Megayacht News Onboard: CRN's Blue Eyes

A yacht is, naturally, a way to take a journey. Blue Eyes, the latest 60-meter (197-foot) displacement yacht from CRN, puts an interesting twist on the concept. The owner and his wife did commission the craft as a lavish second home, and they do therefore spend a lot of time onboard, neither of which is terribly surprising. The twist comes in that they also wanted to take friends and family along – on a virtual journey, through the Occident and Orient.

The “passage” begins the moment they step onto the aft deck. A crystal globe takes center stage here, etched with the continents and countries that are represented throughout the rest of Blue Eyes. It’s easy to imagine this becoming quite a conversation piece itself, rather than the area simply serving as an alfresco place to gather and chat. The globe also represents places that the owner and his wife have ventured to, underscoring the idea of sharing travels with their guests. It’s worth noting that the owner’s wife took great pride in becoming intimately involved in details great and small like this. Even things most people wouldn’t pay much attention to, like curtain tiebacks, have a thematic relation to the virtual journey she and her husband want everyone to enjoy.

They can study objects and books related to the Orient concept in the library, just inside the aft-deck doors. It’s a welcome change from the more traditional entries, many of which lead guests directly into the saloon. It’s also a rounded room, made more dramatic by the inclusion of a piano.

The theme continues into the saloon, where there are a handful of crafted-stone Chinese symbols for good luck. In fact, several of them feature circular designs, a shape additionally considered auspicious in Chinese culture. Even the silks used to upholster the furnishings are intended to invoke the Silk Road that Marco Polo famously traveled along.

Chinese dragons make an appearance in the saloon and reappear in the owner’s suite, fully forward on the main deck. The owner’s wife is said to have a fondness for these dragons. If you look up the symbolic meaning of them, you may come across several different explanations. Some hold them to be the divine rulers of the seas, while others highlight their ability to ward off evil. Either way, it seems the owner’s wife and all aboard Blue Eyes have someone looking out for them.

The owner’s suite is also where East meets West. As do many superyachts these days, Blue Eyes has an office preceding the bedroom. An antique map depicting winds adorns the overhead directly above the writing desk, itself covered in Asian decorative elements. But the left side of the bedroom has the most distinctly Western – and modern – touch, a fold-down balcony to starboard. CRN has been offering these “sea terraces,” as it likes to call them, on nearly all of its launches for the past few years, and I have yet to see a single delivery without one.

Even though the guest accommodations aren’t as lavish as the master, they do pick up the map and Western motifs. Old maps depicting English naval routes decorate each of the four staterooms down here (a fifth lies on the upper deck). Each of the four also bears the name of a specific Mediterranean wind: scirocco (better known in English as sirocco), a wind originating in the Sahara Desert and sometimes growing to hurricane force; libeccio, a westerly or southwesterly wind in northern Corsica; ponente, a western wind; and grecale, a wind from the northeast.

To enjoy real winds – hopefully none as strong as the sirocco can blow – the owner’s party can head up to Blue Eyes’ sundeck or down to her “beach club.” The sundeck features the customary Jacuzzi, sunpads, and alfresco dining, and it’s also home to the enclosed (and air conditioned) gym. Given its proximity to the water, however, the beach club will likely win out, especially when Blue Eyes has a still anchorage all to herself. Deck chairs and settees can be brought out onto the teak-laid platform, formed when the transom folds down over the water. Previous CRNs in the 60-meter and up range, like Ability and Clarena 2, have also featured the beach club, though some owners have opted for a wellness-oriented area, with gym equipment and massage and sauna rooms.