at Ease

Whether it’s a sprawling suburban mansion or a cramped city apartment, home is where we find comfort, a place we sleep and eat and go about our daily ministrations. It gives us refuge and a resting place and feels welcoming to our soul. To quote commonly used idioms, Home is where the heart is, the place we hang our hats—figuratively or otherwise. In the case of parttime Orange Beach residents Larry Sloan and Kim Gordon, those hats are sometimes splashed with salt water and the airborne remnants of fish guts, and that resting place isn’t always so restful—especially when the waters are choppy.

Captain Bill

Granted, the 76-ft Lazzara motor yacht named At Ease is hardly the couple’s actual home. But with the amount of time the sea loving south Alabamians spend aboard this luxurious vessel, At Ease could well be considered one of their homes away from home.

Complete with quartz countertops, sleek custom white cabinetry, warm teak flooring and almost every kitchen appliance one could think of, the galley overlooking the comfortably appointed salon is hardly sparse, boasting features that one would expect only in traditional homes. It’s amazing to contemplate the capabilities of this cooking space, to consider the fact that what’s on the menu might have been caught mere hours before, reeled in from the railings of the decks that gleam under the sunlight right outside the door.

Just to the side of all that galley glory is more formal dining in a beautifully designed space, a scant few steps away from the sumptuous seating of the main salon. This open concept area is truly something to behold, offering breathtaking views from its many windows that people willingly pay millions to behold from their land-bound abodes. The room is replete, offering everything imaginable to make time spent cooped up indoors anything but a drudgery, fully equipped with an entertainment system. It’s an area perfect for entertaining, for hosting candlelit dinner parties or raucous game day gatherings—and the perfect expression of Southern hospitality. “We have shared a lot of great times creating memories with friends and family on this boat,” says Sloan, who splits time between the homes that he and Brown own in Orange Beach and Naples, Florida.

With all the traveling they’ve done in At Ease since purchasing the 1997 model Lazarra in 2007, the couple would want a proper place to sleep and relax during their time aboard. They’ve taken their impressive machine to Naples as well as up the river, with upcoming plans for taking a trip all the way to the Ohio River and back down to New Orleans before coming back to Orange Beach; and when the day is done, they hardly crawl into the cramped confines of a standard fishing boat. “It’s such a comfortable place,” Gordon says. With such top-of-the-line amenities all throughout, comfort level could easily be sacrificed for fear of blemish, swapped out for the untouchable impressiveness of so much luxury; but space both inside and out needs to be sizeable, and comfort is a priority.

With that in mind, the quarters offer comfortable accommodations for the couple as well as their guests, boasting space, coziness, and class that could rival and even top that found in some luxury cruise ship cabins. Each of the sleeping areas––master, two VIP staterooms, and two crew cabins—have full ensuite bathrooms with granite countertops and enclosed showers. Whether drifting off to dreamland or waking to the seagull’s call, the rooms are inviting and restful.

The sparse living of a fisherman holds no water here, but neither does fussiness—an undeniable necessity in such a place where clothes streaked in brine and blood share equal play with freshly pressed designer label linen.

As the couple enjoy life “at ease,” the boat offers them respite from the stresses of everyday life, even as it bears a gentle reminder that the journey is far from over and that reeling it in isn’t always as simple as it looks.