March 2001
by Jim Gilbert
In Pursuit of Perfection
Timelessness, technology and tradition – along with a no-compromise approach to quality – were the guiding principles behind building Charlie and DIane Gallagher’s 205-foot Cakewalk at Van Lent Shipyards.
Flanking the chart table in Cakewalk’s large wheelhouse are a ship’s clock and barometer, a simple matching brass set that Charlie Gallagher considers the most valuable pieces of equipment in his extraordinary new Feadship.
Not to mention the most symbolic.
The instruments, which have graced the wheelhouses of every yacht Gallagher has owned originally adorned his father’s beloved early-sixties vintage, 42-foot matthews Frandor: “My father, who introduced me to yachting, loved that boat,” Gallagher said. “That was my father’s boating dream, to own a Matthews. Whenever we went out on the boat he would tell me how much pride he had in owning a Matthews. you could say they were the Feadships of the Great Lakes in those days. I guess you could also say that my father was the guy who put that quality thing in my head.”
Anyone who doesn’t know Gallagher or isn’t familiar with the Cakewalk project might dismiss “that quality thing” as a throwaway line. Those who know Gallagher and his style see those words as an understatement of massive proportions, like calling the Pacific Ocean “big” or depicting being hit by a hurricane as “exciting.” The single, unifying element behind Cakewalk, captain and project manager Bill Zinser said, is his employer’s obsession with perfection.
“Mr. Gallagher loves yachting for the beauty and the perfection of the yachts he owns,” Zinser aid. “He got more pride of ownership than anyone I’ve ever known in my thirty years of yachting.”
Andrew Winch, Cakewalk’s interior designer, calls Gallagher, “The John Wayne of yachting,” Winch said, “He’s forthright, a tremendous leader and motivator,” Winch, who was selected as Cakewalk’s designer after interviews with many of the world’s leading designers, added, “He always wanted us to climb our Mount Everest of quality. It was a phenomenal experience.
The philosophical underpinning of the project was Gallagher’s commitment to building the finest yacht possible. It was a goal he communicated to every member of the team at every opportunity during the three-year period of design and construction. “He kept reminding us that he’d be a lot more angry if something wasn’t done right than if it cost him a lot more money,” Zinser said.
“There was only one philosophy and that was no compromise, no way in any situation under any circumstance. That became our battle cry. There was never a debate over anything,” Gallagher said, “except whether it was to high enough standard.”
The project had its origins during a 1997 Mediterranean summer cruise aboard their last yacht, a dramatic, $10 million refit of a 132-foot Feadship previously named Fiffanella. In retrospect, Gallagher said, it would have been much better simply to build the yacht from scratch. As it was, once the project was started he and his team realized the only way to achieve their goal was to strip the yacht and refit from a bare hull. It was an expensive lesson that Gallagher said taught him the enormous effort it takes to build an exceptional boat. In particular, gallagher said he and his wife Diane learned the importance of assembling a great team.
In their newest creation, launched last fall at Feadship’s Van Lent Shipyard, Gallagher is quick to lay the success of the yacht on everyone but himself. “I’m just the cheerleader,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without Bill Zinser,: he said. He quickly rattling off the significant contributions of Winch and his staff, in particular Matthew Chatt-Collins who worked very closely with his wife and interior decorator Liz Dalton. Chief engineer Adrian Farmer, entertainment system designer Sean Riordan, and, “the superb craftsmen of Van Lent,” Gallagher said, made other notable contributions.
While the Gallaghers enjoyed their previous yacht immensely, they realized it simply wasn’t large enough to meet their cruising needs. Before the end of their first summer cruise, Gallagher and Zinser flew to Holland to meet with Feadship. While there never was a doubt which company would build their next yacht, Gallagher said, he wasn’t sure whether it would be built at Feadship’s Van Lent or DeVries yards. In the end, Gallagher said, he selected Van Lent because its production would permit him to start his yacht seven or eight months earlier.
Dick Van Lent was delighted to get the Cakewalk contract. For one, the director of the shipyard said it is easier for his work force to do their very best when they are working with a deeply involved owner and a motivated project team. For another, he and his staff enjoy working on a boat where quality is the prime consideration. “The Gallaghers really did not spare any expense on this project,” he said. “From the beginning it was top, top, top in every respect. No compromise.”
Another great pleasure for everyone at Feadship, Van Lent said, was the result of an unusual request made by the Gallaghers. “I told them just before we signed that they had a deal as long as Frits deVoogt would come out of retirement to review our design,” Gallagher said. Van Lent said he made a call to Feadship’s past president and former chief naval architect, who was honored to oblige.
The reason for his request was not that he was unsure of the naval architecture and design skills of Hugo van Wierentgen, deVoogt’s successor at DeVoogt International. Quite the contrary, said Gallagher, who has always admired the grand flare bows of classic Feadships. “I didn’t want Frits to come in and design the whole boat,” Gallagher said, “but just to come in at the last minute and review the design and give it his stamp of approval as a classic Feadship.”
As it turned out, deVoogt’s contributions consisted of relatively minor changes. But the master’s involvement, minor as it was, refined the final look and, equally importantly, generated even more enthusiasm for the project. “I did like the fact that the owner asked Frits deVoogt to at least approve of the design,” Van Lent said, adding many workers were additionally motivated, “just for the sake that he was invited to participate.”
Cakewalk started as a 185-foot yacht, and quickly grew to 195 feet in the design phase. At that point, Zinser recalls Gallagher saying, “Why not just make the lazarette bigger and go over two hundred feet?”
Among the items the Gallagher wanted in their new yacht were a main-deck master, good separation of crew and guest traffic, generous side deck, hidden tender stowage, six equal guest staterooms, and ample exterior living areas. The principles guiding the design and execution of every element of the yacht, Gallagher said, were the “three T’s: timelessness, technology and tradition.
Nowhere are these principles reflected better than in the working areas of the yacht. Perhaps most impressive is Cakewalk’s voluminous three-level amidships engine room. Not only is every item of equipment fully and easily accessible, but great care was taken to keep noise and vibration to an absolute minimum. For example, not only were generators soft-mounting on floating skids, but the entire installation was placed in a fully sound-proofed space within the engine room. The same principle was applied to the air conditioning equipment.
Farmer, formerly the chief engineer on the Sultan of Brunei’s yacht, spent nearly two years with Zinser in Holland overseeing design and construction of Cakewalk’s mechanical systems. Zinser said from an engineering standpoint Cakewalk is as sophisticated as a yacht can be. While the yacht employs the latest monitors and electronic controls, these elements were intended to serve strictly as backup for a traditional manned engine room.
Another sterling example of the marriage of tradition and technology is the placement of tender garages forward of the owner’s suite on the main deck. While this same tender storage has been employed on past Feadships, including the recently launched Avviva, several elements make Cakewalk’s tender garages exceptional. First, their location well forward in the bow makes tender retrieval and deployment particularly safe and easy due to lessened risk of collision with the hull sides. Second, easy access to the garages from the crew quarters allows these spaces to double as private staff workshops or recreational terraces at anchor.
Likewise, the yacht’s large lazarette provides excellent flexible storage of personal watercraft, diving and fishing gear. The space is made even more usable by an ingenious rack that holds the yacht’s PWC’s and which slides on tracks from side to side to gain additional stowage or working space.
The three T’s are no less evident in Cakewalk’s interior spaces. First, it must be noted that the yacht was built to MCA as well as full Lloyd’s classification. Second, these standards were achieved without compromising access, utility or most importantly, the architectural drama of her interior. As is typical with many Winch-designed yachts, Cakewalk’s interior is graced by a spectacular staircase, a curving wrought-iron sculpture that winds from the lower deck to the sun deck. Making this feature even more noteworthy is the fact that Cakewalk’s central traffic core also contains a four-deck elevator plus a staff staircase that is entirely hidden from the view of owners and guests. A three-deck dumbwaiter based in the main deck pantry also eases traffic flow between decks and reduces the number of service staff in the yacht’s public spaces.
Accommodations consists of six equal guest staterooms complete with elaborate marble ensuite baths. Each stateroom contains both a double bed and a settee that converts to a single bed, as well as a Pullman-style bunk. Forward on the main deck is the owner’s suite, which makes up in its superb use of space for any spaciousness lost to the tender garages forward and the galley aft. The suite is entered through a single door into a wide waiting room, which opens through a pair of doors into a formal study. Beyond the study is the master stateroom itself, whose space is orchestrated around a circular cabinet at the foot of the low king-size bed. The cabinet, which also houses a pop-up flat-screen TV, elegantly divides the space between the bed and the dressing room on the forward/aft axis, and between his and hers bathrooms on the athwartships axis. A cozy seating area to port and a chaise lounge to starboard complete the suit’s harmonious proportions, which Winch aptly describes as, “a study in concise intimacy.”
As in the Gallaghers’ previous yacht, Cakewalk employs a small forest of satin-finished cherry wood. On their newest yacht, however, the wood is more darkly stained, which along with the more extensive and ornate detailing creates a stunning neo-classical decor. Hand-painted and recessed domed ceilings in the guest lobby, formal dining room and owner’s suite enhance the effect. Tiny downlights above the dining room table are centered over each seat. “I think the whole feeling is that of the Orient Express,.” Winch said. “There is continuity of design throughout the yacht. Every corner of every space has been articulated. The whole boat feels a part of one spirit.”
If there is anything unusual about Cakewalk’s interior it is the way it flows seamlessly into exterior spaces. The result is not only a yacht that seems larger than it is, but an almost mind-boggling number and variety of exterior living spaces. Nowhere is this effect more pronounced than the aft bridge deck. There, cherry paneling extends out into the exterior spaces. Nestled under the overhang of the upper deck (which doubles as a helicopter landing platform), are a salon-like collection of furniture, including two card tables and six comfy chairs arranged around a large low table. The residential effect is enhanced by ingenious detachable brass lamps, which give the deck the solid feeling of a library or, perhaps, the bar in an elegant gentleman’s club. In addition to full dining capacity for 14 on the aft main deck, Cakewalk’s exterior spaces include two distinct areas on the flybridge separated by the yacht’s covered traffic foyer, which also houses a full bathroom with shower. Aft is a large sun-worshipping area, complete with spa tub. Forward is a bar, two five-seat tables and a front-facing viewing area. The entire forward section of the flybridge can be covered with a removable awning that provides elegant shelter from the elements.
Gallagher, who estimates he visited his yacht approximately 20 times during construction, sees in his quest for yachting perfection as a larger metaphor for life. Compromise “is a cancer” he says, adding, “I’ve always believed that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy.”
But if, indeed, perfection comes at high cost, it was a price the Gallaghers paid willingly. At the formal launching ceremony at Van Lent, Gallagher moved many to tears with his words of praise and affirmation. The proof of his generous spirit is that long after he needed to play the role of cheerleader for the sake of the project, Gallagher was unabashedly cheering on his entire team. Winch said, “He didn’t say how good he was, but told everyone on the shop floor how good they were. He told them he was lucky to have had them working on his boat.”
