Glass Yachts

I remember reading an article in Nautica magazine from the early nineties where a known in the field naval architect said an over whelming at the time to me declaration; that future boats will be made to a wide part of windows, glassed surfaces.  This in his opinion to have more contact with the water, and to give unobstructed views to the owner.

Fast forward to post new millennium and how true do those declarations sound. Window surfaces today are being more widely used with Azimut and Sunseeker actually being in logger heads to who makes the most window view areas on there yachts.  Although the latest Sunseeker 28 Metre launched earlier this year, has to have among the higher percentage of windows used on surface to length.  The Italians on the other hand should feel proud to have started an evolution of the wider use of glass surfaces since the nineties, and launching not only a trend but a must to modern looking European yachts.  Do you remember the Azimut 65 Pininfarina, designed by the famous automotive design house. I consider it among the first of this glass windows evolution, which was followed by the 78 Ultra, AZ 54 Cinquanta Quattro, and a couple years later in 1999 by the 68 Plus among the first to have large view windows in the midships owners cabin, and the 68S for introducing these but frame less in 2003.

What will the future bring?  As I see it more glass surfaces, and open able areas which also give more real contact with the sea.  Nothing wrong with these new solutions if done in safety, with regulation classes giving a high testing to the glassed areas, before certifying these to be used by yachts.  More so in the important eighty feet plus size, but also in smaller dimensions. 

As the saying says the sea has a soft belly, but also a hard head when he is in a bad mood.  So I hope these architects, and designers do a lot of research into the modern evolution with a high safety protocol in mind.