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A (motor yacht)

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"Project Sigma" redirects here. For the project initiated by Alexander Trocchi, see Alexander Trocchi § Later life.
M/Y A cruising off Sorrento, Italy
History
Sierra Leone
NameA
OwnerValla Yachts Ltd
Port of registryFreetown, Sierra Leone
OrderedNovember 2004[1]
BuilderBlohm + Voss
Costc. US$300 million
Launched3 January 2008[2]
Identification
StatusOperational
General characteristics
TypePrivate motor yacht
Tonnage5,959 GT
Length119.00 m (390.4 ft)[3]
Beam18.87 m (61.9 ft)[3]
Draft5.15 m (16.9 ft)[3]
Installed power9,000 kW (12,000 hp)[3]
Propulsion2 × MAN RK280 diesel engines[3]
Speed23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)[3]
Range6,500 NM (12,000 km; 7,500 mi)[3]
Boats & landing
craft carried
  • 1 × Philippe Starck custom made covered tender
  • 1 × Philippe Starck custom made open tender
  • 1 × Pascoe SY10
  • 2 × rescue tenders[citation needed]
Capacity14[3]
Crew37 (+5)[3]
Aviation facilities1 × helipad (forward deck)[3]

Motor Yacht A (MY A) is a superyacht designed by Philippe Starck and engineered by naval architect Martin Francis.[4][5][6][7] She was built by the Blohm + Voss shipyard at the HDW deepwater facility in Kiel.[8][9] She was ordered in November 2004, and delivered in 2008 at a rumoured cost of US$300 million.[10][11] With a length of 119 metres (390 ft) and measuring almost 6,000 tonnes, she is one of the largest motor yachts in the world.[9][12] Before 2022 she was connected with the Russian entrepreneur and industrialist Andrey Melnichenko, but, according to his representatives, he has no relation to her anymore, neither in terms of ownership, nor in any other way. The yacht has been laid up in the United Arab Emirates since 2022.[13][14][15][16]

Design and development

[edit]

A was designed by Philippe Starck. According to Boat International, "the design for what would become the world’s most talked about superyacht bubbled into Starck’s mind at his home in Burano, Venice, in 2004. There was no brief beyond an idea of length and a demand for six cabins". Starck is quoted as saying "That was the beauty of the project and the beauty and intelligence of the owner, he just left me completely free," and the article notes that "[his] intention was to make her blend with the sea, to have her live [...] in 'harmony' with the elements. He became obsessed with the way the yacht moved through the water, with barely a ripple, “like a whale”".[17]

In common with many superyachts, little was known about A when she was first commissioned. Builder Blohm + Voss issued a press release in December 2004 identifying the vessel as Project Sigma,[1] which was how it became most commonly known during her construction.[18] Its length was given as 118 metres (387 ft), a metre short of its final length. While conceptual designer Philippe Starck and project manager Neil Wade were credited personally, and naval architect Martin Francis was the chief technical and naval designer and Starck's partner on the project. Starck was alleged to have taken only three and a half hours to come up with the final shape,[9] whose reverse bow and tumblehome design has drawn parallels with the Zumwalt class of stealth destroyers designed for the US Navy.[11][19][20] However, in an interview with Wallpaper magazine, Starck acknowledged it took a month to complete following its commissioning.[13]

It was also stated in the press release that the owner of mega yacht Pelorus, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, was not the customer behind Sigma. Nevertheless, because Pelorus was undergoing a concurrent refit at the same shipyard, and because both projects shared the same management company, there was continued speculation that the two vessels had a common owner throughout A's construction.[19][21][22] Melnichenko's name appeared only after the ship was delivered in July 2008.[11]

In interviews for Yachts International and Die Zeit magazines, Starck gave details of the vessel's most innovative features. He described her as a "stealth yacht" with a very smooth hull design, which left almost no wake at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph).[23][24] Its "purity" was, he said, a reflection of its owner, a "young and brilliant mathematician."[23] Connection with Melnichenko, a reputed math prodigy, was not confirmed until after the ship was delivered in July 2008.[11] Martin Francis, the boat's naval architect, was also interviewed by Yachts International in 2008, and he too cited the boat's efficiency through the water and her small bow wake as a major innovation.[7] Francis explained that typically the shipyard will do the hull testing, but in A's case a model was built and tested in the Solent estuary early in the design process, long prior to the involvement of any builders.[7][9]

Construction and launch

[edit]
Conceptual designer Philippe Starck was responsible for A's radical silhouette.

Project Sigma was given the hull number 970 (she was the 970th build by Blohm + Voss), it was decided that construction would take place at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), a sister yard in Kiel also owned by B+V's parent, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.[1][2]

The boat was out of public view for three years, until she presented in an unfinished state for the first time in January 2008.[2] She was provisionally named SF99, as painted on the stern.[25][26] Six weeks later she emerged again, to perform some brief trials in the waterway adjacent to the shipyard.[26] Finally, in March, the vessel sailed north out of the Kiel Fjord, to perform her first sea trials off the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.[26]

Prior to delivery, the yacht was finally christened A in May 2008.[27] The name “A” was used in order make the vessel appear first on shipping registries,[28] while an artful report in the Sunday Times claimed it was "so that nothing can precede her in the list of the world’s greatest vessels".[29] Once delivered, A's maiden voyage took her to Kristiansand in southern Norway, where Andrey and Alexandra Melnichenko collected three Claude Monet paintings they had recently purchased.[30][31]

When completed, A was the sixth-largest privately owned motor yacht in the world,[11] although by 2011 the construction of newer and larger vessels had relegated her from the top ten.[12] At the time of its launch many commentators made note of the fact that Melnichenko's vessel was slightly bigger than Roman Abramovich's Pelorus,[32] and talk of boat-building one-upmanship between the two oligarchs was fuelled further when Abramovich launched an even bigger yacht, Eclipse, in 2010.[29][33][34]

Features

[edit]
A in the harbor of St. John's, Antigua

A is powered by two MAN RK280 diesel engines providing approximately 9,000 kW (12,000 hp), sufficient to give the yacht a maximum speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph).[3] At her cruising speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) she can travel a maximum of 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) in under sixteen days before her 750,000 L (160,000 imp gal; 200,000 US gal)[3] fuel tanks are exhausted.

Typically for a mega yacht, A is decorated, equipped, and staffed to an extremely opulent standard. There is almost 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2) of interior space, including 2,500 square feet (230 m2) for the master suite.[33] Starck, known for his occasionally risqué design choices, also added a secret room hidden behind mirrored panels.[33] Mirrored surfaces feature extensively throughout the interior, along with Baccarat crystal which is used for the glassware and tableware, as well as for the furniture.[33] There are seven guest cabins, although they have moving walls and can be converted to four larger staterooms. Above-deck there is a helipad and swimming pool forward of the superstructure and two more pools aft, one of which is glass-bottomed and can be viewed from the below-deck disco.[33][34]

35 staff are employed on the vessel. Reportedly, security is tightly controlled, with 44 mm (1.7 in)-thick bomb-proof glass in the windows, over 40 CCTV cameras, motion sensors, biometric fingerprint/keypad entry for restricted areas and a rumoured escape pod in case of emergencies.[33]

The two main tenders, one open and one covered, and a third sports tender have also been designed by Starck, and built by Vaudrey Miller of New Zealand.[35] They are all 10–11 metres (33–36 ft) long, and reputedly cost $1 million each.[36] The total cost of A has never been officially confirmed, but $300 million has been the most frequently cited estimate.[10][37][38][39]

Reception

[edit]

The exterior design of A, which designer Starck had likened to being "more like a fish than a building",[23] polarized opinions from the outset. Jonathan Beckett, chief executive of London yacht brokers Burgess, was initially skeptical, but changed his mind after seeing the boat in person in the Caribbean: "I have to say I was impressed. It's a very exciting boat to watch. It's simply unlike anything that's ever been done before."[33] David Pelly of Boat International was also enamoured, saying she was "the most extraordinary yacht launched in recent memory."[32][40] And writing about the world's biggest mega yachts in The New York Times in 2011, Nazanin Lankarini argued that A was "even more desirable [than] her larger sisters by virtue of lines reminiscent of a nuclear submarine".[41] A was one of the featured vessels in the 2011 edition of The Superyachts, where she was described as "bold and eccentric."[42]

"I'm all for innovation — as I've said before, the rich are free to spend their money as they like, including by building ugly boats that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. But seeing pictures of Sigma almost makes Tom Perkins' Maltese Falcon look like an act of restraint and good taste. Now that's a nautical achievement."

Robert Frank, The Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2008.[21]

By contrast, Power & Motoryacht magazine columnist Diane Byrne opined that "overall she does not float my boat [...] but I do quite like the inverted bow design",[19] while Donald Starkey, a British yacht designer, commented that A "is aggressive, like a giant finger pointing at you. It seems to have nothing to do with the whole idea of yachting, which is about cruising around at a leisurely pace, and enjoying your friends and the sea".[20] Maritime commentator Peter Mello was even more scathing in his assessment, deriding her as "one of the most hideous vessels ever to sail the seas".[43]

The Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank was initially also an outspoken critic, calling A "one of the ghastliest megayachts ever created" and "more like a cruiser for Darth Vader's navy than a family pleasure boat for the Mediterranean" when she was launched.[21] However, in a follow-up blog several months later, he confessed: "I've gained a bit more respect for it. Technically, it's impressive: Because of her "ax bow," the boat barely makes a splash in the front when it's speeding along at 24 knots. And it's different in a way few yachts are. [...] So even though I still think it's a monster, A gets a tip of the hat for taking a risk and being different".[10]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Another Mega-Yacht contract awarded to Blohm + Voss" (Press release). Blohm + Voss. December 10, 2004.
  2. ^ a b c "Sigma (SF99) launched!". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-01-03. Archived from the original on 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Motor Yacht A Specification" (PDF). Blohm + Voss. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  4. ^ "Motor Yacht A". Boat International. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  5. ^ "Motor Yacht A". starck.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  6. ^ "Yacht A". francisdesign.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-11. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  7. ^ a b c Grace Trofa (August 2008). "On the 'A' list - Designer Martin Francis". Yachts International. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  8. ^ "A". SuperyachtTimes.com. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  9. ^ a b c d "Top 100 Largest Yachts". BoatInternational.com. 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  10. ^ a b c Robert Frank (2008-07-17). "The $300 Million Mystery Yacht Revealed". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  11. ^ a b c d e Diane M. Byrne (August 2008). "World's 100 Largest Yachts 2008 #6: A". Power & Motoryacht magazine. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  12. ^ a b Alyssa Haak (August 2011). "The PMY 100 Largest Yachts 2011". Power & Motoryacht magazine. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  13. ^ a b Magazine, Wallpaper (2018-05-21). "Philippe Starck on the future of superyacht design, Elon Musk, and 'saving the sea'". Wallpaper. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
  14. ^ "A Russian billionaire's £360 million superyacht 'Sailing Yacht A' has been spotted docked at the Port of Gibraltar". Business Insider. December 14, 2017.
  15. ^ "Sanctioned Russian oligarch yacht in Dubai as pressure grows". AP NEWS. 2022-06-23. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  16. ^ "Dubai International Boat Show 2024: Anchoring Innovation and Opulence". thearabianpost.com.
  17. ^ Stewart Campbell (2017-04-28). "Motor Yacht A: On board the world's most famous yacht with legendary designer Philippe Starck". Boat International. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  18. ^ Diane M. Byrne (August 2007). "World's 100 Largest Yachts 2007 #6: Project Sigma". Power & Motoryacht magazine. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  19. ^ a b c Diane M. Byrne (2008-01-07). "Super-Secret Sigma". MegayachtNews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  20. ^ a b Robert Frank (2008-07-17). "Smooth Sailing Gets Ugly With Russian Billionaire's New Yacht". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  21. ^ a b c Robert Frank (2008-01-23). "The Ugliest Yacht in the World?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  22. ^ Nick Hall (2008-03-14). "Futuristic motor yacht begins trials". Motor Boats Monthly. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  23. ^ a b c "Philippe Starck Speaks His Mind". Yachts International. September 2007. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  24. ^ Tillmann Prüfer (2008-03-28). "Ich schäme mich dafür". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  25. ^ "SuperYacht of the week: the astonishing 119m superyacht A". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-03-06. Archived from the original on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  26. ^ a b c "Sigma (SF99) leaves Kiel for first sea trials". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-03-12. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  27. ^ "A (project SF 99 / Sigma) seen from the air". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-05-23. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  28. ^ Earl Karanja (2016-08-28). "Superyacht Sunday". GTSpirit. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
  29. ^ a b "Will Abramovich yacht eclipse Melnichenko's?". The Week. 2008-07-21. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  30. ^ Lucy Cockcroft (2008-07-16). "Oligarch Buys £200 Million Super-Yacht, Then Sails Off to Collect Monet Paintings". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  31. ^ "Motor Yacht A is now for sale". Yacht Harbour magazine. Retrieved 2016-09-23. Russian billionaire, Andrei Melnichenko has put up his motor yacht A for sale according to an investigation by Forbes Russia. A spokesman for Mr. Melnichenko did not comment on the matter.
  32. ^ a b Rick Spilman (2009-10-04). "Rich Men's Toys – Battleships, Helipads & Submarines". Old Salt Blog. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g Robert Frank (2010-04-03). "Baccarat Meets Bomb-Proof Glass on the High Seas". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  34. ^ a b Ben Spencer (2008-07-16). "Tycoon's £200m One-Upmanship; 400ft Yacht Has Pool, Disco, and 2 Speedboats". Scottish Daily Record. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  35. ^ Diane M. Byrne (2011-06-13). "Video: Vaudrey Miller Builds Souped-Up Tender for Superyacht A". MegayachtNews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  36. ^ "Andrey Melnichenko's Yacht in Malibu". Zimbio.com. 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  37. ^ Clarissa Wei (2010-08-12). "$300 Million Yacht Spotted Off The Coast Of Malibu". L.A. Weekly. Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  38. ^ "Russian billionaire's $300m yacht in bay near Sausalito". KGO-TV/DT. 2010-08-19. Archived from the original on 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  39. ^ Jared Paul Stern (2012-02-12). "Oligarch's $300 Million+ Superyacht Sets Sail For Phuket". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  40. ^ Chittenden, Maurice (2008-07-20). "Andrey Melnichenko's battleship heads to sea". The Sunday Times. London.
  41. ^ Nazanin Lankarini (2011-09-20). "For Superyachts, the Bigger the Better". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  42. ^ "The Superyachts, Volume 24, 2011". Boats International Media. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  43. ^ Peter A. Mello (2008-07-17). "Has That Superduper Yacht Turtled?". Sea-Fever.org. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
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