As yacht share syndicate providers we like to keep an expert eye on what’s going on in the world of luxury yachting. Here are some extraordinary stories that caught our attention recently, each one more fascinating than the last.
Imagining an amazing new concept – A luxury submarine-superyacht
What do you get when you cross a submarine with a superyacht? The Deep Sea Dreamer is at the planning stage and the plans are remarkable, more like something from a movie than real life. It’s the brainchild of California designer Steve Kozloff, whose concept vessel would give wealthy explorers the chance to experience the magic of the underwater world in sheer luxury while diving down as deep as 328 feet below the waves.
This imaginary steel-bodied vessel will run on a silent electric motor with enough power to travel 100 miles, designed to avoid disturbing precious sea creatures. The top floor of the submarine ship turns into a large outside deck when above the surface. Detailed deep sea explorations are possible thanks to powerful batteries that enable the craft to sit happily on the ocean floor for as long as a week. Opulent interiors, including a genuine grand piano, are the name of the game and an enormous glass floor will let voyagers view the marine life up close and intimate.
Will we ever see the Deep Sea Dreamer come to reality? Possibly, but as a concept vessel, it’s more of a dream so far. Unlike the Swiss Billionaire’s gigayacht, the world’s longest, bigger than the Titanic herself, which we look at next.
Exploring the world’s longest gigayacht
The yacht models we syndicate are legends in their own lifetime, created by some of the world’s finest designers and engineers. But they pale into insignificance compared to the world’s longest gigayacht, a thousand feet long, bigger than the Titanic and the creation of Swiss billionaire Frank Binder.
Ulyssia will be one of the biggest yachts in the world, dwarfing the Titanic’s mere 882 feet and beating the Queen Elizabeth 2 by around a hundred feet. This unique residential yacht will feature 133 apartments, including ten penthouses, billed as offering ‘a life without boundaries’. The apartments have one to six bedrooms and offer five-star accommodation to residents.
Restaurants featuring world-class chefs, swimming pools and a theatre join two on-ship helicopters, multiple jet skis, a library, extensive wine cellar, medical centre and conference rooms to give people everything they could possibly need for a luxurious life spent wholly at sea. There’s even a supermarket on board. Inside she’s going to be light and airy, with huge windows giving residents magical views.
Stuffed with the finest state-of-the-art tech, she’ll be designed to have as little ecological and environmental impact as possible, sustainable in every way with a strong focus on marine conservation. With the legendary Norwegian yacht designer Espen Oenio and interior designer Francesa Muzio on board, the project already has roots in reality. Because it’ll cost at least ten million pounds for a one-bed apartment, most of us will only be able to dream about it. Luckily our luxury yachts are yours to share for a great deal less than that!
A modern Mary Celeste
Leland Kent is an American photographer famous for snapping wonderfully eerie photos of lost, abandoned and forgotten places, with five fantastic photography books under his belt. As an urban explorer, he found the abandoned Blue Horizon casino yacht impossible to resist, as is the story behind the vessel.
Konstantinos Boulis was a Russian entrepreneur, land developer, casino operator and restaurateur whose 2001 murder was laid at the feet of the sale of his Florida company SunCruz Casinos, originally formed in 1994. The idea was to buy up luxury yachts, redesign them as casino boats, and offer gamblers cruises to nowhere, just three miles off the coast in international waters where gambling was legal at the time.
The biggest of all was docked off Hollywood, hated by activists including the City Commissioner, local sheriff and Attorney General. They shut down three of the vessels in 1998 in a raid that saw armed officers seize gambling machines, ship equipment and almost $630,000 cash. Boulis, who was livid, took the matter to court but in early 2000 agreed to sell his share and pay a fine of half a million dollars. Having sold off bits and bobs of the business, Boulis then teamed up with the three men who are thought to have arranged his murder. Shot in a drive-by attack, he later died in hospital and SunCruz Casinos filed for bankruptcy.
The Blue Horizon has sat, abandoned, for eight years now. As Kent’s photos reveal, the gambling machines are set up and ready to play, complete with chairs and tables and everything else. The exterior is rusting, and she is gently, steadily decaying, becoming a super-spooky ghost ship that reminds is of the infamous Mary Celeste.
141-foot hybrid-electric solar yacht
Meet Solsea, a yacht whose exterior is smothered in solar panels to capture the sun’s energy. The open seas are the perfect place for solar power, with nothing to overlook or cast shadows on the panels. That’s one reason why Yves Béhar, the man behind Fuseproject Studio, is collaborating with Italian boat builders Rossinavi to create a ship like no other.
Solsea is a brilliant catamaran superyacht with a unique hybrid-electric propulsion system, blending sheer luxury, advanced tech and environmental consciousness to create something magical. The panels themselves are a design feature rather than an addition, integral to the craft’s visual appeal.
The propulsion system uses both electric and hybrid power, using different sources of electricity depending on the voyage. For day trips it relies on solar, for longer voyages she can rely on electric power 90% of the time. She even gathers electricity via the panels when she isn’t moving, reducing the need for external power sources. As you’d imagine, the battery and maintenance schedule are managed by Artificial Intelligence.
Love life at sea on a shared luxury yacht
If you’d like to become the part-owner of a truly fabulous vessel, the ultimate in style, comfort and high-tech marvels, why not explore the potential for yacht share syndication? It’s a tried and tested way to fall in love with life at sea without the huge cost and without any of the inconvenience involved in owning a yacht all on your own.
