Marek Weidlich, a marine designer from Denmark, shared with us his concept codenamed BLACKBIRD. This extremely attractive 10.8-meter boat is completely self-sufficient, but of course can also be used as a luxury tender. Although we think it would be difficult to find a superyacht beautiful enough to be worthy of such a fine tender.
Before Marek Weidlich moved into the nautical industry with new ideas and, as a result, took the position of senior designer at RAND Boats, he realized his projects, as often happens, in the automotive sector. You can probably see some echoes of this past in BLACKBIRD. In general, it was the car designers who came into the yachting industry who brought new colors and progressive ideas to it, which had a noticeable impact on such a conservative sector.
Obviously, this is a concept for a pretty fast boat. Even though the design is quite far from classic, for some reason we immediately thought of Italy. Probably because the boat has its own style and uniqueness.
“The BLACKBIRD project is designed with a purist approach, where form follows function. The key design element is a single, sharp line that slices through the boat, visually dividing it into two distinct sections: the upper half, dedicated to comfort and passenger experience, and the lower half, a streamlined structure in constant dialogue with the water,” says Marek, “The project earned its codename “BLACKBIRD” due to its dark, stealthy aesthetic and aerodynamic profile. With a deep anthracite finish and a sleek, arrow-like silhouette, the name felt like a natural fit.”
We think the boat turned out really cool and cute. We like the starboard helm position and the turned inwards sides, which is acceptable on small planing boats that are more likely to demonstrate speed on a beautiful and calm sunny day than high seaworthiness.
The navigation lights are stylish and futuristic, but we have some questions about this design. Will they work well in real life? Is it possible that a boat heading straight towards you will not see any of them? The navigation lights seem to be at a slight angle to the hull centerline, so it should probably be fine. In any case, these possible nuances can be easily adjusted at the design approval stage.
With a width of 2.94 meters, BLACKBIRD is designed to comfortably accommodate six passengers and boasts a spacious cabin with berths, as well as a fully equipped bathroom. If we install an electric motor in it, we will end up with a surprisingly pleasant and elegant boat, despite its sharp angles and obvious desire for speed.