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A few months ago the
Midwestern couple who own Anjilis (AHN-zha-lee) flew from their
snowbound home to the Caribbean to enjoy their first extended trip aboard
their just-delivered 124-footer. When they boarded, the husband sat
down on the aft deck and remained there for quite a while, gazing out
at the water. A member of the six-person crew eventually came outside
to see if everything was all right.
“I love this
boat,” the husband said, still sitting in the chair and looking
out toward the horizon.
“But you haven’t
even gone inside yet,” the crew member replied, puzzled.
This anecdote underlines
just how pleased he and his wife—or, as he likes to say, “the
owner and her husband”—are with their yacht, built by New
Orleans-based Trinity Yachts. I spent about two hours talking with them,
along with Billy Smith, vice president of Trinity, several weeks ago,
and throughout the conversation they couldn’t keep from breaking
out in smiles. And understandably so: Anjilis is a deeply personal
yacht, reflecting their input into every aspect of engineering and design.
In fact, the husband says, “We discussed every inch of it,”
to which Smith adds, “We were always stunned at the level of involvement.”
The involvement actually
began a few years ago, when the couple began discussions with Trinity
and other yards (“We talked with everyone,” says the husband).
They outlined their desire for a truly custom yacht that would be exceptionally
quiet and “void of vibration” and chose Trinity because
“We were told, ‘Yes, we can do that,’” he explains.
Trinity accepted the
challenge because it has succeeded on each front in both the private-yacht
and commercial sectors. (Trinity’s roots are in commercial and
military construction.) In fact, it views each new project as an evolution.
As far as private yachts are concerned, the 177-foot Trinity-built Seahawk
(now Katharine), delivered in late 2001, inspired the owners
of Anjilis. Trinity measured about 70 decibels in the saloon
during sea trials for Seahawk (65 is normal conversation), exceptional
for a 71⁄2-foot-draft, 17-knot yacht with nearly 5,000 hp. With
the assistance of the renowned acoustical consulting firm Van Cappellen
Consultancy, Trinity brought the decibel levels onboard Anjilis
down to the mid-50s in the saloon at her 18-knot cruise, according to
the owners—neither through inexpensive nor lightweight means,
but that didn’t concern them.
Twin 1,800-hp MTUs,
in combination with a semidisplacement aluminum hull, permit that cruise
speed. The engine room itself obviously reflects a lot of the owners’
input, as it’s one of the largest ones I’ve seen for a yacht
this size—especially considering that there is also a workshop
and an engineer’s cabin in the lazarette. On the forward engine-room
bulkhead, there are clearly labeled panels to monitor everything from
tanks to the engines; in fact, there are LED readouts specifying both
the gallons remaining in fuel and water tanks, as well as the percentage
of capacity for each.
Even regarding “ordinary”
engineering matters such as piping and wiring, the owners and the captain,
Robert Hodge (who they speak quite highly of), were intimately involved.
“He’d [the husband] ask us questions no one ever asked before,”
Smith says, motioning toward him. While it was partially due to natural
curiosity, as the husband is an engineer by training, it was also done
to ensure everything would operate the way he and his wife wanted it to.
A close relationship developed, as the owners invited the foremen of the
piping department, electrical department, and other divisions to come
along on the delivery trip. In addition, the owners and Hodge periodically
e-mail the foremen with questions; the owners say they appreciate the
quick, direct replies, and according to Smith, the foremen enjoy the direct
feedback.
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