Family Style

Built to accommodate an owner’s growing family and friends, Cheoy Lee’s Global 104 rivals larger yachts in form and function.

- Andrew Parkinson

FOR A YACHT OWNER, CROSSING THE 100-FOOT THRESHOLD IS A BIG DEAL.

For some, it’s a graduation to the next frontier of the great life afloat. For others, it might signify the end of an era, trading in the old captain’s hat, weathered and worn, for that mythical bottomless snifter of Louis XIII Cognac. For the owner of Cheoy Lee’s first Global 104, topping the century mark was a matter of necessity: the need for a much bigger boat to accommodate his growing family.

Moving up from an 84-footer (25.6-meter) by the same builder, the owner had certain requirements. He also had a vision of what size yacht would meet those requirements, and it was larger than 104 feet (31.7 meters). He needed entertainment spaces for the entire family and guests; a main-deck master with a same-level his-and-her bathroom; a galley where the family would have space to prepare their own meals; a bridge-deck “family room” with a day head; and comfortable quarters for his crew—all components of a vessel well into the 110- to 120-foot range.

He also had a budget.

“We wanted to create something for the client that would meet his

requirements and save him a lot of money at the same time,” says Panu Virtanen, vice president of Cheoy Lee Shipyards. “The big challenge was not compromising volumes in other spaces of the yacht in the process.”

I’ve spent time on various Cheoy Lee models over the years, so when an opportunity arose to take the Global 104 for a spin last summer, I thought I had a fair notion of what to expect. But as with all yachts, it’s what you don’t expect that makes each its own, and this 104-footer is no exception, especially with regard to volume and speed.