SUPERYACHT #509
September 2004
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
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Article by
Lino Pastorelli
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TEMPEST WS REFIT
The adventure of the Tempest began in August 2002 with a
preliminary that smacks of challenge: in Marseilles French skipper
Georges Fillon had almost by chance discovered this splendid
patrol vessel launched by Chantier de l'Esterel in 1963 and put up
for sale by the Marine National because it had "reached its age
limit". But like all such vessels it had been perfectly maintained
right to the end. Having found and involved the right owner, all
that was needed was a suitable boatyard to tidy up the boat's
military past, honourable as it was, and turn it into one of the
most fascinating superyachts afloat.
This mélange of
creativity, hi-tech, urgency, state of the art, passion and - why
not? - risk could not but touch the heart of Marco Massabò.
But we believe that what convinced the dynamic manager of WS
boatyards, Savona, after the first contacts and a trial run in the
Bay of St. Tropez, was the entry into his office of the Frenchman
who, brandishing a 20x30 centimetre approximated watercolour of
the boat, declared in a lapidary manner: ".et nous la voulons
exactement comme ça!" "Oui," Massabò replied, and
work began.
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TECHNICAL DATA
Boatyard.Chantier de l'Esterel, France
Designer.André Mauric
Year of construction.1963
Refitting yard.W. Service S.p.A., Savona, Italy
Length.31.45 metres
Beam.5.80 metres
Draft.2 metres
Displacement. 85 t
Engines.2 x Baudoin 800 HP
Speed.22 knots
For further information
WS service; Testata Molo Zona 7/8; Porto di Savona;
17100 Savona; tel +39 019 8485379; fax +39 019 8487527
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WS is certainly not a small concern. Set up in 1998 by
Massabò and Alessandro Novella it regularly takes in
several Wally vessels for works, painting and wintering, while
boats of the calibre of Whitefin, Taouey and Islander have been
restored with top class workmanship. The workforce, almost thirty
men, didn't take many days to completely empty the whole boat,
engine room excepted, while the features of the unusual refit took
shape. "I love blending the classic with the modern, the sacred
with the profane," admits Marco Massabò, and a convergence
with the owner's viewpoint led to this choice: a superstructure
with lines in harmony with the hull, but completely hi-tech, not
even considering constructions in wood, as romantic as they are
heavy and complex. The saving in weight was not negligible: four
tons less than the original deckhouse which was, moreover, in
aluminium, as well as an obviously considerable gaining of space.
A single epoxy sandwich mould for the roof and another for the
walls. Another interesting problem arose for engineer Camporese's
technical staff when it came to considering the finish of the
hull. The original sheathing was a cold modelled lamellate
consisting of three 1.5 centimetre layers of solid mahogany offset
45° from each other and fixed with an average of one hundred
bolts per square metre on a mahogany keel and ribs. If on the one
hand this satisfied the rigorous naval specifications, on the
other it created a problem of an aesthetic order, impeding
adequate smoothing of bottom and sides with view to final
painting. Having excluded the use of filler, as banal as it was
precarious because sooner or later the movement of a seam or the
head of a bolt would have been revealed, the original and unheard
of solution adopted involved the application on the entire hull,
with masterful use of the vacuum technique, of a sheet of 4 mm.
mahogany ply. Excess epoxy glue was expelled through special holes
and the ply pressed at 50 bars onto the sheathing. The cohesion of
the whole is optimal and the surfaces perfectly flat. The transom,
to which a bathing platform has now been added, was faced in teak.
The owner's choice for the paintwork, a contrast of pale silver
grey for the superstructures and metallic "Chocolat" brown for the
hull, didn't worry the WS chiefs in the least: for years the yard
has been in the avant-garde in the field of metallic paints.
Together with Massabò's hands-on work in his father's yard
in Imperia, the staff's studies and experience have resulted in
uniform and lasting paintwork in which each parameter, from the
degree of metallic microsphere reflection to the final varnishes,
can be perfectly controlled in the great kiln. The only part that
has remained unchanged in the conversion from coastguard vessel to
superyacht is the engine room. Of course the electrical and
plumbing systems were redone and the following installed: 200l/h
Technomar desalination plant, 2 Kohler 27 Kw generators, Frigobar
conditioners, a centralised vacuum cleaning system, fire-fighting
plant and everything else that facilitates life aboard during long
cruises. But the engines were not replaced. When André
Mauric designed this class of patrol vessel in the 60's,
weight/power ratios were certainly not those of a modern diesel.
So with the power available within the prescribed weight limits,
design of the hull and fineness of the lines played an important
role in order to achieve the speeds requested by the customer.
This explains why a thirty metre yacht can reach 22 knots, and
maintain this speed even with a sea running, though powered only
by two 800 HP engines. The semi-planing hull is finely V-shaped on
entry, with a pronounced keel and the beam reduced to 5.80 metres,
almost two metres less than a 100 footer of today. These two
supercharged Baudoin 12 V date to 1989 and, given their limited
number of working hours, were preserved together with inverters
and shafting lines, all perfectly intact. The interior layout
however created more than a few problems for the designer. The
fairly narrow lines and the large engine room (the world's navies
have never really given much priority to crew comfort) are the
reasons why organisation of the various zones was rather complex
and set on different levels. The saloon is on the main deck and
its "minimal" furnishings exalt the spaces and the light from the
large windows. As stylistic choice the owners went for tonal
contrasts as interpreted by architect Marta Nicolini: light
sycamore for walls and furniture, dark wenge for the floors, pale
brown leather and a few unusual details like the extendable bridge
table, faced in tungsten and crystal, in the dining area next to
the living space. The galley is farther forward, well-aired by a
skylight and fully equipped with Mièle electric household
appliances that can satisfy the most demanding culinary
requirements: it also has a separate exit to the deck. The natural
continuation of the deckhouse houses the owner's suite, very
bright thanks to side and front windows. A few steps lead down,
beneath the forward deck, to a refined bathroom tiled with glass
slabs. The bridge is on the half-deck above the owner's suite.
Here the skipper, with the aid of the most modern instruments,
handles the vessel both under way and during manoeuvres in port.
An 18 Kw Sidepower has been installed at the bow for better
handling in today's crowded marinas. There are three cabins in the
guest area, each of course with private bathroom. The access
companionway is at the side of the wheelhouse and the layout is on
different levels. Two of these cabins - the VIP and one of the
twins - have been fully faced in leather, a solution as
aesthetically valid as it is difficult to execute due to the
amount of precision sewing required. But the company Inganni of
Brescia, which created all the furnishings, has demonstrated that
it excels in this field. In these bathrooms too the semi-
transparency of the glass, the beauty of the ground-crystal
surface, in which the washbasin is simply set by fusion, and the
linear design of furnishings and fittings all contribute to a
sensation of architectonic lightness, common to all the on-board
design. Going back outside, the main deck houses a living area,
with sofas and table in the shelter of the upper deck, while
farther aft an unusual doghouse provides access to the crew's
quarters: separate cabins for skipper and crew, bathrooms, laundry
and mess. The Tempest's institutional solarium is on the upper
deck, but there are no square miles of white cushions and printed
coasters: here the small teak tables and the chaises-longues speak
a more classic language. On-board equipment is completed by a
dinghy in mahogany and two matching jet-skis. The patrol vessel's
full name is actually The Tempest - WS, with clear Shakespearean
references linked by a subtle fil rouge to both the owner's
initials and those of the yard. After introduction into the fine
world of yachting, culminating in the last classic motoryacht
meeting in Imperia, the boat is now getting ready for a new season
in the Mediterranean with, on the bridge, an indissoluble bond
between the former patrol vessel and her mother country: Marc
Maudet, another young French skipper.
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