YYACHTS CALABASH
Fast, sleek, elegant and powerful. The first in the new Y8 range, is a 24-metre semicustom yacht that combines simplicity and luxury. Built by the German yard from a design by Javier Jaudenes. The interiors are by Danish designer David Thulstrup
by Paola
Bertelli - ph coutesy by YYachts
YYachts, a boutique yard that builds upmarket, highperformance and super-sophisticated sail craft, has a striking motto: “Keep it simple: look good. Sail easy”.
A combination of design and efficiency. It’s all about semi-custom yachts made of carbon, easy to sail, extremely functional, designed with a pragmatic, seaworthy approach that aims to reduce on-board complexity – and therefore vulnerability - to a minimum. Great care is taken to cut out anything not used by guests and crew – space and weight saved in the way are used for other purposes like storage. YYachts has a German heart – the founder is Michael Schmidt and the yard is located in Greifswald, Germany- and a Mediterranean spirit, with a design office in Palma. It’s here on Majorca that owners meet designers, architects and engineers. One of the most recent launches this year is Calabash, the new Y8 designed by naval architect Javier Jaudenes of Surge-Projects, a Spanish design company based in Majorca. It is 23.99 metres long and has a generous maximum beam of 6.58 m that stretches to the stern. The interiors are by the Dane David Thulstrup, and they fully justify YYachts’ choice to involve individuals who often come from outside the yacht-building world. The interiors are a sophisticated mix of modern and Scandinavian influences. Thulstrup’s design focusses on warmth and comfort, and palette of beige, brown and wood creates a welcoming, elegant atmosphere. This approach aims to provide guests with total well-being, as Calabash is intended to be not only a means of transport but also a privileged platform for experiencing the sea. “This new Y8 also
embodies a different way of thinking about interiors”, says Michael Schmidt. “The owner loves space inside and this yacht has a saloon that’s probably bigger than on a 90-footer, which he first wanted to build.” And the saloon is indeed the most surprising space on board. The design choice that has made it possible to open out such an ample space was the elimination of the bulkhead at the mast, which has been replaced structurally by an omega profile.
The layout has been revolutionised by shifting the dining area to a position in front of the mast, leaving the area amidships as the conversation area, furnished with two armchairs and a free-standing sofa, all with pure, soft shapes. These shapes can be found throughout the yacht, in the furniture, ceiling and stairs.
Calabash has two guest cabins plus the owner’s cabin forward and the crew cabins aft.
On deck, the guest cockpit is sheltered by a rigid hard top and is totally detached from the work area aft. With its unusual shape, the coach house seems to embrace the entire cockpit.
A distinctive feature of the sail plan is the absence of a backstay. This makes it possible to mount mainsails with large roaches, reflecting a Mediterranean philosophy that favours powerful mainsails. As always on YYachts, the jib is self-tacking, but given the mast’s set back position it’s still a large sail. The tender garage aft exploits the yacht’s generous beam. The tender is handled by a practical twin-arm system, making launch and recovery as simple as all the other on-board operations. www.yyachts.de
Pure lines, uncluttered deck and powerful sail plan for a yacht that’s also ready to race. To side, the unusual guest cockpit, raised and well-sheltered by the rigid top, is separate from the yacht’s work area at the stern
As a weight-saving measure the interiors are made with ultralight sandwich panels, fabric covered or veneered. Removing the forward partitions has created a huge saloon with conversation area (top) in the centre and dining area in front of the mast (bottom, right). The Calabash’s owner’s suite is located forward (bottom, left)
