Not terribly long ago, I sat down and tried to puzzle out how many destinations I’ve visited aboard charter yachts. If I include industry-only boat shows that are held annually, the number of yachts themselves swells well into the hundreds. The destinations are somewhere in the dozens—popular coastlines and islands throughout the Mediterranean and Caribbean, of course, but also less-cruised locales such as the Galápagos Islands, French Polynesia and Indonesia. I’ve snorkeled and dived twice with the wildlife in Fiji, explored the historical architecture in Croatia and Greece several times, and donned a warm jacket in Alaska and Norway for views of glaciers and fjords. The amount of fog surprised me as I sat on board and sipped Cloudy Bay sauvignon blanc near its bottling place in New Zealand, and I couldn’t believe the amount of boat traffic cruising past the Sydney Opera House in Australia. People often ask me, “What’s the best place to charter a yacht?” My answer is always, “That depends. What do you want to do?”

The beauty of a crewed-yacht charter vacation is that it can be virtually anything that anyone wants it to be—an ultimate, customizable getaway. Me? I’m a fan of wildlife and untouched nature. My favorite charters are in places where the sea lions, fish and whales outnumber the people; places where, when the yacht turns off its lights at night, the lack of light pollution lets the stars glow impossibly bright in the sky. For other charter guests, the best possible itinerary is off the South of France during the Monaco Grand Prix or the Cannes Film Festival, hobnobbing with the titans of civilization in between shopping trips at high-end boutiques and dinner ashore with a view of superyachts docked along Billionaires’ Row. These experiences could not be more different, but they’re equally memorable and all well worth enjoying at least once.

The good news this winter is that notable charter yachts of various sizes and price points are positioning themselves all around the world, giving clients options for just about any type of vacation they desire. The 212-foot Benetti Silver Angel, now part of the Edmiston fleet, is accepting inquiries not only for the Caribbean, but also for the Indian Ocean. The 196-foot Perini Navi Perseus^3, also with Edmiston, is expected to head to New Zealand before offering charter bookings next year in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Closer to home, Fraser says the 131-foot Sunseeker Acacia has completed a refit and is available in the Bahamas, with an inflatable beach club and a toy dock for all-day watersports fun. IYC says the 118-foot Intermarine Savannah XOXO has also completed a refit, with bookings available in Florida and the Bahamas. Y.CO is promoting the 242-foot CRN Andrea in the Caribbean and the Bahamas this winter, with 25 crew at the ready, and with eight staterooms for the 12 charter guests to choose among.

None of these destinations are one-and-done locales. The Cyclades archipelago in Greece offers a different experience from the one that charter guests can try in the Dodecanese island chain. St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in the southern Caribbean, feels a whole lot quieter than the busier yacht hubs in the northern islands such as Antigua and St. Maarten. French Polynesia’s Society Islands welcome more tourists than the Tuamotu archipelago, where charter-yacht captains set a course for scuba diving with bigger game. In Croatia, a day exploring Dubrovnik—with Game of Thrones filming sites all around—is different from Korčula’s smaller-scale, but equally mesmerizing, scenery.

The ultimate charter escape can be for a few days, a few weeks or a few months. The only limitations, really, are the boundaries of all the world’s waters.

Qara

New to the charter fleet in the Virgin Islands this winter is the 82-foot Horizon Qara, which is managed by RJC Yachts. Qara is a 2001 build that until recently was kept for private use. The yacht underwent a refit this year and is now being offered for six guests at an all-inclusive weekly rate of $42,000. The captain is Mark Sperber, a native of St. Croix, which is also in the Virgin Islands—which means his local knowledge should be unsurpassed. A 27-foot Sea Hunt tender is part of the charter package.

Sól

Sól is Hull No. 1 of the 80 Sunreef Power Eco, which is an evolution of the popular Sunreef 80 sailing catamaran. Sól is outfitted with solar panels (including on the hullsides) as well as cruelty-free furnishings that did not involve any animals. The chefs are trained in high-end vegan cuisine, along with traditional dishes. Sól was delivered to its owners earlier this year in New England and then made its way down the East Coast for an official premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Charters are already booked for this winter in the Virgin Islands, with Sól as part of the Regency Yacht Vacations fleet.

Arbema

The 236-foot CRN Arbema completed a multimillion-dollar refit last winter, according to the charter managers at Edmiston. Updates included a full paint job, technical upgrades, a new interior and upgraded water toys. Plans for this winter are for charters to start at Christmastime in the Caribbean, with inquiries also being accepted for the Bahamas and Central America itineraries. Guest amenities on Arbema include a master stateroom with a fold-out balcony, a beach club with a gymnasium, and a 48-foot chase boat for fun in the sun.

Virtuosity

Virtuosity is a 187-foot Sanlorenzo that launched earlier this year and is available for its first-ever Caribbean charter bookings this winter. Fraser, which manages the yacht, says the master stateroom is on the upper deck with a private outdoor terrace and a hot tub. Guest amenities aboard Virtuosity also include a glass-bottom heated swimming pool with jets, a fully equipped gymnasium and a nearly 1,200-square-foot beach club. On the bridge deck, there’s a DJ booth ready for parties near a bar.

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John Blackburn’s soon-to-be employers likely had little idea that he was aboard his Jeanneau 44 when they interviewed him for a C-suite position. Blackburn donned a jacket, blurred his background and used his Starlink Roam satellite-communications system to interview with two organizations while cruising Lake Superior’s remote Apostle Islands.

“I was able to connect with 110 percent confidence,” he says, adding that Wi-Fi and cellular communications weren’t dependable at his favorite anchorages. “I couldn’t have done that before.”

True market disruptions are rare. These days, they often involve Elon Musk, who has invested in everything from Tesla and OpenAI to SpaceX. With Starlink, Musk’s ever-growing constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites (LEOs) combines with a supporting network and flat-panel dishes to give boaters faster connection speeds, lower latency and much lower costs than previous VSAT options.

Starlink’s origin story includes the date May 23, 2019, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket released the first tranche of 60 Starlink LEOs. Today, Starlink has more than 4,500 LEOs aloft. The company plans to create a mega-constellation involving upwards of 42,000 LEOs.

Like all satellites, Starlink’s LEOs relay information to and from ground stations. Unlike most other satellites, however, these LEOs carry optical lasers that relay data among themselves, without ground stations.

Distance further differentiates Starlink from legacy VSAT networks, which typically use geostationary (GEO) satellites to ferry data. GEOs orbit 22,236 miles above the brine, which is almost 22,000 miles farther from the closest Starbucks than any LEO. This matters, in terms of latency: Starlink can purportedly send 70 round-trip transmissions in the time required for a single round-trip transmission to a GEO satellite. As of this writing, Starlink is advertising download speeds of 40 to 220 megabits per second and upload speeds of 2 to 25 Mbps, with less than 90 milliseconds of latency.

Unlike radome-enclosed antennas, Starlink uses flat-panel dishes composed of many individual elements. Each dish has an embedded GPS receiver and a gyro, which it uses to track orbiting LEOs. The dish electronically adjusts the power and phase of each element to steer its radio beam at the LEO. Losing satellite contact isn’t a big deal with Starlink, since the constellation’s architecture creates redundancy and resilience.

Starlink offers two plans that boaters have adopted. Starlink Roam costs $600 for a Standard flat-panel antenna, with airtime plans starting at $150 per month. Starlink Maritime costs $2,500 for a Flat High Performance dish, with airtime plans starting at $250 per month.

While Roam’s pricing is enticing, its motorized and self-orienting dish is tripod-mounted and is only designed for stationary use. Also, Starlink’s coverage map limits where users can operate their Roam systems. Bad actors can face penalties.

Starlink Maritime involves a larger, wedge-mounted antenna that’s motorless and designed to be used while underway. Starlink Maritime’s coverage map canvases large swaths of saline, and this coverage only improves with each new tranche of Starlink LEOs. Maritime systems are more expensive, but customers can expect high-performance connectivity almost anywhere.

Boaters say the system works. Blackburn, who landed a job over a Starlink connection, and Randal Briggs, who owns a Cruisers 445 Express that he keeps in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have Roam systems, while Robert McNeill installed a Maritime dish aboard Safari, his 72-foot Viking sport-fish yacht.

“It’s the same service as VSAT but at a better price point,” says McNeill, adding that before Starlink, he fished using an Iridium GO! hotspot. “People didn’t care about satcoms before.”

While Safari often operates 60 nautical miles offshore, McNeill says he hasn’t found any dead spots yet, and he usually can’t tell much difference between his Starlink service and his at-home connection. “When we’re around other boats with Starlink, the speeds slow a little bit, but it has no effect on what we’re doing,” he says. For him, Starlink earns its keep during offshore fishing tournaments, where before, he had to listen through VHF radio chatter to learn the tournament results. “Now, we know where we stand.”

McNeill calls his Maritime service “a fair value proposition,” but he admits there’s always a tipping point. “I hope they won’t change their pricing. It opens the door for a lot of people to have connectivity.”

Unlike with McNeill’s plan, Roam customers need to ensure that their usage areas parallel places where RVs roam. “It’s ideal where we are,” Blackburn says of the Apostle Islands. “I could be in a campground.”

Much of Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay are also covered; however, there are dead spots in New York’s Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake Bay. The Gulf of Maine, the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and the Gulf of Mexico are also problematic. The Great Lakes region is expected to be available before 2024.

Network performance and dependability matter to Briggs, who is an electrical engineer at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, which assessed Starlink from a security perspective for the government. “I sat in on that,” he says, “and then I went out and bought a Starlink that weekend.”

Briggs says that he and his wife aim to complete the Great Loop on their retirement cruise and that they like to remain within sight of land. For them, he says, Roam is a good solution. However, he recently found that Starlink had “upgraded” his service from $135 per month to $150. “That was a little bit aggressive,” he says, adding that prospective customers also need to be comfortable with Starlink’s largely self-help customer support. “I never talked to a human,” he says, explaining that he uses Starlink’s FAQ page and Google searches.

Overall, boaters interested in giving Starlink a try can visit the company’s website (there are no stores). It’s now possible for most boaters to don a jacket, blur the background and land a remote job from a remote anchorage.

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Few things annoy boaters more than clutter on a radar screen. The last thing a skipper needs while tracking an oncoming boat is a bunch of unwanted signals from land, birds or weather. Clutter can turn a radar screen into an indecipherable mess, making it harder than it should be to maintain situational awareness and be safe out on the water.

That’s why it’s good news to see Garmin incorporating scan averaging as a feature in its new GMR xHD3 series of open-array radars. These are the first magnetron radars from Garmin to have the scan-averaging feature, which helps filter out sea clutter and interference on the display.

“We are excited to build on the foundation of our previous open-array radars and bring more premium features that will appeal to mariners of all types,” says Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of global consumer sales. “Whether you’re cruising overnight, fishing offshore or just out for the day, Garmin’s new xHD3 open-array radars look far and wide to deliver an incredibly clear picture of what’s out there, maximizing situational awareness and giving you more peace of mind every time you leave the dock.”

Additional features include target-size processing, which uses pulse expansion to help optimize on-screen object shapes for better interpretation at all range scales, and true echo trails, which display a historical trail of boats on the water, removing relative motion influence to help quickly identify moving targets and potential collision threats. For anglers who want to follow birds to the fish, the xHD3 open arrays have auto bird gain and a bird-mode preset feature.

An overlay feature on the GMR xHD3 series lets the single antenna provide split-screen, side-by-side images on a compatible chart plotter, with independent settings for close and long range. A radar overlay can also be added on top of a chart view, so skippers can see any differences between the chart and what the radar is showing.

All of these features add up to a better sense of whatever is around the boat, which, in turn, creates a safer and better boating experience overall.  

Sizing Options

The antennas are available in 4- or 6-foot versions with 4, 12 or 25 kW of power, and they have a 100-knot wind rating, which Garmin says is commercial-grade weather performance for recreational boaters. Rotation speeds are 24 and 48 rpm for fast redraw rates.

In the Zone

This series of radars lets boaters use Garmin’s Guard Zone feature on compatible chart plotters. Guard Zone helps create even more situational awareness on board, since it can alert boaters whenever an object comes within a boater-defined area around the vessel.

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After a fortnight underway and with 500 rugged nautical miles in our wake, in late June, our Cal 40, Dancing Bear, nudged up to the dock in the little British Columbian burg of Daajing Giids, formerly known as Queen Charlotte City. I tossed our dock lines to a helpful young man named Max, who’d scrambled over from his little cruising sailboat to help us tie up. On the pier, Max was boiling up a potful of crab. He even had some butter, garlic and saffron sauteing alongside. The aroma was mesmerizing.

We’d just completed a winding cruise from Anacortes, Washington, through the remote archipelago of Haida Gwaii (the former Queen Charlotte Islands), the last week of which was in true wilderness, where we’d shared the protected cruising grounds and nature preserve with whales, eagles, bears, sea otters, Sitka deer, elk, racoons and assorted other creatures, none of whom were humans. In fact, we hadn’t encountered a single other soul the entire week. Daajing Giids, the one-time queen of this region, has a population of around a mere 1,000 folks, but it somehow seemed more frantic than Manhattan. I was scheduled to fly out of the nearby airfield in Skidegate the next afternoon, so I would basically be in “the queen” for a day.

During my years of cruising and racing sailboats offshore, I’ve wrapped up many a voyage in countless exotic ports of call, but I’m not sure any were quite as fetching as funky Daajing Giids. It had me from the get-go. Moments after docking, a huge roar emanated from up the hill, where the crowd at a kids baseball game apparently had much to cheer about. I’ve been in Boston’s Fenway Park for a Red Sox game with less-enthusiastic fans.

Haida Gwaii is an overnight hop from the British Columbia coastline, just far enough to deter many cruising boats from visiting, as most opt to continue up the Inside Passage to Alaska. But it’s definitely worth the effort. And the half-dozen yachts in the anchorage were surely a salty mix, consisting of a handful of expedition-style metal boats and a ketch-rigged Amel Super Maramu flying a French flag.

Read More from Herb McCormick: Silent Running

Likewise, in the little yacht basin, there was a mix of well-used fishing craft and an equal number of well-traveled cruising boats, including a couple of full-keeled Bristol Channel Cutters and even a replica of French solo sailor Bernard Moitessier’s famous Joshua. Plenty of folks were living aboard.

Over in the nearby shallows, a tidal grid had been erected so boats could come alongside and complete a quick bottom job on the deep ebb. It had been quite a while since I’d seen one of those. And, I have to say, the fresh salmon and black cod fillets at the little waterfront pub were perhaps the tastiest I’d ever had.

Fortuitously, we’d arrived the day before the national celebration of Canada Day on July 1, and it was a pleasure to be in such a friendly place. As we were walking up the dock, a passing mariner asked how I was doing. “Great,” I said. “I mean, I’m in one of the greatest countries in the world.”

“I agree,” he replied. “And we’re privileged to have you guys as our neighbor.” Heavens, if only the entire world were so pleasant and agreeable.

The next day, I hopped a ferry over to Skidegate and caught my hourlong flight to Vancouver, then my connection home. As we lifted off and wheeled overhead, I got one final glimpse of the old Queen City. It had been a quick visit but a splendid place to wrap up an adventure. I hope to make it back sometime.

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Streaking down the Côte d’Azur off Cannes, France, at an average top-end speed of 36.3 knots, I found myself lost in the fun. The 71-foot Azimut Yachts S7 handled more like a sports car than a vessel displacing more than 100,000 pounds. 

We carved S-turns and figure eights into the relatively calm Mediterranean blue this early morning, and I pondered the combination of factors that give this sizable sport yacht its smile-inducing, confidence-inspiring performance and handling.

First is an efficient planing hull form by Azimut and P.L. Ausonio Naval Architecture, penned to reduce hydrodynamic drag and aided by strakes placed for optimized lift. Transom deadrise is a stability-enhancing 13.8 degrees, with about 18 degrees of deadrise amidships. A near-plumb bow—something of an Azimut trademark these days—helps carry overall volume forward while creating a cleaver to cut through a tempestuous sea state. I used it to try to write my name in the Med.

Second is Azimut’s liberal use of carbon fiber to reduce weight on the S7. Its superstructure, flybridge, mast, transom and platform, and the after section of its deck, are made of the material. The carbon fiber reduces top weight by about 30 percent and helps lower the center of gravity, which, in turn, helps with that lively driving experience. Azimut says the use of carbon fiber also helps reduce roll momentum by up to 15 percent. See how this is all coming together?

The third and final piece of the S7’s performance puzzle is triple 800 hp Volvo Penta D13 IPS1050 diesels that are Tier III-compliant and coupled to pod drives. Azimut says the S7 is “eco-sporty,” adding that this propulsion setup reduces fuel consumption and carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 to 30 percent compared with similar-size craft with straight shafts.

During my time on board, the S7’s engines consumed 86.1 gallons per hour at 2,000 rpm and a 28.9-knot average cruise speed, almost 2 knots above Azimut’s 27-knot published cruise speed. At cruise, the S7 has about a 304-nautical-mile range with  a 10 percent fuel reserve on the yacht’s 1,004-gallon tank. At the yacht’s 36.3-knot top hop, fuel burn jumps to 123.1 gph and range drops to 266 nm. Slide the throttles back to 1,800 rpm and a 24.8-knot cruise speed, and consumption drops to  64.7 gph while range climbs to around 347 nm.

This sport fly is speedy, and it looks the part too. Designer Alberto Mancini drew the S7’s lines. At first blush you might think this vessel is an express cruiser, but on closer inspection the sleekly integrated flybridge comes into view. Sweeping is a descriptor that comes to mind when looking at the S7 in profile. From the squarish stem moving aft, there is a flow to the yacht that’s almost sharklike in form: narrower forward, rounded and wider in the midsection and then just enough taper aft to accentuate the lines. Hullside windows stretch from amidships forward, elongating the profile, while glass in the superstructure aids in visually lowering it. The superstructure’s raked design helps as well. Extensive hullside glass ensures water views from all four staterooms.

Yes, this yacht has four staterooms, in a size range where many other yachts have only three. The full-beam master is amidships with an athwartships berth. There’s also a true walk-in closet, a vanity and a pop-up TV. The en suite head has a rain shower, and all the drawers are of the soft-close variety. I spent time here during my time on board, and the stateroom was whisper quiet, aside from water running across the hull. The view out the hullside windows here is tough to beat.

Up three steps and off the companionway are the guest accommodations, with one stateroom each to port and starboard. The one to port has side-by-side berths and an en suite head, which is also the day head. Across from here is a stateroom with bunks; let’s call it the kids room. The VIP stateroom is forward with an en suite head. There is also a crew cabin, although I expect most US owners to be owner-operators.

There’s a subtle elegance to the S7’s interior design, which comes from a company called Yachtique. This is a new collaboration with Azimut Yachts, but not with the builder as a whole. Yachtique is known for its work on superyachts, including with Azimut’s sister company, Benetti. Expanding the relationship enables Azimut to bring large-yacht interior sensibilities to relatively smaller builds. Interior woods include a dove-tone tay wood and Canaletto walnut on the furniture. Leather and neutral-tone  fabrics work in concert, creating a relaxed and sophisticated feel that the builder calls  “residential chic.”

This ambience is particularly evident in the salon. Surrounded by glass—and with natural light coming in at all points—the salon’s sense of space is palpable, helped by the fact that the low-back, cream-tone, U-shaped settee to port doesn’t obstruct the glass. In fact, because the  bulwark is open here, there are clear water views. There are also two fold-out high-low tables. Just forward is a U-shaped, Miele-equipped galley, which is a slight departure from the current trend of aft galleys on a lot of yachts. The layout works because there is also a Kenyon grill in the cockpit, and because the cockpit has an L-shaped settee to port, directly abaft the salon’s sofa. When the sliding door is open, the cockpit and salon are an integrated entertaining space.

That kind of continuity is also evident from the aft-deck sun pad to the foredeck lounge to the ground-tackle setup. The yacht is a lesson in feng shui: Everything has its place for optimal flow.

Sometimes a yacht’s mission can be nebulous, but the Azimut Yachts S7 has a clear purpose: This is a luxury performance yacht with superyacht-level interior design and a smart, functional layout that keeps everyone connected with the environment, while simultaneously limiting the yacht’s environmental impact. As far as I’m concerned, this yacht is a win-win.    

The Full Range

The Azimut Yachts S7 is the latest in the Italian builder’s S-class series. The lineup also includes an S6, S8 and S10. This line is intended to appeal to yachtsmen who like the style of a sport-fly yacht, but who are also looking for a length overall closer to 60 to about 95 feet.

Alfresco Fun

The Azimut S7 has three alfresco zones for guests to spread out and chill: A four-person sun pad over the tender garage is accessed via the hydraulic swim platform, the flybridge has U-shaped seating aft and a lounge next to the helm, and the foredeck has a lounge and a sun pad.

Helm It Your Way

The Azimut S7 has two helm stations: one on the main deck forward and to starboard, and one on the flybridge. Each station has Volvo Penta controls, a joystick and Garmin multifunction displays. The S7 heels moderately inboard on hard-over turns, but views at both stations are clear.

Take the next step: azimutyachts.com

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The Icon is BMW and Tyde GmbH’s first foray into the world of electric hydrofoil yachts. The Icon flies above the brine on three hydrofoils. These lift-generating appendages work in concert with the vessel’s twin rudders to balance gravity and centrifugal force while executing turns to yield what Tyde terms “coordinated curve control.”

Christoph Ballin, Tyde’s co-founder and managing director, says the toughest challenge his company faced when creating The Icon involved assembling the right team. While BMW initiated the project’s development and build, and is responsible for the yacht’s luxe interior and exterior design, Tyde’s crux involved bringing cutting-edge marine expertise—including forward-leaning companies and individuals with deep experience with hydrofoils and flight-control systems—to the design table. The magnet? “The concept was convincing,” Ballin says.

Flight control is handled by a centralized foil-control system that Tyde developed with Oceanflight Technologies. The system’s algorithm crunches incoming data from the vessel’s sensors 100 times per second, and it leverages custom-built actuators to articulate the vessel’s hydrofoils.

Power Play

The Icon is powered by dual Torqeedo Deep Blue electric motors that each spin a dedicated contra-rotating propeller. Hull and hydrofoil design was tackled by America’s Cup-winning naval architect Guillaume Verdier; as such, The Icon’s hull contributes to smooth takeoffs and landings. The Icon achieves a (ballpark) 50-nautical-mile range at its 24-knot cruising speed. Top speed is 30 knots. 

Take the next step: tyde.one

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Double the countries, double the fun in the sun in French Saint-Martin and Dutch St. Maarten. Enjoy the beautiful beaches, delectable dining and unique museums found on the twin sides of this tropical island getaway in the Leeward group of the Lesser Antilles.

Orient Bay Beach

Often called the St. Tropez of the Caribbean, this white-sand beach along the northeast coast of Saint-Martin is as well known for its turquoise waters and breathtaking scenery as for the clothing-optional section at its southern end. There’s a lively beach-bar scene, with venues serving French food and barbecue, and offering chairs and umbrellas for rental. Boaters seeking a less-sedated day at the beach can find adventure outfitters for parasailing, personal-watercraft rentals, tubing, snorkeling and other watersports.

Loterie Farm

Choose your own adventure at this 135-acre private nature preserve off the beaten path in Saint-Martin. Self-guided hikes along marked trails wind past mango and mahogany trees in the tropical forest en route to Pic du Paradis (Paradise Peak)—elevation about 1,400 feet—for views of the whole island as well as Anguilla, Saba and St. Eustatius. Adrenaline junkies can traverse the forest by zip-line, on runs as long as 1,600 feet. Many visitors opt to lounge by the jungle pool, strong cocktail in hand, or take in the views while dining in the Jungle Room.

Yoda Guy Movie Exhibit

British makeup and creature-effects designer Nick Maley is best known for helping bring Yoda, the wise and ancient Jedi master, to life for the original Star Wars trilogy. He now brings the series from a galaxy far, far away to St. Maarten in this fun and unique museum in Philipsburg. Visitors can see Yoda, Han Solo in carbonite, Darth Vader and more memorabilia from Star Wars and some of the other 50-plus movies that Maley worked on throughout his career. On days when The Force is with you, you might find Maley on-site, sharing his many behind-the-scenes stories.

Bistrot Caraibes

Opened in 1994, Bistrot Caraibes still shines brightly on the stellar foodie scene in Grand Case in Saint-Martin. It retains its standing as one of the best dining destinations on the island. Customers rave consistently and enthusiastically about this restaurant’s romantic atmosphere, top-notch service, well-curated wine list and fabulous French fare—especially the signature lobster thermidor.

Pineapple Pete/Wasabi Charlie

Just about everyone can find something to please their palate on the expansive menu at this casual, family-friendly dual venue in Philipsburg. It’s known for its attentive staff, friendly atmosphere and live music. Choose among sushi and steaks, pub grub and grilled seafood. There’s also a teppanyaki table during dinner hours.

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Yachts are flashy by nature. Their luxurious comforts, by design, shout flair and opulence. The Fairline Yachts Phantom 65, however, shows off in a subtler way. From stern to bow, this sport-bridge model has hidden features that can transform spaces in big and small ways.

Take, for example, the quietude of the cantilevered teak table in the cockpit. It connects the transom seating with the starboard-side, L-shaped settee to create an alfresco dining area big enough for all guests to enjoy. The two settees can also become one with a sliding hideaway connector from the transom settee, and diners can add the two stools from the indoor dining space, should guests drop by for dessert.

Also inside is a U-shaped settee to starboard with a high-gloss table that can raise for meals or lower to become a coffee table—all on the same level as the cockpit and galley, which is aft in the portside corner. The galley’s location, combined with an electrically powered fold-up window to starboard and a sliding-glass door that hides behind the portside stairs, creates one interconnected socializing space for entertaining and serving.

Forward and a step up, the salon has two settees: one that’s U-shaped and to port, and a two-seater to starboard. The portside seating can be accompanied by a coffee table or a replica of the dining area’s versatile table. To starboard, a TV rises from the console.

Lighting is another design priority aboard Fairline’s Phantom 65. Hullside windows on either side of the salon measure 93 by 36 inches, providing unobstructed views. Both are tinted and covered with UV-reduction film, as are all windows on this yacht, including the single-piece windshield. The sunroof above the salon allows for more natural light. For evenings on board, the Phantom 65 has intimate white mood lighting throughout most spaces.

More subtle touches are on the foredeck, which can serve as a private gathering space at marinas where the yacht will dock stern-to. Fairline maintains a clean look here by hiding the windlass and anchor chain in the deck. Abaft that working area are two sun pads that can be elevated with backrests, and a U-shaped settee with a teak table that can be lowered out of sight.

Belowdecks, Fairline offers four layouts: three with three staterooms (one with a day head, one with an extended VIP and one with a utility room) and a four-stateroom setup. Hull No. 7, which we got aboard, had the portside utility room with an additional full-height fridge/freezer, an ironing board and stowage. In the extended-VIP version, the forepeak stateroom’s head replaces the utility room and serves as a day head. In the day-head layout, the utility room becomes a fourth head. The four-stateroom option places a stateroom with bunks in the same space.

In every layout, there is a twin-berth guest stateroom to starboard that can convert to a double. The master spans the full beam amidships with a sofa to port and a vanity to starboard. Additional drawers can replace the portside sofa.

The Phantom 65 has a pair of two-seat helm stations: one to port on the sport bridge and the other to starboard on the main deck. Both stations are equipped with Garmin electronics and are sized for three 16-inch multifunction displays. The Phantom 65 also has the builder’s F-drive software, which monitors all of the yacht’s systems.

Powered by twin 1,622 hp C32 Caterpillar engines, the Phantom 65 topped out at 36.2 knots and 2,300 rpm, with a fuel burn of 178 gallons per hour. Considering the yacht’s 1,103-gallon fuel capacity and a 10 percent reserve, range is 202 nautical miles at top hop. Dial back to a cruising speed of 26 knots at 2,100 rpm, and fuel burn drops to 99.8 gph. Range pops up to 258 nm. The Phantom 65’s engine room is accessed from a cockpit hatch. Everyday checks are accessible from the entry point.

Fairline’s Phantom 65 is a yacht with no need to shout about its high quality and style. The shipyard’s thoughtful design and construction, combined with the yacht’s performance metrics and versatile features, speak quite beautifully for themselves.

Made to Fit

The Fairline Phantom 65 has an aft garage that’s sized to accommodate an 11-foot-3-inch Williams Sportjet 345 without having to deflate the tender or remove its steering wheel. This garage also has a hydraulic winch and a roller system for easier launching and retrieval of the tender.

Quiet Design

Fairline designed the master stateroom with no water pipes running beneath it, helping to reduce noise. Water from the master’s head travels aft, while water from the forward heads moves forward. Noise is also mitigated by the master’s 6 1⁄2-inch-thick after bulkhead, which is built with sound-deadening materials.

Take the next step: fairline.com

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Here’s a fun fact: According to a recent survey of adults 18 and older, nearly 20 percent of Americans are now planning road trips with itineraries that are fully contained within 100 miles of home. People traveling really long distances for vacations—say, 1,000 or more miles from home—make up less than 7 percent of the US population.

The takeaway is that it sometimes pays big dividends to think small when it comes to planning an escape. With a boat, it’s entirely possible to spend an afternoon or a long weekend away from the grind, often right up the coast from home.

In fact, more and more marinas are adding waterfront dining and other amenities that make them great destinations unto themselves. Some marinas are also within walking distance or a quick cab ride of vibrant downtowns with all kinds of options for an afternoon escape or a long-weekend getaway.

One good example is Marina Jack in Sarasota, Florida. It’s part of the Suntex Marinas network, and its waterfront dining room is open daily for lunch and dinner. Specialties include steaks, seafood and pasta, along with gluten-free and vegetarian dishes. The marina is also within walking distance of downtown attractions, including off-site restaurants, for yachtsmen to explore.

Up the coast from there, for cruisers in the Chesapeake Bay region, is Little Creek Marina in Norfolk, Virginia. The Cutty Sark bar and restaurant is on-site at this Morningstar Marinas property, with another fun waterfront-dining option, Longboards, just a five-minute walk away (try the crab mac ’n’ cheese or the blackened yellowfin tuna tacos).

Another option for a quick escape is Safe Harbor Newport Shipyard in Rhode Island. It has on-site dining with Belle’s Cafe, which serves breakfast and lunch daily (don’t miss the lobster rolls), and the marina is within walking distance of historical downtown Newport. Visiting boaters can enjoy the views at the shipyard and then stroll over to the photography gallery owned by renowned yacht photographer Onne van der Wal at Bannister’s Wharf. Grab a keepsake souvenir that shows the city or that inspires future escapes to other boating locales.

Yet another example is Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which is part of the Suntex network and great for exploring the shops along Las Olas Boulevard. It’s also near the Riverwalk arts-and-entertainment district, which has galleries, dining and concerts.

The point is this: Yachtsmen who want to stay a bit closer to home often have fantastic options for a great escape. And sometimes a little change of pace can make a world of difference.

Notable Marinas for Waterfront Dining

• Dockside Marina in Milford, Connecticut, makes build-your-own pizzas, along with specialty versions such as the Mutha Shuka, which is topped with fresh clams and bacon.
• Chesapeake Inn Restaurant and Marina in Chesapeake City, Maryland, makes memorable sushi, along with a duet of crab and lobster ravioli.
• The Boca Raton on Florida’s East Coast is home to The Flamingo Grill for serious steaks and chops.

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Windy Boats has launched a sports cruiser that combines getaway speed with creature comforts above and belowdecks. The 40 Camira RS is the latest model in the Sweden-based builder’s Classic Sports Cruiser Series. At 40 feet length overall, this yacht is the largest model in the series, which includes seven other boats starting at 27 feet long. Hans Jørgen Johnsen penned the vessel’s hull form, and interior design and styling are by Design Unlimited.

The cockpit of the 40 Camira RS has a flexible setup that’s suitable for easy water access, lounging and alfresco meals. Here, owners can choose either white or black for furniture colors. Beneath the aft-facing sun pad for at least two people, there is stowage to hold underwater scooters, paddleboards and Fliteboards. Windy says integrated charging and a compressed air pump are here too.

Take two steps up on the port side, and there is forward-facing bench seating separated from the aft sun pad by a backrest. It’s opposite an L-shaped settee to starboard. A dining table connects the whole space. The table can be lowered with a filler cushion to expand the 40 Camira RS’ relaxation possibilities. Additionally, there is an aft-facing sun bed to port. Windy says a cockpit wet bar is optional. This entire space is protected by a full-beam T-top with a sunroof.

The two-seat helm station is to starboard; to port, there is a single companion seat. Four centerline steps adjacent to the helm station lead to the bow, where there is another sun pad with backrests that can be elevated.

Belowdecks, the 40 Camira RS has U-shaped seating in the forepeak that converts to a double berth. Owners have the option to make this sofa a permanent berth. To starboard near amidships, there is a TV, and abaft it there is a head with a separate shower. The galley is to port. In the after portside corner, owners can opt for more stowage and appliances, or for a cabin with double berths.

The 40 Camira RS comes with twin inboard power, and 440 hp Volvo Penta D6 DPI diesels are the largest option. The builder reports a top hop of 44 knots. Twin 400 hp Volvos and twin 370 hp Yanmars are also available. Another version of the Camira, the SX, comes with outboard options, including triple 300 hp Yamahas or twin 450 hp Yamahas.  

Take the next step: windyboats.com

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