Uniesse has launched a new yacht series called Exuma, named for the islands in the Bahamas. The first model is the express-style 54-foot Exuma HTC5. HTC stands for “hardtop cruiser.” It’s based on the builder’s earlier 48-footer, and is penned to be a multifunctional, customizable craft for cruising, fishing, diving, gunkholing, exploring or just relaxing.

The HTC5 feels larger than its 54-foot-7-inch length overall, and it’s not a boat meant for mass production. Fit-and-finish is first-rate, right down to the polished flat screws. The Pisa, Italy-based yard intends to build about 20 to 30 of the boats per year within the next five to seven years, a plan that should help owners when it comes to resale value.

Freeboard forward is generous with a sleek sheerline and a raked house, making the HTC5 look like a sprinter in the starting blocks. The HTC5 is also an exercise in form and function. The hydraulic swim platform is suitable for stowing personal watercraft or other toys, while the two-piece transom door has a pantograph hinge. When the transom is closed, it melds into the rest of the exterior design for pleasing aesthetics.

The cockpit’s dining table and L-shaped settee are great for dining under the stars, and the table lowers to create a sun pad with filler cushions. For protection during peak heat, a telescoping sunshade extends from the hardtop fully aft. Like the transom door, the sunshade tucks away when not in use.

Forward in the cockpit are a sink, grill and ice maker to port, and a fridge and stowage are to starboard for alfresco meals and sundowners with friends. Uniesse finished Hull No. 1 with PlasDeck Eco Series nonslip, a recycled faux-wood material that costs less than traditional teak.

Access to the salon is via a sliding glass door flanked by glass panels for clear visibility aft. The salon feels open and airy, helped by 6-foot-7-inch headroom, the yacht’s 15-foot-2-inch beam, a single-pane windshield, unobstructed side windows and a hardtop glass ceiling (with shades). A wood sole, faux-leather furnishings, polished grab rails and strategically positioned LED lighting create a chic ambience. A U-shaped settee to port has an electric high-low table that converts to a berth. Across from it is a 42-inch pop-up LCD TV for rainy-day movie time on the hook.

Twin 17-inch Garmin GPSMap 8617 glass multifunction displays are the center of the HTC5′s yacht-management system. They display Uniesse’s monitoring data, which means touchscreen control of all yacht functions and navigation needs. The helm also has twin pedestal-mounted seats with built-in footrests that should help to reduce fatigue during long runs.

Designing a second social area is tricky on a 54-footer, but the HTC5 has a galley and lounge a few steps down from the salon. The galley has a stainless-steel microwave, induction cooktop, full-size fridge and freezer, sink, and stowage. Natural light streams in from the skylight and hullside windows. If desired, the HTC5 can be fitted out with a washer-dryer combo under the staircase. The TVs in the lounge—as well as in the master stateroom—are mounted on “floating” panels with recessed lighting. Uniesse could have hard-mounted them on the bulkheads, but the builder says it wanted each feature on board to be special.

Additional features include a foredeck sun pad for three to five people, angled deck rails, a low-profile radar arch, a Humphree Interceptor trim system, 50,000-Btu chilled-water air conditioning, and an 11.5 kW Cummins Onan generator. Owners can personalize the HTC5′s hull, deck and interior colors.

Uniesse is a semicustom builder with yachts that catch the eye, are ready to dispatch sloppy seas, and can be tailored for how owners will use them. The Uniesse Exuma HTC5 embodies these traits in a thoughtfully designed way. And stay tuned: There are more hardtop as well as open Exuma models on the way, focused on fishing and cruising.

Take the next step: uniesse.com

The post Uniesse’s Exuma HTC5 is Bold and Beautiful appeared first on Yachting.

Marco Bardi, the Italian freediving ­spearfishing champion, helped design the Lomac 540 IN Spearfishing center-console. The rigid-bottom inflatable measures 17 feet, 9 inches length overall with an 8-foot beam. Lomac sells the boats without engines to dealers, allowing owners to customize their outboard selection; however, Lomac recommends a 60 hp engine for the 540 IN Spearfishing RIB. Whom It’s For: This RIB is built for anglers who also like to spend time afloat with friends and family.

Picture This: It’s early May, and grouper and mahimahi season has started off the Florida Keys. You and your buddies jump aboard the Lomac 540 IN Spearfishing RIB and cruise out of Key West to the wrecks. The boat’s deck spaces keep all your gear well-organized, and the fish are plentiful. Dinner will soon be served.

Take the next step: lomac.it

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Sunstream Boat Lifts says its SunLift SLX range offers the world’s only adjustable, free-standing hydraulic boat lifts. The lifts reportedly accommodate everything from PWC to 50-plus-foot boats weighing up to 30,000 pounds.

The battery-powered lifts draw 185 amps; they rely on a trickle-charge system (solar or AC) and can be app-controlled via Bluetooth. The SLX lifts work in fresh and salt water, and all hydraulic cylinders and hoses are stainless steel. Each lift has 6 feet, 6 inches of travel and can fit into berths with depths that are mere inches up to 21 feet.

Designing a skinny-water-friendly system wasn’t easy, says Sunstream CEO Ken Hey, but the company added a joggle—or notch—below the vertically traveling H-frame’s after beam.

“The joggle can be below the mud,” Hey says, adding that the joggle also accommodates a wide range of vessels.

Sunstream makes a variety of hull-supporting bunks, and custom fabrications are available.

Take the next step: sunstreamcorp.com

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Predicting the future of marine electronics isn’t easy, but these four men are paid to do exactly that. Here’s a look at trends that are likely to be influential during the next five years, from the minds of Dave Dunn, Garmin’s director of sales and marketing for marine; Knut Frostad, CEO of Navico; Eric Kunz, Furuno’s senior product manager; and Jim McGowan, Raymarine’s Americas marketing manager. (Their words have been slightly edited for space and clarity.)

Q: Which consumer electronics trends are likely to affect marine electronics?

A: Dunn: Connectivity and integration. There’s more desire for third-party companies integrating with multifunction displays, and there’s more expectation from customers. I think there will be more boats without buttons and switches, as well as more digital-switching systems.

A: Frostad: Consumer electronics are starting to have a good learning experience. 2020 has been an amazing year for attracting new boaters, but it requires the user experience to be more educational. Voice assistance is becoming big on land. I think there will be more integration with phones and watches. On land, everything has a low-power mode to lower consumption—I think that’s where we’re going with marine.

A: Kunz: I think we’re going to see more control of the vessel and its onboard systems through multifunction displays. We’re going to see new sensors that produce more-accurate information at lower costs. For example, GPS III. I also think there will be more automation between handheld devices and the boat.

A: McGowan: The No. 1 thing I see is connectivity. Everything is connected in a house—temperature, music and security—and the demand is there to do that on boats. Getting to a mass-market solution is going to be key. All levels of vessel monitoring and niceties—turning on lights, engines, and AC and climate control—will be done through mobile devices.

Q: How important will artificial intelligence be?

A: Dunn: We’re seeing more and more augmented reality, and I think that will become more prominent. With AI, it’s hard to say; there are so many variables at sea. I don’t think it will be a prominent feature in the next five years. With 5G networks, you’ll be able to get better weather services from your phone, so maybe there will be better predictive routes with autoguidance, for example, if you go to the same places every weekend.

A: Frostad: Boats are suited to AI because there are a lot of variables that are hard to follow manually. For example, intelligent radar, where the system interprets the image: AI could separate the echoes and create an optimal route, in combination with the autopilot. Finding fish is another possibility. We’re going to use AI to improve the boating experience. For example, we could use machine learning to see how customers use their boats, so when they switch on the battery, the system turns on the boat the way they normally use it.

A: Kunz: I don’t see AI playing a big role in the next five years. But augmented reality, which combines different technologies to improve and automate situational awareness—say, by combining the functions of video, GPS and other sensors in ways that we weren’t able to do before—we’ll do that in the next five years.

A: McGowan: I think it will explode. We’re seeing the beginning with machine vision and advanced processing. It’s not quite AI, but the next logical step is for cameras to identify objects. It’s fair to call machine vision a learning system—it’s got a built-up knowledge base. We’re seeing it in automotive with pedestrian and animal detection and collision avoidance. The marine environment is a good place to develop that kind of technology; there’s a lot of water and not much else.

Q: Will the next breakthroughs be software-driven? Or will hardware and software development remain hand in hand?

A: Dunn: We’ll see faster multifunction-display processors, but the glass will look pretty much the same. Maybe there will be larger screens, but I think the major changes will be software-driven. Everything that we’re developing now for the next five years can run on today’s multifunction displays.

A: Frostad: They’re linked. The more you want to do, the more processor speed you need. We need to innovate quicker, but we can’t launch hardware like iPhones—we don’t have the scale. We’re still in the phase of bigger screens and super-wide format, which has great benefits. Higher-resolution screens mean more details, and details matter. The hardware will improve the user experience, but the software makes the experience better.

A: Kunz: I think it will be hand in hand. Today’s multifunction displays have the power that personal computers had just a few years ago. They’ve got gigabytes of memory, they’re robust, and they’re a dedicated and isolated platform, so they’re hard to hack. I think we’ll see things such as integrating different sensors, say, for personal bathymetric generation.

A: McGowan: I think they’ll remain hand in hand. Memory and processing have gotten cheap, but the software keeps getting more complicated. Companies will need to add processing power to keep it fast. No one likes waiting for a screen to populate—it’s got to be snappy. And when you add AI and internet connectivity, you’ll need horsepower.

Q: Will autonomous vessel operations become important? If so, will electronics or engine manufacturers supply the technology?

A: Dunn: It will absolutely be a big part of the marine-electronics market, likely sooner than later. For example, you’ll see more autodocking capabilities.

A: Frostad: I think marine-electronics manufacturers will provide the user interface through the multifunction display. With autonomous boats, the first step is to assist and not take over. On land, Tesla parks the car on a flat surface. Docking a boat, there are so many types of docks; there can be waves, tide, current and wind. So, we want to complement the user. And it’s not going to be cheap. There are 3,000 boat models, so we’ll need algorithms for each boat.

A: Kunz: Marine-electronics manufacturers will make the sensors, while other companies will make things like thermal and visual cameras and integrate them. There’s a push for engine manufacturers to produce systems that allow marine-electronics companies to control the vessel, but I think it will be a combination of companies.

A: McGowan: Five years from now, I expect a high level of integration between engine manufacturers and anyone they allow to control their engines. This won’t be a DIY kit—engine manufacturers are meticulous about testing third-party electronics on their engines. Engine manufacturers probably don’t have all the expertise; they’re looking for technology partners. Whose name is on it will likely be a business negotiation. Engine manufacturers make great products, but sensing and controls will likely come from the electronics and adjacent markets.

Q: How important will 5G cellular and low- and medium-Earth-orbit satellite networks be?

A: Dunn: It’s hard to say. I don’t think there will be any negative impacts. There’s been a lot written on 5G blocking GPS, but we don’t think it will have any adverse impact. I think there will be more real-time weather streaming and live fuel prices without dedicated communication antennas. There are a lot of green-pasture ideas. I think 5G will give us a lot more options and tools.

A: Frostad: My expectation is that few 5G providers will turn their antennas to the sea, and I expect even shorter ranges with 5G than with 4G. Will medium- and low-Earth-orbit satellites be the answer? Maybe. I haven’t seen Starlink’s prices, but they’ll have the capacity to provide speed and bandwidth offshore. 5G will have an impact, but if a boater is only in range 90 percent of the time, we can’t provide an always-on service. Starlink is interesting because it’s always on.

A: Kunz: These technologies will revolutionize connected boats. Current satellite-communications systems are expensive and bulky. Starlink antennas are 18 inches. I think it will change the way boats interact. Bandwidth will suddenly be available to do things that we haven’t thought of yet. For example, open-ocean AIS and real-time weather that’s sent directly to the multifunction display.

A: McGowan: It’s going to be key to have cheap, fast connectivity everywhere. That’s the biggest shortcoming right now. In a bay, 4G is pretty good, but in coastal waters, you can’t depend on it. Also, if you want to stream, there are data caps and slowdowns, so 5G could be the answer. When low-Earth-orbit satellite networks come online, they’ll be a game-changer. Satcom on low-Earth-orbit networks will be low cost compared to current solutions.

Q: Anything else?

A: Dunn: We’ll see the gap between consumer electronics and marine electronics close faster than ever before, and that’s extremely exciting.

A: Frostad: Twenty years ago, the attitude was, “Don’t touch the nav system,” but now kids see a touchscreen and want to play. Instead of just making electronics more advanced, we want to make them more inclusive. Think of modern TVs: They’re easy to navigate, and we want that user experience on the boat.

A: Kunz: I could see the rise of disruptive technologies—for example, Starlink. I think there will be streamlined navigation systems and increased safety, and I think multifunction displays as glass bridges will continue to evolve. I think there will also be predictive failure analysis, monitored through the multifunction display, where, for example, engines are connected to the internet.

A: McGowan: Connectivity is key to a lot of these questions, but with machine vision and AI, we’re only scratching the surface.

The post How Technology Will Drive Marine Electronics for Yachts appeared first on Yachting.

Coyle, this is a damn emergency. Call me for God’s sake,” Tom had texted. I’d ignored the message 12 hours earlier as I’d sipped a sunset glass of wine dockside.

I hit call back—reluctantly.

“Where have you been? My port engine is stuck in reverse,” Tom said, somewhere around the border of South Carolina. “I gotta get to Charleston.”

I suggested an obvious solution: “Turn her around. You’ll manage trawler speed in reverse.”

“Screw you, Coyle. This is serious,” he replied.

Tom’s ride was 55 feet of the latest in marine technology. From his prior gushing, I’d gleaned that it had performed brilliantly while motoring up the Intracoastal Waterway to New England from Florida. But now it seemed it’d soured on returning to the Sunshine State.

“Check the clutch linkage to the gear box,” I advised.

“You mean in the engine room? Good God, it’s hot in there,” Tom complained.

I considered his options. Tom is an experienced skipper, but he’s not what you would call mechanically inclined. He brings along just the tools he’s comfortable with: a corkscrew and cellphone. The truth is, tools would be of little use because his boat’s state-of-the-art diesels would likely not respond to mechanical tinkering anyway. They communicate through hundreds of feet of wire attached to black boxes with countless modular connectors.

“It’s sort of like your computer,” I explained, suggesting that he shut down and restart the engines after checking the connections that lie between them and the helm.

Tom called back a few minutes later: “There are connectors all over the place down there. Which ones?”

“Check your manual,” I suggested.

“What manual?” he asked.

“Maybe it’s best you leave things alone,” I advised.

As Tom continued limping south down the waterway, I poked around online for reference material related to his vessel’s engines and controls. It didn’t take long before I came across a diagram and image of the wiring harness. A marine technician frustrated with the setup’s complexity had written the system’s description.

Read More from Jay Coyle: Tell Tales

As I followed along, I gleaned that Tom’s boat had missed out on a hardware update. The resulting problem was a simple lack of communication. While the on-water diesels we rely on all speak the same language, Tom’s boat controls speak in a foreign tongue. An additional little black box is required to translate.

I called Tom and explained the complication.

“Have you noticed any faults on the engine instrument display?” I asked.

“Yeah, for the last month it’s been flashing ‘throttle fault,’” he said.

“And?” I asked.

“Well, I ignored it because the throttle works fine,” he said. “Do you suppose the engine really meant to say gear fault?”

Being an optimist, I proposed that perhaps the engine was so smart that it had decided not to allow a shift in gears without knowing the throttle’s position.

Tom pulled into Charleston after dark and secured the services of a marine technician. It turned out that the engine wasn’t as smart as I’d hoped. A solenoid, the electromechanical muscle behind the brain that shifts the gear, had atrophied.

“So, I have a dumb smart engine. What the hell do I do now?” Tom asked.

Hire a translator.

The post Marine Engine Speak appeared first on Yachting.

Larry Kimura is known as the “grandfather of the Hawaiian language,” an honorific that, at 74, he supposes he’s the right age for. But he has no intention of retiring from promoting and advancing the study and appreciation of the Hawaiian language. “There’s still so much to do,” says Kimura, an associate professor of Hawaiian language and studies at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

In 1972—when it was still technically illegal to speak Hawaiian in public schools—Kimura launched Ka Leo Hawaii, a Hawaiian-language radio show in Honolulu. Over 16 years, he recorded more than 550 hours of interviews with every native speaker he could find. He’s now digitizing the files for future generations to hear.

His nonprofit group Aha Pūnana Leo (“nest of voices”) has opened 12 Hawaiian-language preschools. He also chairs the Hawaiian Lexicon Committee to create new Hawaiian words. It’s a task he gladly embraces whenever astronomers at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Maunakea call on him to bestow a Hawaiian name upon their discoveries, taking the language far beyond the island chain.

What’s the translation of Oumuamua, an interstellar object you named? It means “scout from the distant past.” It was coming into our galaxy at great speed. It seemed to be a spy, a scout, checking out our solar system. What qualities of the Hawaiian language bring joy to your ear? Because it is very vowel-heavy, the sound is round and melodic. It lends itself well to music.

Will you share two Hawaiian words with us that capture the culture and language? Mauli, “the spirit of life.” It’s something we value greatly in our language and our culture. And manawa, which is usually translated as “heart,” but it’s more than that. It’s not just the seat of emotions but of capacity and awareness.

Check Out More: Island Icons

Larry Kimura’s Hilo Highlights

Naung Mai Thai Kitchen: It’s an outstanding little Thai spot. I enjoy their tom yum soup.

Hilo Bay Cafe: It’s beautiful place to take visitors, with great views from their two-story building. Their creative menu features food such as steaks, poke and sushi.

Cafe Pesto: They serve good little pizzas and Kona coffee. Their hot and fresh Keanakolu apple crisp is named for a famed orchard on the island that sits at 6,000 feet elevation.

The post Hawaii’s Icon Larry Kimura appeared first on Yachting.

Anyone who acquires a Huckins Yacht automatically becomes a curator of a slice of American yachting tradition, a status that carries with it certain duties and expectations. Huckins owners soon get used to people on the dock saying, “Isn’t that a Huckins?”

Such an incident occurred while Cindy Purcell, current Huckins Yacht president and granddaughter of company founder Frank Huckins, and I were standing on the Huckins dock in Jacksonville, Florida.

Purcell was telling me about the new Sportsman 38, which is a distillation of 100 years of yachting history with all the 21st-century advances we’ll expect in future yachts. A gentleman, Tim Colbert, approached us hesitantly. A longtime yachtsman who keeps his yacht in the Thousand Islands on the US-Canada border, Colbert had taken time away from a vacation with his wife to visit the Huckins yard “because if I was this close, I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t.”

Like me, he was eyeballing the 38′s lines, whose classic style makes them seem as if they could have been designed anytime between 1930 and today. We invited him to join us on board, and he happily settled into the Stidd seat across from the helm, where he learned that this tribute to the 1936 Huckins Sportsman 36 had details that were more Star Wars than Prohibition.

The hull has fully infused vinylester resins and Corecell foam to create a rigid structure, with added reinforcement from carbon-fiber stringers and Kevlar in the hull. Hybrid power combines a pair of 380 hp Cummins QSB 6.7 diesels with a pair of 20 hp Elco electric motors that run off 18 lithium-iron-phosphate batteries for nearly three hours of running time at 8 knots.

Even better, these Elcos spin off the prop shafts to double as battery chargers, so owners arrive at an anchorage with the batteries topped off. Using the Pure Sine inverter rather than the 8-kilowatt Phasor genset, yachtsmen can run the air conditioning all night for silent, cool sleep.

The 38 has two guest-seating areas: in the cockpit, with seating around a dinette and same-level access to the transom platform, and on the raised bridge deck, which has an L-shaped settee facing the electric grill, wine cooler and ice maker. This upper area, surrounded by a standard Strataglass enclosure, is cooled by a pair of 12,000-Btu air conditioners, while 16,000 Btu cool the interior space.

Aside from being a dayboat, the 38 has an interior that is suited for long weekends. With 6-foot-6-inch headroom throughout, the cabin is reached via bi-fold doors and is secured at night by way of a clever tambour rolling hatch. With the tambour open, the cabin is bathed in atrium light from the windshield above.

Immediately inside is the galley to port. With a 19-inch-wide counter, a cooktop, and an undercounter oven and fridge, there is room for gourmet cuisine prep, with eye-level dish stowage.

Forward, a dinette converts to a berth when the table is electrically lowered. The two sides scissor together at the touch of a button.

The head has a separate stall shower measuring 50 inches wide with a 12-inch seat. The hanging locker forward allows for uncrumpled pants or dresses with 52 inches from bar to sole. Huckins also turned every possible space into stowage for long weekends on the hook.

Underway, the Sportsman 38 is sheer fun. It came quickly onto plane with the diesels and offered wraparound visibility from the helm. The burled-mahogany dash handles were well-placed, as were a pair of 16-inch Garmin monitors, a Cummins SmartCraft display, throttle/shifters and a Glendinning joystick (for the bow thruster and either diesel or electric power).

The 38 topped out at 34 knots and cruised at 27 knots running with diesel-only power. At 27 knots, range was about 254 nautical miles. Then it was time for the electric mode. The Elco motors actuated, and the Sportsman 38 was running up to 8 knots effortlessly. I tried to measure the sound with my decibel meter, but the rustle of my shirt in the breeze was louder than the motors.

I was reminded of a scene in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October when Russian Capt. Marko Ramius, played by Sir Sean Connery, tells the crew, “Rig for silent running,” at which point the sub disappears from surface vessels’s monitors. It would be hard not to use that line every time you take out a Huckins Sportsman 38.

Take the next step: huckinsyacht.com

The post Running the Huckins 38 Sportsman appeared first on Yachting.

Pardo Yachts has created a line of stylish walkaround yachts from 38 to 50 feet, known for their instantly recognizable sleek and low profile, peppy performance, and modern construction methods and materials. With its Endurance 60, the Italian builder takes its walkaround philosophy to new lengths. It also adds a flybridge and expands accommodations for friends-and-family voyaging.

The new flybridge has sun pads and sofas, expanded entertainment space, and room for owners to add a second, optional helm. In profile, the yacht maintains the brand’s sinewy DNA. This aesthetic is enhanced by the plumb bow, stretching the profile and helping to increase internal volume. The way the Endurance 60′s sheer sweeps down and aft toward the cockpit, paralleling the design of the flybridge above it, further enhances the look.

Power is twin 700 or 800 hp Volvo Penta IPS diesels. The builder projects a 25-knot top-end speed. Cruise-speed range is reportedly 14 to 21 knots.

Accommodations include a full-beam master stateroom amidships with an en suite head. The forepeak VIP stateroom has an en suite head and can be set up with either twins or a double berth. There’s also a crew cabin with a head.

The Endurance 60 has foldout terraces flanking the cockpit, helping to create 376 square feet of outdoor entertainment space, including a cockpit lounge and table, and foredeck sun pads. The hydraulic swim platform should be handy when it’s time to launch the tender or take a swim.

The Endurance 60′s look and function offer a glimpse toward the horizon where Pardo may take this yacht series next, and it’s a view with a lot of promise.

Take the next step: pardoyachts.com

The post Pardo Announces Endurance 60 as New Flagship Yacht appeared first on Yachting.

Historically speaking, most charter clients started their vacation planning with the word “where.” The big question was: Where do we want to cruise? The Caribbean? The Mediterranean? The South Pacific?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, though, some clients are realizing that “where” no longer matters so much. Sure, the scenery needs to be nice, but with limited options for going ashore, the yacht itself becomes the most important factor.

“We think the time has come to consider yacht charter from a new angle,” Camper & Nicholsons International announced in December. “It’s yachting how we know it but rarely think of it: the yacht as the destination.”

This attitude shift means that instead of seeking marina slips at tough-to-book spots such as the Monaco Grand Prix in May or St. Barts on New Year’s Eve, clients can instead think about charter in terms of booking a yacht with the most onboard amenities.

For instance, Camper & Nicholsons says, there’s Silver Angel, a 211-foot Benetti with four bars, a steam room, pool, sun-deck hot tub, gym and an array of toys including a golf machine. Does it really matter so much, right now, whether the yacht is in the Maldives or the Seychelles? The resort-style experience to be enjoyed on board is pretty much the same in either place for as long as the pandemic continues.

Another option along this line of thinking is Trending, a Westport 164 whose crew includes a Michelin-experienced chef and a guide for anyone who wants to scuba dive or try kitesurfing. This type of service too is the stuff of shoreside resorts—only aboard a yacht that serves as a private pandemic bubble with just 12 guests, all known to one another in the charter party.

As the Camper & Nicholsons team puts it, “Today’s fleet of superyachts are so extensively equipped that you won’t want—or need—to step ashore during your charter at all.” And they’re right. Focus on the chance to escape, even if it’s to nowhere.

The post The Yacht is the Destination appeared first on Yachting.

Thirty-six hours after hurricane Irma smashed into the BVI in late 2019, Lauren Hokin was standing on the property that used to be instantly recognizable as the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. She was with her father, both of them part of the family that had owned and built up the property for about 50 years.

“The place was just decimated,” she says. “We were used to storms, but this was orders of magnitude worse.”

It took a full year just to clean up what used to be about 70 buildings on 65 acres, with all the debris needing to be burned or sent off by barge. Then, it was time to think about how to rebuild—which was going to take even longer.

Meanwhile, fans of the Bitter End Yacht Club wanted to help. The family created Bitter End Provisions, a line of “seaworthy goods for salty people,” with $1 from every sale going to the Bitter End Foundation. The money supports the broader BVI community as well as the marine environment.

All the items for sale harness the spirit of the original Bitter End Yacht Club, which is what Hokin says the family is trying to do with the reconstruction as well. The marina is there now, and phase one of rebuilding along the waterfront is expected to be done soon, with the property reopening in early November.

To start, there will be a new marina building with a sunset-view lounge on the second floor; a multiconcept restaurant; a formal dining room; a pizza-and-wine bar; and a sports pub with foosball and a pool table. There also will be a market with prepared foods, groceries, beer and wine, as well as a shop with Bitter End Provisions products and more.

“All of these buildings are in a pedestrian plaza,” Hokin says. “We have gotten rid of—as much as possible—vehicular traffic. There won’t be any golf carts by the water. It will all be pedestrian. Having a meal when a golf cart drives by as you’re enjoying a sunset—that’s not ideal.”

From the wreckage, the team also was able to salvage some of the original building beams, ship lanterns, signs and other meaningful items.

“We can put it out on display in the redeveloped property. It can help to tell the story and contribute to the character of the place,” she says. “The last thing we want to do is plunk down a brand-spanking-new, inauthentic, shiny bunch of buildings.”

Check out the new gear: bitterendprovisions.com

The post Bitter End Yacht Club Helps Rebuild the BVI appeared first on Yachting.