Million-Dollar Holiday

On board one of the world’s most expensive charter yachts

The story of Shahid Khan’s new 312-foot Kismet begins with an auspicious Twist of Fate. When Shahid Khan ordered his first Kismet in 2004, the capstone of the design brief was “make it impressive.” Not only would his family be using the boat for their own enjoyment, but Khan would use it for corporate entertaining and put it into charter service. That 223-footer launched in 2007 was successful on all counts but in the intervening years, both Khan’s business and his corporate guests increased in size. He now owns two sport teams, the English Fulham Football Club and the NFL franchise Jacksonville Jaguars, whose roster makes for some pretty bulky guests. Two hundred twentythree feet wasn’t cutting it.

Enter new Kismet; at 312 feet, her size alone is impressive. Then there is the 13-foot-long silver statue of a jaguar, its paw resting on a football helmet, that graces the bow on game days, two helipads and enough outdoor space to allow scrimmages. The number of decks for owner and guest use — five — is the same as the previous yacht. But the  cale of those decks, the accommodations afforded by seven staterooms and especially the size of the spaces dedicated to entertaining is where the new Kismet is a stunner.

There is a certain easiness about the framework when the team of a successful project is reassembled for an encore, and, indeed, the owner brought all the players back together: Moran Yacht and Ship to develop the deal and the specs and oversee the build, which again was at Lürssen; Espen Øino for the exterior design; and Reymond Langton for  he interior. Perhaps the key to how well the new Kismet flows, however, is also due to the fact that Captain Kyle Fultz and his wife, Gerry, who serves as purser, have crewed for Khan for 15 years and have the benefit of knowing how the family lives, works and entertains. In fact, the Fultzes spent two-and-a-half  years at the yard implementing the  wners’ wishes.

“They made it what it is. Sometimes they would have to take on the yard, sometimes the designers and sometimes they would have to take on the owners,” chuckles Khan. “They would say to me, ‘Yes, you can have that but you would have to give up this function.’ I knew the design has to follow the function.”

Khan, who arrived from Pakistan as a teenager to attend the University of Illinois, personifies the American dream with a story that transcends washing dishes, selling ice cream and marrying his college sweetheart to leveraging a better car bumper into a $4.9 billion auto parts company with 15,000 employees. He first tested the waters of yacht ownership in 1999 by purchasing a 130-foot Feadship named Gallant Lady from his friend and customer, the late Jim Moran of Southeast Toyota. He told broker Rob Moran that if he liked yachting, he would build a boat. Apparently, he found yachting more than suitable, and after several years aboard the Feadship, he started talking about building.

“We were six months into the specs for his [current Lürssen] when the economic crisis began,” Moran recalls. “Two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, we had a meeting. The market was falling about a thousand points a day. We were prepared to hear him say he was halting the project; instead he said, ‘Everybody thinks I’m mad, but I’m going to do it.’ He’s a forward-thinking progressive and he makes decisions other guys wouldn’t take.”

They started with a design around 85 meters (279 feet). “What was originally offered is not what you see today. He challenged the designers a lot. He’s heavily influenced by automotive shapes and he pushed the designers to the max,” Moran says. “Max” being 95-plus meters (312-plus feet).

The owner’s apartment (this page) commands the forward half of the upper deck, while guest suites (bottom left) are on the main deck forward of the cinema and salon (top left). Luxurious comfort and artistry of detail prevail in all areas.

“He asked us to scale up the drama of the first Kismet; he had seen [our work on] Serene and wanted that level of detail,” says Pascale Reymond. She and Andrew Langton responded with emphasis on strong architecture. When it comes to details, nothing is off the shelf.

Jason Macaree, lead designer on the project for Reymond Langton, credits a  ollaborative process. “She [Ann Khan] has a clear idea of what she wants things to look like and he drives things to be at the edge. He presents ideas, and they are good ideas, and we would work on them and bounce them back and then they would just grow.”

One example of this process is the space just forward of the main salon. Originally, a pair of curved stairs, like a double helix, was envisioned to rise between the floors through an open atrium and the renderings showed curved artwork surrounding the staircases. “Then it was Shad’s idea to have one staircase only with a video wall and open space opposite. Then [Ann] said she thought there might be room for a piano there and that led to the idea of creating a more intimate lounge in that space. We made a presentation on that idea and in the middle of that presentation she asked if the piano could be integrated into a bar, a piano top that was also a bar. Well, you’ve seen it, it’s a piano that can be heard through two decks and it’s a bar, but it’s really a work of art. That’s the way this entire project evolved,” says Macaree. And it is why Kismet, despite her size and the fact that her remit is to charter, is so intensely personal.

Kismet redefines the piano bar with a spectacular custom piece
made by Based Upon below a 770-pound glass-and-bronze
chandelier by Crystal Caviar, and between two video walls.
The ornate staircase leads to the upper deck lounge and formal
dining salon.

The video walls here — extending fully two decks high — are a unique masterwork made up of 42 individual 55-inch monitors. Sure, they can show football games or news, but they are also programmed to show digitized, high-definition moving artwork as sort of a backdrop for life aboard. “It can look like waving curtains or abstract images or even falling leaves. The shapes that make up the leather marquetry of the staircase surround — delicate flowers and leaves — have been digitized and gently cascade down from the top of the video wall,” says Macaree. The system, installed by Techno Gurus, also links to a pair of high-definition video cameras mounted outside that can convert the walls into virtual windows.

The massive Art Deco staircase between the video walls links the four primary indoor guest entertainment areas on two decks: salon and cinema on the main deck and dining room and lounge above. It is a masterful way to keep the party connected between decks.

On the upper level, an etched glass walkway offers a vertiginous view of the atrium and connects the lounge and the dining room. Farther aft, sliding glass panels flanking the upper aft deck form a winter garden and outdoor dining area in all but the worst winter or tropical downpours. Add in the bridge deck’s V-shaped bar in backlit onyx and al fresco lounge on the aft helipad and, higher still, the spacious sun deck with a huge pool and Jacuzzi, and large-scale entertainment is guaranteed. Khan says that he has space to host parties for 270 people.

The abundance and complexity of decorative features on the exterior furniture was a new challenge for the yard. “It is not something we had done to this extent before,” Peter Lürssen says. “And, of course, the stunning staircase is a feature that has brought many engineers and craftsmen a few more gray hairs. But that’s our job.”

On the other end of the scale, one of the challenges Reymond Langton faced was to create enough intimacy for family use or small charter parties. Smaller spaces, such as the cinema, the bridge deck lounge up top and the gym and spa belowdecks, show that they have not forgotten the value of coziness. In fact, there are four fireplaces aboard to ensure just that. The most intriguing one is a double-sided affair between the cinema and the piano lounge.

Kismet really shines in details. Each of the five main-deck guest staterooms not only has its own color scheme, but also a unique, themed door trim. Their location means the suites are wide and multiwindowed. Interestingly enough, Kismet features an unusual “sea cabin” carefully placed portside amidships on the lower deck, where motion will be at a minimum for guests who suffer from sea sickness. Of course, its placement adjacent to the guest gym, the spa and the starboard side fold-down tender terrace would make it coveted for other reasons.

When it comes to details, nothing is off the shelf.

“You can go one of three ways with a spa,” says Reymond. You can either put it up top and make it surrounded by glass walls for light and views; you can put it adjacent to the beach club at the stern, but that ambiance might suffer when the stern door is closed, or you can put it deep in the ship where it’s naturally going to be dark and cozy and restful with little motion. This is what the owner chose for Kismet. It’s very much a meditative space.”

Wellness is not an afterthought on Kismet. The massive heated pool on the top deck complements an extensive spa/gym on the lower deck. A fire pit adds just the right touch.

Indeed it is. Darks stones and interesting juxtaposed textures from smooth, flat rocks to glass to various wood surfaces, including a door that had patterns routed into its face and then was singed for effect, provide just the right amount of physical stimulation while the hammam, Jacuzzi, cold plunge pool, steam shower and massage room are focused on relaxation. The light is soft, soothing and mysterious.

Behind all the beautifully, exotically finished owner and guest areas lies the heart of the yacht, her operations. “The first Kismet was the first Lürssen with the ‘Moran cathedral’ engine room, two stories with a separate control room,” says Khan. “Some people thought it was a waste of space, but we have factory experience and we know how much good visual connection improves the work.”

The crew passages and how they connect to stores, exterior decks and the areas they need to access quickly and repeatedly for service are brilliantly devised. The main deck placement of the galley, for example, might be considered atypical on a yacht of this size, yet it was arranged to service the social areas on the main deck and the dining areas a deck above, as well as to receive provisions. On each deck, pantry spaces are linked to crew stairs, deck access or other fore and aft passages. Nowhere is this as clever as the hidden access to the spa, so crew or visiting therapists or estheticians do not travel through owner areas. The under-deck crew passage also contains copious amounts of linen storage and connects to the laundry. These are key design elements that are often overlooked by less experienced project teams or owners. “The crew areas, both their cabins and the crew gym as well as the passageways and work spaces, have a positive impact on crew retention, our charter operation and resale,” attests Khan.

While Art Deco influences the décor,
Pascale Reymond says she also drew from
Japanese and Egyptian cultures. One of four
fireplaces on board opens up the dining
room to the second story of the atrium.

Khan is determined to offer a
top-quality charter, not letting
things beyond anyone’s control,
such as rain, stop him from
providing “a great experience
365.” Areas of the expansive
decks can be converted for foul
weather and abundant shade
is available for too-sunny days.

Kismet is a Turkish word that means destiny or fate, perhaps resulting from random forces set in motion long ago, such as a 16-year-old arriving in America to study engineering and ending up with a superyacht.

Cutting to the chase with Moran Yacht & Ship

Moran Yacht & Ship is, without a doubt, one of the most successful superyacht brokerage firms in the world. Headed by Robert Moran, the man still very much at the helm opened the brand’s doors in Fort Lauderdale in 1988 after 18 years of exploring the Seven Seas as a superyacht captain, the hands on experience of which Moran strongly insists is at the core of the company’s continuous success in selling and building some of the world’s most iconic vessels.

Today, Moran’s sales record speaks for itself. However, success does not often come without criticism, and for many in the industry, Moran Yacht & Ship is certainly perceived as one of the most boldly aggressive. This perception is founded in an element of truth, but perhaps a little misguided. Moran is an astute businessman who is seriously passionate about the superyacht industry. The aggression that people may perceive stems from being one of the best, knowing it, and consequently becoming increasingly frustrated with others who give the industry a bad name and, in short, throw away potential opportunity. Robert Moran is focused on the bigger picture: the longevity of the industry.

“I don’t think that we’re aggressive,” Moran states as I pose this reputation to him. “I just think that we’re not shy about telling people of our attributes. I mean, we’ve sold 22 Lürssen’s in 17 years, 50% of their production. That’s quite an achievement. A lot of these other companies have a lot of employees who are ex-insurance salesman. Now, there’s nothing wrong with insurance salesman, or attorneys or stock brokers, but they didn’t work in the marine industry. And all of a sudden they work for two years in the yachting industry and they’re experts? That doesn’t work for me.”

Photo© Klaus Jordan

His ballsy, no-nonsense attitude is not limited to his peers and competitors, however. He’s also a staunch believer of shirking the typical ‘yes-man’ treatment of clients. “Most guys in the business think they have to shower these people with platitudes,”he says, “but we don’t do that.” Of course it could be a different story in reality, but from our meeting in the US yachting hub of Palm Beach, it’s probably safe to say that his anti-baloney attitude is very much present within every element of his life. Here Moran tells us the brands’ story in his own words.

As a brand you talk a lot about being different to other brokerage firms. What specifically sets you apart from your competition?

I think what sets Moran Yacht & Ship apart from a lot of our competitors is that we’re a really tight knit group made up of a lot of people who have worked on yachts. When it comes to selling large yachts, you have to really know what you’re talking about and it takes a long while to get that experience. On top of that, we build. The necessary experience for selling these boats can only be gathered by being involved with projects and actually building boats. If I was a potential yacht buyer I wouldn’t go to a brokerage company that didn’t have the experience of building at least 10 yachts.

Does your extensive experience play into a high rate of repeat business?

We very rarely lose any of the clients that we deal with. Let’s be honest, these are some of the most successful people in the world, and they’re not the easiest guys to deal with. So it’s an art to be able to do so successfully. Experience of course is a big factor, but it’s also to do with how you treat your clients.

What’s the secret to creating fruitful relationships with your clients?

I find the best way is to be yourself and to be honest. Don’t be false, you don’t need to kiss their backside or butter them up. Just be yourself. People recognise that. They recognise your talents and they respect that. I’ll tell you something else; we have the lousiest offices in the yachting world. I do not need palatial offices in central London or any of that. If I’m going to spend money, I’m not going to spend it on flashy baloney. It doesn’t make sense. A lot of our clients walk into our offices and see the projects on the wall, everybody working hard… I mean, we have captains of industry in our office who are genuinely impressed. They like that it is a working office. I’ve been into offices where they have stewards in dickie bows serving drinks and canapes. Now that’s baloney.

“I haven’t got the ego where I need to have three secretaries and someone to answer my telephone calls and to send all my emails - I can do that myself”

You have five offices located in strategic yachting spots around the world, with your head office centred in Fort Lauderdale. Where do the majority of your clients hail from?

The majority of our clients are from America - we’re currently building a 98-metre yacht for an American client of ours. We do have a number of Russian clients, as well as from the Middle East, Canada, Europe, and the UK. It’s cyclical and you’ve got to be in multiple markets. A lot of the European companies are all coming to the States and they think that America is going to be their saviour. Well, there’s no question that right now the economy is doing better here, but I think you’re a bit too late to the game coming over here right now. You have to anticipate things. We’ve been in Moscow for 12 years, before the hype started, and that’s how you’ve got to think.

How do you anticipate these markets?

Well with Russia, we noticed a lot of Russian clients starting to charter yachts. Then there were a couple of Russians who were buying smaller yachts. I did a business plan for three years to see if it works or not, a great lady called Lidia Tsareva took over the office and set it all up for us. She’s doing a fantastic job and is now one of the most successful yacht brokers in the world, and definitely the most successful female broker in the world.

Are you looking to expand further?

We’ve had an office in Monaco for around six years and we’ve just expanded that to a significantly larger office. We’re quite frugal, we don’t throw our money away. I haven’t got the ego where I need to have three secretaries and someone to answer my telephone calls and to send all my emails - I can do that myself. We are a very profitable company because we watch our costs and watch our expenses.

You’ve mentioned that Moran Yacht & Ship has sold around 50% of Lürssen’s production. How did your relationship with the yard begin?

We deal with a lot of shipyards - right now we’re building a boat with Hakvoort, Oceanco, Lürssen, we’ve just done a boat in Italy with Mangusta, we’re building a boat with Sanlorenzo… so we’re not necessarily ‘stuck’ with just one or two shipyards. But Lürssen up until 1993 or 1994 had only built around seven yachts. They decided in the late 90s to get into the yacht building business. I remember meeting with Peter Lürssen and Michael Bremen, and I told Peter we have a client who wants to build a 60-metre yacht. He said to me, ‘Well, if you bring me two clients, I’ll build them.’ We brought him two: Capri and Phoenix, and we went from there.

Speaking of Lürssen projects, the 74-metre Aurora (previously known as Thor and first announced in 2014) was recently launched from the yard’s facilities in Germany. What stands out to you in regards to that project?

She’s just a great boat. She’s 74-metres and she has a GRT of almost 2300, which is just a massive volume. She has some wonderful features, eight cabins, 10-metre tenders, a huge spa, gymnasiums - everything - but she is just a really lovely, quality boat. She is a boat that is going to be sailing around for 50 years, and she’ll still look great in 50 years.

The recently launched Aurora. Photo© Klaus Jordan

I was there with some of the guys at the launch and - just a silly thing - when you walk up the stairs from the aft deck, the owner said he wanted a nice, relaxing seat, sort of a pedestal area. I thought that was mad. When the owner walked on for the very first time, the first thing he did with his wife is sit on this seat. On itself it wasn’t a big thing, but it struck me that something as small as that made a difference to the owner - the first thing he did on the boat was to sit in this spot and say, “I really like this.”

You also just sold the 85.1-metre Lürssen superyacht Solandge at the end of March after 10 months on the market with Moran. Tell us about the deal.

We originally sold Solandge in 2008 to the owner who just sold the boat recently. A lovely boat with beautiful features. She had been on the market prior to being listed with Moran Yacht & Ship with another brokerage company for 18 months, so it’s quite an achievement to have a boat of that magnitude for just 10 months and we got the job done. We don’t just like to list boats, we like to sell boats. Too many company’s reason to be is just to get the listing on the boat - somebody else sells it, they get a piece of the action. We want to list them, sell them, do it all.

What do you attribute this success with Solandge to?

Well, so many of these companies just haven’t got a huge international client base, which is what you need. I remember years ago, every yacht in the world was sold to Japan. They bought everything. Now they’re buying nothing. People are talking about the Chinese now. When the American market went down in 2008/9, then the Russian market evolved and came up. So you have to have a lot of clients in a lot of different markets, which is what we have. What’s the point if you don’t have the clients?

Does the company typically attract quite experienced clients?

“Not necessarily, but I much prefer to deal with clients who have got some experience in yachting - they really understand us.”

They really get Moran Yacht & Ship. They know what we bring to the party. Unfortunately, I see so many guys coming to boat shows who, to their credit, have worked hard and made a fortune, but they they walk around and they have no idea. When a broker they approach knows just a tiny bit more than them, that broker then becomes the ‘expert’. That’s not good.

 Photo© Klaus Jordan

Tell us about your most memorable project over the years.

That’s a tough one. We built the 87-metre Ace a few years ago for a great guy. Now when we were designing the boat he told me that he wanted to have his gymnasium right on the aft deck. I told him that’s a bad idea… that’s not what you’re supposed to do. He told me that he wanted it and it’s his boat. He built the boat for himself, and I thought that was great.

Photo© Klaus Jordan

One of our boats is the new Kismet. It’s such a cool boat, it has things on her that are absolutely outrageous - so different. You walk into the main lounge and there is a palatial stairway, like something you would see in a big Hollywood movie. Then all of the floors on the upper levels are glass, so from down below you can look all the way up and through the boat. It’s truly amazing. He’s got this sculpture in the middle of the room, and I told him that was crazy, it’s going to break. But the boat has been across the Atlantic three or four times, and it’s still there!

A lot of yachts are cookie-cutter boats… basically. So I like it when you first see it and you say to yourself, ‘That is really nuts.’ Then you see it again and you begin to realise that it’s really, really cool.

Tell us a little about what you’ve got going on right now.

We’re not really allowed to talk about many of the things that we’ve got going on… So right now we’re building eight yachts, all of which are currently under construction, we’re looking to sign hopefully another three this year. Every year for the past 20 years, we’ve delivered one or two yachts. Everyone in the business thinks that we can’t possibly be building all these big boats, and every year they keep on coming out. So we’re going to do the same thing this year. Next will be Solar, then next year there will be two boats, three in 2019… so we’ve got a good pipeline of boats. I believe success breeds success, and hopefully the smart guys will come to us because they know that our record speaks for itself.

The article by SuperYacht Times