The Princess 105 is a hull that has aged unusually well, and BEACHFRONT II is a
good argument for why.
Delivered in 2012 and refitted through 2023, she is 32 metres of British
semi-displacement motor yacht built around a simple idea: put the owner on the
main deck, put the glass where the view is, and keep the boat fast enough that a
change of plan never costs the day. She cruises at 12 knots and has 25 available
when it matters – which, in the Bahamas, is the difference between reaching the
next anchorage before the light goes and not.
Her main deck is the argument. The saloon runs as one open volume, aft seating
flowing forward into the dining table with no bulkhead between them, and the
starboard side is given over to a wall of hand-set mercury-glass tile that
catches every change in the light outside. It is a genuinely distinctive
surface, and it stops what could have been a conventional cream-and-cherry
interior from reading as anything of the sort. White upholstery, pale carpet,
cherry frames, and that one wall doing all the work.
Forward of the saloon sits the on-deck master, and it is the reason to choose
her. Full-width glazing puts the water at eye level from the bed, the en suite
is finished in mosaic and stone with a full-height shower, and there is a
separate vanity. Waking on the main deck rather than below is a different
experience of a yacht, and few boats this size offer it.
Four further cabins below take the count to ten guests – three queens under
quilted headboards with oval portholes, and a twin finished in warm yellows.
Each has its own en suite. A cherry-lined companionway with a lit display niche
connects them, which sounds like a small thing until you have stayed on a yacht
where the guest circulation is an afterthought.
Topside, the flybridge carries a spa set into a teak surround, a sunroof over
the lounge beside it and a bar aft. The main deck aft is the shaded dining
space, open on three sides. Between them they cover the whole day – breakfast in
shade, afternoons in the spa, dinner under the overhang as the light drops.
Five crew run her, with stabilisers working both underway and at anchor, a full
water-toy inventory and a 32ft Intrepid tender on call. She cruises the Bahamas
year-round: the Exumas, Eleuthera, and the short hops out of Nassau.
What the Princess hull gives her, beyond the speed, is manners. The
semi-displacement form settles quickly, holds a line in the short chop that
builds across the Bahama Banks in the afternoon, and stays comfortable at
displacement speeds when there is no reason to hurry. Stabilisers work at anchor
as well as underway, which is the specification that decides whether a night in
an exposed anchorage is pleasant or merely survivable.
The 2023 refit reached the parts guests notice and the parts they do not.
Upholstery, carpet and soft goods throughout; systems, air conditioning and
entertainment brought current. She presents as a much newer yacht than her
delivery date suggests, and the mercury-glass wall – original to her, and still
her best idea – now sits against finishes that match its ambition.
She is a considered, current, thoroughly maintained 32-metre with one properly
memorable interior surface and an on-deck master that punches well above her
length. From $79,900 per week.
