Cornelia

Thirty-four metres by Picchiotti, drawn in the classic manner. The sheerline is the giveaway: a curve that falls and rises along the length of the hull instead of the straight line modern yachts prefer, and it is the single detail that makes an older profile look right from a distance.

The interior follows the same thinking. It is built in timber, with rooms rather than volumes, and it belongs to a tradition of yacht building that valued proportion and joinery over the size of the glass. On a hull of this length that approach still reads as correct rather than nostalgic.

Nine guests across four cabins. Nine is an odd number and four cabins do not divide into it evenly, which makes her a natural choice for a family with children or a group where somebody travels alone, rather than for four couples expecting matched rooms.

Six crew for nine guests. At thirty-four metres that is a strong ratio, close to two crew for every three people aboard, and it is the figure that determines the texture of a week far more reliably than the length of the yacht does.

There is a sailing dinghy and a windsurf board aboard. That is a particular kind of equipment list: not the powered toys that fill most garages, but the ones that need wind and a bit of skill, and they suit the character of the yacht carrying them.

Picchiotti is a name from Viareggio with a long history in Italian yacht building, and a hull carrying it is not a production boat. The proportions were drawn rather than configured, and it is visible in the way she sits in an anchorage full of newer yachts.

She was delivered in 2012, so the classic styling sits on a modern hull with modern systems. That combination is the useful one: the look of an older yacht without the maintenance history, the noise or the mechanical uncertainty of an actual old one.

She is available across the Mediterranean. Take her if you are nine and you would rather arrive on something with a shape than on something with a specification, and if a sailing dinghy sounds more appealing than a jet ski.