S E A FA R I N G
A Shipyard Expedition
67
ONE WEEK IN THE HOME OF CUSTOM YACHTS Imagine the excitement I felt after the confirmation of my first visit to Europe in 20 years; the land under sea level, where windmills and wind turbines are aplenty, where cows are mostly in black and white, aromatic coffeeshops, De Wallen, Delft Blue, Stroopwafels... and my personal favourite, home to custom yacht building.
W& P
A
s I’ve not made an effort to v isit Eu rope i n a l most 20 years, this was a good tr ip for a refresher. Furthermore, this was a t r ip to v isit the cra f ter s of mu lt im i l l ion Eu r o s c u st om pr o duc t s or what I call, ‘f loating sea mansions’. I was to exper ience 6 brands, 1 design architect and 1 naval architect over a little less than a week. So, for me, this would be an educational trip on custom yacht building, all thanks to Mr. Oh Kean Shen of Pen Marine. For him, it’s a trip to show a mutual friend & client the art and the extensive possibilities of c u stom bu i ld i n g a yacht. T here was tons of knowledge learnt on this trip and I feel obliged to share a little journal account of that exciting week.
T.Y. L i m
DAY 1 – 13th JUNE I ar r ived at Sch iphol early mor n ing loca l t i me to a cool temperat u re of about 18 Degrees Celsius. Greeted by queues of Teslas, which was a prett y refreshing sight compared to the usual smel l of d iesel. Fra n k Laupm a n, a n architect extraordinaire, was enroute to pick us up but was caught up slightly in traf f ic. Sti l l, it was not the Asian kind of congestion as I found out later du r i ng ou r jou r ney back to Omeg a Architects. Driving here was orderly, and traff ic is hardly on standstill. After about what wa s a shor t wa it, Fra n k arrived - in a Tesla. This would be my f irst time ever in a Tesla and I have to say, the best word to descr ibe it is
indeed a technological amazement, a review for another day of course. The f irst day was spent entirely at O meg a A rch it ec t s , s it u at e d i n t he qua i nt tow n of Dr uten - about one hour’s dr ive f rom Sch iphol A ir por t. Upon a r r iva l, we were g reeted a nd int roduced to the tea m member s of Omega A rch itects. Th is is the same t e a m w h o h ave p r o d u c e d q u i t e a nu mber of awa rd w i n n i ng de sig n s, from interior designs, yacht designs and architectural designs. We’ll cover that in a dedicated stor y soon, on Frank Laupman and Omega Architects. Frank fur ther spoke to me casual ly about a current work in progress, a superyacht de sig n com m i s sioned by h i s cl ient which was inspired by the Lamborghini
Avent ador, a nd to be a sked for my opi n ion, I wa s honou red. W hy t he Lamborgh in i Aventador? Fran k sa id that this particular client has 100s of supercars & collectibles, but chose on the Aventador because of its bold & sharp design lines. Highlight of this f irst day were the three meeting s we had in getting to know the shipyard’s owners/managers and an introduction of their histor y & capabilities; a greet and meet before the actual shipyard visit to view the daily operat ions and act ua l craf tsmansh ip and capabilities. The three meetings were with Van der Valk, Moonen and Storm Yachts. T he t h ree meet i n g s took up t he af ter noon ha l f of d ay. A f ter the last
meet ing, we adjour ned to the hotel De Twee Linden at Beneden Leeuwen which was a 15-m inute dr ive, a cosy hotel in yet another quaint town. In a way, the day felt really long, probably because summer has longer days (the sun only went down at about 10pm), w ith multitude of infor mation to be absorbed but yet It felt serene upon reach i ng t he hotel, w it h bi rd s st i l l chirping away and the local folks riding their bicycles. At which this time, the lack of sleep on the f light star ted to show. DAY 2 - 14th JUNE It started with an early with breakfast at De Twee Linden and a br isk walk
a r ou n d t ow n w it h M r. O h w h i l e awa it i n g for Niel s Moer ke of Va n Oossanen to ar r ive. Day 2 would be the f ina l d ay of in- of f ice, sit- dow n meet ing s, a nd th is round, it wa s to be held at Va n Oossa nen’s HQ Wa g e n i n g e n , w h ich w a s a b out a n hour and a half ’s drive away from the hotel. A long the scen ic route f i l led w it h w i nd t u r bi ne s a nd d a i r y cow f ields, we made an abrupt stop over a small stall selling freshly picked berries from the far m r ight behind the stal l. Cher r ies, Strawber r ies, raspber r ies red succulent cherries primarily. Once we arrived at Van Oossanen, and the customar y int roduct ion a nd g r e e t i n g s we r e m a d e , we g o t st r a i g ht i nto it. Va n Oo s s a nen a re