On board Ocean King's first Ducale 120, Vãyus

It may not do justice to Ocean King to call it a newer shipyard because the brand is an offshoot of the well-established Cantieri Navali Chioggia (CNC) shipyard, founded over 35 years ago in a small, hard-working Italian town about an hour south of Venice.

After specialising in refit work on tugboats, supply vessels and commercial fishing boats up to 100 metres, in 2007 two of the shipyard’s partners, brothers Alberto and David Ballarin, decided to dive into yachting waters. They established Ocean King to put their experience and expertise to work building explorer yachts that combine true workboat looks and durability with all comforts. CNC, now called Adriatic Shipyard, continues with commercial shipping projects.

In 2012 Ocean King brought the Ocean King 88 to market, followed by the Ocean King 100. In the same time frame, the yard carried out the conversion of a commercial tug that became known as the expedition yacht Genesia (winner of Best Rebuild at the 2018 World Superyacht Awards).

With this auspicious beginning, Ocean King commissioned its core group of collaborators — Ginton Naval Architects, studio inNave for engineering and systems and VYD Studio for design — to create two new lines: the Doge and Ducale. A bit softer than the yard’s first explorer yachts, they retain masculine looks and robust seaworthiness. Vãyus is the first Ocean King Ducale 120.

“I love the pool,” the owner says. “We took a Mediterranean cruise that was a month and a half long, and it was perfect, even in navigation. I would sit right next to it when we were under way and never got splashed.”

Modular furnishings by Manutti on the large aft deck can be arranged according to need and, thanks to a combination of sliding and folding doors, the entire aft section of the main saloon can open onto the outdoor lounge and the side passages. The floors are carpet-free, with soft Alcantara used as ceiling lining to absorb sound.

Inside, light colours and interior furnishings are spare, to leave as much open space as possible and create a beach-house vibe. “One piece of furniture I could probably do away with entirely is the dining table in the main saloon; well no, scratch that,” the owner says. “I could do away with it as a dining table because we always ate outside, but I did enjoy seeing our three sons all sitting at it, working remotely. Let’s say it has been more useful as office space than for dining.”

Heading toward the owner’s cabin forward of the main deck, he points out the ceiling height and the doors’ robust thickness but it’s hard not to be distracted by the huge windows and the views beyond.

Predominant materials are white oak, steel and leather, and the large space is minimally furnished with a bed, night tables, a crystal desk, a chair and an LG NanoCell flatscreen TV with a Sonos soundbar. There is ample closet space, and the full-beam owners’ bathroom is fully lined in marble and divided into his and hers sides with a shared shower at the centre.

There are two more VIP cabins and two twins on the lower deck, all with en-suite baths and all finished with the same materials and to the same level of luxury as the rest of the yacht.

The large space is minimally furnished with a bed, night tables, a crystal desk, a chair and an LG NanoCell flatscreen TV

The upper deck has peapod-shaped couches by Royal Botania, a dining table under the overhang and a sky lounge that opens on three sides. Confirming its indoor/outdoor vocation, this space is furnished with a huge modular sofa by Manutti and is often used as an open-air cinema. From here you can walk around to the foredeck set-up with its two lateral C-shaped couches that can become sunpads.

The sundeck is the icing on the cake, with a Jacuzzi and sunpads, a bar and dining area under the hardtop and sun loungers facing aft. The owner confirms that Vãyus’s roughly 2,690 square feet of open deck space are the yacht’s focal point.

“We looked carefully at the furnishings and the details to make the yacht’s interiors personal with a coherent look throughout and I’m very proud of the result we have obtained, but in the end we found that we would spend practically the whole day outside,” he says.

Even the arrangement of the indoor spaces invites you to step outside. “In the morning it would be breakfast together by the pool, then some remote work followed by more pool time,” he says of a recent trip with the family. “Our evenings would begin with a cocktail on the sundeck, then we’d head down to the upper deck for dinner and maybe a movie, then down again to the main and lower decks to our cabins to sleep. But we were practically always outside, the whole day through.”

But looking only at the owner’s side experience of this steel and aluminium yacht wouldn’t do justice to its explorer roots. Vãyus is a ship at heart. “Our history is in commercial shipping and our intention was to transfer that knowledge to yachting,” Ballarin says.

“We like to build yachts like commercial vessels, ready for continuous use. Same power plants, same strong and safe machinery, same set-up, so that the chief engineer can do maintenance work aboard, in the engine room. Many shipyards build what they call explorers in fibreglass, aluminium or steel, with semi-planing or full displacement hulls. Our idea was to build small, sturdy ships with thick hulls, no plastic and no glue.”

Vãyus has lower deck accommodations for six crew, plus a captain’s cabin off the bridge on the upper deck. All crew passageways are on the port side for privacy — just one of the many features that give Vãyus its blend of shipping looks and yachting comforts.

Heavy-duty equipment, like the two MAN D2862 LE44X engines that are the powerhouse of the yacht’s shaft drive propulsion system, are well insulated and vibration is kept to a minimum by Vulkan ProFlex flexible couplings.

Robust and reliable systems run from five Böning touchscreens on the bridge ensure a maximum speed of 14 knots and a range of 7,500 nautical miles with the efficient management of the 13,208 gallons of fuel that the yacht can carry.

The engine room gives access to the side-opening tender garage, another custom feature added to the core project because the owner wanted a 6-metre Williams tender in addition to the stash of water toys. With its draft of less than 2.4 metres and 358 gross tonnes of volume, it gives owners the range of possibilities and freedom of movement that they’d get with a larger yacht.

“At Ocean King, I found some real, forward-looking entrepreneurs and together we got this excellent result. Look at the thickness of the steel plate, the way it’s soldered: this is an oceangoing yacht that will last for the rest of our lives and even beyond,” the owner says. “The process wasn’t easy and there were risks involved, but the shipyard already has two new orders in their Doge range, so this is only the beginning for them.” Since that conversation, the first Doge 400 began sea trials in May 2024.

Ballarin confirms that Adriatic Shipyard and Ocean King will continue to work in tandem in the future, combining commercial shipbuilding knowledge with creature comforts to produce true explorer yachts. And in Vãyus Ocean King’s Ducale 120 has already shown it can exert the kind of magnetic force able to put a scattered family back together.

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