Scott Cate, owner of a 184-foot conversion named
Pangaea, says that he would build the same boat all over again. “I would tweak
things,” he says. “But essentially, I’d follow a similar design with the same
floor plan.”
Pangaea was originally built by Halter Marine in 1998 as a yacht
that looks and performs like a commercial vessel. It was refitted in 2002 to
give it the appearance of a more traditional pleasure yacht. Cate says Pangaea
is just shy of an icebreaker-class rating and has, in fact, pushed truck-size
icebergs out of its way on trips to Alaska. “We’ve been out in Perfect Storm
weather in 75-knot winds, and the only damage was a dented Jet Ski,” he says.
“But we can also go into ports with white yachts and not be conspicuous.”
 |  | | TOP: BEFORE photo. Bottom: Lady Lola’s Shadow carries supplies for the main yacht, Lady Lola. |
Now
located in the South Pacific, Pangaea has visited more remote locations than
most expedition yachts. Cate tells stories right from the pages of Herman
Melville. He spent six weeks aboard the vessel recently near remote islands such
as the Marquesas and Tuamotu, where he caught 300-pound marlin off the back of
the yacht and dived among hundreds of sharks. “We never saw a dock,” he says.
“We were self-sufficient. It is the ultimate off-road trip, but you have to get
that far away to experience it.”
Some yachtsmen employ these converted
commercial vessels in ways that mimic the boats’ original function. Owners
commonly transform them into shadow boats—repurposed supply boats that
essentially follow a mothership carrying an array of smaller vessels and
equipment.
Lady Lola’s Shadow, a 186-foot converted supply vessel that
tracked the 205-foot Lady Lola, is probably the most well known of these. The
Shadow, as Lady Lola’s former captain, Stan Antrim, calls her, had a mission to
carry a Bell 430 Executive twin-engine helicopter (along with 2,000 gallons of
jet aviation fuel), a three-man submarine, a 32-foot motorlaunch, a 36-foot high
performance boat and four smaller boats. “If you had to build a yacht to carry
all that stuff, it’d be in the 400-foot range,” Antrim says. Shadow, which
Antrim says cost about $5 million to buy and refit, was far less
costly.
After perusing listings from all over the world, Antrim found Shadow
among hundreds of supply vessels in the Louisiana bayou. Owner Duane Hagadone, a
real estate developer from Idaho, wanted it ready in four months, so the local
shipyard worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to turn the boat into a
dapper servant ship. Because Hagadone’s guests would stay aboard the mother
ship, the Shadow’s interior did not have to achieve a yacht-like finish. But the
modifications were extensive, including the addition of a massive shelter to
keep boats and helicopter out of the elements. “It sits out of sight of the
mothership,” Antrim explains. “But you can use the toys at any time, including
the helicopter—which many harbors now prohibit. It also makes the mothership
look more elegant, instead of being bogged down by stuff.”
Tom Gonzales, a
California businessman and owner of a 120-foot Benetti white yacht, is an
enthusiastic convert to the shadow boat concept. “It cracks the code on how to
get the best bang for your buck in yachting,” he says. “If you are trying to buy
a 120-footer with everything the shadow boat offers, it would be $65 million to
$70 million. But with the shadow boat and yacht, you could be into the game for
less than $15 million.” In addition, Gonzales notes, a shadow boat keeps the
yacht’s most valuable real estate—the upper deck—free of clutter.
Sacks
Group’s Stokes has been working closely with the owner of a 60-foot Ferretti
mothership who proposes to use a 150-foot shadow boat to transport the cruiser
to the Mediterranean, and then serve as a floating fuel dock. “Not only do you
save on transatlantic transport costs but you have 30,000 gallons of duty-free
diesel at your disposal,” he says. “The owner can drive the 60-foot boat into
the harbor himself, without all the fuss and expense of a large yacht. People
are creating cost-efficient ways to use these supply vessels.”
Michael Verdon is a senior correspondent for Worth. michael.verdon@verizon.net Additional Information
 Resurrecting a Wreck
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