NAVIS Feb/Mar'22

In a thrilling event that is held each alternate calendar year, the highly anticipated and exacting Transat Jacques Vabre Ocean Race did not disappoint in 2021. Race winner Primordial crossed the finish line after 15 days, 13 hours, 27 minutes, and 14 seconds of intense competition.

Covering a route based upon the historic coffee trading route between France and Brazil, the 5800 miles double-handed offshore course departs from Le Havre, crosses the equator twice, taking monohulls and multihulls on two passages through the doldrums. This year, the race concludes for the first time in Fort-du-France Bay on the western coast of Martinique.

Mohammed Alshaali has always loved spending time on the water. Born to a sea captain father, he was raised on tales of adventurous trade voyages to exotic locations like East Africa. Steeped in that background, Alshaali and his young friends became inspired boat builders from an early age.

University trained in Management and Economics, Alshaali’s career earned him posts as an ambassador in Washington, at the UN, and in Geneva. As he rose in the ranks in his career, his heart remained focused on the sea. After purchasing a few boats and shipping them back to the UAE, Alshaali and his brother wondered if building their own yachts in their home country would prove successful. They did, and it was.

Traditions are carried forward, generation to generation, for multiple reasons. In the case of the Classic Bristol Channel pilot cutter, it is the traditional design that keeps it relevant. Born of necessity in the early 1800s for use in quickly ferrying maritime pilots to and from larger ships, it reliably performed in rumbling tides, punishing winds, and powerful currents with minimal crew.

The design evolved to near perfection by the early 1900s, peaking with Kindly Light, built for pilot Louis Alexander in 1911. The design proved fast and maneuverable, a working boat for working seamen that won all the most profitable races out to the great vessels full of trade goods. In those days, the first pilot to reach those vessels would win the task of piloting them into the channel, along with the monetary rewards for doing so. Alexander invested £500, twice the average pilot cutter price at the time, to build the boat. Kindly Light helped him earn £1,500 in its first year. That is truly money well spent.

Here we are, back in Marina di Carrara at the renowned expansive shipyards of The Italian Sea Group, one of the luxury yachting world’s leaders in design and refit. For some of us, it has certainly been a while, but here just half-hour north of Forte dei Marmi, it’s as if no beat has been skipped for this renowned brand. TISG is still on its pulse-raising unveil last summer of its recent collaboration with Automobili Lamborghini and its Tecnomar division: Tecnomar by Lamborghini 63. Anything that gets the press that excited is good for everyone. But as much of a commotion as that pairing of brands stirred, in the last half of 2021 came the delivery of the 3rd and 4th units of Tecnomar’s newly re-designed EVO120 series.

Rule breakers. Risk takers. Disruptors. All nonconformist outliers. Welcome to your new, post-opulence, minimalist vehicle, the Rolls-Royce 2022 Black Badge Ghost.
In the first iterations of Black Badge motor cars, the iconic Goodwood team led Wraith down the dark path, followed by Dawn and Cullinan. The conversion of Ghost, however, to a vehicle for the subversive, influential driver, remains the most advanced of all the Black Badge models. Rejecting every unnecessary distraction, it is the best merger of engineering’s version of Occam’s Razor with extreme purity in design. An edgy, urgent, responsive driving experience, it is streamlined for a new type of Rolls-Royce client: the iconoclast.

The Black Badge: Infinity and the Dark Side

After discovering Rolls-Royce owners were tasking outside experts to dim down the chrome and tone down the wheels on their vehicles, CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös responded with what some felt was a surprising embrace of this new culture. He commanded the creation of Black Badge style, aiming the branding at a younger, sportier, more engaged driver.

“Gold to Go” gold ingot vending machines? Check. World’s most expensive hotel? Check. Whatever indulgence floats your megayacht, there’s a good chance that the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi bears the gold standard for it. All that glistens isn’t gold, but even years after its debut, and a change in management, this icon of Emirati hospitality still maintains its crown even after many attempts by neighboring Dubai high-rise resorts like the Burj al Arab to wrest it away.