The imposing 162-foot (49-meter) Zaliv III, with restrained styling by architect Giorgio Vafiadis and a contemporary interior by Luca Dini brings the Italian Mondo Marine brand back into the limelight.
The Mondo Marine shipyard is an offshoot of Mondo, an international group founded in the late 1940s by two brothers. The group’s core business is synthetic flooring for a huge international market that includes institutions and sports venues. One of the company’s regular clients since 1976 has been the Olympic Games. In 1978, brothers Ferruccio and Elio Stroppiana acquired a historic shipyard in Savona (on Italy’s Ligurian Coast, west of Genoa) and started producing custom yachts in composite and steel/aluminum, eventually focusing on alloy and steel construction. In 2007, the shipyard attracted well-deserved attention when it presented at the Monaco Yacht Show the highly unusual 164-foot steel-hulled explorer Tribù, built for Luciano Benetton. It was the first vessel to get RINA’s Green Star. Since then, the family-owned shipyard’s collaboration with reputed designers such as Cor D. Rover, Giorgio Vafiadis and Luca Dini has resulted in interesting custom yachts from 132 to 161 feet, including the recent Toy-A, Streamline, Alexander Two and Manifiq.
The key feature of Zaliv III, an all-aluminum semi-displacement yacht, one of the new launches at Mondo Marine, is undoubtedly the voluminous and elegant white superstructure and dark blue hull, more classic in styling than some of the recent vessels this boutique-style shipyard has built in the last few years. Zaliv III was designed with the goal to re-create the comfort of the most refined oceanfront villa. While the design is contemporary, the extensive use of teak paneling somehow rekindles the smell and atmosphere of vessels from the past. A dramatic teak-and-holly floor enhances the cohesive interior décor. Leathers, linen and cotton upholsteries by Italian fashion house Loro Piana and latticework on bulkheads set the stage for a relaxing onboard holiday.
Light is another major feature of this yacht. Designers carefully studied both natural and artificial lighting. Large windows on the main and upper decks, as well as panoramic portholes on the lower deck, let the sunshine in. Lighting Design International of London created the yacht’s post-sunset sophisticated atmosphere, which enhances the understated-yet-sophisticated interior décor by Luca Dini Design.
The main-deck salon offers guests and visitors their first impression and, no doubt, Zaliv III’s lounge area makes an impressive statement. According to the owners’ wishes, the salon furnishing consists of two spacious L-shape sofas on either side of a low-profile coffee table, enabling the easy transformation of the salon into a ping-pong room. The playground theme continues in the dining room, where an elegant custom dining table for 12 transforms into a game table. All it takes is for a couple of crewmembers to lift the top and flip it over to reveal a beautifully crafted backgammon board, one of the owners’ large family’s favorite pastimes.
A large portside, professional galley provides easy service to the adjoining dining room and other decks. In lieu of pantries, taking up precious real estate, the owners opted for a dumbwaiter to serve guests all the way up to the sun deck.
Zaliv III’s unusual layout also features two large master staterooms, one on the main deck and another, even bigger, on the upper deck. No matter where they choose to sleep, Zaliv III’s owners will enjoy maximum comfort and privacy. The second owners’ suite, on the upper deck, includes an office, a huge walk-in closet, two bathrooms and direct access to the aft-deck terrace. In fact, the whole upper deck can be considered a private owners’ apartment, with the “night area” astern and an intimate, cozy living room/studio amidships. Eight guests are accommodated in two double and two twin cabins on the lower deck, while a fifth cabin on the upper deck, just behind the wheelhouse, can be used as a day room, captain’s cabin or extra guest cabin.
Continuing the themes of fun and relaxation, Zaliv III’s exterior areas offer guests a vast array of areas in which to socialize or rest. The main deck has a shaded outdoor living/dining area aft and a comfortable lounge with panoramic views on the foredeck. The sun deck is, no doubt, the most impressive outside area, with its central dining table underneath an expanded radar arch. The aft section hosts a panoramic swimming pool surrounded by sun pads. Forward, a bar and a conversation corner with sofas and coffee tables is a great spot to watch the sunset while sipping an aperitif.
Guests, of course, need their toys, too. The tender garage, just aft of the engine room, houses the main tender, an 18-foot (5.4-meter) Novurania Equator, and there is enough additional room to secure a good selection of sports equipment. The foredeck stores a RIB and a couple of Jet Skis to complete the offer.
Stepping into the roomy garage, it is possible to appreciate the clean and rational layout of all main machinery. Astern of the garage is the yacht’s engineering control room. From this insulated and air-conditioned room the chief engineer surveys all mechanical systems. Besides two big MTU engines, the engine room hosts the main Northern Lights generators, the air-conditioning equipment and the watermakers. Zaliv III, powered by twin MTU 16V 4000 M90s, reaches a top speed of 22 knots and has transatlantic range at 12 knots.
Mondo Marine Engineering, the shipyard’s in-house naval architecture and engineering department, gave the hull excellent performance, stability and trim. Naiad zero-speed stabilizers enhance stability and control pitch and roll.
Shortly after Zaliv III’s launching, the same shipyard and designers celebrated the delivery of Alexander Again, another 49-meter all-aluminum semi-displacement yacht with a completely different look and feel. This has been the strategy of this shipyard all along, to deliver highly personalized vessels answering to the needs of a varied and faithful clientele. In the wake of the explorer-type success all over the world, Mondo Marine commissioned Sergio Cutolo and Hydro Tec to design a 164-foot expedition yacht, the 50-meter Mondo Explorer—perfect for world or “Mondo” exploration.
Mondo Marine Zaliv III
Beam: 29ft. 6in. (9m)
Draft: 8ft. 6in. (2.6m)
Construction: Aluminum
Engines: 2 x MTU 16V 4000 M90, 3,650 hp @ 2,100 rpm
Generators: 2 x Northern Lights M1066A1 @ 105kW 1 x Northern Lights M1064T2 @ 55kW
Speed (max.): 22 knots
Speed (cruising): 20 knots
Range @ 12 knots: 3,500 nm
Stabilizers: Naiad Marine 620
Fuel capacity: 21,134 gal. (80,000L)
Freshwater capacity: 2,906 gal. (11,000L)
Classification: Maltese Cross, AMS, MCA compliant
Exterior styling: Giorgio Vafiadis & Associates
Interior design: Luca Dini Design
Naval architecture: Mondo Marine Engineering
Builder: Mondo Marine
