Sailing Yacht ''A'' is a

sailing yacht A sailing yacht (US ship prefixes SY or S/Y), is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applie ...

launched in 2015. The vessel is a sail-assisted motor yacht designed by

Philippe Starck Philippe Starck (; born 18 January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. Life Starck was born on ...

(exteriors and interiors) and built by

Nobiskrug Nobiskrug is a shipyard located on the Eider River in Rendsburg, Germany, specialized in building innovative, custom-made luxury superyachts. In 2020 it celebrated its 115 years of operation. History Nobiskrug was founded in 1905 by Ott ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, Germany for the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

Andrey Melnichenko. Its propulsion consists of a variable-speed hybrid powerplant with two lineshaft controllable-pitch

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s that is sail-assisted by a three- mast fore-and-aft sailing rig. The freestanding

carbonfiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

rotating masts were manufactured by Magma Structures at

Trafalgar Wharf, Portsmouth Trafalgar Wharf is a shipyard in Portsmouth accommodating marine engineering businesses ranging from sailmakers and boat brokers to boat builders. It was formerly the VT Halmatic shipyard, owned by VT Group and latterly by BVT Surface Fleet. H ...

. Doyle Sailmakers USA manufactured the three fully automated carbonfiber/

taffeta Taffeta (archaically spelled taffety or taffata) is a crisp, smooth, plain woven fabric made from silk, cuprammonium rayons, acetate, and polyester. The word is Persian (تافته) in origin and means "twisted woven". As clothing, it is used in ...

full roach sails. The furling booms were built in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

by Future Fibres. The rigging of the yacht was developed partially to be implemented on cargo ships and for commercial use. The vessel features an underwater observation pod in the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

with -thick glass. It is the largest private sail-assisted motor yacht in the world. Sailing Yacht ''A'' was delivered by Nobiskrug on 3 February 2017, and left Kiel on 5 February 2017. It exited the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

in light mode on near-empty fuel tanks in order to clear the

Drogden Strait Drogden is a channel through Øresund. The trench is located on the Danish side of the Øresund, between Saltholm and Amager. The road and railway Øresund Bridge, connection between Denmark and Sweden passes below it in the Drogden Tunnel. The max ...

with minimum draught. It underwent final

sea trial A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...

s and the final fit-out at the

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, which offers its services to both military and civil sectors. It is the fifth-largest shipbuilder in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world with shipyards around the globe. The heir to t ...

shipyard in

Cartagena, Spain Cartagena () is a Spanish city and a major naval station on the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Iberia. As of January 2018, it has a population of 218,943 inhabitants, being the region's second-largest municipality and the country's sixth-lar ...

. ''Boat International'' called it "the boundary pushing

superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

". The yacht was seized by the Italian authorities on 12 March 2022 in the port of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, due to the EU's sanctions imposed on a number of Russian businessmen as a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A spokesperson for Melnichenko vowed to contest the seizure.

Specifications

*Building site: Kiel, Germany *Builder:

*Naval architecture: Nobiskrug & Dykstra Naval Architects *Exterior design:

*Interior decoration: Philippe Starck *Diesel powerplant: two MTU 20V 4000 M73L 2,050 rpm 3,600 kW lineshaft engines *Electric powerplant: four 14,050–24,050rpm 2,800 kW hotel generators driving two

Vacon Vacon was a Finnish manufacturer of variable-speed AC drives for adjustable control of electric motors, and inverters for producing energy from renewable sources and was headquartered in Vaasa, Finland. Vacon stands for Vaasa Control Ltd. Vacon ...

4,300 kW lineshaft motors *Transmission: superimposable/clutched diesel-electric transmission controlled by DEIF systems *Propulsion:

Andritz Hydro Andritz AG is an international technology group, offering plants, equipment, systems and services for various industries. The group's headquarters are in Graz, Austria. The group gets its name from the district of Andritz in which it is located ...

/ Escher Wyss & Cie. 5-bladed controllable-pitch lineshaft twin screw *Emission treatment: Emigreen, 4 × diesel particulate filter (soot filtration) on diesel generators.

References

{{reflist, 30em Individual sailing yachts Three-masted ships Ships built in Kiel Sailing yachts built in Germany 2015 ships

Specifications

See also

References