In the hierarchy of human wants, superyachts sit atop the luxury pyramid. In terms of size, cost, complexity and prestige, today’s superyachts are rivalled only by private spacecraft. Of the many superyacht builders out there, one stands above the rest: FEADSHIP. Since 1949 this Dutch collaboration between two ‘royal’ shipyards and a naval architecture firm has become the pinnacle of custom yachtbuilding. In the past 75 years, only 460 Feadships have been built.

In the seven-part podcast series Feadship Uncovered, journalist and writer John Weich enters the world of pure custom creation after receiving an offer he can’t refuse: to design his very own FEADSHIP from scratch. What follows is a peek behind the scenes of the most exclusive and elusive brand on the planet. His journey starts with a blank piece of paper.

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In this first episode of Feadship Uncovered , John gets his first taste of pure custom creation at Feadship’s ‘closed’ shipyard on the small Dutch island of Kaag. Strictly off-limits to anyone but billionaire buyers and master craftsmen, John has come to meet with Tanno Weeda, head of design, and Arjen van Elk, sales director. It’s their jobs to turn his ideas into reality and, more concretely, transform his yacht dreams into a blueprint of a real yacht. The Feadship journey begins for every owner the same exact way: with a blank sheet of paper.

John has a vision for 1950s modernist-inspired floating bungalow that can carry him to the world’s best surf breaks. With a suitcase full of inspiration, he challenges Tanno and Arjen with impossible demands like a hydraulic ping-pong table and a bowling alley, a cryogenic chamber and on-board wave pool. No matter what he asks for, however, the answer is always: Yes. Everything is possible…at a price.

In this episode John tries to get his head around the thousands of decisions that go into designing a superyacht from scratch. Overwhelmed, he gets help from Marsha van Buitenen, sales director, who promises to open every door in Feadship’s yachtbuilding ecosystem to ensure he gets the yacht of his dreams.

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A typical superyacht has over a million components, all of which must be defined, calculated and engineered before the building even begins. And once the building starts, there’s little an owner can do to change it. So every detail, from the thickness of the glass to the type of propulsion, must be weighed against the owners’ intents and wishes in advance. That includes which innovations go on board. A lot can change in the three or four years it takes to build a Feadship, especially in the realm of technology, electronics, and materials.

Responsible for futureproofing these yachts is Feadship’s Knowledge & Innovation department. It’s their job to research how to keep pool water from sloshing during storms, to rethink the configuration of the yacht using cutting-edge cameras and sensors and to explore the boundaries of propulsion through fossil-free alternatives like hydrogen.

In this episode John tries to anticipate the future for his own yacht design, even paying a visit to a group of college students looking to prove to the maritime industry that hydrogen-propulsion is possible.

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