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ELFJE yacht NOT for charter*

51.8m  /  169'11 | royal huisman | 2014.

Owner & Guests

Cabin Configuration

• 1 Convertible
• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Impressive 3,690nm range
• Multi-award winning
• Lloyds Register classification
• Interior design from RWD
• Sleeps 8 overnight

The multi-award winning 51.8m/169'11" classic yacht 'Elfje' was built by Royal Huisman in the Netherlands at their Vollenhove shipyard. Her interior is styled by British designer design house RWD and she was delivered to her owner in August 2014. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of Hoek Design.

Guest Accommodation

Elfje has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 8 guests in 4 suites. She is also capable of carrying up to 5 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Range & Performance

Elfje is built with a aluminium hull and aluminium superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by 1 x diesel Scania (DI 16) 740hp engines, she comfortably cruises at 10 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 12 knots with a range of up to 3,690 nautical miles from her 22,420 litre fuel tanks at 10 knots. Her water tanks store around 5,500 Litres of fresh water. She was built to Lloyds Register classification society rules, and is MCA Compliant.

*Charter Elfje Sail Yacht

Sail yacht Elfje is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Elfje Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Elfje Photos

Elfje Awards & Nominations

• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2015 Exterior Design & Styling Award: Sailing Yachts Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2015 Interior Design Award: Sailing Yachts Finalist
• The ShowBoats Design Awards 2015 Naval Architecture Award: Sailing Yachts Winner
• The World Superyacht Awards 2015 Sailing Yacht of 45m and above Finalist
• International Superyacht Society Awards 2015 Best Sail 40 M+ Winner
• International Superyacht Society Awards 2015 Best Interior Winner

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Specification

S/Y Elfje

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WENDY’S HOUSE: ELFJE

Here, we find out the unique path that American philanthropist Wendy Schmidt’s primary Superyacht took into being. 

Article by TIDE-magazine.com (issue 7, 2024)

Wendy Schmidt’s first sailing experience did little to foreshadow the role that boats would later come to play in her life. In fact, I can almost hear her shrugging when I ask her about it. “I have a memory from my childhood when I was nine years old,” she recounts. “We took a family trip to Bermuda – it was the only aeroplane trip we ever took. My three brothers were in the cockpit of a 20ft sailboat on some sort of tourist experience. I’m sitting behind – my head is tossed back and I’m super relaxed. I was having a different experience to them.”

It would take another 42 years before Schmidt sailed again. Yet today she is the owner of multiple boats, from wooden motor launches to carbon-fibre racers. One of the fleet stands out in particular: the 46m Elfje . With her 6m-long bowsprit, towering ketch rig and pilot cutter looks, she is easy on the eye in the same way as all the great classically proportioned yachts. Make no mistake, though: this is a decidedly modern boat that was delivered as recently as 2014.

Her creator, along with Schmidt herself, is Dutch designer André Hoek. His studio, in an old orphanage in the town of Edam, is one of the best in the world at combining the beauty of classic lines with stateof- the-art naval architecture – and it is this which imparts Elfje ’s unmistakable character. “She’s one of the favourites in our design office – of our achievements,” says Ruurt Meulemans, partner at Hoek Design. “ Elfje came out really nicely sailing-wise and in aesthetics. Wendy gave us plenty of opportunities to excel.”

Schmidt remembers how the idea of Elfje grew out of the positive experience of her friend Bill Joy, who was building 58m Ethereal at Royal Huisman at the time. “In some sense, we chose the yard before we had chosen someone to design it or even knew what kind of boat we would build,” she says. “There is a whole community around Huisman.

“Then we interviewed all the leading design firms and fell in love with André Hoek. He had aquarelle   when we realised that we were talking to an artist and thought, ‘he’s the one for us’.” Schmidt then went on to choose Redman Whiteley Dixon for the interior.

Now, having appointed some of the world’s pre-eminent designers and a yard with a track record in large sailing boats, some owners would have been tempted to hand things off to a management team. But for Schmidt, the three-and-a-half-year project was a reward in its own right, and she instituted full team meetings every six weeks in locations from New York and Nantucket to the UK and the Netherlands. “It became as much of a social experience as it was a technical one,” she remembers. “I insisted in the beginning that we get everyone on the same drawing – it normally goes from department to department, but we thought this gave room for miscommunication. With everybody present, everything can move in lockstep. I like to do all my projects that way – I believe in transparency, openness.”

“It became as much of a social experience as it was a technical one… With everybody present, everything can move in lockstep”

With lines rooted in Hoek’s favoured ‘pilot cutter’ aesthetic, the beauty of the yacht was always front and centre. Thanks to the plumb bow and relatively low freeboard, her twin deckhouses – one containing a guest lounge and the other a dedicated owner’s space – look ravishingly sleek and low-slung. “She is so nicely balanced in the looks and the proportions of the deckhouse,” says Meulemans.

His real focus was below the waterline, however, where five different hull lines were developed. They were all put through Hoek’s CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics] programme and the best one built as a 6m model for tank testing at the Marin laboratory. “She was going to be a cruising yacht, but she had to do very well on the racecourse as well,” adds Meulemans. “She has a lifting keel and spade rudder.”

The carbon-fibre masts and booms are by Southern Spars, with standing rigging in ECsix. That bowsprit alone is capable of withstanding 150 tonnes of compressive force (that’s the weight of a jumbo jet), with headsail and Code sail furling gear built into its underside. Elfje could have had a sloop rig as well, but the design team felt she would be more manageable as a ketch with more sail settings. “Enjoying your sailing is always in part about the kind of sail combinations you can set in different conditions,” he says.

Elfje was to be an efficient yacht, especially given that Schmidt has long been publicly vocal about the need to protect the ocean and manage its resources better. Under sail, that meant good speeds in low wind conditions, and a rig that could be handled relatively easily. Elfje can manage 7 knots in a 5-knot zephyr. What’s more, by extending the lifting keel to its maximum 7.10m, less weight is needed to achieve the required righting moment. When retracted to just 4.50m, the boat can access the world’s Superyacht marinas and anchorages.

Technically, it’s a similar story. Royal Huisman calls her a NextGEN Ketch, because she benefitted from a new way of thinking about power management on board. The key here is her variable speed generators, which are lighter, quieter and up to 10 per cent more fuel-efficient than their conventional counterparts. A large lithium battery bank can mop up any excess power or boost generator output when demand is high.

“People got quite excited about the innovations on the boat,” says Schmidt. “It’s not that cutting-edge today, I wouldn’t say that. With the variable speed generator our goal was [to be] lightweight and efficient. We also have a generator on the main engine drive shaft so that when we’re under way, we don’t have to run the main generator. These big changes have held up.”

Delivered on deadline and to budget, Elfje wasted no time by scoring a joint first place in her inaugural Bucket Race, where she crossed the finish line neck-and-neck with 55m Adela . She has appeared at a couple of subsequent Buckets too, but it’s fair to say that this sort of racing is not Schmidt’s cup of tea. “We had up to 45 crew on board with the spinnaker, and to me it became a little more than it was worth as an experience,” she says. “When you’re racing in a Superyacht regatta, you announce on the radio five minutes beforehand that you’re planning to tack. It’s very procedural.”

Schmidt prefers to race her other boats, including the new 26m carbon-fibre flyer Deep Blue . The strength of Elfje is as a cruising yacht. “She’s wonderful to have as a mothership,” says Schmidt. “She is very elegant; very easy. The interior is comfortable – we were thinking almost ‘beach house’ – very counter to the polished mahogany of these big boats. We wanted to feel fresh air and light. I didn’t want to run into corners everywhere, so the furniture is rounded.”

Redman Whiteley Dixon describes its concept for the boat as “between traditional and modern, freshly interpreted for modern living”. The cabins play with textures including linen, silk, velvet and cashmere, while European walnut and light oak make up the flooring and cabinetry throughout. Great attention was paid to the progression of different spaces internally. The owner’s private suite is positioned aft with its own deck lounge and a saloon featuring a so-called “oculus table” – a window panel in the hull that allows you to watch the seabed and sea life below the boat.

“Delivered on deadline and to budget, Elfje wasted no time by scoring a joint first place in her inaugural Bucket Race”

Besides the owner’s magnificent suite, there are two dedicated guest cabins. Four crew cabins are finished to similar standards as the guest areas. “I wanted all the crew areas on the boat to feel just as homey [with] the same materials – we didn’t downgrade the materials in the crew quarters.”

For someone who only came to sailing in her 50s, Wendy Schmidt has done more than most to pursue her passion. She says she always loved the sense of the wind, but suppressed her earliest sailing experience, thinking it was an activity that she didn’t have access to. How that’s changed. And yet, the excitement of her very first outing is still there in the way she speaks about her favourite boat. “All sailing gives you a connection to your environment – but on Elfje it’s a very direct feedback system. It’s a feeling of quiet power.”

Ocean philanthropy

Wendy and her husband Eric Schmidt have been very active in philanthropy. Through the Schmidt Family Foundation and other philanthropic initiatives, the couple has pledged billions of dollars for a vast array of projects and issues, ranging from human rights and clean energy to environmental journalism and scientific research.

Ocean health is also a big part of the mix, through the Schmidt Ocean Institute, which offers the 111m research vessel Falkor (too) to scientists worldwide for free to conduct marine research in exchange for making their findings publicly available. In 2010, Wendy launched 11th Hour Racing to combine her love of sailing and concern for ocean health. Competing on some of the biggest stages in sail racing, the 11th Hour Racing Team that she sponsors has had impressive results – notably winning the gruelling Ocean Race last year (2023) with Charlie Enright at the helm.

“The platform of The Ocean Race, and partnering with them as a sustainability partner, helps to drive new practices throughout the whole organisation,” says Schmidt. “You get the microphone when your team wins!” Her 11th Hour had a measurable impact on the race, with zero-waste race villages and seawater sampling equipment carried on the boats. “The data that has been coming in has been unprecedented.

These are very remote places where your nearest human is in the Space Station. When you’re finding plastics here, it’s telling you something about the scale of the problem,” finishes Schmidt.

Winners of The Honours announced  27 September 2023

Congratulations to the winners of The Honours, which recognise the world’s most inspirational people in superyachting. The first three recipients of a coveted Bowsprit award were celebrated at the inaugural Honours event in Monaco. Ocean conservation advocate and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt, superyacht First Officer and industry DEI proponent Jenny Matthews, and business strategist turned Director at YachtAid Global Zoran Selakovic were feted at a special dinner event.

The Honours was conceived as an opportunity for the superyacht industry to recognise the extraordinary people making a difference behind the scenes, taking the focus away from the yachts and placing the spotlight firmly on the good that happens in the day-to-day superyachting life.

Read on and find the Q&A with Wendy Schmidt, winner of The Honours, at this website: news > inhuis stories & updates [ link ]

Royal Huisman – ELFJE

With her exterior lines and interior layout by Hoek Design and interior styling by Redman Whiteley Dixon, the 52.36m / 172ft NextGEN ketch Elfje is not only beautiful to behold with stunning aesthetics and amenities, she also has high-tech systems and sailing performance to match.

The design brief called for a luxury yacht finessed to deliver across all criteria and remain cutting-edge well into the future. For this reason, Elfje has been called a “NextGEN” ketch to highlight her owner’s focus on maximising innovation, sustainability and energy efficiency.

Usage was a key component of the project planning to identify important “must have” attributes, as well as possible constraints, of Elfje’s detailed specification. In broad terms, the owner wanted a beautiful sailing yacht to go anywhere in the world, from tropical cruising grounds to the higher latitudes as far afield as Antarctica and the Arctic.

To meet the owner’s wide-ranging brief and apart from the obvious requirement for seaworthiness in all conditions, the yacht had to be equipped for remote extended cruising with adequate fuel, provisioning and operational resources. In the interests of operating the yacht safely in exotic regions, the installed systems had to be advanced, but also relatively simple and thoroughly reliable.

From the start there was a strong emphasis on performance. Not just for the enjoyment of swift passage- making, but also because the owner intended to race Elfje. That meant the hydraulic sail handling systems had to be fast and efficient across the full spectrum. Whereas passage-making might require two or three hydraulic functions at one time, a race environment with up to 30 competitive sailors on board could mean upward of 15 power– hungry hydraulic functions being called upon simultaneously.

An opportunity to show her racing pedigree came during the 2015 St. Barths Bucket an event co-stewarded by Royal Huisman. At the end of a hard-fought battle Elfje shared overall victory in the Elegantes des Mers class — a remarkable podium result in her debut regatta.

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Yachting World

• Digital Edition

First video of the stunning new Hoek designed 52m Royal Huisman ketch Elfje

• Toby Hodges
• March 17, 2015

The Hoek Design Elfje, built by Dutch masters Royal Huisman, was launched last summer and these are some of the first images and videos of this standout ketch

Royal Huisman ketch Elfje, designed by Hoek Credit: Cory Silken

There have been a couple of standout plumb bow superyacht ketches launched in recent years, namely the Dykstra designed Hetairos and Kamaxitha. This latest model from Hoek Design called Elfje, looks equally sensational. Like Kamaxitha, she was built by Dutch masters Royal Huisman, and launched last summer.

This first video, released on the eve of her racing debut at the St Barth’s Bucket this week, whets the appetite for the performance potential of this the 52.36m (172ft) ketch. In her class is the fellow Hoek-designed ketch Marie, a 55m Vitters build that is out to defend last year’s Bucket victory.

Behind Elfje’s timeless lines lies some intriguing modern technology. Hoek Design’s Ruurt Meulemans says her owner would not compromise on looks or performance (both in operational and engineering terms). The Hoek team analysed the lines plans of five hulls with CFD, before tank-testing the preferred shape using a 20ft model (now hanging over Andre Hoek’s desk). Vee sections have been built in forward, designed to avoid the slamming tendencies performance shapes with plumb ends can be subject to.

Performance is a prime target so trim tabs were added to the keel at design stage. Andre Hoek feels these should help with pointing and accelerating out of tacks if they are added. She also has a T-keel that lifts to deck level, reducing draught from 7.10 m (23ft) to 4.50m (15ft), plus carbon rudder, rig and rigging. And the whole hull has been fared smooth, a race boat tactic that is becoming a trend at Royal Huisman.

An innovative feature is the headstay furler that has been designed into the bowsprit, posing a stress load challenge for manufacturers Southern Spars. The bobstay fittings have also been cleverly integrated into an extraordinarily fine forefoot, connected to a titanium reinforcement tube within the hull.

The whitewashed oak interior, styled by Beaulieu-based Redman Whiteley Dixon, has a very stylish modern retro feel. A neat feature is a window in the owner’s saloon table that projects right through the hull.

Two variable speed generators and a flywheel generator by Whisper Power generate economic power. These are designed to run at optimum rpm for less pollution, with peak loads available from a lithium battery bank – all of which helps make Elfje a highly contemporary superyacht cloaked in beautifully traditional aesthetics. Elaine Bunting will reporting from the Bucket, which runs from 19-22 March.

Video by Acquafilms

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The magical Elfje Sailing Yacht will take your breath away

By Victor Baker

Updated on August 31, 2017

The  Elfje  sailing yacht might just be a game-changer, designed by the talented team at Hoek Design Naval Architects to be elegant and cruise the seven seas in comfort and at fast speeds. The Hoek Design studio teamed up with Redman Whiteley Dixon to introduce the ultimate performance sailing yacht, a structural and technical marvel that could be easily considered a modern classic.

Providing passengers with a comfortable, eco-friendly environment, Elfje  features provisions storage as well as advanced, reliable equipment onboard. Its interiors boast low freeboards and deckhouses, resulting in a clutter free and efficient hands-on sailing environment. The vessel’s clean flush teak deck, set on top of a custom soft-grey hull,hints towards an old-school pilot cutter.

Elfje  passengers may enjoy several social areas; for instance, the cockpit is where 8 guests will experience the ultimate dining experience while at anchor, around a large foldable table. Furthermore, guests may also relax in a wind-free setting on one of the four separate L-shaped sofas, or in the private aft cockpit which includes an U-shaped sunpad, a small breakfast table and a two deck couch.

I think you got the picture by now; this vessel blends all your favorite activities in a sublime manner, proving that life on the high seas is worth living.

With the intention of racing Elfje in sailing regattas, the yacht has been optimized to be able to cruise fast and also operate at a professional level with a team of skilled sailors on board. Advanced hydraulic sail handling systems designed to be fast and efficient have been installed to achieve this. Two beautifully designed helm stations not only serve as the yacht’s command centre, but with their elegant design, they will certainly prove to be a key discussion topic at meal times out in the main cockpit.

Redman Whiteley Dixon and the team at Pod Interior Style paid special attention to the interior design, giving this lovely sailing yacht a great feeling of spaciousness and mobility on board. The light color scheme is beautifully complemented by the darker European walnut flooring, while the curved shapes in staircases, passageways and meeting areas, along with the specially designed furniture comprised from a selection of exclusive materials such as silk and velvet remind you this is not a competition.

Elfje’s  piece de resistance is probably the master suite, where a private corridor leading forward and a staircase leading up to the owner’s deckhouse assures privacy. Furthermore, a custom glass topped ‘oculus’ table designed for viewing marine life, even at night, will definitely keep you up until dawn. Guests and cre members may take a nap inside three other cabins, a double, twin and a flex cabin.

Elfje will travel way further than you could ever imagine, because it’s been fitted with  a series of efficient generators, battery banks and main propulsion system. With an ingenious method to powering up the vessel, fuel efficiency can be achieved. Cruising at 10 knots allows Elfje to reach 3690nm. Dreaming of a class-act is easy, drawing it requires talent, but building the  Elfje  sailing yacht is an incredible feat.

[superyachttimes]

About Victor Baker

Victor is our go-to associate editor for anything with four wheels – and more! With over a decade of experience in automotive journalism, his expertise spans from classic cars to the latest in electric vehicle technology. Beyond vehicles, he has broadened his editorial reach to cover a wide range of topics, from technology and travel to lifestyle and environmental issues. Learn more about Luxatic's Editorial Process .

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Elfje Specifications

• Model Custom
• Hull NB 392
• Hull Colour -
• Naval Architect Hoek Design Naval Architects
• Exterior Designer
• Interior Designer RWD
• Length Overall 51.8m
• Length at Waterline 38.3m
• Draft (min) 4.5m
• Draft (max) -
• Gross Tonnage -
• Cabins Total -
• Hull Configuration -
• Hull Material -
• Superstructure -
• Deck Material -
• Fuel Type -
• Manufacturer -
• Total Power -
• Propulsion -
• Max Speed -
• Cruising Speed -
• Fuel Capacity -
• Water Capacity -
• Generator -
• Stabilizers -
• Thrusters -
• Amenities -
• Yacht Builder Royal Huisman No profile available
• Naval Architect Hoek Design Naval Architects No profile available
• Interior Designer RWD No profile available

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On board with sailing yacht owner and philanthropist Wendy Schmidt

“Wealth is a responsibility,” superyacht owner Wendy Schmidt tells Georgie Ainslie. So she built the fuel-efficient, 46 metre ketch Elfje – and founded 11th Hour Racing, to help safeguard the oceans.

Wendy Schmidt could do nothing for the rest of her life. She could jet from one seven-star destination to another, embraced forever in a world of supreme luxury that only 10 billion in the bank can guarantee. But that’s not her style. Instead, she’s taken on the small task of trying to save the world’s oceans – and building her very own sailing yacht to race on them.

I first met Wendy last year at the launch of my husband Ben’s ( Sir Ben Ainslie ) bid for the America’s Cup . In between talk of the Cup and what the Duchess of Cambridge was wearing, she said: “Only five per cent of the ocean floor has been mapped to date, so we know more about the backside of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean.”

Since then we’ve met in trustee meetings for the 1851 Trust, or at dinners – but today, over tea in London’s Knightsbridge Hotel, it’s all about her. And I want to know why she’s taken on a problem as immense as the oceans. That, as Wendy explains, might just be “a Silicon Valley way of thinking. I’ve watched a revolution happen in 35 years or less, so when people say to me we can’t change this, I say, really? We’ve changed the way we do absolutely everything”.

As the wife of Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt, who has amassed a $9.1 billion fortune innovating technology and changing the way we communicate, you can’t blame her for thinking anything is possible with ideas and application. “We’ve been extremely lucky in our lives. You have to make a decision about what you’re going to do with that. Wealth is a responsibility, one way or another,” she says, alluding to the Schmidt Family Foundation, and its 11th Hour Project, founded in 2006 to support the wiser use of our energy, food and water resources in a world where, Wendy and Eric contend, “everything is connected”.

The 11th Hour Racing project, based in Newport, Rhode Island, works to engage sailors and the maritime industry in stewardship of the oceans, through sponsorship of regattas and sailing teams, and by supporting the development of new environmentally friendly production practices in the industry. It’s an approach Wendy applied to the building of her boat, the 46.4 metre eco-friendly yacht Royal Huisman Elfje , designed to use as little fuel as possible. She is not a woman to do things by halves, and by her own admission, sailing has taken over her life since she got into the sport eight years ago.

“A friend from California who also spends summers on Nantucket convinced me to buy a boat with the promise of match racing his boat one day. So I agreed to purchase a 46ft (14 metre) W Class wooden sloop that Eric and I travelled to the Caribbean to check out in the spring of 2007. The children were grown, and I thought, why not? I didn’t know how to race, or even how to sail but I knew I liked to be a passenger on a boat,” she remembers.

“As a condition of the purchase, my friend solved all the logistical problems, arranging for the boat to travel from Antigua to Nantucket, hiring me a captain, and getting the boat a mooring. That was the beginning. Her captain taught me how to sail and I was surprised to discover, looking back, that we had sailed every day that summer, all the way into September.”

For Wendy, who helms her own boats, “sailing is a conversation with the wind. Sometimes it’s a wonderful conversation, and sometimes a scary conversation. In helming I found myself able to focus on something so small as a fraction of a degree, yet so large at the same time. I found that really interesting”.

In the winter of 2008, when she and Eric were home in California, Wendy missed sailing so much that she and her captain entered a classic yacht regatta in the Caribbean the following spring. But three days before she flew to meet the boat, the charter fell through.

Without any other classic boats working out for the race, Wendy agreed to sidestep the original plan and instead cruise for the week aboard a Swan 80 called Selene . When she returned, she told Eric it was the best holiday she had ever had. Later that year, on her birthday, her husband presented her with a gift: a Swan 80 called Selene .

“Suddenly I had a crew and a big boat and I had to learn all about it. The following March we entered Selene into the Heineken Regatta in St Maarten. It was a year of extraordinary conditions. I think we had 10-foot seas and up to 35 knots of wind. I was at the helm and I just followed directions. I hung on and drove the boat into conditions that would really worry me now, but ignorance is bliss, I suppose, and we went on to win.”

Is winning important to her? “I usually helm when I’m on board. Most anyone can drive a boat, but can they drive it well? I work to drive well. Winning is a nice affirmation, but frankly, I love being number two. Nobody is trying to knock you off the pedestal.”

Teamwork is a Wendy Schmidt watchword. I get the impression she is a strong believer in collaborative as well as independent thinking. Certainly when it came to conceiving, designing and building her biggest sailing project to date, the Andre Hoek -designed ketch Elfje , those working on the yacht were encouraged to make decisions together.

“It started as a discussion of what would a boat be, what do you want in a boat; there are so many things you could have. Somehow we arrived at the idea of a ketch. I had worked as an interior designer for 16 years so I wanted to be very involved visually. My grandmother, I’m told, got off her deathbed to rearrange the furniture, so I have that in me.”

Was there any Silicon Valley thinking applied in the design? “I did do things differently. Normally when someone builds a yacht like this they go from naval architect to engineering to shipyard to interiors and everybody passes along drawings at each stage. I wanted to make things simpler and said we would all sit down with one drawing from the first day. They told me they didn’t work like that – but I can be very persuasive and said let’s try it.

“When you’re designing a sailboat it’s like a 3D crossword puzzle. You have a narrow hull and want it to be light and to be fast, but also to be comfortable. You’re going to have to compromise about what you think you want.”

What about the people charged with the task of designing Elfje Wendy’s way? “I chose Andre Hoek as our naval architect because he has such a good artistic sense. We just clicked, we understood each other and I knew it was going to be fun. A lot of it has to do with chemistry.”

Although Wendy previously owned and ran her own interior design business, she was keen to get Redman Whiteley Dixon (RWD) on board. “I liked them because their background is in industrial design. They thought about every single thing from that perspective and made features functional and elegant. At the shipyard, we built mock-ups of actual-size cabins and cabin houses made out of plywood and tried different things out. We set up the entire engine room. We just laid everything out, and it was a good problem-solving exercise because, while the materials to build a boat are hardly sustainable, you can still advance the way you use energy better on a sailing boat.”

Design meetings took place in Holland, at the Royal Huisman yard and in Amsterdam, as well as in New York, Newport, Nantucket, London and Beaulieu in Hampshire, where RWD is based, to discuss every stage of Elfje ’s creation. From concept to finish, the yacht took four years to design, build and dress. At the end of all that, did she get what she wanted?

“I wanted to have what Selene meant to me – which was the best of both worlds: a boat that could be optimised for the course you wanted to sail and, at the same time, could be a very cosy and comfortable personal space if you wanted to cruise, and the two things wouldn’t be mutually exclusive.

“With Elfje , we made smart use of the space. We planned it carefully. People do wild things on boats, like put in bathtubs. I understood what I needed, which was a really good internet connection and curl-up-comfortable seating. One of my favourite design features on the boat is that anything you touch on deck or inside has a soft edge to it.”

Where most owners might want to keep crew and owner and guest areas separate, Wendy feels differently. “I wanted interaction between the owner and the crew and the guests because Selene had that. I want to sit at a table together, so we have a galley that can be opened up into a dining area. There is a herb garden in the galley where live plants can grow in front of the window. The space feels like a home.”

There is also a coffee table unlike any other. A Plexiglas tube cuts through the middle of it and through the hull, so sea life can be seen day and night. Last time on board, Wendy witnessed a giant octopus speed by.

With sustainability key to Wendy’s ethos it’s not surprising that she set up a system of variable generators on Elfje that trade off the load so the boat doesn’t have to use full power at all times, just when required. “We made a really good honest effort here to reduce fuel consumption. This boat will use a lot less fuel than a boat its size would normally do.”

So Elfje ticks the boxes in terms of performance, layout, comfort and is as green as she can be, but I’m still unsure how to pronounce her unusual name. Wendy knew she needed a name for the boat, and by the end of 2012 was growing weary of referring to the boat as Project 11/11, one of the numbers assigned to it at the shipyard. So she searched online – Google, surely – as she considered a name. She found the Dutch word for eleven – elf – and decided that wasn’t quite right, but then discovered elfje (“elf-yuh”), a form of Dutch poetry using only 11 words. Elfje also means angel or fairy.

With the number 11 cropping up all over the place, and it becoming something of an inside joke, Wendy announced one evening in Holland, in December 2012, to a table of – you’ve guessed it – 11 members of the design team, that their collaboration would be named Elfje .

As she remembers it, “Yard owner Alice Huisman responded in smiles and tears and, when asked why, she explained that Elfje was the very same name she and her sisters had been using for years, as a kind of code name for me at the yard when they referred to the project. So I knew I had arrived at the right name for our boat.”

And it would seem that for the woman who is on a mission to save the seas, she has created the perfect yacht (with good broadband, naturally) from which to do it.

This article first appeared in the July 2015 issue of Boat International .

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The Comprehensive Guide to Moscow Nightlife

• Posted on April 14, 2018 July 26, 2018
• by Kings of Russia
• 8 minute read

Moscow’s nightlife scene is thriving, and arguably one of the best the world has to offer – top-notch Russian women, coupled with a never-ending list of venues, Moscow has a little bit of something for everyone’s taste. Moscow nightlife is not for the faint of heart – and if you’re coming, you better be ready to go Friday and Saturday night into the early morning.

This comprehensive guide to Moscow nightlife will run you through the nuts and bolts of all you need to know about Moscow’s nightclubs and give you a solid blueprint to operate with during your time in Moscow.

What you need to know before hitting Moscow nightclubs

Prices in moscow nightlife.

Before you head out and start gaming all the sexy Moscow girls , we have to talk money first. Bring plenty because in Moscow you can never bring a big enough bankroll. Remember, you’re the man so making a fuzz of not paying a drink here or there will not go down well.

Luckily most Moscow clubs don’t do cover fees. Some electro clubs will charge 15-20$, depending on their lineup. There’s the odd club with a minimum spend of 20-30$, which you’ll drop on drinks easily. By and large, you can scope out the venues for free, which is a big plus.

Bottle service is a great deal in Moscow. At top-tier clubs, it starts at 1,000$. That’ll go a long way with premium vodka at 250$, especially if you have three or four guys chipping in. Not to mention that it’s a massive status boost for getting girls, especially at high-end clubs.

Without bottle service, you should estimate a budget of 100-150$ per night. That is if you drink a lot and hit the top clubs with the hottest girls. Scale down for less alcohol and more basic places.

Dress code & Face control

Door policy in Moscow is called “face control” and it’s always the guy behind the two gorillas that gives the green light if you’re in or out.

In Moscow nightlife there’s only one rule when it comes to dress codes:

You can never be underdressed.

People dress A LOT sharper than, say, in the US and that goes for both sexes. For high-end clubs, you definitely want to roll with a sharp blazer and a pocket square, not to mention dress shoes in tip-top condition. Those are the minimum requirements to level the playing field vis a vis with other sharply dressed guys that have a lot more money than you do. Unless you plan to hit explicit electro or underground clubs, which have their own dress code, you are always on the money with that style.

Getting in a Moscow club isn’t as hard as it seems: dress sharp, speak English at the door and look like you’re in the mood to spend all that money that you supposedly have (even if you don’t). That will open almost any door in Moscow’s nightlife for you.

Types of Moscow Nightclubs

In Moscow there are four types of clubs with the accompanying female clientele:

High-end clubs:

These are often crossovers between restaurants and clubs with lots of tables and very little space to dance. Heavy accent on bottle service most of the time but you can work the room from the bar as well. The hottest and most expensive girls in Moscow go there. Bring deep pockets and lots of self-confidence and you have a shot at swooping them.

Regular Mid-level clubs:

They probably resemble more what you’re used to in a nightclub: big dancefloors, stages and more space to roam around. Bottle service will make you stand out more but you can also do well without. You can find all types of girls but most will be in the 6-8 range. Your targets should always be the girls drinking and ideally in pairs. It’s impossible not to swoop if your game is at least half-decent.

Basic clubs/dive bars:

Usually spots with very cheap booze and lax face control. If you’re dressed too sharp and speak no Russian, you might attract the wrong type of attention so be vigilant. If you know the local scene you can swoop 6s and 7s almost at will. Usually students and girls from the suburbs.

Electro/underground clubs:

Home of the hipsters and creatives. Parties there don’t mean meeting girls and getting drunk but doing pills and spacing out to the music. Lots of attractive hipster girls if that is your niche. That is its own scene with a different dress code as well.

What time to go out in Moscow

Moscow nightlife starts late. Don’t show up at bars and preparty spots before 11pm because you’ll feel fairly alone. Peak time is between 1am and 3am. That is also the time of Moscow nightlife’s biggest nuisance: concerts by artists you won’t know and who only distract your girls from drinking and being gamed. From 4am to 6am the regular clubs are emptying out but plenty of people, women included, still hit up one of the many afterparty clubs. Those last till well past 10am.

As far as days go: Fridays and Saturdays are peak days. Thursday is an OK day, all other days are fairly weak and you have to know the right venues.

The Ultimate Moscow Nightclub List

Short disclaimer: I didn’t add basic and electro clubs since you’re coming for the girls, not for the music. This list will give you more options than you’ll be able to handle on a weekend.

Preparty – start here at 11PM

Classic restaurant club with lots of tables and a smallish bar and dancefloor. Come here between 11pm and 12am when the concert is over and they start with the actual party. Even early in the night tons of sexy women here, who lean slightly older (25 and up).

The second floor of the Ugolek restaurant is an extra bar with dim lights and house music tunes. Very small and cozy with a slight hipster vibe but generally draws plenty of attractive women too. A bit slower vibe than Valenok.

Very cool, spread-out venue that has a modern library theme. Not always full with people but when it is, it’s brimming with top-tier women. Slow vibe here and better for grabbing contacts and moving on.

High-end: err on the side of being too early rather than too late because of face control.

Secret Room

Probably the top venue at the moment in Moscow . Very small but wildly popular club, which is crammed with tables but always packed. They do parties on Thursdays and Sundays as well. This club has a hip-hop/high-end theme, meaning most girls are gold diggers, IG models, and tattooed hip hop chicks. Very unfavorable logistics because there is almost no room no move inside the club but the party vibe makes it worth it. Strict face control.

Close to Secret Room and with a much more favorable and spacious three-part layout. This place attracts very hot women but also lots of ball busters and fakes that will leave you blue-balled. Come early because after 4am it starts getting empty fast. Electronic music.

A slightly kitsch restaurant club that plays Russian pop and is full of gold diggers, semi-pros, and men from the Caucasus republics. Thursday is the strongest night but that dynamic might be changing since Secret Room opened its doors. You can swoop here but it will be a struggle.

Mid-level: your sweet spot in terms of ease and attractiveness of girls for an average budget.

Started going downwards in 2018 due to lax face control and this might get even worse with the World Cup. In terms of layout one of the best Moscow nightclubs because it’s very big and bottle service gives you a good edge here. Still attracts lots of cute girls with loose morals but plenty of provincial girls (and guys) as well. Swooping is fairly easy here.

I haven’t been at this place in over a year, ever since it started becoming ground zero for drunken teenagers. Similar clientele to Icon but less chic, younger and drunker. Decent mainstream music that attracts plenty of tourists. Girls are easy here as well.

Sort of a Coyote Ugly (the real one in Moscow sucks) with party music and lots of drunken people licking each others’ faces. Very entertaining with the right amount of alcohol and very easy to pull in there. Don’t think about staying sober in here, you’ll hate it.

Artel Bessonitsa/Shakti Terrace

Electronic music club that is sort of a high-end place with an underground clientele and located between the teenager clubs Icon and Gipsy. Very good music but a bit all over the place with their vibe and their branding. You can swoop almost any type of girl here from high-heeled beauty to coked-up hipsters, provided they’re not too sober.

Afterparty: if by 5AM  you haven’t pulled, it’s time to move here.

Best afterparty spot in terms of trying to get girls. Pretty much no one is sober in there and savage gorilla game goes a long way. Lots of very hot and slutty-looking girls but it can be hard to tell apart who is looking for dick and who is just on drugs but not interested. If by 9-10am you haven’t pulled, it is probably better to surrender.

The hipster alternative for afterparties, where even more drugs are in play. Plenty of attractive girls there but you have to know how to work this type of club. A nicer atmosphere and better music but if you’re desperate to pull, you’ll probably go to Miks.

Weekday jokers: if you’re on the hunt for some sexy Russian girls during the week, here are two tips to make your life easier.

Chesterfield

Ladies night on Wednesdays means this place gets pretty packed with smashed teenagers and 6s and 7s. Don’t pull out the three-piece suit in here because it’s a “simpler” crowd. Definitely your best shot on Wednesdays.

If you haven’t pulled at Chesterfield, you can throw a Hail Mary and hit up Garage’s Black Music Wednesdays. Fills up really late but there are some cute Black Music groupies in here. Very small club. Thursday through Saturday they do afterparties and you have an excellent shot and swooping girls that are probably high.

Shishas Sferum

This is pretty much your only shot on Mondays and Tuesdays because they offer free or almost free drinks for women. A fairly low-class club where you should watch your drinks. As always the case in Moscow, there will be cute girls here on any day of the week but it’s nowhere near as good as on the weekend.

In a nutshell, that is all you need to know about where to meet Moscow girls in nightlife. There are tons of options, and it all depends on what best fits your style, based on the type of girls that you’re looking for.

Related Topics

• moscow girls
• moscow nightlife

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