“I’m a great lover of experiencing the wilderness in comfort, and Latitude has been the perfect vessel for me to achieve those dreams,” says Anil Thadani, owner of the 45-metre Vripack-designed yacht. The passionate amateur photographer bought the yacht in 2013 with the hope of exploring the Arctic to photograph a polar bear in the wild. Not only did he succeed, but he repeated the journey the following year, and the year after that, with Latitude becoming the third boat ever to cross the Northwest Passage in both directions in consecutive years, and the third boat to fully circumnavigate the Svalbard Archipelago, coming within 500 miles of the North Pole.
As an experienced yachtsman, Thadani knew that ensuring he had the correct boat “to fulfil my dreams of going over the top of North America into the Northwest Passage” was integral to the trip’s success. “I looked at 27 boats before I settled on Latitude,” he says. “I was looking for a yacht that was strong enough and designed well enough to handle the trip without it being an ice class vessel. When I saw Latitude’s build and design quality, I was impressed. And her name was perfect.”
Latitude ticked a lot of boxes, from the solid build and engine room design, to the well thought through crew access for carrying out repairs and maintenance. “I also felt it was the perfect size; the design gives you the equivalent of a 60-metre interior volume on a 45-metre boat, and just a shade under 500 gross tons, which is what I wanted,” he says. “It also has a great mix of wonderful socialising spaces and private areas, including the best sundeck around.”
Sean Meagher, who captained Latitude for five years until 2018, notes that “one of the things that was remarkable about Latitude when I was on board was the longevity of the crew. On that first 126-day trip from Cape Cod to Vancouver, we were a very untested crew in a very extreme environment, but Latitude has proven herself as an exceptional seagoing vessel time and time again. Even when surrounded by ice in the Northwest Passage, I never felt we were beyond the boat’s capabilities.”
“You don’t even understand the meaning of wilderness until you go to the Arctic,” adds Thadani. “We were among the first to show that you can do the journey with a non-ice-breaking but well-built yacht, and it was a dream come true.”
Somewhat uniquely, Latitude wasn’t conceived as an expedition vessel. Originally built by Timmerman Yachts in 2008, she was exterior designed by Vripack, including the naval architecture, with a Northern European climate in mind — with kort nozzles fitted around the propellors for better course stability and protection from debris — yet has out-performed her class in some of the most remote places on Earth.In the years that have followed the Arctic expeditions, Latitude has ventured far and wide, covering a total of 175,000 nautical miles through the South Pacific, New Zealand, and most recently Europe. She has cruised the Indonesian Archipelago six times, including West Maluku, Papua, and the Solomon Islands, largely to satisfy Thadani’s appetite for scuba diving.
Replacing the yacht’s original sauna with a $250,000 professional-level dive room with dual nitrox compressors, a diamond plate floor and polished aluminium ceiling is among the more significant changes made by Thadani. “I’ve done about 1,100 dives from Latitude, and we can fill all six tanks in 10 minutes thanks to our high-pressure setup that pipes directly out to the swim platform,” he says. Other changes include a reconfigured sundeck, repositioning the jacuzzi forward and adding a large al fresco dining area, while the master suite office is now an indoor cinema.
In 2025, Latitude underwent a significant multi-million-dollar refit that saw a complete technical overhaul, including new drive shafts and all new electrical wiring. She is currently listed for sale with Worth Avenue Yachts.
“My original intention was to have Latitude for five years, enjoy lots of adventures, and then sell her, but it’s now been 13 years and counting,” says Thadani. “You get to see parts of the world that you just can’t access without a yacht. For me, the happiest days of my life have been those when I’ve owned her, and the saddest day will be the one when I sell her.”
As for Thadani’s wildlife photography, he’s added polar bears, narwhals, orcas, walruses, musk ox, Arctic foxes, Arctic hairs, falcons, and the elusive puffin to his growing portfolio.
