Pershing, an Italian builder of seductive speedsters, debuted its new open-style 90-footer with a lights, camera, action spectacular during the last Cannes Boat Show and then raced the yacht over to Monaco to appreciative reviews from a slightly more staid, yet equally style-conscious crowd. This debut followed the well-received entry of the flagship Pershing 115 by just a year. In 2005, Pershing also introduced 46- and 56-footers. Together, these projects represent considerable investment in design time and tooling, all part of Pershing’s Ferretti Group–backed effort to modernize its brand and challenge Leopard and Sunseeker for domination of the big open-class field.

Pershing’s exotic 90 replaces a four-year-old 88-footer in the lineup, but she bears much more resemblance to her new big sister than any of her previous sisterships. Fulvio De Simoni restyled the boat inside and out, and to him, the word "open" means more than a sliding sun roof. In fact, the 90 blurs the line between motor yacht and café cruiser. And while the galley remains segregated below-aft with the crew area, the staterooms and main-deck layout show a decidedly Western influence.

"This is a new concept for the interior," says De Simoni. "We have opened the entire living area of the main deck with a salon that flows easily from the deck and graciously incorporates the dining and the driving of the boat. Each function has its own space, yet the spaciousness and freedom of the entire area is not lost because of fixed walls at right angles to the hull."

An integrated tender stowage system doesn’t impact life on deck. (Click image to enlarge)

---

Tucked inside a sleek silver superstructure framing great swaths of tinted glass—its lines are scaled down from the 115—is a youthful salon that looks nothing like the glossy finishes that have come to be associated with the word "Italian." The joinery is satin-finished open-grain oak, in some places given a dark brown stain, atop a golden wengé planked floor. The ceiling panels are Mindanao, a light and bright washable fabric that reflects sunlight bouncing off the sea. A pale leather seating area on starboard aft is organized around a disappearing 42-inch plasma TV housed in a portside cabinet. Rather than putting stairs to the accommodation along the hull side, De Simoni utilized near-centerline placement of a curving staircase and its rails as a way to divide the salon from the helm station. Further separation comes from a curved half-height cabinet topped with a screen of frosted acrylic. The diagonal line created by this semi-wall is reinforced by the similar orientation of an oval pedestal dining table to port and sleek, lightweight chairs that are equally at home around the table or pulled into the adjacent conversation group.

Forward of the half wall is the centerline helm station looking more like the cockpit of a private jet. To starboard of the controls and two high-tech helm seats, a slinky little divan in buttery leather is tucked under the wraparound windows. In De Simoni’s analysis, there is no reason that the captain should have to turn around, taking his eyes off where he is going, to have a brief chat with someone seated in the wheelhouse. The little divan will also make the perfect out-of-the-way spot to curl up with a book when the boat is still. The partial separation of the helm station still allows 360-degree views from anywhere on deck, and there are pantographic doors to the side decks port and starboard. Forward of the windscreen, a neat U-shaped dinette with a foldaway sunshade is recessed into the shapely cabin top. And no scrambling over slick surfaces to get there—full walkways and sufficient bulwarks port and starboard make for civilized movement. Forward still is a wide sun pad.The top of the superstructure hides another innovation for this genre—a rooftop sunbathing area. This not-quite-flying bridge also has a forward-facing sofa for those who enjoy the wind in their hair while under way. This deck is reached via a chrome and Lucite staircase in the salon and a hatch in the overhead, both minimally intrusive on the salon décor.

Belowdecks, the 90 offers four cabins. The generous full-beam master is aft, and it gains privacy from the other cabins by off-center placement of its angled door, which opens from the lower lobby onto a dressing area rather than the cabin proper. For a boat this size, this is a very thoughtful feature. The suite’s king-size bed is on port and angled 45 degrees, a space-optimization trick that grants full advantage of views afforded by the triple vertical windows in both sides of the hull and also allows placement of a desk under the starboard windows. The suite opens to the master bath via a sliding translucent partition. This sleek space has low wengé counters topped with ultra-hip colored, frosted acrylic, oval wash basins and a walk-in twin shower and separate toilet room. The guest suites’ bathrooms are identically furnished, and the translucent wall panels are effective at imparting a greater sense of spaciousness than really exists.

Substantial freeboard and draft make it possible to store the RIB over part of the engine room in a separate compartment with launching gear. (Click image to enlarge)

---

The two cabins—a single for the captain and one with upper and lower bunks for crew—are aft, with a separate staircase from the aft deck. These cabins and a rather nice L-shaped galley occupy a space between the owner’s cabin and the engine room, where two 2,400-hp MTUs have pride of place. New-generation Arneson ASD16L sterndrives specifically designed for this project deliver a 38-knot cruising speed and a thrilling 44 knots maximum. A garage for a tender and Jetskis is suspended over the engine room. Its door opens without disturbing aft-deck seating and reveals a clever folding platform for launching water toys.

As the Ferretti Group’s top performance line, the boats are built light and strong using a vacuum resin-infusion molding process. A deep-V hullform and fine entry provide both a fast transition to semi-planing speeds and safe, tight turning. While the boats are beautiful at dockside, Pershing is proudest of the small details that separate a successful speedboat from the pack. One such innovation is the new patented chain lock system that prevents the boat’s anchor chain from bouncing into a tangled mess. Elegant in its simplicity, the Pershing system utilizes a simple air bag that inflates, pinning the chain in the forepeak while the boat is under way. It deflates with the touch of a button for anchoring.