This year the ceremony was hosted in the beautiful environment of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, hosted by Boat International on Saturday May 14th.
Sibelle was designed full custom by Omega Architects in close collaboration with AB Studio, naval Architecture by Van Oossanen Naval Architects and built at Heesen Yachts. Featuring a headturning exterior design with thought through soft curves and horizontal lines, added by an interior featuring the same soft shapes and curves. Emphasizing the gentle character of the yacht, offering comfortable and quiet traveling, with stunning low fuel consumption due to her FDHF hull.
Boat International mentioned the following on Sibelle:
‘While the finalists in this class were all within a couple of metres LOA, they were, perhaps, the most diverse of any of the motor yacht classes up for accolades as they displayed a particularly wide range of hull construction materials. These included all-steel, all-aluminium, steel and aluminium, steel and wood, and GRP and aluminium, as well as both solid and cored GRP.
But despite this diversity the judges soon homed in to Sibelle, a 49.9-metre Heesen motor yacht with avant garde exterior lines from Omega Architects. Her Fast Displacement Hull Form, designed by Van Oossanen Naval Architects, is claimed to provide good fuel economy as well as a higher top speed than can be achieved by traditional displacement hulls, while the pair of spray rails that wrap the bow have eased the issue of spray in plumb-bowed yachts.
In the judges’ eyes, these facts, combined with high-quality construction throughout and well-reasoned deck and interior areas, made Sibelle a worthy winner.’
We feel very honoured by these words and take this chance to congratulate her Owner and her captain, Heesen Yachts and AB Studio, as well as Van Oossanen Naval Architects.
For Sibelle, this is her third award, after the Invictus Award for Most Innovative Yachts 2015 and ShowBoats Design Award 2016.