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A (motor yacht)

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A in front of Sorrento
NameM/Y A
OwnerAndrey Melnichenko
Port of registryHamilton, Bermuda[1]
OrderedNovember 2004[3]
BuilderBlohm + Voss
Costc. US$300 million
Launched3 January 2008[2]
StatusDelivered
General characteristics
TypePrivate motor yacht
Tonnage5,500 tonnes[4]
Displacement5,959 tonnes[5]
Length119.0 m (390.4 ft)[4]
Beam18.87 m (61.9 ft)[4]
Draft5.15 m (16.9 ft)[4]
Installed power9,000 kW (12,000 hp)[4]
Propulsion2x MAN RK280 diesel engines[4]
Speed23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)[4]
Range6,500 NM (12,000 km; 7,500 mi)[4]
Boats & landing
craft carried		list error: <br /> list (help)
1x covered tender
1x open tender
1x Pascoe SY10
2x rescue tenders[1]
Capacity14[4]
Crew37 (+5)[4]
Aviation facilities1x helipad (forward deck)[4]

M/Y "A" is a luxury motor yacht designed by Philippe Starck and Martin Francis,[6][7][8] and constructed by Blohm + Voss at the HDW shipyard in Kiel, Germany.[5][9] It was commissioned 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 displacing almost 6,000 tonnes, it is one of the largest motor yachts in the world.[9][12]

Named for the first initial of its owners, Andrey and Aleksandra Melnichenko, its provocative styling has polarized opinions since its launch.[13] It has evoked comparisons with submarines and stealth warships, while commentators have referred to it as the "most loved and loathed ship on the sea".[14][15]

Design and development

In common with many "mega yachts", little was known about A when it was first commissioned. Builder Blohm + Voss issued a press release in December 2004 identifying the vessel as Project Sigma,[3] which was how it became most commonly known during its construction.[16] Its length was given as 118 metres (387 ft), a metre short of its final length, while conceptual designer Philippe Starck and lead naval architect Neil Wade were credited personally.[3] 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][13][15]

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.[15][17][18] Melnichenko was not confirmed as the true owner until after the ship was delivered in July 2008.[11][19]

In interviews for Yachts International and Die Zeit magazines, Starck gave details of the vessel's most innovative features. He described it as a "stealth yacht" with a very smooth hull design, which left almost no wake at 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph).[20][21] Its "purity" was, he said, a reflection of its owner, a "young and brilliant mathematician".[20] (Melnichenko is a reputed maths prodigy.)[13] Martin Francis, the boat's technical and naval designer, was also interviewed for Yachts International in 2008, and he too cited the boat's efficiency through the water and its small bow wake as a major innovation.[8] 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.[8][9]

Construction and launch

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

Project Sigma was given the hull number 970 (it was the 970th build by Blohm + Voss), but because their Hamburg facilities were already occupied with the Pelorus refit, 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.[3][2]

The boat remained under wraps for three years, until it was briefly seen for the first time in January 2008.[2] It was now provisionally named SF99, as painted on the stern.[22][23] Six weeks later it emerged again, to perform some brief trials in the waterway adjacent to the shipyard.[23] Finally, in March, the vessel sailed north out of the Kiel Fjord, to perform its first sea trials off the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea.[23]

Prior to delivery, the yacht was finally christened A in May 2008.[24] The name was derived from the initial of its owner Andrey Melnichenko and his wife Aleksandra,[13][19][25][26] though an artful report in the Sunday Times claimed it was "so that nothing can precede it in the list of the world’s greatest vessels".[27] Once delivered, A's maiden voyage took it to Kristiansand in southern Norway, where the new owners collected three Claude Monet paintings they had recently purchased.[19][28]

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 it from the top ten.[12] At the time of its launch several commentators made note of the fact that Melnichenko's vessel was slightly bigger than Roman Abramovich's Pelorus,[19][29] and talk of boat-building one-upmanship between the two oligarchs was fuelled further when Abramovich launched an even bigger yacht, Eclipse, in 2010.[14][27][30]

Features

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).[4] At its cruising speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) it can cover 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) in under sixteen days before its 750,000 L (160,000 imp gal; 200,000 US gal) fuel tank is empty.[4]

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.[14] Starck, known for his occasionally risqué design choices, also added a secret "nookie room" hidden behind mirrored panels.[14] Mirrored surfaces feature extensively throughout the interior, along with Baccarat crystal which is used not only for the glassware and tableware, but for the furniture too.[14] There are six guest suites, although they have moving walls and can be converted to four larger staterooms.[13] Much of the interior design was completed by Aleksandra Melnichenko who, as the owner's new wife, battled with designer Starck over features commissioned when her husband was still a bachelor.[25][13] The original discothèque was down-sized, while the suites' decor was toned down, although it still included leather or white stingray hides on the walls and ceilings, and crocodile-skinned furniture.[13][25] 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.[14][30]

37 staff are employed on the vessel, and there are living quarters for five more staff accompanying the owners or their guests.[1][14] 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.[13][14]

Aside from the yacht itself, 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.[31] They are all 10–11 metres (33–36 ft) long, and reputedly cost $1 million each.[32] The total cost of A has never been officially confirmed, but $300 million has been the most frequently cited estimate.[10][33][34][35]

Reception

"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.[17]

The striking exterior design of A, which designer Starck had likened to being "more like a fish than a building",[20] 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."[14] David Pelly of Boat International was also enamoured, saying it was "...the most extraordinary yacht launched in recent memory. It is stunning."[29][36] 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 its larger sisters by virtue of lines reminiscent of a nuclear submarine".[37] A was one of the featured vessels in the 2011 edition of The Superyachts, where it is described as "bold and eccentric."[38]

By contrast, Power & Motoryacht magazine columnist Diane Byrne opined that "overall it doesn’t float my boat (sorry, kids, couldn’t resist), but I do quite like the inverted bow design",[15] 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".[13] Maritime commentator Peter Mello was even more scathing in his assessment, deriding it as "one of the most hideous vessels ever to sail the seas".[39] 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 it was launched.[17] 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 its '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]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Yacht A by Blohm + Voss & Starck Design". LiveYachting.com. 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  2. ^ a b c "Sigma (SF99) launched!". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-01-03. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  3. ^ a b c d "Another Mega-Yacht contract awarded to Blohm + Voss" (Press release). Blohm + Voss. December 10, 2004.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Motor Yacht A Specification" (pdf). Blohm + Voss. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  5. ^ a b "A". SuperyachtTimes.com. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  6. ^ "Motor Yacht A". starck.com. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  7. ^ "Yacht A". francisdesign.com. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  8. ^ a b c Grace Trofa (August 2008). "On the 'A' list - Designer Martin Francis". Yachts International. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  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". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  11. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g h i Robert Frank (2008-07-17). "Smooth Sailing Gets Ugly With Russian Billionaire's New Yacht". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Robert Frank (2010-04-03). "Baccarat Meets Bomb-Proof Glass on the High Seas". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  15. ^ a b c d Diane M. Byrne (2008-01-07). "Super-Secret Sigma". MegayachtNews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  16. ^ Diane M. Byrne (August 2007). "World's 100 Largest Yachts 2007 #6: Project Sigma". Power & Motoryacht magazine. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  17. ^ a b c Robert Frank (2008-01-23). "The Ugliest Yacht in the World?". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  18. ^ Nick Hall (2008-03-14). "Futuristic motor yacht begins trials". Motor Boats Monthly. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  19. ^ a b c d "Rival oligarch's latest toy won't float Abramovich's boat - it's a superyacht even bigger than his". Daily Mail. 2008-07-15. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  20. ^ a b c "Philippe Starck Speaks His Mind". Yachts International. September 2007. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  21. ^ Tillmann Prüfer (2008-03-28). "Ich schäme mich dafür". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  22. ^ "SuperYacht of the week: the astonishing 119m superyacht A". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  23. ^ a b c "Sigma (SF99) leaves Kiel for first sea trials". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-03-12. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  24. ^ "A (project SF 99 / Sigma) seen from the air". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  25. ^ a b c Derek Blasberg (2011-11-16). "Smooth Sailing: Aleksandra Melnichenko interview". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  26. ^ "SuperYacht photo special: A". SuperyachtTimes.com. 2009-04-12. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  27. ^ a b "Will Abramovich yacht eclipse Melnichenko's?". The Week. 2008-07-21. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  28. ^ Lucy Cockcroft (2008-07-16). "Oligarch Buys £200 Million Super-Yacht, Then Sails Off to Collect Monet Paintings". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  29. ^ a b Rick Spilman (2009-10-04). "Rich Men's Toys – Battleships, Helipads & Submarines". Old Salt Blog. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ Diane M. Byrne (2011-06-13). "Video: Vaudrey Miller Builds Souped-Up Tender for Superyacht A". MegayachtNews.com. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  32. ^ "Andrey Melnichenko's Yacht in Malibu". Zimbio.com. 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  33. ^ Clarissa Wei (2010-08-12). "$300 Million Yacht Spotted Off The Coast Of Malibu". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  34. ^ "Russian billionaire's $300m yacht in bay near Sausalito". KGO-TV/DT. 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  35. ^ Jared Paul Stern (2012-02-12). "Oligarch's $300 Million+ Superyacht Sets Sail For Phuket". Business Insider. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  36. ^ Chittenden, Maurice (2008-07-20). "Andrey Melnichenko's battleship heads to sea". The Sunday Times. London.
  37. ^ Nazanin Lankarini (2011-09-20). "For Superyachts, the Bigger the Better". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
  38. ^ "The Superyachts, Volume 24, 2011". Boats International Media. 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  39. ^ Peter A. Mello (2008-07-17). "Has That Superduper Yacht Turtled?". Sea-Fever.org. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
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