Yacht - symbol of luxury

Owning a yacht is considered a symbol of luxury. Some would say that there is no greater symbol of wealth than a gleaming, glamorous and luxurious yacht. And certainly, some yachts are playing role of ultimate toys for its owners who do not just want to use them for recreation, but to show off their wealth and style at the same time. Those luxurious yachts are tailored for their owners' needs, tastes, exact specifications to offer them privacy, consolation and comfort as well.

Even though new places and methods for spending one's exotic and luxurious vacations have been explored, yet the sea still is considered a leading spot for elite's leisure time and that has not change in many years. Private luxury yachts are believed to be wished-for vehicles for vacations and socializing within the high class.

What's more, owning a vacation house has become lately passé. If you want to be jazzy, you should invest in yacht as this vehicle is not only mobile, but it can entertain your family members and socialites, not to mention that it is simply the symbol of ultimate luxury.

Short history of yacht and yachting

Looking back at the history of the yacht, we should remind that it was initially a light Dutch naval vessel. Basically yachts were used to chase almost omnipresent pirates and to explore new lands and unheard-of waters back in the 17th century as they were fast and maneuverable. The intended use of yachts changed after King Charles II decided to sail in one of those on his return to homeland, England. Since then yacht has started to be considered a symbol of luxury, wealth & importance as well.

Today's yachts are not basic vessels as they used to be in the past. Contemporary yachts are usually equipped with every modern convenience so that its owner is able to check stocks, make crucial decisions and even organize an official meeting if necessary. The increased safety, equipment and technology implemented in today's luxurious yachts are aimed to give its users comfort and a feeling of fulfillment. And the tradition of believing that yacht is the symbol of wealth did not quite disappear, in fact it is still alive and is keeping quite well. Yacht the symbol of luxury is best demonstrated by the most expensive yachts in the world, including No.1 on the list - the Eclipse.

Eclipse the most expensive yacht

Not surprisingly, the Eclipse is believed to be the world's most expensive yacht. It is proudly and splendidly owned by the well-know oligarch Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club. Roman Abramovich is widely known for his big passion and eccentric love for expensive toys and properties, including the Luna - a 377-foot ice boat, a Boeing 767, houses located in London, St. Barts, Colorado, etc.

The Eclipse has been owned by Roman Abramovich since December 2010. Outstandingly, the Eclipse, the world's most expensive and largest yacht, can glory in impressive dimensions of 162.5m length, perpendiculars of 147m, 21.5m breadth and 5 m draught, which without a doubt allow its owner to make use of a huge area of private luxury on the deck.

The Eclipse had been built by Blohm + Voss Shipyards. And even though the world's most expensive yacht was launched in June 2009, it was delivered to its owner over one year after that in December 2010. It had taken almost 5 years of design, development and testing to build this ultimate symbol of luxury and wealth.

The symbol of power and opulence, the Eclipse, had been designed by Hermidas Atabeyki of Atabeyki Design Development, while its exterior and interior styling had been projected by Terence Disdale Design and Greenline Yacht Interiors. Interestingly, the naval architecture of the Eclipse, which happens to be also the biggest private yacht in the world, was provided by Blohm + Voss. Moreover, the secrecy was also kept as the construction of the most expensive yacht was conducted under a mysterious name "Project Luxury Yacht 147".

Well, so how much is it worth - that is the most intriguing question. Basically the Eclipse was to cost just slightlyover $420.000.000, yet many requested changes, which were introduced during the construction process, increased the price tag to outstanding $1.200.000.000. Indeed it is a quite amount of money for a boat. Yet the Eclipse you cannot be simply called a boat, it is a yacht that completely fulfills all signs of the symbol of contemporary wealth and luxury.

What does it take to be ranked on the 1st place on the list of the world's most expensive yachts? Well to begin with, the Eclipse has 11 guest cabins and each one of them is equipped with a top-notch six-foot movie screen. But that is not the end of the ultimate luxury as the most expensive yacht in the world has two helipads and two drop-dead swimming pools, not to mention numerous splenid hot tubs, sic!. Rumors have been circulating that the Eclipse is also equipped with a submarine that can dive to a depth of 160 feet. And a surprise, the larger one of swimming pools can be simply drained and transformed to an outstanding dance floor where the owners' guests can have an amazing fun time, sic!

To crown it all, the master cabin, only 5,000 sq. foot, is said to be armor-plated and kitted out with bulletproof glass which was also used while constructing the bridge. The Roman Abramovich's master bedroom is also fitted with gadgets which allow opening the roof so that the owner can sleep under the stars and admire the romantic beauty of the night.

In addition, missile detection systems and anti-paparazzi systems were installed also to ensure the safety of the owner and his guests. Someone can think that missile detection systems can be a slight exaggeration of needs; however it is certainly a pretty much expensive toy. But the installation of the device is not baffling as neither Roman Abramovich nor his wealthy and known acquaintances want to be shot by intrusive, busybody and at time aggressive paparazzi. However, there is option to deactivate the anti-paparazzi system so that Roman Abramovich's friends will be able to perpetuate times spent on the most expensive yacht ever.

As you can imagine, this afloat "mansion" can be very costly when it comes to its maintenance. The Eclipse is serviced by a surprising huge group of 70 people who are needed to operate the splendid yacht full time and it costs $60 million per year to keep up her.

The History Supreme - a real history or just a big mistification?

Not too long time ago, everyone was astonished by the news regarding the new most expensive yacht in the world which was said to be the History Supreme. According to surprising news, the History Supreme was acquired by an undisclosed Malaysian businessman for shocking €3.4 billion as it was supposedly made of solid gold, sic!

This luxury yacht was said to have been covered in 100,000 kilograms of precious metals, including solid gold - nothing to sneeze at. What is more interesting is that the master bedroom of the History Supreme was supposedly belyad in platinum, decorated with eccentric meteoric stone and the bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, sic!

However, Baia Yachts of Italy first announced that the story about the £3 billion golden super yacht was concocted. Mario Borselli, sales manager at Baia, underlined that the company spreading news on the yacht used Baia's images and photoshopped them without any approval and the whole story was just a big scam.

So the title of the world's most expensive yacht still belongs to the Eclipse, the symbol of contemporary luxury and wealth, owned by Roman Abramovich.

Industry Leaders Magazine