Over the last two years we’ve had the pleasure of following the personal build journey of the proud owner of the new Sanlorenzo SL96A, MATCH. From choice of model to over 600 custom modifications outside the standard factory options list, he’s candidly shared his thoughts and rationale behind each decision.
Now that this incredible yacht has been launched, we spoke to the owner about his experience of working with Sanlorenzo UK the handover from the shipyard and the all-important maiden voyage.
Why did you pick up the phone to Sanlorenzo UK?
Reason for first call (a cold call) was that I was ready to buy a new boat of around 96 feet and I already knew the Sanlorenzo brand. It’s an ultra-brand – anyone who knows boats knows Sanlorenzo is among the very best. The reason for all my subsequent calls was the warm welcome in that first call – I knew I could work with Sanlorenzo UK to build a great boat.
How many times did you visit the shipyard?
As well as visiting Sanlorenzo at boat shows several times before and after placing the order, I flew to the Ameglia shipyard nine times. This was very much my choice – I could have visited more or less often and if I had more time I would certainly have visited more. In between my visits, the Sanlorenzo UK team also visited and collected photographs to allow me to see progress.
What was the handover like?
The countdown to the handover of the boat began with a special launch ceremony organised by Sanlorenzo at its yard in Ameglia, Italy in January 2024, a few months before the final handover date.
The sun shone and the whole build team gathered wearing Sanlorenzo branded overalls. They graciously thanked me over a buffet lunch for the challenge that my very detailed specification and many drawings had given them! At the crucial moment, diamond-encrusted scissors were proffered, the ribbon was cut and a bottle smashed on the starboard anchor – Franciacorta rather than Champagne – for this was Italy. Andrea Bocelli sang Time to Say Goodbye from the PA speakers and the boat was lowered into the sea for the first time.
And your first impressions?
Boarding her in the water that day, my first impressions included delight at how the custom interior had turned out. The boat has plenty of dark wood surfaces, some textured, offset by light reflective ceilings and marbles and light fabrics. The saloon windows, pretty much floor to ceiling, were breathtaking at first sight and the complex lighting scheme with touchscreen controls was even simpler to use than I had hoped.
The five guest cabins seemed bigger and better than expected. The ‘classic contemporary’ style with surfaces covered in slatted veneer, paint and leather, looked great.
The bathrooms are particularly stunning, and there’s some wonderful art. Can you tell us more?
The bathrooms were a delight. I had gone to a lot of trouble selecting the marbles,
including driving around trade suppliers in the Massa area in Tuscany where marble blocks from the Carrara mountains are processed into beautiful slabs but the launch day was the first opportunity to see the end result. The marble had been carefully cut and installed, book-matched, into five bathrooms, finished off with bronze taps and towel rails.
For artwork, Sanlorenzo prepared specific places to mount it, including setting up lighting, mirrors and reinforced wall panels.
Why did you opt for a five guest and three crew cabin layout?
The SL96A can have four or five guest cabins. I chose five because the boat is easily big enough to host 10 guests sleeping on board, and the guest cabins in the five cabin version are approximately the same size which avoids the awkwardness of having to rank your friends and decide who gets the huge VIP suite in the four guest cabin version.
There can be two or three crew cabins in the SL96A, each with ensuite shower room. I chose the latter and this has worked well, and my excellent crew love their part of the boat. The boat needs four crew so you could make do with two crew cabins, but the 3 crew cabin layout allows two crew members each to have a cabin and bathroom to themselves, which is unusual on a boat of this size and they love it. All the crew cabins have portholes, local Bluetooth music, wi-fi and the same fittings, bed linens and towels as the guest cabins.
Where was your first port of call once the yacht was launched, and how was the trip?
Upon launch, the boat went straight to her home berth in Antibes. Since then, she has hosted over 90 sleeping guests on many weekends and longer trips. Soon after delivery she made the long-distance trip to San Pietro Island at the south-west tip of Sardinia and cruised up the east coast of Sardinia and the west coast of Corsica. This initial trip allowed me to review the basic design and layout of the boat, and the customisation choices.
On the fundamentals, the boat is outstanding. The larger 2,400hp MTU engines that were fitted as a special order make her a serious mile-cruncher and at a fast cruising speed of 23-24 knots she is astonishingly quiet and comfortable, with the incredibly smooth V16 engines consuming about 31 litres/nm.
She will hit a top speed of 30 knots but of course that makes no sense as continuous speed. For delivery trips and slow cruising, she sits very happily at 11-12 knots, in almost total silence, and offering good fuel economy of around 10 litres/nm.
She has Sleipner Vector fin stabilisers (an upgrade over the standard fin stabilisers) and these make her feel rock solid underway and at anchor.
The interior has delighted us and our guests every day we have been on board. The spaces seem to be laid out perfectly, with the asymmetric design providing extra floor space to allow an impressively big saloon and a very generous galley.
Although it is a personal thing, we love the dark Alpi sustainable veneer, the bronze finishings, the custom-designed furniture pieces, the slatted panelling and the total absence of those clicky doorknobs used on most boats – in fact this boat has no cupboard doorknobs anywhere.
Is it everything that you thought it would be?
Sanlorenzo Italy and Sanlorenzo UK have absolutely delivered what I hoped for, and together with friends and family I am loving the boat.
Any regrets?
Virtually none at all. The only thing I can think of is that I regret not specifying a much bigger water maker. With ten guests and four crew, plus the consequent increased dishwasher and laundry use, the single 280 lph machine can only just keep up and I have no redundancy at all. This is easily cured: a second water maker is being fitted in the 2024/5 winter period.
Do you think you’ll keep the SL96A – or do you think you’ll embark on another build project soon?
It’s early days and this question is hard for a serial boat owner. I love this Sanlorenzo SL96A and might keep it several years. On the other hand, it is tempting to build another and I’d love an SL120A, though of course that couldn’t be an owner driver boat because it exceeds the 24m LLL rule. For now, I am incredibly pleased with the SL96A and have zero regrets about choosing this boat over the other strong contenders.