The Rise Of Research Explorer Yachts

I love purpose built yachts. For my tastes most yachts are bought just to show off, and when they start running 30kts+ just a way to waste obscene amounts of money. After all if you want to get someplace fast take a car or a plane or a small boat. I boat to boat not to look pretty attached to a dock. To me the difference between 17 kts and 30 kts for an 80'+ isn't worth the extra fuel burn. At 80'+ I expect a boat to go through whatever it encounters, not flee to safe harbor when winds get to 20mph. The boats I respect most earn their keep or better still do good. The first thing to catch my interest is when I see a forward swept windshield. It tells me someone knows something about boats.

Minimizes reflection day and night, allows you to look down onto the deck and keeps weather off the windshield, especially snow and ice. The purpose of a raked back windshield is to reduce wind resistance (seldom an issue with something moving less than 40 mph), but it looks sleek and sexy.

I have always been a fan of explorer yachts (purpose built, converted or otherwise). Therefore I hope this trend will continue (and it is not just a fad) and a lot more owners will order such a yacht in the future.

Always liked the explorer's that had the capability to carry a sportfish. Fished on one once and have since thought it was a great setup to combine long range cruising and fishing.

After the launch of 'Solaris' we might see another two 100+ m explorer yachts hit the water in 2021:

Lurssen's project Icecap/Northern Star 3 and Freire Shipyard's project NB-724

My opinion as well.

Over time I came across 4 different names that all seem to be related to this project:

Icecap / Northern Star / Shackleton / BN 13708

I have been wondering if it's really just one project or if Lurssen has actually two large explorers under construction.

Definitely Icecap and Northern Star are the same Project nicknames and the ship is under construction for about a year. The Launch is coming soon. As to Shakleton and BN 13708 I guess it's absolutely new and different Project and nobody knows so far how it looks like.

New pictures of the Freire Shipyard NB-724 explorer yacht show that most of the superstructure has been added.

The 111 m project was first announced in 2019 with a delivery date of 2021. To me she still looks quite unfinished, so the delivery probably won't take place until 2022.

I would bet as a "research" vessel, they can write off some additional expenses or declare it a non-profit.

I love these types of vessels. Rugged, go thru anything, range, you name it.

Speaking of explorer yachts, saw Octopus at anchorage in Trinidad this weekend. She is quiet a machine.

I wonder what she was doing here in Trinidad. We dont often get superyachts down this side. I could only assume, picking up spares or supplies.