Behind the lines of ISA's dynamic GT45

With long foredecks echoing the lines of a car bonnet and powerful arches that link the decks of the set-back superstructure, there is more than a hint of the Bentley Continental GT to these yachts. It is something that designer Enrico Gobbi explicitly acknowledges in the 45-metre.

“A typical sports coupé was for me one of the main sources of inspiration,” he says. “Looking at the yacht’s profile, there are some specific details that make it dynamic. The sleek arch and a slim, fin-shaped hardtop make the yacht seem in movement even when anchored.

Another automotive-inspired detail is the thin, almond shape of the hull openings, designed to provide a wide panoramic view from the two main areas on board: main deck saloon and master cabin.”

It has proven a canny approach, securing two buyers for the GT45 in quick succession. UV II (“U-V-two”) is the second in the series, its Australian owner clearly wooed by the automotive associations. He traded up from a 30-metre.

“He is passionate about exotic cars, so he liked the fact that the GT45 is inspired by sports car design,” says Eugenio Cannarsa of Fraser, who brokered the deal and helped manage the build process for the owner.

“After that, it wasn’t about the price, it was about the boat we could buy brand new with the shortest delivery. Timing was very important for him. He is a character with a young family – very energetic – so they really wanted the bigger boat as soon as possible to enjoy it.”

Cannarsa’s experience also came to bear on remodelling the sundeck. He knew that the owner would benefit from a forward-looking bar up top – something that was absent from the plans.

In order to do that, the circular table had to be moved to the centre of the deck and the sunbed pushed a little aft. The move has paid off handsomely. “Especially with a young family or guests, the adults can eat up top and stay up late without the noise going through the yacht,” says Cannarsa.

“On a 35-metre, you often have the dining and the lounge in the same place, with a lot of noise. The [sundeck] for them was a big plus.”

Gobbi’s design is clever because its careful indoor-outdoor focus allows key features of the boat to be used in different climates. The dining area on the upper deck is a case in point.

Focused on a round table for 10 guests, it is a circular space which can be entirely open or closed, depending on the climate and the inclinations of the diners.

Aft-facing glass doors covering an arc of nearly 180 degrees can slide back into invisible housing to connect this space to the exterior deck, or they close up to cocoon you inside. Either way, a circular skylight brings in natural light from the deck above.

The same kind of thought has gone into the main deck, where the saloon opens onto the exterior lounge area and pool through similar curved glass doors.

“The layout on board was studied to facilitate the seamless connection between indoor and outdoor areas, both visually and practically,” Gobbi explains. “The aft pool for example, the main protagonist of the main deck cockpit, is a major focal point that can be viewed directly from the saloon.”

Another feature that Gobbi has brought in from his experience of designing yachts up to 86 metres is the terrace area on the starboard side of the owner’s cabin – that and the way the owner’s suite connects to its own dedicated lounge area on the foredeck.

Up a few steps and out through a sliding glass hatch, and there are two built-in sofas waiting, slightly below the sight lines from the bridge and the sunbed area above. You’re quite close to the tender crane and ground tackle by this point, but it adds another dimension.

The beach club is the other key exterior area, and there’s a degree of flexibility to make of it what you wish. There is good depth to the fixed platform aft, which means plenty of room for a pair of loungers and matching occasional tables.

The raised transom door does good service as shade from the midday sun. But the flexibility is more about what happens inside the transom, where a glass ceiling panel allows dappled light to fall through from the pool above.

“Initially, there was a dayhead parallel to the beach club, behind the wall,” says Cannarsa. “But it was a bit too small, so we wanted to find a way to optimise the area in the hull and move the dayhead to the starboard side.

“Now the beach club can be a gym area with machinery, including two spinning machines and a Kinesis One wall trainer from Technogym.” The only compromise has been the loss of a dedicated store for dive equipment, which has made way for the dayhead.

If the owner made relatively few changes to the outside of the boat, he made virtually none to the interior.

“From Luca Dini’s proposal, we have changed nothing,” says Cannarsa. “That is super rare. The only thing they changed was the cushion covers. The owner really trusted the team around them.”

The configuration is relatively conventional: main saloon, galley, lobby and owner’s suite on the main deck, four guest cabins and the crew area on the lower deck; and the circular dining area and wheelhouse on the upper deck. Dini’s careful, restrained interior styling pulls it all together into a coherent, flowing space.

“Each deck boasts generously sized openable windows and a harmonious colour scheme of gold, sand and turquoise that defines the inner spaces,” he explains.

“Natural oak wood floors, with their irregular patterns, lend an airy feel throughout. Additionally, sections of light oak strips set against black lacquered wood bands have been seamlessly integrated into the walls and ceilings, enhancing the ambiance while preserving a sense of harmony throughout each area.”

The result is beautiful without overwhelming, interesting without showing off. The predominance of natural materials – notably wood – keeps the space warm, and Dini has also used various effects to increase the visual impact of key areas.

In the main saloon and again at the bottom of the white glow of the main staircase, for instance, there are striking backlit wall panels. A sheet of metal has been laser cut with triangles in a geometric formation, through which a diffused white light shines.

The motif is echoed underfoot by the irregular polygons that make up the pale oak flooring panels throughout the guest areas.

The purity and simplicity of these straight-sided forms is repeated in the oak ribbing of walls and deckheads, and again in the vertical struts of the privacy screen, which can slide out to line the curved glass walls of the upper dining area.

While the owner has specced a knee-trembling audio-visual set-up from Videoworks, the yacht itself is technically conservative with twin Caterpillar C32 engines rated at 1,300 horsepower each. This gives a top speed of 15.4 knots and an efficient cruising speed of 14 knots.

It may not be complex, but it is perfectly adapted to the owner’s needs, and the boat saw intensive use in the Mediterranean from the moment it was delivered in mid-July 2023.

“They loved it so much, they did nine weeks straight on the boat last summer,” says Cannarsa. “They cruised until almost September – from the Adriatic down to Sicily and up to Sardinia.”

The boat was due to head Down Under at press time, although the owner has so enjoyed yachting that he could be in the market for something bigger – in the 65-metre range.

“When you’re making billions, yachting just has to be fun,” says Cannarsa. “You can love your boat, but if you see another one...” The owner already has a custom Magazzu 45 chase boat with three Mercury Verado outboards. Perhaps it’s not surprising that a collector of sports cars might also collect boats.

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