Displaying items by tag: Mega Yacht

20th June 2017

Maiden Irish Port of Call As Mega Yacht 'Boutique' Cruiseship Visits the Capital

#BoutiqueYacht – Making a maiden Irish port of call was mega yacht Variety Voyager that brought yesterday a refreshing change in Dublin Port where the trend is for considerably larger giant sized ships, writes Jehan Ashmore.

At just 1,593 gross tonnage the boutique sized cruiseship Variety Voyager with capacity for only 72 guests pampered in ultra-luxury docked next to the Tom Clark Toll-Bridge. The 2012 built sleek four passenger-deck mega yacht had sailed overnight from Holyhead. Notably the call to the north Wales ferryport took place in the inner harbour where the Stena HSS fastferry craft had served Dun Laoghaire but currently only caters for small cruiseships.

The 60 odd nautical mile crossing that is between Holyhead to Dublin takes ferries just over three hours to complete, however the 68m/223ft mega-yacht took a more leisurely eight hour passage. The debut call to Dublin represented the first of seven calls scheduled this season by the boutique mega yacht's upmarket Greek operator Variety Cruises.

Variety Voyager is the largest of the Athens based operator of 11 mega yachts and motor sailers. They are also the largest mega yachts operator in the Mediterranean and one of the top 3 worldwide in the Small Ship market. In 2016-2017, Variety Cruises won in The ‘Best Boutique Cruise Line’ by USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards.

Cruising in one of these small ships offer guests (4 to 5 star luxury) which offerr the ultimate mega-yacht experience. With capacities ranging from 5 to 36 cabins, it is the latter capacity that relates to Variety Voyager whose guests are served by 33 crew.

As one would expect from a mega-yacht, Variety Voyager has cabins and public areas finished with warm fabrics, rich marbles, Axminster carpeting and soft tones wood panelling. Everywhere, unobstructed views of the ocean and of the ports visited.

Asides operating throughout the Mediterranean, Variety Cruises global ports destinations include Cuba and The Seychelles. In addition to the Irish debut, new for 2017 is that the operator have added destinations further into the Atlantic with cruises to Iceland along with southern hemisphere calls to Madagascar and the Mozambique Islands.

Published in Cruise Liners

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Mega Yacht Sets New Record For Most Southerly Navigation

The World cruising through Antarctic ice this past week

#Offshore - A giant private yacht has broken the record for the most southerly navigation, reaching 78°43.997’ S and 163°41.421’ W at the Bay of Whales in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

The World, a 43,188-ton yacht with 272 crew and carrying 145 residents and guests, recorded the new polar record – the furthest any vessel has ever sailed – at 10.41 ship’s time (New Zealand time) on Saturday 28 January.

The mega yacht, which circumnavigates the globe every two to three years, is currently undertaking a 22-day expedition of the Ross Sea, including 12 days in Antarctica assisted by EYOS Expeditions led by Rob McCallum.

Commenting on the new record, The World’s Captain Dag H Saevik said: “When we designed this remarkable expedition to the Ross Sea with our residents, that has taken two years of preparation, we hoped that with the right conditions we might be able to reach the ice shelf and set a new record for the most southerly navigation.

“This voyage of more than 5,000 nautical miles has taken us to the most isolated area of the world. Explorers like Amundsen, Shackleton and Scott have always been driven to explore the furthest boundaries. However, not many people get to travel to the end of the earth from their own home.”

Few vessels have made the journey to this remote part of Antarctica. In February last year, the polar expedition vessel Akademik Shokalskiy reported reaching 78°43.971’S.

Published in Offshore

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Mega Yacht 'Skat' Moored on the River Liffey

It's not often we get a mega yacht (a private boat above 70m or 230 feet) in Dublin bay. The Skat is currently lying on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. Click HERE and have a look at the images at the bottom of the page.

According to Wikipedia The Skat is a luxury yacht built by Lürssen of Bremen, Germany as project 9906, a number prominently displayed on the hull in a font matching that of military vessels. The project started in November 1999 and the yacht launched in 2001. The owner is Charles Simonyi, a former Software Engineer from Microsoft and the fifth space tourist. The yacht is the 64th-largest in the world with a length of 71 metres.

Published in Cruising

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Ireland & La Solitaire du Figaro

The Solitaire du Figaro, was originally called the course de l’Aurore until 1980, was created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault.

Half a decade later, the race has created some of France's top offshore sailors, and it celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new boat equipped with foils and almost 50 skippers Including novices, aficionados and six former winners.

The solo multi-stage offshore sailing race is one of the most cherished races in French sailing and one that has had Irish interest stretching back over 20 years due to the number of Irish stopovers, usually the only foreign leg of the French race.

What Irish ports have hosted The Solitaire du Figaro?

The race has previously called to Ireland to the following ports; Dingle, Kinsale, Crosshaven, Howth and Dun Laoghaire.

What Irish sailors have raced The Solitaire du Figaro?

So far there have been seven Irish skippers to participate in La Solitaire du Figaro.

In 1997, County Kerry's Damian Foxall first tackled the Figaro from Ireland. His win in the Rookie division in DHL gave him the budget to compete again the following year with Barlo Plastics where he won the final leg of the race from Gijon to Concarneau. That same year a second Irish sailor Marcus Hutchinson sailing Bergamotte completed the course in 26th place and third Rookie.

In 2000, Hutchinson of Howth Yacht Club completed the course again with IMPACT, again finishing in the twenties.

In 2006, Paul O’Riain became the third Irish skipper to complete the course.

In 2013, Royal Cork's David Kenefick raised the bar by becoming a top rookie sailor in the race.

In 2018, for the first time, Ireland had two Irish boats in the offshore race thanks to Tom Dolan and Joan Mulloy who joined the rookie ranks and kept the Irish tricolour flying high in France. Mulloy became the first Irish female to take on the race.

Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa competed for his third year in 2020 after a 25th place finish in 2019. Dolan sailed a remarkably consistent series in 2020 and took fifth overall, the best finish by a non-French skipper since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre finished runner up. Dolan wins the VIVI Trophy.

Dolan finished 10th on the first stage, 11th on the second and seventh into Saint Nazaire at the end of the third stage. Stage four was abandoned due to lack of wind.

Also in 2020, Dun Laoghaire’s Kenneth Rumball became the eleventh Irish sailor to sail the Figaro.

At A Glance – Figaro Race

It starts in June or July from a French port.
The race is split into four stages varying from year to year, from the length of the French coast and making up a total of around 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles (1,700 to 2,300 mi; 2,800 to 3,700 km) on average.
Over the years the race has lasted between 10 and 13 days at sea.
The competitor is alone in the boat, participation is mixed.
Since 1990, all boats are of one design.