THE NOBLE HISTORY OF ISTROS

ISTROS – which means inspiration in Greek – was launched by the Amsterdam Shipyard Ltd. of Gerard de Vries Lentsch Jr. in 1954 for the Pappadakis shipping family in Greece.
The yacht’s history, from its launch to a first refit in 1997, has not been well documented. What we do know was that at the time of her launch she was one of the largest ships built in the Netherlands. She had, style and grace and sailed across many seas.
In 2001 at the Prada Classic Yacht Show, she won the grand prize for Best Restored Vessel. She was later put up for sale and in 2013, a buyer stepped forward to acquire the yacht, which was in need of restoration. A strong design team, including H2 Yacht Design and Laurent Giles Naval Architects, began work on her.

Background

Unfortunately, the original rebuild project was abandoned due to lack of funds, so ISTROS sat untouched, waiting for another buyer to take her on and set upon completing the project. The new owner had her shipped to Malta for her extensive reconstruction, which included removing the original aluminium superstructure, as well as completely stripping the hull.

The second rebuild attempt also regrettably ground to a halt, and by July 2015 ISTROS was yet again sitting in a shipyard waiting for works to be completed, looking far from her old glorious self. Her hull was rusted, but the essence of the ship was there. The current owner saw her, fell in love with the soul of the boat, bought her and restarted what was to be its incredible refit.

Before the rebuilding work could start, the Owner, the Captain and Feadship supervised the complete dismantling of the yacht in Valetta, where she was stripped down to the bare hull. Originally, the plan was to carry out the steel work in Malta however it soon became apparent that the work required the expertise of Feadship in the Netherlands.

The whole concept behind ISTROS at the time of finding the hull, was to create a gentleman’s yacht that combined a classic soul with modern conveniences. The owner loves all things technical and with help of Feadship, we pushed the boundaries even further, because in some ways ISTROS is actually ahead of her time, which is absolutely fantastic for a 65-year-old hull.

-Captain Tristan LeBrun

The Incredible Reconstruction Journey

While the hull was undergoing a massive reconstruction, Feadship was fashioning a new aluminium superstructure to replace the old steel deckhouse removed in Malta. As there were very few original plans available and building started before the hull was on site, this depended entirely on laser measurements.

The same laser technology was used to measure the interior volumes once the welding work was completed and the hull had been stabilised. The result was a amazing combination of modern technologies teamed with a classic frame, which created a truly unique masterpiece.

Unfortunately, the original rebuild project was abandoned due to lack of funds, so ISTROS sat untouched, waiting for another buyer to take her on and set upon completing the project. The new owner had her shipped to Malta for her extensive reconstruction, which included removing the original aluminium superstructure, as well as completely stripping the hull.

The second rebuild attempt also regrettably ground to a halt, and by July 2015 ISTROS was yet again sitting in a shipyard waiting for works to be completed, looking far from her old glorious self. Her hull was rusted, but the essence of the ship was there. The current owner saw her, fell in love with the soul of the boat, bought her and restarted what was to be its incredible refit.

Before the rebuilding work could start, the Owner, the Captain and Feadship supervised the complete dismantling of the yacht in Valetta, where she was stripped down to the bare hull. Originally, the plan was to carry out the steel work in Malta however it soon became apparent that the work required the expertise of Feadship in the Netherlands.