On board the 57m Heesen yacht Santosha

What attracted them to this particular project was primarily the shallow draught, made possible by lighter aluminium construction. “We want to spend a fair amount of time in the Bahamas. And from what I’ve seen over the years, to really enjoy the Bahamas in the best way possible, you don’t want to have much more than about an eight-and-a-half-foot [2.6-metre] draught,” the owner says.

At half load, Santosha draws a foot less than that – she was tucked in close to Shroud Cay in the Exumas as we spoke. Her striking looks were also a draw. “The lines are magnificent,” the owner says. “Frank Laupman captured the balance beautifully.”

The head of Omega Architects is a long-time Heesen collaborator. He brought his signature sculptural style to Project Akira, beginning work on the design back in 2019. “You had to recognise it as a Heesen and it had to be different at the same time,” he says.

“I thought if I could change the look of the stern dramatically by making her concave, it could also help me to create good space on the platform”

A starting point was the high foredeck that hides two six-metre-plus tenders. Adding a Portuguese bridge to this area meant the superstructure had to be pushed aft and be relatively limited in size, Laupman says. This gives the exterior a certain lightness. The design’s edge comes from the near-vertical bow and aggressively forward raked bridge windows, while her elegance comes from a long, unbroken window line. Aft, she sports some surprising curves.

Unlike the exterior, the interior changed considerably after the owners joined the project. Harrison Eidsgaard originally envisioned it with a different vibe. “We were more penthouse suite-inspired with Akira; it was a bit more masculine,” says Richard Whitehouse, director of the British interior design studio.

As you enter the main saloon, twin sofas aft in navy are a delightful complement to the bright Bahamas blue water framed in the windows behind them

The owners were looking for something fresher and brighter. They also wanted to make some modifications beyond colours and materials. “They both are very clear-minded in terms of how they want things to be… with style, design and quality level,” Sanford says. “They really wanted it to be an extension of how they lived.” This meant turning the beach club into a gym, a significant rearrangement of the owners’ cabin and bathroom and alterations to the guest en suites.

“That all had to be worked out before the contract was signed,” says Peter Wilson, president of MCM, who represented the owners during the build and now manages the yacht. Revising the specification to align with the owners’ requirements was a process he describes as “intense”, as the wife exchanged a flurry of sketches with Heesen’s interior manager and Harrison Eidsgaard and Wilson made technical recommendations.

“It all had to happen quite quickly in order to get the contract signed to maintain the schedule,” Wilson says. The designers say the wife brought an “amazing eye” as well as a pragmatic sense of detail. “She’s done enough projects on her own that she absolutely understands the process and understands what we need to do our thing,” Whitehouse says.

“There’s a beautiful vista down to the dining room and the dining table with a massive starburst,” Whitehouse says. “That’s one of my favourite places on board. The full-height windows have no mullions so the expansive view is amazing. Then we created an amazing chandelier with Lasvit, a Czech glassmaker who is one of the best in the world, if not the best. And the beautiful artwork there finishes off and makes that entire space personal.”

Throughout the yacht, artwork curated by the wife is a colourful focal point in otherwise neutral spaces, particularly in the four lower-deck guest cabins and upper-deck VIP. The peaceful off-white background was deceptively difficult to pull off, Eidsgaard says. “There aren’t massive changes of materials, it’s much more subtle. It’s changes of textures, which is very difficult to achieve; it’s really tone on tone variations on the same colour.”

To this blank canvas, photography framed above each bed and accessories add a distinct pop of colour in each cabin. When the project moved from spec to owner-led, the owners’ main deck quarters were completely redesigned. This involved moving the bulkhead between the master cabin and the bathroom aft and rearranging the now larger en suite to accommodate more storage.

In this decadent room, warm lighting offsets the lavishly cool Calacatta marble that was personally chosen by the owners in Italy. The centrepiece is a plaster wall sculpture above the bathtub called Garden of Eden, which was hand-carved by DKT Artworks and cleverly conceals the mandatory escape hatch. The cabin itself is full-beam and keeps the focus on the views to port and starboard. “I love the fact that they didn’t over-furnish; you have space to breathe,” Eidsgaard says.

Another restful space is the upper saloon, which beckons one to watch television from the custom Parkway England sofa or have a drink at the sophisticated bar with textured front by DKT. Scoops in the bulwarks outside enlarge views from within and massive glass doors open to a circular dining table on the aft deck. Keeping in character, the decor is neutral here too, with colour introduced subtly on the baby blue bar top and in the artwork.

“The vision was something very calm and edited. It’s a soothing interior”

While sustainability wasn’t a key factor in the design, “practicality drove us towards products that ultimately ended up being much greener than other boats”, Eidsgaard says. Most of the “leather” on board is Majilite, produced without a host of bad stuff like PVCs, plasticisers, formaldehyde, lead or ozone-depleting chemicals.

The custom nylon carpets by Oliver Treutlein are recycled in a closed-loop process that captures all plastic ingredients when transforming the yarns into other rugs. And the Hakwood flooring meets rigorous sustainability standards and comes with certification from the Forest Stewardship Council.

The husband, who thoroughly enjoyed the build process, is now pivoting into owner mode. “Building and owning are two different things,” he points out. “I would say, thus far, it’s been an incredible pleasure. I’m working my way around the boat.

“The sky lounge is fantastic. It’s a wonderful place to sit and have coffee in the morning or a drink at night. We built a really incredible sundeck that has everything: dining, the sun area, a jacuzzi and a bar. And in lieu of a beach club, we built a great gym in the back that we use almost every morning. It’s just a wonderful space to work out while looking at the water.”

The owners are prioritising their enjoyment of Santosha before offering her for select charters. A boon to that programme will be the tenders. In addition to the two Ribeye RIBs stowed on the foredeck, a 14.2-metre Valhalla centre console follows Santosha in the Bahamas and Caribbean while a 13.6-metre Vanquish VQ45 will chase her in the Mediterranean this summer.

This will be her first Med season. Delivered just as the 2024 season ended, Santosha wasted no time crossing the Atlantic to Florida on her maiden voyage, which she did at 12.5 knots, showing the long-range efficiency of the hull form. The FDHF, patented by Van Oossanen Naval Architects, also excels in speed. Santosha’s 16-cylinder MTU 4000s give her an official top speed of 22 knots, though the captain reports that they can do 23.

Above the mains and generators is an SCR system that reduces NOx emissions to a negligible level and complies with the world’s most stringent emission control areas. The antifouling is also considerate to the sea. Instead of releasing poisonous biocides to control marine growth, Santosha has a Sonihull ultrasonic antifouling system that uses ultrasound to create small cavitation bubbles that stop barnacles and mussels from attaching.

Despite the large engines, Santosha is exceedingly quiet underway. Captain Gary Young, one of two rotational captains, says that he can’t hear if the engines are running from the bridge. “Even in the main saloon when you’re going quickly, it’s quiet and pretty vibration-free, and you’re right on top of those great big engines thumping away down below,” Wilson adds.

Heesen beat the contractual targets for noise and vibration on every count, he says, delivering low numbers like 40dBA in the owners’ cabin when the engines are at 1,300rpm. It’s in keeping with the calm feeling the interior exudes. The yacht’s name means contentment in Sanskrit. In yoga, it’s the practice of cultivating inner peace. It is perhaps a lofty goal for a first yacht, but considering this “starter” yacht’s many successes, we wouldn’t bet against it.

First published in the April 2025 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.