First Impression: Ouranos Too

Date Toured: May 2007

Ouranos, in Greek mythology, is the god who held up the entire universe. Not Atlas, mind you; he merely carried the Earth on his shoulders. Ouranos was the guy who prevented Atlas from falling down.
     Capt. Yiannis Kozakis, a long-serving professional in the Greek crewed yacht fleet, would be embarrassed to be compared to a god. However, he definitely earned a god-like reputation among reputable charter brokers as he worked his way from smaller to bigger yachts over the years, always providing top-notch service for vacationers cruising the islands in Greece and Turkey. In January 2007, Kozakis took command of the 134-foot motoryacht Ouranos Too—and began a four-month, million-euro refit of the 1994 Codecasa that finally gives him a yacht with as high a quality as the service he provides for charter guests.
      “It was a bet for me to have the boat ready for the charter show in Poros,” he says with a laugh in early May, literally a few days after finishing the refit job. “I had a small time to do many things. About 50 persons worked here, and I was in control of all of them.”
     Ouranos Too was basically gutted as she sat in a marina outside of Athens. Work crews came and went, overhauling both engines, tearing out and replacing the yacht’s overhead (aka ceilings), replacing all the soft goods including carpeting and curtains, replacing all the furniture except for one sofa in the main saloon, installing new mattresses in the guest cabins, adding satellite television with independent receivers plus Sony PlayStations in every cabin, installing a WiFi Internet system, adding stabilizers for easier cruising and independent climate control systems in every guest cabin, and introducing an overhead projector with drop-down, theater-style screen as well as blackout shades that turn the main saloon into a virtual cinema.
     The new wood that runs throughout Ouranos Too is cherry, accented by a lovely burled cherry that’s crafted from the root of the tree. It’s not veneer; it’s solid wood, which the yacht can handle weight-wise because of her solid steel hull. Yachts are rarely built this way anymore, as it’s much less expensive to use different materials. 
     An interesting addition during the refit is a Focusrite Control 24 sound-mixing system in the sky lounge, which Kozakis says will be available only to charter guests who have some experience as musicians and want to mix a new album or two while cruising.
    “On our last boat, we chartered to Paul McCartney,” he explains. “So he could come back and use it.”
     If you’re not on par with Sir Paul, you’re at least welcome to tickle the Yamaha baby grand piano’s ivories in the sky lounge, or to simply go one more level up to the sundeck, which is bathed in sunshine with a bar, a hot tub and sunpads.
     A note to the fair-skinned: There is no bimini for creating shaded areas on the sundeck, as you will find on many other yachts this size. As Kozakis says, “this is the sundeck, not the umbrella deck. We have a bimini on the bridge deck, one level below, if people want to sit there.”
     Given the cabin layout onboard Ouranos Too, an ideal charter party would be four couples with as many as four kids. There’s a large master cabin plus three double-bed cabins and a pair of twin-bed cabins (though the two twin-bed cabins are big enough to accommodate adults who don’t mind sleeping in separate beds, if you want to bring 12 adults for a charter).
     Kozakis doesn’t care what age his guests are; he only cares that they come to enjoy Greece, his home country, as much as he does.
     “He’s the most fabulous captain,” gushes Sarah Piggins of Yachting Partners International in England. “He sings, he plays the guitar, he knows every island like the back of his hand.”
     Jennifer Saia, president of The Sacks Group in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, couldn’t agree more.
     “He is fantastic. I’ve known him for three boats now. I’d trust him with any client.”
     I met Kozakis only for a few hours, but I felt comfortable enough to want to return to his boat again and again. And given the professional accolades he received plus the beautiful refit job done onboard, I imagine many charter clients will feel the same way.
     Ouranos Too is part of the fleet at Cape4 Yachting. She takes 12 guests with seven or eight crew at a lowest weekly base rate of 105,000 euros, or about $14,700 per person with 25-percent expenses included.—Kim Kavin