Benetti is also seeing the change. It is working on two
30-meter yachts in its Tradition line for now-experienced Ukrainian clients who
are moving up from smaller Azimut models.
 The entrance to the Kremlin’s
gardens. Photograph by Brian Courtney. (Click image to enlarge)
And as much as Russian clients are changing, so is the
country’s boatbuilding. The former Moscow Shipyard is now the majority operative
in an alliance called Timmerman Yachts. Under the leadership of Roman Trotsenko,
the yard is collaborating with Holland’s Vripack Yachting International, Guido
de Groot Design and Ginton Naval Architects, and British design houses Jon
Bannenberg Ltd. and Francis Design Ltd. to produce displacement yachts from 25
to 50 meters. The yard’s order book is heavy, and its client list is not limited
to locals. Like Moscow Shipyard, Hotchya was a Soviet-era builder
producing commercial and military vessels before following the money into
luxury-yacht construction. The company’s 115-foot steel-and-aluminum motor yacht
Gaja has
been doing the boat-show circuit. Newcruise Yacht Projects and Dolker &
Voges Metrica handled Gaja’s exterior styling and interior,
respectively, but the yard does have its own very respectable design team.
Russian-owned Pelorus. (Click images to enlarge)
Laky Verf of St. Petersburg officially opened in April 2005,
producing turnkey motor yachts in the 20- to 37-meter range. Its first
build, a 23-meter boat designed by Guido de Groot for a Russian owner,
launched in the summer of 2006. While Roman Abramovich is still the single biggest Russian player in the
world of yachting, make no mistake; the tide is turning. The Russian Federation
and the former Soviet republics of Eastern Europe will forevermore be a
significant factor in luxury yachting.
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