Gene Machine’s Fjord 42 Open tender towed wakeboarders often, as well as carried the crew to answer a Mayday in Svalbard.a larger yacht: a Princess 76, and then a
Westport 112. Rothberg joined the yacht
owners’ club himself in 2011 with the fi rst
Gene Machine, a Westport 130. ¶ “I called
it the Gene Machine because I had invent-
ed the world’s fi rst machine to quickly
decode DNA,” Rothberg says. (Forbes,
featuring him on its cover, christened the
equipment “the gene machine.”) ¶ After
cruising classic destinations, such as the
Caribbean and the Med, Rothberg was
itching to fulfill other dreams. Enter
his steel-hulled Amels 180. According
to Victor Caminada, marketing director
for Amels Holland, the 180 is both beauti-
fully fi nished and shiplike in her strength
and reliability. He says the model, intro-
duced in 2005 as the fi rst of the builder’s
six-model Limited Editions range, is the
most successful yacht of her size, indus-
trywide. The 22nd Amels 180 is currently
under construction at the builder’s ship-
yard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, and
it’s the most popular model in its range,
of which 29 yachts have been delivered
in total, with 11 more underway. ¶ Gene
Machine is a 2013 build, and Rothberg
had a 180 on the assembly line when she
came on the market. He snatched her up
instead for two reasons: to adventure
with his family sooner and because his
daughter was a fan of the Hermès leather
on board. ¶ “We are also a really big fan of
Gene Machine,” Caminada says, as well as
of how Rothberg uses her. The cruising
shows how Amels’ yachts “really have a
global capability,” he says, “and it really
inspires other superyacht owners thatCURRENTS NAUTICAL LIFEtop: david honeybun, bottom left and top right: ben sturge, bottom right: capt. fr aser gowCruise of
a Lifetime
GENE MACHINE60YACHTINGFE BRUA RY2 01 8