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Emerald Star is the
first in a new 43-meter
displacement series from CRN and its largest composite yacht to date built
completely on site in Ancona, starting with the molds. As such, she represents a
considerable investment for CRN in particular, and for the Ferretti Group in
general. Ancona serves as a multi-brand production center for the Ferretti
Group’s Custom Line 112, Navetta 30 and Riva 115. While CRN’s acquisition of
neighboring steel specialists Mario Morini in 2003 served to raise the company’s
profile as an alternative to northern European builders in the steel and
aluminum megayacht market, the new 43-meter composite series aims to win
potential clients from a competitor much closer to home. | Click on the Specs tab at top to see complete list of resources. |
"Emerald Star is the culmination of a challenge that began
five years ago," said Lamberto Tacoli, president of Costruzioni e Riparazioni
Navali (CRN). "A challenge in the financial sense because over three million
euros were invested in the new molds, but also because we were looking to enter
a segment that Benetti has dominated in Italy with the 45-meter Vision
series."
 Photograph by Justin Ratcliffe. (Click image to enlarge)
Although Tacoli qualifies this statement by pointing out that
CRN is not looking to compete with individual models—indeed, Emerald Star
is a very different beast in everything except size and construction material—it
is surely no coincidence that the first Benetti Vision, Patricia, was
launched almost exactly five years ago.
Five years is a long time in the yachtbuilding industry, and
Emerald Star is a more contemporary looking vessel than her Benetti
rival. Given her name, I fully expected the yacht to have a bright green hull
and was somewhat relieved to discover at the Festival International de la
Plaisance in Cannes that she has classic, all-white paintwork. But her sleek
exterior profile conforms to what has become an in-house style, thanks to CRN’s
long-standing partnership with the Studio Zuccon International Project.
Borrowing from another of Giovanni Zuccon’s projects, 54-meter Ability,
CRN’s technical staff managed to incorporate two novel features first introduced
aboard the much larger steel and aluminum yacht: namely, the gymnasium
overlooking the stern on the lower deck and the balcony in the owner’s cabin on
the main deck.
Top: The rich cherry joinery of the salon and
dining room. Bottom: The master suite; note the ornate leather headboard and
capitonée chaise lounge. (Click images to enlarge)
Adding these features is not as straightforward as it sounds
aboard an MCA (LY2) compliant vessel, since the balcony is in a potential wave
impact zone on the forward starboard quarter and the transom folds down to
provide a swim platform exposing the lower aft deck. So both gym and balcony
have watertight tempered glass doors that are also fitted with storm shutters
for long crossings in rough seas. In between the gym and the engine room is the
side-loading tender garage, which the owner had enlarged to house a 21-foot
Castoldi—three feet longer than originally planned—by doing away with the
stairs from the main deck. Access is now from the gym or engine room.
Apart from the gym and owner’s balcony, Emerald Star has
a standard general layout for her class. The lower-deck accommodations
consist of four guest cabins (one twin single with Pullman bunk and three
doubles) and forward crew quarters, while the main deck is given over to an
open-space salon-cum-dining area, galley and master suite. The upper deck
features an exterior dining table on the covered aft deck that can seat a full
complement of 12 guests, a panoramic lounge, crew pantry, captain’s cabin and
wheelhouse. The sun deck is a massive area of some 80 square meters, with more
than enough room for a Jacuzzi whirlpool surrounded by comfy cushioning, a
barbecue grill, a central bar under the extended radar mast (that also houses a
dayhead and shower) and two Jet Skis. It is here that I also came across a
subtle color reference to the yacht’s name in the vibrant emerald green and
turquoise cushion covers.
Emerald Star is the fifth yacht for her English owner, who
brought with him both experience and business acumen when it came to guiding
Zuccon’s interior design. Based on the owner’s mature tastes, with cherry
joinery and neutral brown, beige and oatmeal tones, the classic styling is
designed to have a long shelf life with both charter and re-sale in mind. For
similar reasons, the décor in the guest cabins is virtually identical in all but
the choice of fabrics, and the bathrooms share the same Calacatta gold marble
and Istrian stone as in the master suite.
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