Soyaslan Launches Lointaine, First Yacht Built Around a Wheelchair

A Launch Built Around a Wheelchair, Not a Ramp

Soyaslan Marine, the Turkish builder, launched Lointaine on 13 August 2026, the first hull of its new Dionysos 35 crossover series. Can Soyaslan, the yard's naval architect and managing director, called it a milestone rather than a routine splash: "This long journey has successfully met the water following a flawless launch operation." The 35-metre, 328 GT yacht now moves into sea trials before delivery to her first owner.

What sets Lointaine apart is not her size, which is modest for a 35-metre crossover, but a design brief the yard and the trade press covering the launch describe as the first of its kind: a superyacht planned from the outset around full wheelchair access, rather than a standard general arrangement with a lift bolted in afterward. Three separate lifts serve the boat: a two-square-metre primary lift running all four decks from lower deck to sundeck, a secondary lift linking the aft swim platform to the main deck, and an emergency lift between the main deck and sundeck. Every guest corridor and exterior walkway was widened to a minimum of one metre, wide enough for a wheelchair to turn rather than just pass through.

The Accommodation Behind the Engineering

Lointaine sleeps 10 guests across suites that include a full-beam owner's deck of roughly 70 square metres on the bridge deck, with its own master lounge, dual bathrooms and a dressing area, plus a VIP suite and a convertible office cabin that can switch to a second VIP. A separate main-deck study carries a six-square-metre starboard balcony. Crew of six run the boat from their own cabins below. The flybridge adds a DJ booth, bar, lounge seating and fitness equipment - a leisure deck sitting above the accessible accommodation, though none of the sources covering the launch state whether the lift system reaches the flybridge itself.

She is built in steel with an aluminium superstructure, classed RINA I HULL MACH for unrestricted navigation, and powered by twin Cummins QSM11-M diesels rated at 449 kW (602 hp) each. Top speed is 12.5 knots, cruise 10 knots, and range 3,450 nautical miles at the cruising speed - modest numbers for a yacht her size, and a plausible trade-off against the extra structure, wiring and shaft space three lift cars and a widened GA cost her elsewhere.

A Niche With No Established Precedent

Accessible design is not new to yachting - ramps, wider doorways and single lifts have appeared piecemeal on custom projects for years - but a semi-custom series conceived around the requirement from the first drawing is genuinely rare, which is the claim BOAT International's coverage and the yard itself are making for Lointaine. The flagship of the planned Dionysos range is set at 40 metres, meaning Soyaslan is betting the concept extends upward rather than staying a one-off.

The timing fits a pattern this desk has tracked through August: smaller and boutique yards outside the traditional big five are the ones shipping the first-of-series news right now. This desk covered JFA Yachts' 50-metre explorer Canoa and Maiora's new M|30 in the same week, both first hulls from yards that are not Feadship, Lurssen or Oceanco. Soyaslan is a far smaller name again, and Lointaine is its bid to be known for something no larger yard has claimed first.

What an Accessible Yacht Still Has to Prove

Nothing published so far, including the yard's own material, confirms how a wheelchair user actually boards Lointaine from a normal marina berth or at anchor - whether the passerelle, tender access and swim-platform lift form a complete door-to-cabin chain, or whether the accessibility engineering begins only once a guest is already aboard. That is the single biggest open question for a buyer evaluating the boat on its stated purpose, and none of the four sources this desk checked address it.

It is also unclear whether Lointaine has a named private owner already or is a spec build being offered through brokerage. Two yacht-sale listings price her at EUR 12,500,000 and EUR 12,700,000 respectively - neither figure carries a yard confirmation, and asking prices on brokerage listings are not the same as a confirmed sale. No independent sea trial has been published, and no owner, charterer or crew member has yet spoken about living with the systems day to day, because the boat is one day old as this was written.

The Owner's Brief This Serves

The buyer this boat is built for is narrow and specific: an owner, or an owner's family member, who needs full wheelchair access and has not had a genuine semi-custom option below the very largest and most expensive full-custom projects. Accessible superyachts remain close to nonexistent across the charter fleet, which gives a genuinely capable one real scarcity value - and, if she enters charter, a booking niche with effectively no direct competitor.

The honest trade an owner is making is speed, range and possibly flybridge access for that capability: 12.5 knots and 3,450 nautical miles are unremarkable next to other 35-metre crossovers, and the extra structure behind three lift shafts had to come from somewhere in the design. For the buyer this yacht is aimed at, that is very likely the right trade. For a buyer who does not need the accessibility, a faster, longer-legged 35-metre exists for similar money.

A Gap Later Reporting Closes

Superyacht Times' own launch-day coverage, published after the first wave of reports this desk drew on, describes the primary lift as reaching the flybridge directly - the one question the accommodation section above flagged as unanswered.

If that holds up once Lointaine is delivered and inspected independently, the accessibility chain covers every deck a guest can reach, not only the enclosed accommodation between the lower deck and the sundeck: the flybridge's DJ booth, bar and fitness area described earlier are reachable in a wheelchair, not merely visible from one. This desk has not independently verified the claim and treats it as reported, not confirmed.