AIATA WAY FINDER 38

We head for Istanbul to sea trial Aiata's first ever boat

- Alex Smith

Very few fledgling boat builders have excited the public imagination to the same degree as Aiata. We first witnessed this new Turkish brand at its world launch in Düsseldorf, where it tried to illustrate what it called the “game-changing” versatility of its modular build approach by exhibiting three Wayfinder 38s. It was certainly clear that the ability to swap furniture units in and out was a great way to help optimise the base platform in favour of seating, dining or fishing - but the key selling point for most of us was the ability to buy it as an open boat with a T-top before adding rear and side doors at a later date and turning it into a fully enclosed Cabin model further.

If that sounds like a slightly fraught concept, replete with teething troubles and longevity concerns, what was equally clear in Düsseldorf was how slick and cleanly resolved these boats were. We've seen a great many prototypes over the years but few, if any, have felt quite as polished as this, and that actually makes more sense than it might seem. After all, Aiata is owned by the Anadolu Group, a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate and a major driving force in the Turkish economy.

Long before the show began, it had already solicited the award-winning Nordic design agency co-founded by Jarkko Jämsén, famous for his work with Axopar, to design its new range. It had already executed a head-hunting campaign, recruiting some of the industry's most capable professionals from some of the world's most stellar brands. And it had already invested €15m in the creation of a highly mechanised, automotive-style 20,000sqm manufacturing plant in Çayırova, Turkey, without any immediate expectation (or need) for a profit.