07/08/2026
If you ask someone outside the yachting industry when a yacht is born, they will most likely say: the day she is launched. Or the moment a bottle of champagne is ceremoniously broken against her hull.
But for those who manage and oversee a superyacht’s construction from the very beginning, as we do at Jonacor Yachts, there is another milestone comparable to the birth of the yacht. The keel laying ceremony marks the moment when drawings and plans begin their transformation into the yacht that in a certain time will touch the water.
A year ago, the Jonacor Yachts team shared exactly such a moment with Benetti Yachts and our client’s family during the construction of Benetti B.Yond 40M (BXL002).
Benetti makes a real occasion of this ceremony, and the owner takes part personally, welding the commemorative coin onto a steel section of the future yacht. We particularly like this part. Long before the yacht touches the water, her owner has already quite literally left his mark on her.
The tradition itself goes back centuries and has long been associated with good fortune and safe voyages. Today it survives mainly in custom and semi-custom yacht building, and we love that Benetti still keeps it alive. With all the technology, engineering and innovation that go into a modern superyacht, there is something rather wonderful about keeping such a simple tradition.
And the best part is that the coin doesn’t disappear forever inside the hull. It stays with the yacht, in an accessible place, so the owner can actually come back and see it years later. A tiny detail, perhaps, but a very personal one.
A year has passed. Back then, in front of us were the first steel sections of the future hull. Today, Benetti B.Yond 40M (BXL002) already looks very different. But we’ll show you that in the next post.
