APRIL 2017 WWW.BOATINTERNATIONAL.COMPHOTOGRAPHS: XPOSURE; SVEN ELLSWORTH; RICHARD MARK DOBSONAPRIL 2017OWNERS’ CLUBcean Emerald is not for everyone. People
tend to love her or hate her; in fact, there
are entire internet chat rooms devoted to
debating her design. Lord Foster is the
man either to thank or to ridicule, depending on your
opinion. It was, after all, the famous British architect
who conceived that gray aluminum superstructure,
which sweeps up from the bow and then, as if showing
off, never stops, dropping back down aft to create an
arching silhouette that wouldn’t look out of place in
a Bond movie (the boat actually featured in the remake
of Point Break).
Alongside other Foster creations – London’s
“Gherkin” tower and the Monaco Yacht Club – she fits
right in but, out there on the water, Ocean Emerald
stands apart. Such an attention-seeking boat might
appeal to an owner with similar characteristics, onemight assume, but with Nigel Plaskett it is more a case
of opposites attract. This is a softly spoken, unassuming
Englishman who just happens to adore boats.
As a child growing up in Hampshire, in the south of
England, the whole family would sail together, sowing
the seeds of a lifelong passion. “It’s in my blood,”
explains Plaskett, from his home in the Gulf of
Thailand. “The first boat we had was a Senior 26 when
I was just eight years old. My brother Neil and I would
help with work on the boat at weekends and then we’d
all go across to the Isle of Wight or around the Solent.”
Plaskett’s ownership journey began soon after,
when, aged 15, he bought himself a small cabin cruiser<
Nigel Plaskett, an
Englishman based in
Thailand, and above,
his 134ft superyacht
Ocean EmeraldON BOARD WITHNigel
Plaskett
The owner of the dramatic Lord
Foster-designed Ocean Emerald
tells Dominique Afacan what drew
him to a boat that “looked like a
hospital” – and how he has turned
it into a home from homeO
on the River Thames for £640. “I kept it for a year and
then sold it at a profit,” he says. This flair for business
led to him joining his father’s new company, Trafalgar,
aged just 16 – the day after he left school.
Trafalgar, in its beginnings, was an import agent for
engineering parts from Europe and Asia but soon
Plaskett changed the business model and opened
manufacturing plants in the UK. With Plaskett and
brother Neil both on board, the company quickly
prospered, growing to a 200-strong operation and
turning over around $30 million a year. In 2001,
Trafalgar was able to buy out its main competitor,
Spheric, and eventually sold out to a Japanese companythree years ago. “It’s nothing to do
with us now at all,” says Plaskett,
“we’re just enjoying ourselves!” At
58, the good life has come early.
Leisure time before the sale of
the business was something of
a luxury and, despite owning many
yachts over the years, he was still
frugal in his purchases. A Sunseeker
Superhawk here, a Bilgin 100
Jumbo there. Suddenly, faced with
freedom and fewer financial
barriers, his buying motivations
shifted. “Boating before could feel
a bit like camping. I’d be rocking
about at sea and I didn’t have proper sized bathrooms
and things,” he says. “After we sold the business
I wanted something more comfortable that I could go
away on for long periods.”
Scanning the internet, he saw the familiar outline of
the 134 foot Ocean Emerald, built by Rodriquez Yachts
in 2006. “The first time I had seen her was in Nice
when I was purchasing my Bilgin 100,” Plaskett recalls.
“The day I went to pick [the Bilgin] up, Ocean Emerald
was doing a press day just after its launch. It wasn’t love
at first sight, but I was definitely interested. I went up
and had a good look around.”
Having dabbled in design and architecture himself,>
Ocean Emerald was
designed by the
British architect Sir
Norman Foster and
built in aluminum
by Italian yard
Rodriquez. The
accent is on space
and light, while her
distinctive profile
featured in the
movie Point Break,
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