Parsifal III

To a lot of viewers Parsifal III is a familiar face: she was the ketch chosen for Below Deck Sailing Yacht. Long before that, Perini Navi had launched her in 2005, and the designer Rémi Tessier gave her a dark ebony and pale sycamore interior with steel and leather details. Her most recent refit dates from 2024.

The feature that makes her flexible is the master suite. Spanning the beam, it can be partitioned into a pair of doubles when a party asks for it, and both halves still have a bathroom. That turns a five-cabin plan into six, useful for three couples who all want equal rooms, or for parents who would like their children close. Everyone else sleeps in the middle of the boat, in a pair of doubles and a pair of twins whose pullman bunks add two more beds.

Indoors and out flow into each other. Walls are kept to a minimum: the salon and dining area can be opened up from the aft deck right through to the wheelhouse, so someone on the sofa keeps the sea in sight on every side. In the cockpit, clear glass screens rise to block the wind without hiding the view. The flybridge is the social centre: twin helm stations, a Jacuzzi, sun pads, a wet bar with a teppanyaki grill and space to eat under an awning. When the sea is flat, lunch can even be served down on the hydraulic swim platform, a step from the water.

Above all she remains a ketch meant to be sailed: with a decent breeze the canvas, not the engine, sets the pace of the day, which feels nothing like motoring from one anchorage to the next.

Parsifal III works for twelve people who want to sail, eat outside and keep the group together, with a crew of nine who know charter well. If your list starts with a large beach club and a long menu of motorised toys, a motor yacht will give you more of that.