EXTRAORDINARY BOATS: SAM FORTESCUE ON THE HANSTAIGER X1

Imagine a boat that combines the aggressive loom of a Lamborghini with the controls of a fighter jet. Pop a rig on top, open the transom like the cargo door of a Chinook – oh, and bung a grand piano in one corner of the saloon.

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A boutique Spanish shipyard has created the Hanstaiger X1, almost certainly the world’s most radical cruising trimaran

This, with a bit more glass, ferocious styling and creature comforts galore, is the new Hanstaiger X1 – a trimaran so beautiful and strange that it has to be the brainchild of an eccentric. The Hanstaiger X1 truly is like nothing else afloat.

The individual behind it is John Ordovas, who created a small shipyard in southern Spain. His vision was for a cruising yacht that tore up convention and offered a vast single-level living space, architectural finish, a gigantic beach club and easy performance.

The result is a trimaran where some 85% of the interior space is on the same level, resembling a generous urban loft apartment. The cabins and heads in the side hulls, plus the master cabin occupying the forward half of the central hull, all connect without steps to the main saloon. It was one of the reasons Ordovas chose to build a trimaran, rather than a catamaran. “The problem with catamarans is you go into the side hulls and it ends up being something of a rabbit hole with tight corners,” he explains.

It is a brave design, because all that interior space comes from extending the superstructure to the very stern of the boat. “There were some risky elements to this,” he admits. “We were removing the deck space and the cockpit. But in a way, the opening at the back becomes the exterior of the boat as the hydraulic doors become a beach club. It’s one of the design features I’m most proud of.”