Dazzling Daze

Setting several precedents for her build team,

this sport yacht really flies high.

By Marilyn Mower   Photos by Dick Dickinson

For a perfectionist boat builder, an experienced customer is the best kind of challenge; anyone can build a boat for a novice. So, when an experienced customer’s previous yacht was a custom, Dutch-built 150-footer built to full Lloyd’s and MCA classification, the bar was set pretty high. It was just the sort of project Ron Rookstool and his team at Sea Force IX had in mind when Ron began conceptualizing the yard’s first boat over 90 feet. Even a cursory glance at the boat’s basic specs showed equipment and/or systems shared by some of the world’s finest yachts.
This is the first yacht we’ve built that is over eighty-eight feet, so it is the first one that could be classed by ABS,” says Sea Force IX engineer Richard Hyer. “Mindful of that, we designed to that specification—or higher and we did it in a composite yacht with tight weight limitations to make sure we didn’t compromise speed.”

Specifications:

OA: 91’ 8”
Beam: 22’ 11”
Draft: 5’ 8” (loaded)
Displ.: 145,000 lbs. (dry)
Fuel/Water: 4,500/450 U.S. gals.
Power: 2 x MTU 16V2000-M93 @ 2,400 hp
Top/Cruising Speed: 36/27 knots
Range: 3,000nm @ 10 knots

Contact:

Sea Force IX
Palmetto, FL
941-721-9009
seaforceix.com

The boat that became Flamingo Daze was created as a sport yacht rather than a sportfisherman. Following on the heels of 83.5 foot Rumbera created as a luxury sportfisherman for a seasoned bill fisherman, (SB August 2009), this boat is tweaked for cruising, albeit in the fast lane. At easy cruise—27 knots at 1,950 rpm—Flamingo Daze has a range of 800 nautical miles. Her top speed courtesy a pair of 2,400 horsepower MTUs, ZF gears and five-blade Veem props is 35 knots. What’s more astonishing for a yacht with three enclosed decks and a skybridge, she goes from idle to full rpm in 22 seconds. Thanks to Ron’s aggressive profile and superb integration of the skybridge, Flamingo Daze looks like she’s flying even when at the dock.
Stepping aboard the boat at main deck level, it’s immediately apparent just how much real estate this boat, with her nearly 23-foot beam, commands. Under cover on the aft main deck is space for eight people to dine. The massive teak wrapped cockpit is three steps below. Here are all the typical bits for fishing from fish boxes, to live bait well and from tackle drawers to fish cleaning station. But there are extra items here that reveal more information about the owners’ interests, particularly their passion for diving. A four-bottle air station for filling scuba tanks powers out from under the cockpit and a four-foot by 16-foot swim platform abaft the cockpit lowers hydraulically into the water, creating easy access for suited-up divers. On dive trips, the live bait tank can be filled with fresh water for rinsing masks and BC vests.
An active, young-at-heart attitude shared by the owner couple from Texas was what caused them to switch from megayacht to sportyacht. “They built the fifty meter yacht and did the Mediterranean thing and found themselves asking, ‘now what,’” said their captain of 10 years, Olav Hinke. “They wanted a boat they could enjoy closer to home and the draft of the old boat made cruising the Bahamas and the Keys difficult. Plus, the owner wanted a boat he could drive himself.”
At main deck, stainless steel and glass doors slide open at the touch of a button revealing an interior defining understated elegance. The multi-function saloon incorporates a TV lounge area, dining and a masterful galley. Miami-based architect Luiz de Basto designed the handsome décor. He utilized straight grain and crosscut gloss-finished pale anigre panels to create a subtle theme of squares with dark stained bamboo and ebony providing counterpoint. The intriguing wraparound face of the galley supplies textural contrast in a woven lattice design against a background of dark brown ultra leather. Brocade upholstery on the dinette and toe-spoiling silk and wool carpet provide luxury touches. In addition to the environmentally conscious solid bamboo floor in the galley, the countertops are a product called Trendstone, largely made of recycled glass.
A broad open staircase—another departure from the typical sportfisherman— invites guests below to the accommodation deck. There are just two guest staterooms off the forward corridor, one with a queen bed and the other with three single berths. Each features a large ensuite head. The owner’s full-beam stateroom forward is entered through double doors, and like the rest of the yacht, lavished in decorative wood joinery and woven leather trim. The theme established by the crosscut panels is amplified in a unique headboard comprising individual squares of dyed, painted and embossed leather.
Quarters for Olav and two crew are accessible from inside the yacht via a staircase off the accommodation corridor or through the engine room. The primary helm station is in the pilothouse above. Here a sleek console offers tremendous views over the foredeck. Five 19-inch monitors are fully integrated allowing any set of system monitors or NavNet 3-D functions, security cameras or even a movie to be called up on any screen via touchpads and a track ball. Several pieces of equipment requiring keypads are hidden in shallow trays under removable covers, creating an ultra clean display.
Behind the helm and its flanking guest seats is a lounge area also facing a large LED TV. Another pair of sliding doors open to the aft bridge deck with an additional helm station designed for docking or when fighting a fish. A ladder reaches upward to the skybridge. This says Olav, is where everyone wants to be—and it’s so large that everyone can be. Except for the center console style helm, the space is configured with two chaises and a large cushioned area. Brackets in the hardtop suspend a hammock that’s popular when at anchor.  Despite its altitude, high coamings and two-inch handrails make it very secure and a pair of Mitsubishi gyrostabilizers make it comfortable underway and at anchor.
Rather than rest on its laurels, Sea Force is raising the bar on the sportyacht concept—Ron already has a 94.5 in final design phase that will also include a skybridge.