Damen Yachting has pulled the wraps off a brand new design from its Yacht Support range: the YS 53 series. The first from the series is already in-build at the Damen Yachting’s Antalya facility and is scheduled for delivery in 2023. 
Damen Yachting’s YS 53 in-build comes in at 53-metres in length with an interior volume of 499 GT. She sports a design penned in full by her builder Damen Yachting. The in-house design team has ensured that she’ll be a strong companion for an owner to have plenty of companions on his excursions. The YS 53 can be configured in numerous ways as she’s said to be able to carry between six and 16 guests, or up to 16 staff, not including the captain and crew. 
Damen Yachting designed her with performance efficiency and comfort heading the agenda. The in-house naval architects are said to have gone “back to the drawing board” to develop an entirely new hull, which was drawn in collaboration with the Damen Research Laboratory in the Netherlands.
“The YS 53 exterior design starts with a familiar functionality, but there is more than meets the eye,” says Wouter Kleijpoel, the Design Manager who led the team of Damen Yachting designers who created the concept. “It’s playful, muscular and emboldening, you believe anything is possible. I think it’s an exciting design.”In terms of performance, the YS 53 will sport twin Rolls-Royce MTU engines powerful enough to generate a top speed of 19 knots. Notably, the YS 53 will be fully IMO Tier III compliant, so she should reduce harmful emissions by 70 percent for full-range operations. 
Damen Yachting has had pen to paper for two years, scrubbing up the YS 53’s design and development – and now the steel has been cut in Antalya. The YS 53 will replace the original Yacht Support YS 5009, which debuted in 2009, and which is based on workboat platforms from Damen’s commercial division. Damen Yachting has sold close to 20 support vessels, but the new YS 53 marks a new trajectory, as Rob Luijendijk, Director Sales and Product Management, explains:
“Over the last decade we’ve helped Owners to realise an amazing variety of very challenging dreams,” Rob says. “Each dream requires an innovative solution for something that has never been done before. So we have a very experienced team and a deep understanding of how to support our clients. We realised that our new series needed to be both highly flexible and customisable, but also designed from scratch for the yachting market. That’s how the YS 53 began.”