Combining Adventure with Sustainability: Nikki and Jason Wynn, The Yacht UNDRA, and Ecospeed

With her transatlantic range, three queen-size cabins, comfortable interior, and many advanced technical and design features, the UNDRA gives its owners, Nikki and Jason Wynn, the means to pursue their curiosity-driven goals of exploring the planet’s oceans and waterways.

The UNDRA is a 50 ft. (15.3 m), aluminum explorer motor yacht designed specifically for remote voyages and adventures from the tropics to the poles. The sustainable and environmentally friendly features designed and built into the yacht from the start mean that it will not pollute the marine environment the Wynns have come to love so much.

Before the UNDRA was the YETI-Explorer

Before the UNDRA became the UNDRA (pronounced OON-drah, Swedish for “to wonder, to be in awe, to be curious about”), she was the YETI-Explorer, the demo model of the Scandinavian GlobeMaster 50 LRX yachts.

Erik Leander, who founded GlobeMaster Yachts (the company that built the YETI), explains the underlying philosophy: “Keeping things as simple as possible for handling a yacht with a small crew, using systems that are reliable and last long, keeping the maintenance low and trying to keep the vessel as environmentally friendly as possible were high priorities on my list.”

Four time “Boat of the Year” winner Willem Nieland Design was tasked with the total design. The boat was built in The Netherlands.

Ecospeed on the underwater hull

Great care was put into the choices that resulted in the finished YETI-Explorer. One of these choices was to use Ecospeed on the underwater hull. In his story of the boat’s background, Erik Leander explains this choice: “Conventional ship hull coating systems depend on a soft surface leaching poisons into the sea to kill marine fouling organisms (and other life forms) or on a slippery, toxic surface to make it hard for marine fouling to attach. The effectiveness of these coatings is short-lived and they need to be replaced frequently. They also need to be cleaned in the water in between drydockings, but they are not suited to such cleaning…YETI – Explorer is therefore equipped with a glass layer, biocide-free bottom treatment Ecospeed that is certified to be used and cleaned everywhere as no chemicals are released when cleaning. Ecospeed is a system for ship hull protection and fouling control which results in the smoothest hull for the longest time and therefore the highest fuel economy for the service life of ships. This ice-going bottom paint technology is a massive breakthrough in the field of underwater ship hull performance and protection… This Ecospeed treatment will probably never need replacement during its lifetime, and will keep the underwater part of the vessel in the best possible condition for its entire lifetime with the best possible performance… Ecospeed has been found to provide enormous fuel savings of 10 – 25% compared to AF and FR coating systems.”

The original Ecospeed coating was still on the hull and in excellent condition when the YETI-Explorer was sold by GlobeMaster to Nikki and Jason Wynn in October 2025. They discovered some very minor damage to the hull coating that needed simple and quick repair, which they executed successfully themselves.

Gone With The Wynns – The Nikki and Jason story

Living in Dallas and 28 at the time, Jason a successful photographer and Nikki a successful make-up artist, the Wynns decided they wanted a different life. They set out with two cats and their personal belongings in an RV to find a new place to live. Working their way around the US, they fell in love with travel. After four years of this nomadic lifestyle, they wanted to go further, so they took to the sea. Their first seagoing sailing catamaran was followed by second. They expanded their YouTube channel Gone with the Wynns @gonewiththewynns (well worth following) which became their source of income and still is, having grown to 712K subscribers.

The YETI becomes the UNDRA

Enter the YETI-Explorer. “We’d spent the last 10 years going around the center of the globe in the warm tropical regions,” Nikki explains. “So now we were ready to explore the higher latitudes.” That required a different kind of vessel – one that was meant to go into colder climates. When their search for an aluminum sailing boat bore no fruit, they considered a motor yacht and lucked into the YETI, way over their budget but which they were able to purchase at auction in October 2025.

Many features of the YETI appealed to the Wynns. “Just the fact that he (Erik Leander, founder of GlobeMasters) put on solar and wind, Scandinavian oak for the interior and cork decking, choice of motor and so on – he really was trying to make it a more sustainable vessel,” says Jason. “And the same thing with the bottom coating. This whole idea of a lifetime coating which is applied once and only ever needs touch-ups was appealing, because normally you’re redoing your bottom coat every two years.”

Ecospeed environmental benefits

Nikki elaborates on the potential of Ecospeed to resolve the environmental dilemma for boaters: “The more you see of the world, the more you want to preserve it, just because you fall in love with it. And yet you’re in this battle with nature all the time because you’re trying to enjoy it, but nature is trying to slowly destroy your vessel: the sun, the salt, everything about it. Sometimes those two things come at odds, and you end up putting very toxic things on your vessel to protect it, which is really bad for the sea life that you’re out there to enjoy. Anything we can do to reduce that in some form or fashion seems like the right thing to do.”

The Wynn’s were advised by many people to put a conventional antifouling coating on the UNDRA’s bottom. “But we thought, well, why would we? We should just give the Ecospeed a go. What if it works? We’ve tried a lot of different coatings over the years, and so have our fellow boating friends: silicone-based bottom paints and all sorts of stuff. If we can use this and it works out great, we can share that with the community, and maybe make a bit of a positive movement, then that’s good for us.”

“We don’t want to pollute the environment any more,” Nikki continues. “It’s such a hard industry, and we butt up against this all the time. People don’t want to change anything, so nobody wants to be responsible, or to partake in the effort of doing anything new. But we’re the opposite of that. We like trying new stuff, and if it fails, it fails, but at least we gave it a go. That’s usually our attitude, because if it works, wouldn’t that be brilliant?”

Nikki continues, “I love the idea of Ecospeed, and I don’t mind having to get in there and clean it if it’s only a little more work than what we’re used to doing. That’s a worthy trade-off in my opinion. With non-ablative paint you’re going to have to get in there and clean, but at least when you go to clean Ecospeed you don’t have to worry about being delicate – just get in there and get the job done.”

Superior corrosion protection

The Wynns had their corrosion expert on board checking on possible corrosion issues, especially with the aluminum which was new to them. “When we showed her the bottom coating, she really liked it,” says Nikki. “She said, ‘Oh, this is actually great. It acts as an insulator’.”

Good for the ice

The Wynns managed to have a brief foray into the ice. “We were going to see if that bottom paint works,” recalls Jason. “It’s amazing. I didn’t see a single scratch, or even a scuff or mark. If anything, it helped to clean the bottom.” The Ecospeed coating on the UNDRA is class certified ice-abrasion resistant Polar Code 1 – 7, meaning it is classed to sail unescorted in any sea in all seasons.

Ready to go

The day after we interviewed Nikki and Jason in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, they were due to cross the Channel to the UK. “That will be our first big body water cross – an exciting one,” says Jason. “This is all new territory for us to cruise. Over the winter we did go to Antarctica on a 60-foot sailboat which gave us a little glimpse of what that will look like. We may potentially visit the opposite end, going to the Arctic with this boat. But this year we just plan to get familiar with the boat. Then next year we’ll plan something big, whether that’s Northern Ireland or heading up towards Norway, we’re not sure yet.”

The future and the oceans are wide open to the Wynns and the UNDRA. The Ecospeed coating on the underwater hull opens up possibilities that conventional hull coatings could not cope with.