Feadship's biggest beach club yet shows where the money goes on an 80-metre
The boat
Thalassa measures 80 metres with a beam of 13.4 metres and a draught of 3.8 metres. Twin MTU engines give a maximum of 16 knots and a cruising speed of 14, with a range of 5,500 nautical miles at 12 knots from 194,000 litres of fuel. She launched in April and is completing outfitting and sea trials in Amsterdam. Y.CO managed the project. The first renderings appeared in June 2024, so this is a build the market has watched for two years.
Malcolm McKeon drew the exterior, and it reads as a low, sculpted profile with a sharp plumb bow, a hull that widens as it goes aft, and gently curved windows. Milanese studio M2Atelier did the interior, described by the yard as contemporary with a warm and relaxed atmosphere. That is the usual language. The layout is where the brief actually shows.
The stern is now the main deck
The beach club runs to 165 square metres over two levels with 180-degree views, and Feadship has not built a larger one. Teak-covered hatches open out to become terraces over the water. Fitness spaces fold out of the structure so the same volume works as a gym in the morning and as a lounge in the afternoon. Above it sits a pool lounge with a 6.4-metre glass bottom.
Ten years ago that volume would have been machinery, crew mess and tender stowage. Moving the tender garage forward is what releases it, and it costs something. Launching from a forward garage in a beam sea is harder than launching over a transom, and the crew pay for the owner's floor area. This is now the standard trade on a yacht of this size, and owners keep choosing the same way.
A helipad that has to earn its space
The other detail worth pulling out is the helipad doubling as a pickleball court. A certified touch-and-go deck on an 80-metre eats an enormous amount of the best real estate on the boat for something used a handful of times a season, and owners have been pushing back on that arithmetic for years. Making it a sports deck is the obvious answer and it is becoming common.
The rest of the outdoor programme follows the same logic of spaces that change through the day. There is a winter garden that transforms, and an open sundeck built around a circular bar. What has fallen out of the brief is the formal, single-purpose room. Owners are no longer paying for volume that works for one activity.
What this tells a buyer specifying now
Two things are worth taking from Thalassa if you are drawing up a brief. The first is that beach club square metres have become the single most contested number in the specification, and they come out of engineering and crew space. Ask the naval architect early what the stern volume costs in tender size, in crew cabins and in the machinery arrangement, because those answers get expensive to change after steel is cut.
The second is about resale. Large, well-executed beach clubs are the feature that dates slowest, since they are structure and not decoration. Interiors get replaced on a fifteen-year-old boat as a matter of course. A stern that opens properly to the water is not something a refit can add cheaply, and it is one of the few design decisions that still supports a price on a used yacht a decade later.
What is good, and what to watch
Strong points
- The largest beach club Feadship has built, verified across independent coverage165 square metres over two levels is confirmed by BOAT International, YachtBuyer and Superyachts.com rather than just the yard's own release, and it required moving the tender garage forward to free the stern.
- The helipad's dual use as a pickleball court answers a real specification complaintA certified touch-and-go deck on an 80-metre uses a large amount of prime deck space for occasional use, and Feadship's dual-purpose answer is a genuine engineering response to owners pushing back on that arithmetic rather than a marketing line.
What to watch
- No sea trial or independent performance data exists yetThalassa is still completing outfitting in Amsterdam. The 16-knot top speed and 5,500nm range are yard-supplied figures with no independent verification published as of this writing.
- Modest gross tonnage for the length trades interior volume for the sculpted profileAt 1,953 GT for 80 metres, Thalassa carries meaningfully less enclosed volume than many full-displacement 80-metre-plus yachts, a direct trade-off of McKeon's low, sculpted exterior that a buyer prioritising interior space over exterior lines should weigh.
Practical detail
| LOA / GT | 80m / 1,953 GT |
|---|---|
| Built / delivered | Feadship (De Voogt Naval Architects), launched 15 April 2026; delivery expected summer 2026 |
| Design | Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design (exterior), M2Atelier (interior) |
| Accommodation | 12 guests in 6 staterooms, with 15 crew |
| Engines / range | Twin MTU 16V 4000 M53 diesels; 16 knots top speed, 14 knots cruise, 5,500nm range at 12 knots from 194,000 litres of fuel |
| Asking price | Not disclosed. Feadship and central agent Y.CO have not published a price, consistent with the yard's standard confidentiality on new builds |
| What is not published | Interior imagery beyond the yard's own renders, sea trial results and the buyer's identity are all undisclosed while Thalassa is still in outfitting in Amsterdam |
Questions this story answers
What happened?
Feadship's 80-metre Project 826, named Thalassa, is in final outfitting in Amsterdam with a two-level beach club of 165 square metres, the largest the yard has built. The helipad doubles as a pickleball court and the tender garage has been pushed forward to free the stern. Exterior by Malcolm McKeon, interior by M2Atelier, delivery expected this summer.
What is good about it?
The largest beach club Feadship has built, verified across independent coverage. 165 square metres over two levels is confirmed by BOAT International, YachtBuyer and Superyachts.com rather than just the yard's own release, and it required moving the tender garage forward to free the stern.
What should an owner or buyer watch?
No sea trial or independent performance data exists yet. Thalassa is still completing outfitting in Amsterdam. The 16-knot top speed and 5,500nm range are yard-supplied figures with no independent verification published as of this writing.
Who reported this?
BOAT International, Feadship, Y.CO, Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design, M2Atelier, YachtBuyer, Superyachts.com.
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