ShowBoats International — May 2017

61

PHOTOGRAPH: XXXXXX

Club class

sk the yacht designer Dickie Bannenberg to

define “beach club” in the context of a yacht,

and he almost demurs. “I guess the word ‘beach’

is the misnomer here,” he says, calling to mind as it does

thoughts of pale sand, whispering palms and indeed

languorous lunches at Le Club 55 near Saint-Tropez or

an outpost of Nikki Beach.

“Really it’s just a relaxation space with the formality

dialed down and the sense of connection to the sea dialed

up,” says Simon Rowell, the other half of the partnership

Bannenberg & Rowell, whose 230ft motor yacht Joy won

the prize for Best Exterior Design and Styling - Motor Yacht

Above 48 meters at this year’s ShowBoats Design Awards.

The Feadship’s large transom door rises to provide shade

for the aft bathing platform, revealing a comfortable,

beanbag-filled space that also serves as a movie theater

and nightclub.

The fashion for beach clubs has parallels in the vogue

for open plan living on land, as sitting rooms, dining rooms

and show kitchens have fused to become one large unified

domestic space. They have come a long way since the

early 1990s, when Lady Moura first revealed her “beach”

• two hydraulic platforms that folded down from the hull
  to reveal a cabana and provide a swimming platform, on
  which real sand was spread.

No superyacht can do without a beach club

these days but they've come a long way in

the past two decades, says Claire Wrathall

design report

A

With just two decks, the 80m Feadship

concept Zen sweeps down from

a huge salon to a single aft

deck/beach club set just above the water

0123456789

ART

PRODUCTION

CLIENT

SUBS

REPRO OP

VERSION

SUPP - Beach clubs, 1