''Force Blue'' (''formerly Big Roi)'' is a
trawler-
expedition style luxury
yacht built by
Royal Denship
Royal Denship was a Denmark, Danish multi-facility Conglomerate (company), conglomerate ship and yacht builder. Presently in Administration (law), administration, the company has created some of the world's largest super yachts.
Royal Denship cons ...
in 2002. She is the world's
78th-largest superyacht
Design
Built in 2002 by Royal Denship, she was designed by
Ole Steen Knudsen and
Tom Fexas
Tom Fexas (1941 – November 29, 2006) was an American yacht designer who adopted a retro design from vintage commuter yachts of the 1930s to modern construction techniques. His design for ''Midnight Lace'' in 1978 helped launch a new movemen ...
as part of Royal Denship's "expedition" series, that included ''Turmoil'' and ''Big Aron.'' She was commissioned by
Roy Speer, the founder and owner of the
Home Shopping Network
HSN, an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Qurate Retail Group, which also owns catalog company Cornerstone Brands. Based in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Flor ...
.
Briatore
Purchased from Speer by
Italian motorsports entrepreneur
Flavio Briatore
Flavio Briatore (; born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison senten ...
for £68.2m, she was given a refitted interior designed by
Celeste Dell'Anna
Celeste may refer to:
Geography
* Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
* Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas
** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...
, and given a blue exterior.
''Force Blue'' was seized by Italian Customs in May 2010 in
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
, near
Genoa. On the authority of a local prosecutor, the state claims that the vessel's owners, Autumn Sailing Ltd, that there was outstanding
Value Added Tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...
owing which should have been paid on the fuel used by the yacht. The amount evaded was estimated to be around five million euros.
See also
*
Yachting
References
External links
Pictures/details of Force Blue at Monacoeye.comInformation to Charter this Yacht
Motor yachts
Ships built in Denmark
2002 ships
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