Editor’s Note: A New Take on Spanish Yacht Building
In a family shipyard in Santa Pola, a change is underway. The Spanish yacht builder Astondoa invited me to witness the unveiling of the new Coupe 655 recently and, while this isn’t exactly a superyacht at 19.8 metres, it represents something far more significant for the builders themselves.
A crowd of builders, workers and family all gathered to proudly watch the blue sheet withdraw from the new Coupe 655, a striking new addition to the Astondoa range.
This leap forward in design fronts a range of Coupe’s entering the market from Astilleros Astondoa, and combined with the Century superyacht line, Astondoa is marking 100 years in style and leading the Spanish luxury marine industry into the future.
The Spanish region has always been close to my heart, and with more charter licenses emerging and pushing activity in Spain and the Balearics, a new superyacht marina in Barcelona with it’s own MYBA show, this is an area I’ll be keeping a very close eye on in the future.
Keeping with the theme of activity, new launches and sales have emerged this week; most notably the sale of the 45 metre Tecnomar superyacht Ouranos by IYC and the subsequent launch of a new Ouranos at the Admiral facilities.
We were also given an insight into the ongoing construction of the ultra-exciting explorer yacht project Vard 1-08 Kilkea. The immediately recognisable exterior profile is rugged, robust, different and ultimately masterminded by Bannenberg & Rowell. For sale and being overseen by Edmiston, this is a project I’m very excited to see reach the water.
Christensen broke a new personal best this week by launching two superyachts within the space of seven days - Silver Lining and Chasseur - by deploying their unique and custom built method of launching their own yachts in (what can only be described as) a drastic change in pace for the expert U.S. yacht builder. As always, you can read more on each story in the links above. Until next time.
