There is so much that is new and custom about the new, custom 219-footer (66.7-meter) out of Nobiskrug that it’s easier to begin with a story about luck. The yacht’s owners, now living in London and on the Côte d’Azur, are at home in many cultures. An astute business sense and good timing have brought them substantial success, and their yachting, which began with open sport boats, has risen to the building of two custom yachts.

Then there’s the yard. Nobiskrug has a more-than-100-year history in commercial and passenger shipbuilding, although it nearly succumbed to financial ruin in 1986. Acquired by HDW in 1987 and limited by severe EU financial restructuring rules, the yard trimmed its workforce and concentrated on repair and refit. Healthy again in the mid-nineties, Nobiskrug returned to new construction. Its first yacht project, built under contract to the late Claus Kusch, was 92-meter Tatoosh in 2000. Refits of 46-meter Ontario and 96-meter Limitless followed. In 2002, in order to redevelop the yard for large-yacht construction, Nobiskrug’s Managing Director Peter Güldensupp recruited Christian Schäfer, formerly of Abeking & Rasmussen, as director of marketing and sales. During their first boat show in Fort Lauderdale they were having a drink with some friends at an oceanfront café when strangers at the next table began discussing building a yacht. (Click image to enlarge)

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And then there’s broker Mark Hilpern of Camper & Nicholsons in Antibes. Partnering with Mike Ringdahl, he built Castlemain into a powerful brokerage house in the go-go 1980s. Ringdahl’s unexpected death was a terrible jolt. Hilpern sold the business and sailed off on his Hans Christian 43 to clear his head. Four years and an at-times harrowing circuit of the Pacific and Caribbean later, he realized that what made him happiest was putting people in the right boats. In 2002, he met with clients during the Fort Lauderdale boat show. Moving up from a series of sport boats, their ownership of the 55-meter Oceanfast True Blue brought them appreciation of the motor yacht lifestyle. As they relaxed at an oceanfront café and discussed the possibility of building a new yacht, two shipyard representatives at the next table quietly offered them their cards. (Click image to enlarge)

Also consider the fates of Frank Neubelt and partner Roland Krueger of Newcruise Yacht Projects & Design. This German firm was primarily known for sailing yachts; its principal is a passionate sailor. In 2000, Dutch builder Moonen asked them to design a 38-meter. White Heaven III, Moonen’s largest boat to date, won a ShowBoats International Award in 2002, and suddenly Newcruise was in the motor yacht design business. Neubelt believed he would specialize in 40-meter yachts, but when neighboring Nobiskrug asked for large concept sketches to display at the 2002 boat shows, he let his imagination run wild and his lines grow to 60 and 70 meters. (Click image to enlarge)

"So I went to see the men who had given us their cards," said Hilpern. "I wasn’t really expecting anything, but I wanted to see their stand. They pulled out these sketches, and the odd thing was, they were basically the boat my client was describing to me. It was uncanny."

The glass wall separating the aft main deck from the salon drops away into a round bar that links the two spaces.

At the first presentation, Neubelt recalls that the owner asked how he could bring more elegance to the profile. "‘Just cut one deck off,’ I said. ‘Can you live with less interior?’ He answered immediately that he preferred living on deck. Then he began to talk about his vision of getting light into the ship. I thought how lucky I would be to have this couple for clients," Neubelt said.The owners gently began to get the designers, builder and broker to think of them as a team. They hosted the next meeting at their home in Cannes to expose the design team to their casual, yet refined style. Next the owner pulled out his own sketches. "He goes to a show and sketches everything he likes," commented Neubelt. Soon a profile the owner describes as "unique and recognizable but not too extreme," began to take shape.

Nobiskrug brought to the party renowned German engineering, which manifests itself not only in an awesome two-level, three-stage compartment of engine and machinery » spaces, but also in hull design and construction methodology. "From the beginning, we wanted to make an extremely low-resistance hull, but one with significant volume and tankage," said Schäfer. "When you can get good fuel at a good price, you want to take advantage of it. Triple Seven can carry more than 46,000 gallons of fuel," he noted.

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The master suite offers a simple Zen-like retreat with contrasting shapes and textures. Photograph by Klaus Jordan. (Click image to enlarge)

"It’s not the approach for boats with high-volume superstructures, or boats that will have stability issues," noted Ehlers, "but for this project with large open decks, it was perfect."

With suggestions for design, mechanical and interior details continuously evolving, Hilpern says the keys to the project’s success were Golding’s diplomatic skills and the addition of surveyor Charlie Baker of UK-based Consultant Marine Engineers to the team. "A lot of what we were doing with the superstructure engineering was totally new ground," said Hilpern. "Baker helped the yard work out the kinks and guided the certification process."Initially, Newcruise was responsible for only the styling. That was before the owners met interior designer Katharina Raczek, who had recently joined Newcruise. "The wife had intended to be very involved with the interior design. She met Katharina, and they were amazingly and immediately on the same wavelength," said Hilpern. Its contract expanded, Newcruise could now work out interior and exterior details with seamless efficiency. Still, the owners themselves contributed hundreds of hours to the design effort and amassed a collection of 3,000 material samples in the process.

Naming the yacht had an unexpected codifying effect on the contemporary design themes for the interior—design details from windows to crown moldings to stainless steel details began to take shape, literally, around the number. Undoubtedly, the most striking manifestations are the seven windows forward on the main deck. These slabs of curved and tinted bulletproof glass arch up the raised hull sides from just above main-deck level, where the superstructure broadens to full beam, and notch into what appears to be the joint with the bridge deck above. Looking ever so much like giant sevens, these portlights bring abundant light into the owner’s suite. This suite’s innovations extend to the traffic pattern—the owner’s office/library is a separate room rather than an enlarged hallway. A bleached wengé desk slides partially into the wall when not needed, becoming a small table. Given its own adjacent bathroom, this suite could function as a separate cabin and, in fact, has a hidden foldout bed. Curved walls in the stateroom—where the portlights are so large they double as window seats—give personality to the large space and create a hidden security closet. Bleached sycamore wall panels separated by eighth-inch gaps seem to float off the substrate and add lightness to the room. Some of the panels are treated to a metalized lacquer finish for contrast and to harmonize with the brushed nickel hardware. Behind the curved wall at the head of the bed are his-and-hers dressing areas linked by an enormous bath that seems carved out of a single block of pale, Portuguese marble.

The yacht’s substantial 39-foot beam also brought something special, and when it came to the interior, the Newcruise team exploited it, giving new meaning to the term "open plan." The salon stretches from the foyer to the aft deck with no intervening columns, just two waists nipping into the space midway at the plenums and again at the aft end. A circular bar located between glass doors to the aft deck occupies most of the aft end of the main deck’s superstructure. A glass wall at the back of the bar drops into the structure, allowing service to the aft deck as well as the salon. With the glass lowered and the doors open, the design creates a flowing, indoor-outdoor living space more than one-third the overall length of the vessel. To keep such a vast space from resembling a bowling lane, Newcruise subtly divided the space into six usage areas, from an open sun-pad area most aft to the substantial covered aft deck and outdoor cinema, the circular bar, a formal seating area and, finally, to Triple Seven’s signature spaces, a circular dining area to port and the equally circular casual lounge to starboard, each fronting floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the side decks. Bulwarks are notched out at this point to provide clear views.

Triple Seven's beach club, a

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So, are three sevens an indicator of good luck? It would seem triply so. Newcruise now reports three projects over 110 feet on its order book, and Nobiskrug, part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems since 2005, is building three new yachts. Hull No. 778 unites the same lucky team to elaborate the themes created for 777 in a 240-footer for the same fortunate owners. Meanwhile, the modern, new 145-meter construction hall triggered by the Triple Seven contract has gained a reputation as one of the most sophisticated facilities of its kind in Europe.