Review: Lurssen Yachts 312' "Kismet II" Superyacht

Lurssen Yachts 312' "Kismet II" Superyacht
Redefining Destiny

by Judy Waldman​

Lurssen Yachts recently celebrated 140 years of producing exceptional custom yachts at seven yards in northern Germany. It takes state-of-the-art facilities and a highly skilled workforce of 1800 to produce such awardwinning beauties as Limitless, Peloris, Rising Sun, Ice, and Dilbar. Lurssen’s latest launches are Orchid, Omar, and Dilbar III. Yet Kismet is “the cat’s meow!” ​

While not the largest yacht built by Lurssen, Kismet ranks #40 in the world's largest yachts and holds the record for the largest yacht to dock at Bahia Mar. During her return visit to South Florida, coinciding with the recent Miami Boat Show, Kismet’s quayside location dwarfed many of the downtown Miami buildings. Although Kismet certainly pushes the super yacht nomenclature into ‘gigayacht’ territory, Lurssen’s biggest launch goes to Azzam; the world’s largest yacht at 180 meters and brags of leading the pack at 30 knots.

Two significant points that top my list of superlatives: (1) Lurssen accomplished a magnificent engineering feat and (2) What a great country America is to nurture this class of economic enterprise. While it is YachtForums’ policy to not disclose owners unless it has been publicly broadcast elsewhere, this one is easy. With a four foot jaguar perched on the bowsprit, Kismet’s master either owns it, bags it, or the process of elimination by way of internet search leads one to Shahid Khan. Now that the cat is out of the bag, here’s the background: Born in Pakistan, “Shad” came to the United States for his college stint at age 16. While attending the University of Illinois, he began working at Flex-N-Gate; after graduating university with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, Shad became Flex-N-Gates engineering manager. From there Shad combined his meager savings with a loan from the Small Business Corporation and created his own company Bumper Works which revolutionized the automobile world with a one-piece lightweight bumper.

Shad’s entrepreneurial spirit compelled him to buy his former employer combining Flex-N-Gate and Bumper Works and becoming a major supplier to all of the major automobile manufactures in North America, Japan, and Europe leading to Flex-N-Gate being the 12th largest North American automotive supplier with more than 16,000 employees in 62 manufacturing plants worldwide. In January 2012 Shad Khan purchased the Jacksonville Jaguars football team. Shad had become familiar with Jacksonville since the northeast Florida port is one of the largest destinations for automobile shipping and Shad established himself at the Blount Island Terminal for the installation of his patented bumpers in the imported vehicles. In 2013, Khan purchased the Fulham Football Club.

Shad Khan’s boating history is a simple one: he bought the 130’ Feadship Gallant Lady for his first yacht. One has to wonder if being the sole supplier of bumpers for Toyota pickups perhaps led to a business lunch aboard that was a “cat”alyst for a launch. Yacht #2 was the original Kismet; a 228’ Lurssen that Khan commissioned in 2007. Shortly after taking delivery, Shad reassembled the team of Espen Oeino for the exterior design and Reymond Langton for the interior. Metal was cut in October of 2011 and after a 36 month build time, in 2014 Shad took delivery of the new Kismet, the 312 foot personal cruiseship. Now that you know Khan owns the Fulham FC and the Jacksonville Jaguars, you understand why after the launching of superyacht Kismet, the first port o call was London and the next stop was Jacksonville.

This Lurssen gigayacht is not only a spectacular beauty, but an engineering masterpiece that well represents an owner who is a mechanical engineer. And one with a penchant for football and needing a floating arena for entertaining a 53 roster team. Lavish entertainment does not preclude the priority of family yachting excursions. Keeping charter guests in mind also, attention was given to outdoor areas that might entice the million dollar a week charterer to dive right in. There were 13 charters last year including several repeat visitors from the first Kismet. The elegant and sleek exterior is in contrast to the Art Deco-Baroque styling of the living quarters. Modern versus classic accomplished. Cruising at 16 knots, one can lose perspective of the size. In comparable sports measurements, Kismet is just short of a football field x ½ of a basketball court by triple stacked goal posts or 312’3” x 45’3” x 90’. The 12’3” draft requires caution of the almost 3000 ton behemoth not getting sacked or precluding an intentional grounding.

The five owner/guests levels incorporate the requisite areas for sleeping, eating, and a plethora of choices for entertaining or being entertained. With at least one bar, dining area, and lounge on each aft deck, the choices for where to dine, drink, sun, or relax are all enticing. The mosaic tiled pool with the inset Jacuzzi and cascading waterfall is the focal point of the upper level foredeck. Note the 4 Stidd chairs perched as observation posts highlighted with the Hermes leather covered handrails. The skylight forward opens to the master stateroom on the deck below.

Full height stormproof frameless wall-windows offer box seat viewing in every room as well as contiguous exteriors with flush mounted doors without framed interspersions nor protrusions such as handles. All exterior doors are inset in a way that allows full width room enclosures, no lost space or visibility with frames or mullions.

Wide walkarounds encapsulate decks with large overhangs to offer protection from inclement weather, all with overboard drip diverting lips. No other overhangs disrupt the encompassed flow as precluded by storage compartments like the 22 person life rafts secreted behind double doors.

Various decks provide a myriad of activities. The foredeck triple play includes service as a basketball court, as the secondary helipad, and lastly provides access to the mooring deck which houses the 6.2 meter Fassmer rescue boat beneath. The observation deck in the nosebleed section provides more than just access to the antennae and not just for observing those lolling in the pools below, but the appellation for the starbeds says that no opportunity for even passive entertainment was overlooked.

Trilateral symmetry. The nine-storey view from the observation deck is just awesome.

Symmetry and parallelism resonate throughout the deck levels. The winding staircase on this upper deck level is an access point for the observation deck. Social bars, curved seating sections, and galley service centers are plentiful at every deck, fore and aft.

The top deck recessed seating lounge, as in most of the outdoor deck areas, can be wind and water protected without the interruption of the visual flow. Note the contemporary styling which is a dramatic contrast to the sleeping areas.

The forward half of the upper deck provides the platform for the owners’ suite. Privacy gates on the sidedecks proffer exterior access sequestration allowing the owners to enjoy their sunning and soaking , or perhaps a “catnap” in seclusion. Or from the inside out, to enjoy the expansive view from the stateroom.

The bridge deck end zone presents another lounge area choice as well as an alternative landing pad for the helicopter and access to the refueling station.

Spectator view from these box seats allows the captain to maneuver and manage the miniship for all or parts of its 6,000 nautical mile range at 12 knots although Kismet can achieve 16.9 knot max speed. The captain’s log revealed one passage for 15 days averaging 11 to 11.5 knots at 1150rpm consuming 11,500 liters per day. At 1400rpm the fuel burn increased to 16,500 liters per day over a period of 10 days. Miles to go and places to see with a fuel capacity of 58,000 gallons.

The skylounge on the bridge deck comprises part of the inside/outside disco beach club. The glass wall aft opens to full room beam maximizing the view and the fresh air control. Note the nautical motif including the bar’s proud bow and ship-shape design.

The first hot spot to be sighted upon boarding, especially when Med mooring requires the transom passerelle, is the aft deck fireplace which is one of 5. The fire pit integrates a cascading waterfall. When in warmer climes, the firepit is encased beneath a large cocktail table with inlay for imbibing the bubbly or tasting the tarts.

Forward of the toasty teaser is the first of the dining tables for al fresco appetite appeasement. Bar and buffet service centers flank the gastronomic center as they do throughout the yacht.

The upper deck bar is another swig and swill setting that can be enjoyed in the open air breezes or can fend off the winds and enjoy the seamless glass vistas in air-conditioned or heated climate control environs.

The first point of entry on the main deck is through the marbled and metallic walled foyer into the formal lounge with heated marble floors. Lighted bar to port and seating section to starboard. Open spaces throughout were designed to mitigate the tunnel effect as is the usual yacht layout with symmetrical treatments outboard. The pointy end handcrafted metal ceiling is a predominate feature that is repeated throughout.

The centerpiece of the piano lounge is of course the metallic piano which was custom crafted by Based Upon of London, chosen for their personal commissioning of functional art. Although it looks like a sailboat hull to me, the keyboard may be used in either musician mode or selfie and can be heard on 2 decks. The Art Deco staircase is flanked by the video walls which are made of 42 monitors 140cm each.

The video walls are art within art. The high resolution videos cover two floors from the main deck to the upper deck. There are over 40 images “catalogued” for click choosing from van Gogh to the Jacksonville Jaguar or Fulham Football players. The chandelier was handcrafted by the artisans of Crystal Caviar from the Czech Republic. While this is not the first superyacht to commission their work, it is one that offers a spectacular canvas. Not to worry about the sway underway, the support rods anchoring the fixture are present but unobtrusive.