Although Captain Oliver Michels came to the Maverick build late, he’ll make up for lost time with a seven-year round-the-world program.
Despite growing up inland in Hanover, Germany, when Captain Oliver Michels left school he dreamed of working on commercial vessels. “But I was advised against my dream because all the German vessels were switching to Panama flags,” he says. “The [naysayers] were wrong, of course, because you always need officers.”
Instead he found an apprenticeship at a small boatyard in the northern coastal town of Kiel, where he worked on everything from fishing vessels to racing yachts. He bought a small sailing boat in Rhode Island and cruised down the east coast of America and through the Caribbean. He decided to weather hurricane season in Venezuela, but ended up staying nearly eight years.
His entry into the superyacht industry came via Damen in Mallorca, where he worked in the mobile yacht crew team servicing the wintering Jonger boats.
“I’ve been skippering boats for 25 years now, mostly sailing boats in the beginning and now motor boats,” Oliver says. In 2019, he left Perini Navi’s largest sailing yacht, 184ft Selene, and transitioned to motor yachts. His first was a 115ft Admiral. “The owners planned to build a bigger boat but they never did it, so I had to move on. I didn’t want to stay in that range.”
In June 2023, Oliver became involved with Maverick, joining near the end of the project with the handover taking place in April 2024. Maverick is Cantiere delle Marche’s first of three Flexplorer 146 models — all designed for safe exploration of remote areas with superyacht comfort. She is powered by twin Caterpillar C32 ACERT 970kW-generating engines that offer a maximum speed of 14 knots and a range of more than 5,000 nautical miles.
It is the first time Oliver has worked with owners who live on board full-time. “They found they liked living on board during Covid-19, which they spent on a catamaran in the Bahamas,” he says. “That’s where the idea grew to have a bigger boat and go around the world with the family on board.”
Her key features include an ice belt 22 millimeters above and below the waterline on the steel hull and a custom-built A-frame crane with a lift capacity of 8,800 pounds, which sits flush with the deck once tenders are launched. Tenders include a 31ft custom-designed Rivellini and an A27 sailing boat. It sits close to the cockpit, leaving below deck clear to house a gym, sauna and dive center.
Maverick is also fitted with collapsible bulwarks, while deck fittings are positioned low on the swim platform, allowing the aft area to become a 1,450-square-foot swim platform. There is an infinity pool on the transom that can be used for storage once she is under way.
“There is a lot of outside space,” Oliver says. “We have huge deck space. On the top deck, we have a crow’s nest and a kind of lounge area where the owners can see the scenery as we pass.”
The main salon is full beam on the starboard and has a passageway port-side to allow easy service from the galley to the outside areas. There is a big door between the main salon and the galley, where the owners spend a lot of time. “They want to integrate the life of the crew with theirs,” Oliver says. “That element is very important to them. It’s a very friendly environment.”
Accommodation covers three decks: four en suites on the lower deck, owner staterooms on the main deck and another owner stateroom and single guest cabin on the upper deck.
Manned by an international crew of nine, Maverick is easy to handle. After a trial period in the Med, Cannes and Monaco shows, and a period in the shipyard to make minor adjustments, the adventures begin. He is excited about the round-the-world itinerary that starts in the Red Sea before heading to Scandinavia and the Baltic.
The circumnavigation with the family is planned to be a seven-year program and, as one of two rotational captains, Oliver is committed to it. “So I will be here for seven years or longer,” he says. “I’ve done the milk run, but I am now ready for adventure!”