If ever there were a great name for a yacht, Do It Now would qualify. The spirit of that statement seems to be the owner’s overall philosophy, too. She spent three days at Horizon Yachts recently to pore over details for her upcoming delivery, the first Horizon E98.
Do It Now’s owner, an American, is a repeat customer for the Taiwanese builder, having owned a 76. (On a side note, she’s the ideal target buyer for the E98 series. John Lu, Horizon’s CEO, says it’s for owners “not yet ready to make the leap to 110-foot-plus yachts but searching for something larger than 90 feet.”) For this trip, she took her captain and engineer along to meet with Horizon’s in-house naval architects and interior designers.
The trio reviewed the progress of the E98 thus far, in build for a 2017 delivery. They toured the partially constructed yacht, plus broke out into individual meetings. Among the items discussed were engineering components, the general arrangement, and decor. “It was a perfect time to visit,” the owner of Do It Now explains. “The room partitions were in place, but the walls were still open, which allowed us to work with the team to create additional storage spaces, visualize the finished spaces, and tweak the design features.”
She did some of that tweaking with the help of computerized design, as seen above. Overall, the owner customized many different aspects of Do It Now from the beginning of the project. The main saloon is a significant example. Traditionally, a megayacht like the Horizon E98 would have a combination saloon-dining area, then the galley forward, and perhaps the master fully forward. Some alternately make the galley into a country kitchen and situate the master below decks. Aboard Do It Now, though, there’s no formal dining area. The saloon, outfitted in walnut wood, therefore occupies most of the floorspace, with a welcoming country kitchen fully forward. The 23-foot-beam (7-meter-beam) boat also has an open flying bridge, except for a fixed windshield forward. Typically the area is either fully open or fully enclosed.
Plenty of owners report enjoying shipyard visits like this one. The owner, captain, and engineer of Do It Now might have better stories to tell than most, however. They were treated to a dinner that rivals a wedding banquet, consisting of 15 (yes, 15) courses. Sounds like the owner’s chef may have work cut out for him or her…
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