South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
All aboard for the boat show
Superyacht with seaplane deck making world debut this week in Fort Lauderdale
The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show has always attracted some impressive superyachts, but 2019 is bringing some of the biggest in the show’s history.
“We have more larger yachts than we’ve ever had before,” said Andrew Doole, president of U.S. Boat Shows for Informa Markets, producer of the Fort Lauderdale show.
Doole said he is expecting several yachts in excess of 300 feet long.
Accessorizing the yachts will be displays of personal submarines, helicopters and exotic cars from McLaren, Lamborghini, Maserati and Ferrari.
The largest new yacht expected this year is 311-foot, 8-inch Madsummer from German shipyard Lürssen, making its world debut in Fort Lauderdale. Designed by London firm Harrison Eidsgaard, it is stacked with six decks — one dedicated entirely to the owner — featuring a cheerful, relaxed interior by Italian designer Laura Sessa that belies its domineering presence.
While it’s not unusual that a
The 311-foot, 8-inch Madsummer yacht from German shipyard Lürssen will make its world debut in Fort Lauderdale.
helicopter can land on the foredeck, Madsummer also has the rare ability to carry a seaplane on the top deck. A nearly 40-foot swimming pool is found on the main deck aft; a level below is a
grand spa with a skylight filtering rays through three decks and a hull section that unfolds to create a sea terrace.
After the boat show, Madsummer will be heading to the Caribbean,
available for charter from
$1.4 million per week. Another must-see is the new
262-foot, 4-inch Excellence, built by Abeking & Rasmussen in Germany, showing for the first time in the U.S.
Her American owner asked Winch Design for something “extraordinary” for his sixth yacht, according to the London firm responsible for the interior and exterior design. Giving the styling a decidedly futuristic tone is an aggressive reverse bow and floor-to-ceiling mirrored glass encircling the bridge and owner’s decks.
Company principal Andrew Winch describes Excellence as, “a striking combination of boundary-pushing technical design and daring innovation; she is a rocket ship ready for takeoff.”
The large yachts have been given a new home at the show. “With construction at the Swimming Hall of Fame aquatic complex, we realized last year that we needed to do something different for the Superyacht Builders Association members and the other big boats that had been in that area,” Doole said.
Together with Tavistock Group, owner of Pier 66 Hotel & Marina, Informa came up with a plan to transform the marina’s Pier South property (formerly Sails Marina) on the south side of the 17th Street Causeway into Superyacht Village.
It’s yachts like these making up an ever-changing display that keeps the 60-year-old Fort Lauderdale show fresh, said Doole. “It’s always going to be the show where so many manufacturers make world premieres with different boats — it is always exciting.”