Yacht Review: Charters In Asia-Pacific Waters

After her delivery from the Amels yard in the Netherlands in June 2017, Lili has already racked up some serious mileage – touring stunning off-the-beaten-track locations such as Norway, the Seychelles islands and the Maldives.

She is available for charter with Imperial, which also represented the owner during the completion of the build at Amels. Perhaps the most highly customised Amels 180 to date, Lili perfectly captures the continuous evolution and ongoing success of the Amels Limited Editions range.

We’re confident in saying that the Amels 180 is the most successful 55-metre superyacht design ever, with more than 20 deliveries since 2007,” comments Rose Damen, Amels Commercial Director. “Lili’s owner brought many fresh new ideas to her creation, including an extended huge sun deck with a custom-made pool – plenty of outdoor spaces for everyone on board.

“We’re able to create a personal style that complements Tim Heywood’s original Amels 180 design very successfully”.

Together with the Amels design team, Tim Heywood extended Lili’s sun deck by three metres to 28 metres in length – creating a huge outdoor luxury space of almost 175 square metres. The bridge deck has also been extended, offering both sun both sun and shade.

Bespoke dining room chairs feature a cut-out square that appears to frame the rich ebony table

Lili’s folding balcony from the VIP suite on the principal deck provides a private spot to enjoy sea breezes in the morning. Further aft on this deck, additional folding balconies port and starboard offer uninterrupted views for fresh al fresco indoor dining for all 12 guests on board. These balconies create an unobstructed majestic view to the sea, and let sea breezes inside for a gentle, more informal and al fresco dining feeling.

The Amels paint team did a remarkable job. The application of Castle Tan gloss on the hull makes Lili very distinctive, while the unforgiving Jet Black on the superstructure – which is extremely challenging to perfect – makes a stunning contrast. The engineering required to turn these curves into reality is considerable, and any blemish would show up in the paintwork. Such is the attention to detail and quality of finish at Amels that Lili looks very much the jewel that Tim Heywood intended.

“Lili has such an unusual paint scheme, and jet black gloss across challenging curves and stairwells – any tiny fault would stand out”, Rose Damen explains. “We are well known for the high quality of our paintwork, so it was very important to us that we got it absolutely right. It is a remarkably successful look, and exactly what the owner wanted.

She’s a very personal yacht, but also one that is widely admired and has already proven a popular charter choice. It has been very humbling to see how enthusiastically owners have responded to Tim Heywood’s design over the years.

“Outdoor furnishings have warm tones, which reflect the teak wood and the hull’s Castle Tan – all artfully highlighted with blue marine colours of the sea. Working together with the owner, interior designer Laura Sessa and her team developed a luxurious finish with a very rich use of soft furnishings in velvet and silk.

“The masterpiece is without any doubt the owner’s stateroom on the bridge deck which opens out over a huge aft deck. It was a challenge, in rooms full of light, to create a bold design language that both complements the views outside without forgetting the interior character. The full beam stateroom’s windows offer breath-taking views – glass on three sides with a 180-degree panorama – while the extended aft deck is in effect a private, shaded terrace – an owner’s deck.

“With a view to offering Lili for charter, the owner also created a second stunning 77 square-metre master suite on the principal deck. The suite has a spacious stateroom, office, and private lounge with an exclusive folding balcony to bring in the cool ocean breezes and enjoy the relaxing sound of the sea.

“By adding an indoor gym and four lower deck suites (a total of six spacious suites for 12 guests), Lili is thus perfect for charter clients who want their own spaces to retreat to – as well as the shared lounge spaces and shared sun deck and beach club.

“In stairwells and corridors, very light and high-gloss sycamore is structured with strong geometric black recesses. High contrast dark woods including ebony Macassar make frames in structural elements as well as cabinets, tables, chairs and even bed covers. The bespoke dining room chairs feature a cut-out square that appears to ‘frame’ the rich ebony table.

“The artworks on board are displayed in bold, dark frames, too. These are also echoed in the dark frames around the large windows – with dark shutters connecting with the exterior’s jet black superstructure. This clever design has framed the ever-changing views themselves as pieces of artwork. Soothing whites and light toned walls and carpets provide further contrasts, accentuating the bright sunshine that pours over the surfaces.

“Interior design is very visible in the connection between bespoke furniture and interior materials. For example in the owner’s suite, the custom button-tufted ottoman is mirrored in the same tufting style created on the wall behind the bed. Each space in Laura Sessa’s creation is like a Haute Couture collection, sharing a theme that complements the yacht’s form while providing new points of interest and different impressions.

Sofas are custom-designed for serious lounging in this light and airy layout

“The premier salon emphasises relaxation with an over-sized sofa facing an over-sized huge 105-inch curved 4K television screen. The careful use of mirrored surfaces in the bathrooms – including the shower door – increases the feeling of space.

Superb master suite is among the many features on this highly-customised Amels 180

“Splashes of colour in the lower deck guest suites provide individuality. Everywhere, the disciplined, geometric design requires the highest level of precision craftsmanship and carpentry. Very crisp and sharp joinery, insets and fittings are in perfect alignment and symmetry. “Over the years since we introduced the Amels Limited Editions concept”, Rose Damen continues, “our Amels design and engineering teams have fed back thousands of hours of custom engineering into the design.

“The platform has changed enormously since the first Limited Editions yacht in this segment, Deniki, was delivered in 2007. That includes major changes such as helipad, full-beam bridge deck lounge with larger windows facing aft, plus the extended decks, lengthened beach club and a newly enlarged galley on the principal deck.

“Perhaps even more importantly, the lengthened Amels 180 platform contains thousands of small details that we’ve developed – many representing the changing market and technology innovations, but also we’ve listened to feedback from clients, captains and from the teams here at the yard. The boat has got better, better and better again. In terms of reliability, it’s virtually the perfect yacht platform”.

Aside from Tim Heywood’s timeless exterior lines, about the only thing Amels hasn’t changed is the yacht’s hull shape. That gives clients a lot of confidence – knowing the proven pedigree of their yacht’s underwater body and its performance in all kinds of weather and sea state. The Amels platform is famous in the superyacht world for its seakindliness and manoeuvrability – captains and crews are very enthusiastic about the difference.

The yacht has a slender hull with a narrow forefoot, giving her a fine entry and good seakindly qualities – even in a big swell. The low superstructure (low metacentric height) and heavily-built, stiff full displacement hull makes her very solid and smooth in the water with comfortable periods of roll. This is a hull shape that has successfully circumnavigated the globe, cruised in the Arctic Circle and explored remote Melanesian islands without any modification.

The longevity of that naval architecture is the result of upfront investment in research and development, collaborating with parent company Damen Shipyards Group and their extensive analytical resources. Having that experience with the platform gives Amels absolute control of the production process and allows the yard to achieve the very highest quality.

Lili represents what can be achieved in engineering and design when a yacht builder is willing to be versatile and flexible, listening to owners and willing to make things possible. Her fast delivery in just over a year from signing, impeccable high quality and substantial owner customisation make Lili a perfect example of owners making the most of the Amels Limited Editions approach, a yard spokesman concluded.

Words by Ross Wolfe | Images courtesy of Jeff Brown

*** This article is republished from issue 43 of Yacht Style.