Sailing Ship A on trials

In August we wrote about Dream Symphony, which, for a brief period, looked as if it would be the largest sailing sailing in the world at 463 feet (141m) long. Now a slightly larger sailing yacht at 147 meters has emerged from the Nobiskrug yard in Northern Germany. The yacht, built for Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, has three of the tallest freestanding carbon-fiber masts ever built, each over 100 meters tall and weighing 50 tonnes each.  When completed sometime this year, the yacht will have 8 decks and will feature a glass underwater observation area. The cost of the new yacht is estimated to be more than $400 million.

While the vessel may be the largest sailing yacht ever built, it is by no means the most attractive and may just possibly have the worst name. While under construction the code name used was White Pearl.  It appears that the actual name will be Sailing Yacht A.  Melnichenko’s current 394 foot long motor yacht was originally named simply A, but is now designated Motor Yacht A.  The name is said to be from the initials of its owner Andrey and his wife Aleksandra.

Sailing Yacht A is not the only example of a poorly named rich man’s toy. The Mirabella V, owned by Rodney Lewis, has been renamed M5.  The yacht has gone from invoking the image of a beautiful woman to sounding like an often traffic-choked motorway near Birmingham, UK.