Luxury, powerful engines, high-tech materials and speed. It’s not just a fascinating mix on asphalt. In illustrious circles, a luxury yacht is considered the status symbol par excellence in addition to automotive beauties. Yachts, speed, luxury – that doesn’t leave us cold either. But this time, we’re approaching the subject in a slightly different way. This time, the focus is not on a luxurious superyacht with powerful engines and enormous dimensions. We know that not all designs and sketches that can be discovered on the Internet will become reality. Many will probably remain an intriguing design sketch forever, but not the Adastra by John Shuttleworth Yacht Designs.
The “Adastra” is a 42.5 m long trimaran designed for Anto and Elaine Marden for long-distance trips. The superyacht has been designed for efficient long-distance cruising – extremely light as the superstructure is made of carbon fibre with Nomex honeycomb core, the hull is made of glass/Kevlar foam and even honeycombs have been used for the internal oak wood panels. The saloon offers a panoramic view – from here you can climb directly to the forward sundeck. The aft deck has additional seating as well as a bar and space for a 4.9 metre tender with a garage directly below which can accommodate a 3.1 metre tender and whose door has been designed to fold out and as a large dive platform.
Luxury yachts generally seem impressive to most people, but there are always projects that add to the whole fascination. Adastra is without question such a project! It took those responsible for the planning and implementation of the superyacht for five years. The result was a yacht with a unique design of three hulls, a so-called trimaran. Never before has a trimaran been designed as a luxury yacht. The 42.5-metre-long vessel glides elegantly through the water, covering a distance of around 4,000 nautical miles on a single tank of fuel. A trip from New York to Great Britain would be possible. The interior is much more spacious than the slim design suggests at first glance. There is room for nine guests and six crew members. Of course, the interior is just as ultra-modern. Incidentally, the 15 million US dollar project can also be controlled remotely via iPad. It’s no wonder that the Adastra won the award for “Most Innovate Design” at the World Superyacht Awards.
In an interview with us, Orion Shuttleworth, designer at John Shuttleworth Yacht Designs and in Adastra’s design team, told us how the stunning concept came about: “The Adastra superyacht project has taken the power trimaran concept further than any project before. Our client liked the extreme design, and so they made it possible for me to build this yacht that was as luxurious as it was powerful. The project began in 2007. In 2012, the time had come, from a first bold idea to a beautiful superyacht.”
Almost ten years later, we realize that the Adastra is not a “Star Wars”, but in retrospect it still seems to us like something from an alien world.
