Saturday September 29, 2012
Size matters at the Monaco Yacht Show
The rich boys and their floating big toys were out in full force at last week’s yacht show in Monaco.
AS the world’s biggest yacht, code named Project Azzam, nears completion under a veil of secrecy in Germany, the trend for ever larger floating palaces was on full display at the recently concluded Monaco Yacht Show.
Considered the most prestigious event of its kind in the world, this year’s show, which wrapped up last Saturday, included a record six megayachts, notching up an average length of 80.11m.
These giants of the seas are around twice the size of the average superyacht, already around 45m in length.
“Yachts are certainly increasing in length,” Ellie Brade, editor of Superyacht Intelligence at the Superyacht Group of publications, says.
Mine’s bigger than yours: The Monaco Yacht Show, considered the most prestigious pleasure boat show in the world, featured 100 super and mega yachts as well as 500 classified as ‘merely’ luxury class. To date, there have been 88 yachts of 80m and over delivered worldwide, and there are 19 currently being built. According to Brade there is no indication the trend is going to slow down.
The most hotly awaited new build, Project Azzam, is set to become the world’s largest megayacht, and oust Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich’s 162m Eclipse from the top of the superyacht league table.
Slated for delivery in 2013, the new yacht will be 180m longer than some cruise ships.
It is under construction at Germany’s Lurssen yard, although the name of its owner is kept jealously under wraps.
Size in the yachting world counts for a lot, industry experts confirmed at the four-day annual show.
“There is definitely an element of ‘I’ve got a bigger boat than yours’,” says an executive at a leading yacht broker. “It’s boys with their toys. They want the biggest and the best.”
The scale of the seafaring behemoths is underlined by the passing sailing school dinghies. One-upmanship aside, the appeal of a megayacht is the onboard volume they offer.
“You might want to put in a cinema or a gym, so the more length you have, the more options and the more room you have,” points out Brade.
The brief from the sports-mad owner of the 78.50m motor yacht Hampshire II, which showed at Monaco, was simple: To have fun on board.
So the yacht’s helipad can be converted into a platform for baseball, tennis or soccer, with a giant net that can be placed around the deck to keep the balls in play.
A 3D cinema graces the brand new 88.5m Nirvana that made its world debut at Monaco, along with two on-board vivariums home to a chameleon, water dragons, bearded lizards and turtles.
Megayachts are proving highly popular with people wanting to rent – or charter, as it is termed in the sector – the yachts for holidays or business, charter brokers at the show say.
“There is a lot of interest in the big, recent modern boats, particularly from Russian clients,” says Fiona Maureso, head of charter at Monaco-based Yachting Partners International (YPI).
The boom has happened in spite of practical limitations – since the largest yachts are too big to berth at many of the world’s most beautiful ports and islands.
Italy’s fabled fishing village of Portofino is too small for very big yachts, as are many small Caribbean islands such as the exclusive St Barts.
But anyone considering buying or chartering one of the superyachts on show at Monaco last week will need deep pockets.
A week’s charter on one of YPI’s superyachts will cost upwards of €800,000 (RM3.17mil).
And the largest megayacht at this year’s show – the luxury 90m-long sailing yacht Athena, which is one of the world’s largest three-masted schooners – is on sale from Monaco-based broker Y.CO for a cool €72mil (RM285mil). – AFP Relaxnews
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