WINTER 2011
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Boat Tests > Ferretti > 470
Ferretti for action
The Italian Ferretti 470 feels right at home on Australian waters
WORDS: ALEXANDER GILLY
PHOTOS: NICK WOOD AND FERRETTI
Brigitte Bardot had one. So did Richard Burton. And now an Australian family have joined the ranks of Ferretti owners. On a hot, hazy day in late November, we stepped aboard the first Ferretti 470 to arrive in Australia. The yacht was docked at Jones Bay wharf in Pyrmont, in Sydney's inner Harbour, and the urban backdrop suited such an urbane yacht.
The 470 is now the famous Italian marque's entry-level model, having superseded the 460. Ferretti built almost 80 of the latter and is hoping to emulate that success with the 470. The company's marketing material says that the 470, launched at the Genoa boat show this year, "reinterprets" the 460?a euphemism, I think, for re-targeting. Everything about the 470 points towards the buyer that Ferretti has in mind: the young and privileged.
Yet for a young millionaire's boat (you'll need $1.49 million to buy this one), it lacks ostentation. It actually feels like a boat. The galley, for instance, has not marble tops but quartz-resin and teak counters; Instead of a vast screen dominating the saloon, there's a smallish TV perched discreetly on a sideboard. There's not a gold leaf in sight. Clearly, Ferretti have gauged the cultural mood, and with the witch-hunt going on over executive bonuses, have decided that ostentation is out and low-key is in.
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The design is the result of collaboration between Ferretti's in-house engineering division and Italian yacht-design heavyweight Studio Zuccon International Project. The collaboration's most immediately noticeable fruit is the light.
The design may be low-key, but one thing the designers have given the boat in abundance is light. I have never been on a 460, but the reps from JW Marine assured me the 470 has substantially more window space than its predecessor. When I stepped from the stern deck into the saloon, I didn't get the feeling of entering a giant cocoon, which is what many motor yachts feel like. On the 470, natural light streams down through the raked windshield, in through the side windows, and of course through the back, where the sliding doors open up to create an uninterrupted living area. It was a hazy day on Sydney Harbour, but we didn't need to turn on any of the boat's interior lights.
Another clue that Ferretti have the young in mind with this boat is the position of the galley?it's at the back of the saloon, and its benchtop gives onto the aft deck, so whoever's cooking can serve directly to family or friends lounging by the water. Australian builders have been putting the galley at the back for some time, but it's less common on luxury yachts built in Europe, since European buyers of this kind of boat tend to be older and more likely to have staff. Australians?even privileged ones, and especially young ones?tend to cook for themselves. They'll feel at home on the 470.
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WORDS: ALEXANDER GILLY
PHOTOS: NICK WOOD AND FERRETTI
Brigitte Bardot had one. So did Richard Burton. And now an Australian family have joined the ranks of Ferretti owners. On a hot, hazy day in late November, we stepped aboard the first Ferretti 470 to arrive in Australia. The yacht was docked at Jones Bay wharf in Pyrmont, in Sydney's inner Harbour, and the urban backdrop suited such an urbane yacht.
The 470 is now the famous Italian marque's entry-level model, having superseded the 460. Ferretti built almost 80 of the latter and is hoping to emulate that success with the 470. The company's marketing material says that the 470, launched at the Genoa boat show this year, "reinterprets" the 460?a euphemism, I think, for re-targeting. Everything about the 470 points towards the buyer that Ferretti has in mind: the young and privileged.
Yet for a young millionaire's boat (you'll need $1.49 million to buy this one), it lacks ostentation. It actually feels like a boat. The galley, for instance, has not marble tops but quartz-resin and teak counters; Instead of a vast screen dominating the saloon, there's a smallish TV perched discreetly on a sideboard. There's not a gold leaf in sight. Clearly, Ferretti have gauged the cultural mood, and with the witch-hunt going on over executive bonuses, have decided that ostentation is out and low-key is in.
read on below advertisement
The design is the result of collaboration between Ferretti's in-house engineering division and Italian yacht-design heavyweight Studio Zuccon International Project. The collaboration's most immediately noticeable fruit is the light.
The design may be low-key, but one thing the designers have given the boat in abundance is light. I have never been on a 460, but the reps from JW Marine assured me the 470 has substantially more window space than its predecessor. When I stepped from the stern deck into the saloon, I didn't get the feeling of entering a giant cocoon, which is what many motor yachts feel like. On the 470, natural light streams down through the raked windshield, in through the side windows, and of course through the back, where the sliding doors open up to create an uninterrupted living area. It was a hazy day on Sydney Harbour, but we didn't need to turn on any of the boat's interior lights.
Another clue that Ferretti have the young in mind with this boat is the position of the galley?it's at the back of the saloon, and its benchtop gives onto the aft deck, so whoever's cooking can serve directly to family or friends lounging by the water. Australian builders have been putting the galley at the back for some time, but it's less common on luxury yachts built in Europe, since European buyers of this kind of boat tend to be older and more likely to have staff. Australians?even privileged ones, and especially young ones?tend to cook for themselves. They'll feel at home on the 470.
next page »
« go back