German Superyacht Conference: Lecture series against a mega backdrop

The first speaker was the editor-in-chief of BOOTE EXCLUSIV, Martin Hager, who brought the three sponsors of the German Superyacht Conference on stage. Patrick Ettmann from PEC Interiors reported on the expansion of his company through Würzburg interiors and a major Lürssen order. Timo Holthoff from The Rug Company gave an outlook on his favourite project "Handmade carpets", which he expanded on in his later presentation. Felix Zimmermann from Pantaenius Versicherungen explained that 2024 was probably the most challenging year in Pantaenius insurance history: "17 yachts with 30 metres plus alone" were affected.

Great explorers at Damen Yachting

Before the start of the lecture series, Martin Hager presented presenter Michael Antwerpes with a compass for his tenth participation in the German Superyacht Conference. The first speaker was a team from Damen Yachting, Rob Luijendijk and Enrique Tintore. The occasion was the success of the Amels 80, four of the Espen-Oeino design have already been sold. The second success story is the Yachtsupport series, for example "Bad Company", as well as the semi-custom Xplorer series, which also includes "Pink Shadow " counts. When asked what was the most challenging vehicle that one of their yachts ever had to accommodate on board, Enrique Tintore replied: "a seaplane".

Fire at the German Superyacht Conference

Number two at the German Superyacht Conference was Stefan Nehry and Oliver Blattner from Nauticfire. This presentation was all about fireplaces and fire pits on board. After "Tatoosh" (1999), Stefan Nehry has installed around 60 of them to date. The actual fireplace only accounts for ten per cent of the construction, the rest is made up of pipes, sensors and motors. With wood or gas fires, modern exhaust air and control technology allow the flames to flicker safely. Oliver Blattner from Swash also presented a design collection of outdoor fireplaces for superyachts.

Marco Casali and energy from the sun

Superyacht designer Marco Casali took over the microphone; the Italian recently supervised the motor yacht "Anjelif" (50 m). His vision is environmentally friendly yachts that obtain their energy from solar cells, one example being the Vision F 80 catamaran. His "Vision E" concept focuses on "length runs" and recently resulted in Greenline's superyacht offshoot GX Superyachts. The flat and narrow aluminium construction with a variable solar roof is designed to offer less resistance and consume less energy. What's more, natural ventilation is intended to replace energy-intensive climate control. He initially published the idea on Instagram, where a customer spotted it and commissioned it.

Heli-skiing, diving and scavenger hunts

Number four was Jimmy Carroll. The former soldier applies his logistical expertise from the military to the organisation of extraordinary trips. With Pelorus Travel, he takes superyacht owners to the icy world of penguins, drops them off by helicopter on deserted islands, takes them skiing, scuba diving or paddling in the Canadian wilderness. He names Indonesia and Norway as the top destinations for yacht owners. Exclusive scavenger hunts, which are not only fun for children, are also popular. His portfolio already includes six charter yachts.

Clean sailing yacht from Dykstra

Mark Leslie-Miller from Dykstra Naval Architects gave an insight into the 69-metre ketch "Zero", which is being built at Vitters and is due to set sail in 2026 completely without fossil fuels. This is important for the environment, as 47 per cent of onboard energy is used for the air conditioning systems. The path to optimising energy use involves time-consuming studies, excerpts of which he presented to the audience and which are freely accessible on the website of the ZERO Foundation, which was set up specifically for this purpose, in line with the open source concept.

Where do the carpets for the superyacht come from?

Number six on the schedule of the German Superyacht Conference was Timo Holthoff from The Rug Company. He has been supplying his carpets to superyachts since 2005. As an example, he cited 1270 square metres for a 160-metre yacht. He took the audience on an exciting pictorial journey through the production sites of his exclusive works: China, Thailand, India and Nepal. The steps shown include dyeing, spinning, pattern colouring and finally knotting and "fine cutting". Genuine craftsmanship is close to his heart, although hand tufting only began its triumphant advance from the USA through the manufactories of this world in the 1920s.

Journey to the Blue Zones of the Earth

With Tobias Reichmuth - digitally connected - it was once again about travelling, but in a different way. The Swiss entrepreneur invests in longevity projects and bought the icebreaker "Prometej" (45 metres, 1956) for his project, which he now wants to take on the "BlueCruise" for 18 months. This voyage will take him to the world's Bluezones - places where people grow particularly old. Together with his team and illustrious guests (not only from the world of science), he wants to find out what makes people live to be over 100 years old in good health and happiness. The only thing the entrepreneur might miss: "good bread".

Maserati at the German Superyacht Conference

Number eight is again about the look of superyachts. Klaus Busse, head designer at Maserati, gave examples of his work and showed how the lines of great sports car icons can be transferred to large floating projects. He also revealed Maserati's design philosophy, which includes a long-lasting look - after all, car owners keep their cars for many years. Equally important is the tri-dentity, which means the trident logo in different variations, and finally the colours. It's okay to be colourful here, after all, you are an Italian brand. The "many white yachts are not my taste," says Klaus Busse.

What makes sailing yachts stable

Last but not least, Bill Tripp took to the stage at the German Superyacht Conference. The British designer, who among other things investigated the accident involving the sailing yacht "Bayesian", used numerous studies and photos to explain how a yacht becomes absolutely stable and reliably rights itself again after capsizing. When asked what he thinks of double hulls under sail, the answer was: "A monohull takes care of you, a cat needs attention from a certain point onwards and accordingly even better seamanship!".