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IN THE

SPOTLIGHT

Jaron Ginton in the offices of Ginton Naval Architects in Haarlem in the Netherlands. This year the company celebrates its 20th anniversary and business is booming: “2021 was our best year ever”

A Happy Mediterranean Yacht The M55 saw Ginton Naval Architects team up with the Milan-based HotLab studio in what proved to be the Yildiz Gemi shipyard’s swansong. None the less, the owner liked the boat so much that he virtually started living on board by Mark Worden - ph. Courtesy of Ginton Naval Architects

The M55, 41-metre custom superyacht, for which Ginton provided the naval architecture, while the Italian studio Hot Lab handled the interior design

aron Ginton was 29 when he began studying naval architec-

Ginton, also “did a great job” on the M55: “it’s a really nice interior,

ture at the Higher Institute of Technology in Haarlem in the

a happy Mediterranean boat.”

Netherlands. Prior to that his resumé included serving as an

As for the yacht’s naval architecture, Ginton says that the M55,

officer in the Israeli navy, working as a charter captain and

which has Class RINA commercial unrestricted certification, a cru-

sailing between Israel and the Caribbean with his Dutch girlfriend,

ising speed of 13.5 kn and can house 12 guests and nine crew, is

who subsequently became his wife. He set up Ginton Naval Archi-

“actually quite a normal boat, with a steel hull and no revolutionary

tects in Haarlem in 2002. Since then, the studio has designed more

features”. The main challenge was to satisfy the needs of the owner,

than 70 boats and business is booming: “2021 was our best year

“a Mediterranean man who likes to sit both outside and inside”.

ever, in spite of the Covid pandemic. The market is crazy, although

This meant creating “a huge veranda behind the wheelhouse”, with

obviously it remains to be seen what effect the Russian embargo will

large sliding doors connecting the two areas. Not only that, the

have, as Russian owners are a huge part of the European market.”

owner didn’t want a flybridge, while “he wanted everything to be

One of the products of Ginton’s best year was the 41-metre custom

clean, so we put the tender, which is also the rescue boat, in the

superyacht M55, which was built at the Yildiz Gemi shipyard in I-

bow, under the hatch.” The owner also likes to tow an 11-metre

stanbul, Turkey. Unfortunately, 2021 was less wonderful for the yard,

speedboat, “although I didn’t ask him how he managed to do that

which went out of business. This was due to the bankruptcy of its

crossing the Atlantic!”

owners, Perini Navi, who sold the site to a gas producer that plans

Indeed, the owner and his multi-generational family spent a lot

to use it for other purposes. Ginton says that Yildiz Gemi completed

of time on the boat, in the Med in the summer and sailing to the

construction of the M55 and then ceased operations. As with 2019’s

Caribbean in winter. “He hardly ever chartered it, as he likes to

43-metre motoryacht Sunrise, which was also built at Yildiz Gemi,

spend time on board himself.” Surely, this is the ultimate accolade.

the interior design was by the Milan-based Hot Lab studio who says,