In 1994 the yachting community had a wake-up call in the shape of Turkey's very first superyacht, Turquoise. This magnificent 50m (164 ft) luxury yacht with the pedigree of naval architecture by Dubois Naval Architects and an interior by Donald Starkey is still a very stylish, timeless yacht, sailing under the name of La Naturalle Dee some 17 years later.
The catalyst that launched a new shipyard
When the first Turquoise was launched the yachting press had an exciting new story to tell. With little expectation of the build and fit-out quality the experienced yachting journalists found a truly remarkable superyacht to grace their pages. Turquoise placed Turkey firmly in the luxury superyacht builder league.
Bigger things were to come with the formation of the successful Proteksan-Turquoise Yachts which was established by two leaders of Turkish Boat building Industry; Proteksan Yachts Inc. and Turquoise Yacht Construction. The yard was established in 1997 to start building the 50 meter M/Y Mosaique. Following the success of Mosaique, 13 other mega yachts, ranging from 40 to 58 meters have been delivered to their owners. The two new facilities jointly will allow Proteksan Turquoise to reach a capacity to deliver three superyachts a year.
With 2011 seeing three new launches and a planned yacht at this year’s Monaco Yacht Show, it is behind the scenes at the design office that the future can be seen with several new and exciting new yacht designs which will be announced soon.
Turquoise ready to take centre stage
Over the next few weeks Turquoise will have completed her sea trials and received the final touches to her interior fit-out, ready to face the cameras before she enters service as one of the most sought after charter yachts in the modern fleet.
The specifications here establishes her fine pedigree and the first trials images will give a glimpse of her sleek modern lines from Ed Dubois of Dubois Navel Architects (UK) who were also responsible for the naval architecture. Her striking luxury interior was achieved by collaboration between HOK Design (US) and Suntay Design (Turkey). Unusually low noise levels were achieved throughout with advice from Silent Line of Istanbul who developed special structural design and the use of special materials to achieve outstanding results.
Turquoise is designed for safe, comfortable and elegant cruising offering a worldwide range in excess of 5,000 nautical miles.
Proteksan-Turquoise
+90 216 474-2590
[email protected]
www.proteksan-turquoise.com