Yachting September 2023

Many boating enthusiasts grow up in the pastime, which-ishanded down from one generation to another. That’s how it happened for me. But it’s not how it happened for my dad. He was a kid from Brooklyn who didn’t have access to a boat. When his family eventually moved to the suburbs—one whole town just east of Queens—there was a backyard with a small lake behind his house. He soon discovered fishing in that lake. He would go most days before school. A seed was planted. Dad then watched his next-door neighbor build a 21-foot cabin cruiser in his garage. After getting to ride on that boat, the seed took root, and his boating fate was sealed. ¶ As Dad grew up, one of his high school friends got a 21-footer.…

It has been almost two decades sinceVolvo Penta premiered its IPS pod-drive system in 2005, leading to a revolution in powerboat design and operation. Joystick control became an option. So did larger guest spaces, with the IPS system needing less room. Today, IPS drives are nearly ubiquitous on spec sheets worldwide. ¶ But that’s true only up to a certain size yacht: Just two years ago, when Italy’s Amer launched a new 120 flagship, it was heralded as the largest-ever yacht of its kind with IPS. And while 120 feet of length overall is big, these days, it’s considered a midrange yacht, not a super. ¶ Now comes word from Volvo Penta that 2025 will bring an IPS professional platform for yachts starting at 82 feet and going past 180…

It’s expensive not to sell a boat. That’sthebasic premise behind Boathouse Auctions, where director Jack Mahoney says two types of yacht owners are now having success. “One is, ‘I have the best boat, but I don’t know how many days it’s going to take,’” he says. “The data shows the boat might be on the market half a year or three quarters of a year, so they might choose to explore Boathouse Auctions because of the time value of money, to have the boat sold in 40 days.” The other type of owner has a boat that’s been on the market for a while. “They’re frustrated,” he says. “Nobody wants to buy the boat.” ¶ Instead of waiting indefinitely for a buyer and carrying the ownership costs, the auction moves…

Biofuel is now a reality for yachts built by Azimut-Benetti Group, which is working with Eni Sustainable Mobility to fill yacht fuel tanks with HVOlution. It’s a biofuel made from hydrogenated vegetable oil that can reduce emissions up to 90 percent, the builder says (and whose raw materials do not compete with the food chain). ¶ Azimut-Benetti is starting by using the biofuel for technical testing on its yachts and by allowing owners to take delivery of new yachts with biofuel in the tanks. The first yacht used to promote the partnership with Eni Sustainable Mobility was an Azimut Magellano 60 this past June. ¶ Going forward, Azimut-Benetti plans to create refueling sites for owners of its yachts. The first of those sites is expected to be in Italy, where…

29' LENGTH OVERALL 8' MAXIMUM BEAM The candela C-8 Center Console is an electric, carbon-fiber yacht that rides on two hydrofoils. The boat’s onboard sensors constantly measure wave and ride height, plus pitch and roll. This information is fed into the vessel’s Flight Controller, which trims the foils up to 6,000 times per minute, removing all guess-work from “flying” the boat. In addition, the vessel’s 55-kilowatt C-POD drive is situated below the water’s surface. Its foils retract for accessing skinny waters, and owners can choose from a menu of customization options. Whom It’s For: Adventure-minded boaters who want speed, performance and hydrofoil tech without the noise of an internal-combustion engine. Picture This: It’s a crisp, clear late-summer afternoon on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, and you feel like having an adventure.…

PADDLE, OR NOT E-POWER PADDLEBOARD Sebastjan sitar had been thinking a lot about electric bicycles by the time his wife and daughters ran into trouble on the water. They were in a calm lagoon aboard stand-up paddle-boards, having a great time, but they got tired and struggled to get back to shore. “If you are going uphill with a bike, you can say, ‘Enough! I don’t want to do this anymore,’ and you can get back,” Sitar says. “I thought there should be the same thing for the water, a safety motor assist.” ¶ He created the company SipaBoards, which he launched with a Kickstarter campaign in 2015. Since then, more than 5,000 SipaBoards have been sold in 26 countries. A few months ago, the SipaBoards Drive Collection was unveiled…