Princess Yachts launches X95 – on Facebook

Princess Yachts has showcased its X95 on Facebook.

The X95 is not only a sea change for Princess, but also for the 100-foot segment of the superyacht world.

Princess’s goals for the X95 were an ‘open concept’ and supersized flybridge, so owners would have greater freedom for layout choices, increased living space and more amenities in a smaller hull, writes Julia Zaltzman for Robb Report.

“We pushed the design language forward on this design,” says Antony Sheriff, Princess chairman. “This was never going to be a traditional boat, but we asked ourselves how we could push it forward as a new design and still have it recognisable as a Princess.”

The Princess team, working with its longtime naval architect Bernard Olesinski and Italian design house Pininfarina, spent months working up the initial concept.

“We had everyone in the room during design reviews and that collaboration really stretched where we wanted to take the boat,” says Sheriff. “We also went into a level of detail that is standard in the auto industry, but not in the boating world.”

The details included making sure that exterior surfaces, like the arch on the flybridge, reflected light normally in all conditions.

“Details like that make a big difference,” says Sheriff. “If the surface reflected light oddly at sundown, for instance, it would make that part of the yacht look off.”

There were changes to the interior. An internal helm was removed so the helm on the top deck is the primary station.

“The midway helm works for some, but it positions quite a large cockpit on the main deck, often leaving a small technical space beneath the helm position,” Andy Lawrence, Princess’s director of design told Robb Report. “By deleting the lower helm, owners can now use the main deck without interruption.”

The long, unbroken space can be turned into a master suite, library, or cinema, or whatever. Lawrence says this “open concept” provides 80-foot-long views from the rear of the boat all the way through the salon, up to the bow. That sense of openness is the same as an urban loft.

The X-95 has the same interior volume as a 115-foot yacht. It reaches a top speed of 24 knots, but, at 10 knots, has a range of 2,000 miles. Its new hull design is said to offer 15 per cent increased efficiency while running.

Naval architect Olesinski’s wave-piercing bow “artificially extends the waterline length of the boat,” says Lawrence. “Combined with the shape of the hull, that’s what gives you the efficiency.”

Princess reports ten X95 models have been sold to different owners around the world.