Explorers are slow, aeroplanes are fast. Don't they go together? Yes, the cross between the two is the 44 metre long "Maverick", a Flexplorer! Cantiere delle Marche (CdM) ordered a grey paint job similar to that of fighter jets, and the full name of the pilot Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise in Top Gun, is emblazoned on the aft bulwark. In true U.S. Navy style. No question, a big fan is getting on board here. His name: Tom Schröder. The black side wings on the top deck are reminiscent of the angled twin tail unit of the F-14A Tomcat, the original fighter from the first Top Gun film from 1986, for good reason. Sergio Cutolo and his Hydro-Tec office were responsible for the exterior design and construction. "Some elements reflect the style rather than the actual jet design, such as the angular shapes of the superstructure, which resemble the air intakes of the F-14," says Cutolo. "It was fun, 'Maverick' expresses the spirit of adventure, freedom and technology."
On board, the impression of a floating museum is once again created. Top Gun memorabilia hangs on the walls of each deck, including a film poster with the signatures of all the actors. With a smile, Tom Schröder explains during the yacht tour: "A good friend wanted to give me something to do with Top Gun for my christening and stumbled across this website. He came to Ancona with ten parcels, and they are now all hanging here on board." An original script of Top Gun 2 with all the signatures will be handed in later - it wouldn't be surprising if this is staged as a kind of shrine. Schröder talks about the summer off Sicily, when a local newspaper wrote about her visit with "Maverick": "Is Tom Cruise in Milazzo?"
"Maverick" with XXL Mediterranean season before world tour
From the beginning of May to September, the family travelled 6,000 nautical miles. "We spent two months each in southern Italy and Greece and hardly ever got off the boat," reports Tom Schröder, who enjoyed sailing through the Corinth Canal in the crow's nest. There were also professional appointments, such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco. "Maverick" acts as an advertising platform for Cantiere delle Marche, whose main shareholder the 50-year-old became at the end of 2022 after learning to appreciate the philosophy and quality of the shipyard from Ancona during construction. Schröder previously sailed on a 70-foot catamaran and has a family background: his father temporarily owned Dehler Yachtbau from Freienohl with a partner in the mid-1980s.
Tom Schröder founded his first company in 1999 while studying business administration in Cologne. Numerous start-ups, takeovers and sales of companies followed. The most successful venture was the establishment of the Wunschgutschein Group, which he and his founding partner sold to private equity investors in two stages. Schröder launched the FIL Bros. family office, which is named after his youngest son. "Fil has an extra chromosome and is dependent on our help and later on that of his three big brothers. This means that Fil will not be involved in operations, but will be part of every transaction in the company name." Fil is coming on board for the world tour, which is scheduled to last around six years.
The family wants to be on board full-time for the first two years, then for about half the year. The original plan to sail through the Gulf of Aden and around Africa was thwarted by the unrest in Yemen. After a flying visit to the Red Sea in winter, the route will run as planned in summer 2025 via Scandinavia, Spitsbergen, the Arctic, Iceland and Greenland. The hull is 22 millimetres thick along the waterline so that "Maverick" can dock on the perpetual ice. "The ice belt was the only addition. Otherwise, it is a typical CdM explorer: robust, but elegant, intelligent and reliable," explains Sergio Cutolo. At speeds of up to 15.7 knots, it travels up the US East Coast and across the St Lawrence River 1,400 miles into Canada. The highlight is the Northwest Passage, which is a good 4,000 nautical miles long, although with a full 64,400-litre bunker and a non-stop speed of ten knots, it would even cover 6,800 nautical miles.
Off board for the first time after two years
They will disembark for the first time in Vancouver and return to Europe. And from America, the Schröders will be travelling with two campers on land that have been converted to their specifications. "So that we can change ashore from time to time. Or the boys can have a change of scenery and get to know the country and not just the coast. The plan is to go as far as South America, Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands. Tom Schröder: "Maybe we'll be divorced after two years or stay on board for five years. I don't know. Or have no more contact with the children. Probably not. We're very close through Fil anyway." A socio-educational speech therapist, who has been accompanying the family for three years, travels with him permanently. In the Lazarette, which is also a cinema and gym, a cabin is being created for additional filmmakers or researchers.
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The lower deck is divided into four double cabins and the crew area in the foredeck. The main deck - asymmetrical like the sister ship "Aurelia" with a single running deck on the port side - is occupied by a seven metre wide saloon, the open galley with cold room and a cabin forward, the actual master suite in the three-deck configuration. "Our sons are now fighting over them," jokes Schröder about the 19, 22 and 25-year-old Filii. "The girlfriends of the two eldest have quit their jobs. They're coming along too." During the shell construction, Tom Schröder and his wife came up with the idea of an additional deck for the bridge and a retreat for the two captains, who alternate every two months. This resulted in a level just for the family, who filled it aft with Fil's children's room and bathroom and their area in the front. "It's a huge flat for the whole family. We can live here relatively self-sufficiently, isolated from the other boys, friends and family," says Schröder. "I actually did the layout all by myself and adapted it to our needs. The design was created with my wife and the designers from Paszkowski."
"Maverick" is based on the Flexplorer line, which Cantiere delle Marche introduced in 2021 with the 40-metre-long "Aurelia" (issue 5/21). The suitcase word Flexplorer actually alludes to the flexible use of the aft deck. It can be parked up with tenders and toys, as is typical for explorers, but does not have a telescopic crane, which is usually bulky. Instead, the "Maverick" A-frame crane dips just below deck and provides a sheer surface area when not in use, which increases to 135 square metres when the bulwark is folded down. The rectangular 3,300-litre pool in the middle can also be covered or filled with hundreds of beer bottles, as was the case at the Monaco Grand Prix.
"Mavericks" ten-metre tender also a one-off construction
As Tom Schröder and his sons did not like the tenders that were on the market, they developed one themselves together with Valerio Rivellini and called it the "Iceman". CdM welded the aluminium hull of the 9.55-metre-long lightweight construction in Ancona, while the carbon deck and superstructure were added elsewhere. The A-frame crane from Advanced Mechanical Solutions is also made of carbon fibre. On the one hand, such an overhead crane has a high load capacity of four tonnes in relation to its weight; on the other hand, the tractive force remains in the longitudinal axis when the dinghy is in the water. Depending on the choice of the three lifting points, there is hardly any heeling, and even in rough seas the boat can be launched from the stern in five minutes.
The highlight: just like the big one, the floating satellite has a large aft deck. Instead of storing the rescue tender in the foredeck or next to the large one on deck, the Williams 435 Sportjet is "piggybacked" by "Iceman" via a winch in the cockpit. This saves space and creates flexibility. On board are two Seabobs, two six-metre canoes, four E-Foils from Aerofoils and fishing and diving equipment including six compressed air cylinders. In tender mode, up to twelve guests are shuttled, who can get close to the coast thanks to the 50-centimetre draught. For short passages, "Iceman" is towed behind. The mother ship's roll stability is ensured by two pairs of electric fin stabilisers. Sergio Cutolo: "The double design is testimony to my experience with the construction of fast ferries. They offer full redundancy, improve course keeping in rough seas and are easy to integrate into the hull."
After 6,000 miles, has he discovered anything he would change? "I would install a screen in the deck that can be raised by crane as an outdoor cinema," says Tom Schröder. For the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco, an LED screen was attached to it. During one of the many parties - "Maverick" was moored in the middle of the harbour basin - the Tom from Top Gun almost came on board. Tom Cruise partied a few yachts away at the invitation of Tag Heuer. The advertising tour in the first year was extremely profitable for Cantiere delle Marche. The Italians received orders for three 165-foot Flexplorers, and a third sister ship to "Maverick" is under construction. The experiences of the Schröder family during their cruise will be just as rich. If you want to follow the ship's movements, enter the full name on tracking websites: "PETEMAVERICKMITCHELL".
Technical data "Maverick" Flexplorer 146
- Length over everything: 44,30 m
- Width: 8,60 m
- Depth: 2,70 m
- Displacement: 460 t
- Gross tonnage: 499 GT
- Material: Steel, aluminium
- Motors: 2 x CAT C32 ACERT
- Engine power: 2 x 970 kW
- Speed (max.): 15.7 kn
- Generators: Kohler 2 x 80 kW, 1 x 35 kW
- Range: 6,800 nm
- Fuel: 64.436 l
- Water: 9.916 l
- Stabilisers: 4 x CMC Marine
- Guests: 13 (+2)
- Crew: 7
- Construction: Hydro Tec
- Exterior design: Hydro Tec
- Interior design: Paszkowski Design
- Class: C Malta Cross HULL ● MACH Ych Unrestricted Navigation in compliance with MCYC
- Shipyard: Cantiere delle Marche, 2024
