It’s 5.50 a.m. when the Vripack team touches down in Hong Kong. Before boarding the high-speed train into the city and to the Ferry Terminal in Kowloon. The sweet aroma of congee easily outdoes that of our Starbucks coffees, which will be our last for the week once we sip our first cups of sublime Chinese tea. We then board a ferry that whizzes through the Pearl River Delta region all the way to Zhongshan, where we are warmly received at the Kingship shipyard.
These visits were by now a familiar routine. The friendly greetings and smiling faces on both sides reflected the long and mutually appreciative relationship that had developed between the Dutch studio and the Chinese builders. Ocean’s Seven is the result of their fifth collaboration, and arguably their finest creating yet.
Vripack has a rich history of supporting greenfield projects where a blank sheet of paper is the starting point. Our holistic approach that encompasses the three disciplines of design, naval architecture, and engineering is particularly suited to such projects. Ocean’s Seven, however, required our in-house teams to collaborate on a whole new level. In other words, Ocean’s Seven was, at the time, the most challenging design, in terms of scale and complexity that the builders had ever brought to life.
‘Ocean’s Seven features naval architecture, beautiful exterior and elegant minimalist off-white interior by renowned Dutch Yacht Design Studio Vripack, combined with unparalleled long range.’
TEAM VRIPACK
The deliberate avoidance of the usual designer-related excesses is evident across the entire yacht. Cabinets eschew the common and much-overused multi radii, cared, or metal embossed edges. Instead, they are framed by clean-lined, softly rounded, and uniformly precise 3-millimeter gaps around every door and panel. Such details are visually simple yet technically challenging and the result is a beautifully subtle feature that casts the subtlest of shadows.
To avoid the coldness that sometimes undermines minimalism, white wooden surfaces are counterpointed with softly tactile fabric-covered doors and calfskin-clad furniture. The dominant pale tones are counterbalanced by a dark brown suede wall in the main salon. This wall is an unexpected element that balances the whole composition to render the interior calm.
The yacht showcases of Vripack’s ability to design beautifully understated spaces. The use of natural light was always evident, but the grace with which they employ it has become more and more refined. The ultimate goal remains the same, however: a yacht that makes its owners feel at home, whether cruising along with the cool winds of the Nordic fjords or luxuriating in the warm breeze of the Fiji islands.
‘Her towering flared bow, gently sweeping curved lines and perfectly balanced proportions conceal an interior that the Vripack Designers refer to as ‘utterly uncompromising’.
TEAM VRIPACK
| Current name | Ocean’s Seven |
| Design number | 5605 |
| Year of built | 2013 |
| Length | 41.90 m |
| Beam | 8.40 m |
| Draft | 2.53 m |
| Designer | Vripack |
| Naval Architect | Vripack |
| Structural Engineering | Vripack |
| Mechanical Engineering | Vripack |
| Interior Design | Vripack |
| Interior Engineering | Vripack |
| Builder | Kingship |
| Type of vessel | Gentleman’s Motor Yacht |
| Hull type | Round Bilge |
| Material | Steel / Aluminum |
| Classification | LMC, MCA Compliant, Lloyds registered |
| Engine | 2x Caterpillar C32 ACERT (A-Rating) |
| Speed (cruising/max) | 13 / 13 kts |
| Fuel capacity | 57,800 ltrs |
| Fresh water capacity | 10,800 ltrs |
| Grey / black water capacity | 10,800 ltrs |
| Owner & Guest | 10 persons |
| Crew | 9 persons |
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