herb chambers yachting llc

Excellence (2019). Photo: Abeking & Rasmussen

The pursuit of Excellence

For Boston-based businessman Herb Chambers, building a superyacht is just as enjoyable as enjoying the finished product.

“My exposure to boating began with summers spent at my grandmother’s cottage, just south of Boston,” says serial yacht builder Herb Chambers. “I had friends who owned small boats, and I always had the desire to own one too.” Fast forward to today, and Herb has owned in excess of 40 yachts, often selling them as quickly as he can buy or build them.

For Herb, the enjoyment of yacht ownership comes from being on the water – “it’s somewhat magical,” he enthuses – but his appreciation for the design and the build process itself is integral to the experience.

Herb Chambers on board his superyacht

Herb regards yacht design as an art form. Scouring marinas wherever he goes for inspiration, his self-proclaimed fascination for boats is bolstered by the sheer diversity of yachts on the market. “I could look at boats all day long, because they’re all different,” he says. “Even when I took delivery of my latest yacht, I walked the marina during the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show looking at every other boat out there.”

“I always get so excited when I see a shipyard’s progress of the wiring, the plumbing and the layout of a boat. Some people don’t care about that, but I love it,” he says. “It took about three or four years to build my first Feadship yacht; I enjoyed building it just as much as I did using it.”

For all the other visitors attending the principality’s annual boat show last year, it was Herb’s 80m Abeking & Rasmussen head-turner Excellence that became the star attraction. Scooping Finest New Superyacht and Best Exterior at the 2019 Show awards, the yacht’s unusual bow (a homage to Philippe Starck’s highly distinctive Motor Yacht A ) and triple-height glass atrium demand attention. For Herb, who has always believed that the future of yachting will involve huge glass windows, Excellence is the realisation of a long-term vision made possible by technical advances in large-scale glass manufacture and shipyard capabilities.

“When designer Andrew Winch showed me a rendering of the design, I saw the big windows and said, ‘That is terrific. I didn’t realise that you could get glass that size.’ He explained that it was a new technology. To get the glass is one thing, but then to be able to install it on board is an engineering feat in itself.”

Excellence (2019) at the Monaco Yacht Show. Photo: Mc-Clic 2019

His latest yacht may be his largest, but his eye for detail came to the fore in 2005 when sketching designs for a previous incarnation of Excellence . “I sat on the aft deck of my boat in France with Abeking & Rasmussen, and we designed it together,” he recalls. “I told them what I wanted the bow to look like, and I had different ideas on other features, which we incorporated. The shipyard built the boat and I sold it before I even took delivery. Abeking built four or five more boats that were almost identical in design after that because it was something that was very appealing to other people besides me.”

The volume of yachts that Herb has designed, built and owned has shaped his preferences today. Time spent with his family and entertaining friends is crucial, and draft length has become a point of focus for the entrepreneur, so as to allow him to access his favourite cruising grounds, such as Ocean Reef Club on the Florida Keys and the shallow waters of the Bahamas.

Excellence (2001)

With the majority of his yachts made available for charter, keeping one back for his private use is also integral to Herb’s happiness. He considers his 46m yacht built by Feadship (also named Excellence ), which is currently listed for sale with Burgess and Merle Wood & Associates , to be his personal boat. Bought by Herb in 2018, but built by his long-time friend Roger Penske in 2001, the yacht is lightweight and fast.

“It has a beautiful engine room, everything in chrome and fire engine red, and it runs at about 23 knots on diesel engines. If you really want it to go fast, you can push a button and the turbine engine kicks in taking the boat up to about 33 knots,” he says. “I enjoy cruising at around 13 knots, but every now and then, if the weather’s kind of turning or you’re in a hurry to get some place and you want to go fast, in that boat you can.”

Size matters, too. When cruising the deep waters of the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, bigger boats are more comfortable in rough seas, he says, with more space to store tenders and toys. Hence his need to always have more than one yacht at a time. But most important of all is design.

“You don’t want your boat to look like a cookie-cutter,” he says, reflecting on his latest choice. “I wanted a boat that if you were a mile away from it, you would recognise it as being Excellence . I like that.”

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Billionaire businessman herb chambers talks about owning one of hottest superyachts in the world, the 263-foot-long excellence.

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Herb Chambers' 263-foot-long award winning yacht Excellence underway in the Med.

Superyacht owners are often, um, how should we say, pretty aloof . And I can’t say I blame them. But every now and then, I meet a superyacht owner who loves his new yacht, and loves the process of designing and building something so unique , and appreciates the incredibly talented designers and engineers and builders who can make his dreams a reality so much, that he’s willing to share some of the experience with me (on the record).

The mirrored windows on Herb Chambers' 263-foot-long supuperyacht are some of the largest ever used ... [+] on a private yacht.

But I’ve never met anyone in the superyacht world quite like the owner of radical, new, 263-foot-long  Excellence  that was designed by Winch Design , built by Abeking & Rasmussen , and fresh off winning both the “Best Exterior Design” and “Finest New Superyacht” awards at the Monaco Yacht Show .

Herb Chambers' 263-foot-long yacht has massive windows and custom-built furniture designed by Winch ... [+] Design

He’s a straight taking American who’s smiling face and common sense one-liners are on nearly every billboard near where I live in downtown Boston. His name is Herb Chambers . And he’s on all those billboards because he owns (and is the face of) numerous car dealerships in New England that bear his name.

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The bow of the 263-foot-long superyacht Excellence was inspired by the beak of an American Bald ... [+] Eagle

But we couldn’t have been further from Boston when we met on board his new yacht in Monaco recently. And he couldn’t have been more gracious or forthcoming either. 

Herb Chambers at one of his many car dealerships in New England.

“Well, I've had six yachts,” he says when I ask about how he came to own of one of the hottest superyachts in the world. “I built two in Holland and then I started building them in Germany at Abeking & Rassmussen.”

“Why so many?” I ask. 

The windows are mirrored and massive on Herb Chambers' superyacht, Excellence

“It's fun to build a boat” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “As a matter of fact, from my standpoint, it's probably more fun to build them than it is to use them.

“You're creating something. You're watching something grow,” he continues. I think people who develop real estate know what I’m talking about. Watching a project grow. 

Here's what it looks like behind the mirrored glass of the 263-foot-long megayacht Excellence

“I'm in the automobile business, so it’s quite not the same. But building a boat gives you an excuse to go to Europe every three or four months so you see the progress and what's going on at the yard. And that, to me is very exciting.

“Then you have the opportunity to make a lot of choices.”

Tall glass sections on board the megayacht Excellence brings the outside in.

When it comes  Excellence ’s radical (and award-winning) design, “choices” may be a bit of an understatement. Chambers’ design brief called for his new yacht to be “extraordinary” and to create a seamless feeling of openness and connection to the outside world. “I also wanted the boat to be what I'll call a ‘happy boat.’ There are many boats out there that are overdone. They become an exercise in excess. I didn’t want that.”

He just needed to meet the designer that could create what he wanted.

Herb Chambers superyacht Excellence lights up the night.

“So how did you decide to build such a radical new yacht,” I ask.

“We were at a boat show when I still owned my previous boat [ a 198-footer also named Excellence and built by Abeking & Rasmussen ] but I was thinking about building something new. Then I walked into the Abeking & Rasmussen stand. And they had a rendering on the wall.  And ‘he,’ Chambers’ says pointing at the man who just sat next to him at the bar on the lower deck of his award-winning new yacht, “had done the rendering.” 

We conducted our interview at Chambers' poolside bar aboard his 263-foot-long superyacht Excellence ... [+] in Monaco.

(The “he” Chambers is referring to was Andrew Winch, the founder of Winch Design and the head of the design team that designed every element , from the striking exterior and complicated naval architecture to every detail in the interior of the yacht.)

The owner's apartment onboard Excellence has a forward-facing wrap-around view thorugh large ... [+] windows.

“I was thinking about a boat with lots of glass. And then I stopped and said, ‘I like that boat,” he says pointing at the imaginary rending he saw that day. “I like that boat a lot." At the time, the rendering was just a concept Abeking & Rasmussen and Winch Design were collaborating on. Soon Chambers was making changes and making it his own. And not too long after that, the boat was being built.

Winch describes the process with Chambers like this: “Herb trusted us to design and build something that was so new it was way beyond the comfort zone of most people. He had the courage to do it.”

The massive glass on board the megayacht Excellence is a work of art.

In fact, the team at Winch Design came up a superstructure that’s so unique it’s no wonder Excellence has been so well received. The reverse bow instantly identifiable and the yacht’s  profile that’s built around huge areas of mirrored and curved floor-to-ceiling glass that Abeking & Rassmussen executed brilliantly, may point to where the future of superyacht design and construction is headed.

Watch this space.

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Excellence V, the superyacht built with the charter market in mind

Excellence V has the luxury of space where it matters, which gives her wide side decks, a five-level lift encircled by a central staircase, three hull openings for boarding from the sea, large main-deck guest suites, a dedicated cinema, a water-front gym, a beach club, an owner’s deck and multiple outdoor lounges and spa pools.

‘The exercise was how to put the interior of a 78 metre superyacht into a 57 metre hull, and then we stretched it to 60,’ says Captain Shore. Shore has been with owner Herb Chambers since 1989, and the two of them have built a hugely successful charter following with their yachts, starting with the original 38.7 metre Feadship that was the first Excellence . ‘When he started designing this boat, more room was key, as was incorporating things not heard of five years ago,’ says Shore. ‘He knows what he likes, and we use a lot of input from our repeat charter guests.’

Thirty years of offering his yachts for charter has given Chambers an acute understanding of the market and what makes a yacht a success. For example, there is a handsome double cabin on the upper deck, just aft of the master suite and opposite the office, designed to accommodate a charterer’s children, bodyguard or doctor. An adjacent door, hidden in the paneling, gives this cabin access to the deck’s pantry and to the stairs to the galley and crew areas below, should the person occupying it be a staff member.

Flexibility is why there are three hull openings, too. By putting the beach club amidships to starboard, guests congregating there aren’t bothered by the launch and retrieval of the tenders, which happens at the stern, or by the use of the portside platform that doubles as a crew tender access point and a waterfront gym or massage room. Flexibility has also driven the provision of 10 different outdoor spaces for guests, including three bars and seven lounging areas.

A small asymmetrical saloon with a bar on the starboard side and a cool wood floor, leather walls, crocodile tabletops and velvet chairs forms the transition from the aft arrivals deck to the interior. Forward of this is the dining area, set apart by its leather flooring, Macassar table and black emperador marble and white onyx countertops. This splash of drama sets the stage for the beautiful and dramatic foyer, with its gleaming glass lift, marble floors and a custom stair surround that is a majestic, four-storey, deco-style tableau of transportation.

A stairway takes guests on board Excellence V to a lower foyer opposite the beach club, and glass walls with a sandblasted pattern are all that separate them from the blue beyond when the club deck is lowered. Pass through the glass doors and this club is like an island. It has a shaded bar, a seating area and open teak decking large enough to host a couple of lounge chairs just above the surface of the sea. With its access to the stairs and lift, it’s a great place to arrive by tender.

The beach club isn’t the only reason to venture to the lower deck of the superyacht; forward is a state-of-the-art cinema with 102-inch screen and nine reclining chairs that vibrate along with the heavy bass audio tracks of action movies. A ‘candy store’ and beanbags for children complete the scene.

As pleasant as the guest cabins on Excellence V are (two twins, two doubles, and a VIP), the master suite is the sort of show-stopper you would expect of an owner with 30 years’ experience of messing about in boats. The suite’s subtle arrangement of doors and stairways helps give the owner privacy or informality when needed, and allows him to interact with the captain and crew. A fore and aft private outside staircase takes the owner down to the main side deck, while a circular staircase brings him directly to the bridge deck above. Thus the owner can arrive by tender or passerelle at the stern and move to his suite without going through the rest of the superyacht.

But the pièce de résistance is the waterfall, which splashes down the back of the superstructure and seems to disappear under the sole, only to reappear in a glass-fronted spa pool flanked by a bar with stools and sunpads. It’s a fitting feature for this yacht, which with equal emphasis mixes youthful relaxation and fun with the highest quality finish and technical sophistication.

Excellence V is available for charter at rates starting from €595,000 per week.

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