When you learn that the 138-foot (42.09-meter) E&E was commissioned as the follow-up to the successful 121-foot (37-meter) charter yacht Jasmin, it’s not a surprise. Both yachts have rugged appeal. Both also purposely put all guest staterooms above deck, for optimal views. And of course, it’s practically de rigeur for a megayacht owner to step up in size when ordering a new yacht. What’s surprising, however, is that E&E was dramatically scaled down in size during the design process. She proves that a voluminous yacht need not be a super-size superyacht.
According to Bart Bouwhuis, design director of Vripack, which designed both Jasmin and E&E, the original LOA for E&E was to be about 197 feet (60 meters). Over several months, the owner and the Vripack team kept thinking there had to be a way to enjoy a longer LOA without exceeding 500 gross tons.
While E&E is less than 20 feet longer than Jasmin, she has more headroom and a general arrangement that makes you feel you’re aboard a far larger megayacht. More than 2,745 square feet (230 square meters) of usable space is for guests. Even the crew gets 1,560 square feet (130 square meters), including a terrifically large mess. Placing the four guest cabins on the upper deck, further gracing two of them with balconies, adds to the appeal.
Despite the naturally dark tone of the Indian apple wood paneling used throughout E&E, the megayacht remains airy. Subtle tricks aid in this regard, including arranging the saloon (above) off to port of an open foyer running from the aft-deck doors forward to the dining area and master suite. Other tricks include sculpted furniture, skylights, and a “glass bridge,” a glass-soled walkway between the games room forward on the upper deck and the guest staterooms aft. Art-Line Interior Design worked closely with the owner, who even styled some furnishings himself, to achieve the effects.
Not to be overlooked, E&E is also a technical marvel. Even when the owner and Vripack settled on the final LOA for E&E, Bouwhuis says, they still performed an enormous amount of testing, and not just computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing, where computers simulate various conditions. “Our naval architects executed their most extensive still-water and seakeeping model test ever,” he explains. “All in all, we spent nearly two weeks in the basin testing alone.” Since Jasmin has spent a good deal of time on the water with her owner’s family as well as charter guests, the comfort quotient was vital for E&E.
Bouwhuis says Vripack also provided more than 100 drawings of critical details for Turkey-based Cizgi Yacht, to ensure construction would result in a final product true to all predictions. He says the yard rose to the challenge: E&E is within about two pounds (one kilogram) of her target weight. He also reports that she burned just 17 gph (65 lph) at 11.8 knots on her maiden voyage.
Here’s more of E&E.
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