Lunch with Christina Lotter and Patrik von Sydow
We chat with the president and owner of Danish Yachts about the technological achievements of the visionary yard that's pioneered over a decade of construction in carbon fibre…
Looking north from the peninsula at the tip of Jutland Denmark, one sees the confluence of the North and Baltic Seas known locally as Skagerrak and the Kattegat.
It is here, in the village of Skagen, where one finds Danish Yachts, one of the most technically accomplished shipyards working today. During the Monaco Yacht Show, I sat down with the owner of Danish Yachts, Christina Lotter and the company president, Patrik von Sydow to discuss the small but mighty company’s latest developments.
“The crossover we’re seeing in interest from our development of our full-carbon offshore Cat-SWATH boats and our yachting expertise is really exciting us right now, and we think with the new SWATH explorer concept, we could be opening up a new yachting category,” von Sydow said as we enjoyed lunch at The Superyacht Owner’s VIP lounge in Monaco.
He and Christina Lotter brought me up to date on the latest developments at the yard, which famously has delivered some of the most technically advanced superyachts afloat, including the carbon-built Shooting Star designed by Espen Øino and J-Class Ranger.
One thing that is setting Danish Yachts apart is their commitment to carbon manufacturing for ships and yachts, and their proven expertise in building not just carbon components, but entire carbon vessels.
“We’re members of E-Lass, a European network for lightweight applications at sea, which aims to promote the use of lightweight design in maritime industries,” Lotter said.
“Our offshore Cat-SWATHS are really impressing the clients, and we keep getting orders for more,” von Sydow said.
“But we are very passionate about our manufacturing expertise for yachting clients, which is why we’ve developed the new concepts you see here at the show,” Lotter continued.
The striking, angular SWATH superyacht concept model drew stares from intrigued passers-by at Danish Yachts’ stand during the show with it’s 50m by 17m scaled proportions—perhaps the most prominent example of out-of the box design thinking on display at the show.
The company is also promoting it’s all-carbon Quadra-deck model, designed by Dutch designer Cor D. Rover and featuring fold-down sundeck bulwarks which nearly double the area of the top deck.
“We talk to our commercial vessels clients about 20 year lifecycles and the volume of fuel they save with carbon fibre boats, as well as the maintenance costs they save because unlike GRP or aluminium, carbon is stable and doesn’t craze or crack,” von Sydow said.
“Jørgen Philip-Sørensen was a visionary and one of Scandinavia’s most successful entreprenneurs, and he had this love of the place, Skagen, and the idea of preserving its shipbuilding culture by marrying it advanced technologies,” von Sydow said, of Lotter’s father and founder of Danish Yachts.
“The price of carbon fibre has dropped by about 75 per cent since the late 1980s, and while it’s still more expensive than other composite fibres, we have been working with it for 13 years—we were the early adopters and we’re now reaping the success of that with our commercial work,” von Sydow said.
Danish also has a new flying-bridge version of their award-winning Shooting Star, which is now owned by an American client after a successful brokerage campaign from Danish’s US brokerage partners, Bradford Marine.
During the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Danish plan to reveal new renders of the SWATH explorer.
It is here, in the village of Skagen, where one finds Danish Yachts, one of the most technically accomplished shipyards working today. During the Monaco Yacht Show, I sat down with the owner of Danish Yachts, Christina Lotter and the company president, Patrik von Sydow to discuss the small but mighty company’s latest developments.
“The crossover we’re seeing in interest from our development of our full-carbon offshore Cat-SWATH boats and our yachting expertise is really exciting us right now, and we think with the new SWATH explorer concept, we could be opening up a new yachting category,” von Sydow said as we enjoyed lunch at The Superyacht Owner’s VIP lounge in Monaco.
He and Christina Lotter brought me up to date on the latest developments at the yard, which famously has delivered some of the most technically advanced superyachts afloat, including the carbon-built Shooting Star designed by Espen Øino and J-Class Ranger.
One thing that is setting Danish Yachts apart is their commitment to carbon manufacturing for ships and yachts, and their proven expertise in building not just carbon components, but entire carbon vessels.
“We’re members of E-Lass, a European network for lightweight applications at sea, which aims to promote the use of lightweight design in maritime industries,” Lotter said.
“Our offshore Cat-SWATHS are really impressing the clients, and we keep getting orders for more,” von Sydow said.
“But we are very passionate about our manufacturing expertise for yachting clients, which is why we’ve developed the new concepts you see here at the show,” Lotter continued.
The striking, angular SWATH superyacht concept model drew stares from intrigued passers-by at Danish Yachts’ stand during the show with it’s 50m by 17m scaled proportions—perhaps the most prominent example of out-of the box design thinking on display at the show.
The company is also promoting it’s all-carbon Quadra-deck model, designed by Dutch designer Cor D. Rover and featuring fold-down sundeck bulwarks which nearly double the area of the top deck.
“We talk to our commercial vessels clients about 20 year lifecycles and the volume of fuel they save with carbon fibre boats, as well as the maintenance costs they save because unlike GRP or aluminium, carbon is stable and doesn’t craze or crack,” von Sydow said.
“Jørgen Philip-Sørensen was a visionary and one of Scandinavia’s most successful entreprenneurs, and he had this love of the place, Skagen, and the idea of preserving its shipbuilding culture by marrying it advanced technologies,” von Sydow said, of Lotter’s father and founder of Danish Yachts.
“The price of carbon fibre has dropped by about 75 per cent since the late 1980s, and while it’s still more expensive than other composite fibres, we have been working with it for 13 years—we were the early adopters and we’re now reaping the success of that with our commercial work,” von Sydow said.
Danish also has a new flying-bridge version of their award-winning Shooting Star, which is now owned by an American client after a successful brokerage campaign from Danish’s US brokerage partners, Bradford Marine.
During the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Danish plan to reveal new renders of the SWATH explorer.
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