The Making Of The Express Yacht
LAZZARA’S LSX 92THE MAKING OF THE EXPRESS YACHT
Story Cecile Gauert Photos and Illustrations Lazzara Yachts
At the 2006 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, Tampa-based Lazzara Yachts introduced the LSX Quad 75 to rave reviews. Based on a totally novel concept, the Yachts Trophies winner LSX 75 was among the first designs to integrate the very new Volvo Penta IPS (Inboard Performance System) technology. Quiet, fuel-efficient and compact, the engines and drives afforded the builder the ability to create something truly new, an opportunity Lazzara did not miss. The LSX 75 was the first boat to feature quadruple IPS and did so in a stunning design package that helped change the concept of the open yacht. Since its debut the model has sold well in the U.S. and abroad, but this family-run business is not one to rest on its laurels. The product development team quickly moved onward and upward, as we learned during a recent visit. Industry observers certainly knew the Lazzara family and their in-house engineering and design department were up to something interesting, but what exactly remained to be seen.
The company kept everything under wraps until a few weeks ago when management decided it might be a good idea to allow an independent observer to document the yard’s ability to go from brand new concept to finished product in a record 10 months. In December 2007, around Christmas time, chief designer and Lazzara Yachts President Dick Lazzara drew the first lines of their newest project, the LSX 92. A clay model quickly followed, and within a week, actual blueprints. By February 5, after some discussion and fine-tuning (which at some point involved Dick sawing off part of a wooden model), everyone had agreed on the main design features, and the final model was ready. By July 1, the hull mold partially covered a curvaceous plug, while a full-scale model of the yacht’s lower deck and another of the flybridge occupied part of a hall. In another area, craftsmen worked on the transom section, which foreshadows a yacht of imposing scale. Someone had recently posted a sign with the target delivery date, October 20, 2008, an aggressive goal.
It might be useful to take a few steps back to put this new project in the larger context of Lazzara, the company and the family. Vice President of Marketing Rich Lazzara, who represents the third generation of this boat-building dynasty started by Vince Lazzara as Columbia Yachts in the early 1960s, took me through the present-day company’s immaculate-looking facilities in Tampa. Rich works closely with five family members, including his father and uncle, Dick and Brad, who created Lazzara Yachts in 1991. His brother Joe, as a designer, is part of the in-house product development team.
Although the company employs over 400 people from more than 22 different countries, the management structure is lean and limber for quick decision-making. There is a member of the Lazzara family in each of the finance, sales/marketing, design and customer support departments, and all are involved in making decisions. Feedback is welcome, and there is plenty of it, Dick says. Perhaps it helps that the chief designer is also the company president, not a common combination. The six-person product development team, including Naval Architect and Director Fabrizio Loi, does not operate on a remote mountaintop removed from financial realities or marketing imperatives. Although a security keypad helps keep intruders out, the department is located a mere few hundred feet from the main administrative offices, and designers and engineers are very much a part of the manufacturing process. In addition, Lazzara has invested heavily in 3D technology—introducing some very cool and handy equipment such as a 3D camera usually used in medical applications, which allows them to quickly create scale models of anything from an anchor to an engine— and although it has not replaced all of the steps involved in a traditional build process, the technology provides greater flexibility and speed in implementing changes and innovations. It also is essential in the modular-style construction the shipyard has adopted, which allows building interior components, complete with cabling and piping, outside of the hull. A crane lifts each finished module before lowering it again, complete with rubber insulators, into the finished hull. By creating Lazzara Yachts, Dick and Brad continued and expanded on a family tradition of building all-fiberglass boats. To the tune of about 20 motoryachts a year, with models now stretching to 116’, Lazzara Yachts has carved a comfortable niche in the vast U.S. market.
Increasingly, though, Rich sees the international market taking notice. The LSX 75, which combines the best of the U.S. and Europe with a modern and bold décor, comfortable accommodations, impeccable style and innovative propulsion and power, has contributed to this evolution. Of the projects under way in July, an LSX 75 was to be the first Lazzara yacht delivered to a client in Australia; another, built for a U.K. client, was bound for Spain. The international market has gone from representing 17 percent of sales at Lazzara Yachts to 40 percent just one year later.
The Lazzaras have a hands-on approach, building loyalty with a clientele who appreciates their personal touch. Although they have dealers in countries outside the U.S., they encourage clients to speak directly with the in-house design team and visit the yard as often as they can. A business transaction may very well happen over a family-style lunch at corporate headquarters, housed in a building styled as an Italian villa. This personal approach, however, belies a competitive spirit. The family’s goals are far reach reaching, “We want to redefine the paradigm of the motoryacht,” Dick says. Open-style yachts, for which clients are willing to pay a premium because of their looks and performance, offer a good avenue. “There is nobody who has established a presence with a 90’ express in the U.S.,” Rich Lazzara says. In addition, at this moment at least, the weak dollar provides U.S. shipyards a competitive advantage for products adapted to the international market.
With the LSX 75, the Lazzara team has shown that they not only could compete with established open yacht builders but also break new ground. “I received more than 50 letters extolling the virtues of the design,” Dick Lazzara says, adding that, “It really was more gumption than brains.” Gumption perhaps is what has moved the Lazzaras to create something new that could not only compete on a world scale but also redefine their brand.
One place to start was the propulsion system. The first question the designers ask themselves was “what kind of power do we have?” Rich says that he is convinced Azipod-style drives are the future. Dick, who freely discusses current research done on plankton life in the Gulf of Mexico, thinks fuel economy is now and will remain a major issue. Thanks to a good relationship already established with Volvo, it seemed natural that Lazzara should continue working with the Swedish company whose IPS technology first brought to the recreational boating industry the advantages of a propulsion type common in commercial vessels. Among the benefits is efficiency that may result in a 40 percent improvement in fuel economy over conventional propulsion systems. The Lazzaras went to Sweden last summer and made the decision that their new yacht would integrate the next generation of IPS. “The drive had been designed, but we got involved early on,” Dick Lazzara says. His engineering department has worked closely with Volvo’s development team on implementing the new IPS 850 in a quad configuration, which in the new 92’ open will amount to four 675 hp (in IPS standards) drive units, able to deliver a 32-knot top speed and a 28-knot cruising speed. This decision meant they had to develop a new hull shape and naval architecture that would work with the more powerful IPS engines and drives, which because of their configuration move the center of gravity slightly farther aft than that of conventional systems. The hull was also given a fine deep-vee entry suited for challenging sea conditions. “It gave us the water line, and then we were left with having to design the art around the guts,” Dick says.
Beyond the fuel-saving benefits and the quiet ride that the IPS system provides, there are also space benefits. The system is so compact that each unit can be shipped in a FedEx box. Lazzara has used the extra space wisely on the LSX 75 to create a roomy interior that includes a large ensuite master and an eat-in galley. But there is much more to this new design. “It takes about a day to explain this vessel,” Dick says.
To help introduce the LSX 92 to clients and other interested parties, the Lazzaras designed a presentation room complete with comfortable armchairs facing a large flat screen TV. Some of the animation revealing the new yacht’s coolest features was done by Urban Voyage, a New Zealand-based company specializing in 3D imagery. This is where Dick Lazzara lifted the veil on the LSX 92, the express yacht.
A fully detailed scale model, revealed only after the video presentation, shows the 92 to be a remarkably good-looking open yacht, with a low profile, curvy in all the right places, and elongated where it matters. Additionally, the LSX 92 is to have a flybridge with a helm station and mast, which not only adds flair to the overall profile but also houses all the wiring for radar, with only the wand visible at the top. An aerodynamic graphite top has been designed to shade the flybridge helm area. Aft of the main deck, the transom opens, much the same as it does on the 75’, revealing a Jet Ski and a 12’ Novurania inside a garage finished in teak. Once the toys are out, the garage’s inclined floor lifts to horizontal and meets the hydraulic platform to form a 160 square-foot beach area. A panel descends from the garage ceiling to reveal a gigantic television screen. Add a couple of chaises and a cocktail table, and you have a beach area not unlike those found on some of the world’s largest yachts. The lower-deck master stateroom has direct access to a private terrace on the starboard side. In a room, which houses a Jacuzzi tub just off the master, a water-tight door opens outward, revealing a gigantic glass bay window, and forming a terrace inches above water level. The dual system of watertight door plus glass was devised with input from the classification society consulted on the matter. It is, that we know of, the first time such a feature will be available on a yacht this size. The master stateroom features a versatile settee, still being refined, that converts from a simple banquette with great views to a breakfast nook or a game table. Some of the interesting elements of the 75 are there. One continuous window, devoid of visible support, lights the main deck on each side. Tubular reinforcements, similar to a roll cage construction on a racecar, are integrated in the superstructure. The loft-like arrangement, providing a plunging view from the main-deck helm station down to the lower-deck galley, remains. Similar to the set up on the 75, the helm station features a series of flat display screens, which can be tilted or moved up and down for best results; on the LSX 92 there will be three, wider screens that will provide 3D images. The main deck can be set up in different ways. One layout, designed to appeal more to the North American market, includes a bar area and a full dining table aft of the main salon, while a more European concept favors an abundance of seating with hi-lo tables.
Although tweaking and adjustments are still being made at this stage, Dick Lazzara says about 98 percent of the way the yacht now appears on the outside and 95 percent of the interior plans will remain. Some things still need working out, such as a special snow-white metallic paint with a speckled effect and the finalized IPS system. Volvo has a trailer on site, and engineers from the Volvo factory probably will be taking permanent residence in Tampa within a few weeks, as they did with the LSX 75. Right now Dick Lazzara says the shipyard is confident it will meet its deadline. Check back with us for an update on the making of the LSX 92 in our October/November issue.
