ALL
TOGETHER
NOW
A look on board the first Amels 60 superyacht Come Together
A collaboration with Espen Øino marks a new chapter in the story of Amels’ Limited Editions. Sophia Wilson steps on board Come Together, the first Amels 60, to see how the formula meets modern expectations.
The automotive world is peppered with iconic series – the BMW M, the Aston Martin DB, the Porsche 911 – and the key to their success has always been evolution. For instance, the Porsche 911 has undergone five decades of development, with seven model generations, modernising and adapting the cars to meet the demands of Porsche’s customers. As far as iconic lines go, in the superyacht world, it is hard to ignore Amels’ Limited Editions. Born in 2007 with the delivery of the first Amels 171, Deniki, it works off a “triangle” principle. “You have the exterior design, a proven technical platform by Amels and a customisable interior,” explains Amels project manager Joppe Osté. This formula may sound simple, but it has proved highly effective for the Dutch builder, with 46 Limited Editions yachts currently on the water.
Despite its continued success, Amels decided the time had come to innovate. After a long, successful partnership with Tim Heywood, it looked to a new partner to drive the Limited Editions forward, and turned to Espen Øino to create the new Amels 60 and the Amels 80. Øino, who had teamed up with the yard on the exterior design of the 77.8-metre custom project Energy, delivered earlier this year, found the design of these Limited Editions a unique challenge. “You are designing a boat for a market, not an individual,” says Øino. “You can’t go too crazy because you are trying to hit the maximum percentage of people who would like it but, at the same time, it needs to look a bit different – it can’t just be another boat. It’s a fine line.”
Creating Come Together's uniquely coloured hull was no easy feat. “Because the whole hull was painted in metallic it had to be done in one shoot,” says project manager Joppe Osté. “It took 12 painters to spray in one huge tent all around under very high pressure. All loose parts (balcony door, bulwark doors, hatches) had to be hung in place already and sprayed as well to avoid any difference in the metallic effect and pattern.”
The first example of this “fine line” is the Amels 60 Come Together, which was delivered earlier this year and made her debut at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show. With a metallic pebble-grey hull and distinctive lines that incorporate geometrically shaped windows, she ticks the box of standing out in Port Hercule, but the changes were driven by practicalities. “The exterior design had more to do with the layout and facilities on board,” says Øino. “What has changed since those boats were designed 15 years ago is that people expect bigger windows, better views, bringing the outside in and better-protected outside areas.”
Another factor that drove the design was an industry-wide move to a more sustainable future and the introduction of Tier III regulations and the requirements for exhaust-mitigating solutions, such as selective catalytic reduction. The Amels 60 has hybrid power and propulsion technology inside an engine room that is larger than that of her predecessor, the 55-metre Amels 180, and she sports a vertical bow, which improves hull efficiency. “Of course, sustainability today is something considered seriously by most clients,” says Øino, who is a naval architect. “The vertical bow enables us to have a longer waterline, which means there is less resistance, and the yacht is more efficient.”
Come Together’s hybrid propulsion system runs off two main engines, with two shaft generators connected to the gearbox. “You can sail just under diesel with the main engines on, but you can also sail with the main engines off just on the generators, so you have less noise and lower vibrations,” explains Osté. “We have done about six to seven knots on just the generators alone.”
COURTESY OF AMELS
COURTESY OF AMELS
COURTESY OF AMELS
COURTESY OF AMELS
"It needs to look a bit different”: featuring exterior design by Espen Øino, the first Amels 60 made her debut at Monaco Yacht Show 2022.
The platform also features a battery bank under the swim platform. “That is not for propulsion, but for peak shaving. When you have a load fluctuation – for example, an air-conditioning unit is turned on – the battery bank kicks in to keep [power] consistent and prevent the other generator from having to kick in,” he explains.
Øino may be a new partner for Amels but a more familiar name, Winch Design, was chosen for the yacht’s interior. The British firm had worked with Come Together’s first owner on other projects - including 83-metre Limited Editions 272 Here Comes the Sun – so they had a clear vision of what he wanted to achieve.
“The original client likes natural finishes. He doesn’t like any gloss, he doesn’t like shiny metal. He doesn’t like anything grey, white or black, so every material has warmth to it,” explains Jim Dixon, director of yachts and aviation at Winch Design. As a result, the team set out to create a “contemporary, beachy, tactile interior” that utilises bleached oaks, open-grain veneers, brushed-bronze metals and woven linen fabrics.
The natural-tone materials are complemented by animal hides and a remarkable selection of stones and marbles. The designers were also inspired by Øino’s approach. “A lot of the details are geometric, which are taken from Espen Øino’s exterior,” says Winch’s Melanie Coleman, who was the project lead. “Angles have been subtly incorporated into furniture on the interior, with a signature chamfered detail appearing on credenzas, and have also been utilised to create a better flow in tight spaces.”
Cabins on the lower deck offer direct access to the beach club. “Guests can wake up and be by the water in seconds”
One of the areas on board that best embodies the artisanal, textural ethos is the yacht’s central staircase, where a “helix column” of American walnut twists between the decks. This impressive feature was inspired by Japanese joinery, with each of the four levels made of more than 100 slats that are joined together without glue or fixings.
“Every single piece is different,” says Coleman. “A highly skilled team in Austria spent months creating it.” Sitting alongside this masterpiece, the staircase’s back wall is made from carved walnut and the floor is laid with Botticino and Emperador dark marble with bronze inlays.
Despite the multiple textures and materials, repetition gives the yacht a sense of cohesion, which you slowly discover as you walk through. For example, the Golden Spider marble, which forms the centrepiece of the upper saloon lounge bar is also found in the dayhead in the beach club area, and a labyrinth pattern seen on the stairs’ hand-stitched leather handrail is repeated on door handles and a tabletop. “It’s a sophisticated puzzle,” says Coleman. “By working this way and repeating materials throughout the yacht, it creates a sense of continuity.”
“It's a sophisticated puzzle. By repeating material throughout the yacht, it creates a sense of continuity”
New owners snapped up Come Together just months before she was due to launch, but, thankfully, they only wanted limited design changes. The detailed but neutral nature of her interior has also made the yacht an instant hit on the charter market. “With its natural finishes and textures, the interior decor throughout is not only beautiful but very calming as well,” says Sioned Williams, charter manager at Y.CO, which handles the yacht’s charter business. The layout also has broad appeal, with a full-beam master cabin and VIP suite located on the main deck and four guest cabins on the lower deck that offer direct access to the beach club. “It’s a unique and practical feature,” says Ben Ritchie, of the Y.CO sales team. “Guests can wake up and be by the water in seconds.”
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
Come Together is not only the name of the yacht – it is also a key concept behind its interior design, creating an environment with a focus on relaxed family enjoyment. In the upper saloon lounge, sumptuous sofas create spaces for comfortable gatherings and there is also a bespoke games table created by Hull Studio and a Golden Spider marble bar (top left). The round storage cabinets give the impression of having pushed through the deck from the main saloon below
Øino says the layout reflects how guests use the yacht. “Most of the time on board you spend outdoors, and you’re coming and going because you’ve forgotten your sunglasses or your charger or whatever,” he says. “This very rapid connection is a real plus for me. Rather than having to go back up to the main deck to get to the stern platform to get on the tender, you can just walk out. It’s very convenient.”
The beach club has a sauna concealed behind frosted glass decorated with “dancing ladies” designed and drawn by Winch Design and created by Kepka Art, and space for gym equipment. It adjoins a sizeable swim platform.
One deck up, the owner’s suite also feels connected to the water thanks to a folding balcony on the starboard side. On Come Together, the owner’s choice was that his suite should incorporate an office and seating area and it has a distinctly masculine feel. “The original client liked generously proportioned furniture and interior detail, so everything was deliberately chunky and generous,” says Coleman. Textured leather hide on the ceiling and eel skin in the office were chosen for their cut textured appearance. The owner’s bathroom features Portoro marble, with a custom-designed hammered-bronze basin and antique brass fixtures.
WINCH DESIGNTextured leather hide on the ceiling helps to add warmth to the muted palette of the owner’s suite
WINCH DESIGNTextured leather hide on the ceiling helps to add warmth to the muted palette of the owner’s suite
In direct contrast to the owner’s suite, the VIP cabin, known on board as “madam’s cabin”, has a feminine feel. Above the bed sits artwork by contemporary American painter Tobias Tovera, who worked with Winch for this one-off commission. The television cabinet is adorned with abalone shell and the niches feature woven mother-of-pearl boards created by Nature Squared. Different stones define the four guest cabins: Calacatta Oro, Coral Stone, Petrified Wood and Palissandro Blue.
WINCH DESIGNThe VIP cabin, known on board as “madam’s cabin” is delicately feminine.
WINCH DESIGNThe VIP cabin, known on board as “madam’s cabin” is delicately feminine.
The same attention to detail and design language are evident in Come Together’s communal areas. “The whole spirit of the project is creating a space for relaxing and unwinding with family,” says Coleman. Entering the main saloon, your eye is drawn to a feature wall, which has been created using brushed, bleached oak. The seating area is positioned forward of a round table that sits on top of Botticino and Pulpis marble.
WINCH DESIGN Austrian fit-out specialist List GC implemented Winch’s interior design throughout guest and owner areas. The original owner’s preference was for natural, warm tones, with textures and pops of colour adding a sense of subtle luxury and cohesion. For example, the surface of the saloon’s dining table is made up of almost 100 veneer leaves
WINCH DESIGN Austrian fit-out specialist List GC implemented Winch’s interior design throughout guest and owner areas. The original owner’s preference was for natural, warm tones, with textures and pops of colour adding a sense of subtle luxury and cohesion. For example, the surface of the saloon’s dining table is made up of almost 100 veneer leaves
This table can also be extended to fit more guests and features a surface comprising nearly 100 individual veneer leaves, that had to be laid in one specific sequence. In a further nod to the cohesion Winch was seeking to create, four tall, round storage cabinets in the saloon seem to penetrate through the deck by reappearing in the upper saloon above. By comparison, the upper saloon has more of a playful air, with a Golden Spider marble bar, a bespoke games table created by Hull Studio, and a guitar as a nod to the Beatles song that shares the boat’s name.
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
COURTESY OF WINCH DESIGN
The owner’s suite’s generously proportioned furniture and burnished metal highlights combine to create a masculine-leaning environment. The four guest cabins (bottom middle) are distinguished by individual colour palettes. Textured accents, such as the hammered bronze basin in the bathroom (top left) and rounded corners on the furniture are also pleasurably tactile
This feeling of relaxed family fun extends to the yacht’s exterior spaces, where the area with the biggest wow factor is the sundeck, which can be configured according to each owner’s wishes. Here, alongside a spa pool and sunbathing area, is a big bar/outdoor kitchen and a vast dining table flanked by seating. The dining area can be shielded from the wind by a sliding-glass door forward, leaving the area protected on three sides.
“People want better-protected areas,” says Øino, “so this is something we tried to incorporate into the new design. We have proper windbreaks on the side and back end of the superstructure and a proper windbreak on the sundeck to stop wind coming over the bow. It means you have a big part of the sundeck that can be protected and therefore is more useable.”
“When you are on the aft deck looking down at the stern platform, you can really feel that you are together with people”
A final key area of modernisation that Øino wanted to achieve with the yacht was improving the connection between decks at the stern. “I was trying to make the stern of the vessel welcoming. The height difference between the stern platform and the main deck is quite low, so it kind of feels like one space,” he explains. “When you are on the aft deck looking down at the stern platform, you can really feel that you are together with people.” He says he particularly noticed the difference in a marina where two of the Limited Editions series were side by side.
More than 100 slats are joined together to form the helix structure of the dramatic central staircase (bottom). Carved wall panels add extra layers of texture (bottom left)
There is a greater connection between the main deck and the aft deck than in previous models. The natural tones of the interiors are repeated in the outdoor furnishings.
Clients have caught on. With six hulls of the Amels 60 already sold, it seems that the Amels triangular formula has struck gold once again. “It’s too soon to talk about legacy,” Øino says modestly, “but the initial reception couldn’t have been much better. I hope both the 60 and the 80 will have a good, long run.” It seems that this new pairing of Amels and Øino could turn out to be as magical as that of Lennon and McCartney.
Come Together is available for charter with Y.CO starting from $450,000 per week. She is also listed for sale with Y.CO and Christie Yachts asking €65,950,000.
First published in the December 2022 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.
Sliding glass doors provide extra wind protection
The upper saloon features a Golden Spider marble bar and a Hull Studio games table
The 9m limousine tender carried on her foredeck is unusually large for a yacht of this size
The owner’s suite features a folding balcony
The VIP cabin features abalone shell and mother-of-pearl in its decor
The guest cabins have direct access to the swim platform