It’s only January 11, and already it’s been a month of daring debuts in the megayacht world. Meet Predator, the latest launch from Feadship’s Royal De Vries shipyard. Measuring 72.8 meters (about 239 feet), she greeted a huge crowd of spectators comprised of workers from the yard, the owner’s family, and yacht-spotters who never miss a launch, many of whom gathered along the shoreline in Aalsmeer, Holland, on Saturday.
Predator’s rather aptly named, judging by the aggressive bow you can see in the photos at Yachtspotter. (The photo here is the official one released by the yard; it’s not permitted to reveal anything further just yet.) The owner, who contacted Royal De Vries in 2004, wanted a design unlike anything else on the water. As a result, De Voogt Naval Architects created a reverse bow, or what Feadship calls a modified X-type, which is designed to lengthen the waterline and reduce resistance due to waves coming off of it; the yard confirmed the results at the renown MARIN test-tank facilities.
We’ll have to wait for sea trials in February to see if her projected top speed of more than 25 knots is reached, but considering Predator is equipped with four (yes, four) MTU 595 diesel engines, each capable of producing 5,793 hp, she packs quite a punch. But there’s even more. Coupled with controllable-pitch propellers designed by Rolls-Royce–a first for Royal De Vries–“this engine package is enough to make a gear head salivate. Even her captain, Greg Drewes, knows the feeling: “I can’t wait to drive her!”
And once the protective coating on her blue hull (hence the gray hue in the photos) is removed and we get a good look at her interior, designed by Bannenberg Designs and thus far kept under wraps, too, more people will no doubt salivate.
Leave a Reply