ISA Yachts Launches the ISA Custom 80m M/Y Belita as Its New Flagship, With a 100 Meter Successor Already Under Construction

ISA Yachts has launched M/Y Belita, an 80 meter custom superyacht that becomes the shipyard's new flagship. At 2,220 GT and an overall length of 79.82 meters, she is the second 80 meter yacht built by Palumbo Superyachts, after the Columbus Classic 80m M/Y Dragon.

Flagship status at a yard building several large yachts at once is rarely permanent, and ISA is unusually direct about it. The same announcement that crowns Belita also names her eventual replacement: a 100 meter project already under construction, expected to take the title next. At a yard whose current portfolio spans projects from 80 to 100 meters, being flagship reads less like a fixed rank than a place in a queue.

The second time doing this

Belita is ISA Yachts' second 80 meter build, following the Columbus Classic 80m M/Y Dragon, and the shipyard treats that repetition as the real achievement: proof it can manage the engineering, production and organizational complexity of large, fully custom superyachts more than once. The exterior lines are by Espen Øino International, the naval architecture by Hydro Tec. Long expanses of dark glazing run across the decks, and a visually compact superstructure keeps the proportions of an 80 meter hull reading as sleek rather than bulky.

A stern built to open onto the water

Aft, the architecture opens progressively toward the sea through expansive terraces and a pool area conceived as an extension of the yacht's living spaces rather than a separate deck feature. The interiors are by Peter Marino Architect, developed as a fully bespoke project around the owner's vision, with an emphasis on customization that runs through every space.

Power comes from two MTU 16V 4000 M65L engines, each delivering 2,240 kW, giving Belita a top speed of 18 knots, a cruising speed of 14 knots, and a range of roughly 7,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.

A flagship with a shelf life

That line, from Giuseppe Palumbo himself, is the clearest signal in the release. Belita is not being sold as a ceiling, but as a data point in an ongoing progression, one already being superseded by a 100 meter project in build. For a client shopping at this size, the takeaway is less about which yacht currently holds the title and more about what a yard capable of holding it twice in short succession can now be asked to build.