Louis Postel
12/01/2005
Perhaps you haven’t noticed them, but they’ve probably checked you out—thoroughly.
They are the ever-increasing swarms of yacht spotters around the docks of St. Tropez, Monaco and other ports where you and your guests are pretty much on display. This is especially true if you have a water-level spa on board, and you’re tied stern-to.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The spa on Trinity's 177' Katherine is screened by umbrellas and superstucture aft. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)Some may relish this opportunity to strut about in their thongs, but a floating spa that looks good on paper may end up not being much fun because its position isn’t user-friendly once the boat sails off paper and into port.
Privacy is a key issue in spa design for yachts among international designers. Other trends are the increase in exercise and swimming facilities, as well as the introduction of architectural spa features, such as unique water fills for pools and hot tubs, and specialized spas, such as aroma therapy rooms and heated mud baths.
Behind all this is a growing social phenomenon—exercise, nutrition, relaxation and health are finally becoming important to everyone. Many yacht owners have elaborate exercise rooms and spas at home, and they expect the same at sea, with similar attendant privacy.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Daylight streaming through a skylight designed by Jon Munford makes Katrion’s soaking tub all the more welcoming. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
United Kingdom–based designer Don Starkey says he is designing owners’ private gyms of 150 to 160 square feet; slightly larger guest gyms of about 180 square feet » and 10-foot by 10-foot workout spaces for the crew. For yachts of 200 feet or more, separate sun decks for owner and guest—both at water level and discretely placed on upper decks—are also realistic.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The Benetti My Way, expresses a similar theme. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
Seattle-based Jonathan Quinn Barnett, who designed interiors and decks for 410-foot Octopus and worked on the design of 236-foot Coral Island while employed by the late designer Jon Bannenberg, has this to say about the privacy issue: “You’re not always at anchor at a beautiful spot, secluded bay or inlet. One spa we are doing now features a private elevator so guests can arrive at the spa in total
privacy…unlike a hotel where you are traipsing through in your bathrobe.” The owner of Coral Island, having once been caught by paparazzi practicing yoga on an upper deck, saw to it that it never happened again: The owner’s next boat featured a world-class indoor spa on the lower deck.While they seem de rigueur for yachts in charter service, not everyone is a fan of hot tubs. Some of Barnett’s clients even denigrate them as “people soup.” One owner requested a freshwater lap pool chilled down to ocean temperature.
“He didn’t like the salt, and jumping off the side of the boat in the mid-Atlantic for exercise seemed like asking for trouble,” Barnett said. He fitted a swim jet in the pool that allowed the owner to swim in place, much like a treadmill.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A massage table set beneath Queen M’s awning, completes the picture of total relaxation. Photograph by Klaus Jordan. (Click image to enlarge)
On the technical side, Barnett notes that the task of quickly filling up hot tubs and pools with water and emptying them is a challenging one. “It’s difficult for the crew to do, so a great feature is to have an insulated storage tank below decks. In rough seas, the water can be stored and UV-treated, and it adds to stability, rather than just heaving all that warm water over the side. The tanks are expensive but save fuel.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
LionHeart’s trim sauna shows one spa solution. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
Starkey is not a big fan of saunas, saying, “Nine times out of ten, when I revisit a yacht with a sauna, it’s being used as storage, as in the case of Cakewalk. We took it out.”
Rhode Island–based yacht designer Bill Langan has put an ingenious idea into practice: Put the sauna and steam room aft with stern doors from which guests can fling themselves directly in the sea. He also cautions that some commercial exercise machines should be recessed into the floor to assure adequate headroom.
Two spa features that Barnett can’t design but recommends are service and creativity. You might find a stewardess who is also a physical therapist, masseuse or hair stylist, but it is best to plan for the extra personal staff position—which means another crew cabin and more storage—from the beginning of a build. After all, delivering the perfect Napa Valley seed wrap is going to require some gear.
So, from little grape seeds, big ideas grow. Whether you decide to put it below decks or above, there’s every reason to have a luxurious spa on board—helping to define a healthy, relaxing yachting experience.