Nobiskrug GmbH 219

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.

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