Why this experienced charterer keeps returning to 47m superyacht King Benji

Take for example Mark Tchelistcheff, an American who spotted the boat in a copy of BOAT International. He was one of the first guests to charter King Benji, in the South of France, along with his wife, Yulia and two daughters, Natasha and Vera. Mark’s ancestors were aristocratic Russians who fled their homeland after the 1918 revolution. His grand-uncle André Tchelistcheff is considered the "godfather" of fine Californian wine, and Mark possesses one of the world’s more refined palates. Not to forget he’s a celebrated Berlin-based film producer and director with a filmmaker’s eye for flair and detail. Above all, Mark grew up spending summers on charter boats and has been on board some of the world’s most famous ones at the Cannes Film Festivals. He knows what makes a boat good.

"I felt like I’d spent my life feeling guiltily hard to please," he says. "I’d started to develop an aversion to what you might call ‘old men’s white yachts’. The people often walk around so gingerly, as if afraid to step on eggshells. They can look so uptight, scared even. The service might be impeccable but is there the warmth? Does it have a heart? Candidly, it’s easy to become quite dispirited on some of these floating St Regises."

He pauses, meditatively. "The aura of King Benji is just so different," he goes on. "It’s a very unusual blend of fun and refinement. Such boats are very rare. In fact, I can count them on the fingers of one mitten. ‘Fun’ might seem like a trivial thing, but it’s really not. Over the course of our stay, we would discover just how much we needed the time on King Benji."

This movie starts in the beautiful bay of Beaulieu-sur-Mer, beside Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat. "It’s one of my favourite places in the world," says Mark. "The light is so invigorating; the breeze is gentle and warm; the shoreline surprisingly green." In the foreground Seven Seas, Steven Spielberg’s 109-metre Oceanco, is at anchor and looming large. She may belong to one of Hollywood’s most famous directors, "but does she have an aft deck like King Benji’s?" Mark asks with a twinkle in his eye.

King Benji, named after the owner’s pet dog, has her own dramatic silhouette, with her massed explorer-style profile fore and giant deck aft, ready for action. Her zingy blue colour complements the water and sky, and with the toys out, she looks like some aquatic adventure playground for the whole family. There are hot and cold plunge pools at the bow, a vertiginous crow’s nest, inflatable water slide plus climbing frame amidships, and that vast aft deck with 10-tonne crane and 12-metre Nor-Tech tender – finally, a swim platform, and a string of float structures off the stern that defy anyone, at any age, not to have a good time. One of the float structures even has a golf hole. The big aft deck makes a fine driving range, from which you can blast seaweed-based King Benji logo golf balls in its direction, feeding the fish if you miss.

Yet she is so much more than the sum of these parts, Mark believes. "What lists of toys and other features can’t capture is the way the boat feels – that all-elusive aura," he says. "One thing you sense from the get-go is she tends to be animated in a way the biggest boats aren’t, and let’s face it, who wants to eat in an empty restaurant? Even when you see her in a marina, docked stern-to among other boats, your eye is uncannily drawn to her. She’s where you want to be."

Part of the explanation for this is the cast, or crew rather, who just gel. "That all-important chemistry doesn’t happen by accident," says Mark. "The owner (Josh Golder) has put a huge amount of care and attention into getting the service experience right. He’s rumoured to be one of the toughest guys in the industry to work for, with impossibly high standards and a tendency to fire crew on the spot, yet I suspect the people who say that simply don’t share his vision of putting the guest experience first. The best crew are in demand; they can pick and choose where they work, and they work here. The owner understands the need for a hospitality approach."

What of Mark’s guest experience, then? How did it really turn out? "Top of mind: Vera started competitive climbing within weeks of trying that activity on the boat," he replies. "That’s a big deal, at her age. That helps her be brave and confident in life.

"Natasha found the inflatable slide thrilling, and soon developed a taste for tuna tataki bao buns." Natasha chips in: "So much better than any Berlin hamburger or even falafel. I love the palm trees on the main deck too, and the super amazing comfortable couches. Oh, and the crew even dried my hair!" Vera choruses: "The crew were so nice."

As a 10-year-old, Mark read Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The undersea-themed guest rooms feature triggerfish, squid and octopus. Matched wallpaper is strikingly real. "It reactivates the younger part of us," says Mark. "In contrast to the small portholes you find on many boats, the big picture windows create this connection with the sea and the natural world. The boat feels so open in that way. I don’t know how they got those windows – and doors on the upper levels – into the superstructure. The openness helps nourish the imagination. Natasha and Vera love dolphins, and they started looking like dolphins while swimming around the stern, where the water is deepest blue. They were so unselfconscious – fearless, even."

"There’s always a peaceful place to retreat, where I can be undisturbed," says Yulia, Mark’s wife. Yulia is a former dancer who practises daily yoga, works with the WHO and teaches public health at Technical University Berlin. A favourite spot for her was the crow’s nest, which affords panoramic views and is calm. Guests are also sheltered, in complete privacy – seeing, but not seen.

Mark equally enjoys ascending to the crow’s nest, the breeze gentle and warm there too, a glass of chilled wine in his hand. It’s a Whispering Angel rosé, as beloved by singer Adele and produced by Lichine, a wine-making family that Mark’s own family had known before the Russian Revolution. "It has this beautiful pale pink colour, and it’s lush while being bone dry, with a very smooth finish over the entire palate. I savour it with tuna tartare, beautiful rice chips, scallions and a Japanese ponzu sauce. It’s a sweet and tangy pairing that in turn makes for a connoisseur’s combination with the Whispering Angel. Heaven!"

"What you have to keep in mind is we’re all stressed most of the time," Mark explains. "When was the last time you had a vacation and truly decompressed? I almost died from Covid-19 during the pandemic and still have tinnitus from it, which drives me nuts as a filmmaker." The after-effects of Covid-19 were felt by the whole family. "Like so many kids, studying – attention span – can be a struggle for the girls."

Hence the value of pure unadulterated fun: kids being kids, and adults being kids, too. Says Mark: "It’s the kid in all of us, the value of freedom and play and testing limits yet feeling safe in such a luxurious bubble. Since disembarking, we’ve been tracking King Benji to Albania and other adventurous places we dream of visiting while next on board her. We’re definitely repeat customers.

"The experience on a boat like this is shaped by the crew and ultimately the owner himself," continues Mark. "He’s certainly a larger-than-life character, but crucially a man with a big heart. He cares about people and details. He’s open, too. That’s reflected in the captain, Grant, who sets the tone. Grant has a professionalism; he wants things done right. He loves what he does, is good to his crew and so they care about each other, all of which get magnified for the benefit of clients."