Heart & Soul

Owner Eric Benson aboard Satori, whose design details have garnered multiple awards and a rapturous media reception.

Satori, the 50-metre semi-displacement motoryacht delivered by Heesen Yachts last May, was the recipient of not one but two World Yacht Trophies in Cannes, and the prestigious Prix du Design in Monaco. The awards are testament to her owner’s conviction, her designers’ creativity and the belief of her builders that the customer is (almost) always right.

I first met Eric Benson when, as European Editor of The Superyacht Report, I was invited to celebrate the christening of Satori in Monaco on the eve of the 2011 Grand Prix. Her American owner was an extremely gracious host during the party held on board, when Bernard d’Alessandri, Secretary General of the Yacht Club de Monaco, insisted he christen the yacht using the sabrage method of opening the champagne bottle with a sabre. But it was sometimes difficult to entice him away from Rémi Tessier as the pair discussed the final touches to the interior décor – a sure sign that he has been very involved in the design process. So I was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal email from Benson a few days later thanking me for my attendance; surprised because the pleasure had been all mine and because owners rarely – if ever – thank journalists for anything.

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The rapturous media reception that Satori has enjoyed is somewhat ironic when you consider that her owner was not initially in the market for a motoryacht at all.

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When we met a second time aboard Satori during the Monaco Yacht Show for this interview, I was again struck by his reserved yet relaxed manner. No doubt after 25 years in the steel and construction business Benson is a very shrewd entrepreneur and a demanding shipyard client, but you would not guess it from his friendly hospitality when aboard his yacht. The Italians have an apt word for it: disponibilità, which roughly translates into ‘willingness to please’. The only hint of what lies beneath this off-duty demeanour is the way he carefully weighs up questions before responding, and the sharp intelligence of his answers.

The rapturous media reception that Satori has enjoyed is somewhat ironic when you consider that her owner was not initially in the market for a motoryacht at all. In 2008, Benson was contemplating building a bigger boat with the intention of reducing his day-to-day business activities, but Heesen Yachts was not even on the shortlist of shipyards. Instead, he was more focused on a sailboat, and a Perini Navi in particular. All that changed during a late summer vacation in Croatia aboard his Pershing.

“We were cruising the Kornati island chain and, as we came into Korcula, there was a motoryacht at anchor there,” Benson recalled. “It was late in the afternoon on a beautiful day in September and she just caught my eye, so I asked my captain at the time what it was. We went over to take a closer look, and that’s when we saw the Heesen emblem.”

It was not quite a case of love at first sight, but Benson was sufficiently impressed to make a mental note to look up Heesen when he dropped by Monaco Yacht Show later the same month. His main reason for visiting the show was the Perini Navi sloop Salute (he would later charter the yacht in the Caribbean), but he also went aboard Heesen’s Galactica. 

“I was very struck by the craftsmanship, the quality of the stainless steel welding, the layout of the engine room and the attention to detail,” he said. “I thought they had put together a very good product and began thinking that a Heesen might be worth looking into.”

After the show, Benson opened discussions with Heesen concurrently with Perini. He also visited 44-metre Sibelle, launched in 2008 with an interior designed by Omega Architects/Michael Labazov, to research the Dutch builder further and talk with the yacht’s captain.

“He gave me the type of feedback that an owner wants to hear,” Benson added. “He was very happy with the boat and showed me some of the things he had done in conjunction with the yard, because he had also been the build captain.  When all was said and done, he had a very favourable opinion of Heesen. This is the kind of due diligence that you want to do as an owner.”

By the spring of 2009, Benson maintains the negotiations “could have gone either way”. The deciding factor was the timing with which Heesen was able to deliver the boat: just over two years (compared with nearly three for the Perini), which dovetailed nicely with his retirement plans.

I was intrigued by the fact that Benson was equally tempted by two very different kinds of vessel; sailboat owners tend to be a breed apart and some of them regard motoryachts with dislike or even contempt.

“I just like being around the water and love all kinds of boats, sail or power,” he countered. “But you’re right; there is sometimes a bias one way or the other, and often they don’t cross over. I appreciate sailing, but I also appreciate what a motoryacht has to offer in terms of convenience.”

This response begged the question of what he means exactly by “convenience”, and how he liked to use his own yacht. “One of the finer aspects of yachting – and not all owners appreciate this – is being moored stern-to,” he responded.  “When you have guests on board, they can easily go ashore and experience different places and cultures. It’s a simple step-on, step-off process because you’re not at anchor, so don’t have to constantly shuttle guests back and forth in a tender.  A yacht like Satori that’s 50m overall with a 9m beam can get into lots of places. Beyond that, it starts to get more difficult. I looked at some bigger boats too [Kismet was one such that he visited in Monaco], but I decided I really wanted something more manageable.”

Benson went on to explain that the size of his yacht also suits his preference for more intimate cruising, with perhaps two guest couples in addition to himself and his partner. He does not actually say it, but the implication is that three’s a crowd.

“It starts to get a little too crowded and more difficult to manage,” he remarked diplomatically. “If you have dinner reservations off the boat, or even sometimes on board, waiting for everyone to pull their things together can be a bit of a challenge. We had a fantastic time this summer, because we were set up to enjoy the boat with small groups of friends. I organised seven- to 12-day trips throughout the summer, and then a few days in between for some downtime for us. There’s something really captivating about spending time with close friends in foreign places, when you’re excited about visiting new destinations and finding great little restaurants. It was a fantastic way to kick off my retirement.”

“The sundeck is by far the most popular spot on the boat, even for those who don’t love the sun,” he continued. “The awnings up top provide a great area for really enjoying the outdoors, but not being in the direct sun. If it’s a beautiful night, we typically eat up there, under the stars, with a gentle breeze coming over the bow. I can count on one hand the number of times we had dinner inside over the course of the summer, and it was always weather-related. If I’m going to be on a boat, my preference is to be outdoors.”

No doubt Benson’s onboard preferences are conditioned by his informal, Californian lifestyle. But his comments seem to confirm that the interior dining areas of large yachts are rarely used. Indeed, one simple design feature aboard Satori is specifically designed to reduce the amount of real estate dedicated to the kind of formal dining typical of most superyachts, Benson explained.

“When I sat down with Rémi Tessier with the initial layout, we changed the main salon around quite a lot and came up with this concept for more of a lounge-type dining table that can be raised or lowered,” he said. “The idea was to provide a space where you can sit around and enjoy cocktails and conversation in a really relaxed and comfortable environment. You lower the table, and everybody just seems to relax. It’s amazing how it completely changes the atmosphere.”

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When Benson eventually entered into a contract with Heesen, he took over a build that had been started by another owner.

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When Benson eventually entered into a contract with Heesen, he took over a build that had been started by another owner. He also inherited the previous interior designer. With his business-related experience of designing homes, offices and other commercial properties, he had some very clear ideas of what he was looking for, but it soon became apparent that he was not getting what he wanted from the designer. He was already familiar with Tessier’s work from Salute, but in the meantime Perini had launched Riela, which also has a Tessier interior, so Benson arranged to visit the yacht accompanied by the French designer. The two men immediately saw eye to eye. 

“When I saw his passion for what he had done on Riela, I walked off the boat thinking, ‘This is going to cost me a lot of money but I’m going to change designers’. And I’m very happy that I did. I then went up to Paris and showed him my project. ‘I’ve got a challenge here,’ I said. ‘I’m already behind schedule and the yard needs some answers, but I don’t love the direction of this design.’ We just started brainstorming and he said, ‘I’ll tell you what, before we decide if we can work together, let me think about this. Come back and see me in three days’. So I went back and he had renderings of the master suite and main salon – and they’re pretty darn close to what we’re looking at today. It took us about 10 minutes to agree on a contract. We shook hands on it, and I stuck around in Paris for the next three weeks working with him to refine the design.”

Major changes such as these in mid-build are guaranteed to make the shipyard nervous, and Heesen was no exception. Sales Director Fabio Ermetto was receptive, but he felt it would impact further on the delivery date. “Initially, the yard was talking about an eight- or nine-month delay,” recalled Benson. ”I’m familiar with critical path scheduling through my business, and that time scale was unacceptable. Of course, we then started negotiating on the change orders, and it took us two or three weeks to come to what was a fair resolution for both of us. The original delivery date was planned for February 2011, and the yard committed to delivering the boat by the end of April, which I considered a very reasonable delay. I was happy; they were happy. And everything from that point started going very smoothly. I was also aware that the calibre of the interior was going to be different from the reference yacht that we had used in the contract, but as Rémi started delivering his drawings, they were thoroughly impressed by the quality and level of detail.”

A negative situation that could easily have deteriorated into stalemate – with a disgruntled owner on one side and an equally dissatisfied shipyard on the other – was instead resolved by negotiating a positive solution. The end result was a multiple award-winning yacht, but the key to achieving that final outcome was constructive dialogue. 

“I think dialogue is important in everything,” confirmed Benson. “It’s important in personal relationships; it’s important in business relationships; it’s important in building yachts. I’ve always run my business that way. I would much rather sit down face-to-face and try to understand the other person’s perspective, than get into letter-writing campaigns from lawyers. I may not always agree with them, but I certainly want to provide the opportunity for people to voice their concerns or address issues.”

I felt we were nearing the crux of our conversation and the key to why Benson had found his new build experience such a positive one. With admirable candour and good sense, he summed up the situation as he sees it.

“Whether it’s building yachts or building skyscrapers, we’re all in business for a reason, and that is to make money. As an owner, you don’t want to put a yard in an untenable position. They need to make a fair profit on their product, but you want to be charged a fair price. So if either yard or owner feels they are being taken advantage of, they have a right to voice their concerns. If you don’t have the experience, you may want a third person to assess the yard’s valuation of a change order, for instance. But I think having that open dialogue with the yard is really important for the project to progress. I changed the design, it became more complicated, and it cost me more money because it cost the yard more money. What we did was amicably resolve a question of cost and time assessment. I didn’t agree with the first numbers, so we negotiated. I think certain areas were completely unknown to them and they were unsure how much time it was going to take. But as an owner, if you just say, ‘Yes, do it’, you’ll probably end up paying more than you need to because any yard is going to be overly conservative when assessing the risk. So that dialogue between the owner and the yard is critical.”

A seemingly minor example of a late change order aboard Satori, but one that could happen with any yacht, concerned the custom Jacuzzi on the split-level sundeck. Although it had looked fine on paper, when Benson saw it at the yard he remarked that it was too tall.

“The yard’s immediate reaction was, ‘Well, it’s already been ordered and delivered’. And I said, ‘Yes, I know I’m going to have to pay for this, but it needs to be cut down’. We did cut it down and now I’m very happy with it. But as an owner – and again I would encourage other owners to do the same thing – if I hadn’t visited the yard, I wouldn’t have spotted it. It’s important to go around and kick the tyres, so to speak.”

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Benson has not shelved his plans for a sailboat entirely and hinted that one might be in the pipeline.

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Benson has not shelved his plans for a sailboat entirely and hinted that one might be in the pipeline. He also admitted to knocking around some ideas for another motoryacht. Undoubtedly, part of the reason he is considering doing it all again is because he so thoroughly enjoyed building, and then using, Satori. In fact, he was more than a little melancholy that the Monaco show marked the end of the Med season and it would soon be time to go ashore.

There is something satisfyingly contagious about an owner sharing his enthusiasm for yacht building and his obvious delight in the finished product – when you experience a frisson of the kind of excitement the owner must feel much more intensely. Benson’s parting remark meant that I came away from our encounter aboard Satori with a spring in my step. “If I can offer any advice to owners, it would be, ‘Get out and use your boat’. Especially if you’ve poured your heart and soul into building it.”


Satori cruises off the coast of Palma.

Heesen Yachts

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