The Rybovich 94 packs superyacht styling into a sportfish footprint to create a package unlike any the world has seen before, says Kevin Koenig...

On the starboard side of the saloon on board the new 28.5 metre Rybovich III Amigos there is a dinette unlike any other in the world. In the reflection of the high-gloss redwood burl table one can catch a dancing glimpse of the deep navy-blue leather in the seats, done by Edelman with stitching so delicate and firm that it appears less handmade than it does organic, as if it has always been and always will be. 

Rybovich Three Amigos 94'

As we toured the vessel’s interior he pointed to the bar counter on the aft end of the galley. Like the rest of the stone on board, it was sourced in Italy. “The owner flew me to Pisa just to find 500 square feet of marble,” he says. “I spent two days there and my mission was clear: find the most dynamic Bahia blue marble that exists anywhere in the world.”

By the looks of it, he found it. The countertop is alive with colour. Greys and blacks and all manners of blue float and frenzy in a pattern reminiscent of a massive ball of baitfish. The countertop is nicely picked up by the cushions on the barstools, which are upholstered in a lush alligator hide, also blue, that resonates an undeniable masculinity. It helps that the cushions sit upon stools by BlueWater Chairs that the owner stipulated must be “rock solid.” And they are. At Knowles’s bidding I grabbed the back of one of them with both hands and tried to shake it and it wouldn’t budge at all. I should add that the backs of those stools have solid stainless-steel portholes without any flanges. The steel is so snugly fit to the wenge that it’s as if they are one.

The captain, perhaps not surprisingly, is also enamoured with the boat’s command station, which looks like it belongs on a Feadship. Four massive Furuno screens complement excellent sight lines. A dining settee aft provides climate-controlled stowage for a treasure trove of rods and reels beneath its cushions as well. The 94 has also got loads of flashy (but oh so necessary) fishing accoutrements including 26 rod holders, four livewells to hold live bait, a 150-gallon fishbox, and three ice makers that can make 2,540 pounds of ice per day.

“We’ve never worked with an outside subcontractor before, and this boat will be a different cup of tea for most of the sportfishing crowd, I can say that,” Rybovich says with a lilt in his voice. “She’s spectacular in every aspect. We’re absolutely thrilled. It’s our latest and greatest.”

A VIP to port hearkens to Knowles’s early days as designer for private jets. It’s modeled after a cabin on board the Boeing Business Jet, and has a cambered ceiling that mimics the cylindrical shape of an aircraft. About that ceiling: it’s tongue and groove, and as I was exiting the VIP I noticed that one of the planks was perhaps a tenth of an inch longer than the other ones. Feeling cheeky, I pointed it out to Knowles. “Ah yes, you’re right,” he says with a smile, running his fingernail over the tiny gradation, “we’ll have to get that straightened out.” It was the only blemish I registered regarding the entirety of this 28 metre's fit and finish. Sometimes it really is the exception that proves the rule.

But the yacht’s interior is not all that sets it apart. It has another aspect that makes it distinct among Ryboviches. “This is our first enclosed flying bridge,” Michael Rybovich says. “About halfway through the project the customer decided that they were going to make a change in the bridge structure. Originally the boat had been designed with a traditional open bridge. But the owner wanted it to be enclosed for practicality. They do a lot of traveling and in long-distance running it’s a lot more comfortable to be inside and not at the mercy of the weatherman, so to speak.”

The designer is a savant for spatial nuances, and it informed every part of the interior. “It’s so important for spaces to properly flow,” he says, gesturing around an interior that masterfully integrated competing spaces. “Have you ever gone to a restaurant and loved the food, loved the service, and then been, like, but I’m never going there again? Lots of times that’s the feng shui giving you a subliminal feeling that just doesn’t agree with you. It’s so important and people take it for granted.”

The Rybovich’s accommodations deck was also done by Knowles in conjunction with Metrica and has myriad touches that strike at the megayacht aspirations of this fishing machine. Perhaps the most obvious of these is the thickness of the doors down below. While most large convertibles would typically have doors about 1.4 inches thick, the doors on III Amigos are twice as sturdy at 2.8 inches. They feel like the doors on a safe and are much more akin to what you’d find at the Monaco Yacht Show than at the Bermuda Big Game Classic. The en suites on this level feature Striato marble imported from Italy, notable for the rich grey stripes that streak through the off-white base colour. 

III Amigos is a collaboration between Michael Rybovich & Sons Custom Boat Works in Palm Beach Gardens and Patrick Knowles, a Bahamian-born, award-winning interior designer based in Fort Lauderdale. For Knowles, the yacht is a coup. “This boat could be a pivotal game changer for the American sportfishing industry,” he says. Sportfish boats in America occupy a super-charged, ego-driven, niche strata of the marine market. Owners buy these boats to compete for the biggest fish, but also to collect bragging rights at the dock – baddest boat wins, period. And with the Rybovich 94, it feels like a new bully just moved into town.

All yachts are toys, but large, tournament-bound convertibles are also tools. And while still fetching prices sometimes in the eight-digit range, their interiors often reflect a pragmatic raison d’être that simply wouldn’t cut it among most superyacht owners.

Knowles, who has also worked on airplanes and residences for the owner, put it like this: “In the past, if I saw a sportfish boat on the cover of a magazine, I would glance at it very quickly because I’ve already judged it. I know the configuration down below, no matter the builder. That’s not the audience we are after.”

The contract for III Amigos was signed on August 9, 2018, so the ensuing project would stretch to three years plus. For Knowles, the wait was worth it. And in many respects, very much needed.