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North Star: Inside the 63m custom superyacht built for first-time owners

Step on board North Star , the 63 metre custom superyacht designed by Espen Øino and Ozgun Yacht Design , complete with a crow's nest, cinema and golf practice machine

As the world turns, the North Star holds steady over the North Pole. A point of reference in the night sky, it is a literal and symbolic guiding light. A little closer to home, the yacht North Star is a refuge, a place for relaxation and family time. Like the celestial body, for her owners, she is a constant in an ever-changing world.

A custom-built 63-metre, she was designed by Espen Øino with hull and superstructure constructed in Turkey. For the owners, who have had smaller sport boats for day jaunts in the South of France, it is a grand entrance into the world of superyachts.

“The destination of Turkey was chosen because of their reputation for hulls,” says the captain. “The aim was to build their dream yacht.” There they amassed a team of industry professionals to turn their aspiration into reality, including Øino for the general arrangement and design, RWD for the initial interior concepts, Estel Design to complete the interior design and Burness Corlett Three Quays (BCTQ) for project management.

For their dream yacht, the owners dreamt big – it was to be spacious and bright, embrace the outdoors, offer flexible and versatile arrangements and provide plenty of comfortable communal spaces for the family of six to be together, as well as plenty of spots for them to hide away.

As he always does, Øino approached the project from the inside out, conceiving the general arrangement first. With the focus on creating airy and capacious interiors, he stretched the aft part of the upper deck to full beam in order to envelope a generous upper saloon that rivals the main saloon below. Both of these rooms are fringed with full-height windows and boast head heights of 2.2 metres.

They are also incredibly elegant. The director of Estel Design describes the style as “modern deco”, a blend of art deco’s classic elements with contemporary furniture and finishes. Pops of bright colour also modernise the deco- esque palette of silver, black and white. Glass and stainless- steel accents complement rich fabrics, such as bespoke leathers, shagreen and silver leaf, which were chosen to enhance the sense of space, says Estel Design’s director.

Over the formal dining table on the main deck, 16,000 crystal beads make up the chandelier by Ben Robinson of TwentyFourDesign. Each bead is custom tinted and affixed in strands of five to a stainless steel frame. Another of Robinson’s designs shimmers like crystal rainfall in the foyer: a chandelier that descends over two decks inside the winding staircase. Affixed to a skylight above, the piece has no internal structure; instead, 4,000 brilliant cut K9 crystals are strung together using 16,000 bespoke fittings making one homogenous structure. It was a true feat to fabricate and engineer it to withstand heavy seas.

“The owner was keen to source and utilise unusual fabrications so we were challenged to look beyond our normal suppliers and source new collaborations,” says Estel Design’s director. “To meet the owner’s brief we chose a unique array of finishes rarely seen on boats.” This included the woven metal fabric by Sophie Mallebranche that adorns a feature wall at the aft entrance to the main saloon. In addition, “a specialist resin surface, Killon, was sourced from America after the owners fell in love with it. This was used extensively in all the bathrooms, main deck saloon and master suite.”

Also in keeping with the owners’ wishes, the en suites and dayheads – one by each foyer – are ultra-modern, featuring white Thassos marble trimmed in stainless steel. The sinks in the master bath are particularly sculptural, cut from a single piece of marble, and the mirrors above these vanities can slide open to let in natural light through a hidden window.

Incorporating dual-use and transformational spaces was another priority. For instance, the main saloon can be used as a cinema, with a screen and projector concealed in the overhead. In the guest quarters on the lower deck, the wall between the two aft cabins can be moved to create a large VIP with sitting room and cabin.

While the interiors are striking, the outdoor areas demanded just as much attention – perhaps more. “There was a lot of emphasis on the sundeck space,” Øino recalls. “That was the pièce de résistance of the whole boat.” To make this area as large as possible, he extended the deck to full beam and created an indoor/outdoor space with a central interior section whose bi-folding doors open fully forward and aft. “It’s really nice up here when you are at anchor with a 10-knot breeze just trickling through,” says the captain. “It’s the most stunning place on the boat, I think.”

Not surprisingly, it’s where the owners spend most of their time, the captain reports. Dressed in limed oak with pale blue fabrics, the covered midships space features deep sofas to sink into, as well as a full dining area for when leaving this haven for a meal feels like too much effort. Forward is a massive spa pool and sit-down bar , while aft is more lounging space, in the sun or under removable awnings. Above all this is a crow’s nest, a breezy cushion-covered hideaway for anyone seeking solitude.

The beach club and gym at the stern is another area that successfully makes the indoor-outdoor connection the owners desired. The transom opens to reveal a semicircular sofa and coffee table ideally situated for cocktails or coffee at the water’s edge. A starboard-side opening just forward of the beach club exposes the gym, which includes a Technogym treadmill and cross trainer recessed into the floor. And if your idea of fitness is enjoyed on the greens rather than the gym, there’s a golf tee practice machine that can be set up on the platform here or on the sundeck aft. On the opposite side of the yacht, the port shell door opens to launch the Chris-Craft and Williams tenders.

It’s hard to think of a water toy that North Star does not carry. With the transom door unfolded, a substantial four-metre swim platform is created, yet that’s not enough to handle the yacht’s complement of playthings. So the deck crew can erect a string of NautiBuoy inflatable platforms to provide a temporary dock for the WaveRunners, Seabobs, Reverso Air sailing dinghy, foiling and electric jet surfboards, stand-up paddleboards and more. Trailing this, an inflatable jungle gym with slide and bouncy “blob” can be set up. All of this is devised to tire out the family’s four children, but North Star will also cater to charter guests in the future .

Simple, clean lines define the yacht’s sharp- looking exterior, which is typical of Øino’s creations. “Really detailed and complex surfaces, in my view, tend to go out of fashion quickly, whereas simple straight lines generally tend to survive the test of time better,” he says. The full beam-upper deck and sundeck did give Øino a bit of a challenge. “It’s tricky because both of these decks are quite high up,” he says, “hence the importance of playing with tumblehome [the narrowing of a boat’s hull as it ascends above the waterline].” This, he explains, is how the superstructure appears to tuck in as it goes higher, if you’re looking at the boat from head-on or from the stern. “It makes it more dynamic and also alters and defines the way the light falls on the boat,” he says.

In terms of propulsion, North Star is straightforward, with twin screws powered by 2,000hp 12-cylinder MTUs, which allows speeds of up to 16 knots and a range of 4,500 nautical miles.

In the flat, calm seas off Antalya, sea trials were merely procedure, the captain says. It was the journey to Malta last September, then on to Barcelona, that was the true test. Hardly the optimal time of year for favourable weather, they were faced with gales up to Force 8 on the way to Malta, with seas uncomfortably on the beam, and even stronger winds in the tropical storm force range underway to Barcelona. While the weather laid low many crew with seasickness, North Star was rock steady. “She handled it very well; it impressed me really,” says the captain, who previously commanded two Lürssens of considerable size. “I’m quite impressed with the basic construction and the seaworthiness. You like to be able to grab something and notice that it does not flex. I can feel the sturdiness in the hull,” he says.

Of course, no one relishes that kind of passage, and the owners spent their first few weeks on board this past winter enjoying the opposite kind of experience: Caribbean anchorages with all-round protection like Antigua’s Nonsuch Bay and Virgin Gorda’s North Sound, where the still water and sunshine provided an idyllic setting for an escape. It shows just where faithfully following that North Star can get you.

This feature is taken from the July 2020 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.

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Espen Øino: the superman of superyachts

Espen Øino is to boats what Ian Callum is to cars. Here, the naval architect and offshore engineer offers a greener future for the luxury yacht industry

Ocean Victory, Octopus, Flying Fox, Dilbar, Silver Fast, Kismet – list some of the world’s most celebrated superyachts and there’s every chance that Espen Øino was involved in the process of their design, such is the influence and reputation of the Norwegian naval architect. Having worked with almost all of the world’s most prestigious boat builders – Fincantieri, Lürssen, Oceanco and SilverYachts included – Øino’s portfolio includes everything from revolutionary explorer yachts and record-breaking mega vessels to eco-friendly catamarans.

2019 was a defining year for Øino. In September, he unveiled the 183m REV Ocean, a ground-breaking hybrid explorer which dethroned the 180m Azzam as the world’s largest yacht. Then, in December, Øino announced that he was working with Ocean Residences on an even bigger project, Njord. Named after the Norse god of wind and sea, and featuring 118 luxury residences, this mammoth 282m floating home has been dubbed ‘the next generation of superyacht’.

“The Njord project represents a significant departure from what we normally do, but it has been an interesting journey so far,” says Øino. “Working on a project of this scale is not only breathtaking, it is also very interesting and rewarding. High-end floating apartments combined with all the amenities one can only find in top of the range hotels is an attractive proposition.”

When I meet Øino at Yacht Club de Monaco, a stone’s throw from his office at the end of the Port Hercule pier, I’m surprised at how inconspicuous he is. Here’s a man who’s been heralded as ‘the superman of superyachts’ and yet he’s humble, polite and reserved. I would have forgiven him for having an ego the size of the superyachts he designs, but perhaps that’s why the Norwegian is so successful – his refined nature comes across in his elegant designs.

We meet as he is unveiling designs for the yacht club’s new zero-emissions committee yacht – a forward-thinking step for a club that counts many of the world’s richest superyacht owners among its members. But Øino is known for pushing boundaries, not just in terms of size but with efficiency, too. One of his most famous boats, Silver Fast, is one of the most advanced ecofuel-efficient vessels in the world, capable of sailing from Australia to Europe in 21 days with just one fuel stop.

Øino is now at the forefront of an industry-wide campaign to make yachting greener – a mission he admits took a long time for people to wake up to.

“A couple of years ago, the only people who were interested in sustainability were journalists such as yourself,” says Øino. “But there’ve been some quite radical storms in many parts of the world that are being explained by climate change and a large amount of people have been affected. In the last couple of years, you could feel a change brewing. It’s like a tidal wave coming in from all the fronts. We are trying to do our utmost to make sure we do our part.”

Just as Tesla’s first electric cars set in motion a transformation within the motoring industry, Øino is hoping that his latest project, REV Ocean, will also be a catalyst for change. Ordered by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke’s ocean research company Rosellinis Four-10, the hybrid diesel, electric and battery-powered vessel is being created at Vard shipyard primarily for the purpose of scientific discovery. It won’t float between the harbours of the French Riviera, instead it will travel the oceans on research missions.

“The REV project is all about sustainability and fighting pollution in the oceans,” explains Øino. “The very reason for it being built is the owner’s concern over threats to the oceans. It’s a very complex ship in many respects with more advanced facilities for research and exploration than anyone’s ever done before. The commitment is absolutely amazing.”

Øino’s job is to ensure the yacht is as eco-friendly as possible. He’s taking a fresh look at everything from materials and waste reduction and disposal to alternative propulsion methods and fuels. Above all, he explains, efficiency is key: “I have been fighting for more energy efficient hull forms for a long time. Many owners don’t realise that when, on a regular displacement type of vessel, you increase your speed from, say, 14 to 17 knots, which is a speed increase of just over 20 per cent, you increase your energy consumption and your fuel consumption by a factor of two and a half.”

The naval architect had been working on ways to improve efficiency long before sustainability became a buzzword. He persuaded one client, Australian yacht builder SilverYachts, to build yachts entirely from aluminium. “Aluminium is a very easily recyclable material – it’s also lightweight. One of the enemies when it comes to moving big objects through the water is weight, the other is the beam or the breadth of the vessel, so a material like aluminium is good for efficiency.”

Øino also works with clients to use volume and volume distribution to their advantage. “I try to show the importance of wave resistance and distributing your volumes differently,” he says. “In the case of SilverYachts, we try to distribute the volume longitudinally rather than vertically, resulting in a longer waterline and a reduced beam or breadth. This decreases the wave resistance tremendously and hence the energy required to overcome it. If you take this concept to the extreme, you create two very slender hulls and combine them into one craft which is commonly known as a catamaran, or in the case of three hulls a trimaran. You end up with the most efficient means of shifting a large object through the water.”

Multihulls might fly across the water more efficiently, but it seems that Øino is yet to get the public fully on board.

“A catamaran looks different from a monohull and may, in certain people’s perceptions, be considered less elegant. It’s a different animal. If you make a comparison with the motor industry, three decades ago an SUV wasn’t a viable proposition. Everyone made sedans. When Land Rover came out with its first Range Rover, the company set the pace for a lot of other people to follow suit.

“Multihulls haven’t gained acceptance among the general public yet, although I must say that perhaps this year for the first time you could sense a change. At the yacht show in Cannes there were more catamarans being displayed than ever before. We had some here in Monaco, too.”

Øino has already designed his first multihull series, the 35.5m SpaceCat for SilverYachts, but for the designer of some of the world’s largest yachts, it’s important to show that a boat doesn’t necessarily have to be small and green in order to give back to the environment. Even the gigantic 282m Njord was built with both pleasure and purpose in mind. When it launches in 2024, Njord will not only depart with its residents on board but also with teams tasked with undertaking scientific and oceanographic research during its annual circumnavigation of the planet.

Last year, Øino and his team celebrated the delivery of their 50th yacht, leading to a moment of reflection for the revered designer on his company’s 25th anniversary.

“The industry has grown tremendously in 25 years. The size has grown, the number of yachts has grown, and the number of designers has grown as well,” he says. “The complexity has also grown. The whole process of designing has gone from being something fairly straightforward, using two-dimensional illustrations and engineering drawings, to now being almost fully immersive virtual reality experiences. Everything is modelled in 3D and then rendered in photorealistic renders so that the clients really have a very good impression of what they’re getting. This has been a very interesting journey because today, most things are rendered to such a level of detail that you can hardly distinguish between the real thing and the model. With these tools, the gap of uncertainty is reduced tremendously. Yet the whole design process has become more expensive.”

The other big change Øino has witnessed in the past quarter of a century is related to design. “Twenty-five years ago, the majority of yachts had very traditional interiors and exteriors,” he says. “Today, yachts are much more contemporary in their architectural design, inside and outside. There may be many reasons for that, but one of the important ones is the fact that there are more yacht owners, many of whom are not necessarily experienced yacht owners – they’re new to yachting and they’re not bound by tradition.”

Scandinavia is at the forefront of many initiatives seeking to address today’s environmental crises. Just as Greta Thunberg is inspiring the world’s youth, Øino is making his case for change and awareness in the superyacht industry. The Norwegian is working with a new generation of clients to achieve his goals of efficiency and sustainability. The tides of change, even in the world of superyachts it seems, are well and truly turning.

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Yacht of the Week: Ulyssia

This residence on water is slated for delivery towards the end of the decade.

Words: Josh Lee

Expected for October, 2028, Ulyssia will be instantly identifiable for its organic curves, sizeable blueprint and cascading levels. The design will be by Espen Øino, Meyer Werft will handle the construction, and it’ll measure 320m. Rather important to know is the fact it’ll house 133 residences, as well as 22 guest suites for visitors (the founding team behind the creation also worked on The World, a vessel with a similar concept). Residences will range from 110sq m to 953sq m, the bedroom count will range from one to six, and there will also be reception areas, open-plan kitchens , and private terraces.

Beyond your own walls, you’ll be able to beeline towards the onboard yacht club, dive centre, spa , pools (indoor and outdoor), and myriad sports facilities. When wanting to fuel up, there’s a ‘gourmet market’, several restaurants and a ‘culinary studio’; for downtime, the cigar bar and theatre await. Two twin-engine helicopters allow for further exploration (padel and pickleball courts will be found on the landing deck). ‘This is floating real estate. But it’s much more than that. It’s about the lifestyle that we’re offering, the possibility to discover the world without leaving home’, says principal investor Frank Binder. Construction is planned to start this season.

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Interview: Naval Architect and Designer Espen Oeino

So with this backdrop in mind, who better to front the first of a series of Monaco Life forays into MYS 2022 than one of yachting’s most iconic figures of innovation and forward-thinking: Espen Oeino, one of the naval architects and designers of the superyacht industry.

He has been designing yachts since his early 20s; the first, 74.5m MY Eco (now MY Zeus) still ‘bobs’ about in Monaco’s Port Hercules harbour.

Oeino was born and grew up in Oslo, southern Norway, where he skied by moonlight and spent endless summers messing about on boats. He says, “We have a very nice coastline in Oslo and Norway in general and in the summer we had long nights and short working days – it gives rise to an interesting lifestyle. If you include all the perimeters of all the island coastlines in Norway it adds up to 100,915km, which is the second longest coastline after Canada.”

When Espen Oeino was 17-years-old he was packed off to boarding school in Normandy, France. From there it was only a short step across the water to study naval architecture and offshore engineering with a focus on the oil and gas industries at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. “It was ship design basically. I went to university because I wanted to study naval architecture: mechanical engineering and civil engineering.”

The first few years were spent learning about principles and structure then floating structures and stability, hydrographics and hydrodynamics, hull designs.

“I was a passionate sailor so I wanted to design sailing boats,” he reveals.

After an internship with foremost designer Martin Francis, he was offered a full-time job, which is where his involvement with MY Zeus, formerly MY Eco, began. “Martin Francis was invited to tender a design for a motor yacht,” says Oeino. “None of us had ever designed a motor yacht before. We were really the underdogs but we ended up winning the competition and this boat was built, and I ended up being responsible for the project in the office.  And that was my accidental entry into  motor yacht design”.

Oeino worked with Francis for eight years before starting up on his own in 1994. Nearly 30 years later, the Espen Oeino International studio counts a staff of 30. He’s been designing yachts since he was three or four years old but the first big boat for which he was known was the mighty 126m MY Octopus in 1998. “I think at the time she was the fourth biggest yacht in the world and was certainly the biggest explorer yacht,” he remembers.

For Oeino, the Monaco Yacht Show is an opportunity to catch up with clients and industry friends. Several EO designs also feature in the Show including two new launches built by Amels shipyard: the 60m MY Come Together and MY Energy (78m).

With the introduction of a Sustainability Hub at the MYS this year, is it feasible to talk of sustainable superyachts? Oeino likes to think it is. “Obviously the bigger the yachts, the more energy they require to function, but you need to try to minimise whatever you have to spend to make it all work: use renewable resources and limit the damage in terms of emissions.”

The EO studio is currently working on designs using multi-hulls. The ‘Silver Cat’ is being built in Australia. This 23.9m catamaran has open sides, front and back, to allow for natural air flow and no air-conditioning, limiting that particular energy consumer to the cabins below deck, a bit like a Bali beach house, he suggests. “I experimented a little bit myself with reducing requirements this summer with a small catamaran I built for myself.”

His interest in ‘fast but efficient’ dates back to the early 2000’s and beyond, particularly with the shipyard Silver Yachts. MY Silver Fast (2015), lightweight and slender, was designed to glide through the water with very little power. He is now working with catamarans at the shipyard looking into making the catamaran hull even slenderer than the mono-hulls and addressing the question of transversability.

“I am proud of the Silver Yachts,” he says, “they are very sustainable, and again they were against the mainstream when we built them. The volume is distributed longitudinally when the trend was to go taller or wider.  It’s extremely efficient, you can cruise it at 18.5 knots and burn less than 400 litres an hour, which sounds like a lot but it’s not for a boat that size.”

The EO studio is also working on some commercial projects with electric propulsion combined with fuel cells and hydrogen. The life cycle of yachts and their materials are another consideration – the question of the choice of materials and the impact of the life cycle of a yacht. What energy is required to produce the material? How much energy is required to get rid of the material after the life cycle of a boat? “It’s a massive calculation, and we are starting to talk about it, like other industries, but it’s a huge subject,” explains Oeino.

“No-one needs a yacht to live. They do not perform any work like a cargo ship or a ferry – carrying passengers or goods. So, I can always argue, I guess, that it has no purpose and the emissions could be avoided. But there are many things you can say that about. I think that in this industry we realise that sustainability is high up on the agenda and something we have to do our utmost to address. It’s a question of trying to reduce requirements and trying to be as clean as possible with whatever power and power source you are using. The last thing you want is a dirty sea, either the sea around you or the fumes from generators in your face.”

Raising awareness is critical, Oeino says. “If you take a typical displacement yacht of  80m, and bring her from a cruising speed of 14 or 14.5 knots to 17 or 18 knots, you pretty much multiply the power by a factor of 2.5/3 for a speed increase of 3/4 knots – so you’re doubling or tripling the power. This is crazy. So, think about that. Maybe you don’t need to get to St Tropez that bit earlier. That’s a very simple thing to do. The resistance curve is really cubic, it’s not linear; even reducing the speed a tiny bit can save energy and money.”

The man whose finger tips have brought us the world’s most iconic yachts still has ideas tumbling from the drawing board: “What I find interesting,” he says, “is trying to make the most out of whatever you’ve been given.”

Monaco presents MYS 2022… enjoy!

Photo above: Espen Oeino, credit Guillaume Plisson 

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Based in Monaco, Norwegian designer Espen Øino has been designing yachts since 1986 when he was hired by designer Martin Francis to work on the design of Eco. Since then, he has designed some of the world’s most respected large custom motor yachts, including 95m Kismet and the innovative Silver series including 77m Silverfast, featuring highly advanced eco-efficient technology.

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• Luxury Transport

Superyacht Designer Espen Oeino on Building with Purpose

Espen Oeino speaks to us about how the yachting landscape is evolving and celebrating his eponymous firm’s 50th delivery.

By Samantha Coles

Speaking from his office in Monaco, Espen Oeino is remarkably charming and affable despite having just arrived back from a whistle-stop trip to New York — he was there for under 24 hours to visit a client.

He begins sharing his travel tips (a few glasses of red wine for red-eye flights) and, even though I am supposed to be interviewing him, he asks me questions about how long I have been with Elite Traveler and how often I travel for work — “there are worse things to do in life than travel far away to see nice places.” He’s not wrong.

This inquisitive nature is an endearing quality and one that extends to his own travels — he travels a great deal, both for business and pleasure, but confesses that the boundaries are blurred between the two: “I was in Norway over Easter on one of my explorer boats. We were skiing from the boat, and last year I was on the same boat in Antarctica doing the same thing. Is that work? I never feel ‘at work,’ even though my days are long and I work weekends.”

Hardly surprising, as Oeino is one of the most accomplished architects in the industry — he is the man behind the creation of the world’s best-known yachts: the 414-ft megayacht Octopus (owned by the estate of Microsoft co-founder, the late Paul Allen) and 244-ft Zeus (once named Eco and owned by a Mexican media mogul).

[See also: Inside Flying Fox: The Largest Charter Yacht in the World]

Espen Oenio speaks exclusively to Elite Traveler / ©Justin Ratcliffe

He also designed Cloudbreak for a fellow keen skier: “It’s really a ski boat; we designed it to carry a helicopter, and it has a ski room and an instructor’s cabin. You can start your skiing adventure right from the boat. Since launching two and a half years ago, she’s been to Greenland, Alaska, Patagonia, Antarctica and Norway.”

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Oeino explains that he has noticed a trend for adventure travelers and yacht owners wanting to visit hard-to-reach destinations. “Alaska, Greenland… there are no hotels. You have to go by boat. More and more people want to see these places and want to see beyond the regular Monaco and St Tropez run; they want to discover other parts of the world. The more you see, the more you realize you haven’t seen.”

Growing up in Norway, where most residents own some sort of boat, it seemed like a career in ship design was destined from an early age: “I don’t remember the first boat I designed; I was a little boy! But I always knew I wanted to design boats, not necessarily yachts… I wasn’t fully aware of the yachting world per se, but I knew about boats. Messing around in boats is something a lot of Norwegians do. Norway has a small population, but a long coastline and a lot of lakes.”

After graduating with a degree in naval architecture, Oeino wanted to design sailing boats and began working for UK-based designer Martin Francis. Soon after he joined, the company was invited to contend in a competition for motor yachting. “We were totally the underdogs, and somehow, miraculously, we won the competition. So that’s how I got into motor yachting — accidentally!”

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He then went it alone and started his own firm, Espen Oeino International. In June this year, the firm celebrated 25 years and the delivery of its 50th boat: “Fifty boats in 25 years — not bad, hey?! We’re going to throw a big party, and we’re doing a coffee-table book. The photographer is a good friend of mine, and we’ve been working together to create the book. It’s really cool.”

The Flying Fox’s observation lounge / ©Imperial Yachts

The Flying Fox’s striking exterior hull / ©Imperial Yachts

With almost three decades of ship design to his name, Oeino’s passionate enthusiasm shows no sign of abating. He waxes lyrical about the yacht he is currently working on, REV Ocean . It is an expedition vessel that he started designing three years ago and is due for completion in 2021.

Oeino explains that the owner has decided to be very public about the project because it is for “a bigger, broader picture. It is an absolutely incredible project; it is for a Norwegian industrialist who made his money through the oceans in one way or another: fishing, engineering, ship owning, oil and gas… and has decided to give back.”

Although REV Ocean is an expedition yacht, it is also a research vessel, and the owner has made the decision to make it available to the research community, particularly to young scientists. Most research vessels are government-owned and -operated, so many scientists who get their time onboard are at the pinnacle of their career, and many young scientists don’t get the same opportunity. REV Ocean’s owner “did his homework” and realized that many large discoveries were made by junior scientists.

[See also: Twenty for 20: Innovative Yachts of the 21st Century]

At an astonishing 600ft, REV Ocean is a sight to behold. Oeino explains that it started off at 442ft, but extra space was required to add everything that the owner wanted on board, so it is now set to be one of the largest ships around: “It is a showcase of the most incredible technologies. It has a moon pool on board, which is an opening in the middle of the ship with a well that prevents flooding when the bottom doors are opened.

“The well is above the water line so you can launch robots, autonomous devices and submarines. The water within a moon pool is very calm, so the operating window for launching and retrieving gear is substantially increased. This ship is destined to work in very cold weather, so it makes a huge difference being able to work inside the ship as opposed to on the deck, where it can be -25 degrees with a wind speed of 30 knots.”

REV Ocean also has state-of-the-art sensors, sonar, trawling, water measurement and sampling equipment, plus two helipads so it has its own rescue capabilities as part of the Polar Code. “It is interesting though, because it is a yacht with a purpose. What we are doing now is mind-blowing.”

revocean.org

[See also: How to Design an Amazing Superyacht Interior]

Samantha Coles

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Espen Øino on Designing the World’s Largest Yacht

By Jenna Mehdi

This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Espen Øino , the undisputed champion of yacht design who has put his hands to such iconic projects as Dilbar , Flying Fox and Octopus . His upcoming project though, in terms not just of sheer size but uniqueness, innovation and purpose, arguably blows its predecessors out of the proverbial water. This is of course the 182.6m Vard expedition yacht REV Ocean , brainchild of Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke, which we first heard wind of at a press conference in May 2017 and is due for delivery next year, when it will become the world's largest yacht .

To begin, can you tell us a bit about how this project came about?

“This was very much the brainchild of the owner. We had met a few times before many years ago – he is Norwegian, like me – and toyed with the idea of doing things together. Then he called me to tell me about this project – unlike any other yacht projects – a yacht with a purpose, a noble purpose in a way. He had already put a lot of thought into it, and we agreed to meet and talk it over.

He is an inspiring guy to work with. He thinks differently to other people, he’s grown up on the sea and has a lot of first-hand knowledge of anything related to the sea.”

This yacht is a record-breaker in so many ways – can you tell us about some design innovations we can expect to see on REV Ocean?

“The vessel is all designed around scientific and functional requirements – sonars, the science hangar – in which we have most of the ROVs and AUVs. ROVs are remotely operated vehicles, unmanned subs can go down to 7000m with an umbilical to the mothership, where it is piloted from with screens and controls. AUVs are autonomous underwater vehicles –they use sonars, scan the sea bottom and come up at a predefined point. We put these on Octopus few years ago, they were very helpful in finding shipwrecks or anything irregular and mapping the seabottom.

We also have a manned submarine – there is an opening within the science hangar which goes up to above the waterline and can launch subs, AUVs and ROVs. This is something that has not been done before on a yacht, so it is pure innovation.

There are also 6 labs on board, an auditorium, mingling areas – for mingling with the scientific community, family and friends. The owner did not want to have 2 separate communities onboard – of course there is a yacht with private spaces but he also wants to encourage shared experience and knowledge. There will be massive cranes able to pick up mission-specific containers, so it can tailor missions totally independent of onshore cranes – for example in the Arctic and Antarctic. There is also major trawling equipment to try to monitor fishing and overfishing.

So this is serious gear, the whole rhetoric is kind of a showcase of state-of-the-arts marine equipment. I think it will be one of the best equipped if not the best equipped scientific ships around.”

At 182 metres this project must have come with its design difficulties – can you tell us a little bit about any obstacles you encountered and how you overcame them?

“We originally started off much smaller, with 140 metres, and could have got away with fitting everything he wanted – but we gave up on that and ended up at 180 and increased other dimensions too.

The big overhang at the back where we have the big trawlers– that required a lot of structural engineering. We were trying to avoid using supporting pillars below, which was quite a challenge for shipyard engineers, to avoid undesirable vibrations. Noise has also been a particular concern – not just underwater but also onboard noise, as the ship is for scientific research.”

Obviously you’re renowned for designing yachts that look great, but with so many technical functions to counter in, how did you balance aesthetic design with functionality on this vessel?

“There have been a few technical challenges – it’s important despite the size you manage to create spaces that are intimate and desirable – things like avoiding too long corridors. But we have been quite unconventional – you will see when she comes out there are some unusual spaces.

For me form follows function, it works in 99% of the cases, and it normally ends up looking good – of course you tweak it a little bit, with overall aesthetic ideas or traits. I’d like it to be seen and remembered as a purposeful vessel, that is in a way its mission.

It’s quite masculine, a bit rough, a little bit like a Land Rover of the sea, not a Range Rover. I think we managed to, despite the many sometimes opposing requirements, put it together in a way that comes across as coherent and purposeful.”

Finally, how has this project been different to others you have worked on in the past?

“The full transparency of the whole project has been so refreshing for us. It’s one of the only projects we’ve worked on where this has been the case. Working with an owner who has a noble purpose has also been very refreshing, with incredible knowledge about these systems. I was with him a few days ago, discussing solving specific problems with the ocean, engaging kids – it’s become like a snowball effect. Truly amazing. I’m glad to be a part of it.

Also its size of course – it beats all records in sheer length and tonnage. A number of factors have all contributed to making this probably one of the most important if not the most important projects we will ever have the chance to work on.”

We are certainly in agreement that this is one of the most unique builds to have ever come into the superyachting news. Superyachts.com will be providing detailed updates on the upcoming water launch of REV Ocean next Thursday, 22nd August, and more as they come in – stay tuned!

"It’s quite masculine, a bit rough, a little bit like a Land Rover of the sea, not a Range Rover. I think we managed to, despite the many sometimes opposing requirements, put it together in a way that comes across as coherent and purposeful." Espen Øino, Exterior Designer

"It’s quite masculine, a bit rough, a little bit like a Land Rover of the sea, not a Range Rover. I think we managed to, despite the many sometimes opposing requirements, put it together in a way that comes across as coherent and purposeful."

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