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There are those who believe that a boat should look like a boat,
making more of nautical tradition than a token gesture. Others say the matter is
ripe for interpretation. The modern, tasteful and understated 51.7-meter
(170-foot) Red Dragon, impeccably built by Alloy Yachts of New Zealand,
exemplifies both perspectives.
On one hand, she’s from the design office of Dubois Naval
Architects, the latest in a line of 52-meter luxury sloops that began with
Tiara and will continue with Mondango. Each encompasses
progressive design with proven performance and is a refinement of the one before
it. | Click on the Spec tab at top to see complete list of resources. |
Like all well-designed boats, Red Dragon’s aesthetic
proportions are just right. She is softer and sleeker than her predecessor, and
she sits on the water like a dream. Her owners stepped away from convention
when, having selected a highly experienced combination of naval architects and
builders, they opted for a complete newcomer to marine design to look after her
interior styling. A French firm, Wilmotte & Associates, known as
industrial designers and architects of museums, galleries and offices, was
appointed to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to its first ever marine
interior.
Top: A floating staircase. Bottom: Winch. (Click images to enlarge)
If you believe that function should define form, and that much
of the inherent beauty of a ship lies in letting marine tradition shine through,
then some of Red Dragon’s design details might challenge your
expectations. But if you believe in using clever design to challenge some of the
deficiencies in nautical convention, then you will greatly enjoy this boat.
Even before going aboard, you will recognize that Red
Dragon is a high-caliber vessel. Her lines are well proportioned. She is
big, but her substantial topsides and superstructure don’t look as immense as
they obviously are, which can only be attributed to Dubois draftsmanship. Yet
you could be in a gallery, a hotel or a holiday home. In fact, you could be
almost anywhere other than aboard a boat.
Her exterior features stainless and glass in great quantities,
but it is completely absent of timber, saving an estimated six weeks of
varnishing each year. And the wraparound coachroof (common on motorboats and a
welcome new feature where an impression of light and space are required aboard a
sailboat) is sleek and industrially modern. The detail, which includes a Chinese
inscription, is certainly not nautical, and thanks to cleverly concealed
utilities, both her forward and aft decks are devoid of almost any visible
function except providing acres of space.
But the interior is probably where the fussier purists,
expecting a boat to look like a boat, will most struggle with this beautifully
thought out and constructed vessel. To understand why the boat is the way she
is, these critics will have to appreciate the owners and their story.
Owner Guy Ullens is a Belgian industrialist and philanthropist
whose father and uncle were both senior diplomats in China. In 2007, Ullens and
his wife Myriam opened the Ullens Centre of Contemporary Art in Beijing, which
is one of the world’s largest private collections of contemporary Chinese art.
They commissioned Wilmotte & Associates to design the facility and selected
the firm to work with them on the interior of Red Dragon.
 Red Dragon goes to weather. (Click image to enlarge)
Malcolm McKeon, partner at Dubois Naval Architects, takes up
the story: "The clients originally came to us looking for a secondhand boat and
purchased a Dutch-built, Dubois-designed 43-meter vessel of similar style to
Red Dragon, which they sailed around the world. Later on they decided
to build their own boat, mostly to get exactly the interior they wanted.
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