Excellence III
Capt. Ray Shore refers to Excellence III as “big for her size”. It’s an apt phrase, as the new 188-foot motoryacht from Abeking & Rasmussen carries more interior volume than expected. Her hull lines run aft from amidships with little taper, and her superstructure has minimal tumblehome. Such a combination might have left her looking a bit boxy, but designer Donald Starkey included enough curves and recesses to avoid that problem.
Starkey’s talent also shows in the layout of the yacht’s interior and exterior. Inside, the volume is devoted to fewer but larger spaces, which only adds to the feeling of comfort and luxury her owner and charter guests expect. There is also adequate space for the crew, both for service and for their own privacy.
The exterior decks are as enjoyable as the interior. Retractable mesh awnings “fly from masts on the top deck, providing as much or as little shade as desired over the lounges and bar. The advantage of facing the large aft settees toward the stern was apparent as I relaxed on them in Antibes, docked stern-to and overlooking the tranquil blue Med. -D.D.
Alithia
Translated from its Greek origins, the word “alithia” means truth, or truthful one. As far as her owner is concerned, the 130-foot sailing yacht Alithia speaks nothing but the truth. She’s an open book of remarkable visual simplicity, but an equally remarkable complexity lurks beneath the surface. The price an owner pays for visual simplicity is in intricate systems. All of Alithia‘s sail controls are hydraulic, involving giant captive winches, rams and electronic command modules.
Designed by Bill Tripp, Jr. as a client’s first-ever boat, Alithia will transport the owner and his family on an extended world tour. Her underbody, appendages and rig speak of high average speeds.
Her starkly simple interior of Canadian maple veneer over honeycomb coring will shelter a maximum of 18 people, including crew (two of whom are paramedics) and tutors for the children. The after stateroom is a dormitory for the children, and, like any good dorm room, contains a large comfortable worktable with a computer at each station.
Sophisticated communications equipment provides high-speed access to the Internet for the children’s schoolwork and to a tele-medicine network in case of a medical emergency. A small hospital shares space amidships with the library. -Dennis Caprio
Contact: Abeking & Rasmussen, (011) 49 421 6733 0; info@abeking.com; www.abeking.com.
