PHOTOGRAPHS: SHUTTERSTOCK; JEFF BROWN
http://www.boatinternational.com | February 2016Hot for yachts
Superyacht obsessives will spend
springtime poring over this
2016 edition of Megayachts.
The hardback is packed with
exciting new projects, design
essays and interviews with leading
designers, including the story
of Andrey Melnichenko’s
142.81 metre Sailing Yacht A.
Available exclusively at £65 from
estore.boatinternational.com.AMERICAN IDOL
NEW MOON FOR MOONEN
Construction has resumed at Moonen Shipyards just four
months after work was stopped because of financial
complications. New-builds were paused at the Dutch
yard last summer, when Altos Hornos de Mexico – a steel
maker in Mexico and a major shareholder in Moonen- pulled out of the build of the new 36.58m Martinique
yacht because the global steel market collapsed. A
suspension of payment was announced and work was
halted. In an official statement the yard has announced
it is making a strong recovery and construction of its 30
metre Matica project, from the Caribbean range, has
resumed. The yard also revealed it has received two
new orders for refits. The Martinique hull, which was
being financed by Altos Hornos de Mexico, is 90 per cent
finished and Moonen is looking for a buyer. moonen.com
A Californian businessman is investing more
than $2 million to restore a boat made famous by
author John Steinbeck, pictured.
The 23 metre fishing vessel We s t e r n F l y e r was
chartered by Steinbeck, author of Of Mice and
Men, and marine biologist Ed Ricketts in 1940.
They sailed her from California to Mexico
and Steinbeck detailed their journey in his
non-fiction work The Log from the Sea of Cortez.
John Gregg bought We s t e r n F l y e r for
$1 million in 2015 and the damaged boat is now
in dry dock at Port Townsend, Washington.
It is estimated that a further $2 million will
be required to make the boat, built in 1937,
seaworthy again. “I’d like to just restore it,” Gregg
says, “pretty much the way it was when it went
down to the Sea of Cortez, and have it used for
science and education.”
The boat has sunk at least twice. “I have
enough boats that you would think I would know
better than to get another one that doesn’t like to
float,” Gregg says. “It’s really in bad shape now.”Lapo Elkann
“The oceans are unfortunately
facing some serious issues. The
world was watching the COP21
forum in Paris closely. It’s a scar
situation and we need some real
political leadership to make
sure we improve things for
future generations.”Helena
Bonham Carter
“There is a new movement,
spearheaded by Blue Marine Foundation
and others, encouraging the Government to
invest in creating marine reserves, where fish
are safe from the ravages of industrial-scale
fishing and where they can regenerate. We
all have a responsibility to try to return
our world to the next generation
in the state we inherited it,
not worse.”ey
lcoffee
tableSnorkel Blue
If navy is your
go-to shade, your
fashion moment is
nigh – the colour
experts at Pantone
have pronounced
that the hot tone for
spring is deep dark
Snorkel Blue.Faster charter
Yachtster, the
charter app recently
bought by Camper
& Nicholsons, has
opened an office in
Miami, offering
a simple, speedy
book-online model
for crewed yachts
up to 35 metres.
Just click and cruise.Tabletop treasures
Give dinner some
dash with these
fantastical crystal
goblets, hand-made
to order by the
two American glass
artists behind
Vetro Vero.Western decadence
LVMH, Prada,
Coach and others
have closed
flagship stores from
mainland China
to Hong Kong in
response to slowing
sales, rising rents
and an atmosphere
of austerity.British builds
UK yachts have taken
a hit with news that
50-year-old builder
Fairline has entered
administration
and is for sale.
So Britannia’s not
ruling the waves.Public prangs
The owner of the
Sea Ray motor
yacht that got
stuck on a seawall
in California says
it was “a little
embarrassing”. He
may have blushed
some more when
a giant crane
arrived to lift it off.What’s hot
&
what’s knotMOVED!HAVEMOVED!HAVEMOVED!HAVEOops, a little
embarrassing