When it comes to luxury yachts, two distinct categories often captivate enthusiasts: sports yachts and flybridges. Both offer unique and alluring features, making the decision between them a delightful challenge. In this article, we explore the characteristics, advantages, and appeal that separate these popular yacht types.
The flybridge and sports yacht, two icons of modern motor yacht culture, were once very different beasts. Previously, sports yachts were far smaller, and their design was almost completely focused on delivering high speed and excellent handling.
Flybridge Yachts
Flybridge yachts offer a combination of luxury and outdoor living. They are defined by their elevated outdoor deck, the flybridge, which provides panoramic views and serves as a spacious oasis for relaxation and entertainment.
These yachts prioritize both interior comfort and leisurely cruising, making them ideal for those who value relaxation at sea. Flybridge yachts come in various sizes and benefit from a seamless flow between indoor and outdoor spaces. They also deliver commanding views from the helm.
The evolution of the flybridge yacht has enhanced its interior. Notably, the salon and master cabin have transitioned from being merely spacious to truly spectacular. This transformation is the result of ingenious design concepts complemented by a bold incorporation of glass elements, introducing an entirely new panoramic dimension to the yacht's interior.
What sets the flybridge yacht apart is its freedom from the need to maintain a low and sleek profile, as demanded by sports yachts. This design liberty allows for an increase in interior headroom, a significant advantage, especially when considering that the interior layouts of flybridge and sports yachts often bear close resemblance to each other.
Sports Yachts
Sports yachts are the embodiment of dynamic performance and elegance. These vessels offer a unique fusion of speed and luxury, making them a favorite among enthusiasts. The defining characteristics of sports yachts include their sporty performance, sleek design, and well-appointed interiors.
These yachts are equipped with powerful engines that allow them to reach impressive speeds, providing an exhilarating and agile cruising experience. The responsive handling and impressive acceleration make them ideal for those who relish the thrill of being out on the open water.
Sports yachts are also known for their sleek and streamlined designs, often featuring a low profile and contemporary aesthetics. Despite their sporty nature, these vessels do not compromise on luxury and often feature stylish interiors with spacious cabins, saloons, and staterooms. It is worth noting that most of the interior gains seen with flybridge yachts are now enjoyed by sports yachts which have become physically larger to enable them to offer more accommodation. The arrival of hardtops also allowed sports yachts to enjoy a luxurious deck salon, equal to that of a flybridge variant.
In some cases, yacht builders use the same hull and interior plan, adding a flybridge or sports hardtop superstructure, making the lines between each yacht type even more blurred.
On Deck
Winner: Flybridge
Both yachts offer an aft deck, and at approximately 15m (49ft), a forward lounging deck area. As a result, the flybridge has its advantages, with its lounging and dining options, a bar and BBQ, and the elevated driving position. Add an overhead T or hardtop to the flybridge and you can enjoy an even greater sense of luxury.
The sports yacht, however, benefits from a lower profile and an aft cockpit that is usually more spacious and works harder to impress. Here, surround seating and a sunpad feature, in addition to a tender garage and neat stowage compartments.
The relationship between the cockpit and the salon can also be more fluid on a sports yacht, with large doors folding away to create an open living space. That being said, both yacht types now offer this, with some builders creating fold-down terraces that take life on deck to new levels.
Salon
Draw
With so many layouts and designs to choose from, we will focus on salon space and features. The one caveat we will make is to mention galley aft layouts which are available on both yacht types, and for the budget, offer the best possible salon, serving the deck and interior equally well.
Both yachts offer bright salons flanked by huge windows, but the flybridge often enjoys slightly more space, a feeling enhanced by its superior headroom. The flybridge salon’s extra space also creates the opportunity to fit in separate seating and dining areas — a real bonus if you like to dine onboard. By contrast, the sports yacht tends to promote al fresco dining in its cockpit.
The sports yacht salon is certainly not lacking in space, however, and adds in some real spectacle with its sunroof and open cockpit access combined to create a fantastic backdrop.
So, if you like to eat onboard it's the flybridge, but if a sense of occasion is what you're after, then it’s the sports yacht.
Cabins
Winner: Flybridge
Given that many builders offer the same below-deck layouts for their sports and flybridge yachts, it is the extra headroom sometimes enjoyed by the flybridge that sets these yachts apart.
The flybridge yacht's taller structure allows designers to eke out every inch of space, resulting in a cabin that you’d want to spend time in.
Both yachts, however, usually benefit from a full-beam master suite amidships, enjoying excellent hull-side glass sections, and forward guest quarters.
Performance
Winner: Sports Yacht
Sports yachts should be faster and more nimble than their heavier, cruising-focused flybridge counterpart. For those builders that still offer proper sports yacht hulls with deeper vees and more power, there is a clear winner.
Modern homogenized hulls are where sports and flybridge yachts align, and perhaps this is less about the dumbing down of sporting capability and more about creating reliable yet responsive handling. It is also about delivering cruising economies that remain steady across the planing rev range.
Value
Draw
Flybridge pricing tends to be slightly higher as builders have to create and fit out slightly more yachts. This fact alone suggests that the flybridge is the better overall option as it offers you a more usable yacht. As we have seen though, the degrees of separation between the two yacht types are thin at best.
It may be that the lower price of a sports yacht is all the value you need, or that the slightly higher cost of a flybridge is warranted due to its extra deck.
Verdict
Overall Winner: Flybridge
On paper, sports yachts and flybridges have different styles but are becoming more similar each year. If your style of yachting means spending hours, rather than weeks afloat, then the sports yacht makes sense. Add in a more rewarding driving experience and the sports yacht might just win by a nose — as all great sports stars should.
The competition between the two, however, is fierce, and the flybridge is the ultimate modern cruising package. The yacht type offers more space and options for those onboard, facilitating additional comfort for extended periods at sea. Despite the two iconic designs sharing similar levels of performance and design, the flybridge comes out on top as the winner due to its highly versatile design language.
