First look: Y Yachts’ Y Breeze – a 75ft daysailer? (sold with crew included!)
A brand new 75ft ‘luxury daysailer’ concept, the Y Breeze YB75, has been unveiled by Michael Schmidt’s Y-Yachts. Toby Hodges got an exclusive chat to the design team behind this radical luxury yacht
Y-Yachts has unveiled a fascinating new 75ft luxury daysailer concept, the Y Breeze.
Y-Yachts founder Michael Schmidt, the veteran racing sailor, industry pioneer and former Hanse Yachts owner, is known for his innovation, particularly with a focus on making yachts simple, fun and approachable. The YBreeze YB75 strips things back to that – right back.
The YB75 is designed to be ultra clean and easy to sail. The sale of each boat will even include a crewmember to ensure it’s always ready for that quick sunset sail.
“For the last 30 years the number of powerboats have been increasing. Now it’s time to go back to sailing – with something eco and cool,” Schmidt told us at the announcement of the YBreeze project in his Y-Yachts office and home in Palma, Mallorca.
Designed by Cossutti Yacht Design, with an interior described as exclusive luxury by Gabriel Chipperfield’s Studio Wendover, the YB75 is reminiscent of some of the iconic Wally Yachts. Indeed the high bulwarks echo that of the 43m Esense.
High bulwarks create a very clean aesthetic while allowing for a safe, protected, walk around deck on the YBreeze
These bulwarks serve both aesthetical and practical purposes. Schmidt wanted the looks so clean that even stanchions could be avoided. The bulwarks give the required safe height for a full walkaround deck.
Further aft these bulwarks help conceal the steering consoles when not in use. And then, towards the transom, we see a feature adopted by powerboats of late: the bulwarks fold out like wings to create a vast sunbathing deck. The YB75 will be the first sailing yacht to feature such a system.
As well as looking ultra clean, the aim of the YB75 is to offer the comfort of a comparable powerboat. So while the decks are devoid of lines and clutter, a galley unit can rise up from below the deck. And Y-Yachts is devising its own standalone removable sunbeds including gimballing versions for the aft deck. Removable or fixed biminis can also cover this area.
A glance at the accommodation plan will show there is no interior space in the aft third of the boat, but instead a large garage for toys and dive gear.
75ft of instant fun
Making the boat easy to use is so important when comparing to the power market, believes Schmidt (and he knows from his experience with Fjord motor yachts) – hence crew will be included in the price!
“Each boat we sell we’ll sell with a crewmember,” Schmidt explained. “So you can call and say ‘in one hour I want to go sailing’ and the boat will be ready.”
Y-Yachts is even studying fenders that can automatically deploy and inflate. “We’re trying to avoid the hassle of having to ‘prepare and de-prepare a sailboat,” said Schmidt.
“We saw people buying power but getting bored quickly,” commented Y-Yachts head of design Francesca Modica. “The challenge was to make such a dayboat a sail boat.”
The YBreeze is designed to be allow owners to get off the dock quickly for fun, simple sailing
The YB75 is designed to appeal to owners who have houses in the sailing playgrounds of Palma, Sardinia and St Tropez areas. An app will not only be used to control the boat but Schmidt envisages it allowing multiple owners to share a boat.
Why this size? I asked. “It’s the best way to show the sexy concept – 55ft is too small I think… it’s a toy not an explorer,” he replied.
The YB75 is the largest project yet for the Italian designers and ORC specialists Cossutti, who first discussed Schmidt’s latest brainchild with him in September last year. The sheerline is particularly clever: modern, bold and actually relatively straight it helps disguise the bulwarks and coachroof which extends so far forward.
After analysing the type of Med sailing location the prospective owner will use, typically the Balearics/Costa Smerelda/south France, Cossutti found that 90% of the time the wind averages around 10 knots. So they chose a narrow hull with a low wetted surface.
“The idea is to have fun without needing many people on board, hence the water ballast,” Maurizio Cossutti explained. A tonne of water ballast will offset the need for lots of weight in the keel or crew on the rail.
Cossutti calculates that the YB75 will be competitive with a Maxi 72, yet can be handled on a race track by a crew of six as opposed to a team typically three times that size.
In some senses the interior design is a revisit by Gabriel Chipperfield (of Wendover Studio) of the interior his father David did for Schmidt’s first yacht, Cool Breeze. It’s an adaptable space, and while there are berths the expectation is not that owners will spend many nights aboard, instead using it as a daysailer for fun cruising, racing and entertaining.
“We wanted people to go inside and stay inside, not be depressed by it,” Chipperfield said at the project’s unveiling. He has chosen light, sustainable or natural materials, such as leather, timber, rattan and straw. The timber will be surplus material from outfitters of mega yachts.
YBreeze sustainable build
Y-Yachts has placed a strong focus on sustainability for YBreeze. It has already incorporated electric drives in its boats, but Schmidt believes synthetic diesel would be better in terms of carbon footprint for the YB75.
Y-Yachts is also working with a Spanish firm on using their green epoxy which can reportedly be separated and burned after use. And the innovative yard has already spent 18 months investigating ways to avoid moulds with composite yacht manufacturing – stay tuned for more on that and this intriguing project as details are released.
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