http://www.boatinternational.com | June 2017PHOTOGRAPH: XXXXXXPHOTOGRAPH: XXXXXXSybaris won two awards
for sailing yachts at the 2017
ShowBoats Design Awards“I have three passions – art, poetry and sailing. This boat combines all three”
hen my son,
West, was about seven years old, I bought a
Palmer Johnson sailing yacht named Shanakee.
We would go sailing and imagine what our
perfect yacht would be like. With friends who
helped us refine the dream over 20 years, the boat
became our daily conversation. So more than the
creating of a high performance yacht, more than
the creation of a work of art, it’s been the thing
that’s bonded me and my son.”
These words are from Bill Duker’s address to
the guests assembled in Viareggio to celebrate
the completion of Sybaris, Duker’s Perini Navi
ketch, which, at 70 metres, is the largest sailing
yacht launched in Italy. It is not a coincidence
that the yacht’s name is the same as that ancient
Italian city state known for wealth and a lifestyle
of extreme luxury and pleasure seeking. “I have
three passions – art, poetry and sailing. This boat
combines all three,” he says.
Duker is a softly spoken, amiable man who
likes projects and enticing people to be creative
and thorough. Witness his push for R&D at
Perini Navi. As Burak Akgül, managing director
of sales, marketing and design, says: “We began
talking to the client in 2010 at about the time we0123456789 0123456789BLACKYELLOWMAGENTACYAN 91BOIJUN17152.pgs 26.04.2017 16:07ART
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Feat Cover Boat Sybaris, 2