Lady-in-Waiting Page 2

Good things come to those who wait, or so the saying goes. If that's the case, then the owners of Linda Lou should be reaping the rewards tenfold.It all started sometime in 2002—the husband half of the owners isn't quite sure of the exact date, you see, as by his own admission, he and the Lrssen team met "over a lot of time" to determine what size and style yacht he and his wife

By Mike Smith

May 1, 2007

Different tones, this time from birch and elm, have been introduced below decks, where just four guest staterooms ensure friends and family will be quite comfortable; if the owners invite a larger party onboard, the gym forward of the skylounge can convert to take the overflow and the day head just aft can serve as its en suite head. (The room has flush handles to prevent anyone using it as a gym from injuring him- or herself.)

Stephanie Bravin

Besides these sun lounges on the upper deck, Linda Lou features two fixed raised sunbeds that wrap around the side of the skylounge.

Even though the owners paid so much attention to the interior design and accommodations, they didn’t ignore crew areas or technical spaces. The husband explains that while the couple relied on Pfotenhauer and experts Pfotenhauer recommended, the team always presented their findings and suggestions to him and that “90 percent of the time I OK’d it.” One decision that should have other owners, captains, and project managers taking notes is the way the crew mess was executed. Not only does it rival the space in some yachts’ formal dining rooms, but there’s also abundant stowage beneath the seats here and in lockers—and inside those lockers, removable panels permit access to various technical components. Another good example is the laundry room (the size of a guest suite) forward of here. As Peter Lrssen, head of the shipyard, explains, the washers and dryers are outboard and forward, in the narrower portion of the room, rather than aft, which would take away valuable relaxing space back in the mess.

The same attention was paid to serving meals. A dumbwaiter goes up to the sundeck, but it begins on the main deck, not the lower deck, to preserve a tank level for technical equipment. And in a clever move, there’s not only an extra prep area in the pantry on the main deck, but also a closed-circuit camera to permit stews to monitor unobtrusively when the owners and their guests are finished with a course.

And they’re sure to enjoy many a course, as the owners buck the trend when it comes to usage. It’s a sad reality that most owners don’t use their megayachts that much. In fact, both industry studies and casual conversations I’ve had with owners and captains indicate that on average they only spend about six weeks a year onboard. By contrast the husband says, “We pretty much just live on our boats.” Note the plural. They split their time between Linda Lou and the 157-foot Lady Linda. “We don’t want our boats getting jealous,” he jokes. While other people escape to a house in the mountains or by the lake, he says, their boats give them “the opportunity to change the view and enjoy the surroundings.”

And they—and Linda Lou—have wasted no time in doing just that. When Lrssen handed over the yacht last September 12, she promptly headed across the Atlantic on her own bottom to her owners’ home in Florida, where she was christened on October 14. She’s been in warm waters ever since, with mostly Caribbean and Bahamian cruising on the agenda for the short term and the west coast of Mexico in the future.

It may have taken them longer to build the yacht than they and even the yard expected, but in this case, good things did come to those who waited. Not only did they end up with a yacht that suits their needs, but also they gained a lady eager to fulfill their every wish, just like the one in a royal court who attends to her mistress’ every need.

For more information on Lrssen, including contact information, click here.