Hamburg yard in 2009, took four and a half
years – a remarkable achievement given the
scale of the yacht, which was only overtaken as
the world’s biggest in 2013 with the launch of
180 metre Azzam. Up to 20 engineers from Blue
Ocean Yacht Management were present on site
throughout the build, whipping it along to meet
the aggressive delivery
schedule. Disdale doesn’t
recall any sleepless nights
- “at least, no more than
usual!” he laughs. The
pressure of designing
what was then the world’s
top yacht – both inside
and out – did obviously
register, though. “It’s
a huge responsibility
building something of
that magnitude, which
is going to be under
everyone’s magnifying glass. It’s not just ‘doing
a job’, this thing is going to be scrutinised and
analysed by everyone. There’s a responsibility
to yourself as a designer.”
Five years from delivery, and more than
10 years from the moment Disdale first put pen
to paper, he says he wouldn’t change a thing –
and nor has the owner, who has kept Disdale’s
designs largely unchanged. “For me, it’s more
a clean piece of architecture than it is a piece
of styling. The fact that you have a helipad
on the front creates the superstructure to bow
dimension, which is beautiful. If it wasn’t there,
you wouldn’t have that length. And then when
you get to the back of the boat, the
swimming pool is dictating another
piece of the story. I don’t know
what I would change now. I don’t sit
around saying, ‘I wish I did this or
that’. Maybe I’d make the rear end
look a bit more inviting, the way the
staircases lead into the boat, but
anti-piracy was a concern, plus there
are a load of services and facilities
back there. There’s a full-size pantry
to serve the beach club, which very
few boats have, and gull-wing doors
with a pullout barbecue and pizza
oven. There’s a lot you don’t see.”
Disdale’s long experience in the business
means he is able to resist the temptation to force
designs, or slavishly follow trends that flare and
fade, leaving boats looking old before their time.
“Eclipse is a handsome boat, and it looks like
a boat. It doesn’t make any pretence,” he says.http://www.boatinternational.com | April 2016“This thing is
going to be
scrutinised by
everyone. There’s
a responsibility
to yourself
as a designer”