Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2013 | Page 48

ON THE WATER

Orion and family reach
for the stars to build a
stunning superyacht
A £10million luxury superyacht,
created by Island-based designer
Orion Shuttleworth, along with his
father John and brother Sky, is being
recognised worldwide as one of the
finest vessels ever to be launched.
Not only is Adastra, a 42.5-metre
trimaran, arguably of the most
eye-catching superyachts, it is also
the most fuel efficient of its type in
the world. It uses just 17 litres of fuel
per hour at 10.5 knots giving her a
10,000 mile range. To put this into
perspective, the fuel burn is about
one-third of the fuel used by on a
conventional superyacht of similar
weight and one-seventh of the fuel
used by a conventional superyacht of
similar length.
Orion is based in Gurnard, father
John is in West Sussex, and Sky,
formally from Gurnard, is now living
in Western Australia. Their design
has picked up six prestigious awards,

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including ‘Newcomer of the Year’ and
‘Naval Architecture of the Year’ from
leading US magazine ShowBoats, as
well as Judges’ commendation for
Exterior Design and Styling.
Shuttleworth Design has also been
recognised with further awards as
'Most Innovative Company' at the
2012 China Shanghai Boat Show;
'Best Design' at the 2012 Asia Pacific
Boating Awards in Hong Kong and
'Most Innovative Design' at the 2013
World Superyacht Awards in Istanbul.
Orion said: “We are delighted with
this success and very grateful that
the international superyacht industry
has recognised the innovation in our
design. We are particularly pleased
to have won the 2013 ShowBoats
Design Award for Motor Yacht Naval
Architecture as we were up against a
field of 19 of the best superyachts in
the world today.”
Powered by a Catapillar engine

producing 1,150 horse-power, Adastra
has a top speed of 23.2 knots. John
explained: “Adastra could have a top
speed of over 32 knots, but on balance
we calculated that by keeping the top
speed at a maximum of 23.2 knots,
we could keep the engine weight on
Adastra to a very reasonable 1.2 tonnes
compared to the two engines on the
outrigger stabilised LDL monohull
weighing 15.6 tonn es. This approach
increases the efficiency considerably
throughout the speed range because
the boat is not carrying the extra
weight of large engines. A speed of 23
knots is still a very respectable speed
for a 40-metre superyacht.”
The luxurious superyacht, built
of lightweight carbon fibre, can
accommodate up to six crew and nine
passengers, and was commissioned by
a family based in Hong Kong.