Superyachts plus plus
Oriole
Mon 5 Feb 2007 17:24
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. 17:00.9N
61:46.4W
We are not sure that there is a collective noun for superyachts, but it is certainly needed in Falmouth. There are thousands of millions of pounds tied up here. The old and beautifully restored J Class Yacht "Endeavour" left yesterday for the Pacific. John can remember seeing her rotting in a mud berth on the Hamble in the 1960's never thinking for a moment that she would ever emerge. Andrew gave Erik and Fran a tour round Mirabella V on Sunday all 250 feet of her, and on Wednesday Chris and I were given a tour of Maltese Falcon by the skipper, all 280 feet of her.
We are not sure that there is a collective noun for superyachts, but it is certainly needed in Falmouth. There are thousands of millions of pounds tied up here. The old and beautifully restored J Class Yacht "Endeavour" left yesterday for the Pacific. John can remember seeing her rotting in a mud berth on the Hamble in the 1960's never thinking for a moment that she would ever emerge. Andrew gave Erik and Fran a tour round Mirabella V on Sunday all 250 feet of her, and on Wednesday Chris and I were given a tour of Maltese Falcon by the skipper, all 280 feet of her.
Maltese Falcon
These are the two largest sailing yachts in private
ownership in the world. Maltese Falcon is square rigged with sails that
emerge from and disappear into the mast and can all be set in 7 minutes on three
masts and 6 yards. The masts rotate through 360 degrees and all the sail
controls are at the touch of a button. M5 with her single 280 foot mast dwarfs
her inspite of being slightly shorter in overall length.
The scene of Falmouth Harbour from
Oriole. Maltese Falcon with crossed yards far right.
They are about to swap places on the dock when
Maltese Falcon leaves and it is blowing hard so could be interesting. Maltese
Falcon is full of amazing modern art and pride of place is a large ceramic model
of owner Tom Perkin's Bugatti which at the touch of a button emerges from a
glass case in the saloon coffee table.
Maltese Falcon's skipper Chris
demonstating the Bugatti.
Needless to say you could eat your dinner off the
engines, but I guess the chief engineer would not be too pleased. There is
no wheel on the bridge and everything is done by buttons and levers!
Meanwhile we wait for John's neice Jane to arrive on Saturday, and we are hoping
for some slightly quieter winds for her first sail. But the task of
keeping Oriole in good order goes on and there has been some hard work done with
the varnish brush this week. We are only a little boat but we have
delusions of superyacht status!