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Style-wise,
the curvaceous, Italian-designed flying bridge motoryacht is the trendsetter
these days. Drop by any marina in the country and you’ll likely
encounter several midrange motoryachts—and probably a few mondo
motoryachts—that derive their appearance and panache from the famous
Italian flair for fabulous fashion.
What
makes great styling work, of course, is the stylist’s ability to
maximize style while engendering a smidgen of practicality. The extra
visibility afforded by the familiar double-eye-shape side windows on most
modern Italianate motoryachts is a good example of this, and so are the
cockpit shade their elongated boat decks offer and the convenience of
their lower helm stations, which are functional yet seamlessly blend with
highly finished European decors.
The
Italian-built Aicon 56 perfectly reflects this style. Not only has Italian
designer Fulvio di Simoni taken the exterior layout of this creamily gelcoated,
three-stateroom, three-head motoryacht well beyond contemporary thinking,
he’s also incorporated a level of practicality that’s sure
to give competitors a run for their money, both stateside and in Europe.
How
did di Simoni do it? He simply moved the steering station on the flying
bridge astern a half-dozen feet or so, which admittedly cuts lounge space
on the boat deck but also frees up enough space below to create standing
headroom at the lower helm, as well as to allow the installation of unusually
large windshield panels. Is this important? I can’t tell you how
many times I’ve slammed my noggin’ on the overhead of an Italian-style
cruiser’s lower helm station, then had to squint through its impossibly
narrow, overly raked windshield.
There’s
another advantage to di Simoni’s new take on the modern flying bridge
configuration, although it requires some prefatory explanation. I guess
because I’m generally a pretty lucky fellow, I wound up having to
dock the 56 several times stern-first in a variety of slips at Miami’s
Miamarina on test day, both before and after our sea trials on Biscayne
Bay. I used the steering station topside for this pleasant little chore,
of course, although given the excellent visibility through the broad,
sliding-glass door at the back of the saloon, I could have used the lower
station just as easily. At any rate, handling the boat from the flying
bridge for such a lengthy time eventually precipitated a revelation: Visibility
aft was absolutely great! By simply facing toward the stern while standing
to starboard of the engine controls—slick, fingertip-clickin’
ZF Mathers electronic models, by the way—I could look straight down
the cockpit stairwell and eyeball both the transom and the dock while
backing down.
The
fact that this so shocked my tender sensibilities during my test segues
perfectly into a closely related bone I have to pick with most manufacturers
of midrange, flying-bridge motoryachts these days, all with upper steering
stations situated way forward of di Simoni’s. Do you understand
how challenging it is for the average gal or guy to back one of these
babies up when the stern’s impossible to see? Or the swim platform’s
impossible to see? Or the dock? Or the line handlers?
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Aicon 56 continued > Page 1, 2,
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