Oceanco released their latest 115-metre superyacht concept today on the opening of the Dubai International Boat Show. Conceived in collaboration with Lobanov Design Studio, BMT Nigel Gee and the interior designer Achille Salvagni, the exciting new design named Tuhura was unveiled by His Excellency Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, Vice President and Chairman of Dubai International Marine Club - Mina Seyahi, and Senior Advisor to the Dubai International Boat Show.
“Our Tuhura is a simple idea,” explains designer Igor Lobanov, “The thought was to take a natural shape similar to those seen in the earliest canoe-type craft and augment it multifold to a larger scale, using modern technology.”
Photo: Tom van Oossanen / SuperYacht Times
Photo: Tom van Oossanen / SuperYacht Times
Photo: Tom van Oossanen / SuperYacht TimesThe main inspiration for the interior design is East Asia and the Pacific islands. Achille Salvagni refers to the interior as a “brushed teak habitat” including thin reveals in gunmetal and natural bronze with tatami floors. “Tuhura is a megayacht conceived for a dynamic owner, nevertheless the timeless sense of peace and calmness are the main characteristics,” says Salvagni. “This softness and dynamicity are reflected in the humble elegance and sensuality of the primitive organic shapes echoed throughout.”
Tuhura’s hull and propulsion system have been developed in collaboration with BMT. The pure simplicity of the canoe form leads to a naturally efficient hull with low overall resistance, good seakeeping and excellent manoeuvrability. However, integrating a modern propulsion system in the canoe form presents a challenge and the team opted for a hybrid Azipod® CRP (contra-rotating) propulsion system from ABB. The development of this system was initially trialled in 2003 and it is currently being applied with success on commercial vessels. James Roy, Yacht Design Director at BMT, stated, “The hybrid CRP system is inherently efficient and perfectly suited to the canoe form, there is a synergy between the efficiency of the hull form, and that of the propulsion system, leading to a yacht which marries an evolutionary simple hull with an evolutionary advanced propulsion system.”
“This is a technically challenging and intriguing project,” says Dirk de Jong, Commercial Director at Oceanco. “It is 180-degrees different from our previous two yacht collaborations with Lobanov Design studio, the 86-metre launched in 2013 and the 110-metre Jubilee launched just last year. Yet Tuhura is still 100% Oceanco DNA.”