CdM delivers Octopus, a 35m explorer with 5,500nm of range
Sold before she existed
Jamie Swaine of IYC's London office placed the first Deep Blue 115 with an American client in 2024, and construction started at Ancona the same year. She went in the water in April 2025 and was handed over on 20 July 2026. Roughly two years from signature to delivery is the number worth carrying away, because it is the figure a buyer is really quoting against when a yard offers a 2029 slot on a larger boat.
Vasco Buonpensiere, co-founder and chief executive, said working with clients who brought a clear vision and a deep understanding of yachting had been stimulating and rewarding. The yard says it has ten superyacht projects on order or under construction. Octopus is the first of the Deep Blue 115 line, so the model now has a delivered reference point rather than a rendering, which is what moves the second and third hulls.
299 GT, and what it buys
She measures 35 metres with a 7.55-metre beam and 299 GT. That volume figure is a deliberate choice in this size band, and it shapes everything above the waterline. Inside there are five cabins for ten guests, with the owner's apartment forward on the main deck rather than pushed down to the lower deck, and four crew cabins for seven.
Horacio Bozzo drew the exterior, Giorgio M. Cassetta the interior, and Axis Group Yacht Design handled naval architecture and engineering. The build is described as heavily customised rather than a series boat with an options list, which is the reason the delivery took the time it did. An owner comparing this against a 35-metre production flybridge is not comparing two versions of the same purchase.
Range is the whole argument
Twin Caterpillar C18 engines rated to IMO Tier III produce 533 kW each. Top speed is 13.5 knots, cruising speed is nine, and range is 5,500 nautical miles. That is a transatlantic crossing with margin, and it is achieved without hybrid drive, battery banks or any of the machinery that adds cost and service exposure to a modern build.
The cost of that range is time. A 35-metre planing yacht will do 24 knots and cover a Med season in short hops, while Octopus takes days to do what the other does overnight. What the owner gets back is a boat that can leave the Med in October and be somewhere genuinely different by November, which is a different use of the asset rather than a better version of the same one.
What owners and crew report
The model exists because owners of a bigger one asked for it smaller
The Deep Blue 115 is a scaled evolution of the 43.1 metre Acala, delivered in 2022 and now sailing as Orixa. CdM says repeated client requests for that boat's capability in a shorter hull is what created the series. That is the clearest signal on the page about who actually wants this boat.
Cantiere delle MarcheThe designer's own framing is a pocket superyacht, not a small explorer
Horacio Bozzo described the brief as a truly pocket gentleman's superyacht with strong explorer DNA. Read as a positioning statement from the man paid to draw her, but it does explain the main-deck owner's apartment and the pool on a 35 metre hull.
Horacio Bozzo, via BOAT InternationalIt sold before it existed, which is the market's verdict
Jamie Swaine of IYC's London office placed hull one with an American couple in 2024, before construction started, and CdM reports ten superyacht projects on order or under construction. A buyer signing off a rendering is the strongest available evidence of demand for a model with no delivered reference point.
IYC, and Cantiere delle MarcheNo independent owner or test report exists yet
She was handed over on 20 July 2026. There is no owner interview, no published sea trial and no charter feedback in circulation, so every performance number on this page traces back to the builder. We will add real reports here as they appear rather than dress the yard's material up as reader experience.
Yotters desk, checked 2 August 2026
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- Genuine ocean range at 35 metres5,500 nautical miles at nine knots is a crossing, not a coastal claim.
- The owner sleeps on the main deckA main-deck owner's apartment is what most 35 metre boats give up to fit the saloon.
- 299 GT is a deliberate ceilingStaying under 300 GT keeps her outside the heavier survey and crewing regime that starts above it.
- A delivered reference point now existsHulls two and three are much easier to sell against a real boat than a rendering.
What to watch
- 13.5 knots is the entire speed storyIf the plan is to be in the next bay before lunch, this is the wrong hull.
- The 299 GT ceiling costs volumeThe same limit that buys the easier regime is what stops her feeling like a 40 metre inside.
- Seven crew on a 35 metre eats spaceFour crew cabins is a lot of hull given to people the guests never see.
- Every number is the builder'sNo independent trial has been published, so the range and burn figures are unverified by anyone outside the yard.
Practical detail
| Engines | Twin Caterpillar C18 to IMO Tier III, 533 kW each. Top speed 13.5 knots, cruise 11, and the range figure is quoted at nine. |
|---|---|
| Range and fuel | 5,500 nautical miles at nine knots on 45,000 litres. That is Gibraltar to Antigua without a fuel stop, with reserve. |
| Displacement | 325 tonnes on a 35 m hull with a 7.55 m beam. The weight is the point: it is what makes her hold nine knots comfortably in a seaway. |
| Accommodation | Five cabins for ten guests plus two further berths, with the owner's apartment on the main deck and four guest cabins below. Seven crew in four cabins. |
| Aboard | A swimming pool aft with treated-water storage, a tender garage with a hatch opening to port, a foredeck cinema, and AV and IT by Videoworks. |
| Who drew her | Exterior by Horacio Bozzo, naval architecture and engineering by Axis Group Yacht Design, interior by Giorgio M. Cassetta. Sold by IYC, built at Ancona. |
| What is not published | No independent sea trial. The speed, range and burn figures are the yard's own, and nobody outside CdM has run her and published numbers. Treat the 5,500 miles as a design figure until someone measures it. |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Cantiere delle Marche handed over the first Deep Blue 115 on 20 July, two years after an American buyer signed for a hull that did not yet exist. At 299 GT she carries ten guests and seven crew, and she will cross an ocean at nine knots without refuelling. For anyone weighing a 35-metre explorer against a bigger planing boat, Octopus is the clearest current answer on what that trade actually returns.
What is good about it?
Genuine ocean range at 35 metres. 5,500 nautical miles at nine knots is a crossing, not a coastal claim.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
13.5 knots is the entire speed story. If the plan is to be in the next bay before lunch, this is the wrong hull.
What do owners and crew report?
The Deep Blue 115 is a scaled evolution of the 43.1 metre Acala, delivered in 2022 and now sailing as Orixa. CdM says repeated client requests for that boat's capability in a shorter hull is what created the series. That is the clearest signal on the page about who actually wants this boat. (Cantiere delle Marche)
Who reported this?
Cantiere delle Marche, BOAT International, IYC, Yachting, YachtBuyer, Axis Group Yacht Design.
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