Australia has few superyacht builders left. The remnant’s of a once successful industry are now reduced to just two names; Echo Yachts and Hanseatic. Yet the former is engaged in a task which, when complete, will see them launch the largest superyacht ever built in the country.
Superyacht White Rabbit Golf is the biggest super-yacht to be built in Australia. The 84 metre yacht features a trimaran hull with an underwater profile from One2three Naval Architects in Sydney.
Echo Yachts in Henderson, near Perth are using a 100m long production facility with direct water access operated by Evolution Commercial to construct the yachts
Sandra Petersen, a journalist with PerthNow reports that; Echo Yachts have employed more than 300 workers at the peak of the project, and will finish its three-and-a-half-year mission to deliver the yacht to a wealthy Singaporean based client before the middle of next year.
The contract to build the new yacht included the construction of a 46 metre fibreglass catamaran to be deployed as a shadow or support vessel for the larger build. That catamaran has been delivered and sails as Charley. Carrying a 12m tender designed with a range of sporting and exploratory capabilities, she is equipped with full navigation systems and high tech 3D sonar’s for the exploration of sea beds and sunken wrecks.
It is likely that the client is Mr Goh Cheng Liang who with his family are based in Singapore and are reported to have funded the formation of Echo Yachts. Mark Stohard heads up the build team. He is a former director of Austal Image, the shipyard that built the superyachts Tu Moana, Tia Moana and the boutique cruise liners True North and Four Seasons Explorer, is reported to have said the project was a lifeline for Australia’s super yacht industry.
The Australian designer Sam Sorgiovanni, is behind the yachts interior and exterior styling. He has said of the project: “The fact she is a trimaran makes her unique in the industry and without doubt there’s no question that in terms of Australia’s industry, she is the biggest and greatest thing we’ve ever worked on.”
He described the interior as; “Having an art deco overtone with some gold accents. Everything has been custom-made.” he explained, adding; “From the hand-selected onyx counter tops in the owner’s and some of the VIP cabins, to the carpets. She is the pinnacle of personalisation, right down to the cushions and cutlery.”
This is not the first yacht to carry the name White Rabbit. The London based yacht designer Andrew Winch drew the lines and planned the interior of a 50 metre yacht built by Feadship Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw in Aalsmeer in 1995 for Goh Cheng Liang and his family. That vessel now sails as Pegasus