Serenity at Sea

Last weekend I was the first journalist to not only see Lazzara Yachts’ new flagship, a 116 christened Serenity, but also to take a ride on her, from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. And what a ride it was: Mother Nature threw lots of messy four- to six-footers at us, with a few eight-footers tossed in clearly for the heck of it, thanks to northeasterly winds gusting in excess of 20 knots. Now, while some of you may be groaning and/or mimicking the same nauseated expressions my friends and family did when I relayed this information, trust me when I say that my normally iffy stomach in these situations wasn’t the least bit disturbed. Thanks to the stabilizers doing their job and Lazzara’s in-house design team, the yacht’s captain comfortably ran us at 21 knots for about an hour and a half. (And I even fell asleep for about 30 minutes of it—seriously. But don’t tell my boss I was sleeping on the job.)

Serenity, which I photographed above during her christening in Fort Lauderdale, will be at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show next week. If you don’t get a chance to see her, look for my feature article in the January issue of Power and Motoryacht.