THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
“I SPENT MORE THAN SIX MONTHS TRYING TO FIND A PLACE TO FINISH THE BOAT. SINCE I’M NO STRANGER TO THE INDUSTRY I DECIDED TO OPEN MY OWN SHIPYARD”
“The yacht has travelled half the world without running the engines,” says Vural Ak, the soft-spoken owner of 85-metre motor yacht Victorious. “From Chile to New Zealand, New Zealand to Turkey, it is a fantastic journey.” Victorious, with her rugged exterior lines penned by Michael Leach and a Bentley Continental temporarily parked on her helideck, generated plenty of interest and queries at the Monaco Yacht Show, but it’s her backstory that is truly intriguing.
Her life started more than 14 years ago at Marco Yachts near the Atacama Desert in Chile as a 77-metre explorer, known at the time as Gin Tonic IL When the initial build ran into financial difficulties, New Zealand businessman and serial yacht owner Graeme Hart picked up the project and transported the unfinished vessel to his homeland. She spent a further two years under construction in New Zealand before she was sold in 2016 to her current owner who brought her back to his native Turkey.
The story of the explorer yacht that explored the world during construction is an exciting enough narrative, but the tale doesn’t end there. After transporting her to Turkey, Ak, who had previously owned a 30-metre Azimut and a 50-metre CRN, couldn’t find a yard to complete the project. The work he wanted to do
