http://www.boatinternational.com | May 2018is also a great way to keep your family together,”
says Amy. “You know, ‘if you build it, they will
come’? Well, if you have a boat, your family comes
and spends time with you! It’s the best.”
Spending time on board with family and
friends – and meeting new friends along the way- is a big part of the attraction for the Books.
Every summer for seven years, they would
rendezvous with their good friends, the owners
of the 61 metre Hakvoort Just J’s. Before the
summer of 2017, Book received a call from the
owner of Just J’s saying he was planning to move
the boat from Newport to the Med for the
summer. “He asked me, ‘are you sure you’re going
to have a boat by this summer?’ ” Book recalls.
The Books had found themselves in a rather
unusual place – without a superyacht. Their
previous Book Ends, a 40 metre Westport, had
sold surprisingly swiftly, and they were in the
middle of a two-year shopping trip to find the
perfect yacht, one that would have the range and
space they desired to go further afield than their
usual cruising grounds of the Eastern Seaboard
and Bahamas.
“I was in every shipyard in Europe for two
years and spent almost $2 million shopping for a
boat,” Book says, explaining he had marine
surveyor Ian Kerr check out any boat he was
serious about. “If you do it right, that’s a couple
hundred thousand bucks. I would frankly never
buy or build a boat without Ian overseeing it.”
When the owner of Just J’s called again to ask
if he’d have a boat in time, Book responded
positively, thinking he was about to close a deal.
“But that deal blew up over lunch, and that’s when
Thom Conboy [of Heesen Yachts] called me,”
says Book. “I had just stepped out of the lunch
and Thom said, ‘what’s it going to take to get you
in this 47 metre?’ ” Book had been to Heesen on
his yacht shopping tour, but because they were
originally after a 55 metre, the 47 metre in build
at the Dutch yard hadn’t caught their attention.
“It was like divine intervention – we agreed on a
price and 48 hours later I was in the shed.” In less
than a month, they took delivery, just in time to
join Just J’s in the Med.
The new Book Ends ticked a lot of the boxes –
steel hull, long range, good storage – but it didn’t
exactly match their preferred interior style. The
Books like to have a simple base to personalise,
and since taking delivery they’ve worked to tone
down some aspects of the original design, adding
simpler joinery, more white carpets and
removing superfluous furnishings, all the while
adding their signature bright orange hue and
Book relishes
working from his
onboard oice.
“We could have
a board meeting
and they just
assume I’m in
the oice – no one
knows I’m really
in Italy”
The Books have
spent time in Forte
dei Marmi, above
and left, home to
their good friend,
the opera singer
Andrea Bocelli,
opposite page,
top right
One of the Books’
first cruises was
around the Statue
of Liberty, while
Elba, below, is
a firm favouriteOWNERS’ CLUB
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY; ANDREA PISAPIA; 4CORNERS IMAGES; CHARLIE CLARK126