Simply Abu Dhabi XXVIII

2 0 6 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I As one of the rare shipyards in Europe with its own in-house interior workshop, Yachtley strikes a keen balance between in-house workmanship and sub-contracted exterior suppliers. “We have a Turkish naval architect, and Turkish and Greek engineers, including Kostas Christodoulou, the manager of the shipyard who is an expert in electronics and helps me a lot – they are all of an excellent standard,” Mr Al-Athel says. “We also boast top quality carpenters, and I bought the latest machinery to enable them to deliver a premium job. The shipyard carpenters have completed work on my residential properties as well, and the quality is perfect. We source nearly all materials from Turkey, too, apart from the marble, which we source from Italy.” Elements marks the dawn of a new age for Mr Al-Athel and Yachtley. Always keen to go beyond the expected, he leaves aside convention, and instead opts for the unity of aesthetics, safety and function in modern, customised designs. Collaborating with proven naval architects to create yachts with elegant lines and curves, Mr Al-Athel has his sights firmly set on the future of hybrid yachts, SOLAS yachts and groundbreaking design concepts. “After Elements, we’re hoping for more orders. We are ready – I have the team, I have the capacity to build bigger, we can go up to 120m,” he says. “And that’s what I want: to keep building large yachts of this calibre, that’s the aim.”