GREEN
MACHINES
Dream of sitting by a tree in your yacht’s tropical garden?
Or of brightening up the salon with exotic animals and live coral?
Claire Wrathall learns how to fit flora and fauna on board
ILLUSTRATION Bratislav MilenkovicLAUNCHED LAST YEAR, Dilbar
is the world’s largest yacht by
internal volume. Designed by
Espen Øino, the 511ft Lürssen-built
vessel has 40,000 square feet of
living space, sufficient to
accommodate not only two
helipads and an 80ft swimming
pool, but an expansive lawn with a
special variety of grass that
tolerates salt air, according to its
creator Axel Massmann.
Massmann is the founder of
Yacht Green, a Hamburg-based
company that specializes in what he
calls “exterior greening” on
superyachts. Trained as an engineer,
he was working as a project manager
on the construction of the Viceroy
hotel (now Four Seasons) on
Anguilla, where his areas of
specialization included landscaping,
drainage and irrigation, when he
had the chance to observe a lot of
superyachts moored in the bay. It
occurred to him that they too might
benefit from some green space,
especially those boats belonging to
owners who did not want to leave
their pets behind when they decided
to leave land.
“Some yacht owners seem to love
their dogs more than their kids,” he
says. “Some want big dogs on theirboats for added security. Or small
ones for their wives to wear on their
arms when they go ashore.” But all
mutts, large and small, need lawns
on which to exercise and heed the
call of nature. Massmann’s solution
on one 300ft-plus project was to
have 1,000 square feet of turf
recessed into the aft deck, irrigated
in such a way that the grass can be
washed clean after the dogs have
relieved themselves.
The scope for exotic planting on
a yacht has, he suggests, far greater
potential than has yet been realized.
“Why aren’t there huge palms
around the beach club or the