Katya Delta Marine, an american thoroughbred

NEWS	PHOTOGALLERY

Highly advanced 3D design technologies and composite materials played a major role in the creation of Katya, the new yacht from Delta Marine. Founded by the Jones family, the company launched itself on the nautical stage in the early 1960s, powered by a passion for quality. The yard, based in Duwasmish River, Seattle, Washington, quickly earned a name for the solidity and exceptional quality of its fishing boats which were built to cope with the cold, stormy waters of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Not content to rest on its laurels, at some point in the 1980s Delta set itself the challenge of building the finest luxury yachts on the market. This daring move proved so successful that by the 1990s its entire production was devoted to megayachts.

Katya is, of course, just the latest example of the kind of superb quality Delta has achieved in the course of its long and honourable career. At 46 metres in length and 9.3 metres in the beam, Katya is the yard’s first full-displacement megayacht and is both Lloyd’s and MCA classed. She was designed by the Delta Design Group which not only styled the interior and exterior but also did all of the engineering.

Katya’s exterior features elements that link the various decks and which rake the entire superstructure. However, its most impressive feature is a practically one-piece window that wraps around the upper deck and enhances the light stance of the sun deck. Another striking element is a large bow window at the end of the main deck which provides light for the master suite. The owner, by the way, wanted a family boat that would be elegant yet as comfortable as a beach house (Katya has Zero Speed stabilisers, which ensure the latter). Designer Jean Claude Canestrelli worked with the Delta Design Group to create a craft in which large outdoor areas and warm, welcoming but never overwhelming interiors create a fascinating mix. The sun deck includes a bar with a central island under the roll bar, a position for a galley unit, a hot tub and numerous lounge chairs. The cockpit on the main deck and the terrace on the upper deck are all devoted to al fresco living and both have 10-seater tables, making them genuine al fresco dining rooms.

The interiors are dominated by a symphony of gorgeous mahoganies, including Khaya, a particularly sophisticated type. They are reminiscent, in fact, of the lovingly-crafted yachts of yesteryear in which every element wasn’t just functional but also superbly finished. The quality of the furnishings is wonderful both in the bar area and in the dining room where matching port and starboard crotch mahogany buffets feature Breccia Vendome stone inlays. The elegance continues in the owner’s suite where two large side windows offer views of the sea. Deluxe marble and onyx have been used not only in the master bathroom but also in the en suites in the four guest cabins on the lower deck. Apart from mahogany, onyx, in fact, is the most widely used material aboard Katya. Once again, though, it is there in a real palette of colours, ranging from green to white and even pink in the owner’s wife’s bathroom. The Delta yard’s virtuoso workmanship is in evidence once again in the foyer, while the steel and African mahogany stairs linking Katya’s decks provides yet another example of this megayacht’s very solid sophistication.

Emilio Martinelli