Boat International US Edition — November 2017

NOVEMBER 2017

OWNERS’ CLUB

think when you set your mind to
something, you can overcome it,” says
Charles S Cohen. He is talking about
seasickness, which is largely a thing of the
past for him. But his words could just as well be applied
to the superyacht he is sitting proudly and somewhat
disbelievingly on right now. This was something he set
his heart as well as his mind to work on six years ago,
and there was plenty to overcome.
First, he and his wife Clo couldn’t find anything else
out there that they liked. Then they couldn’t find a
builder and a designer who understood where they
were coming from. Even Cohen’s favorite interior
designers, an LA firm that had worked with this
American property developer on projects all over the
US but never before on a yacht, didn’t get it. “We hated
it,” Cohen says of their original concept. “We threw it
back at them and we made them do it better.”
Six years of this would be too much for many would-
be owners. But this is what Cohen does, for a living and for a life. As owner, president and CEO of Manhattan-
based Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, he is
responsible for 12 million square feet of office buildings
and design centers from New York to Hollywood – and
he signs off every contract and every check himself.
Talking to him, you get the impression he’s in charge
of color charts and paint brushes, too. “It always takes
me a long time but that way I cover everything that I
think we need to do. I like to immerse myself in the
details, and that’s the thrill of it.”
He is basking in the thrill of Seasense when we meet,
with his new boat at anchor off Cannes. Having taken
delivery of the 219ft custom Benetti only a week
previously, Cohen is still pinching himself. “I’m still

Seasense was a six

year labor of love for

Charles S Cohen and

his wife Clo. They

had owned three

Rivas before their

first superyacht

ON BOARD WITH

Charles

S Cohen

Property developer and film

producer Charles S Cohen tells

David Edwards why he has to pinch

himself when he looks at his new

219ft custom Benetti Seasense

“I

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