Timeless elegance, or a retro classic – the Palm Beach 70 looks dazzling, but there’s lots more to like about this hi-tech and supremely capable yacht
Nearly 30 years ago Mark Richards, Australian yachtsman and boatbuilder, set up Palm Beach Yachts. He named the company after a favourite spot just to the north of Sydney, where he grew up and learned to sail. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and to cut a long story short, when the parent company of Grand Banks acquired Palm Beach in 2014, Mark found himself CEO not just of his original company but of Grand Banks as well.
All the boats are now built in the same factory in Malaysia, and share the same revolutionary hull design principles – which in fact originated with Palm Beach – and have a similar onboard aesthetic, with lots of beautiful hardwood joinery, plain off-white panelling and upholstery, and a terrific sense of space. So what’s the difference between a Palm Beach and a Grand Banks?
“Palm Beach is down-east,” Mark concedes with a smile. “But it’s sexier than Grand Banks.” So just as you won’t see a bulkylooking enclosed flybridge on a Palm Beach, or indeed any flybridge at all on many of them, you won’t find an open-top Grand Banks like one of Palm Beach’s GT models.
Take time out to appreciate the 70’s sleek exterior lines and you’ll quickly see what he means: low-profile and curvaceous in a beautifully understated way, this is a yacht that puts the class into classic with sleek styling that belies its length and height. But it’s also remarkably voluminous, with a beam of over 19ft (5.80m). So for all its svelte looks, your first impression when you step aboard will be of the sheer size of the thing, from a broad cockpit with its bar and discrete seating areas, to the straightforward symmetry of its main deck layout, where sofas each side, and the separate two-seat helm and navigator’s stations, are divided by a wide walkway up the middle.
But there is also that useful handrail along the saloon deckhead which is such a signature feature of Grand Banks, fitted perhaps as a reminder that although sexier than its sister marque, a Palm Beach yacht is still designed to go to sea.
Big saloon windows emphasise the qualities of an already bright and airy main deck. One reason the cockpit feels so big is that the curved companionway leading up to the flybridge is just inside the door of the saloon, but it barely seems to intrude. Visibility from the lower helm station is also unusually good.
CUSTOM BUILD
There are numerous layout options, according to Mark, and the shipyar
