If you can afford a luxury vessel, life is good, and the sea is a playground for you to explore. You can recline in your cushioned deck loungers and let the ocean gently rock you into a state of blissful oblivion. It can’t get much better than this, right? Nope. Despite the elegant furniture that come as a standard with a yacht, there are some who want more. More dynamic, more luxurious, more…unique. Here’s a list of some of the 7 most unbelievable yacht accouterments we’ve discovered to date.
- The Alloy Yachts Vertigo 220: Named the 220 because of its impressive 220.5′ length, this super-yacht was carefully crafted down to the last detail by naval architect Phillippe Brand in 2011. This massive 220-foot sailing yacht has been built to adequately carry up to 12 people with 6 spacious private suites. It was personally decorated for elegance and grace with smooth white furniture and slick wood moldings by designer Christian Liaigre. It’s fitted with the most state-of-the-art charting and navigating abilities with multiple large high-quality detailed screens, inlaid keyboards and controls in a control deck that rivals the Starship Enterprise. It is available for charter year-round in the Singapore area.
- The Eclipse: Costing an excess of $800-million and measuring around 533′ in length, the Eclipse holds the records as not only the longest yacht in existence, but also the most expensive. Owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, this vessel was constructed in secrecy by Blohm + Voss Shipyards and finally launched in 2010. To this day, many of the details of the Eclipse are still widely unknown. Its interior was designed by professional decorators from Terence Disdale Design in London. It requires a minimum of a 70-man operating crew and contains spacious living quarters for the crew and 18 large suites for carrying up to 36 guests. Some of the more extravagant features of the Eclipse are the 3-man leisure submarine, two helicopter pads, two swimming pools, outdoor fireplaces and a dance floor.You won’t be seeing this yacht competing in the Volvo Ocean Race anytime soon.
- The Iguana 29: This wonder of technology is an amphibious center-console speed yacht with added capabilities to rise up out of water and drive on land. This system uses retractable treads that lower into the water and provide traction to propel itself in the absence of water. The Iguana is still in the prototype stages and no details are available as far as price yet.
- Blueseed: This startup company is largely funded by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel in hopes of creating the world’s first off-shore floating city. It is planned to be located somewhere off the coast of California and estimated costs for residency in this aquatic suburban are around $1600 per month. Hundreds of firms have been vying to secure spots for several years but no definitive dates have been set. There is much speculation about the status of a city in international waters and whether or not there are intentions to govern this man-made water world in a way separate from American laws and regulations.
- Turanor: The world’s largest solar-powered yacht, weighing in at 8.5 tons, is the brain-child of Swiss founder Raphaël Domjan and was built by Planet Sola. It is capable of storing 3 days of sailing and operating power in its lithium-ion batteries. Large enough to comfortably house around 6 guests, its deck is large enough to host a party of over 100. This ship cost upwards of $20 million to develop and was sponsored by a number of different investors. Planet Sola developed original software that uses up-to-speed weather date to self-steer towards sunnier areas as a self-preservation tool. Over testing through thousands of water, the salty conditions of sailing have done no damage to the solar panels and has worked without the use of an engine for years. This is hoped to be used as a prototype for all large luxury sea craft in an effort to reduce waste and harm to the environment. Much smaller versions have been constructed using the same technology and are currently being used as gondolas in Venice.
They might be too big and unwieldy to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race this year, but these five yachts certainly take the prize for uniqueness. If you spot them out in the wild, take a picture, and add it to your collection of exotic and outlandish yachts.
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