Most superyachts are born within sight of salt water. This one came together in the foothills of the Alps, and it still carries the hush of a private spa terrace at the water's edge.
The Azimut Seadeck 9 is the largest yacht the Italian builder has ever constructed at its Avigliana yard, a facility nowhere near the Mediterranean it's built to cruise. At 25.60 metres with a 6.3 metre beam, it's also the flagship of a series that has spent three years working out what a hybrid family superyacht should feel like. Seadeck 6 and Seadeck 7 laid the groundwork after the line's concept first appeared at the 2023 Cannes Yachting Festival. The 9 is where that idea grows up.
Step aboard at the stern and the intent is immediate. A staircase splits into twin symmetrical flights, more Mediterranean villa entrance than boarding platform, leading up through three cascading terraces into the main saloon. Azimut has stretched the Fun Island concept from its smaller Seadecks into what it now calls a 180 degree Pool Deck, an amphitheatre-shaped lounge wrapped around a flush glass-walled pool, with lateral wings that fold out and a swim platform that lowers itself into the sea. Even the anchor disappears, fully concealed to keep the profile clean.
Inside, the language shifts from villa to retreat. Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez, the Milan studio behind the interiors, call their approach Conscious Design, restrained materials and full-height glass built around wellbeing rather than ornament, language that belongs to a spa architect more than a naval one. Owners choose between two palettes, a warmer light walnut or a paler oak. A Bonacina bamboo chair sits at the entrance, chosen by the designers specifically to bridge indoors and outdoors. Below deck, the master cabin leans further into that eco-resort feel, integrated washbasins treated as part of the room rather than hidden away, and a writing desk built straight into the bookcase. A VIP cabin and two further guest cabins round out the lower deck, alongside separate crew circulation to keep operations out of guests' way.
The engineering underneath earns that calm. Alberto Mancini, who drew the exterior, worked with hull specialists NAMES to build what Azimut calls one of the most efficient planing hulls it has ever designed, shaped to get up on the plane earlier and stay efficient across a wider speed range. Carbon fibre makes up 40 percent of the structure, and the triple Volvo Penta IPS installation is built hybrid-compatible from the outset. Combined, Azimut says the package cuts fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30 percent in an average year of use against a comparable yacht on a traditional hull.
At anchor, a dedicated 60kWh lithium battery pack runs the yacht's Hotel Mode, generators off, for up to four hours by day and eight overnight, while stabilisers, air conditioning, the entertainment system and 220V sockets keep running as normal. The pack recharges fully in five hours from shore power, four from the generator, and is rated for more than 3,500 cycles across a ten year service life.
Azimut is upfront about why the build happened where it did. Giovanna Vitelli, chair of the Azimut|Benetti Group, points to the €50 million the yard has put into redesigning its Avigliana workshops since 2023, built specifically to handle boats up to 27 metres. Building among the mountains, she says, forced the yard to develop new solutions and push its engineering to the limit. Seadeck 9, in her words, is "the product of 50 years spent making the unthinkable possible."
The first hull left Avigliana in February, delivery to its owner is expected this northern summer, and its first public appearance comes at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September, confirmed as a world debut. For anyone in New Zealand curious enough to want a closer look before then, Pinnacle Marine in Auckland has held the exclusive Azimut dealership here since 2015.
