Yachting March 2023

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, I went to the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City, Michigan, to see how cadets prepare for careers as deck and engineering officers. One of the highlights was spending a day in the academy’s ship-simulator room, where wall-size screens fanned out about 180 degrees. There was a helm station as well as a chart table for the cadets to plot courses. ¶ The cadets let me have the wheel as instructors in another room had fun changing up weather scenarios, traffic patterns and even the waterways our virtual ship was traveling across, all in the name of honing navigation and situational-awareness skills. The exercise was humbling and exciting as I developed some sense of what it feels like to manage a massive ship. I did not…

MORE THAN A FEW PEOPLE from the United States and beyond have been frustrated the past few years when attempting to book a charter vacation. In 2020, the pandemic pretty much shut down international travel, forcing widespread booking cancellations. All those charters got rebooked into 2021 and 2022, often at the same time yacht owners were pulling their vessels off the charter market and instead keeping them for private, socially distanced use. And there were shipyard shutdowns that hampered construction schedules, leading to fewer new charter yachts entering the market than in previous years. By summer 2022, even longtime charter clients were frustrated trying to find a ride. ¶ “The market wasn’t prepared for the amount of demand that we had, especially from mid-June through August,” says Ben Harwood, head…

Bayliss Boats in North Carolina started construction on Overtime in August 2020. The yacht was completed in November 2022, two months ahead of schedule. Overtime has standard equipment, such as a Seakeeper stabilizer, Furuno’s Omni sonar and Northern Lights generators, while ustom features include what Bayliss calls “an elaborate live well circulating system” that the owner plans to use for a substantial fishing program based out of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Inside,. Overtime is the second Bayliss constructed with a walnut interior, which the yard calls “sleek and bold.” There’s a three-stateroom, two-head layout for longer itineraries, and the tackle room is designed like a showroom, with walnut, granite and a cork wall.…

The Riviera 46 Sports Motor Yacht is an owner-operator-friendly vessel with hand-laid fiberglass construction, notable performance, and fun and function to spare. These yachts are intended to be used for family cruising as well as adventurous getaways, with a cockpit that’s set up for ntertaining, with amenities such as an electric grill, a wet bar, a sink and stowage. Just forward is a covered alfresco deck that extends the interior salon’s living space into the outdoors. Accommodations include three staterooms and two heads for comfortable family voyages, with air conditioning throughout. There are two power options for the 46 Sport Motor Yacht—both from Volvo Penta: a twin 600 hp IPS800 or 725 hp IPS950 diesel.…

The Invictus TT420 made its debut in January in Europe, joining what is now a four-boat TT model range from the Italian builder. The boat’s lines are based on its bigger sibling, the TT460, with an integral glass windshield. Note the high bulwarks all around for safety on board, as well as the olding tables amidships that can convert into a relaxation area protected by the hardtop. Owners can opt for a hydraulic device aft to help launch the tender, a feature not commonly found aboard boats in this size range. Power is twin 440 hp Volvo Penta D6 engines in a sterndrive configuration. Look for the Invictus TT420 to become available in a new color, vogue white, which will also be available on the TT460 going forward.…

Hylas Yachts, long known for its Taiwanese-built sailboats, now has three powerboats among its offerings. The M49, shown here, joins the M44 and the M58s in the power lineup. The M49’s design is by New Zealand’s Salthouse, whose background is in Down East vessels with a commercial-fishing and offshore-angling heritage. Hylas says the helm station has no blind spots from stem to stern. Amenities for onboard entertaining include a refrigerator, a barbecue and a dinette. Accommodations include two staterooms and two heads, with an optional washing machine for couples or families that expect to be on board for longer cruising itineraries. Power is a pair of 370 hp Yanmars, and the boat has a fuel capacity just shy of 240 gallons. a…