Wind the clock back to 1983 when BOAT International first hit the newsstands, and join me in a helicopter (it’s a Hughes 500) over Monaco. A youthful Alain Prost is in pole position at the Grand Prix, and a crimson Lamborghini Countach makes a surprisingly sporty safety car. Below us, Port Hercule is stuffed with small plastic boats - and the most striking thing? Lots of them have masts!
Moored stern-to along the Quai des Etats-Unis is one of the big new beasts of the nascent superyacht world: 55-metre Le Pharaon is the last word in 1980s opulence and grabbing all the headlines - a Feadship motor yacht allied to De Voogt lines, with a classic raked bow, lots of sheer and overhanging side decks.
Fast forward 40 years and it's a different story. Monaco’s pontoons bristle with 50-metre-plus power boats. Creations such as 75-metre Kenshō - the masterpiece from Admiral - with her reverse bow, deep hull chine and complex, swooping curves, or 80-metre Artefact from Nobiskrug, the golden trimaran Khalilah or 160-metre Lürssen Blue.
Compared to the early 80s, you’d notice immediately how much bigger the yachts are - and how colourful. “The last 40 years have seen quite a dramatic evolution in yacht design,” says designer Espen Øino. “They used to be quite conservative 40 years ago - always with
