Ouranos may be an unusual name to some, but it is no doubt
familiar to those used to chartering in the Mediterranean – and
Greece in particular – as this 164 foot Admiral is the third yacht
to bear the moniker. In Greek mythology, Ouranos is the god
that embodies the sky and, by extension, the ancient Greek word
is synonymous with the firmament and constellations. So the
yacht, with its slender beam, paint as white as the villages that
cling to the Greek islands’ rocky shores, and huge signature
windows that look out on to the blue sea, is very much her own
slice of heaven.
Conceived as the first of Admiral’s C Force series for a repeat
client of the Italian yard, she was always meant to welcome
guests. The owner, a family man, uses his boats – the previous
one was a 147 foot Tecnomar – for charter primarily and
occasionally enjoys them himself, says Michel Chryssicopoulos,
a partner with IYC, which manages the yacht for charter. He
followed the yacht’s construction closely in Marina di Carrara
until her launch in early spring of 2016. Banking on the yard’s
ability to adhere to the delivery date, the company accepted
bookings for summer charters. It worked out. The yard delivered
the boat on schedule and, by the time the Monaco Yacht Show
came around, Ouranos had already logged quite a few miles and
the generators had worked for 1,200 hours. “It has been very
successful and she was nearly fully booked all summer,”
Chryssicopoulos says.
Multiple factors contribute to her success. Aside from the
professional and enthusiastic crew of nine, now headed by a new
captain with 15 years’ experience in the Med, the yacht herself
has lots to offer to charter guests, he says. First, her styling, by
Jure Bukavec of Uniellé Yacht Design, is eye-catching. A young
designer from Slovenia, Bukavec studied industrial design in his
home country and later in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is prolific,innovative and clever. When
speaking about design, he always
has a sparkle in his eyes, which are
framed by studious glasses, but he
is still a bit under the radar.
Ouranos is only the second
superyacht bearing his signature
to be delivered. The first, Soraya
46 , built in Turkey by Gentech,
was penned some 10 years ago and
was the first yacht under the
100 meter mark to have a helipad
on the foredeck. “We were trying
something new,” he says.
Bukavec worked closely with
The Italian Sea Group to come up
with a look for a whole family of
yachts, with sporty lines to recall
earlier projects from the shipyard
once known as Admiral Mariotti
(The Italian Sea Group acquired
Admiral, which had gone into
bankruptcy, in 2011). When it
came to the big feature windows,
he and the yard had a meeting of
minds. Even The Italian Sea Group’s smaller yachts, such as the
Impero series, have a large amount of glass. “It’s an idea that I try
to insert in all my projects,” says Bukavec. “However the lines of
the design go, you can always make a break in the center. You get
the light where you need it the most because usually that’s the
area where the salon is.”
There were many iterations of this feature, including one with
sliding glass on the main deck to open up the salon to the
outdoors, a plan that was later abandoned on this particular hull
but is still feasible should a client want it. This owner was very
keen on keeping things simple and having the yacht ready to
charter for summer, which dictated some of the design decisions.
“We were trying to get as much open space as possible
everywhere,” says Bukavec. The quest for space prompted the
choice to move the tenders to the foredeck and free the lower
and upper aft decks from any cranes and toys.
In the endless pursuit to come up with practical solutions to
make the yacht’s transom a real recreation space (and not
a garage), superyacht designers and engineers have proposed
many interesting ideas. Ouranos is another case in point. The
beach club has an enclosed area behind glass doors, with
a skylight to allow in natural light. The outdoor section is always
open, protected on the side from the elements by slats that look
like louvers, a design feature repeated on the upper decks for
continuity. Part of the swim platform folds up to meet the sides,Clockwise from top left: Ouranos
packs a spacious sundeck, large spa
pool and ample foredeck toy storage
into her 164 feet and 499GT; al fresco
dining on the upper deck aft; work out
on the forward sundeck or you can usethe lower deck beach club, which at
anchor opens on all three sides; the
main deck salon and dining area,
flanked by large windows and wide
walkways; the main salon holds one
of three dining areas on board OuranosAPRIL 2017 WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COM WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COM“I think it’s
a beautiful boat.
It’s very aggressive
and masculine”
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