Superyacht Influencer Interview: Herb Chambers Opens Up About Owning 263-Foot-Long EXCELLENCE

I’ve never met anyone in the superyacht world quite like Herb Chambers.

Superyacht owners are often, um, how should we say it…pretty aloof. And I can’t say I blame them. But every now and then, I meet a superyacht owner who loves his new yacht, loves the process of designing and building something so unique, and appreciates the incredibly talented designers and engineers and builders who can make his dreams a reality so much that he’s willing to share some of the experience with me–on the record.

But I’ve never met anyone in the superyacht world quite like the owner of 263-foot-long EXCELLENCE, which was designed by Winch Design, built by Abeking & Rasmussen, and won the “Best Exterior Design” and “Finest New Superyacht” awards at the Monaco Yacht Show.

He’s a straight-talking American whose smiling face and common sense one-liners are on nearly every billboard near where I live in downtown Boston. His name is Herb Chambers. And he’s on all those billboards because he owns (and is the face of) more than 1,000 car dealerships in New England that bear his name.

“Well, I’ve had six yachts,” he says when I ask about how he came to own one of the hottest superyachts in the world. “I built two in Holland and then I started building them in Germany at Abeking & Rassmussen.”

“Why so many?” I ask. 

“It’s fun to build a boat,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “As a matter of fact, from my standpoint, it’s probably more fun to build them than it is to use them.”

“You’re creating something. You’re watching something grow,” he continues. “I think people who develop real estate know what I’m talking about; watching a project grow.”

“I’m in the automobile business, so it’s not quite the same. But building a boat gives you an excuse to go to Europe every three or four months so you see the progress and what’s going on at the yard. And that, to me, is very exciting.”

“Then, you have the opportunity to make a lot of choices.”

When it comes to EXCELLENCE’s design, “choices” may be a bit of an understatement. Chambers’ design brief called for his new yacht to be “extraordinary” and to create a seamless feeling of openness and connection to the outside world. He says, “I also wanted the boat to be what I’ll call a ‘happy boat’. There are many boats out there that are overdone. They become an exercise in excess. I didn’t want that.”

He just needed to meet the designer that could create what he wanted.

“So how did you decide to build such a radical new yacht?” I ask.

“We were at a boat show when I still owned my previous EXCELLENCE (a 198-footer also named EXCELLENCE and built by Abeking & Rasmussen), but I was thinking about building something new. Then I walked into the Abeking & Rasmussen stand. And they had a rendering on the wall. And he–” Chambers says, pointing at the man who just sat next to him at the bar on the lower deck of his award-winning new yacht where we are sitting, “had done the rendering.”

The “he” Chambers refers to is Andrew Winch, the founder of Winch Design and the head of the design team that designed every element of the yacht, from the striking exterior and complicated naval architecture to every detail in the interior.

“I was thinking about a boat with lots of glass. And then I stopped and said, ‘I like that boat,’” he explains, pointing at a rendering that was just a concept Abeking & Rasmussen and Winch Design were collaborating on. Soon Chambers was making changes and making his own additions to the design. And not too long after that, the boat was being built.

Winch describes the process with Chambers like this: “Herb trusted us to design and build something that was so new, it was way beyond the comfort zone of most people. He had the courage to do it.”

In fact, the team at Winch Design came up with a superstructure that’s so unique, it’s no wonder EXCELLENCE has been so well-received. The instantly identifiable reverse bow and the yacht’s profile built around huge areas of mirrored and curved floor-to-ceiling glass executed brilliantly by Abeking & Rassmussen may point to where the future of superyacht design and construction is headed.

What’s more? We can help you charter it for yourself!