girl. So he chartered my boat to take them up to Yesterdays. She showed up at the dock in a skin tight mini and 5" heels. Low tide, 5 steps down the ladder. I carried her down.

and the two of you have been happily married ever since?

If he didn't have that big rock (and me a wife) that night might have ended differently than he expected. I think I definitely helped put her in the mood to say yes though. She had a good night all around, and mine wasn't bad either. But her face when she saw that ladder.

The only thing better than watching them fall in is after you fish them out.

I think that this is a trend that is driven by the buyers. The cost of installing a gangway on the side of the boat is next to nothing when you take the full price of the vessel into account, so it's a matter of style preference. Buyers prefer the clean look so they buy it. Later on some probably come to regret their decisions, but not all. Some boats are just difficult to get onto, stow a step ladder in the laz and put it out when you dock along side. In Kodiak there are plenty of small wooden staircases to be found alongside the slips of more cumbersome boats.

Access

Just yesterday I was trying to get on and even worse trying to get off a 55 Searay Sundancer that was bow in at the dock so it is a pretty universal problem not just limited to the overseas boats.

None of the newish Italian boats have side doors anymore either....not the Azimuts.....not the Feretti's..... Add Neptunus to the list also (Canadian).....

Remember that many boat builders and even more boat designers have little or no experience of using boats...

And the same goes for many boat buyers...

Remember where these boats are built. Most marinas in Europe are stern to, or floating docks.

European builders will build for their target clientele. If you look at US built boats they cater for the US market with side boarding.

Yeah, I've noticed an increasing number of "auto designers" coming into the industry. Plus, I get a few CV's during the week from Designers (In/Ex) and new Nav Archs, I find it amazing how low there "on water" experience is, and that's if listed. As for the builders, it's the type of builder - talk to your custom boys in the S/F sector, they know every inch of the boat - what does and doesn't work.

Back to the boat in question, why wouldn't the owner simply have someone fabricate curved teak step pads that mirror the platform? They'd look ok, much better than the home depot stickys