Perfect weather for Miami Yacht Show

While Wednesday was quite blustery and rainy, the Miami Yacht Show opened to clear skies on Valentine’s Day, for a gorgeous weekend of luxury boats and sun. In its new location, crowds seemed smaller, although lines for Uber frustrated some commuting by car from the Miami Boat Show on Virginia Key to the Miami Yacht Show’s two locations on Watson Island and One Herald Plaza. There was no wait for water taxis.

Some prevailing themes stood out among the nearly 500 yachts in the brokerage show between the Venetian and Rickenbacker Causeways. One notices increasing amounts of glass onboard as an architectural feature, reshaping portholes as a whole new design element. In addition to beach clubs now being common on yachts over 60 feet, foldable balcony wings extending from master staterooms are seen on more vessels. Several hulls were a striking color similar to an aircraft carrier deck, a steel blue as on the Palm Beach GT 50, capable of 40 knots, with a pair of 600-hp Volvo IPS 800s.

Over at Island Gardens on Watson Island, Merle Wood & Associates represented some of the biggest superyachts at the show, including motoryachts Kismet, Excellence V, Lady Sheridan, Shadow, Kamalaya and Minderella, a 188-foot Feadship built in 1986.  Minderella was a finalist for best refit in the 2017 World Superyachts Awards with interior design by Yacht Next with exterior styling by Mauro Micheli, with her 2016 refit at Derecktor Shipyard in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Her stem to stern retrofit includes a complete rebuild of the main engines, full paint renewal, helipad, new A/C throughout, new hot tub and wet bar on the sundeck, new nav-com systems and entertainment systems, five completely updated staterooms accommodating 10 guests, and new soft goods.