SOPHIE BLUE

SOPHIE BLUE — 41m (135ft), Fipa Italiana Yachts / CBI Navi Steel hull, aluminium superstructure, teak decks: SOPHIE BLUE is built the way serious displacement yachts are built, and it shows in the way she carries herself at sea. At 41 metres with an 8.5-metre beam, she has genuine volume to spend — and a draught of just 2.3 metres, which quietly opens up the shallower anchorages that deeper yachts of this size have to admire from a distance. Her interior comes from Luca Dini Design, with engineering by CLM. The result is warm rather than showy — considered joinery, generous living areas that invite people to settle rather than pass through, and a sense of proportion that only comes from a designer used to working at this scale. Under way, twin Caterpillar diesels give her a 15-knot cruise and 18 knots at the top end, with a range of 5,000 nautical miles at cruising speed — the kind of autonomy that turns a coastal itinerary into a genuinely open one. At-anchor stabilisers do the rest, holding her steady in an exposed bay so lunch on deck stays civilised when the sea has other ideas. Life outdoors is where she comes into her own: convivial deck spaces laid out for alfresco dining, and a jacuzzi positioned to make the most of whatever coastline you have chosen that day. A professional crew handles the rhythm of it all — the timing of meals, the tenders, the small adjustments you never notice because they have already been made. For the water, she carries a jet ski, waterskis, snorkelling and fishing equipment, and a 5.4m Novurania tender for easy runs ashore.