This $400 million mega yacht is ridiculously over the top
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The world's largest sailing yacht has hit the high seas and is turning heads.
It's the latest boy-toy of multi-billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, who is one of Russia's wealthiest men, and cost a staggering $400 million.
The 468-foot-long White Pearl, known as "Sailing Yacht A", was spotted in Kiel, Germany this week as it was tugged out of the shipyard for its test voyage.
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And it was hard to miss with its 300-foot-high masts, one so large it has a small room inside it.
Built by the German Naval Yards shipyard, it was imagined by marine architect Martin Francis and celebrated designer Philippe Starck, who has described it as a “stealth yacht.”
Starck was behind Melnichenko's previous yacht (below) delivered in 2008, which went by the name "Motor Yacht A", but at 360 feet, it now seems like a dingy in comparison.
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(Reuters)
The White Pearl yacht has a helipad, three swimming pools, six guest rooms, a disco and eight levels, which also includes an underwater observation room. It can reach a maximum speed of 24 miles per hour and will have a crew of 54 to attend to the 20 guests it can hold.
“Physically it is more a fish than a building, which deviates quite a bit from what is being done today,” Starck told Yachts International. “Inside are extraordinary technical innovations that yield extraordinary comfort, which are very large spaces."
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Melnichenko has an estimated net worth of $9 billion and founded companies including a fertilizer producer, a coal producer, a power generator, and a pipe exporter.
The Russian billionaire and his Serbian model wife Aleksandra Nikolic also own a Boeing jet and a series of Monet paintings.
The "Sailing Yacht A" overtakes the current world’s largest sailing yacht, the 359-foot Sea Cloud, which was launched in 1931.
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