PEARL 72

If you want something that feels different, inside and out, this is a boat you need to see

- Alex Smith

Puerto Portals in Mallorca is certainly not short on boating exotica. But as I approach the new Pearl 72, with its stratified ranks of glass, its raked screen and its swept spears of fibreglass, this looks to me like one of the most striking and distinctive boats in the entire marina. The local Pearl crew is on hand to greet me with crisp croissants and piping hot coffee – and as Cenk Efe, the MD at the Mallorca Marine Group, walks me rather fondly through the boat, it’s immediately clear that the internal arrangement is even more divergent than the styling. From the aft terraces and the space-saving V-drives to the galley placement, the light management and the extraordinary owner’s cabin, this second smallest of the Pearl fleet immediately feels like a boat with a very big personality.

DAY SPACE DELIGHTS 

Bill Dixon and Kelly Hoppen have been a formidable combination over the years – Bill for his proven excellence with spatial management and Kelly for her capacity to make slick high-end environments feel homely and welcoming rather than niche or esoteric. The same is undoubtedly true here. But given that we’re basking under the sun on a boat finely tuned to take advantage of that, our first port of call has to be the external day spaces.