NAUTA TELLS THE DESIGN STORY BEHIND SOUTHERN WIND’S NEW SW108 KALANTIS
Southern Wind’s 108-footer Kalantis has just been delivered to proud owners in Cape Town. She is the third of the award-winning SW108 semi-custom range, featuring elegant exterior and interior design from Nauta. With Kalantis, Nauta continues to refine its design language, delivering a yacht that balances performance, comfort, and understated elegance, with innovation focused on enhancing the onboard experience. Studio co-founder and CEO Massimo Gino reveals a sophisticated project.
A transformative Seaside Lounge
The yacht reflects the lifestyle of her young and dynamic owners, combining performance sailing with long-range cruising comfort. Nauta’s design approach a hallmark of the studio’s work across all projects is expressed through clean lines, functional solutions, and an interior that is both refined and highly usable.
The defining feature of Kalantis is her unique Seaside Lounge, a transformative aft-deck space that creates a direct connection with the sea. Thanks to an innovative system, jointly developed by Southern Wind and Nauta, the opening transom unfolds to reveal an unexpected and surprising luxury area: a broad terrace at water level, inviting guests to live just inches above the surface. Effortlessly shifting in mood and purpose, it becomes a sun-drenched retreat, a relaxed sea-facing lounge framed by generous seating, an intimate spot for a quiet coffee, or a cinematic setting under the stars. More than a flexible design feature, it is an atmosphere a place that evolves with the rhythm of the day, shaping moments from sunrise to late evening.
The flush deck, GT deck geometry (successfully applied to previous award-winning Southern Winds such as Taniwha, Nyumba and Gelliceaux), and low-profile coachroof create a sleek yet elegant profile while ensuring efficiency under sail. A careful integration of skylights and windows enhances natural light below deck, reinforcing the sense of openness and connection between interior and exterior spaces.
Elegance in contrast Below deck, a refined interplay of light and dark tones defines the interior palette, evoking spaciousness, warmth, and understated contemporary elegance. Light colours white Ultraleather headlining, textile-covered bulkheads and panels, pale flooring, and much of the upholstery that wraps the organic shapes of sofas and beds are paired with darker woods used for cabinetry and detailing. Walnut is the primary wood, with striped dark walnut introduced as an accent to define functions and add visual rhythm across elements such as niches, doors, frames and selected furniture pieces.
Natural light is central, with large hull windows in all cabins and the saloon, complemented by a forward coachroof skylight. This bright, airy environment highlights a refined contrast of light and dark tones, enhancing the sense of space, warmth, and understated contemporary elegance.
A remarkable feature is the keel trunk cover, detailed with walnut battens that extend into the adjacent bulkhead, creating subtle movement echoed throughout the yacht in nightstands, storage units, and bookshelves. Subtle details, including black-finished elements and Loro Piana upholstery on locker doors and sofas, add a contemporary edge and reinforce a sense of luxury and comfort.
Kalantis features four cabins: the owner’s suite forward, a single guest cabin ahead of the saloon, and two convertible aft guest cabins, all with en suite bathrooms. The saloon is an open-plan living and dining area that extends into a TV lounge to starboard, enhancing openness and uninterrupted views.
“Kalantis is an exceptional yacht whose sporty, contemporary looks are perfectly matched inside and out,” said Gino. “Southern Wind’s blend of Italian style and ocean-going performance strongly resonates with our design approach, and this latest SW108 further builds on a successful collaboration.”
