RebORN AgAiN undergoes (another) major makeover.
Falcon Lair. New Horizon L
In 2015, Compositeworks in La Ciotat, France, delivered a major refit with Launched by Feadship in 1983 as the 197-foot (59.9-meter) to designs by Jon Bannenberg and Luigi Sturchio, the now 225-foot (68.7-meter) yacht was redesigned with a transom extension by the British architects Olesinski Ltd.
The work list included remodeling the superstructure fore and aft on each deck level, adding 10 feet to the transom and modifying the forward sheerline, fashion plates and other superstructure features to improve the viewing areas for guests. Dressed in classically elegant deep blue and white, with black inboard detailing, the vessel was transformed from her previous guises.
It was not the first major refit in the yacht’s 30-year history. Following the death of her original owner, Dutchman Bram van Leeuwen (who lived on board), she was sold to the American cellphone entrepreneur Craig McCaw. He renamed her White Cloud and carried out an extensive refit in Germany to extend the hull, modify the exterior lines and restyle the interior under the guidance of designer Terence Disdale. The yacht was also fitted with a jet pool on the main deck aft, a gym on the upper deck and zero-speed stabilizers.
White Cloud was introduced to Compositeworks in 2006, during an emergency haul-out to replace through-hull fittings and install a new rudder system. In 2010, during her 25-year Lloyd’s survey in Fort Lauderdale, her machinery and monitoring systems were upgraded and she received a glistening white paint job. White Cloud was sold to her current owner in 2014, and the yacht returned to Compositeworks to become her latest reincarnation as
“We had been fortunate enough to work many times on the vessel in its old guise as White Cloud, which had already been heavily modified from her New Horizon L lines,” says Rob Papworth, the yard’s director of projects. “Any owner that is prepared to take the risk to undertake such a project should be congratulated, but one that takes on the challenge and really conquers it, producing such a stunning result as has been the case with Falcon Lair, should be thoroughly applauded.”
Founded in 1998 by British yachtsman Ben Mennem and Dutch marine engineer Mark Salman, Compositeworks is an award-winning shipyard that has refitted some of the biggest superyachts in the world, including Rising Sun, Octopus and Pelorus. The yard recently gained access to two dry docks on France’s Atlantic seaboard in a merger with the Atlantic Refit Center in La Rochelle, part of the Compositeworks expansion strategy as the growing megayacht fleet continues to stretch refit resources in the Mediterranean.