Cloudbreak
| 72 m LOA, 12.4 m beam, 2,308 GT | |
| Delivered 2016 after four years of development | |
| Exterior by Espen Oeino, interior by Liaigre | |
| Large certified helipad for heli-ski operations | |
| Range about 8,500 nm, top speed 15 knots | |
| 12 guests in six staterooms, crew of 22 | |
| Sauna, massage room and plunge pool | |
| Full surf, dive and expedition toy inventory |
An explorer built around two obsessions
Most explorer yachts are styling exercises wearing crossover clothes. Cloudbreak was commissioned around a concrete programme, chasing surf breaks across remote oceans and flying to untouched snow, and every major decision aboard serves it. The name itself belongs to one of the world's most famous waves, the Fijian break surfers cross oceans to reach. Four years of development with the yard went into making that programme workable at 72 metres, and the length of that gestation shows in how naturally the vessel wears her role.
The evidence is operational. A large certified helipad dominates the foredeck for the heli-ski missions, the garages swallow a quiver of surfboards, kiteboards, wakeboards, kayaks and full scuba equipment, and the crew complement of 22 includes the specialist support that expedition guests require. She was built to loiter for weeks off coastlines that have no marinas, and she has spent her career doing exactly that.
Espen Oeino's working envelope
The exterior comes from Espen Oeino, the most experienced explorer designer working, and it shows in the priorities. A high, capable bow, a mast and superstructure arranged around the helideck, long sheltered deck runs and a transom organised for water access in open sea. The look is rugged and purposeful, and it earned her a distinct identity in a fleet of white wedding cakes.
Oeino resisted the temptation to disguise the yacht's working character, and the honesty pays off visually. Cloudbreak photographs like a vessel with somewhere to be. For owners weighing an explorer, her exterior is a useful benchmark of what a serious brief looks like when a designer respects it, seakeeping first, silhouette second, and a profile that still manages considerable elegance.
Named after a wave, interior like an alpine lodge, and 8,500 miles of range to connect the two.
A chalet below decks
The interior belongs to the Paris house Liaigre and takes its cues from alpine lodges, muted natural textures, dark timber, leather and stone in place of the lacquer and marble of the Mediterranean fleet. The trade press reached instinctively for the phrase ski chalet, and the description fits. After a day in the water or on a glacier, guests come back to warmth.
Twelve guests sleep in six staterooms, supported by a sauna, massage room and a plunge pool positioned for the view. The contrast between the rugged envelope and the soft interior is deliberate and complete, and it resolved a problem most expedition yachts fail at, being genuinely comfortable to live aboard during the long passages that real exploring involves.
Range as the core specification
Cloudbreak's headline number is 8,500 nautical miles at cruising speed, drawn from twin Caterpillar engines that push her to 15 knots flat out. That range places the entire Pacific within reach between bunkerings, which is precisely what a surf-and-snow itinerary requires. Her 2,308 GT of volume rides on a 12.4 metre beam across the 72 metres Abeking and Rasmussen gives her, against the 75.28 the trade directories list, with steel below and aluminium above.
The seakeeping that makes such passages tolerable comes from the same naval-architecture office that designs the yard's pilot vessels for the North Sea. Guests judge a yacht in the anchorage, crews judge it in a seaway, and Cloudbreak's reputation among professional crew is as strong as any vessel in this library. For an expedition owner, that is the reference that matters.
The charter-proven expedition asset
Cloudbreak has maintained a high-profile charter career, marketed to guests who want the surf, dive and heli-ski programme with the crew infrastructure to deliver it safely. Expedition charter is a small and demanding niche, and she effectively defines its upper end. The revenue is real, and so is the operational shakedown that continuous chartering forces on a yacht and her systems.
As an asset class, true explorers of this calibre are scarce, and scarcity has protected their values as the wider market discovered remote cruising. Cloudbreak offers a buyer or charterer the rare combination of a genuine expedition capability, a Liaigre interior and an Abeking & Rasmussen build file. No other yacht in the fleet carries all three, and imitations have a way of revealing themselves in the first real sea.
Engines and systems
| Engines | Twin Caterpillar 3516C 16-cylinder diesels. Published power ratings conflict between sources - some cite 587 hp / 437 kW per engine, others roughly 2,020 hp / 1,500 kW per engine - not resolved in available public documentation. |
|---|---|
| Speed | Cruise 12 knots, maximum 15 knots. |
| Range | Reported between about 8,000 and 8,750 nm at 12 to 13 knots cruise, most commonly cited as 8,500 nm. |
| Fuel capacity | 220,000 litres. |
| Hull | Steel hull with ice-strengthened construction for polar operations, aluminium superstructure, full-displacement design. |
| Stabilizers | Described in press as an ultra-modern system including at-anchor zero-speed stabilizers; specific manufacturer not disclosed in sources found. |
| Generators | Housed in soundproofed compartments; make and output not disclosed in sources found. |
| Classification and flag | Flagged Cayman Islands. Classification society cited as Lloyd's Register by only one source, not independently corroborated. |
| Dimensions | Beam 12.4 m, draft 3.4 to 3.45 m, consistent across sources. |
| Helicopter | Certified commercial helideck with refuelling facility, built around a custom Bell 429 GlobalRanger, plus a dedicated pilot cabin. |
What owners and crew report
Old-school seamanship underpins the high-tech bridge
"Act as if you are the first guy there, don't believe anyone or rely on charts, use your eyes," said a former captain of his navigation approach, which he called Captain Cook navigation. He keeps traditional backup instruments on the bridge alongside the electronics, a habit formed cruising the Northwest Passage earlier in his career.
Max Cumming, former captain of CloudbreakSix seasons switching between Mediterranean charter and true expedition cruising
"Greece, Croatia and Italy are three countries with very different cultures," said a captain who ran Cloudbreak for six years through 2023, contrasting a Med season through the Ionian Islands, Croatia and Venice with expedition seasons in Alaska and Madagascar.
Jim Aladin, captain of Cloudbreak, 2017-2023The explorer brief was built for genuine outdoor use, not a marketing label
"Cloudbreak is for an outdoorsman and a lover of nature," said the exterior designer, who has separately discussed the yacht's heli-skiing and adventure-sport orientation.
Espen Oeino, exterior designerThe chalet interior was a deliberate warmth-and-light balance, not decoration
"It was very important to create a welcoming ambience," said the head of the interior design studio, describing the aim as making the space warm in the evenings and light-filled by day.
Guillaume Rolland, head of yacht design, Studio LiaigreA broker who has managed her since construction on why the design has lasted
The managing director of the agency that has run Cloudbreak's charter programme from construction onward called it "timeless, beautiful design."
Jim Evans, managing director, SuperYachtsMonaco
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Genuine, repeated expedition mileage, not just a marketing labelIndependently reported voyages across multiple seasons to Norway, Greenland, Alaska, the Galapagos, Fiji, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Seychelles and the Chagos region - an unusually well-corroborated cruising record for a yacht marketed as an explorer.
- Recognised by two of the industry's most-watched juriesWon a Neptune trophy at the 2017 World Superyacht Awards (Displacement Motor Yachts 1,500-2,999 GT) and Best Interior Layout and Design at the 2017 ShowBoats Design Awards, with further ShowBoats nominations for exterior design and lifestyle features.
- Real helicopter operations capability, not just a helipadCarries a certified commercial helideck with refuelling facility and a dedicated pilot cabin, built around a custom Bell 429 GlobalRanger - a materially higher spec than the bare helipad many explorer yachts advertise.
What to watch
- Published engine power figures conflict by an order of magnitudeSome brokerage listings cite the twin Caterpillar 3516C engines at only 587 hp / 437 kW each, while another yacht database cites roughly 2,020 hp / 1,500 kW each for the same engine model. No sea trial report or class document found resolves this - treat any single public power figure as unverified.
- Modest speed for a 75 metre yacht, by designA 12 knot cruise and 15 knot maximum on a full-displacement, ice-strengthened hull is slow next to non-expedition yachts of comparable size - the direct trade-off for range and sea-keeping, but it means long relocations take considerably longer.
- The owner's sanctions status has narrowed her cruising and brokerage mapOwner Alexander Svetakov has been under EU, US and Ukrainian sanctions since 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Cloudbreak has been reported barred from at least one UK port and, since 2022, has been tracked mainly in non-sanctioning jurisdictions - South Africa, the Seychelles, Thailand, Singapore, Turkey. A real practical constraint on where the yacht can charter, refit or resell, independent of the vessel's own qualities.
- Relatively low guest capacity for the size12 guests in 6 cabins on a roughly 75 metre hull is lean for the category - a large share of volume goes to the helideck, ski room, spa and toy garage rather than guest cabins, capping charter revenue per metre against similarly sized yachts configured with more cabins.
Practical detail
| Build cost | Not officially disclosed. Third-party estimates put her market value around USD 120 million - an outside estimate, not a confirmed contract price. |
|---|---|
| Running costs | Estimated at roughly USD 5 to 10 million a year, a standard industry rule-of-thumb rather than a disclosed owner figure. |
| Charter rate | From around EUR 750,000 a week plus expenses for 12 guests, consistently quoted across multiple independent charter brokers. |
| Charter status | Actively chartering through SuperYachtsMonaco, the charter central agent since construction, with recent seasons in the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mozambique, Turkey and Dubai and a shipyard period scheduled for winter 2025 into 2026. No public for-sale listing found. |
| Ownership note | Owner Alexander Svetakov has been sanctioned by the EU, US and Ukraine since 2022. The yacht itself has not appeared on any public sanctions-seizure list found in this research, but has reportedly been barred from at least one UK port and operates mostly in non-sanctioning jurisdictions - relevant to any prospective charterer's own compliance checks. |
| Length and tonnage discrepancy | Public sources disagree on basic size: current charter listings give 75.28 to 75.3 m and 2,308 GT, while the shipyard's own project page and 2016-17 press give 72 to 72.5 m and 2,293 GT - likely an early announced figure versus an as-built or registered one, not resolved here. |
| What is not published | Classification society (cited by only one source, not corroborated), generator make and output, stabilizer and thruster brand, and fresh-water tankage. |
Questions owners ask
How big is the Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak?
72 m LOA, 12.4 m beam, 2,308 GT. Delivered 2016 after four years of development.
Who is the Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak for?
An owner whose itinerary is written by waves and snowfields, and who needs a yacht that treats the programme as seriously as the interior.
What is the Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak good at?
Genuine, repeated expedition mileage, not just a marketing label. Independently reported voyages across multiple seasons to Norway, Greenland, Alaska, the Galapagos, Fiji, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Seychelles and the Chagos region - an unusually well-corroborated cruising record for a yacht marketed as an explorer.
What are the drawbacks of the Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak?
Published engine power figures conflict by an order of magnitude. Some brokerage listings cite the twin Caterpillar 3516C engines at only 587 hp / 437 kW each, while another yacht database cites roughly 2,020 hp / 1,500 kW each for the same engine model. No sea trial report or class document found resolves this - treat any single public power figure as unverified.
What do owners and crew report about the Abeking & Rasmussen Cloudbreak?
"Act as if you are the first guy there, don't believe anyone or rely on charts, use your eyes," said a former captain of his navigation approach, which he called Captain Cook navigation. He keeps traditional backup instruments on the bridge alongside the electronics, a habit formed cruising the Northwest Passage earlier in his career. (Max Cumming, former captain of Cloudbreak)
Who it is for: An owner whose itinerary is written by waves and snowfields, and who needs a yacht that treats the programme as seriously as the interior.