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The firsT of Amels’ limiTed ediTions 180 vessels To begin consTrucTion hAs been lAunched: A 55 meTre ThAT offers A wATer-born fAmily home And high-Tech office spAce

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words: Caroline Whitephotography: Bugsy Gedlek; Jeff Brown/Superyacht Media

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engelberg

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In a build shed by the North Sea in Holland, wedged on a bench between ebullient yard

workers, Amels’ marketing director Victor Caminada is

hunched in thought. Like the throng of workers, he is

there to celebrate the naming of the 55 metre superyacht

Engelberg that towers above us, but is searching for a

way to describe the category of boat she is. Engelberg is

not a sistership to the 11 boats in neighbouring sheds,

but neither is she unrelated. She is not part of a series,

but is not a from-scratch custom build either. ‘Just call

her a Limited Editions,’ he decides. So we have. But the

description requires explanation.

Amels began as a commercial yard in 1918. It built its

first yacht – a 48.2 metre, Katalina – in 1980, continuing

with 57 metre My Gail III and 42 metre Jamaica Bay

among others. In 1991, the Damen Group bought the yard

and made it the yachting arm of its commercial

shipbuilding empire. Amels continued to produce some

of the largest custom yachts in Holland, but the profits

ratio on these behemoths did not satisfy Mr Damen the

CEO. Eventually he announced that Amels would translate

the Damen Group’s recipe for success in commercial

shipbuilding into its yachts: use standardisation to enable

the build of technically complicated ships.

‘Everyone was saying no,’ recalls Caminada. ‘Anybody

Most of Engelberg’s stunning furniture is made by Metrica, a company that regularly works on new builds carried out by Amels. The yacht’s unusual meeting table (top left) features a rising command chair and a metal engraving of the world on the table’s surface

Engelberg is not a sistership to the 11 boats in neighbouring sheds, but neither is she unrelated. She is not part of a series, but is not a from-scratch custom build either

who is going to buy a 50 metre-plus boat doesn’t want to pull

up in a port in the Mediterranean and see the same boat next

to it.’ Mr Damen’s retort was that these people did not object

to seeing the same luxury car as their own in the next

parking spot – and certainly didn’t mind that it had the same

engine. With a high degree of customisation in the interior

design and just enough on the outside, he argued, yacht

engelberg

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engelberg

owners would be won over. Especially when they got so

much in return.

‘We were able to deliver boats fast,’ says Caminada. ‘We

have a time saving of about half of a custom build because

we have done the design and engineering. We have a cost

advantage also because we distribute development costs

over many boats. Also it has a big quality benefit because

if you pay attention you get better at things. In terms of

building it’s very predictable – this launch party was

planned a long time ago.’

The mix has been a success. Since the first Limited

Editions, the 171 Deninki, 14 have launched and 11 more

are being built. Limited Editions have what Caminada

calls a ‘100 per cent repeat client rate’ – in other words,

previous clients who have bought a new boat have

ordered it from Amels’ range. Since owners usually go

up in size for their second yacht, the Limited Editions

Engelberg’s interiors feature splashes of

bright reds and oranges to provide contrast and

warmth to her beige and grey palette. Blues and

greens, inspired by colours of the sea, provide cooler

highlights

range now includes the 199, 212 and 242. In the middle

is the 180, of which Engelberg is the first model.

Engelberg’s owner, a Zurich-based industrialist, came

to Amels through Jeroen Minnema, a broker for Ocean

Independence and the owner’s rep. When negotiations

for an existing 50 metre yacht dragged on, the owner

knocked the deal on the head and decided to build new,

but he didn’t want to wait years. ‘I proposed Amels

because it’s a top-quality Dutch shipyard, and because

of the limited amount of time of the actual build,

combined with the customisation,’ says Minnema. ‘None

of these yachts are the same.’

The parts of Engelberg that could not be changed

include the spacious, well laid-out engine room with

two MTU engines, each offering 2,100rpm, and two

massive silencers; the central staircase; structural

bulkheads and the basic style of the exterior.

Engelberg’s curving lines strongly resemble the

smaller Limited Editions, in particular the 180 Step One

(launched before Engelberg, but started after her). They

share the elliptical shapes of the forward windows and

side decks on the main deck, the bulge of the upper

deck balcony forward and the wave-like side

superstructure up top – altogether it is a natural, flowing

form. Engelberg’s most distinctive element of exterior

design is her grey hull paint, with an orange highlight

just above the waterline. The superstructure is painted a

very pale shade of grey too.

While the look may not be as radical as that of the

scimitar-bowed Limited Editions 199, the basic design

offered to Engelberg’s owner has developed significantly

since the Deninki was launched. Customisations that

work well – for example an owner’s office or a helipad

– become options at the start of the next boat proposed

by Amels.

The elliptical shapes of the forward windows and side decks and the wave-like side superstructure up top... altogether it is a natural, flowing form

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engelbergengelberg

As the size of these designs has grown, the extra

length has been concentrated in the stern. From Deninki,

which simply had an aft storage space, this part of the

boat has grown to become the large beach club we see

on Engelberg, with a sauna and steam room, all tiled in

brightly coloured cartoon characters. Engelberg also

features a customised foldout bathing platform, allowing

guests to comfortably board or disembark the yacht in

water or on shore; it can even launch a jet ski.

But in terms of customisations, this is the tip of Engelberg

in more than one sense. There are more windows in the

upper saloon than is standard, and stainless steel child-proof

gates are at the tops of exterior staircases. Another new

touch, at the forward end of the main saloon, are sliding

doors port and starboard of the dining table that open on to

the side decks, from which custom balconies fold out.

Upstairs a wide-body upper saloon was chosen to

maximise indoor space, but again sliding doors are on

either side. Here, instead of balconies there are railings

nearly flush to the side of the boat, ‘creating a French

balcony, where you can lean outside and get a fresh

Enea picked out the soft green-blue tone of a sea urchin shell as a recurring colour for fabrics, while blinds are pine-tree green

While much of Engelberg is an adult’s world, some areas – such as pools and play areas – are designed to be child-friendly, as well as child-safe, allowing the owner to use the boat as his office and family home

breath of air’, as Minnema puts it. Both sets of doors

have been made to recede into the superstructure

without blocking the windows on either side.

Most customisations in public areas have been made

to emphasise the connection between the interior and

exterior. This is largely down to the involvement of Enzo

Enea, who is responsible for the interior design and

décor. Enea, a well-known Zurich-based landscape

architect who has branched out into residential interior

design, had not worked on a boat before. ‘We normally

work from outside to inside,’ says Enea, ‘so the opposite

to what architects or designers normally do.’

Daniel Küpfer, project and management director at Ocean

Management, the management division of Ocean

Independence, worked on the contract for the boat and

explains Enea’s approach: ‘His philosophy is that the

surroundings flow into the interior. He does not look at the

interior space as insulated. The idea of (exterior designer)

Tim Heywood was also that you look from inside to the

exterior and that matches perfectly with the interior architect.’

Enea picked out the soft green-blue tone of a sea urchin

shell as a recurring colour for fabrics, while blinds, for

example, are pine-tree green. ‘We were inspired by the

coast,’ he says, ‘so we took the colour of the shells, the

sand, the rocks and the sea.’ The exterior cap rails are

teak left unvarnished so they will weather naturally to a

grey that complements the exterior paints.

Complementing this natural palette the predominant

wood in the main saloon is brushed teak, the forward

dining table a darker mahogany, and the curved chairs

in a neutral tone are highlighted with strips of soft green

leather (made by Metrica, like most furniture on board).

In the seating area further aft the tones are teal and

sand. As on Step One, a staircase starboard aft leads

directly down to the four good-sized guest cabins, while

fair-sized crew accommodation (about a third the length

of the boat) is on the lower deck forward of the

amidships engine room.

The upper deck saloon is tailored to evening use, the

wood darker, a mini grand Steinway in the corner and

forward a grey velvet sofa with coral cushions. In the

corner, surprisingly for this otherwise social space, is a

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engelberg

desk (with computer and phone) that hints at a major

customisation theme on Engelberg.

‘We put a lot of security features in, which are

confidential,’ says Kupfer, ‘and [the owner] wanted to

have a communications system which interacts with his

communications system ashore – to a very high degree.’

To provide this the yard installed 50 miles of cabling.

Living spaces are set up so the owner doesn’t have to

choose between leisure and connectivity in any part of the

yacht. This is particularly notable in the master cabin,

forward on the upper deck, which features an imposing

wooden Metrica partition: it forms the front to a desk and

communications hub on the aft side and the headboard of

a king-sized bed on the forward side. The cabin offers

180-degree views forward, a customised fold-down balcony

on the port side, a chic, curving seating area starboard, plus

a grand bathroom with spa pool and mirrored dressing

room aft. The brass that surrounds the windows all through

the upper deck takes on a romantic Nautilus-like appeal at

this end, with bolted circular port holes.

But the space that most boldly blends business and

pleasure is the aft deck and its ‘command seat’ designed

by Enea. The wooden desk (with integrated seat and

console that rises automatically) extends in a sweep

down and aft, becoming a coffee table at its extremity,

where guests or colleagues could gather. ‘From here the

owner has contact with the bridge and his offices around

the world,’ says Minnema. To complete the imposing

look, the coffee table portion of the structure is inlaid

with a stainless steel map of the world.

Even the sundeck offers the chance to combine play

with work – albeit physical work. Forward of serious-

looking gym equipment is a shaded bar, raised spa pool

and lounge area. Between the bar and spa pool, the set

of curved-glass sliding doors that act as a windbreak are

a particularly nice piece of work, designed by Amels and

built by RVS Montfort of Holland. ‘It’s a one-off item,

which was designed especially for this yacht,’ says

Minnema. ‘It’s made in stainless steel and carbon and

required many engineering hours.’

The bridge area too is a combination space, not only

boasting the good visibility and top-of-the-range

equipment expected from a Dutch yard, but also a large

comfortable seating area, where the owner can enjoy time

with his captain and be a part of the yacht’s progress.

Engelberg’s multi-use, in-touch spaces show why the

Limited Editions concept works so well: most owners

are busy people who demand quality and individuality,

but don’t want to wait around for their dream boat.

‘There will always be a group of owners who love to

start with a blank sheet of paper, no doubt,’ says

Caminada. ‘We think there is a larger group of owners

who are very time pressed, who want it to happen very

quickly, don’t want to be in endless meetings, have

technical risk, have financial risk, have

delivery time risk. To those kinds of

owners this concept appeals.’

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The owner’s suite features a work console, allowing him access to shore communications and the bridge (main image). Guest rooms are equally well-appointed with themed décor

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engelberg

EngElbErg AmelsLOA 55mLWL 49.65mBeam 9.4m Draught 3.35mDisplacement 720TGross tonnage 670GTEngines 2 x MTU 16V 2000 M70, 1,050kW @ 2,100rpm each

Speed (max/cruise) 15.5 knots/13 knots Range at 13 knots 4,500nmBowthruster 110kWGenerators 2 x 155kW Northern Lights M1066H; 1 x 80kW Northern Lights M1066T

Stabilisers Naiad zero-speedFuel capacity 115,000 litresWater capacity 17,000 litresOwner and guests 14Crew 16Tenders 1 x Yachtwerft Meyer custom; 1 x Pascoe MOB

Construction Steel hull, aluminium superstructure

Classification Lloyd’s @100A1, SSC Yacht Mono, LMC G6, UMSNaval architect AmelsExterior styling Tim Heywood

Interior design Enzo Enea; Focus Yacht DesignOwner’s representative & broker Ocean Independence t: +41 44 390 25 75 e: info@ocyachts.com w: oceanindependence.comYacht management Ocean Management t: +41 43 399 22 77

e: management@ocyachts.com w: oceanindependence.comBuilder/year Amels/2013 Vlissingen, The Netherlands t: +31 118 485 002 w: amels-holland.com e: info@amels-holland.com

The upper saloon is made for socialising, yet it still features a ship-to-shore communications console

Curved-glass sliding doors separate the spa pool from the sundeck’s seating area

The owner’s cabin features a custom fold-down balcony

The engine room is one of the few parts of an Amels Limited Editions that may not be customised

The yacht features an advanced communications infrastructure, for the owner’s corporate command and control needs