The 45.00m (147′ 7″) luxury explorer yacht BIG FISH has taken home two more top design honors during the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2011, moving her into the rare field of history-making yachts. Superyacht Big Fish now has a trophy case with five coveted yacht awards, an unprecedented achievement as the first launch from her builder, Aquos Yachts.

BIG FISH

Aspect: Yacht BIG FISH's Main Master Bath Photograph

Main Master Bath On Board Yacht BIG FISH

Aspect Interior: Yacht BIG FISH's Main ...

Profile: Yacht BIG FISH's Main Master ...

The first new honor bestowed on the charter yacht Big Fish was a Neptune Award for Best Naval Architecture of all 2010-launched motor yachts. The award was presented Tuesday evening, Oct. 25th at the ShowBoats International Design Awards ceremony, held at the glamorous Mar A Lago resort in Palm Beach. The ShowBoats Design Awards is the longest-running awards program in the luxury yacht industry. These awards are judged by a select panel of industry experts and yacht owners based on a list of nominees presented to the judges by the editors of ShowBoats International.

The second award given to the Big Fish yacht was top honors for the Best Full Displacement motor yacht in the 40 to 60 meter size range, at the SuperYacht Awards. Presented at the annual International Superyacht Society gala Oct. 28th at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort, the SuperYacht Awards are selected by a panel of industry experts, and then are voted on by the entire membership of the Society.

In both prizes, the charter yacht Big Fish beat out a large number of other worthy contenders launched last year at many of the industry’s premier yacht builders.

In addition to the ShowBoats International and the International Superyacht Society awards, Big Fish has been honored by Boat International with a Judge’s Commendation at their World Superyacht Awards, and by both Yachts International France and by Asia Pacific Yachting magazines as The Most Innovative Yacht launched in the past year.

“We are thrilled by the reception and recognition of Big Fish by the yachting industry,” said Richard Beattie, owner of Big Fish, and chairman of Aquos Yachts, which commissioned the yacht’s construction at McMullen & Wing Shipyard in Auckland, New Zealand. “These honors, voted on by the leading lights of the super yacht industry, underscore the success of the Aquos Yachts vision, to produce rugged, seaworthy yachts that also offer the very highest standards of contemporary design and technological innovation, while at the same time providing the extraordinary comfort, service, safety and security that today’s yacht owners demand from their boats.”

Beattie added, “These awards truly reflect the efforts and talents of the entire Aquos Yachts team. It’s one thing to say you’re going to design and build a world-class luxury expedition yacht, and it’s another thing entirely to deliver on that claim. These awards prove not only that we captured the imagination of the industry with the vision behind Big Fish, but we delivered on that vision by successfully completing the longest, most difficult shakedown cruise in the history of luxury yachting.”

Only 15 months after her launch, motor yacht Big Fish is now on her second trans-Atlantic crossing and nearing 45,000nm on her own bottom. On her maiden voyage she crossed the Pacific Ocean, transited the Panama Canal twice, chartered in Antarctica, and cruised extensively in Tahiti, the Galapagos, the Amazon, northern Sweden and Norway, and the Caribbean. In the process she has booked more than $2.5M in charter income in addition to entertaining Beattie and his guests for another 7 weeks.

Jim Gilbert, Aquos Yachts’ marketing consultant and former editor-in-chief of ShowBoats International, said Big Fish has played a key role in the current economic revival of the yachting industry. “We first began promoting Big Fish and Aquos Yachts at the very bottom of the recession,” Gilbert said. “The fact that Richard Beattie was willing to invest in developing an important emerging market niche – yachts aimed at a younger, less traditional, and tech-savvy generation of owners – helped stimulate the market and spur interest in new ways to enjoy the ocean.

“As a lifelong student of yachting, I have never witnessed a more ambitious and successful inaugural cruise than that of Big Fish. She was a household name before she launched, and now with her extraordinary media coverage and design honors she has become one of the true legends of yachting.”

Yacht Big Fish is in the Canary Islands on her way to the Antigua Charter Show. She has already booked several weeks of charter for the Caribbean holiday season. In the New Year she will return via the Panama Canal to the South Pacific, where she will spend the winter charter season.

By the time motor Yacht BIG FISH reaches the Canal (for her third transit!) she will have completed more than 45,000nm of cruising on her own bottom, having touched six continents in the process!

Meanwhile, construction on Aquos Hull #2, yacht StarFish, continues to proceed on schedule for a service launch in one year’s time, and delivery in early 2013. Please be on the lookout early next week for a full set of renderings and animation sequence of StarFish.

Luxury yachting awards presented to the charter expedition yacht Big Fish.

Yachts France – Most Innovative Motor Yacht of 2010
Asia Boating Awards – Most Innovative Yacht Design of 2010
World Superyacht Awards – Best Displacement Motor Yacht Under 500grt, Judges’ Special Commendation
ShowBoats International Design Awards – Best Naval Architecture of 2010
International SuperYacht Society – Best Motor Yacht of 2010 (40-65M)