DRAKE: CHAPTER ONE
The DRAKE Proposition
The Traditional New Build Problem
For yachts in the 85–96 metre LOA category with ambitions for serious range, comfort and future-proofed energy architecture, the most difficult and least visible decisions are often made in an ad hoc way once an Owner has already fallen for a design. Hull form and subdivision, engine room architecture, routing of technical systems, crew and service flows, stabilisation philosophy and shell door engineering are all negotiated while a designer’s renderings sit on a table with everyone attempting to keep the original dream intact.
The effect is predictable: beach clubs shrink, crew routes become tortuous, systems do not fit, and Owners experience progressive erosion of their vision. Some projects never get signed; others limp in as uneasy compromises. The pre-contract phase extends 12–24 months through repeated iterations.
How DRAKE Reverses the Sequence
The team behind DRAKE—the shipyard Oceanco, Lateral delivering naval architecture and Y.CO bringing operational expertise—have worked through those “boring but critical” questions first. Hull, machinery and technical layout are defined as a repeatable backbone that can be adapted aesthetically but which honours underlying engineering logic.
The result is that half of the yacht’s technical and operational space is already defined. The remaining 50% is left open for an Owner’s vision. Owners join the process at the point where it becomes genuinely enjoyable rather than becoming de facto systems integrators.
To me Drake is all about collaboration, but not only within Oceanco, between young, energetic people from different disciplines outside of our world, our market. And actually, to develop something together, listening to each other without having any limitations.
DRAKE as Vision, Philosophy, Process and Product
DRAKE is simultaneously:
- A Vision to be the industry benchmark for how new yachts are conceived, designed and built
- A Philosophy about finding more effective ways to build, not just building yachts
- A Process created through pioneering partnership between Y.CO, Oceanco and Lateral
- A Product: a sub-3,000 GT, 88m waterline technical backbone with multiple configuration options
The Five Client Benefits
From an Owner’s perspective:
- Clarity and confidence – invisible decisions made by teams who live with consequences
- Reduced pre-contract friction – major constraints already mapped before designer engagement
- Operationally optimised – crew spaces, logistics and systems arranged for efficiency and retention
- Future-oriented energy architecture – positioned at intersection of proven practice and alternative fuels
- No restrictions on Vision – from an Explorer to a classic design, all options are on the table.