To starboard, the storm threatened grievous harm, purple bruises racing across an ink-black sea. The Sea Cloud Spirit rolled in the developing swell, all 130 metres of her. Below, all engines at full throttle, above, 4 100m2 of canvas sail safely wrapped around her three 60-metrehigh masts.
We were racing for safe harbour at Civitavecchia, one of Italy’s impossibly beautiful coastal towns. Jonathan Raban’s sea was most definitely alive and eventful, but our focus wasn’t on a starring role in a Mediterranean sea drama, but rather on the reveal of another star, Mercedes-Maybach’s latest S680 Special Edition, the V12, under the ramparts of Forte Michelangelo.
The ancient 2nd-century harbour welcomed us just as the first fat drops fell, people crowding decks to get a look at the elegant Sea Cloud Spirit as she negotiated the maze of bloated cruise liners with their purple bow motifs and four-storey waterslides. The aquatic equivalent of Barbieland, Spirit reminded the world of a more graceful time when craftsmanship, attention to detail and dignity were the order of the day.
Clever Mercedes-Maybach, kudos by association. Tall sail ships, haute cuisine, classical music and fine-art superstars. And an old-school Med as blue as Sinatra’s eyes. Well, yesterday, anyway.
V12 SPECIAL EDITION – FIRST A MAYBACH, THEN A MERCEDES-BENZ
Safely docked, it was time for the business part of the trip. Under the imposing ramparts of the 16th-century fortress, Champagne flowed, Ray Chen and his 300-year old Stradivarius were called upon to deliver Vivaldi’s ‘Summer’ from The Four Seasons and a suitably august-looking limousine materialised from beneath the covers. The new Limited Edition V12 is exactly that, a collector’s item. The ‘standard’ Mercedes-Maybach S-Class S680 advanced a collection of extras to lift it into ever more rarified environs. The V12 moniker celebrates the legendary dual ignition V12 Zeppelin Maybach engine of 1933, a powerplant then regarded as decades ahead of its time.
Visually, it’s the wheels that attract your attention first – huge, five-hole forged discs in the body colour, olive metallic. Equally arresting is the paintwork. The V12’s three-tone Manufaktur finish is retro cool: olive and obsidian black metallic, separated by a silver pinstripe, all painstakingly applied in a process that takes 10 days. Look closely and you’ll see the ‘12’ badge is detailed in 24-carat gold.
Those Art Deco elements follow through inside: inlaid burrwalnut high-gloss wood trim predominates; there are diamond-quilted headliners; the saddle-brown Nappa leather references limousines of the era; and the silver-plated champagne flutes for the rear drinks station are by Robbe & Berking of Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, following a design from the 1930s.
Yet if the tenor is yesteryear, the electronics are cuttingedge contemporary. The V12 features, for example, electrically operated rear doors and active road-noise compensation for a whisper-quiet interior.
THE SEA CLOUD SPIRIT AND A VERY UNTYPICAL SAILING EXPERIENCE
Launch done and so to the exploring. The Sea Cloud Spirit will take us up the coast to St Tropez, stopping at La Spezia for a chance to drive, if not the V12 Special Edition (too rare to risk Italian backroads), then the rest of the Maybach line-up.
Onboard and at sea, the Spirit’s period quiddity comes to the fore. Based largely on heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post’s original 1931 private yacht, Hussar V, she was built in 2020 with no expenses spared.
Three-masted, full-rigged, wooden decks with brass detailing and bespoke cabins, she is among the most sophisticated sail ships on the water. Both her hybrid engine layout and electronically controlled rigging system are world bests. None of that matters out at sea, rope and teak soundtrack on the zephyrs, warm sun through the canvas, spray cooling the August heat. It’s a return to simpler times, the unfolding of the day marked in classic observances: morning tea, afternoon high tea, formal dinners, the sweet wine farewell.
DRIVING, CRUISING, ADORING THE DIVINE COAST
La Spezia’s appeal is its promise of intriguing routes up into the Liguria–Tuscany Apennines. From the water, the gateway town to Cinque Terre seems all harbour and, indeed, its nautical history is rich, most notably as the port most commonly used for fleeing Jewish refugees during World War II, many of whom travelled to South Africa.
Safely docked, it was time for the driving. We chose Strada Provinciale 28, high above the now azure Med to better experience and get to grips with the Maybach line-up. On hand were the ‘standard’ V12 S-Class Maybach, the GLS Maybach, EQS SUV Maybach and, of special interest, the latest SL Maybach, given it will soon be available in South Africa.
What a perfect day for it – roof down in the SL Maybach, tight, forested lanes, sudden vistas of mare nostrum below. The V12 S-Class was especially impressive, far more agile than its leviathan heft would suggest. Thank the rear-axle steering and active body control system with intelligent suspension for that. The ride and attitude is mightily impressive – the Maybach way is to glide, unperturbed in total luxury and it certainly manages that, whatever the surface. More surprising was the dynamism. All cars, including the electric EQS SUV, exhibited a willingness to attack the twists with verve.
All too soon – though hardly a hardship – it was time to board the Spirit again and head for St Tropez. Determined to showcase his ship’s manifest glory, Captain Vukota Stojanovic ordered all the sails hoisted, just for the joy of it. All hands on deck and at their stations, orders shouted and the spectacle unfolded, literally, with 32 sails finding the increasingly stiff southerly Marin. The sound of canvas filling, the coordinated business on deck, the pride – lovely indeed, and a fitting end to an extraordinary time.
Past and present, the best of then, folded into the best of today. Masterfully executed, Maybach.
