Sybaris - the history of the ancient city in the Gulf of Taranto, located at the southernmost tip of Italy, inspired yacht owner Bill Duker so much that he named his 70-metre ketch after it. The inhabitants of the settlement, founded as a colony in 720 BC, were known for their lifestyle focussed on pleasure - the archetype, so to speak, of the pleasurable luxury life in abundance and without worries. "Viva la vida!" in its most original form.
For the New York software mogul and founder of a large law firm, the world turned upside down after a cancer diagnosis in 2009. "Suddenly I realised how finite life is and how important it is to enjoy every day to the full," says Duker during an extensive tour of his new sailing yacht, which he had been waiting four and a half years for.
Since then, I've tried to have as much fun as possible every day and realise all my dreams."
The disease has now been conquered, but Duker has remained true to his new lifestyle. With "Sybaris", a long-cherished dream became a reality. Together with his son West, he spent countless hours designing and planning their ultimate sailing yacht. As experienced owners of several formats (24-metre sailing yacht "Coconut", the 32-metre Ron Holland design "Shanakee" and the 52-metre Feadship "Rasselas"), the father-son team learned over the years which details on board are particularly important to them and which extras are dispensable. In Perini Navi, Duker finally found the right shipyard partner - the yacht builders with halls in Viareggio, La Spezia and Tuzla in Turkey are among the world market leaders in the increasingly difficult niche market of super yachts.
Every minute used for details
The design of the "Sybaris" exterior is largely based on the ideas of Bill and West Duker, who commissioned yacht designer Philippe Briand to optimise the hull lines developed by Perini Navi. "We really used every spare minute to get to grips with the details of 'Sybaris'," says West Duker. Bill Duker gave the American creative team led by Peter Hawrylewicz (PH Design) a largely free hand when designing the modern, minimalist interior in New York loft style. "We've been working together a lot for years and I trust Peter and his designers one hundred per cent - I can't turn down any of his ingenious suggestions, even if they are sometimes very expensive due to the exquisite choice of materials," says Duker with a laugh, patting the creative director on the back.
Every piece of furniture on board was made according to the designs of the Miami designers. "The dining table in the saloon is made of marble and weighs 1.7 tonnes," explains the shipyard's Sales Director, Burak Akgül. "We had to additionally reinforce the deck in this area." The shipyard saved weight elsewhere. "We used more titanium than any shipyard before," says Akgül. Almost all metal details in the interior and exterior as well as large parts of the thin ceiling panels are made of the shiny white metallic transition metal. "There are purely aesthetic reasons why we opted for so much titanium," reports Duker.
Peter presented his interior concept and I was delighted with the look. The combination of whitewashed oak, lots of leather and titanium immediately convinced me, so we had to build it that way."
Welding specialists in action for "Sybaris"
In order to be able to process the large quantities of titanium, Perini Navi hired welding specialists who are particularly good at working with this difficult material. "Incidentally, the best titanium welders are women," adds Akgül. The aluminium ketch with a displacement of 927 tonnes is the second-largest yacht in the company's history after the "Maltese Falcon" and, at 70 metres in length, is currently the largest yacht in the world. 9th place in the ranking of the largest sailing yachts in the world. The crew uses up to 3,045 square metres of 3DL sail laminate from North Sails on their 62 and 72 metre high carbon masts from Rondal.
A monitoring system constantly measures the loads in the carbon shrouds and stays supplied by Carbo-Link and sounds the alarm if critical values are reached. "For 'Sybaris', we developed the latest generation of our proven sail handling system in our newly established innovation centre," explains Head of Sales Akgül. There are two levers on the bridge and the flybridge helm, which are reminiscent of command transmitters and are responsible for synchronised control of the headsails. "When these sliders are pushed forwards, three motors are activated synchronously, which are responsible for automatically furling and unfurling the genoa sheets. Thanks to the new technology, 'Sybaris' can tack in less than 20 seconds," says Bill Duker, summarising the key points. The matching newly developed captive genoa winches work with loads of up to 35 tonnes and at line speeds of 75 metres per minute.
Rudder feedback system installed for precise steering
The righting moment of the aluminium ketch is provided by an 11.74 metre deep lift keel, which can be hydraulically retracted by 7.20 metres. In order to be able to steer the 970-tonner as precisely as possible, the owner had a complex rudder feedback system installed. Sensors measure the pressure on the rudder blade and transmit the data to the steering wheel via a motor so that the rudder pressure can be felt despite the hydraulic steering. "Thanks to the feedback system, the steering feels like conventional chain steering on much smaller yachts. The helmsman can react specifically to gusts as he can feel them immediately," says Burak Akgül, describing the technical finesse.
Owner Bill Duker also took an innovative approach to equipping the engine room. In addition to two MTU sixteen-cylinder engines, each with an output of 1,440 kilowatts, which are responsible for the main propulsion, the shipyard installed three generators with variable speed technology. These are responsible for supplying all hotel loads, the hydraulic sail systems and charging a lithium-polymer battery bank. "The batteries have an output of 136 kilowatts and enable us to operate the yacht for two to three hours in 'silent mode', without generator power and exhaust fumes. If the state of charge of the batteries falls below a critical level, the generators start automatically," says West Duker, explaining the energy system.
"Sybaris" appears in enormous dimensions
The room layout of "Sybaris" hardly differs from the tried-and-tested Perini Navi layouts, apart from the enormous dimensions. The 80 square metre owner's suite is located on the lower deck in front of the engine room and is said to be impressively quiet at 45 decibels, even under engine power, thanks to modern sound insulation measures. Up to ten guests can be accommodated in five suites in a 30-metre-long wing in front, while the bow area with galley, laundry, mess and cabins has been fitted out by the Italian yacht builders in accordance with LY3 regulations for a crew of ten. One of the most beautiful places on board is without question the 18 metre long flybridge, from where the sailing manoeuvres can be followed most comfortably.
Owner Bill Duker and his son West had originally planned to explore the world extensively with their 70-metre ketch and compete in the most important superyacht regattas during the voyage. However, the ship has now been sold and the new owner is King Mohamed VI of Morocco. He renamed the yacht "Badis".
Technical data
- Length over everything:70,00 m
- Waterline length: 62,70 m
- Width: 13,24 m
- Depth: 4,54/11,74 m
- Displacement (100 %): 927 t
- Gross tonnage:870 GT
- Material: Aluminium
- Motor: 2x MTU 16V 2000 M72
- Engine power: 2x 1,440 kW
- Speed (max.): 17.5 kn
- Range: 5,000 nm @ 12.5 kn
- Fuel: 73.000 l
- Water: 126.000 l
- Generator: 2x 120 kW, 1x 35 kW
- Batteries: 13x LIPO EST50-1050
- Poles & Trees: Rondal, Carbon
- sail area: 3,045 square metres
- Construction: Perini Navi, P. Briandwells 7 m Limo Carbon, 4.5 m Rescue Tender
- Construction: Perini Navi, P. Briand
- Interior design: PH Design
- Classification: ABS+A1+MCA LY3
- Shipyard: Perini Navi, Viareggio, 2016
