YYACHTS Y8 CALABASH

YYACHTS SPECIALISES IN 70-100FT SEMI-CUSTOM CARBON COMPOSITE CRAFT THAT EMBODY ITS 'KEEP IT SIMPLE PHILOSOPHY. TOBY HODGES SAILS THE LATEST

-  TOBY HODGES

This new generation Y8 is the Griefswald yard’s third version of this 80ft size. The original, which helped launch the brand in 2015, was a Lorenzo Argento and David Copperfield design. Surge Projects’ Javier Jaudenes, designer of WinWin and the recent Baltic Café Racer series, then drew the replacement that launched two years ago, which he has now updated again including a new deck, structure and interior.

The deck design and ergonomics had key input from a lead designer at Apple, who is also a Y7 owner. Having a top product designer fine-tune the details was enlightening.

“The thinking is completely different from previous models – a different interpretation of the coachroof and the cockpit created by a design icon leader and a YYachts customer,” founder Michael Schmidt explains.

MINIMALISM

Schmidt owns this first new Y8, Calabash, which has a very different interior, deliberately minimalist in the vast saloon to help emphasise the volumes. And in common with his recent new models, it has a Scandinavian architectural feel, this time thanks to renowned Danish designer David Thulstrup.

The significant interior volume, which is 20% greater than its predecessor, helped the design team to offer a large variety of layouts, including owner’s accommodation fore or aft. Jaudenes admits this was a challenge: “to conceive an aesthetically pleasing vessel capable of accommodating four distinct layouts while maintaining essential structural elements.”