Exuma wins Monaco Yacht Show's Green Award - but look at the toys
by Lee Mylchreest on 27 Sep 2010
Exuma underway SW
With luxury yachts competing to show off their Green attributes at the Monaco Yacht last week, it was the newly launched 50metre Exuma that won the show's Green Plus Yacht Award 2010, presented Friday by eco-campaigner Prince Albert to its Monaco-resident owner.
The first of a new series of Vitruvius motor yachts built by Italy's Pichiotti and Perini Navi, Exuma was designed by Philippe Briand, famous for his cutting-edge sailing yachts.
The spectacular 50-metre vessel, which can accommodate 10 guests and eight crew, boasts an unusual aluminium hull, whose lighter weight is designed to slash fuel consumption, the boat's captain, Adolfo Oria, explained to AFP.
'The design of the yacht, which is narrower and sleeker than most motor yachts, has the same performance efficiency of sail boats,' he said.
However, he didn't say anything about the toys on board. They include a huge amphibious 'jeep' the size of a Hummer, a large hovercraft, two jet boats, two electric land scooters and two seabobs.
Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see the concentration - even if in name only - that was exhibited at the show, but the small but growing number of yachts flying the Green flag. Mega- super- and luxury yachts traditionally guzzle thousands of gallons whisking their owners around, and they have long lagged behind the general push for Greener cleaner seaways.
Paolo Moretti, who heads the yachting division of Italy's ship certification body RINA, told AFP interest in environmental topics has spiked in the yachting sector over the last five years.
He maintains that it is the owners who are leading the push. 'Luxury yachts have big budgets but owners now not only want to excel in terms of comfort and luxury but also in environmental sustainability,' he said.
Short of a design revolution, one of the easiest ways for the green-minded millionaire to reduce his yacht's carbon footprint today is to sign up to a yacht carbon offset scheme.
'Interest (in carbon offsetting) is growing all the time,' Mark Robinson, managing director of a service called Yacht Carbon Offset, told AFP. His list of clients from the Middle East, Russia and Europe reaches into three figures.
The principle of offsetting is straightforward: a yacht's greenhouse gas emissions are quantified and then balanced by equivalent emissions reductions from carefully-selected green energy projects around the world.
However, it's not always the owner calling the tune. The Dutch-based shipyard Feadship, which has built some of the world's most famous superyachts for billionaires that include Paul Allen and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, is now turning to nature for innovation.
Its latest 'Future Feadship' concept yacht, named Breathe after the boat's natural onboard ventilation and cooling system, had pride of place on company's stand.
For the time being, 'Breathe' is an on-paper concept. But many of its proposed features -- including special paint on the hull to reduce water resistance, solar cells and diesel-electric hybrid propulsion -- are being explored by specialist marine firms, experts said here.
Novel ways are also being offered to deal with the large amounts of garbage that accumulate on yachts, which often spend many days and even weeks at sea without docking at a port. These include a unit that grinds waste into an eco-friendly sterilised fluff-like end product.
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