Ngoni: World’s coolest yachts

Yachting World has been asking top sailors and marine industry gurus to choose the coolest and most innovative yachts of our times, and double gold medalist Shirley Robertson nominated Ngoni. Here’s the report:

“Build me a beast. Don’t build me a sheep in wolf’s clothing. This has to be an edgy and innovative weapon, fast and furious.” This owner’s brief is well known in the superyacht world: Ngoni was designer Ed Dubois’s final boat before he died in 2016.

“In so many ways Ngoni pushed Dubois and the builders, Royal Huisman, more than ever before,” say Shirley Robertson of the 58m (190ft) sloop with a displacement of nearly 400 tonnes and a 71m high mast.

Driven by an owner who was used to the performance of racing sailboats and had a keen eye for design, every element of this 58m yacht was meticulously considered; there could be no ‘over-engineering’, no ‘this will do’. The result is innovative, powerful, yet sleek and beautiful.

“I was fortunate to drive many of Ed’s designs on the superyacht circuit, and his race boat pedigree is evident from the first touch of the wheel on every one of them. But I look at Ngoni and can’t help but think Ed saved the best to last,” Shirley Robertson concludes.

For Yachting World’s list of cool boats, click here.