Project White Arrow is a 116-metre superyacht that exists, for now, only on paper. Moran Yacht & Ship and the Italian design studio Nuvolari Lenard unveiled it on 22 October as a concept “that is ready for build”, with a helipad, a full-size pickleball court, a working firepit and a large pool on the aft deck. There is no shipyard yet, and no owner. That is the idea. The name is styled WHITE ARROW, in capitals, on Moran’s page. The design work has been done, and the first buyer will choose where it is built. Moran presented the project on its website, with renderings and the main figures, and the release copy followed the same afternoon.
116 metres, 5,200 GT and nine staterooms
The figures are Moran’s. White Arrow measures 116 metres, or 380 feet, with a beam of 16.75 metres, and its volume is 5,200 GT. Gross tonnage measures enclosed volume rather than weight, and it is the figure the industry uses to compare large yachts. At 116 metres, White Arrow is longer than a football pitch. “That volume carries nine staterooms for 18 guests and quarters for a crew of 39”, Moran writes, which works out at more than two crew members for every guest. One whole deck belongs to the owner. “An entire deck is reserved for the owner, including a private lounge,” according to the design notes. Propulsion is diesel-electric. “The diesel-electric propulsion sits in a single-height engine room,” Moran adds. The release copy also describes large glazed surfaces that connect the interiors with the sea.
A pickleball court, a firepit and a helipad on deck
The outdoor decks carry the features that set the project apart. Moran lists “A wintergarden, a working firepit, a full-size pickleball court, and a large pool on the aft deck”. A regulation pickleball court measures 13.4 by 6.1 metres, or 44 by 20 feet, so the court alone is a serious claim on deck space. There is room for a helicopter too, so guests can arrive by air. Moran’s list goes on with “A helipad, two 12m tenders, two 7.1m tenders, and generous water toy storage”, and the garage takes all four tenders, 38.2 metres of boats in all. Lower down, “A large beach club leads straight into a spa with a sauna, a steam room, and two massage rooms.” Elsewhere, “A full-beam gym looks out over the water.”
Nuvolari Lenard and Moran: a design waiting for its yard
Moran Yacht & Ship, the brokerage and new-construction company, started the project through its new construction team, and Nuvolari Lenard drew it. The studio’s co-founders explain why a design can stop before the shipyard. “The most interesting projects are not necessarily those that arrive with every answer already defined,” says Dan Lenard. For Carlo Nuvolari, “A yacht of this scale gives you an extraordinary opportunity, but also a responsibility.” The next choice belongs to the buyer. According to Moran, “The owner retains control over the most important decisions”, starting with the yard. The Italian release copy puts it plainly: White Arrow “è pensato come base di partenza per un nuovo armatore”, conceived as a starting point for a new owner. The design notes give no price, no speed and no build time. A concept of this kind can change a great deal before steel is cut, and the owner’s brief will decide how much. Sean Moran, the managing director, puts it in one line.
“The groundwork on WHITE ARROW is complete.” Sean Moran, Managing Director, Moran Yacht & Ship
Months on board, and a yacht that works like a residence
The release copy places White Arrow in a wider change: owners increasingly live on board for months at a time, so a yacht of this size has to work more like a private residence. The deck plan follows from that. A gym across the full beam, a spa, a wintergarden and a court for a daily game read like the furniture of a long stay. White Arrow is not the only new concept of the season. ISA Yachts unveiled the 86-metre Poseidon concept on 21 October, as reported by BOAT International. In September, Benetti showed its 70-metre Project Clear Waves in Monaco, with seven cabins under a glass dome of 400 square metres, as in our report from Monaco. White Arrow is 46 metres longer. Size alone is not the story. Whichever yard builds it, the contract will be signed in a market where Italian yards hold 52 percent of the world’s superyacht order book, as in our report on the Genoa figures.
The Luxury.it perspective
White Arrow is an offer of time. A yacht of 116 metres takes years to go from first sketch to delivery, and a concept with its groundwork finished lets a buyer begin at the contract instead of the drawing board. The deck plan is the other message. A pickleball court and a firepit belong to owners who want sport in the morning and long evenings outdoors, on long stays at sea. The renderings show the intention. Nothing more is fixed. The yard, the interiors and the final figures will arrive with the owner, and until then White Arrow stays what Moran calls it, a 116-metre superyacht ready for build.
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