Vitters

From top-notch racing to exclusive dockside soirees, this year's St. Barths Bucket lived up to expectations.

Classic yachts with substantial refits and modern features are seeing charter demand worldwide.

Behind the scenes with the chef of 180-foot Vitters S/Y Marie

92-foot S/Y Bequia wins Class B and Overall

AQUIJO, from Oceanco and Vitters Shipyard, raises the bar in so many ways.

Modern and sophisticated, Aquijo defines what a top-end sailing experience is all about. At 282 feet (86 meters) in length, Aquijo is the largest high performance ketch in the world.

Piet Brouwer completes work on Vitters S/Y MISSY

180-foot (33-meter) Vitters ketch Adele has completed an extensive refit by Huisfit, Royal Huisman Shipyard’s division for superyacht refit and repair.

Engineered by Pure Composite in New Zealand and designed by Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design, Missy was designed to fulfill the needs of performance cruising.

While sailing yachts comprise only a single-digit percentage of the superyacht market, some significant and extraordinary yachts have launched this past year. Here’s a sampling.

'Limo racing’ gets a low-key tune-up at the 2015 St. Barth’s Bucket.

Oceanco and Vitters Shipyard announced the launch of an 85-meter Tripp Design Luxury Sailing yacht.

Editor-at-Large Jill Bobrow sits down with 180-foot Vitters MARIE owner Dr. Ed Bosarge at the Fort Lauderdale boat show.

Designers and builders of sailing yachts greater than 100 feet (30.4 meters) are being tasked with creating vessels that not only are beautiful, comfortable and safe, but also achieve a high level of sailing performance. The proliferation of international superyacht regattas has upped the ante for owners who not only like their yachts luxurious, but also like to best their competition on the race course.

We came back from a tour of the Dutch shipyards, organized by the Dutch yachting association (part of a larger association promoting the Dutch marine industry, known as HISWA), with some positive news. Most (if not all) the Dutch shipyards have a number of big yachts currently under construction and the future looks bright.

The “sarissa” was a very long spear used in ancient Greek warfare: robust and efficient, it rushed along at lightning speed finding its mark...This is what Vitters’ 140-foot sloop Sarissa does.