HOW TO DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD: ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS YACHTS

Electric boating has many advantages. For example, you can hear the nature around you and you are also very environmentally conscious. So plenty of reasons to look into an electric boat. MASTERS lists in the LXRY List 2021 a few environmentally conscious yachts that will make your heart beat faster.Online Editor: Natasha Hendriks

Project Ocean

The boat industry is playing catch-up in a sustainable way: electric boating is becoming increasingly popular, and the manufacturing process is also moving with the times. For example, high-speed boat manufacturer Arksen is building a spectacular yacht made from recycled aluminum and plastic bottles. Called Project Ocean, this 25-meter-long, environmentally conscious yet luxurious vessel is expected to hit the market in 2022.

Flax 27

Master yacht builder Friedrich Deimann learned how magnificent yachts are made of wood. Breathtaking classics he constructed with the time-honored material, pleasant to work with and - in the hands of a craftsman like him - the basis for an eye-catching result. The enthusiastic sailor in him saw that almost all modern boats are built in composite, with fiberglass or carbon that provides the strength and synthetic resin as the binding agent. Those boats are lighter and therefore sail faster. Working with those fibers that itch and resins that emit toxic fumes was not something Deimann wanted to do. His desire to build an equally light and strong boat using modern methods but natural materials led to years of research. But it worked: from linseed oil, the German boat builder managed to make a vegetable-based epoxy. As the core material between the layers of flax mats, reinforced with processed linseed resin, he chose cork. This natural material is light, strong, flexible and does not absorb moisture. He succeeded in creating a modern, excellent sailing yacht from purely vegetable materials. Where large manufacturers are experimenting with small steps toward sustainable production, the founder of Green Boats is failing to catch up with them. His Flax 27 is a beautiful yacht, and one of the finest environmentally conscious yachts, with the natural materials visible in the construction.

Sea-Explorer

Sink comfortably into the cushions while the stylishly designed dinghy takes you from the superyacht to the wharf of a fashionable seaside resort. The hull glides smoothly over the swell and the sharp bow prevents bouncing on the waves. Silence is the big bonus on this boat ride. In the 40-foot (12-meter) long Hynova, nothing breaks the silence but the rushing of the water along the bow. That silence combined with the speed of the motor yacht is to the credit of the REXH2. This is the range extender hydrogen developed by Toyota. The fuel cell converts hydrogen into electricity. The yacht from French start-up Hynova Yachts is the first hydrogen-powered, series-built, environmentally conscious yacht. The road to application of the clean fuel (emissions are water, oxygen and heat, no vibration or noise) was paved by the experimental yacht SeaExplorer, a radical trimaran that sailed around the world using only electric propulsion. On that boat, solar and wind power were also used to generate electricity, but Energy Observer Development researchers also developed a fuel cell suitable for application in boats for the round-the-world trip. Car manufacturer Toyota participated in the research and development. The design by Hynova Yachts founder Chloé Zaied now brings the automotive technology of the next decade into a boat.

Eco-Explorer

Wings on a motor yacht make the luxurious sailing residence not a sailing vessel, argue the designers of French studio Merveille Yachting, but another of the most beautiful environmentally conscious yachts. Dutch yacht building conglomerate Feadship, known for the world's most prestigious motor yachts, embraces that thought. The concept that the designers and the yard chain are jointly presenting is the first in a whole new category of pleasure craft. The concept yacht, called Eco-Explorer, is sophisticated to reduce energy needs on board, use renewable energy and generate its own power. With a sharp bow that cuts through the waves, the boat moves much less on bumpy seas. Due to the extremely wide transom, the boat is very stable and will hardly tilt when the wings on the deck provide propulsion by the wind. The type of wings, as also seen on the catamarans of the previous America's Cup, is twice as efficient as conventional sails. Therefore, less surface area is needed to still sail quite fast: at average wind strength, 18 knots (34 km/h) is easily achievable. Underwater turbines generate electricity as the boat is propelled by the wind, just like windmills in the tops of the masts. Operation of the wings is fully automated.

LXRY List 2021

LXRY LIST 2021