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The dividing lines are blurring

Martin Hager

, Sören Gehlhaus

 · 25.08.2021

The dividing lines are blurringPhoto: Winch Design
The dividing lines become blurred
222 metres, 39 flats, worldwide voyage. What is to be built near Vard in Norway by 2024 is half yacht, half cruiser. The gigantic winch design "Somnio" is polarising.

A large ship whose cabins are the size of flats and which belong to one user party cannot be a yacht by definition. Or is it? In English, the term "private residence yacht" describes something that has been around since 2003. "The World", a 192 metre long hermaphrodite, successfully travels the world's oceans - sometimes with co-owners living permanently on board. Winch Design, which designed the exterior and interior of "Somnio", coined the term "yacht liner". And yes, the exterior certainly has the character of a yacht, for example in comparison with the 156 metre long "Dilbar".

There will be 39 suites on the 222 metres, ranging from 150 to 600 square metres and marketed from 9.5 million euros. Andrew Winch and his team will be supported in the interior design by the cruise-experienced studio Tillberg Design of Sweden. A 170-strong crew will offer a concierge service, among other things, with access to a 10,000-bottle wine cellar. A variety of restaurants and a beach club with a tender harbour are planned. In addition, "Somnio" will sail with clean engine technology and bring internationally recognised experts on board to inform owners about solutions for "important ecological and philanthropic issues". The route planning is globally orientated and ranges from the Mediterranean via New York to voyages of discovery to the South Pacific or Antarctica. Fincantieri subsidiary Vard plans to cut the first "Somnio" steel plates in Norway in March 2022; the launch is scheduled for mid-2024.

222 metres in two and a half years speaks more for a standardised cruise ship than for an individual yacht design. In favour of the concept is the fact that the "Somnio" team includes Erik Bredhe, the former captain of "The World". It was recently announced that another cruise shipyard is joining Fincantieri in the new alternative segment: the 289-metre Øino design "Njord" is due to be launched from the Meyer shipyard in 2025. As both of these ships are in a grey area in terms of their appearance and use, we have opted for a neutral description of them as "flat ships".

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"Somnio": The 222 metres with lines by Winch Design will sail to the Antarctic and accommodate 39 user parties. "Somnio" dispenses with rectangular cruiser superstructures and favours terraced aft decks, main deck pool and various hull hatches. | n.Photo: Winch Design"Somnio": The 222 metres with lines by Winch Design will sail to the Antarctic and accommodate 39 user parties. "Somnio" dispenses with rectangular cruiser superstructures and favours terraced aft decks, main deck pool and various hull hatches. | n.
Martin Hager

Martin Hager

Editor in Chief YACHT

Martin Hager is editor-in-chief of the titles YACHT and BOOTE EXCLUSIV and has been working for Delius Klasing Verlag for 20 years. He was born in Heidelberg in 1978 and started sailing at the age of six, in an Opti of course. This was soon followed by 420s, Sprinta Sport and 470s, which he also sailed on the regatta course with his brother. His parents regularly took him on charter trips through the Greek and Balearic Islands. Even at a young age, it was clear to him that he wanted to turn his passion for water sports into a career. After graduating from high school and completing an internship at the Rathje boatbuilding company in Kiel, it was clear that he did not want to become a classic boatbuilder. Instead, he successfully studied shipbuilding and marine engineering in the Schleswig-Holstein state capital and focused on yacht design wherever he could. His diploma thesis dealt with the “Testing of a new speed prediction method for sailing yachts”. In 2004, the superyacht magazine BOOTE EXCLUSIV was looking for an editor with technical and nautical background knowledge, a position that was perfect for Martin Hager. The application was successful and a two-year traineeship was arranged. After twelve years as an editor, the editorial team changed and he took over responsibility for BOOTE EXCLUSIV as editor-in-chief in 2017. After long-time YACHT editor-in-chief Jochen Rieker moved to the role of publisher, Martin Hager also took over the position of editor-in-chief of Europe's largest sailing magazine YACHT, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, at the beginning of 2023. When he's not working on topics for the two water sports titles, Martin Hager likes to go out on the water himself - preferably with kite and wingfoil equipment or on a little after-work trip across the Alster.

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