Megayacht News Onboard: Sycara IV

Ever since Sycara IV departed the shores of Lake Michigan in July for the East Coast, nearly every single person who has come across her has admitted to doing the same thing: staring at her with mouth agape, then wishing they had a camera handy. (Don’t believe it? See the dozen or so comments here.)

The 151-footer, the newest megayacht from Burger Boat Company, has stopped people dead in their tracks because of her down-to-the-millimeter replication of a classic fantail cruiser. While they’ve been buzzing with excitement over what they’ve been seeing, they’re not the only ones. The owner is buzzing, too, because what started as a decades-long dream has finally become a reality.

That owner is Ray Catena, a name familiar to car buyers up and down the northeastern coastline. His name should also be familiar to yacht watchers; as I’ve mentioned previously, he and his wife Elsie have owned a handful of megayachts in recent years, including Sycara III, Mercedes and Mercedes II, all built by Oceanfast. As much as the couple enjoyed extended cruising aboard those yachts, though, they just weren’t enough. About 20 years ago, Catena says he fell in love with the idea of building a megayacht much like the famed Corsair IV. If you know your history, you may recall that the Maine-based Bath Iron Works delivered the 343-foot Corsair IV in 1930 – to none other than the tycoon J.P. Morgan. Whether the yacht was simply cruising American shores or setting new transatlantic crossing records, she grabbed headlines for the better part of the next decade.

Maybe it was Corsair IV’s elegant bowsprit, or maybe it was simply the magnitude of the design. Maybe it was a combination of both. Regardless, Catena kept daydreaming about replicating the look until a few years ago, when he decided it was time to bring it to fruition. He also decided there would be no better place to build than in the United States. After all, the design is quintessentially American. With the input of his longtime project manager, Steve Narcawicz, he selected Burger to build Sycara IV. “It’s a quality yard with a lot of quality people,” Catena says.

I’ve already introduced you to one of those quality people, Kenton Keadle, who spent about 200 hours carving the trail boards flanking the bow. What you don’t know is that Keadle volunteered for the job. The Catenas had originally planned to commission the trail boards, which are adorned with gold leaf, from a subcontractor. But Narcawicz tells me that some of the companies returned bids that were just too high, while others couldn’t match the intricate detail and quality the Catenas desired. He and the Catenas were visiting Burger one day during the build process and discussing the dilemma, when Keadle gently interjected, “I can do it.” Narcawicz and Catena individually told me they are quite pleased with the craftsmanship, saying it’s on a scale that makes it hard to draw your eyes away.

Other quality people, from Burger’s in-house joinery department to naval architect Bruce King and interior designer Ken Freivokh, brought the rest of Sycara IV’s authentic elements to reality. King graced her with a schooner-inspired hull, which also has better seakeeping abilities than beamier modern designs. Tank tests bore this out, as did sea trials, where the yacht achieved a 12½-knot cruise and averaged around the 27-gph fuel-consumption goal the owner’s team had set. Since 1930s-era cruisers were equipped with funnels, Sycara IV has one, too – but it’s removable, as is the mast, for times when the yacht transits beneath low bridges on inland waterways. That’s another key part of Catena’s longtime dream: to cruise America’s famed rivers and Great Lakes, something he couldn’t do with his previous deeper-draft superyachts.

As for Freivokh, he planned out white beadboarding and dark madrona burl paneling for the walls. The combination is complemented by teak and sycamore soles in some places, cream-tone carpeting in others. Complete with stainless steel hardware, ebony inlays, and Lalique crystal insets and faucets, the overall look is akin to “a piece of art,” Catena reflects.

I’ll let the slideshow below convey the rest of the story. Here’s a closer look at Sycara IV.

_{PHOTOS: NEIL RABINOWITZ}