Superyacht Design Awards for 2012

                                                                                                

It was an incredible weekend. It began with a welcome cocktail at the luxury boutique Armaggan. This beautiful shop masterfully combines original comtemporary designs with traditional techniques to produce exclusive hand-made jewellery, objets d’art, naturally dyed textiles, leather goods and home textiles.

Armaggan is located in the heart of historic Istanbul, and this was an opportunity to enjoy the unique items that make up each of its exclusive hand-made collections. With canapés and cocktails on offer it was a wonderful to start the weekend.

The following evening was the big night, the evening of the Superyacht Design Awards for 2012. Held in the magnificent surrounding of the Ciragan Palace Kempinski, right on the shores of the historic Bosphorus, the venue could not have been more perfect.

The event began with drinks on one of the palace terraces overlooking the Savarona. Once Kemal Ataturk’s boat, this magnificent 136 metre yacht, the biggest in the world when it was first launched in 1931, stood shimmering in the setting sun. After some time spent mingling with the other guest the sound of traditional Turkish musicians called everyone to dinner.

Once the 700+ guests had finished eating what turned out to be a very traditional Turkish meal, the awards ceremony began. It started off with a spectacular show from the Fire Dancers of Anatolia, a highly rated dance group whose performance was exclusively choreographed for this particular even. Following their stunning performance, Natasha Kaplinsky presented the 16 Neptune Awards and five judges commendations. The most prestigious awards (of best Motor Yacht and best Sailing Yacht) went to Tango and Vertigo respectively. There was also a very special award, known as the Legacy Award, which was given to Neville Crichton for his amazing contributions to the industry, both as a very accomplished sailing-yacht racer and a key man in the development of New Zealand’s superyacht building industry.

After the awards ceremony the majority of the guests left the dining room and proceeded to yet another beautiful ballroom where they danced the night away. They were not surprisingly, briefly interrupted by a couple of very impressive belly dancers.

                                                                                                      

The following afternoon, the majority of guests met up again at the Ciragan Palace to board the Savarona for an early evening cruise up the Bosphorus. Although there were certainly some sore heads around, the mood very quickly picked up. The Savarona was commissioned by Emily Roebling Cadwallader, the granddaughter of John Roebling, the engineer who built the Brooklyn Bridge. Built at a cost of $4million at the Blohn & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany it was bought by the Turkish government and in March of 1938 became the presidential yacht of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Sadly Ataturk died a few months later and the Savarona did not sail again until after the Second World War when the Turkish navy used her as a training ship.
In 1989 a decision was made to scrap her. However Kahraman Sadikoglu managed to save her from the scrapheap and leased the yacht for 49years. He then began the arduous process of restoring her. But the restoration has been magnificent, and it gave us all an experience we will not forget for a long time.

Aviso would once again like to say a special thank you to our hosts Proteksan Turquoise for such a great weekend and a great event. We also want to thank Boat International for organising the ceremony, and all the sponsors, RMK Marine, Perini Navi and everyone else who made the weekend possible.

Thank you very much. Looking forward to seeing you again next year.