Redrawing the
Edges of Exploration
Reflections from the Explorer Yachts Summit 2025
Ask a child what exploration looks like and you may hear a surprisingly simple answer. For a five-year-old, paddling a kayak across a quiet lake already feels like discovering a new world. That small moment, shared by Enrique Tintoré, Product Manager Xplorer and Yacht Support at Damen Yachting, during the BOAT International Explorer Yachts Summit, became a gentle reminder that exploration is not defined by geography. It grows with us. What once felt vast becomes familiar, and the boundary moves again.
Exploration is not a place on the map, it is a way of seeing the world. It is shaped by curiosity and by the memories we collect as we move through life.
This shifting horizon was the quiet thread running through the 2025 Summit, held on 13 November at the Yacht Club de Monaco, where Owners, Captains, Owner’s Representatives, designers, scientists and expedition leaders gathered to examine how exploration is changing and what it demands from the yachts that carry us forward. Damen Yachting, as headline sponsor, stood at the heart of these conversations.
A New Frontier Rising Above the Sea
If one keynote reframed the idea of exploration completely, it was the one delivered by Logan Ware, Director of International Business Development at Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded to advance safe and accessible space travel. For decades, explorer yachts have pushed deeper into the oceans, the ice and the remotest regions on earth. Ware suggested that a new chapter is opening above us. With around eighty people already flown into space on Blue Origin missions, and with new vessel concepts under development, space is beginning to enter the realm once reserved for explorers of the sea.
What made his message so compelling was the parallel he drew between spacecraft and explorer yachts. Both are platforms built to carry people safely far beyond the ordinary. Both rely on highly trained crews and robust engineering. Both require designers to imagine places where humans have never been before. Space, in this sense, is simply the next edge of the chart. It broadened the discussion, showing that the spirit of exploration is not limited to one environment. It keeps expanding as long as we do.
Space is simply the next edge of the chart.
Designing for the Wild, Designing for Wonder
The panel on how to design an onboard lifestyle for the wildest adventures brought the discussion back to earth. Naval architect and designer Espen Øino spoke about independence as the soul of an explorer yacht. These yachts must be strong enough, stable enough and intuitive enough to move confidently into areas where there is no support network. Comfort is not an accessory, he said. It is a form of protection that allows people to stay present and fully appreciate the world around them. He illustrated this with the example of REV Ocean, the world’s largest research and expedition vessel, now in completion at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen. Designed to host scientists and guests side by side, REV Ocean includes a dedicated observation deck that opens up the sea in an extraordinary way. It offers panoramic views that are not only spectacular, but essential for scientific work.
Every Xplorer yacht begins with a clear mission. Purpose defines capability.
For Enrique Tintoré, everything begins with the Owner’s mission. Whether the design brief describes a 77-metre Xplorer with multiple helicopter landing platforms or a more compact yacht designed for family voyages, clarity of purpose determines everything that follows. Mission leads to priorities, and those priorities shape the entire capability of the yacht. They define whether the Xplorer yacht needs medical facilities, labs or specialist storage, how many crew are required to support specific operations, and what systems are needed to keep guests comfortable and safe in remote areas. When guests step on board, every space, every piece of equipment and every decision should support what they came to experience.
One of the most intriguing insights came from the panel’s reflection on how guests engage with crew. On explorer yachts, the exchange of skills has become part of the journey. Photographers share their perspective behind the lens. Crew members share local knowledge. Wellness experts, ski instructors and scientists join itineraries. Exploration becomes a shared pursuit rather than a service delivered. It reminded the audience that every frontier begins with curiosity and the courage to go further.
Exploration Made Tangible
During the breaks, guests were invited to experience exploration in a more tactile way at the Damen Yachting showcase. Scale models of the Xplorer 105, the Xplorer 80 and the Yacht Support 75 drew steady attention and sparked detailed conversations about design philosophy, capability and purpose. Guests could also use an immersive AR Experience to explore the Xplorer 80 in three-dimensional detail, moving virtually through deck layouts, interior spaces and operational areas as if stepping on board. The presentation highlighted how Damen Yachting approaches exploration not only as a concept, but as something Owners and Captains can truly envision and engage with, long before a yacht is built.
On board, exploration becomes a shared pursuit rather than a service delivered.
Luxury as a Force for Knowledge
Perhaps the most uplifting conversation was the one on science. Dr Paige Maroni, Marine Biologist, reminded the audience that more than 80% of the world’s oceans remain unstudied. Beneath the surface lies a landscape richer, stranger and more valuable than most of us can imagine. New species, new ecosystems and even new pharmaceuticals are waiting to be discovered. The gap in ocean research is not only scientific. It is logistical. Research vessels are scarce and often oversubscribed. Privately owned explorer yachts, with their reach and their equipment, can become powerful allies for scientists. By opening their decks, labs and submersibles to research teams, Owners have the chance to transform luxury into legacy.
Where the Map is Still Blank
Market data presented by BOAT International confirmed what many in the room already sensed. Explorer yachts are no longer a niche. They are becoming a philosophy of travel. More than one hundred explorers are expected to be in build by 2026. The AIS data revealed a global spread of explorer yacht activity, from Northern Europe and the Arctic to the South Pacific and French Polynesia. The most striking concentration, however, appeared in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, which now represent the busiest cluster of explorer destinations. Climate shifts are altering old routes and revealing new ones. The world is changing and explorers are adapting with it. Expedition leader and Founding partner of EYOS Expeditions Rob McCallum spoke of a new normal in weather patterns, where unpredictability has become the expectation. In this shifting climate, capability and preparation matter more than ever. The desire to explore remains strong, but the responsibility to do so carefully has never been greater.
A Horizon that Keeps Expanding
By the end of the summit, the message was unmistakable. Exploration is not a competition to reach the furthest point. It is a practice of continual expansion, shaped by imagination, discipline and a willingness to engage with the unknown. Whether it is the uncharted seafloor, a glacier coastline or the quiet stillness of space, every frontier begins with a simple question. What if we go a little further?
As the world opens in new directions, explorers are learning that the greatest discoveries often start this way. Exploration is personal. It grows with you. And as these conversations continue to evolve, Damen Yachting remains closely connected to the people who shape where that horizon leads next.
XPLORER
Redrawing the Edges of Exploration starts with embracing the limitless beauty of what life has to offer. Avoid the ordinary, explore the remote and experience the new. From adrenaline-fuelled adventures in ice-filled waters to breath-taking discoveries in the tropics with superyacht luxury and complete autonomy. Our Xplorers offer infinite adventures.