SENSATIONAL NEW YACHTS AFLOAT, IN BUILD AND ON THE DRAWING BOARD
Southern Wind SW108
LOA 32.87m 107ft 10in
• Beam 7.51m 27ft 4in
• Draught 4.0m-6.2m 13ft 1in-20ft 4in
• Guests 8 + 6 crew
Just months after the delivery of its first smart custom 108-footer, Southern Wind is celebrating a second order which is already in build. Details are scant at this stage, but it naturally features the same rapid Farr hull as the first boat, and its interior will again be produced by Nauta Design. She is scheduled for delivery in spring 2025.
The debut SW108, Gelliceaux, was only handed over to the owner in Cape Town last October, but has already covered 12,000 miles. She is now squaring up for the St Barths Bucket.
The boat was a double landmark for Southern Wind: the first over 100ft to be built on its smart custom platform, and the first to feature hybrid propulsion. The dieselelectric powertrain was developed with BAE Systems, and offers up to 35kW of hydrogeneration under sail, but won’t feature in the second boat.
Built in carbon-epoxy with Corecell sandwich, the SW108’s Farr-designed hull is slippery and exceptionally stiff. She exceeds wind speeds up to about 10 knots and can top 20 knots broad reaching in a serious blow. The deep 6.2m lifting keel and twin rudders also help in this regard. Deck and bulkheads are in carbon too, plus there’s the high-modulus carbon spars and titanium deck fittings – all combining to keep displacement below 79 tonnes.
The Nauta-designed interior of the second SW108 is everything you’d expect: neutral tones and sophisticated styling with lots of custom-built furniture. Her four-cabin layout puts the owner’s cabin right forward, and the three guests amidships. The galley and crew accommodation are all positioned aft.
Southern Wind’s smart custom programme is a new approach to yacht building, allowing owners to customise heavily around an established technical platform. This formula provides a quicker route to construction and ownership of a large yacht that still offers plenty of bespoke features.
Simena, Ares 62
LOA 61.61m 202ft
• Beam 10.80m 35ft 5in
• Draught 4.50m 14ft 10in
• Sail area 1,672m2 17,998ft2 upwind
• Guests: 12 + 9 crew
Türkiye’s Ares Shipyard recently revealed it is halfway through the build of a 62m yacht based loosely on the lines of a clipper ship. It comes as a surprise, because the yard is best known for coastguard vessels, and its previous flagship was a full 14m shorter.
It doe
