Evo Yachts V8 – a design masterpiece

Valerio Rivellini, the young Neapolitan designer of the new Evo Yachts V8, is a man who likes to sail, says Alan Harper in Power & Motoryacht magazine. His background is in dinghies and small cruising yachts, and the huge carbon steering wheels on each side of the cockpit of the Evo V8 are a “visible homage to the world of creaking masts and flapping canvas”. You could save a lot of space by swapping them for joysticks. But that’s not the point. “The Evo V8 is a design-led vessel, from its origami cockpit to the platform on the roof, with its miniature helm station and telescopic guardrails.”

Nostalgic it may be, but there are some clever modern touches too. The tender and the crane both stow under the hatches of the aft deck, and the crane serves as a hoist for the parasol. The rear window doubles as a backlit cinema screen; the salon windows open to turn it into an open-air area.

The yacht houses an “agreeable” VIP cabin in the bow, a small twin cabin, and “a rather magnificent midships owner’s suite with its own aft-facing lounge”, says Harper. From this private lounge, it’s “but a hop, step and jump into the sea”. “In the mornings, I like to leap into the water straight from bed,” says Rivellini, explaining the design.

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The aft wings fold out to expand the entertainment area on the beach club deck to 25 square metres, and the seven-metre beam (width), on a boat just 24 metres long, “creates a lot of real estate”, says Sam Fortescue for Boat International. Up on the sun deck, complete with four “flush” sun loungers, “it’s not silent exactly with the engine running, but it is calm up here and the view is unbeatable. It is just one of this boat’s many surprises”. It’s fun to drive too: the twin Volvo Penta IPS 1,350 engines take the boat to a top speed of 24 knots, and the Bay of Cannes, in the south of France, “rushes out from under the hull in a mesmerising smooth sheet”. This V8 is a big step up from the previous flagship 18-metre R6 model.

Price: £3.2m plus tax. Length: 24 metres. Beam: 7 metres. Draught: 1.5 metres. Contact: evoyachts.com/en/v8