SES Yachts turns 50 and enters semi-custom with the 36m EPOQ

A custom yard opens a semi-custom door

SES Yachts has spent five decades building full-custom sailing and motor yachts one at a time. EPOQ is its first move into semi-custom, a three-model range spanning 24 to 46 metres, and the yard is leading with the 36-metre. That hull comes in three platform layouts: a split-deck arrangement and two tri-deck options, so an owner picks a configuration rather than starting from a blank sheet.

The pitch is a defined platform with a known price and a known timeline, set against the open-ended cost and schedule of a one-off commission. Ocean Independence is the exclusive sales partner for the series, which puts a large brokerage network behind a yard that has mostly sold direct. For a first-time SES buyer, that is a lower-risk way into a custom builder.

The hull is the running-cost argument

EPOQ is built around Van Oossanen's Fast Displacement Hull Form, a shape meant to hold the efficiency of a displacement hull while allowing higher speed than a displacement boat normally reaches. For an owner that reads as fuel burn and range at cruising speed, the two numbers that decide what a season actually costs to run.

The design is by London studio Sturge & Toth, who took a cue from the Belle Epoque era but kept a contemporary profile, a concave hull that runs into a rounded transom, and teak detailing. On the sundeck a glass-bottomed jacuzzi sits directly over the main-deck al fresco dining area, separated by switchable glass that shifts from translucent to clear.

Where it sits on a buyer's shortlist

The 24 to 46-metre bracket is the most contested part of the market, with slots at Benetti, Sanlorenzo and Heesen all chasing the same buyer. SES enters on provenance, a 50-year custom record, plus a named naval architect and an efficiency-first hull rather than on price alone.

A full-custom yard adding a semi-custom line is also a signal about where the work is. It tells a buyer the field of yards competing for a sub-500 GT build is widening, and that a builder known for one-offs now wants repeat, faster-turnaround business. That is more choice on the shortlist, which is the owner's gain.