Cantiere delle Marche and its 'explorer yachts' like no others

The Darwin 86 Explorer Yacht by Cantiere delle Marche (Image credit: Cantiere delle Marche)

‘We always feel a bit like the new kinds on the block, but we like that,’ says Vasco Buonpensiere, the co-founder and CEO of Ancona, Italy-based yacht builder Cantiere delle Marche, founded just 15 years ago in a market that privileges long heritage. ‘But with the recognition we’re now getting, we’re starting to at least be regarded as an established business.’

Maverick, a steel hulled, ice-reinforced Flexplorer 146

Indeed, Cantiere delle Marche has just scooped another Boat Design and Innovation Awards gong, to go alongside the other 21 awards it has already picked up. Why so? Because it’s doing what no other company in the super yacht sector is: building what it calls ‘explorer’ vessels, with hardened steel hulls, huge storage spaces and extremely long ranges. In essence, these yachts can go anywhere – across distant oceans, through ice fields, staying self-sufficient for months at a time.

Aboard Maverick, a Flexplorer 146 Explorer Yacht (44m)

‘When we launched it was a big bet, of course. But we could sense how the luxury world was changing after the financial crisis [of 2008],’ says Buonpensiere, who at the time worked in sales for the Ferretti Group and was fast growing tired of selling what he felt was little more than ‘real estate that coincidentally just happened to float.’

The main saloon aboard Maverick, a Flexplorer 146 Explorer Yacht (44m)

‘We could see the market shifting away from gin palaces – in part because then it felt socially irresponsible to have that kind of vessel, just flashy, for showing off in Monaco or St Tropez, and in part because a more “old money” culture didn’t want just another gizmo to add to their portfolio of toys,’ he adds. ‘There was a new demand for the kind of highly capable, highly seaworthy vessel that allowed owners to really get out there and experience things, especially for a younger, more adventurous clientele.’

Aurelia, a Flexplorer 130 with interiors by Francesco Paszkowski Design

Buonpensiere makes an analogy, explaining that this type of vessel was for the kind of client who leant more towards a vintage Land Rover than the latest Lamborghini, or favoured a Swiss Army knife over a Global chef’s blade. He concedes that there is still a kind of one-upmanship – both in having a yacht different to the standard billionaire’s floating hotel, and in having been able to go where that could not. ‘It’s being able to say you’ve gone through the Northwest Passage and have your peers say, “Oh wow!”,’ he offers. ‘The experience is not just another thing anyone [in that world] can buy, like another Patek Philippe.’

Onboard Aurelia, with interiors by Francesco Paszkowski Design

Such a utility and function-first vessel might not be for everyone, Buonpensiere concedes. When a designer asks if, for example, some interior pipe can be made smaller and hidden away, the typical answer is ‘no’, because a certain volume flow is required, and so is ease of access for repairs – perhaps hundreds of miles from a dry dock. ‘There’s a necessary change in the design grammar for the super-yacht market here,’ he adds. ‘It’s a question of explaining that since the client, and maybe their family, will be in very, very remote places, these kinds of [non-aesthetic] design and engineering decisions might not just save their trip but their lives.’

The idea of the explorer yacht itself is not new: Gianni Agnelli, the industrialist, man-about-town and Fiat heir, is said to have commissioned the first explorer-style yacht in the 1960s, but he was far ahead of his time and the concept did not catch on. Of Cantiere delle Marche’s four classes of vessel, its latest, the Flexplorer – of which so far three have been launched, with two under construction – is perhaps exemplary of how the design of such vessels has since moved on.

The Flexplorer is based loosely on the design of an oil rig supply vessels, with accommodation stacked towards the front of the vessel, leaving a huge multi-purpose open deck area to the rear. Out of this unfolds a 12ft carbon-fibre A-frame crane capable of launching large tender or submarine, and under which is a large flexible working space that, for example, might be used as a home-school area, or even co-op-opted for marine research.

‘It also happens to make for a fantastic chill-out space,’ Buonpensiere adds. Certainly, while the design of the company’s yachts is primarily about utility, this doesn’t mean they have to look like working vessels, ‘or tanks’, as he puts it. High-spec interiors are still typically by world-class companies such as Winch Design, Terence Disdale and Giorgio Cassetta. Some owners, after all, live aboard all year-round.

Buonpensiere says that the market for explorer yachts is growing at a pace commensurate with what he calls the ‘white yacht’ (ie, super luxe) kind. Cantiere delle Marche’s effective monopoly may not last, but at least it has a 15-year head start.

CantieredelleMarche.it, @CantieredelleMarche

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Josh Sims is a journalist contributing to the likes of The Times, Esquire and the BBC. He's the author of many books on style, including Retro Watches (Thames & Hudson).