Phuket’s marine expo brings an armada of luxury to Thailand’s premier resort island.
No boat is an island, but today’s yachts come pretty close. In fact, landlubbers would be hard-pressed to find anything to complain about in the luxury department, which is less of a home away from home, more an upgrade to a millionaire’s paradise above and below deck.As Southeast Asia’s boating industry grows, so too does the Phuket International Marine Expo (Pimex), which was premiered in 2003. Over the interceding years Thailand’s west coast resort has fast-earned a reputation as the Caribbean of the East, even as its marinas strain to accommodate the rising tide of visitors.
The vibrant boating scene breeds wellbeing and envy in equal measure. The millionaire boaters look to shore for a place to eat; beach bathers beam envy from every sweaty pore. Indeed, the show’s visitors fill about 70,000 local hotel rooms, according to the Performa Yacht Group, which hosts the event, with about 23,000 occupying rooms at five-star resorts. It’s also a big-buck spinner for boatbuilders and the beachside resort that seems to get bigger every year.
When the open sign goes up on this year’s show at the Royal Phuket Marina on January 7, 80 exhibitors will parade their wares, with 45 of them on the water. The audience may get bigger and more boatbuilders may attend, but the basic commodity – boats – has changed little over the years. It’s “steady as she goes” or, as Quentin Lowe of Simpson Maritime says, yacht design is a slow evolution, eschewing dramatic changes in form and function. The growth, he adds, is in the size of the yachts: “There’s a lot more safety consciousness being built into the boats, a lot more automatic features and a lot more technology.”
In his view, the modern fleet is stronger, safer and smoother than ever, with a sackload of modern technologies, satellite tracking and powerful engines. Naturally, they’re priced accordingly – upwards of $5m. Some, like the giant Mangusta 130, built in 2006, are mere purple pipe dreams and not for sale.
Although the buyers are a closely
guarded trade secret, you just have to look at the multi-millionaire’s
row of boats at the annual Monaco GP to take a guess. Lowe will, at
least, reveal that a certain Formula 1 driver has made inquiries into
the purchase of an Azimut yacht. His name? “I would have to shoot you
if I did tell you,” he says.
The flagship and largest yacht in the
Italian boat builder’s armada, the Ferretti 881 is a velvet-gloved
powerhouse. “She has the stability of a mega-yacht,” says Joshua Lee,
managing director at Lee Marine. And speed to spare, thanks to twin
2,030hp engines. Lee, who has been in the industry for 20 years, says
the 881 is the quietest boat he’s ever been on. “You can’t even hear
someone having a shower in the next cabin.”
It packs in a jacuzzi on the bridge, a teak dining table for eight guests and four plush cabins. The pilothouse, rising above the deck, lends the 881 its signature silhouette. Its price remains a closely guarded secret.
Ferretti 881 (Ferretti S.P.A., Italy)
Maximum speed: 31 knots
Length: 27.03 metre
Displacement: 93.6 tons
It will be hard to miss the Mangusta at
this year’s show thanks to its sheer size, which is one-third the
length of a football pitch. Officially a super-yacht, it is powered by
matching muscle from its twin engines, each churning out 2,285hp. It
bristles with electronic gadgetry, from a giant flat-screen TV to the
kind of satellite tracking equipment beloved by 007. To run it, though,
you’ll need your own oil wells as it burns about 850 litres of fuel an
hour. If sold, it would cost around $15m.
Mangusta 130 (Overmarine, Italy)
Maximum speed (full load): 35 knots
Length: 31.4 metre
Displacement (full load): 100 tons
Lowe calls it the Rolls-Royce of the high
seas, but adds that it feels more like a luxury condo. It features a
sun-soaked cocktail lounge at the front of the yacht’s deck – and a
five-person hot tub at the rear.
Below deck, the Azimut 81 is designed to make the most of natural light. Windows skirt the ship’s sides, bringing sunlight to every corner. The main cabin features cherry wood features, yet another hot tub, his and her’s bathrooms and the kind of deep-dish bed that is bound to give you that sinking feeling – in a good way. If you’re thinking of buying one, you may need a second boat to carry the cash. The Azimut retails for around $7m.
Azimut 82 (Azimut, Italy)
Maximum speed: 27 knots
Length: 25.69 metre
Displacement: 75 tons
For its Asian debut, Windy Boats has thrown everything into
its sleek Zephyros – including the kitchen sink. Actually, make that a
double kitchen sink in stainless steel, to go with the automated
dishwasher and kitchen range. While not the biggest boat on the dock,
it exudes a certain comfy Norwegian charm thanks to its family roots.
Founder Hugo Vold’s father was a fisherman, who called each of his
boats ‘Vindy”, so when his son established the company in 1966 he
anglicised it to Windy. It comes with an equally modest price tag of around the $1m mark.
Zephyros (Windy Boats, Norway)
Maximum speed: 40 knots
Length: 17.75 metre
Displacement (full load): 18.5 tons
