SUPERYACHT #13
Summer 2007
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
Fabio Petrone
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BENETTI M/Y SUNDAY
Benetti today is what all the others would like to be - the leader.
Over the last six years no company in the world has managed to best
them in the number of superyachts produced, meaning vessels over 24
metres LOA.
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TECHNICAL DATA
L.O.A.: 58.6 m
Beam: 10.4 m
Draught: 3.10 m
Max displacement: 875,000 kilos
Top speed: 16 knots
Cruising speed: 15 knots
Range at cruising speed: 5,000 miles
Hull: steel
Superstructures: aluminium
Fuel tanks: 130,000 litres
Water tanks: 20,000 litres
Engines 2x1,850 HP Caterpillar 3512 B rating C HD
Inverters: ZF 7540
Ratio: 3.86:1
Generators: 3x155 kW Caterpillar, 1x 60 kW Caterpillar
Marine Architecture: Benetti Design
External design: Stefano Natucci
Interior design: Sofoclis Emmanuelidis
Certification: ABS
Maltese Cross A1 E Yachting Service AMS/MCA.
For further information: Azimut-Benetti; via Michele Coppino, 104;
55049 Viareggio (LC), Italy; tel. +39 05843821-396232; web site
www.benetti.it; e-mail info@benettiyachts.it.
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This positioning is undoubtedly due to the extraordinary success of
the Benetti line in composite of which three are currently being
built: Tradition, Classic and Vision, of 30, 37 and 43 metres
respectively. A fourth, smaller model is being added, 24 metres and
also displacement, the Legend. But in terms of turnover the line of
steel hull vessels also contributes substantially. Sunday,
construction FB 235, the ship you see illustrated here, belongs to the
latter line, 58 metres long and developed on five decks. Launched in
Leghorn at the most recently built Benetti production premises - the
others are in Fano and, the historic one, in Viareggio - Sunday was
built by developing the same 56 metre hull design of two other Benetti
ships launched just a year earlier: Galaxi and Allegro. Lengthening of
a couple of metres, equally subdivided amidships and at the bow, gives
increased volume to exploit internally but also lends more thrust to
the aesthetics of the yacht which, with her five decks, already has
considerable vertical development. The designer is Stefano Natucci, a
Benetti regular who has done the exteriors of almost all their ships
produced between 2003 and today. But he also designed one of the
concept yachts, "Wave", 85 metres, recently presented by Fincantieri
Yacht, Benetti's partner in the 70 metre plus market. The steel hulled
Sunday was built - both structures and on-board plant and apparatus -
using the most modern construction technologies. For example the
aluminium sheets of the superstructure were cut with numerical control
laser equipment, decidedly more precise than the other established
systems such as plasma cutting. This not only meant a more rapid
production process, drastically reducing metalwork and bodywork, but
also greater overall quality due to tolerances reduced to
"hairsbreadth", which evidently simplified subsequent assembly and
welding of the various parts. As mentioned above, the hull follows the
lines of the 56 metre design and is displacement, stabilised by a
Vosper active fin system. Powered by two 1.850 HP Caterpillar engines,
the top speed is 16 knots with a cruising speed of 15. The waterlines
are designed for great hydrodynamic efficiency, and thanks to
considerable fuel tank capacity Sunday has an ocean-going range of
5000 miles. Interior design and furnishings were handled by Sofoclis
Emmanuelidis' IPSO studio. He declared that he had drawn inspiration
from the Normandie, a 1930's ship commissioned by the Compagnie
Générale Transatlantique, one of the finest and richest liners
crossing the Atlantic in the period between the two world wars. Just
like aboard that transatlantic liner, as you gradually visit Sunday's
various spaces and decks you perceive a very intense sense of luxury
and exclusiveness, which in the case of this Benetti evidently fully
interprets the tastes and lifestyle of the owner and his wife. The
latter played an active and determining role in designing the
interiors of this yacht which is intended for family use but also has
MCA certification. Sunday's five decks are a succession of
refinements, things made to measure, precious materials, rare objects,
paintings and sculptures, pieces that would delight a collector or a
gallery. Details designed and presented in such a way as to embellish
every room, every space of this ship, so she is highly interesting and
full of artistic inspirations, clearly exuding the creative
personality of the owner's wife. As a linking thread there are
decorations with maple root polished to mirror finish, frames and
plinths in polished steel, and ceilings composed of gloss white
lacquered panels, also mirror finished, which reflect the white
carpets. Aboard you move from gold leaf inlay, on the furniture doors
in the 12-seat dining room, to Botero's pastels and Sofia Vari's
sculptures in the bright and spacious saloon. From the map of the
Mediterranean, painted on a wall of the owner's study and showing the
main cities and monuments (created by ALM Décor, the studio of Paris
artist Mireille Herbst) to the steel inlays in the white onyx floor of
the foyer. From Schmidts' iron sculptures that embellish the four
guest cabins - two with double and two with twin beds - to the hand
decorated metal panels depicting the four seasons in the owner's cabin
situated forward on the main deck. The circular veranda, an outdoor
dining area aft on the upper deck, is also worth mentioning. Designer
Marc Brasier Jones created seats in the form of dolphins that surround
an enormous table whose centrepiece is an actual compass. Above there
is a dome, again faced in gold leaf, with optic fibres that reproduce
the zodiac signs of each member of the family. On the same deck,
forward of the VIP and skipper's cabins and adjacent to the radio
room, the wheelhouse is finished in beige leather panels with stripe
motifs in black leather. The floor of this area is in hide with steel
inserts while the black leather console is equipped with full hi-tech
instrumentation. Externally on both sides there are well defined
wings, linked forward of the main deck by stairways. Here, where the
technical area for mooring is situated, there are also two jet-skis
and a service boat, handled by a special davit. The stern garage,
which is equipped with a storehouse, can also house two tenders (7.50
and 5.30 metres) and another two jet-skis. Lastly, a word about the
sundeck: vast and teak-floored it's the place for lovers of suntan and
relaxation, with pool, sun-beds, bar, dining table and sofas.
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