by Super sailboat builder Royal Huisman’s nod to the festive season was a laser lights show to mark delivery of an intriguing 58.5m motor yacht called PHI, 21st letter of the Greek alphabet.
Dutch designer Cor D Rover drew the exterior lines for this vessel, and Royal Huisman was selected due to the picturepostcard Vollenhove yard’s experience in building very advanced low-profile aluminum sailboats and exquisite fit-outs.
Interior design is by Lawson Robb, and naval architecture by Van Oossanen, including their patented Fast Displacement XL hull system.
Says Royal Huisman: “Her visionary owner wanted a vessel that was complex, layered, intellectual and brave, woven together by a narrative that can be shared and discovered as you move through the yacht, an interior never seen before”.
That part has to wait until a photo shoot scheduled for early 2022. Meanwhile the owner’s rep, Guy Booth, has discussed at length their rationale in building not only PHI but also a 36m support vessel called PHI Phantom at Alia Yachts in Turkey, and combining them with the 12m tender Spirit of PHI by Spirit Yachts, an 11m Axopar tender with diesel outboards, a Smart Electric Car, four jet skis and a sailboat or submarine yet to be chosen.
“First of all, building the mothership below 500gt was very important, because compliance levels and build costs are much lower when you don’t have to meet all the standards that come into play at 500gt”, says Booth. “And this extends to annual operational costs, which are also much lower below 500gt.
“Building PHI to 499gt offers significantly more value. The educated figure that I’ve heard is 25-30 per cent increase in costs above that, and double the length is at least double the build costs in terms of labour and materials.
“When you consider it would be potentially a 25 per cent higher build cost to have all of that utility on PHI rather than on a support vessel, there is no way that our support ship has cost us 25 per cent of the value of PHI, not even close. So we essentially have the utility of a 90m yacht at a significantly lower cost than building a 90m yacht”.
Some counter arguments arise here, but this is not the time or place to debate them. Suffice to say that PHI can refer to some quite complex mathematical equations, borne out in the philosophy that created her.
Royal Huisman continues in a new role, after delivery, as a provider of services, assisting crew in their understanding of some of the vessel’s unique functions, and CEO Jan Timmerman says apart from that aspect, “it has been a bittersweet moment, having to say farewell to PHI, as her build has been part of our daily lives for several years.
“We know that PHI and her shadow vessel will conquer oceans, and wish the owner and everybody aboard fair winds, following seas and a great experience”.
The vessel has accommodation for 12 with 11 crew, is built to ABS, cruises at 12 knots with a top speed of 20 knots, and has a range of 4,000 nm albeit with refuelling options.
PHI’s innovative exterior lights, powered by lasers, were jointly developed by Royal Huisman and fibr8.com. They are said to be the next trend, as opposed to LEDs which can leave gaps, and are more prone to failure. The laser system will now be marketed among Royal Huiman’s many other unique ideas.
The yard started building smaller motor yachts years ago for the then boss, Wolter Huisman, and has continued sporadically since. It has another 52m sport fisher, likely the largest in the world, which has recently got under way.
Super sailboats in the pipeline include one for a well-known AsiaPacific owner, referred to in Top 100 Superyachts of Asia-Pacific 2022 in Yacht Style last issue.
Source: Yacht Style Issue 63, www.royalhuisman.com
