Introducing the youngest (currently) Princess in the Y Class line. What, how, why and why …
Thinking about the plan for the next issue of the magazine, we choose topics from a variety of current proposals from leading shipyards, trying not to miss new interesting models. In the last issue (MBY # 3/63, 2020) there was already an article about the Princess Y95, which will soon be presented and will become the flagship of the Princess Y line. However, there is another novelty in this series, which is already on the water. She is at the opposite end of the line: this is the younger model Princess Y78. However, the youngest does not mean small: more than twenty meters is a serious size.
Y style
Princess Y78 premiered in Southampton in the fall of 2019. Then the yacht was shown in Dusseldorf, where we had a chance to visit. And then a series of virtual yachting shows began in Europe and the USA, and there she also appeared. From the very first presentation of the Princess Y78, everyone noted the non-standard configuration of the hardtop with a characteristic line of its interface with the deck, as it turned out later, typical of all Y Class models (yachts longer than 70 feet with a flybridge get there). This hardtop is an option, and the yacht can be ordered without it, but then it looks less impressive or, speaking in the Princess’s native language, not so sexy. Without any eroticism: from English the word is translated as “interesting”, “attracting attention.” And they also talked about the original side glazing with a large window in the area of the master cabin and the “perforation” of the windows of other rooms.
The bow of the deck with a large sofa and “solarium” is designed like the sports Princess S78 and V78, which have the same hull (I will talk about this further). But the feed and flybridge are completely different layouts. Standing on a large aft platform with an electro-hydraulic lifting mechanism, you see a one-piece transom with a locker for fenders / mooring lines and a door leading to the crew quarters and further into the engine compartment. There is no tender garage, so there are three berths for the team, not one or two. The passage to the cockpit is organized along the sides, not in the middle; the cockpit itself, devoid of “sun worshipers tatami” (the V78 and S78 have them), is a pure “classic”: a U-shaped sofa along the transom with a teak table to which you can attach folding chairs, a small wet bar, a remote control post when mooring, huge sliding glass doors to the salon and steps to the flybridge. We went up there, while the audience was crowding in the salon.
Dossier Princess Y78
Length:
24.67 m
Width:
5.76 m
Draft:
1.72 m
Displacement:
54.1 t
Fuel supply:
2 × 3000 l
Water supply:
1350 l
Engines:
MAN V12 (2 × 1800 HP)
Generator:
22.5 kW
Cabins:
4 + 2 (crew)
Sleeping places:
8 + 3
Denis Novikov, Sales Director of Nordmarine – the official representative of Princess Yachts
The Y78 is an upgrade to the Y75 to bring all the yachts in the series to the same style. At the same time, on the Y78, keeping the same price, the shipyard raised the level of finishing. More teak is now available as standard – on decks and as individual elements. If earlier the yacht was made in one color, now there are contrasting accents. The Y78 has retained the virtues of the Y75 layout: a master stateroom with a separate entrance, a large saloon and a spacious flybridge.
Yes-ah, size matters … I’m talking about the upper deck. I have already seen some of the “must-have” items of equipment on the Princess S78: a helm station with seats on the flanks, a sofa with a table and a vetbar with an electric grill – so as not to run down to the galley once again. But here everything is somehow larger and more solid than on the Sportbridge, there was enough space even for a sunbed and a tender with a crane or sun loungers in return, and there was still. In short, the caption to the photo of this deck is ready: “What an open space!” Like Repin under his oil painting.
Vision angle
Examining the interior of the cabin, one cannot help but notice a bold design move. Usually, the situation is built according to a longitudinal-transverse scheme, but here the usual strict order is violated by elements standing at oblique angles. So, neither the letter “P” nor the letter “U” fits the shape of the sofa on the starboard side with dashingly deployed sidewalls. The plan view of the galley also features attractive geometric freedom, as does the eight-seat dining table with a glass top and a coffee table with an almost hemispherical base for storing anything. From whatever angle you look, each such design detail, large or small, has its own value and gives the interior individuality.
I will stay in the galley (by the way, it is well equipped). Yachting articles often discuss the benefits of having a galley at the junction of the saloon and cockpit, from where it is equally convenient to serve both areas. So, here the galley is in the middle of the cabin, behind the helm station, and I don’t see any difficulty in this. It can be insulated with panels, but I would not do that: I prefer the most open layout.
Now let’s look into the cabins. Princess Y78 has four of them. “Master” from side to side with a king size bed, sofa, dressing table and dressing room is placed in the middle of the building; there is a separate ladder from the salon. In the bow there is a block of guest cabins: a cabin on the port side with twin beds (can be moved), as well as a cabin on the starboard side and a bow (VIP) with double beds. Each of them has its own bathroom. I already mentioned the crew quarters: one of the two cabins can be used as a utility room.
When talking about a new yacht and following the principles of ubiquitous marketing, you probably shouldn’t use the expression “as always”. But I still say: Princess, AS ALWAYS, pleased with a variety of finishing materials. In addition to teak (there is a lot of it here), there is another tree: matte rovere oak, bleached or silver oak, walnut (something is optional). The countertops and floors of the bathrooms are made of solid materials, the working surface of the galley is granite or quartz; there is a wide selection of quality upholstery fabrics and leathers: I have seen them on the handrails in the salon.
Smart systems
Any yacht is a complex construction of different ship systems; the larger and more modern the ship, the more complex and “smarter” its systems, units and devices. I came to this “fundamental” idea, considering the engineering stuffing of the yacht. Yes, there is everything here. Reversible hydraulic anchor winch on foredeck and two electric winches for aft mooring lines. Bow thruster for 250 kgf. Optional 450 kg flybridge crane. Reversible air conditioning system in all living areas with a total capacity of 165,000 BTU (cooling / heating), even working in the tropics. Air heater with heating from a 200 liter engine. Telescopic gangway (4 m long) with remote control and folding handrail. I will say about the large diagonal of the UHD TV, DVD / Blu-ray and the Naim audio system as obvious …
I am sitting in a chair at the main helm, in the brain center of the yacht (this is what a ship owner I know calls this working area). What is there not here! Navigation system – two Raymarine MFDs, radar, VHF, echo sounder with warning system, autopilot; control of bilge pumps, anchor winch, transom plates (with indication); a set of engine condition instruments, including sensors for exceeding the temperature of the exhaust system and the presence of water in the fuel; an electric power steering wheel and a hydraulic backup system … And how did people walk the seas-oceans in the past centuries, and still did not miss their own pier?
What is the speed?
Sooner or later, such a question is asked by everyone who is interested in a new yacht. The Princess Y78 engine unit consists of two 1800 hp MAN V12 engines. from. with shafts and five-blade propellers. According to the shipyard, this power should accelerate the yacht to 34-36 knots. As a “platform”, the designers took the proven body of the Princess S78 (Sportbridge) and V78 (Sport) models. It has a usual inclined stem, without a bow bulb, like the Y95 or X95: in the advanced planing mode, it is superfluous. The bows are moderately sharp, providing both volume (capacity / buoyancy) and, if possible, shockless passage of the wave.
Estimates show that at maximum speed (2300 rpm) the cruising range will exceed 260 miles; at 25 knots it will be over 300 miles, and at 15 knots it will be over 400 miles (excluding the standard 10% fuel capacity). Not an explorer, of course, but a fair share. For comparison, I will say that the speed of Russian multipurpose corvettes does not exceed 30 knots, and for missile boats it is just over 40 knots – close to the performance of the Princess S78 and V78 (39 knots) with MAN V12-1900 engines.
The shipyard does not report anything about the seaworthiness of the Princess Y78, especially in the parameters of the EC RCD (Recreational Craft Directive): what does the British now care about the rules of the European Union! Indirectly, seaworthiness can be judged by the deadlift at the stern of 21 °, which helps to reduce overloads (one of the indicators). At the same time, judging by the European models of this type with similar displacement and the same engines, the yacht must correspond to the RCD category “A” (Ocean). And there is no doubt: Bernard Olesinski, the author of the contours and design, has been designing hulls for Princess Yachts since the time when, not just the requirements of the RCD, there were no EU itself. And seaworthy, fast and reliable Princess yachts have already sailed the seas of the planet. And they continue to do so today.
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Alexey Maximov
Chief Editor
What do you think?