Had you stepped aboard a yacht in the 1970s, you would’ve been greeted with dark, gloss-finished mahogany, blue and white striped textiles, and dim interiors with tiny portholes ruled the waves as they had for decades.
From its first yachts, Ferretti started to break these established norms with exterior and interior designs that reflected the lifestyles of their owners. With the launch of the new Ferretti 1000 – the yard’s largest yacht to date at 30.13 metres – the legendary Italian yachtbuilder takes that ethos to even higher levels.
Ferretti claims the yacht is the result of 40,000 hours of concept development, and it shows. The main deck is where most of the on-board living will be done. The cockpit, saloon, dining area, galley and owner’s cabin are all on the same level, and full height windows in the saloon and dining areas flood the spaces with natural light.
Here, freestanding furniture from Minotti, embraces Feretti’s ‘just like home’ values of ‘comfort, Italianness, timeless design and craftsmanship’. Two colour palettes are available – Classic and Contemporary, with the former featuring warmer tones, and the latter a cooler, more modern feel.
The different moods come with different furnishings too: the L-shaped modular sofa in the Classic theme features more rounded contours than the one in the Contemporary theme. Likewise the 10-place dining tables come with wood and glass tops respectively.
Even with a 75-inch television in the saloon, the furnishings are kept to a relatively low profile, ensuring uninterrupted views through the extensive glass areas of the outside world. On request, Ferretti can fit opening mechanisms for the glass on both sides, effectively creating a terrace on the sea.
Forward of the dining area, the large galley on the port side connects to the dining area through an electrically-operated partition to form a servery. The galley is free to be equipped with the latest generation of appliances, including a double oven, a side-by-side fridge with a capacity of over 500 litres, a wine cooler and a built-in coffee machine.
On the starboard, a hallway passes the internal stairway to the lower deck, the owner’s access to the separate wheelhouse, and a day head, leading to a spacious owner’s suite forward. This full-beam space features a walk-in robe, bathroom with separate shower and toilet and twin sinks, a king-size bed, and a desk area. Large glass on both sides imparts a comforting sense of light.
Forward of the galley is discreet access to the crew’s quarters on the lower deck in the bow – featuring two twin crew cabins, a captain’s cabin, two heads and a kitchenette – as well as crew access to the wheelhouse above. The wheelhouse features a leather pilot seat designed by Poltrona Frau and a sofa and small table.
From the main deck, access to the four double guest suites in the hull midships is via a parquet stairway adjacent to the galley. A lobby area leads to two cabins forward and two aft.
With large hull windows, each of the four ensuite cabins is as bright and carefully detailed as the other living areas. The two forward cabins can be fitted with double beds or two singles, for maximum family flexibility.
The exterior spaces are laid out with no less attention to detail than the interiors. On the main deck, a spacious covered cockpit has facing sofas and a teak table that can be raised and used as a dining table or lowered and used as a coffee table.
A glass parapet to the aft connects this area to a superyacht-style beach club, accessed by stairways both sides. Here, aft-facing sun pads look out over a swim platform that can be lowered into the water, with an ingenious (Ferretti Group patented) system that unfolds three steps either side for easier access for swimmers when the platform is underwater.
A tender garage large enough to accommodate a Williams Dieseljet 445 tender, a three-seater jet ski, and even two Seabobs, can be accessed through an independent entrance on the starboard side without having to open the main door. The sundeck – accessed by stairways both sides of the cockpit – truly lives up to its promise, extending all the way from above the transom to the bow.
In the bow area there’s a massive sun pad forward of the wheelhouse, and a separate area forward with two L-shaped sofas and tables that can also be converted to a sun pad. Walkways both sides lead back around the flying bridge to an enormous sundeck area aft that owners can configure to their requirements.
The 55-square-metre flybridge has two electrically adjustable Poltrona Frau pilot seats at the helm-station starboard and two copilot seats to port with access to the wheelhouse between. A dining area under the carbon-fibre hardtop features a sofa in steel, teak and custom Ferretti fabric, two tables in steel and teak that can be joined to form one, and a double bar unit opposite, with a sink, fridge and the option of a grill.
The sundeck is arguably the place for wind-in-the hair yachting, and aboard the first Ferretti 1000 launched, that’s a fair amount of wind: Fitted with twin 2,638 horsepower 16-cylinder MTUs it reaches a top speed of 28 knots and a cruising speed of 24 knots. The standard twin 2,217 horsepower MTU configuration is still capable of a 24-knot top speed and 20-knot cruise, which are impressive figures for a yacht this size, though after 4,250 hours of naval design this sort of performance shouldn’t be a surprise.
Since its first builds, Ferretti has been at the forefront of using the latest systems of production, technology, materials and clever design to create beautiful, distinctive yachts. The Ferretti 1000 continues and builds on that tradition as a stylish, comfortable motor launch. One that feels just like home.
A version of this story originally appeared in Davison Vol. 2 #2.
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