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A 68-Metre Motor Yacht That Barely Needs an Engine
SAMY is a 68-metre Sail-Assisted Motor Yacht concept. Her development did not begin with a feature list or a certification to chase, but with the question any serious naval architect should ask: what is the most economical, intelligent propulsion solution for a vessel designed to spend serious time at sea?
Tony Castro has been designing yachts since the late 1970s, beginning in sailing yacht racing, a discipline that leaves no room for inefficiency. Five World Championships later, that pedigree shapes everything the studio takes on. "The sea is the most honest critic you will ever work with," he says, and SAMY was drawn to satisfy it, while providing the passengers with the best possible experience.
A RIG, AND A HULL DRAWN AROUND IT
A system of inflatable sails and retractable masts offered the greatest advantages: it preserves the exterior aesthetic, reduces windage, improves safety, and minimises deck equipment while delivering substantial power across nearly all wind ranges.
The yacht was designed from scratch around it: the interior accommodates the system, and the superstructure is shaped to house the booms with a full 360-degree rotation. The rig is not a layer added over a finished hull; the hull was drawn around the rig. That is the future design attitude we must have.
That integration pays off at sea. Where standard motor yachts burn vast quantities of fuel on transatlantic crossings, SAMY completes the same passage on dramatically less. For a typical Mediterranean-to-Caribbean round trip, savings are estimated at 33,000 litres. That allows for smaller fuel tanks or a longer cruising range. Solar energy capture and modern windmills are integrated directly into the superstructure rather than added as an afterthought, forming a coherent energy architecture across the whole platform. Such a direction is supported by the IMO Global Wind Statistics.
DESIGNED TO LAST
There is a dimension to a concept like this that rarely features in the conversation about green technology: time.
A yacht built to last fifty years or more has a fraction of the lifecycle footprint of one built to a fashion, however many solar panels it carries.
"We have yachts on the water that we designed in the 1980s. They are still sailing, still performing, still owned and loved. That continuity is a form of sustainability that no specification sheet captures, but it may be the most important kind." - Tony Castro
Over the last fifty years, we forgot that the motor/sailer typology is inherently versatile, not dependent on a single technology or fuel type. As propulsion options evolve over the coming decades, a yacht with a sail rig, an integrated solar and wind combination, and a well-engineered hull has options a pure motor yacht does not. And it delivers this with an interior volume and level of comfort that motor yacht owners expect.
SAMY is one argument for how a yacht of this scale and purpose should be conceived: drawn whole, around the way she is meant to move.
The future is a yacht that is agile and versatile, embracing the virtues of SAMY.
"Sustainability in naval architecture isn't something you bolt on. It's the result of choices made before the engine is even discussed: in the hull form, the weight budget, the typology of the vessel itself."
"Sustainability in naval architecture isn't something you bolt on. It's the result of choices made before the engine is even discussed: in the hull form, the weight budget, the typology of the vessel itself."
Tony Castro