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BETTER PLACE Yacht – Grandiose $50m Superyacht

The BETTER PLACE yacht is a 50.0m sailing yacht built by Italian shipbuilders Wally in 2012.

At the time of her delivery, she broke the record for being the world’s largest carbon sloop and the first yacht to earn a RINA’s Green Star for her minimal environmental impact.  

She is the first largest yacht built by Wally and she’s also one of the largest yachts in the world. 

BETTER PLACE Yacht Interior

The BETTER PLACE yacht interior was styled by Wally and Dutch design house  Wetzels Brown Partners. 

One of the key elements of this yacht is her interiors open onto the exteriors and vice versa, making easy access for natural light. 

Some of her sophisticated materials are satin, oak, leather, carbon fiber, and upholstery in white and grey colors. 

Her detailed décor includes lamps, cushions, frame pictures, and colors like raspberry, ice green, and sky blue to match the exterior of the vessel. 

What makes her unique is her integral design, where the interior meets the exterior in a smooth transition. She is illuminated with color-changing LED lights. 

Her amenities include an equipped flybridge, spa pool, side bathing platform, terrace on the sea, jacuzzi tub, and barbecue, among so many others. 

BETTER PLACE offers extensive open areas on deck, perfect to host up to 16 people. 

She was built to accommodate up to 10 guests in five cabins, comprising the owner’s suite, two double cabins, and two twin cabins. She can also host up to 9 crew members on board. 

The staterooms can be found on the cabin deck, they all have wall bulkheads and grey, black, and carbon finishes. The twin cabins were specially made for the children. 

BETTER PLACE Yacht Exterior

The BETTER PLACE yacht features exterior design by Wally and naval architecture by Tripp Design Naval Architects. She is one of the ultra-light yachts that displaces only 250 tons.

This modern sailing yacht has both a hull and superstructure built with carbon fiber, as well as a Teak deck. 

The vessel exterior has sporty lines featuring a metallic Bugatti blue painting and materials like carbon and lacquered oak. She also has an imposing 67.5m carbon mast by New Zealand company Hall Spars. 

Her layout comprises a main deck, a cabin deck, and a sundeck. 

BETTER PLACE Yacht Specifications

The BETTER PLACE yacht has a 10.25m beam, a 6.2m draft, and a gross tonnage of 310. She is the only Wally 164 model.

She cruises at 12.5 knots but can reach a maximum speed of 14 knots thanks to her 1x380HP Cummins diesel.

Her diesel-electric system helps reduce consumption, noise, and vibration while providing a more efficient cruising.  

She has a fuel capacity of 18,000 liters and can carry 6,000 liters of fresh water on board. She is in the top 10% by LOA and currently sails under the Cayman Islands flag. 

BETTER PLACE is not listed for sale or available for charter, but her price is around $30 million and a running cost of $3 million per year.  

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BETTER PLACE - 164' (50M)

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BETTER PLACE // Wally Yachts

The 50m better place by wally from 2012 is a very modern flybridge sailing yacht in stunning bugatti blue..

BETTER PLACE  is one the largest sloop-rigged sailing yachts in carbon fiber and RINA Green Star certification. The boat offers 300 sqm of inside space and 500 sqm outside area. Furthermore, she has a hybrid propulsion system to reduce fuel consumption, noise, and vibrations.

Wetzels Brown Partners and the Wally in-house team created the exterior design. Wetzels Brown Partners is also responsible for the interior design.

Luca Bassani, Wally’s founder and President and Head of the R&D commented:

“With Better Place, once again Wally opens a new route in yacht design and innovation. We succeeded in delivering an environmentally friendly and breakthrough Wally 50m with aggressive and sleek lines of a true performance sailing yacht, rather than the motor sailer look typical of this class of yachts.”

Interior of Sailing Yacht BETTER PLACE

The Wetzels Brown Partners design sleeps 10 guests and a crew of 10 in light and bright interior.

The owners’ suite has a large size of 62 square meters with a lot of natural light, thanks to windows on the sides. Furthermore, the owner has direct access to the vast 30 square meter Terrace-on-the-sea – a typical Wally feature.

The deckhouse offers 86 square meters of open space with dining and lounge areas, surrounded by full-height windows giving an airy feeling. It is like a protected cockpit or like a pavilion. In the forward area of the deckhouse is the wheelhouse.

The forward social cockpit, directly accessible from the interior dining and lounge areas, features table seats and sun beds for up to 20-people. Beyond this, the forward deck features a Jacuzzi, finished in black, which is positioned beneath deck level and is, therefore, invisible when not in use, a hidden winch “cockpit” for the halyards, two large tender garages, stay-sail locker, sail lockers, and the Wally submarine anchor locker.

Better Place ‘s 100-sqm sundeck is accessed both by an outside staircase and by an inside open staircase, leading to steering and navigation, lounge, dining, sunbathing and barbeque areas, A particularly innovative service feature is the open food lift connecting galley, interior dining area and sundeck– a ‘suitcase’ suspended in free space, connected by a single vertical track, to lift . The sundeck dining can be converted into a huge sunbed with the addition of an inflatable mattress, providing further comfort without stretching available storage capacity.

A hull-side door is located amidships to starboard: when open, it converts into a swimming and tender boarding platform. The picture below is also good to compare the size. Another picture to compare is the one the crew member in the boom.

“Man in the Boom” – a lot of shares on social medias but often without context or what yacht it is. These photos show the size of the yacht.

Maximising space and minimising storage requirements, a newly designed seating module has been developed for the deck in carbon and mesh with low-profile cushions, for easy stowage, by the interior designers Wetzels Brown Partners, who designed all the deck furnishing.

The lower deck of Better Place features the night and service areas accommodating the owners in the aft suite and up to ten guests in four double staterooms, and ten crew in five double cabins. All cabins have en-suites.

The crew and service quarter is forward with galley, laundry and crew mess. The two engine rooms are amidships.

The interior design combines carbon look both gloss and satin, satin white lacquered oak, grey leather, and color matched upholstery to create a relaxed feeling. Colour-changing LED lights are used throughout the yacht and can be adjusted in order to change the atmosphere, reflecting the interior design concept to have soft and neutral tones that are colored by the lights. The cabins are linked by a light installation, running along the spine of the yacht.

There are currently no information if this yacht or sale or a price.

Main Specifications BETTER PLACE

The area around the deckhouse features the raised bulwark, appeared firstly on Wally’s ESENSE in 2006. This feature offers an aesthetically kind of safety without stanchions on the hull. Only the flush deck has stobs for the rail.

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This Yacht is not for Charter*

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Better Place

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BETTER PLACE yacht NOT for charter*

49.9m  /  163'9 | wally | 2012.

Owner & Guests

Cabin Configuration

• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Multi-award winning
• RINA (Registro Italiano Navale) C ✠ HULL ● MACH classification
• Sleeps 10 overnight

The multi-award winning 49.9m/163'9" sail yacht 'Better Place' was built by Wally in Italy at their Fano shipyard. Her interior is styled by design house Wetzels Brown Partners and she was delivered to her owner in June 2012. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Wally.

Guest Accommodation

Better Place has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 10 guests in 5 suites. She is also capable of carrying up to 9 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Range & Performance

Better Place is built with a GRP hull and GRP superstructure. Better Place comfortably cruises at 14 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 14 knots. Her water tanks store around 6,000 Litres of fresh water. She was built to RINA (Registro Italiano Navale) C ✠ HULL ● MACH classification society rules.

*Charter Better Place Sail Yacht

Sail yacht Better Place is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Better Place Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Better Place Photos

Better Place Awards & Nominations

• The World Superyacht Awards 2013 Best Sailing Yacht in 40m+ size range Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Interior Design Award: Sailing Yachts Winner
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Naval Architecture Award: Sailing Yachts Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Recreational Area for Guest Use Award Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Environmental Protection Award Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2013 Holistic Design Award Winner
• International Superyacht Society Awards 2013 Best Sail 40 M+ Winner

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Specification

S/Y Better Place

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Better Place- largest carbon fiber sloop, 1st Green Star sailing yacht

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Images of the world’s largest carbon fibre sloop BETTER PLACE – the first Green Star sailing yacht

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Written by Eva Belanyiova

The largest carbon fibre built sloop BETTER PLACE is a beautiful Bugatti blue coloured 50-metre vessel and the first RINA Green Star sailing yacht in the world. Constructed at WallyEurope facility, utilising cutting-edge technology, superyacht Better Place was launched in May, 2012 and yachting enthusiast had a chance to admire her at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show . This sophisticated craft features exterior by Tripp Design and spectacular interior by Wetzels Brown Partners .

Wally50m Better Place superyacht photo Gilles Martin-Raget

As described by Wally Founder and President Luca Bassani Antivari, Better Place is an “environmentally friendly and breakthrough Wally 50m with aggressive and sleek lines of a true performance sailing yacht, rather than the motor sailer look typical of this class of yachts.”

“Better Place introduces innovative concepts in the round-the-world mega yacht cruisers“ continues Bassani “such as big volumes associated with ultra light displacement, latest diesel electric propulsion system, staysail simplified system, deckhouse with full height windows, uniquely large open-air living areas, raised bulwark, aft owner’s suite with portholes and hatches on four sides and direct access to the Terrace-on-the-sea. “

Wally50m luxury yacht Better Place - Photo Rolex-Carlo Borlenghi

She is also the first sailing yacht ever created to comply with the environmental requirements of the RINA Green Star Design additional class notation, reserved to the ships designed, built and operated in such way as to ensure maximum respect for the environment.

Wally 50m superyacht Better Place - Photo credit Gilles Martin-Raget.jpg

The measured displacement of this mega sailer perfectly matches the theoretical data: only 250 tons, of which 88 of the ballast (fin and bulb keel) and 11.5 of the full rigging (mast, boom, PBO rigging). The Wally 50m resulted also in perfect trim.

“This result reflects WallyEurope’s excellent building quality carried out throughout all the construction, using the latest advanced composite technology” confirms Luca Bassani.

Better Place yacht’s displacement and sail area ratio provides for and excellent performance also in light airs, under 10 knots of wind. Her Wally lifting keel, increasing the draft from 4.6 to 6.5 metres, further improves her performance, that are associated with the proven Wally easy-sailing system to produce a true Fast and Easy mega yacht.

Wally50m luxury yacht Better Place - Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget

Along with the in-furling boom, self-tacking jib, Magic Trim for the main sheet, captive winch for the jib sheet , and push button controls, the Wally easy-sailing features of the Wally 50m include the new staysail system, specifically developed by the R&D for this mega yacht: the furling staysail with no-torsion luff cable is always ready to be easily and quickly hoisted from its 8.6-m long dedicated locker in the forward deck.

Wally50m luxury yacht Better Place - Sundeck forward social area - Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget

The fast and simplified mega yacht uniquely combines performance with all the world cruiser characteristics offering plenty of storage and large living areas exceeding 300 sqm inside and 400 sqm outside.

Wally50m Better Place yacht - dining area in sundeck - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The unique environmental characteristics of Better Place go even further than those required by the RINA Green Star Classification: she is the first sailing yacht equipped with the latest diesel electric propulsion technology, to increase power efficiency and reduce consumption, noise and vibration, as well as the ordinary maintenance of the propulsion system.

Wally50m Better Place - forward cockpit - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The 705kW power is produced by three generators, offering the opportunity to convert some hydraulic services into electrical ones thanks to the very powerful energy source, such as the inner stay furler, and the sheet tensioning devices.

Wally50m superyacht Better Place - Aft deck social area at night Photo Gilles Martin-Raget

Developed on the lines of Tripp Design with the interiors by Wetzels Brown Partners, the overall design, interior and exterior, is astonishing and innovative compared to any other similar yacht.

Wally50m Better Place yacht - Glass deck house starboard side looking forward - Photo Gilles Martin-Raget

The exterior and interiors are developed following the Wally concept of inside-outside living areas, whereas the interiors open onto the exteriors and vice versa. Introduced in yacht design by Wally in 1998 with the sailing cruiser Tiketitan, this concept has been constantly developed by the Monegasque brand pioneering also the glass deckhouses and the deck skylights.

Wally50m Luxury sloop Better Place - main salon looking aft - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The deckhouse encloses the 86-sqm open space with navigation, dining and lounge areas, and is characterised by full height windows giving the open-air feeling, a sort of sheltered cockpit enhancing the inside-outside living.

Wally 50m Better Place - dining area looking aft - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The genuinely Wally raised bulwark, firstly featured by Esense in 2006, offers unique protection and replaces the less safe and aesthetically appealing rail and stanchions, while leaving the hull lines pure.

Wally 50m Better Place sloop - dining area and navigation area - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The 62-sqm owners’ suite is aft with extraordinary visibility and brightness. The natural light floods in from four sides of the vast stateroom: through the portholes on both sides, and the mirrored glass aft and above. The owners’ private area has direct access to the 30-sqm Terrace-on-the-sea, that is another distinctive feature of the Wally inside-outside concept.

Wally50m Better Place yacht main staircase accessing sun deck above and guest night area below - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The main deck is open and free of unnecessary interruptions, the saloon, dining room and wheelhouse forming one continuous, 86 sqm open space under the deckhouse.

Wally50m Better Place - Owner's suite - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The saloon with panoramic views seats 20 people as lounge opening onto the aft deck with further lounge space. There is an option for the central coffee table to be converted into an additional dining for eight people.

50m Wally sailing yacht Better Place - Owner's suite port side with lounge and TV area - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The dining area forward seats 10 people in dining layout and can be converted into an additional lounge area with XL sofa seating six comfortably .

Luxury yacht Wally 50m Better Place - Owner's suite starboard side with queen size bed -PhotoToni Meneguzzo

The forward social cockpit, directly accessible from the interior dining and lounge areas, features table seats and sun beds for up to 20-people. Beyond this, the forward deck features a Spa Pool, finished in black, which is positioned beneath deck level and is therefore invisible when not in use, an hidden winch “cockpit” for the halyards, two large tender garages, stay-sail locker, sail lockers, and the Wally submarine anchor locker.

Wally50m Better Place - Owners' en-suite with shower room to the left and head to the right- Photo Toni Meneguzzo

The 100-sqm sundeck is accessed both by an outside staircase and by an inside open staircase, leading to steering and navigation, lounge, dining, sunbathing and barbeque areas.

Wally50m Better Place luxury yacht - Double guest cabin with glossy black colour theme - Photo Toni Meneguzzo

A particularly innovative service feature is the open food lift connecting galley, interior dining area and sundeck– a ‘suitcase’ suspended in free space, connected by a single vertical track, to lift . The sundeck dining can be converted into a huge sunbed with the addition of an inflatable mattress, providing further comfort without stretching available storage capacity.

Wally50m Better Place - Twin guest cabin with metallic green colour theme - Photo by Toni Meneguzzo

A hull side door is located amidships to starboard: when open, it converts into a swimming and tender boarding platform.

Maximising space and minimising storage requirements, a newly designed seating module has been developed for the deck in carbon and mesh with low profile cushions, for easy stowage, by the interior designers Wetzels Brown Partners, who designed all the deck furnishing.

Wally50m yacht Better Place - Galley - Photo Toni Meneguzzo.

The lower deck features the night and service areas accommodating the owners in the aft suite and up to ten guests in four double staterooms, and ten crew in five double cabins. All cabins have en-suites.

The crew and service quarter is forward with galley, laundry and crew mess.

The two engine rooms are amidships.

Wally50m luxury sailing yacht Better Place - One of the two tender garages in the forward deck - Photo Gilles Martin-Raget

The interior design combines carbon look both gloss and satin, satin white lacquered oak, grey leather and colour matched upholstery to create a relaxed feeling. Colour-changing LED lights are used throughout the yacht and can be adjusted in order to change the atmosphere, reflecting the interior design concept to have soft and neutral tones that are coloured by the lights. The cabins are linked by a light installation, running along the spine of the yacht.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Images of the world's largest carbon fibre sloop BETTER PLACE - the first Green Star sailing yacht ".

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The 5 tragic minutes that sank a superyacht

PORTICELLO, Italy — Survivors of a storm that sank a superyacht off Sicily recounted their ordeal to one of the doctors who rushed to their aid, with some saying it took mere minutes for the 180-foot ship to go down. 

Dr. Fabio Genco, head of the Palermo Emergency Medical Services, told NBC News on the phone Thursday that he arrived in the seaside village of Porticello before dawn Monday, about an hour after the $40 million Bayesian sank in the violent and sudden storm.   

Of the 22 people onboard, 15 survived despite storm conditions and darkness, climbing onto a lifeboat before being rescued by a nearby sailboat. The crew members have made no public statements so far, though some have been interviewed by investigators.

“They told me that it was all dark, that the yacht hoisted itself up and then went down,” Genco said, recounting what the survivors told him. “All the objects were falling on them. That’s why I immediately made sure, by asking them questions, if they had any internal injuries,” he said. 

It appears they had just minutes to abandon the sinking ship, Genco said. 

“They told me that suddenly they found themselves catapulted into the water without even understanding how they had got there,” he said, “And that the whole thing seems to have lasted from 3 to 5 minutes.”

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini Navi, the Bayesian's shipbuilder, told Sky News that there were no flaws with the design or construction of the yacht. He said their structure and keel made boats like that “unsinkable bodies.”

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he disavowed responsibility, blaming instead the actions of the crew. “Mistakes were made,” he said. 

Genco said one of his colleagues who arrived at the scene before him initially thought that only three people survived, but the coast guard reported there were other survivors and more emergency services were called in. 

When Genco arrived, he found scenes of panic and despair. 

“Unfortunately, we are used to such panic scenes because we are used to the shipwrecks that happen on Lampedusa ,” Genco said, referring to the island southwest of Sicily, where the wreckage of boats carrying migrants on the sea journey from North Africa to Italy are often found . 

Six of the passengers were declared missing Monday, and by Thursday, the bodies of five had been recovered from the wreck , some 160 feet underwater.

Among those who survived is Angela Bacares, wife of the British tech mogul Mike Lynch , whose body was recovered Thursday. 

Another survivor has been identified as Charlotte Emsley, 35. She told the Italian news agency ANSA that she had momentarily lost hold of her year-old daughter, Sofia, in the water but managed to retrieve her and hold her over the waves until a lifeboat inflated and they were pulled into safety.

Dr. Domenico Cipolla at the Di Cristina Children’s Hospital in Palermo is also part of a team of medical professionals treating the shipwreck survivors. He told the BBC on Wednesday that Emsley and her daughter, as well as the father of the child, who Cipolla said also survived, are continuing to receive psychological help. 

“Psychological support was constant and is constant even today, because basically it is the wounds of the soul that are the most in need of healing in these cases,” Cipolla said.

Genco also told NBC News that he was especially concerned about the child. “She did not understand anything. She was soaking wet and cold,” he said. 

Karsten Borner, the Dutch captain of the Sir Robert Baden Powell, a yacht that was anchored near the Bayesian, said by phone Wednesday that he saw a thunderstorm come in at around 4 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET) Monday, followed by what looked like a waterspout, a type of tornado that forms over water. 

The International Centre for Waterspout Research noted on X that there was a “waterspout outbreak” off Italy on Monday, the day the Bayesian sank. 

“I turned on the engine and made maneuvers so that we wouldn’t collide with the Bayesian, which was anchored about 100 meters from us,” Borner said. “Then all of a sudden it disappeared. Then the wind calmed down, we looked around and saw a red flare.”

Borner said he got into his boat’s tender and saw a life raft with 15 people on it. Members of the crew were administering first aid. 

“I don’t know why it sank so quickly, but it may have something to do with the mast which was incredibly long,” he said. Questions have been raised about whether the mast was to blame for the accident as tall masts, even with the sails down, have more surface area exposed to the wind, which can contribute to tipping a vessel in a storm.

The CCTV footage that emerged Tuesday showed the yacht’s 250-foot mast, believed to be one of the tallest aluminum sailing masts in the world, lashed by the storm as it appears to tilt to one side before disappearing.

Claudia Rizzo is an Italy based journalist.

Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

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The 16 minutes that plunged the Bayesian yacht into a deadly spiral

Until midnight last Sunday, Matteo Cannia was sitting out on a bench overlooking the sea in Porticello. It was too hot to sleep.

The 78-year-old, a fisherman since the age of 10, saw the first flashes of lightning. "I heard the thunder and the wind and decided to go home," he told me.

"As the storm grew, everyone woke. Water was coming into my friend’s house."

At about 04:15 local time, Fabio Cefalù – a fisherman who had been due to go out that wild Monday morning but, like others, decided against it – suddenly saw a flare go up.

He changed his mind and went out to sea to find out what was going on – and discovered only cushions and floating planks of wood.

A luxury super yacht called the Bayesian, moored only a few hundred metres away, had already sunk.

It all happened in a 16-minute window of disaster , chaos and torment, which catapulted a sleepy Sicilian fishing port to the centre of world news.

All but seven of the 22 people on board the Bayesian - 12 passengers and 10 crew - had scrambled into a life raft as the yacht began to capsize. The others never made it out.

Charlotte Golunski, a British woman, was thrown into the water with her one-year-old daughter, Sophie. She told of clutching her baby in the air with all her strength to keep her from drowning. "It was all black around me," she said, "and the only thing I could hear were the screams of others."

She, her baby, and her husband James were among those rescued by a nearby sailing boat captain. Trapped inside the sinking Bayesian was her colleague Mike Lynch – one of the UK’s top tech entrepreneurs, dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”.

Luxury turned to terror

Mr Lynch had brought together family, friends and colleagues for an idyllic holiday on his luxury boat: a sumptuous 56-metre (184ft) sailing yacht that won design awards and had the world’s tallest aluminium mast.

In June, he was acquitted after a lengthy trial in the US on charges that he had fraudulently inflated the value of his company, Autonomy, before selling it to Hewlett Packard in 2011. The trip was planned as a celebration of freedom to mark his rehabilitation in public opinion.

Three days after the yacht went down, his body was retrieved by divers from the wreckage.

A day later, the body of his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who was due to begin studying at the University of Oxford next month, was recovered.

Among the others who died were the president of the investment bank Morgan Stanley, Jonathan Bloomer, and his wife Judy; Mr Lynch’s lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda; and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas. Mr Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, survived.

The family has released a statement talking of their “unspeakable grief”, adding they are “devastated and in shock”.

How the super yacht sank so quickly while other smaller vessels nearby survived the storm undamaged has dumbfounded experts.

In a press conference this weekend – the first public statement by officials since the disaster – local prosecutors said they had begun an investigation into potential crimes of manslaughter and negligent shipwreck.

The region’s state prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio told reporters that while the probe was at a very early stage and nobody specific was being investigated, there were “many possibilities for culpability. It could be just the captain. It could be the whole crew… we are absolutely not ruling anything out”.

A small team of British marine investigators has also been sent to Sicily to work with their Italian counterparts.

Prosecutors said that they now believed a downburst was the weather phenomenon that hit the ship: a localised, powerful wind that descends from a thunderstorm and spreads unpredictably.

That contradicted previous reports that had identified the cause as a waterspout , or mini tornado at sea.

Either way, it’s clear extreme weather played a major role.

The crucial 16-minute window

Much of the focus for the investigation team is of course on the conduct of the captain, 51-year-old James Cutfield from New Zealand. He survived, along with eight of his crew, and is being questioned.

“We didn’t see it coming,” he told Italian media, alluding to the storm, in his only public comment so far.

The problem is: plenty of others did. Violent winds and rain were forecast, following days of searing heat. The head of the company that built the Bayesian, Giovanni Costantino, told me he was convinced there had been a litany of errors on board.

“At the back of the boat, a hatch must have been left open,” he said, “but also perhaps a side entrance for water to have poured inside.

"Before the storm, the captain should have closed every opening, lifted anchor, turned on the engine, pointed into the wind and lowered the keel."

A keel is a large, fin-like part of the boat that protrudes from its base.

"That would have stabilised the vessel, they would have been able to traverse the storm and continue their cruise in comfort," he said.

Rescuers instead found the wreckage of the Bayesian 50 metres underwater with its almost 10-metre-long keel raised .

Had it been deployed, it could have helped counter the wind buffeting the Bayesian’s 75-metre high aluminium mast and kept the ship stable. But without it, experts told the newspaper La Repubblica that gusts of 100 kilometres an hour (62mph) would have been enough to capsize the ship – and Monday’s storm far exceeded that.

“The Bayesian was a model for many other vessels because of its stability and exceptionally high performance,” Mr Costantino said. “There was absolutely no problem with it. If water hadn’t surged in, it was unsinkable.”

He told me there were 16 minutes between the power going out on the ship at 03:56 – showing that water was flooding areas with electrical circuits – and the GPS signal being lost, indicating the moment it sank.

That period, along with any measures taken to mitigate the extreme weather, will be pored over by investigators, particularly once they locate the vessel’s black box recorder.

Rino Casilli, one of Sicily’s top ship surveyors, similarly believes that errors may have made the yacht vulnerable to the extreme weather.

“There should have been two members of the crew taking turns to be on watch overnight, given the storm warning,” he told me as he took me out on his boat – around a third of the size of the Bayesian. “And it should have been moored in the harbour, not out at sea.”

Prosecutors say they believe one person was on watch in the cockpit that night.

From Casilli's sailing boat, we gained rare access to the spot where the Bayesian went down.

Around us, an Italian police vessel circulated, warning us back. Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity among divers, as other rescue vessels arrived.

We didn’t know at the time – but they had just located more bodies.

It was an intensely challenging operation for the teams to recover those trapped in the wreckage. Given its depth, at 50 metres underwater, each diver was allowed 10 minutes down before resurfacing for their safety – 120 dives in total. They were assisted by remote control vehicles that could operate on the seabed for far longer.

In this weekend’s press conference, rescuers said the passengers trapped inside during the sinking took refuge in cabins on the ship’s left side, where the last air bubbles formed.

Five of the bodies were found in the first cabin on the left, they said, while the last body – confirmed as Hannah Lynch – was in the third cabin on the left side.

Access for the emergency teams was extremely difficult since the yacht remained largely intact with its furniture obstructing entry.

The coastguard compared it to an “18-storey building full of water”. When Ms Lynch’s body was brought ashore emergency workers on the port applauded their colleagues.

All seven of the dead have been transported to a mortuary for post-mortems.

Rescuers will now need to decide whether – and how – to salvage the wreckage, which would undoubtedly offer vital clues as to what happened. But bringing the Bayesian to the surface could take six to eight weeks and cost 15 million euros (£12.7m) by some estimates.

The hunt for clarity

While the divers’ painstaking work to recover the dead has ended, the investigators’ painful hunt for answers has only begun.

They and the survivors are hunkered down in a hotel close to Porticello, which is strictly off-limits to journalists. Security guards promptly asked us to leave.

Solving the enigma of what happened to the Bayesian will be crucial not only to help loved ones of the victims reach some sort of closure, but also for the maritime industry to draw conclusions.

The brother of James Cutfield, the captain, said he was a “well-respected” sailor who had worked on boats his whole life. Did the experienced sailor somehow make a series of catastrophic errors? The trade union Nautilus, which represents seafarers and captains, called for restraint in passing judgement on the Bayesian’s crew.

"Any attempt to question their conduct without the full facts is not only unfair but also harmful to the process of uncovering the truth and learning any lessons from this tragedy," it said.

The world’s media has begun to leave Porticello, which is gradually returning to the tranquillity of its pre-Bayesian era. Stray cats roam among the old fishing boats, and children play as their families eat out at the few seaside restaurants.

But what has happened over the past week has stunned and scarred many here.

“Last Sunday night, we saw the end of the world in Porticello,” said resident Maria Vizzo. “We’ve never seen something like this. Everyone here is shocked – and everyone is crying.”

Tributes to 'brilliant' Mike and Hannah Lynch as family speak of shock

Bayesian sinking: the key questions for investigators, manslaughter considered by sicily yacht sinking investigators, five things we learned from sicily yacht press conference.

Divers find body of Mike Lynch's daughter Hannah, 18, missing after superyacht sank

Italian divers have retrieved the body of Mike Lynch 's 18-year-old daughter, Hannah Lynch, the last person who went missing after the Bayesian , the British tech tycoon's family yacht, sank off the coast of Sicily earlier this week.

The 184-feet-long, U.K.-registered vessel capsized and rapidly sank off the port of Porticello, near Sicily's capital of Palermo, as an unexpected storm swept the area before sunrise on Monday.

Specialist divers discovered Hannah Lynch's body on Friday after five days of scouring the sunken boat, an unnamed senior official with knowledge of the rescue operation told Reuters.

The disaster set off an exhaustive search for six of its 22 passengers, who were unaccounted for after the ship sank. Mike Lynch's body was discovered on Thursday, while the bodies of Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International, his wife, Judy Bloomer, Clifford Chance attorney Chris Morvillo, who was a U.S. citizen, and his wife, Neda Morvillo, were discovered on Wednesday. The five bodies were all located inside the sunken ship.

Recaldo Thomas, the ship's cook and a citizen of Antigua, was pronounced dead on Monday after his body was found near the ship. Thomas also went by Ricardo, according to media reports .

The bodies will be officially identified and autopsies will be performed in Palermo.

The fire brigade said on Friday the rescue operation was "long and delicate" – the ship sits more than 160 feet underwater, and its inner passageways are narrow, posing a challenge to divers. More than 400 rescuers were involved, including 28 specialist divers, officials said.

Lynch's family said in a statement on Friday the family "is devastated, in shock and is being comforted and supported by family and friends."

"Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy. They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services and all those who helped in the rescue," they wrote.

"Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief."

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A judicial investigation has been opened into the sinking, which has baffled naval marine experts, who say a boat like the Bayesian , built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation into whether human errors were a factor. Coast Guard officials already have questioned the captain, James Cutfield, and surviving crew members and passengers as part of the investigation.

A maritime legal expert told USA TODAY the disaster could lead to lawsuits and possible criminal charges against Cutfield.

"As far as the charges, it appears that the captain will be investigated for not having due diligence in command of his vessel," said Mitchell Stoller, a maritime expert witness and captain. "He cannot discharge his duties."

Stoller said a captain's general duties include watching local weather reports and preparing for incoming storms. He said ships usually don't remain anchored during a storm so that they can maneuver in turbulent waters − Italian authorities have said the Bayesian was likely anchored before the disaster.

"The general standard of care in this situation is to monitor the weather, exercise caution, have a night watch, have the engine going, ready to maneuver," he said.

Giovanni Costantino, CEO of The Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini, told Reuters the crew made a string of "indescribable, unreasonable errors" in the leadup to the disaster. Design or construction errors did not play a role, he said.

No charges have so far been announced. Prosecutors will hold a news conference on Saturday.

Cutfield did not immediately return a request for comment from USA TODAY sent on Friday to a Facebook profile that appeared to belong to him. It is unclear if Cutfield has retained an attorney.

Complex Salvage Operation

Further inspections of the ship, which officials say is intact and lying on its right side, could give investigators more clues. Authorities may pull it out of the water, but the operation would be expensive and complicated.

Nick Sloane, a South African engineer who led the operation to recover the Costa Concordia, a cruise liner that sank 12 years ago, estimated such an operation could cost up to $16.7 million, in interviews with Italian media on Friday.

Pulling the yacht to the surface could take several days, and would need to be done "very, very slowly," he told daily La Repubblica. The entire operation could take up to eight weeks and would need to be completed by mid-October, he said.

Contributing: Reuters

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Superyacht sinks latest: Investigators reveal where bodies were found as probe looks at 'crew's responsibility'

Italian officials revealed at a news conference there could be "a question of manslaughter" as they opened a shipwreck investigation and said the probe is also looking at the "crew's responsibility".

Saturday 24 August 2024 18:33, UK

• Superyacht sinking

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• Prosecutor: There 'could be a question of manslaughter'
• Probe 'concentrating' on crew's responsibility
• Seven bodies recovered after five-day search of superyacht wreckage off Sicily
• Saturday's papers pay tribute to youngest victim Hannah Lynch
• Hannah's sister pays tribute to 'my little angel'
• Explained: Inside the superyacht | What challenges have faced divers?
• Eyewitness: Sombre scenes greet rescue teams as final body is brought ashore
• Live reporting by Niamh Lynch

We're ending our live coverage for this evening but here is a recap of what we know:

• Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter investigation into the Bayesian sinking;
• Officials have revealed more details on their investigation and the difficult five-day rescue mission;
• The six bodies found during the search in recent days were all in cabins on the left-hand - and highest - side of the ship. Five were found in the first cabin and the sixth was found in the third;
• Prosecutors said the six passengers were most likely asleep when the boat sank;
• The probe is now focusing on the crew and their responsibilities, with the captain set to undergo more questioning.

Monday 19 August

The Bayesian yacht, flying a British flag, sinks at around 5am local time when the area was hit by a tornado.

Fifteen people are rescued from the 56 metre vessel - including a mother and baby - but another seven remain missing.

One body, later confirmed to be the yacht's chef Recaldo Thomas, is found near the wreck.

It emerges that British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are among six people that remain missing.

Tuesday 20 August

The search continues for the six tourists missing.

It is reported that among those missing are Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer; his wife, Judy Bloomer; Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo; and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Police divers try to reach the hull of the ship, resting at a depth of 50 metres.

Italy's fire brigade Vigili del Fuoco say early inspections of the wreck were "unsuccessful" because of limited access to the bridge and furniture obstructing passages.

The operation is later described as "complex", with divers limited to 12-minute underwater shifts.

Tributes pour in for Mr Thomas, with his friend Gareth Williams saying: "I can talk for everyone that knew him when I say he was a well-loved, kind human being with a calm spirit."

Wednesday 21 August

The search for the six people unaccounted for enters a third day, with crews carrying out inspections of the yacht's internal hull.

A team of four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) arrive in Porticello to look at the site of the sinking.

A helicopter is drafted in to help with the search effort and remotely controlled underwater vehicles are being used, with naval units and cave divers also taking part in the search.

Five bodies are found inside the yacht on Wednesday afternoon. Only four of them are brought to shore.

Body bags are seen being taken to Porticello in the afternoon where dozens of emergency services staff wait.

Searches finish for the day just before 7.30pm.

Thursday 22 August

The search resumes for the remaining missing person.

The body of the fifth missing person, found but not recovered the previous day, is brought to shore.

A fire service boat with flashing blue lights returns with a blue body bag to the port of Porticello just after 8.45am local time on Thursday.

Tributes pour in for Mr Lynch and Mr and Mrs Bloomer after they are identified as having died.

The search is called off at around 8pm in Sicily, with divers expected to begin again at 6.30am on Friday.

Friday 23  August

The search continues for the final person missing from the wreck of the Bayesian, Hannah Lynch.

Vincenzo Zagarola, of the Italian Coastguard, says the search for Hannah has not been "easy or quick", comparing the sunken yacht to an "18-storey building full of water".

The coastguard confirms in the late morning that her body has been found.

A green body bag is brought to the port of Porticello from the site of the sinking.

A spokesperson announces on behalf of the Lynch family that they are "devastated" and "in shock" after the deaths of Mike and Hannah.

Hannah's sister Esme pays tribute to her "little angel".

Saturday 24 August

A press conference is held in the court of an Italian town, Termini Imerese.

Public prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio tells reporters that his office has opened an initial investigation against unknown persons into manslaughter and negligent shipwreck.

As the focus now turns to the manslaughter investigation, here's another reminder of the seven victims of the sinking and the 15 people who survived. 

A close friend of the Lynch family has added to the chorus of tributes for British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who died in Monday's superyacht sinking.

Susannah Gurdun, who lives in Suffolk, recalled being "daunted" when she first met Mr Lynch at a dinner party, before discovering he was "so much more than the corporate cliche".

"He was riveting.  He was funny, and kind, and endlessly interesting; capable of talking about anything and everything," she said.

Ms Gardun said the businessman also had a "thrilling ability" to make complicated subjects "accessible to those of us less blessed with a science acumen".

"In particular, he was wonderful with children.  I will never forget hearing him explain to a group of them - including our ten year old son - the physics of why the sky went pink at sunset," she said.

She went on describe Mr Lynch as a "true genius" and "phenomenal creative".

Ms Gardun said his daughter Hannah was also showing "serious literary promise", and added that it was "beyond tragic that we will never know where her own particular brilliance might have led".

"I still feel blessed to have shared that time with them in Spain.  Not just because I witnessed Mike’s incredible storytelling; but because I was given a chance of understanding what that moment said about all four of them as a united vibrant loving family," she said.

"He was an extraordinary human being and it was - truly - a privilege to have known him."

A yacht crew member who survived the sinking has paid tribute to Hannah Lynch, calling her a "diamond in a sea of stars".

Sasha Murray, chief stewardess of the Bayesian, has released a statement after divers recovered the final missing body from the wreckage, which is believed to be 18-year-old Hannah.

"Those who knew her will know that Hannah was a diamond in a sea of stars," she said.

"Bright, beautiful and always shining. What most people may not have seen was the extraordinarily strong, deep and loving relationship she shared with her parents, whom she adored more than anything. 

"While swimming with them she often said, if anything ever happened she would save them. 

"I have no doubt that the Irish, Latina fire that burns in her soul kept that spirited determination alive."

Ms Murray's statement comes as a new image of Hannah Lynch and her father Mike Lynch is released:

Prosecutors announced in this morning's news conference that they have opened a manslaughter and negligent shipwreck investigation.

Officials were unable to answer several queries from the media, saying they needed time to establish the facts, but what are the key questions facing prosecutors? 

Why weren't passengers who remained on board the vessel warned about escaping from the yacht?

The prosecutor in charge of the case, Raffaele Cammarano, suggested that some passengers may have been asleep when others were awake.

Asked why they were not woken up or alerted, he said that is something investigators are trying to work out from the statements of the survivors.

He called it an "essential" part of the inquiry.

Why were several of the passengers in one cabin?

The press conference heard several bodies onboard the sunken yacht were found in a single cabin which was not theirs.

Mr Cammarano said investigators currently do not know the reason for them being discovered in the same cabin.

The chief of the Palermo fire service, Bentivoglio Fiandra, said the yacht pinned to the right and suggested people tried to go on the other side, taking refuge in cabins in the higher part of the wreck.

Why did the boat sink?

The vessel had been deemed "unsinkable" by its manufacturer - Italian shipyard Perini Navi.

The Bayesian was hit by a downburst, according to Mr Cammarano, which are powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm and spread out quickly once they hit the ground.

Officials will look into the safety equipment on the sunken vessel.

Mr Cammarano was asked about whether there is a black box and if the hatches were left open.

He said investigators do not have exact information about the black box and that the first phase of the inquiry will look into it.

Why were nearby vessels not similarly affected?

Another yacht, the Sir Robert BP, was about 150 to 200 metres from the Bayesian when extreme weather hit.

Its crew helped to rescue 15 people from the stricken vessel.

Italian officials said they would be looking at how the downburst could affect one vehicle and not other nearby vessels.

What weather warnings was the Bayesian alerted to?

Maritime director of western Sicily, Rear Admiral Raffaele Macauda, said the weather at the time of the yacht's sinking was abnormal and there was nothing to suggest such an extreme situation would arise.

He said there were forecasts of winds and a storm alert, but there was no warning of a tornado.

"Given that the conditions were such, there wasn't anything to suggest there could be an extreme situation arising," he said.

"There are vessels that can monitor, after all, these events and one would have thought that the captain had taken precautions."

How long will it take to recover the sailing vessel?

Mr Macauda could not confirm how long it would take to retrieve the shipwreck of the sunken yacht.

"Everything depends on the availability of the owners and the timeframe of the retrieval of the wreck and of course all that has to be submitted to the port authorities and in parallel of course there will be the inquiry results and it's only really then that we will be able to authorise the operation," he said.

"I can't say, like some experts who have already spoken on the subject, [said] that it will be eight weeks."

He made clear that the owners will bear the full cost of retrieval, although he could not estimate the figure.

Italian authorities detailed the challenging and meticulous rescue operation to recover the six missing people from the Bayesian wreck (see 9.18am post).

But why was the five-day search so difficult? 

Read more below...

More on this morning's press conference. 

One of the main updates from prosecutors was that they have opened manslaughter and shipwreck investigations after the deaths of seven people in the Bayesian sinking. 

Watch the announcement below...

Prosecutors have given a lengthy news conference this morning on their investigation into the sinking of the Bayesian. 

Read the full report on the prosecutors' probe below...

Marine investigator James Wilkes has been speaking to Sky News after this morning's press conference.

"Naturally, there are more questions than there are substantive answers at the moment - that's the nature of investigative work.

"Something forced that yacht to roll beyond its nominal stability limits, such that it wasn't able to right itself with the ingress of a certain amount of seawater that was coming into the yacht. 

"So the investigators are going to ask themselves one initial question - what must the conditions have been for this to happen? 

"Then they are going to look at the contributing factors to the yacht, sinking, and, and the unfortunate loss of life." 

Prosecutors said this morning that the future of the investigation is reliant on recovering the wreck. 

Mr Wilkes said the yacht is a "major piece of physical evidence in and of itself." 

"It's lying at 50 metres, which is a recoverable depth. 

"If it was significantly deeper, then I'm not sure they'd be considering salvage at this stage or certainly, the salvage question would be a lot more complicated to answer. 

"But if there was the ability to raise that yacht in one piece safely, then it gives the investigators physically more to look at."

Mr Wilkes said he was unsure if the yacht would have a "black box" - called a voyage data recorder in shipping. 

"It would record things like GPS position, heading speed, engine telemetry, whether the radars were on, what they were recording, alarms, communications from the yacht itself, any audio on the bridge.

"But more often than not, these are on merchant ships. The yacht was a commercial yacht in the sense that it could be chartered out so it's quite possible it has a voyage data recorder on, but I'm not sure that it does. I don't know that as a matter of fact," he said.

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On deck and inside

The main deck is open and free of unnecessary interruptions, the saloon, dining room and wheelhouse forming one continuous, 86 sqm open space under the deckhouse. The saloon with panoramic views seats 20 people as lounge opening onto the aft deck with further lounge space. There is an option for the central coffee table to be converted into an additional dining for eight people. The dining area forward seats 10 people in dining layout and can be converted into an additional lounge area with XL sofa seating six comfortably. The forward social cockpit, directly accessible from the interior dining and lounge areas, features table seats and sun beds for up to 20-people. Beyond this, the forward deck features a Jacuzzi, finished in black, which is positioned beneath deck level and is therefore invisible when not in use, an hidden winch “cockpit” for the halyards, two large tender garages, stay-sail locker, sail lockers, and the Wally submarine anchor locker. The 100-sqm sundeck is accessed both by an outside staircase and by an inside open staircase, leading to steering and navigation, lounge, dining, sunbathing and barbeque areas. A particularly innovative service feature is the open food lift connecting galley, interior dining area and sundeck– a ‘suitcase’ suspended in free space, connected by a single vertical track, to lift . The sundeck dining can be converted into a huge sunbed with the addition of an inflatable mattress, providing further comfort without stretching available storage capacity. hull side door is located amidships to starboard: when open, it converts into a swimming and tender boarding platform. Maximising space and minimising storage requirements, a newly designed seating module has been developed for the deck in carbon and mesh with low profile cushions, for easy stowage, by the interior designers Wetzels Brown Partners, who designed all the deck furnishing. The lower deck features the night and service areas accommodating the owners in the aft suite and up to ten guests in four double staterooms, and ten crew in five double cabins. All cabins have en-suites. The crew and service quarter is forward with galley, laundry and crew mess. The two engine rooms are amidships.

The Better Place features defining lounge areas in the forward cockpit, aft deck, fly bridge, and terrace on the sea. On the fly bridge/sun deck can be found a large Jacuzzi tub; two hidden tender garages; lounge/dining area for 16; barbeque; and the navigation and helmstations.

Sailing Performance

It is estimated that in true winds of eight knots the she will achieve 11 knots upwind and 14 knots reaching. In 20 knots of true wind she will increase performance to 14 upwind and 20 reaching. Better Place is propelled by a diesel-electric system used to improve energy management while providing a more efficient layout and reducing consumption, noise and vibration. Power for propulsion and services comes from three diesel generators.

Description of Interior Design of Better Place

Better Place has been designed to be quintessentially a Wally thoroughbred. Wally has an iconic approach to both interior and exterior design – a modern approach to yachting.

The interior design combines carbon look both gloss and satin, satin white lacquered oak, grey leather and colour matched upholstery to create a relaxed feeling. Colour-changing LED lights are used throughout the yacht and can be adjusted in order to change the atmosphere, reflecting the interior design concept to have soft and neutral tones that are coloured by the lights. The cabins are linked by a light installation, running along the spine of the yacht.

Some Wally interior design features on this yacht: - Clean flowing lines; - Open light spaces with available dimensions maximised - Yacht luxury materials – carbon fibre, satin white light oak, grey leather with colour matched upholstery. - The decoration of the yacht is in the texture of the materials and profile of the shapes, there are few added lamps, decorative cushions, vases or picture frames. Like a car this yacht is designed as one product with integral decoration rather than an exterior with an interior design added. - Interior spaces meet exterior spaces with seamless transition. - This is a sailing yacht in the true Wally tradition – relaxed, exclusive feel with design considered to the smallest detail. - The Wally sparkle, that little something extra has always been the attitude towards the use of strong colour. This yacht is metallic Bugatti Blue and inside the small elements of colours have the same strong metallic quality - raspberry, ice green and sky blue. - This is a large yacht so a changing dynamic environment is a challenge to create. Throughout the yacht LED lights can be programmed to change the atmosphere of the yacht and to complement the highlight colours. - Audio-visual technology is a high specification from HED in America (further details available of Crestron system if you need them)

Main Deck - Vertical connections are emphasized by an open staircase from sundeck to cabin deck> the open food lift is a ‘suitcase’ suspended in a free space attached to one vertical track – a yachting first - The saloon/dining/wheelhouse is one flowing open space - Seating and flooring is the same upholstery for both interior and exterior giving the ultimate open connection between saloon and deck - Exploring the Wally principle of keeping decks open and free of clutter, a new seating module has been developed is carbon and mesh with low profile cushions to reduce storage requirements. Cabin Deck - This most noticeable feature is the tunnel corridor treated as a light installation with “invisible” doors to the cabins. In architectural terms this is the spine of the yacht and a guest passes through the walls of the tunnel to enter the adjacent spaces.’ - Cabins – 2 double, 2 twin, owner and 9-10 crew. - Cabins have similar base materials – warm light grey, black gloss and carbon finishes with fresh wall bulkheads. Changing colour provided with LED backlight and ‘skylights in each cabin. The twin cabins are particularly suited to the children with a small element of ice green and raspberry.

Sundeck - On the sundeck the dining area converts with an inflatable mattress into a huge sunbed. The forward deck has a black jacuzzi seamlessly position under the deck and invisible when not in use. - The forward lounge space has direct connection to the interior dining and lounge spaces. - The sundeck has BBQ/ buffet, lounge, dining and sunbathing areas

• Yacht Builder Wally View profile
• Naval Architect Tripp Design Naval Architects No profile available
• Interior Designer Wetzels Brown Partners No profile available

Yacht Specs

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