Despite personal subs catching on with megayacht owners several years ago, a challenge still remains. Not every current yacht—whether a brokerage buy or especially a charter yacht—can carry these craft. ShadowCat and Triton Submersibles came up with a solution that can scale up in size and complexity. It’s ShadowLark, a support yacht purpose-designed to carry a specific Triton sub. What’s more, the yacht and sub together costs less than $10 million, with delivery available 14 months from contract.
ShadowCat collaborates with shipyard stateside, in Europe, and even in the Middle East. This broad reach makes construction in a timely manner possible. Additionally, all naval architecture and engineering for the 80-footer (24-meter) are from Incat Crowther, ShadowCat’s exclusive design partner. The design and build teams are the same ones behind the superyacht shadow cat Hodor, carrying a plethora of toys. Hodor, as well as Wayfinder, a similarly capable yacht, show ShadowCat’s advantages, according to Robert Smith, the company’s founder. “We are keen to collaborate with submersible industry leader Triton Submarines on the development of this innovative new offering to meet the growing needs of this emerging market,” he adds.
ShadowLark is actually a LARC, a Launch and Recovery Craft. She can operate independently, or as a support yacht. Either way, her beam of 27’9” (8.5 meters) allows for plenty of creature comforts, too. For instance, ShadowCat and Incat Crowther envision a saloon, bar area, galley, and crew’s quarters for four. They further envision a dive center and stowage for a traditional tender and PWCs amid the three decks. Since she’s scalable, “we can enlarge ShadowLark to house bigger submarines or to make room for additional leisure and entertainment areas,” Smith notes.
As for the sub, it’s the Triton 3300/3 MKII. It seats a pilot and two passengers, plus can dive to about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) for up to 12 hours. To put the sub demand dilemma into better perspective, existing yachts often can’t tote, launch, and recover something of a sub’s magnitude. Some can weigh up to 26,400 pounds (12,000 kilograms), in fact. The Triton 3300/3 MKII is still hefty, weighing 17,640 pounds (8,000 kilograms) and measures 13 feet by nearly 10 feet by nearly 8½ feet (4 by 3 by 2.6 meters). Triton Submarines delivers the sub DNV-classed, with a single lift point, and with owners’ custom requests. Ten units are either already done or in build as well.
Patrick Lahey, Triton Submarines’ president and co-founder, says ShadowCat’s track record speaks volumes about making ocean exploration more accessible. His company shares that philosophy, too. Ultimately, ShadowLark allows “staying true to the objective of creating an affordable, efficient, safe, and entirely practical platform.”
Incat Crowther incatcrowther.com
ShadowCat theshadowcat.com
Triton Submarines tritonsubs.com
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