Here are the largest sailboats in the world pace Bezos

In the race to see who has the largest sailing yacht, Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos has one card on his side to conquer the top. The superyacht “A”, of 142.8 meters, the hyper-tech three-masted (100 meters high) of the Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko, the main shareholder of EuroChem designed by Philip Starck and built by the Nobiskrug shipyard in Kiel, is in fact registered as a “sail-assisted motor yacht”, i.e. a motor boat with the aid of sails. This means that she too could not be classified, if you want to be picky, as a sail tout court and therefore leave the primacy of the largest to the new Koru, Bezos’ yacht. Koru, recently in Genoa at the Amico shipyard for maintenance, is 127 meters long, has three masts and was built by Oceanco in the Netherlands.

Oligarchies and heiresses

The third largest sailing yacht is Black Pearl, 106.7 metres. Oceanco built it again, it was designed secondly by the Italian studio Nuvolari Lenard, with the participation of other professionals. Secondly, because the current Black Pearl is based on a previous project for a 98-metre. The boat was born in 2012, it hit the water in 2016. Steel hull, aluminum superstructures, DynaRig rig with three carbon masts 70 meters high for 2700 square meters of sails that furl and unfurl in 7 minutes. The sails, totaling 2,700 square meters, can be furled or unfurled (by pushing simple buttons) in 7 minutes. The interiors in Louis XVI style, with references to Art Deco. The owner was the Russian Oleg Burlakov, who died in 2021. Today it belongs to a company and flies the flag of the Cayman Islands.

We move on to the fourth position. It belongs to Sea Cloud, designed by Cox & Stevens, of 109.5 meters. Born in 1931 as Hassar II on the Friedrich Krupp docks in Kiel, Germany, to Edward F. Hutton and heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. After their divorce, Marjorie retains ownership of it and renames it Sea Cloud. Subsequently, it was owned by Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo, who renamed it Angelita, then by Clifford Barbour, who renamed it Antarna. The yacht was rebuilt in 1978 by the new German owners, who gave her the name Sea Cloud. Sea Cloud has 60 crew members and 32 guest cabins and is available for luxury charters all year round.

In fifth place is the 92.9-metre EOS, built by Lurssen in Germany for American media and film tycoon Barry Diller. Sixth is the 90-metre Athena, launched by the Dutch Royal Huisman shipyard in 2004 for software developer Jim Clark.

The rebirth of the Maltese Falcon

On the seventh, finally, an Italian boat: is the Maltese Falcon by Perini Navi, 88 metres. Commissioned by Tom Perkins and built in 2006 at the Perini Navi shipyard, designed by Gerard Dijkstra for the naval architecture and Ken Freivokh for the interiors, the boat then changed hands (now owned by an Italian owner) and recently underwent a 6-month refit at Lusben in Livorno. Among the interventions carried out, the painting of the hull completely repainted in its distinctive ‘Blu Perini’. Then, the maintenance activities of the on-board systems – generators, main engines, propellers – and intervention on the shaft movement system. And again, the generators have been replaced, now of a higher class, which allow better yields and reduced consumption. With this in mind, the mufflers of the main engines have also been changed with great benefits for the environment and for guests: in fact, the noise reduction is remarkable.

In-depth checks were also carried out on the propellers, the shafts, blades and hubs were overhauled and disassembled to guarantee their efficiency over the next few years and optimize consumption. The Lubsen workers then intervened on the sailing system: produced by the English company Insensys, it is the forerunner of the Dynarig system based on three rotating carbon fiber masts capable of exposing up to 2,396 square meters of sails to the wind. Surface that allows the Maltese Falcon to reach 25 knots with a displacement of 1,240 tons. For this reason, great attention has been paid to the rig, checking and cleaning the entire mast handling system.

The teak was then partially replaced on deck while the interiors, especially the cabins and bathrooms, were renewed, together with a modernized and equipped galley. The lighting also changes and is now entirely LED for strong energy savings. Finally, ordinary maintenance interventions were added to these works, including the cleaning of the hull and the overhaul of the valves.

The ranking continues

Following, eighth is Aquijo, 85.9 metres, built in Holland by Vitters and Oceanco and launched in 2015. Ninth is Sea Eagle, 81 metres, built in 2020 by Royal Huisman. To close the top 10, M5, 77.6 metres, built in 2004 in England by Vosper Thorneycroft based on a design by Ron Holland for the owner Joe Vittoria, with the name of Mirabella V, and then resold, subjected to two refits and renamed M5.