Gerard Dijkstra, a world-renowned yacht designer, the Dykstra Naval Architects design company and K&M Yachtbuilders are continuing their intensive collaboration for the development of an MKII of Gerard’s private yacht, the Bestevaer 53ST sailing yacht Bestevaer II. Developments and technology in yacht-building have continued to move on in the 8 years that the Bestevaer II yacht has been around.
Bestevaer 53ST sailing yacht Bestevaer II
As is the case in the automotive industry, it is important to have a detailed look at an existing design in order to find out where improvements can be made and where the market is shifting.
The luxury yacht Bestevaer II was designed as a robust, practical ship with a traditional look, which can easily be operated by a small crew, which requires little maintenance and is suitable for cold regions, and which, of course, has superb sailing features and responds perfectly to the swell.
Gerard Dijkstra, Owner as well as designer, “The design of the pilot cutter has meant that this series of Bestevaers has made this type of yacht popular, not only within the Dykstra firm but also elsewhere.” He continues, “The majority of the Bestevaers that have already been built stand out because of the many nautical miles they cover, mostly to remote areas such as Spitsbergen, Greenland and Patagonia.”
Over the past few years K&M has built dozens of 45-56 feet yachts inspired by the Bestevaer 53ST, all of which have a pilot cutter (straight bow, abbreviated as ST). The owners of these yachts (e.g. the owners of a 49ST, a 53ST, a 55ST and the owner of a 53ST and a 45ST) have also been involved in the preliminary investigation into what is good about the ship and what could be improved.
In addition to the Bestevaer ST ships, Dykstra Naval Architects has designed Pilot Cutter ships such as the Christoffels Lighthouse, the super yacht Hetairos (ex Panamax) and the sailing yacht Kamaxitha.
