At 163 feet Casino Royale will be the largest yacht yet for Christensen Shipyards when she’s delivered this year. In terms of styling, she stands apart from previous launches, with vertical wrap-around windows in her pilothouse and high bulwarks carried aft to nearly amidships, where they blend into the deckhouse sides. And for her owner, speed buff and yacht enthusiast John Staluppi, she’s also a departure. Unlike most of the yachts he’s owned (a stable of hot performers that includes The World Is Not Enough, Octopussy, Golden Eye, and Moonraker), Casino Royale is designed for a modest 10-knot cruise speed and a 17-knot top speed.
Christensen’s Casino Royale
Not that the yacht won’t be a standout, with a distinctive, crisply defined profile accented by an array of elliptical ports in her hull sides; it makes her seem long, low, and poised for action. With an armada of toys that includes two Nautica tenders (one 24 feet and the other 15 feet) and four PWCs, she’ll be ready for action. But she’ll keep to herself acoustically, thanks to sound and vibration countermeasures engineered by Van Cappellen and Soundown.
At least five watertight bulkheads subdivide her lower deck spaces, which boast a full-beam VIP suite and four guest staterooms, each with en suite facilities. The master suite is forward on the main deck, replete with a double head and an adjoining office and study. Her staterooms are relatively modest for a yacht of this caliber, suggesting that her owner may place higher priority on public spaces. For example, much of her main deck is devoted to an enormous dining and entertainment area that opens onto an alfresco space. The same allocation of space is repeated on her upper deck, where a skylounge nearly as big as the saloon opens onto a second alfresco dining area. The flying bridge is devoted to outdoor leisure and relaxation, with a hot tub forward and sunpads aft linked by a seating area under the hardtop. At the sedate speeds that this yacht offers, Staluppi might spend more time en route than he’s accustomed to, but he’s likely to enjoy the trip a lot more.
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Specifications
- Boat Type: Megayacht (> 80′)
- LOA: 163’4″
- Draft: 7’9″
- Beam: 29’6″
- Weight: 848,000 lbs. (dry)
- Fuel Capacity: 15,000 gal.
- Water Capacity: 2,200 gal.
- Standard Power: 2/1
- Top Speed: 17 knots
- Cruise Speed: 10 knots
- Construction: foam-cored fiber glass with Kevlar and carbon fiber reinforcements
- Designed By: Christensen Shipyards
- Interior Design: Carol Williamson & Associates
This article originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
