The Monaco Yacht Show, a cosmopolitan crossroads if ever there was one, was a fitting location to debut Burger Boat Company’s first emissary to the Middle East. Mirgab V, which departed from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, July 27, on her maiden voyage, was now closer to her home than to her birthplace.

It is no stretch to say that Mirgab V is a metaphor for the global nature and geopolitical openness of today’s megayacht world. While hostile actions fomented by cultural and religious intolerance grabbed September’s news headlines, pitting pope against mullah and Arab against Jew, Monaco serenely hosted the world at a glittering yacht show whose dates this year spanned both Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of Ramadan. The United Nations could take a tip about the power of a shared enthusiasm.

Operating more than 1,000 high-visibility shops in a retail empire stretching from the Persian Gulf to Russia, Mirgab V’s owners are no strangers to the power of a well-planned, thoughtful ad campaign. To replace its 100-foot Falcon motor yacht, the family first widened its search beyond Europe, and then narrowed its focus to shipyards demonstrating pedigree and tradition, as well as a willingness to build something fresh and special.

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Top: Photograph by Dana Jinkins. Bottom: Photograph by Matthieu Carlin. (Click images to enlarge)

At Mirgab V’s May 6 launching ceremony, the son of the family patriarch seemed truly touched by the turnout for the yacht’s launch. The mayor presented him with a key to the city, and more than a thousand well-wishers turned out to see the largest boat ever to carry the Burger brand. The original link between his homeland and America had been forged in battle; this new link forged in craftsmanship was immeasurably more pleasant. And as the son complimented his father’s vision in beginning the yacht project at the not-insignificant age of 78, it is interesting to note that, in Arabic, "mirgab" means a hill or other vantage point with a surrounding view. Their ancestral village had been a mirgab, and the towering tri-deck Mirgab V would continue that role.

For those who see an image of a raised-pilothouse motor yacht when hearing the name Burger, Mirgab V requires a new mind-set. At 144 feet (43.9 meters) and 392 tons displacement, she is a big boat; or, as Burger project manager Mike Donovan said, the magnitude of the job was like building a pair of raised-pilothouse yachts simultaneously. Mirgab’s voluminous 28-foot beam supports this rationale and enables tankage for transoceanic range."The debut of Mirgab V at the Monaco Yacht Show is a historical moment for the company. It represents a quantum leap in terms of our capabilities and opens up a » new frontier in the world market," said Burger owner David Ross aboard the yacht in Monaco, where he and Mirgab V’s family had the honor of welcoming H.S.H. Prince Albert II. Ross’ deep pride in the badge on Mirgab’s fashion plate stems from the fact that the design and engineering of the yacht was completely the yard’s doing. The insistence of Ross and his partner Jim Ruffolo to build primarily to their own hull designs has allowed the company to control its own developmental destiny, avoiding the trap where reach exceeds grasp. And now, with a large, highly skilled workforce in place, the approach allows Burger to exploit its strengths.

In recounting the initial design brief, Douglas Richey, who heads Burger’s in-house interior design team, said, "The clients described themselves as a more traditional family, and said they wanted that type of atmosphere, but with contemporary accents, and they encouraged us to suggest special features." An unusually soft-spoken Chicagoan, Richey’s eyes fairly danced as he toured through the "special features."

Unlike most U.S. yachts that receive guests at a starboard-side entry, Mirgab V will typically moor stern-to, and her stern, with its matched pair of boarding stairs and spacious aft deck sporting elegant Louis Quinze–style teak chairs, begins both the welcome—and the yacht’s departures from her
predecessors. Throughout Mirgab, the planked decks from Teakdecking Systems were scrubbed and treated with a process that turned the wood a pale, silvered tan. Almond-colored caulking eliminates the black lines that often hijack exterior design schemes and imparts the look of desert sand, while at the same time offering a cooler surface to bare feet.

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The bridge-deck foyer showcases the fluted column design and royal red onyx sole. The doorway leads to the VIP suite (middle photo). Burger’s carpenters created myriad details, such as the diamond-patterned floor inlay (bottom photo) on the passageway to the staff cabin and galley. Top  photograph by Dana Jinkins. Middle photograph by Matthieu Carlin. (Click images to enlarge)

Satin-finished natural makoré joinery accented by amboyna burl creates a rich backdrop throughout, but it is especially grand in the main-deck salon and master suite, where it showcases the joiner’s art from the tray ceiling details down to the furniture and toe kicks. A pale wool and silk carpet hand-loomed by Scott Group Custom Carpets in Michigan and textured solid-color upholstery create contrast. Although the furniture arrangement appears symmetrical—a pattern fostering serenity—the entire arrangement is offset to port to allow a starboard-side traffic flow. While each of the large square windows in the salon is fitted with Roman shades, acres of subtly striped cream and gold silk organza draperies cascade to the floor from concealed rods. These drapes can shield the room from the aft deck and the quay beyond, or for a completely different experience, they can surround the entire room like a shimmering tent.

Richey’s next special feature is a starboard verandah. A 20-foot section of bulwark opposite the salon’s seating area manually hinges down to be in line with the passageway, offering guests unobstructed views of the sea. More than just a French balcony, the verandah utilizes the starboard passage as part of its area, so that guests can actually walk through a sliding glass door to stand, or sit and enjoy the breeze.

The forward portion of Mirgab V’s salon is arranged as a formal dining area, with a table that can expand to seat the entire retinue of up to 14 in the owner’s party. A glittering 42-inch chandelier, each prism permanently wired into place, only hints at the next special feature in store.Forward of the dining salon is the yacht’s center of circulation. Here, a glass elevator one meter in diameter has pride of place in a spectacular three-level foyer. A semicircular bronze and glass staircase sensuously embraces the pneumatic-powered elevator column at each level. Completing this dramatic element are breathtaking floors of rare, royal red onyx, totaling nearly 1,076 square feet in all. With the vessel’s ample beam, there is no sense of crowding these elements. Richey took his clients at their word, mixing the tradition of fluted wood columns with edge-lit, triple-layer, tempered crackle-glass steps floating in a framework of antique bronze. "It’s like a chandelier you walk through," noted Richey.

Top: The skylounge’s distinctive recessed ceiling in silver and bronze leaf. Bottom: The wheelhouse with its integrated glass bridge electronics. Top photograph by Dana Jinkins. (Click images to enlarge)

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Les Metalliers Champenois, a highly specialized atelier with studios in Paterson, New Jersey, and Reims, France, crafted the staircase. Among the firm’s commissions are the restoration of the Statue of Liberty’s torch and the roof of New York City Hall, as well as decorative elements on the Cartier façade and The Hermitage Hote.

Traditionally, U.S. shipyards have suffered a bit in competition with their European cousins when it comes to stonework—lacking several hundred years of practice at the art of marble sculpture. Burger’s approach was pragmatic.

"We digitized every floor," said Donovan. "The laser device establishes points every two » inches along the perimeter and turns this information into AutoCAD files for an exact representation of the floor or any other structures to be covered in stone. Bigelli Marmi of Senigallia, Italy, printed out the files in full-size templates. The owner’s representative stationed in Italy checked the work at each critical juncture." Only two small pieces needed refinement when Bigelli’s artisans arrived at the yard for installation.

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Mirgab V offers up two alfresco dining areas. Bottom photograph by Dana Jinkins. (Click images to enlarge)

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For improved service, a hidden athwartships corridor between the foyer and the master suite—here the superstructure grows to full beam—links the owner’s areas with crew passages and a staff cabin on the main deck. From a small office area, the master suite blossoms into an elegant retreat wrapped in raised and fielded panels, arched doorways and chandeliers made of pen shells. The starboard-side seating area opens on a beautiful bath with spa tub and a walk-in cappuccino-onyx steam shower.

The bridge deck above incorporates the wheelhouse and captain’s domain and skylounge cinema, but—courtesy of the ample beam and length of the structure—also allows an elegant VIP cabin. Silk wall and ceiling panels and leather countertops help control weight here without sacrificing any of the elegance of the five lower guest suites. The cinema sports both an oversized plasma TV and a 100-inch drop-down screen and projection unit. Crestron controls simplify the audiovisual choices and intuitively position window coverings for optimal room illumination. Aft of the skylounge is one of two alfresco dining spaces. The other, on the private sun deck above, is shaded by a massive composite hardtop with a hydraulically sliding awning.

Not all of Mirgab’s special features are reserved for the 8,000 square feet of living space, however. The transom hides swim stairs for safer, easier and more elegant access to the sea. Six steps, each about four feet wide, mechanically deploy from their hiding place below deck level and fold down into the sea. Removable handrails provide extra security.Aside from the yacht’s scale and execution, the greatest success may be the yacht’s sound engineering, accomplished with the assistance of Sjaak van Cappellen of Silent Line Noise and Vibration Control. Because savvy owners know it can be harder to quiet an aluminum hull than a steel one, Donovan noted that specific sound levels were part of Mirgab V’s contract. The unusual thing for a builder was » that Donovan said that with a smile. While controlling sound is a balancing act of rubber mounts and heavy insulation versus contracted draft and running speeds, reducing noise is a hot-button issue at the yard and has sparked innovations large and small.

So did Burger meet the target numbers? With characteristic Midwestern humility, Donovan replied that Mirgab’s readings were 20 to 25 decibels below contracted limits, depending on area and conditions. "With one generator running and the air conditioning on low, the reading is twenty-eight decibels in the owner’s cabin," said Donovan. "Under way, readings in the owners cabin are in the forties."

To achieve these remarkable numbers, Donovan said the yard "floated everything, including the ceiling, utilized double glass on all portlights, enclosed the wire chases and added a thrust bearing on each drive unit." And, yes, the semi-displacement hull still delivers performance—a 16-knot cruising speed and 18.5 knots wide open.

"Without question, our number one intent was to design and build a product that would conclusively elevate the Burger brand; to at least get us on par with the northern European yards in fit, finish and performance," said Ross. "I think it is safe to say Mirgab has taken Burger to that level."