On board Illusion II with shipyard owner Eren Baki

“The design process was going on every day, and every day we were changing something,” says Baki a touch ruefully. “We finished the main deck master cabin, for example, and it was totally different to what I imagined, so we had to do it again. The designer couldn’t finish the renderings, so I didn’t know what I was going to get. It cost time and resources.

“There was another issue with the hardtop and flybridge – either the designer or I myself didn’t understand: it was built offsite and when we installed it on the boat, we found that the height wasn’t enough. You were hitting your head on the stairs next to the jacuzzi!” They had to remove it and weld on an extension to raise the structure.

Nevertheless, for such a rapid transformation, the refit ran surprisingly smoothly. Look at the boat today and you wouldn’t suspect the hardtop had ever been any other way. Nor would you realise that the beach club had been added during the refit.

“With Scaro Design in Turkey, we decided to extend her three metres at the stern, to have a sleeker design, and with this we implemented a beach club,” says Baki.

“The beach club was actually built for another boat – a 42-metre motor yacht ages ago. The design was finished, and we were starting to build it using financing from a bank, but my family asked me to move on with this project. So, I used the design on this boat instead. If I wasn’t who I am, maybe I wouldn’t have dared, because people would have scared me with the expense and the hard work. But when you’re a guy like me, in the sector, you know that it’s a big job, but you can handle it.”

The list of major works goes on: the supports for the superstructure were remodelled and the bulwarks trimmed in places to improve sight lines. Staircases were torn out and redone for greater comfort.

Sliding glass windows used to close up the aft deck were ripped out. And the flybridge was expanded dramatically by relocating the mast to a new hardtop. Its high sides were lowered and replaced with railings to open up the sightlines aft.

“I don’t believe that people can imagine that these are the same boats,” Baki exclaims. “We changed nearly everything – we have reimagined the yacht.”

However, the interiors had aged worst of all. In its previous incarnation as 36.6-metre Reef Chief, the yacht had sported blue and turquoise hotel carpets set off by the sort of pale birch-style cabinetry that will be familiar to users of those mass-produced canteen trays.

Luxury it was not, so Baki set to work with his designer to create something more modern with broader appeal. Synthetic herringbone parquet resembling natural oak contrasts with simple white walls and deckheads, enlivened by leather panelling and ribbed oak cabinetry. Fine, silvery-veined Turkish marbles now bedeck the bathrooms, and the loose furniture has been transformed using high-quality Turkish manufacturers.

“The style is pretty basic: I like to have light interiors and, as my business is yacht charters, I have to satisfy most tastes – I can’t go too modern or too classic,” Baki explains. He has also made some astute changes to the configuration for charter, carving two additional cabins out of the accommodation.

“The main cabin used to have an en suite office with a bathroom, but we separated them and made it into a VIP cabin. On the sundeck, there was a second saloon, but it was small and a bit unnecessary, so we turned it into another master cabin. Our clients are high-net-worth individuals, and you wouldn’t invite a friend to a 35-square metre cabin below deck when you are in a 60-square-metre room.”

Finally, the whole package was wrapped up in a new exterior paint job: no-nonsense grey for the hull contrasting with the white of the superstructure. That the whole project has been a success is beyond doubt. Cobra Yacht chartered the new boat from July through to September, such that Baki himself didn’t get aboard for a break until the start of the autumn.

“Our first outing was a big party with my family and closest friends - everyone was eager to be on board. Then we cruised around Bodrum for three nights. We always went out for dinner, but the best part for me was coming back to the boat and sitting on the beach club for a drink.”

After that, he managed to fit in a couple more local cruises before the winter took hold. But he hopes to take her further afield in 2024, charters allowing. “I want to have a month of cruising without getting out of the boat – from Turkey to the Greek islands, then on to the Adriatic and Italy before coming back. We could see Venice again – yes, why not?” If this blend of ownership and professional charter all sounds like fun, then it hasn’t always been so for Baki.

Cobra was actually launched by his father in 1978, and there was a lot of tension when he first joined the business in 2004. “We had a lot of arguments,” Baki admits. “I was young and a bit naïve and wanted to change the world. It wasn’t that easy in the company structure with my father at the top. We worked together for a year and a half, then had a huge argument, and I went to Istanbul. But my friends talked me back round.”

In his heart, he knew that he was destined to work with boats, having grown up with them as an ever present. “I was always drawing boats when I was in the classroom. I wanted to study yacht design at one point, but unfortunately a well-known designer told me not to – to remain the boss. It’s still in my heart, though.”

Back in the family business again, Baki took over full control in 2010 and soon set to work building a 46-metre sailing boat for the charter business. Infinity was a beguiling blend of modern design and the traditional Turkish gulet, with its long bowsprit and clipper rig. She chartered well – 12 to 14 weeks per year, and all of August with friends of the family. When they heard she might be sold, they decided to buy her.

“Our friends didn’t know what they would do if we sold the yacht,” says Baki. “‘We love this boat,’ they told me. They bought her, even though they hated the headache of crew and maintenance. After 10 days of negotiation, we agreed the price on my wedding day. It meant I was talking to my lawyers every day of my honeymoon – the deal was on, then cancelled, then on again. On the last day, when we flew back from Pisa, the deal was done. I told my friend that she owes me a honeymoon!”

More yachts followed, and now Cobra has four vessels on its books. Besides Illusion, there is an Azimut 85, a 24-metre sailing boat and a 34-metre gulet. The charter business is doing very nicely, and the yard focuses on maintenance and refits rather than new builds.

“I could build a whole boat, but I like to find projects like Illusion,” says Baki. “I believe that today, after Covid-19, resources are limited and very expensive. So, to find a project like this and bring it back to life, it brings me real joy – more than building from scratch.”

It actually took four years of cat-and-mouse to land Illusion at the right price, with the broker initially telling Baki he had better, “look for a smaller boat”. Four years of sitting unused on the Miami River did nothing to tempt a higher offer for the yacht, and the deal was eventually done. It is just the sort of opportunity that he relishes, and he is on the lookout for more.

“I can see the potential from the beginning – from the design or the layout,” he says. “I’m looking at a 53-metre now that has one very big cabin and four guest cabins. I have a good eye for a successful project. In the beginning, it gives you the feeling. Then, when everything matches, I go and check it with my team and I go and buy it.”

It may be a stressful process, but in the end, it is worth it, Baki insists. “Now, when I go on board Illusion, I only have nice memories; when you see what you have created, there is just joy.”

And as Baki makes clear, it is a joy that wants to spread its wings. He has broad ambitions to explore the Aegean fully, then the Mediterranean and – maybe one day – the world’s oceans. “Let’s just say that it is a dream of mine,” he says carefully.

First published in the June 2024 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.