Yacht Boardwalk Sends Final Salute to Lürssen

A centuries-old maritime tradition holds that a vessel sounds her horns when she’s ready to depart. It’s one of the most memorable moments even in yachting, a treasured salute to the teams who made delivery possible. Yesterday, the yacht Boardwalk honored that tradition, pulling away from the dock at Lürssen, turning around in front of its head office, and sounding her horns.

Having launched in December, the 384-footer (117-meter) is her owner’s first superyacht with the German shipyard. He’s Tilman Fertitta, the CEO and owner of the hospitality, entertainment, and gaming company Landry’s. He’s also presently the U.S. ambassador to Italy.

yacht Boardwalk delivery — PHOTO: Dr. Duu

Despite not previously building at Lürssen, Fertitta has long enjoyed yachting. Over the past 20 or so years, he’s taken family cruises and entertained business clients aboard successively larger boats. His first superyacht was a Westport 112, in fact, followed by a Westport 130 and a Westport 164. He’s gone on record to say he loved the 164 so much that he held onto her for more than a decade. She sold in 2024, and Fertitta further says he would have remained a Westport customer had the shipyard been able to build a larger steel-hulled project. He chose Feadship for his first steel yacht, a 252-footer (77-meter) that saw delivery in 2021. She’s currently for sale for €149 million ($174.5 million at press time).

While the LOAs have changed over the years, the names of the yachts haven’t. Every delivery has always been christened Boardwalk, an homage to one of Fertitta’s properties, the Kemah Boardwalk in Houston. Similarly, the late designer Amy Halffman has collaborated with Fertitta on the interior design for all of them. The newest yacht Boardwalk has an entire deck with 11 guest staterooms, for instance. Each has alfresco access, though the forward VIP has arguably the prime outdoor area, a private lounge overlooking the bow. Furthermore, similar to his prior yachts, rich wood is prominent. Specifically, high-gloss burled mahogany combines with polished stainless steel and complex double-convex forms to highlight rooms.

delivery of yacht Boardwalk — PHOTO: Ruben Griffoen

Some of the alfresco amenities onboard are worth noting, too. A putting green is one of the most unusual. So is the amount of lighting, about 3,000 fixtures. This, according to Lürssen, is about one-third more than a megayacht of similar size. But, it’s a typical request for Feritta, who has long wanted his yachts to look as good at night as they do during the day, plus create safer passageways for all aboard. Yet another interesting outdoor feature is a first for the shipyard, a sliding structural deck section concealing the stairs between the main deck and beach club. Furthermore, it hermetically seals, and has automatically deploying stairs. It represents an evolution of a system the builder created for the yacht Flying Fox (now Hadar) in 2019.

Lastly, two helipads—one on the foredeck, the other aft two decks up—make arrivals and departures at anchor swifter. The lower helideck is in proximity to a pool and hot tub, while a spiral staircase connects the deck level with a cozy seating/observation deck fully up top. Watertoys include three custom 40-foot (12-meter) Hodgdon tenders, an amphibious tender, 4×4 vehicles, and other road vehicles. Their ample garage is adjacent to a glass-walled catwalk with views into the engine room.

When Boardwalk sounded her salute at the shipyard, Lürssen’s CEO, Peter Lürssen, and multiple staff were outside to receive it. Next stop on her itinerary: Gibraltar.

Halffman Designs halffmandesigns.com

Lürssen lurssen.com