“Ragnar, formerly a multipurpose support/supply vessel, looked nearly nothing like she did almost three years ago.”
Leon de Haas, the project manager for Project Ragnar,
is about as busy as a man can get. Two weeks after the 223-foot converted icebreaker launched in February, he was juggling a beehive of activity, including three companies alone for the interior’s details. The 2,450-gross-ton Ragnar, formerly a multipurpose support/supply vessel, looked nearly nothing like she did almost three years ago, when she entered Icon Yachts’ shed. ¶ Her decidedly commercial profile is erased, replaced with a still-imposing but softer-looking explorer silhouette. She also has a painstakingly detailed interior and a fascinating assortment of land and sea toys. ¶ “Basically, we ripped everything out and made everything new,” de Haas says. “We don’t call it a refit. We call it a conversion.” ¶ So does Bureau Veritas, which is classifying Ragnar with a hull rated to Ice Class 1A Super, one of the highest ice-class notations. It’s a first for yachting. The vessel will be able to operate in subzero temperatures and break through ice nearly 10 feet thick. ¶ Radical transformations like
Ragnar’s are rare, but owners regularly give existing yachts comprehensive makeovers to suit their
vision. It’s a way to flex creative muscles while benefiting from a shorter timetable and lower costs than a new build offers. ¶ Consider the two Broadwater refits that designer Adam Voorhees handled for the same owner. The first refit took place over seven months in 2017 at Lauderdale Marine Center in Florida. The ex-Blue Moon, a 165-foot Feadship from 1990, wasn’t intended to be gutted, but she ended up that way “because we realized it would constrain the vision,” Voorhees says. In fact, they realized “there’s truly no way to utilize the existing architecture” to live the way the owner wished. He didn’t want parallel walls or right angles—not even mirror images to port and starboard. “It was a very aggressive way to do a refit.” ¶ The new, casually elegant, modernized Mad Men vibe is just what the owner wanted. Chevron patterns in oak lie underfoot, for example, while hundreds of aluminum pieces comprise a mural in the spiral stairway. ¶ With the second Broadwater refit—currently at Royal Huisman—the owner liked the original architecture of the 171-foot ex-Rasselas, a Feadship. However, a lot is still changing. ¶ “Rasselas was a very beautiful, classic Feadship, so we’re just enhancing her,” Voorhees says. A 13