Enter a wealthy former cricket star named Timur Mohamed, who was also having Palmer Johnson build him a boat. In January, Mohamed lent Palmer Johnson $1 million. He then bought the company's Savannah yard, plus a second Savannah yard, previously owned by WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers, where he planned to begin building smaller sporting yachts. Most important, he intended to build the boats under the Palmer Johnson name, because in return for the forgiveness of the $1 million loan, McKelvey sold him that too. (Palmer Johnson could also still use its name.)
‘The idea was to design a next generation Palmer Johnson superyacht that freed itself from the conventional compromises that yacht design generally seems to accept,’ says Timur Mohamed, owner of the iconic American yacht brand and former first-class cricketer. ‘Usually, efficient means slow; space and comfort mean a floating home with a forgettable design. Further, we decided to aim for exponential transformations in operational performance and the onboard experience, not incremental improvements.’ Finally, Mohamed wanted all this wrapped up in a package that was still recognisable as a muscular, sporty Palmer Johnson.