Alpha Yachts Spritz 102
The third boat from a relative newcomer, the Spritz 102 from Alpha Yachts takes luxury to a whole new level.
It’s an age-old question: What length of boat constitutes a superyacht? I’ve struggled with it myself, especially over the last few years, as yachts seem to grow larger and larger by the minute. What I can say with absolute certainly is that the Spritz 102 from Turkish builder Alpha Yachts is most definitely a superyacht. It’s not the boat’s 102-foot LOA alone that acts as the qualifier but the attention to detail and the luxury this boat exudes from its racquetball court-size hydraulic swim platform to the bow lounge with room for eight or more.
A relative newcomer to the boatbuilding game, Alpha Yachts—owned by Jorge and Roberto Aboumrad—builds off of the brothers’ nearly three decades of experience as South American dealers of Azimut, Ferretti and Custom Line. While the 102 is only the third yacht to launch from their new facility in Istanbul, the sophistication I witnessed in a virtual walk-through indicates they have established hands guiding the ship. Indeed, the Aboumrad brothers tapped Giorgio Cassette Design to create both the interior and exterior spaces, and Laurent Giles as naval architect. One of the reasons the team at Laurent Giles was chosen for this project, says Roberto, was the fact that they leave nothing to chance; they ran the 102’s bottom through extensive tank testing simulations.
Repped by Merle Wood & Associates here in the states, the 102 features five staterooms, three crew cabins and more entertaining space than some 130-footers I’ve been aboard.
The photos tell more of the story, but the thing that jumped out at me was, again, the 26-foot swim platform that seems to break the laws of physics. Roberto says this space has been used for everything from tender storage to having a catch to enjoying a meal with toes in the water. Just forward of that is a wading pool/hot tub so you can enjoy the feeling of water between your toes at a temperature of your choosing.
Everywhere you look you see areas designed for socializing with a drink in hand. And to facilitate all those drinks (own this boat and you’ll likely make a lot of new friends), the 102 comes equipped with a commercial ice maker that can crank out 200-pounds of cubes a day. (Me and my Yeti have never felt so insecure!)
Power for the 102 is supplied via twin 1,100-hp Cats, which should, according to the builder, offer up a 14-knot top end and a 2,500-mile range when throttled down to 10 knots.
With superyachts like this one getting smaller and center consoles getting bigger, I’m just going to give up answering the superyacht-size question. From now on I’ll give an honest answer: You’ll know it when you see it.
