Software pioneer, yachtsman and astronaut
Along with adventures aboard his 71m, 2001-built Lurssen, Charles Simonyi has been to the International Space Station—twice. We spoke to him about his recent family-focused refit, his current favourite destination and seeing his yacht from space…

Charles Simonyi likes to explore. Along with adventures aboard his 71m, 2001-built Lurssen motor yacht Skat, Simonyi has been to the International Space Station—twice. Today, he runs his own software company and in his time off, goes on trips to quiet, remote parts of the world to relax with his wife and two young children.
Long before there was Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, Microsoft Office was the software everyone used for virtually everything. This article in Word— software which, when he ran Microsoft’s application software group, Charles Simonyi developed.
Today Simonyi is Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Intentional Software, is married and has two young children. And Skat, as he told The Superyacht Owner in a conversation this week, is like his second home.
“She really is a family boat,” Simonyi says. “We went into refit last year because we wanted to adjust a few things to make it easier for us with the children. When I had Skat designed and built I wasn’t married, so the design wasn’t really optimised for children. Now, I’ve given up my office beside our bedroom for a nursery and we’ve switched one of the guest rooms onto another child’s room. It works well for us now.”

He’s now completed a refit, which optimized the interior for his new family. “I gave up my private office for one of the baby’s rooms, so it’s next to our bedroom, and we reorganized one of the guest rooms to be another of the children’s rooms, and we opened up one of the walls to make a special entrance. We also refreshed the furniture and we’ve enjoyed the results.”
Skat spends much of her time in the Med, North Sea and the Caribbean. Simonyi has been spending time recently in the Exuma islands of the Bahamas, which he and his wife only truly discovered recently. “It’s an amazing part of the world, and it’s new to us. It’s very exclusive: it’s hard to get there. It’s super private, but it’s also incredibly clean and quiet, and the kids love it.”
Having been to the International Space Station twice, Simonyi can be classed as one of the great civilian adventurers. “It’s a wonderful perspective to have. We tried to see Skat from space, and though I didn’t manage it with my eyes, I did get a friend of mine who was flying later to get some very nice photos of her in Marseille using the 600mm lens. I’ve actually seen her on Google Earth!”
Read more from Charles Simonyi, in the back page 'Aft Deck' section of Issue 9 of The Superyacht Owner.

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