Cruise Missile: Pershing 90 Page 2

The flashy paint job is head-turning, but so are the vertical hull windows for the master.More than a decade ago at one of my first boat shows in South Florida, I ran into a photographer who was fond of boasting about his latest trips. He’d say things like, “Oh, I just took a little trip over to such-and-such,” name-dropping some

By Diane Byrne

February 1, 2007

To enjoy a real starry sky aboard many opens, owners and guests would need to stretch out on a foredeck sunpad or an aft-deck one, or even gather around an aft seating area. Pershing has these and more: a veritable flying bridge, complete with chaise lounges and a full-beam sunpad (though the yacht’s radomes are positioned too close for my comfort just above head level). Pershing aptly refers to it as a “solarium.”

If your guests are more into Star Wars than star gazing, they can press a button in the saloon to raise the 42-inch plasma TV, but they’d be better off retiring to the media room, another of the 90’s innovative interior interpretations. Below decks forward of the helm, it’s equipped with another plasma television and a rockin’ sound system that puts the “Surround” in Surround Sound. (When I tried out the system aboard the first 90, the European version that debuted at the Monaco Yacht Show in 2005, I nearly blew my own socks off.) The media room alternately can serve as an office or a kids’ stateroom with a convertible settee, but my guess is that the majority of owners will keep it as is. It frees up the saloon for complete relaxation, and in the case where different people aboard have different cinematic tastes, no one will be fighting for the remote for the “best” TV.

They might just fight over the staterooms, however. While the twin cabin, with a Pullman, is a good size, quick-footed folks will make a run for the forepeak VIP stateroom. Even with a small settee, the room has so much more space than you’d expect to find on a yacht this size, due to its circular configuration. Also unexpected is how the bed seems to float: no under-mattress drawers, no wood base extending to the sole. A walk-in wardrobe handles clothes and the like instead. In addition, the head of the bed tilts up at the touch of a button to make nighttime reading more comfortable, a nice touch.

The piece de resistance below decks is the master, of course, complete with a “floating” king-size bed similar to the VIP’s, a leather sole, and three vertical windows, below which is positioned a desk (though most of the writing that’ll go on probably will be postcards saying “Wish you were here”). What appears to be a translucent wall divided into sections is actually the partition between the cabin and the en suite head. Slide back one section to enter the room, and you see a colorful sink basin made of methacrylate (think Lucite or Plexiglas). You’re not staring at an MSD. Nice touch.

While the 90 I saw was delivered in Florida just prior to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (where she made her world debut) last year, Pershing hopes to deliver future yachts in the Med, not far from its base in Italy, for a few reasons. “We can train the owner’s captain there, to help him gain confidence,” Antonelli says, since the craftsmen who build the yacht and are therefore intimately familiar with her workings can be close at hand. “If they have a small problem, it’s easier to fix there,” he adds. And, of course, “owners can enjoy a holiday onboard” before the yacht gets loaded onto the transport ship to come stateside.

Just be sure to enjoy another holiday on this side of the pond once she does get shipped. Might I suggest the Bahamas? You can tell your dock mates that you were able to visit practically the entire island chain before the ice even melted in your drink.

Pershing
(954) 618-0440