When Ward Setzer, principal of Setzer Yacht Architects, spent this past winter at his firm’s new Antigua office, he noticed something about the megayachts dotting the harbor. “They were going after charter like crazy,” he says. “Few owners were using them.” In addition, after watching how the megayachts were used day to day, and casually talking with captains and crew, he came to a realization: Few yachts are really self-sufficient, despite efforts over the years by naval architects like him as well as builders to make them that way.
Those observations and conversations formed the basis for the Setzer New American Motoryacht Series, of which the 151’9” (46.3-meter) Classic Clipper shown here is the first one. “It certainly has crew at its foundation,” Setzer says. After all, “crew are spending 95 percent of the time on boats, and clients five percent,” he explains, plus yachts have gone well beyond the need for suitcase stowage beneath staircases.
“In February, it all started pouring out of me on paper,” Setzer says. It started with what he terms “purity of line,” and a hand-sketch (below). “Was it simple? Is it buildable? Is it repairable? Does it serve a function, or is it just fluff?” These and more were—and remain—the driving questions behind ensuring that the Classic Clipper, as well as all of the New American Motoryacht Series designs, would avoid “visual pollution” and simultaneously serve true purposes.
The Classic Clipper, with a beam of 29’6” (about 9 meters) and draft of 7’10” (about 2.4 meters), has a combination of a clipper bow and knuckled bow. The two styles don’t just look good; the knuckle deflects spray. Further, Setzer designed the hull to be efficient without a bulbous bow.
Specific to crew, Setzer says that some of the biggest complaints shared with him centered around not having enough room in the galley, the laundry area, and stowage areas for garbage. In fact, Setzer says, even owners say there isn’t enough room for silver service aboard some megayachts. Aboard the Classic Clipper, Setzer therefore designed a commercial galley with a guest coffee lounge, plus an additional separate mini-galley in the transom beach club. Why the latter? Because he observed crew using small barbecues set up there when guests were lounging and playing on watertoys. By contrast, cooking in and serving from the galley meant carrying food through the yacht, and risking it getting cold. (If you think about some yachts, especially ones where the galley is below decks, it’s really pretty far removed from the outdoor areas that guests use the most, and dumbwaiters just can’t do the trick everywhere.)
For the laundry, while megayacht design and build teams plan space for multiple washers and dryers, there isn’t nearly enough for folding. Specifically, not enough room for folding sheets—which Setzer says many stews end up doing in the crew lounge. The Classic Clipper has a laundry that’s oversize by typical standards. As for garbage, most of the megayachts afloat weren’t designed from day one with a dedicated space to keep it for days at a time; crew often convert a bosun’s locker or other area. The Classic Clipper, and again the rest of the New American Motoryacht Series, has a large, refrigerated room for the purpose.
The crew-centric focus even extends to the interior. For one, “All the frou frou is gone,” Setzer says, explaining that moldings and other additions make for more cleaning and maintenance for the stews. The one exception would be on vintage-era designs, but otherwise the megayachts will have much more streamlined looks. For accommodations, four essentially identical staterooms below decks take care of guests. It’s well-known in the yachting industry that guests spend very little time in their staterooms, plus crew told Setzer that they like some sameness, for ease of servicing. The owner’s suite is full beam on the main deck, with skylights in the en suite bath and a side lounge. Setzer is continuing to study the best ways to address owners’ offices, making them function just like a home office. He envisions it on the sky-lounge level. Aboard most megayachts, he says, they’re really just space carved from the hallways connecting the suite to the rest of the main deck. “I want to give them a tempting place to work where it can be a seamless transition,” he says. The same is true for captain’s offices; no more working on the crew lounge table or in a nav room where a computer happens to be squeezed in.
The 10-person crew will have two places from which to launch toys. The primary tender will be in a recessed garage on the bow, with its own crane. In conversations with some crew, Setzer says they initially balked at the idea, but they admit it works. Plus, aboard the Classic Clipper he says you’d never know by looking at the megayacht that she has tender stowage here. Sailing dinghies, diving gear, and more will go in the transom, which will fold out to become a dock and beach club. Both setups free the sundeck up for the full use of the guests, who Setzer observed over and over again heading straight there upon boarding.
This, in turn, means the sundeck will have sunpads and a hot tub, plus a retractable bimini, but no exterior helm station. Why not? Many captains told Setzer they prefer navigating and handling related tasks away from the guests, for better concentration.
There are many other aspects to the Classic Clipper, which should see a 4,500-nautical-mile range at 11 to 12 knots with twin Caterpillar 3512Bs and a top speed just shy of 16 knots. Those aspects include several different color options for the hull, with the wine red here being one of the bolder choices.
For more information directly from Setzer Yacht Architects about the Classic Clipper and the New American Motoryacht Series in general, fill out our contact form.
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