Due to the simple desire of its owner to travel and explore the globe with his family, Adastra was born. What’s great about this 140-foot-long yacht serve is that it does not only serve its purpose of providing comfortable and luxurious travel experiences, it also is stunning, beautiful, and environment-friendly.
Although most superyachts are designed to impress their guests and pamper their owners, the main objective of creating the Adastra is fuel economy. Through the efforts of visionary yacht designer John Shuttleworth, along with his sons Orion and Sky, the owner was able to achieve his desire. And, apart from that, Adastra has become one of the most unique and most gorgeous superyachts on the planet.
“It was a really simple design brief. The owner is an experienced offshore trimaran sailor who wanted to convert to power. We knew a trimaran with long, narrow, balanced, and highly efficient main hull can be fast, stable in a seaway, and most importantly, incredibly fuel efficient as well,” John explained.
Because Adastra is fuel efficient, its cruising range is increased. In addition to that, it also has the capability of cruising “nearly half way around the world” without the need to refuel.
When asked about the distinctive design, John humbly said, “The lines just came to me and we had a basic sketch of what the boat was going to look like after our first day”.
After having the basic idea about the appearance of the yacht, the Shuttleworths immediately conducted an extensive study, which included computer modeling of each element of the design, as well as tank testing. This was done to ensure fine engineering. Also, they did an extensive structural analysis on all the major components of the vessel so as to attain a light weight needed for a very low fuel consumption.
In making the yacht, light materials were needed. While fiberglass was used for the hull, strong carbon fibers were utilized for the deck. The classy yet comfortable interior is also made of lightweight fixtures made of oak veneers and honeycomb panels. The toilets, ladders, and the hatches were also custom-built out of carbon fiber just to save fuel and weight.
John pointed out how unique the yacht was. He said, “It’s not often that you get to have such a free hand as a designer. We had our simple brief. And we were incredibly disciplined to make sure every single design element had a specific purpose to improve the performance, stability, fuel economy, and overall comfort of the hull. But we also had open minds and incredible freedom to come up with the best solutions.”
“The fact that Adastra turned out to be a ‘game changer’ was really just a happy coincidence. Every aspect of this boat was owner focused. He came to us with a clear set of design parameters that encompassed some interesting elements, we came up with a design that performs beautifully and looks pretty cool too,” he added.
John isn’t the only person who thinks Adastra has a revolutionary design. In the video below, engineers and designers at Mazda were so impressed that they used it as an example of what they want in a car design.
See this video below: