How the Voodoo XF450 scales a proven foil assisted platform into the superyacht world.
The post was short, but it got the boat world talking.
“Something extraordinary is taking shape,” Voodoo Yachts teased on Facebook, introducing the Voodoo XF450 as the largest and most advanced adventure yacht the Kiwi yard has ever designed. The promise was unmistakable. A new class leader blending speed, range, space, and innovation, with a Beach Club placed at the centre of the experience.
For a builder that has already fired a 75 footer across the Tasman at serious pace, the jump to a 36 metre flagship is not a casual move. It reads instead as a confident escalation — a sign that Voodoo believes its foil assisted platform is ready for the superyacht stage.
Voodoo XF450: what we actually know so far
Official information remains scarce. Voodoo’s own channels offer only the teaser and the hint of a Beach Club reveal.
The first confirmed details come via Boat International, which reports that the Voodoo XF450 will be a 36.3 metre hydrofoil assisted catamaran with a 10.5 metre beam and an interior volume of 450GT. It will sit at the top of the Voodoo range and evolve the yard’s “record setting” Xpedition Foiler platform, with a target cruise of around 30 knots and long range suited to global itineraries.
Two configurations are proposed: an open flybridge or an enclosed flybridge, with the Beach Club remaining central in both versions. According to the report, the Beach Club spans the full beam and opens on three sides. It pairs a lounge and bar with a versatile wellness studio designed for fitness, yoga, massage or spa use. Direct access to a sauna or hammam, cold plunge, shower and dayhead helps create a complete waterside retreat. An expanded aft deck supports toys and tenders, and an optional helipad with refuelling signals that the XF450 is being pitched firmly at the adventure yacht sector.
Inside, American studio Christian Oliver Design is credited with the styling. Early descriptions highlight light woods, neutral fabrics and sculpted surfaces arranged around a dramatic three deck lightwell that rises from the Beach Club to the upper deck bar. A five cabin layout is planned, including a full beam owner’s suite with 180 degree views, backed by crew accommodation for up to eight.
These remain design intentions rather than sea trial numbers, but they offer a clear picture of Voodoo’s ambition.
A flagship built on a proven platform
Where the XF450 gains real credibility is in the context of Voodoo’s current fleet. The yard’s existing Xpedition Foilers have already shown what the platform can do far from home waters.
At the heart of the design is the Xpedition Wing, a foil and wingdeck arrangement on the smaller models that lifts around half the vessel’s displacement at speed. That lift increases clearance between the hulls, reduces wetted surface, and allows the boats to run efficiently in the 30–40 knot range. Published range figures for the XF75, for example, include 600–1,200 nautical miles at 30 knots, and up to 3,000 nautical miles at 8 knots — unusually strong numbers for a catamaran of that size.
More importantly, Voodoo’s boats have proved these figures in the real world. The XF60 Phoebe has completed long Pacific passages at sustained high speeds, including runs from Auckland to New Caledonia and onward to Australia. In May 2025, the XF75 Mach4 crossed the Tasman Sea in 36 hours of travel, covering more than 1,100 nautical miles with average speeds in the mid 30 knot range and a peak above 50 knots. The passage was recognised as a Trans Tasman speed record and demonstrated how mature the underlying engineering has become.
These achievements matter because they show the XF450 is not emerging from a vacuum. It is being built on a platform with real offshore credibility, supported by a yard that tests its ideas on the open ocean rather than in computer renders alone. The flagship, on paper, looks more like a scaled evolution than a speculative leap.
Beach Club as base camp, not afterthought
The Beach Club theme runs through several Voodoo concepts, but the XF450 appears to elevate it to a defining feature. A full beam, three sided opening Beach Club connected by a vertical lightwell suggests a yacht designed to anchor beautifully, play hard, and support wellness as much as exploration.
That concept aligns well with global trends in superyacht design. Owners increasingly want a seamless connection between interior and exterior spaces, with water level living zones that feel purposeful rather than ornamental. On a foil assisted catamaran, where machinery can be positioned forward and outboard, the aft platform becomes an exceptionally wide and low retreat — a natural base for diving, toys, fitness, and relaxed living between passages.
What the leap to 36 metres signals
Voodoo made its name in the sub 24 metre sector, building fast power cats that behave like sportsfishers in speed yet deliver small explorer range. With the Voodoo XF450, the yard moves into an entirely different arena: 36 metres, 450GT, wellness spaces, helipad options, and a Beach Club that would not look out of place on a Northern European explorer.
It is still early days. Key technical details — power package, fuel load, build schedule — remain unannounced, and performance figures are design targets. But viewed alongside proven passages from Phoebe and Mach4, the XF450 feels less like an experiment and more like the logical next step for a yard whose ambition has outgrown its original scale.
New Zealand has a long tradition of punching above its weight in high performance marine design. Voodoo’s decision to step from 75 feet to 450GT continues that pattern. If the XF450 delivers on its outline, it may offer something rare in the global adventure yacht market: true superyacht volume paired with the ability to cover serious ocean distance at speed.
For now, Voodoo leaves the world with a teaser and a silhouette. The real moment will come when a bright red XF450 lifts onto the foil and commits to its first horizon.
Boat International: Voodoo Yachts unveils first details of flagship catamaran model
