by Klara Braga Jakobsen, Yacht Reviewer at DMA Yachting
Onboard twice: at the CROYA Yacht Charter Show in Split in September 2025, and again at CROYA in September 2026, when I sat down with her captain, Vedran Matana, for an interview. The photos are mine, from both visits.
CYNTHIA is a 35-metre Maiora from 2010, fully refitted in 2024 and, by the look of her, barely used since. From outside she reads as a very large speedboat, which makes her unusually photogenic for a charter yacht, and she has the engines to match: 22 knots cruising, 30 flat out. What stood out to me is not the speed itself but how her crew use it. Gentle cruising, passages of an hour or two with a swim stop between, and the throttle saved for the day a group wants to cover ground or simply feel it.
She ran more than ten charters in Croatia this season, most of them Split to Dubrovnik, many of them grandparents, parents and grandchildren together. This review is about why that group keeps choosing her, what the refit did, the captain who knows the whole Adriatic and argues for its northern half, and who she is not for.
The numbers that matter on CYNTHIA
- Length and beam: 35.2 m (115.5 ft), beam 7 m. GRP planing hull by Maiora, Viareggio, launched 2010, refitted 2024.
- Guests: 8 in 4 cabins: a full-beam master, two doubles, and a fourth double that is noticeably smaller.
- Crew: 6, led by Captain Vedran Matana.
- Speed: 22 knots cruising, 30 knots maximum, on twin MTU 12V 4000 engines, with stabilisers.
- Rate: 73,000 EUR per week, plus expenses (APA, and Croatian charter VAT at 13% on the days she is in Croatian waters). With 8 aboard that is about 9,100 EUR per person for the week before expenses.
- Toys: two jet skis, two Seabobs, an inflatable slide, two paddleboards, water skis, towables and a tender.
- Cruising: Croatia, Montenegro and Venice, summer and winter. Based on the central Dalmatian coast.
From outside CYNTHIA looks like a large speedboat, and that is the Maiora in her
Maiora built planing motor yachts in Viareggio with long, low, sporty lines, and CYNTHIA has them: a raked bow, a low flybridge under a hardtop, and a hull that sits on the water rather than in it. On a dock full of upright tri-deck charter yachts she is the one people photograph. Her designer was Roberto Del Re, and the 2024 refit kept the exterior exactly as he drew it and rebuilt the inside.
How the crew use the speed: two-hour hops, a swim stop, the throttle in reserve
A 30-knot yacht invites a certain kind of week, and CYNTHIA’s crew do not run it that way. Captain Matana told me they keep passages to about two or two and a half hours between islands, always with a swim stop before the town they have planned for the night, and they leave early, so that by the time guests come up for breakfast they are somewhere new. The speed is kept for two things: a day when the group wants to cover a lot of ground, and the moment when somebody simply wants to feel 35 metres doing 30 knots. That is a more useful way to own a fast boat than running her hard, and it is why she suits three generations: the children get the swim stops, the grandparents get the calm, and nobody spends the day at sea. Her stabilisers, I noted on my first visit, genuinely work when there is swell in the anchorage.
Inside CYNTHIA: a 2024 refit that reads as new
The refit is the reason a 2010 boat belongs in this series. The main saloon is pale and quiet: white sofas facing each other, a low marble table, long windows down both sides, and a dining table forward with upholstered blue chairs that are the one piece of colour. Everything is light wood and cream, nothing is worn, and on my second visit, a season later, it still looked as it did on the first. She has been used lightly and kept carefully, and it shows in the places that usually give a boat’s age away: the carpets, the edges of the joinery, the bathroom marble.
The master cabin: full beam, with a marble bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe
The master is full beam on the lower deck, with a wide bed under a padded headboard, a sofa, and a bathroom in cream and gold marble with a separate shower. The walk-in wardrobe is the detail that places her above most 35-metre yachts: a proper room of shelves and hanging space rather than a cupboard. It is the cabin to give the grandparents or the hosts, and it is the one that makes her feel bigger than she is.
Guest cabins: two good doubles and a fourth that is honestly small
Two of the guest cabins are proper doubles with the same pale joinery and dark headboards as the master, each with its own bathroom. The fourth cabin is where I have to be straight: it is small, and the bed is reached from the foot end. It works for two children or for a single guest who does not mind; it is not a cabin to sell to a fourth couple paying an equal share. So she is a yacht for three couples, or for a family of eight with the children in the small cabin, which is exactly how she has been chartered this season.
Captain Vedran Matana, and his case for the north of Croatia
A yacht is her crew, and CYNTHIA’s captain is one of the reasons I wanted to write her up. Vedran Matana holds master’s degrees in nautical sciences and oceanology, a Yachtmaster 500 and MCA master’s ticket, and is a PADI master diving instructor, with more than fifteen years at sea from the Adriatic to the North Sea. He is also one of the few captains in Croatia who argues, unprompted, for something other than the Split to Dubrovnik run.
His pitch, in his words from our interview: “Going up north, and we are talking about another two thirds of the Adriatic coast, could be just as interesting as the south. We have three national parks we can go into with the boat: Kornati, Krka and the Brijuni islands. And on the way different cities we can visit, Sibenik, Zadar, Pula, Venice.” Sibenik, Zadar and Venice are UNESCO sites; Pula’s arena is not inscribed, though Porec, one bay north, is. He starts those weeks from Zadar or Pula for the airports, keeps the same two-hour rhythm, and CYNTHIA has run from Croatia to Venice and back. He is honest that the north means more time at sea than the south, and that the Venice leg is a cultural turn rather than a swimming one: “you come back to Croatia for the swim.” We like captains who push a route because they believe in it, and this one does. We have written up his case for the northern route separately; for the Venice run itself, read how a Croatia to Venice charter works.
Who books CYNTHIA: three generations, and the crew’s lunch
More than ten charters in one Croatian season is a strong year for a 35-metre at her rate, and the pattern in them is families across three generations, mostly on the Split to Dubrovnik run. The crew’s hosting is part of why: on both visits they had the aft-deck table laid before we arrived, fruit, canapés, a lunch spread, done quietly and well. Nothing theatrical, which is the register that suits a family week.
Who CYNTHIA is for, and who should not book her
She is for three couples, or a family of up to eight with children, who want a light, immaculate interior, a crew who hosts without fuss, and a boat that can be gentle all week and fast on the one day it matters. Anyone who wants to try the north of Croatia, or Venice, with a captain who knows it. Groups who have been put off by older 35-metre yachts: this one does not feel old.
Four honest limits. First, the fourth cabin, as above: count her as three good cabins plus one for children. Second, eight guests, not ten or twelve; a bigger group needs a bigger boat. Third, a planing hull at 30 knots burns fuel fast, so a week that uses the speed every day will show it in the APA; the crew’s two-hour rhythm is the economical one as well as the pleasant one. Fourth, her base is central Dalmatia, so a northern or Venice week starts with a repositioning conversation with your broker.
Booking CYNTHIA: rate, VAT, base and what to ask
The published rate is 73,000 EUR per week, plus expenses: the Advance Provisioning Allowance for fuel, food, drink and port fees, and Croatian charter VAT at 13%, which under Croatian tax guidance applies to the days she is in Croatian waters. She is listed for Croatia, Montenegro and Venice in summer and winter. Ask three things before you sign: which of the three routes the captain suggests for your group (south, north, or Venice), where she will be on your start date, and how the fourth cabin will be used for your party.
We have walked her two years running and she is on our list of yachts whose crews will do the Venice run. Her page on this site is coming; your broker can confirm dates and the current rate.
Klara Braga Jakobsen is a Yacht Reviewer at DMA Yachting. She walks the charter fleet at the Mediterranean and Caribbean shows every year and photographs every yacht she reviews.
People also ask
How many guests does CYNTHIA sleep?
8 guests in 4 cabins: a full-beam master, two doubles, and a smaller fourth double best used for children.
What does CYNTHIA cost to charter?
73,000 EUR per week plus expenses: the APA and Croatian charter VAT at 13% on the days in Croatian waters.
How fast is CYNTHIA?
22 knots cruising and 30 knots maximum, on twin MTU engines. Her crew normally run two-hour passages and keep the speed for when a group wants it.
Where does CYNTHIA cruise?
Croatia, Montenegro and Venice. Most of her charters run Split to Dubrovnik; her captain also runs the northern Adriatic from Zadar or Pula, including the Kornati, Krka and Brijuni national parks, and the Croatia to Venice route.
Who is the captain of CYNTHIA?
Vedran Matana, a Croatian captain with master’s degrees in nautical sciences and oceanology, a Yachtmaster 500 and MCA master’s ticket, and more than fifteen years at sea.
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