While it’s commonplace for shipyards to open refit divisions, you don’t hear of designers designating a separate department for the service. Nonetheless, H2 Yacht Design has just done exactly that.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the International Superyacht Society (ISS) revealed the nominees for its annual International Design Awards competition this week:

BEST POWER, 24 TO 40 METERS

Yacht designers and builders are increasingly relying on 3D graphics. Not only does it help owners better understand what their boats will look like when completed, as computer technology allows incredibly realistic-looking visuals, but it also saves production time (and thereby money) and improves communication between engineering and production departments.

So it seems only natural that a company specializing in design modeling and 3D graphics for the yacht industry, that has worked with the likes of Redman Whiteley Dixon and Ken Freivokh on 50-meter-plus megayacht plans, has itself decided to create a superyacht design.

UK-based Drive has created the 410-foot megayacht you see here. The 7Cs ("seven seas," get it?), which was initially presented at last year's Monaco Yacht Show, mostly draws upon design elements from the automotive field, in which Drive also has experience.

It’s risky to say that the signing of new contracts in a recession is a signal that business is turning around. However, it is encouraging news, especially when taken with a currently healthy order book.