Smeralda's - Vain Interiors

smeraldasmeraldaand cream woven leather details, interspersed with brightscatter cushions. Leather wrapped handrails, occasionalglass details and high-gloss walnut panelling featurethroughout. A distinct change of mood is struck in the lowerdeckcompanionway, which features lacquered off-whitepanels with slabs of purple adding a contemporary look.Despite the emphasis on reducing weight, the use ofaluminium cores and veneers has allowed the designers togive all the furnishings and joinery a sense of opulence andsubstance – there is nothing thin or flimsy about the tactilesurfaces. Similarly, no effort has been spared in sound andvibration insulation, so that the sensation under way isexceptionally smooth and silent. When a helicopter landsand takes off from the foredeck, people indoors in the deckbelow the helipad are unaware anything has happened.Fuel-efficient fast passagemaking depends on maintaininggood averages, as demonstrated by Smeralda’s smallersisterships. ‘With Silver and Silver Zwei we had a sweet spotof about 22 knots,’ says Krass. ‘We would run the engines ata maximum of 1,600rpm and obviously backed off when theweather was rough. With that philosophy, we achieved 20knot averages on ocean passages of 12 days or more, with afuel consumption of less than 400 litres per hour.’This quest for efficiency is a personal thing, he insists. Hedoes not wish to prescribe how others should go about theirboating choices. Equally, he does not wish to have themarket determine what he produces. He created HanseaticMarine to develop the kind of yachts he wants. ‘I don’t askpeople how I should do this,’ he says. ‘I just do it. I don’twant to be nervous about what other people think.’At the same time, he has found ready buyers for Silver andSilver Zwei, both of which have gone on to deliver excellentservice to their new owners in more than 30,000 miles ofvoyaging. With a Smeralda sistership already underconstruction, an 82 metre design well advanced and a 100metre yacht in the concept stage, he clearly has faith in theconcept and is enjoying keeping Hanseatic fully occupied.He is closely involved in every aspect of the build and inachieving the quality standards on which he insists. ‘I enjoywhat I do and enjoy showing people what I do,’ he says. ‘Ifeel better being a boat builder than just being a yachtowner, so my kids can’t accuse me of just sitting around ona boat.’This sense of responsibility to future generations comesup more than once in Krass’s conversation. EF Schumacher,whom he quotes with approval, espoused a philosophy ofresponsible use of resources and sustainability. With a bigstake in the energy efficiency sector, Krass holds similarbeliefs and has applied this thinking to his superyachts.Without going to extremes, he has pursued a pragmatic butrigorous approach to achieving high performance longrangeocean voyaging with relative fuel economy.‘It is a matter of feeling better when you are on board if fuelconsumption is kept to an acceptable level. Even wealthypeople care about these things. And politically this isbecoming more important. Children are abig influence on our generation. They won’taccept us just wasting energy any more.’More oniPadThe owners’ upper deckapartment comprisesa huge bedroom, hisand hers bathrooms,study, sitting room andprivate deck www.boatinternational.comwww.boatinternational.com