2018 Absolute Navetta 73

The Absolute Navetta 73 has a stately mien that stems from her vertical pilothouse windows and substantial brow, her LOA and obvious hull volume, but also her flybridge, which seemed to overhang beyond her cockpit. She was built for more than just long-distance passages, as anyone who has watched her slice through the chop on plane at what seemed to be near 20 knots will attest. Heralded as the builder’s new flagship, the Navetta 73 has a legit big-boat feel, from the fine interior finish to the layout, and the way its 1,000-horsepower Volvo Penta IPS 1350s purr.

When I spoke to Cesare Mastroianni, president of Absolute of Americas, Inc., a U.S. corporation wholly owned by Absolute Yachts to administer its business here, he told me the 73, with its 72-foot 10-inch LOA, provides the same level of comfort found in boats larger than 80 feet.

“We have the integrated structural system by which we are able to obtain these dimensions without increasing the weight of the boat too much,” Mastroianni said. “We use different materials in different areas of the boat, including Kevlar and carbon fiber in the upper parts.”
That cockpit has access to those side decks as well as a nicely railed stairway up to the flybridge. Doors open wide to the salon, giving a broad entry from the cockpit to a conversation area aft. Forward of that lies a formal dining table with seating for eight and views from truly large windows. A galley is forward of the dining area, enclosed for the crew to do their work out of sight. Opposite the dining area are the stairs to the accommodations.

You would be forgiven if you thought you were in the master when you walked into the large full-beam stateroom located amidships just forward of the engine room. After all, its hullside windows, separate shower and head compartments to port, plus a dressing table in a nook to starboard, all point to the luxury appointments of owner’s accommodations. Of course you’ve guessed by now that you’d be wrong, since this is merely the VIP stateroom, situated off a passageway that also grants access to a pair of double guest staterooms, both en suite.

The master is located forward, with a separate stairway from the pilothouse, where you will find plenty of floorspace and headroom, with a longitudinal berth with its head aft and large hullside windows.

But it’s the pilothouse that is the true master on this boat. The Glass Cockpit system, the joint venture of Volvo Penta and Garmin, is the centerpiece. It integrates radar, chartplotting, and engine systems with three 22-inch Garmin displays arrayed around the helm, and one 24-inch Garmin touchscreen display mounted within the dash itself, as a sort of electronic chart table.

The Navetta 73 is the first boat introduced with the Volvo Penta IPS 1350, which uses a pair of 1,000-horsepower V-6 Volvo D13 diesels linked to third-generation IPS pods, and the performance is striking.

Absolute has the IPS system dialed in. “We contributed to the development of IPS2 and IPS3 because we shared our hulls with their team in Sweden,” Mastroianni says. “At the end of the day we have acquired a lot of experience in optimizing the design of the hulls so the IPS system performs well.”  —Jason Y. Wood

LOA: 72’10”
Beam: 18’4”
Draft: 5’4”
Displ.: 115,400 lbs

Fuel: 1,057 gal.
Water: 293 gal.
Power: 2/1,000-hp Volvo Penta IPS 1350
Base Price: $3,508,000 (landed at Port Everglades, Florida)