The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, long touted as the ‘great American yacht show’, has served as the backdrop for watershed after watershed moments – but perhaps none as significant as when the 30-metre motor yacht Destiny (ex. Golden Delicious) made its world debut in 1988. 

Golden Delicious, as she was known then, was Westship Yachts’ first delivery, and she paved the way for a successful dynasty that culminated in more than 150 deliveries. She broke new ground and was a thorny reminder that there’s more to yacht design than sex appeal. Yachts should be functionally-driven and designed for the purpose they’re intended for: a life on water. This ethos, along with a vision to redefine the possibilities of composite as a build material, proved to be instrumental for the success of the now legendary US designer, Jack Sarin, who was still very much in the infancy stages of his career when he walked the quays of the 1988 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show.Photo: IYCJack Sarin founded his eponymous studio just eight years prior to the delivery of Golden Delicious, and the Westport yacht put his name on the map. “She was our break-through project,” Jack Sarin reflected. “We designed her as an all-composite build based on our multiple length/beam hull, which has since been used by a number of…