The world's superyachts are getting bigger and bigger. Business is booming, the luxury yacht-industry says.
The world's superyachts are getting bigger and bigger. Business is booming, the luxury yacht-industry says.
Billionaires and multimillionaires around the globe are trading up for more space and luxury.
They all look so sinkable.
They would make great coral reefs
But in reality these things have armor and bullet proof glass. Companies sell systems with disorienting light and sound, sonar and underwater surveillance, anti drone systems and also roaming drones. They're floating fortresses.
But in reality these things have armor and bullet proof glass. Companies sell systems with disorienting light and sound, sonar and underwater surveillance, anti drone systems and also roaming drones. They're floating fortresses.
Is it your sincerely held belief that these super yachts are unsinkable?
And just like that, piracy seems to become a viable profession again.
*Privateering (a legitimate and respectable profession)
Let's keep the standards high...and the cutlasses sharp.
Sadly most of the great maritime powers have signed onto the 1856 Declaration of Paris where they agreed to give up privateering as a weapon of war. The United States has not signed on, but has also not issued a letter of marque since that period. During the civil war, the confederates experimented briefly with privateering, but the Union declared that it would not.
In 2025, The Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025 was introduced in Congress. This bill would authorize privateering against "cartels" (apparently any cartel, like OPEC or the American Medical Association).
"Oxfam estimates the average annual carbon footprint of each of these yachts to be 5,672 tonnes. It would take the average person 860 years to emit the same pollution." https://www.oxfam.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-oxfam/the-environmental-impact-of-superyacht-and-private-jet-emissions/
Its the running costs of these that are insane, and the CO2 that it produces.
All will be rated by gallons per hour for the engines, the big boats can consume 500 gallons per hour. Now assume the owner wants to move the boat just 100 nm, or about 3 hours of travel at the most efficient speed (allowing for departure and arrival). Thats about 1500 gallons for one of the big boats. Assume £6 per gallon, thats £9k, to do 60 nm. Assuming an average of 40 mpg in a car, you could do 60000 miles for the same amount of fuel, or the same annual consumption as seven average UK drivers vs. 60 nm in a big boat. A 60 nm trip is something you do to get to a lunch stop before going on somewhere else for the evening. It can take multiple days of continuous travel to work across the Med, mean while the owner flies somewhere else while the boat is moved, then flies back.
Then there is the electric production on these. Sure, solar has helped a ton, but a lot of the really big boats don't have a ton of solar as it takes flat surface space that has other shit on it. So they use a generator, a big one. Whole boat will have aircon and copious amounts of inverters to give the guests mains electric, electric toys, tons of lighting, and navigation equipment. The fuel for this is on top of the fuel burned to move the boat.
Then there is the staff on the boat, big boats can have a dozen or more staff on board, all of whom had to fly to get to the boat, and have their own food, washing, and daily energy needs.
Its not uncommon for a rich owner to request the boat moved to a particular location, stocked up with food and booze that is flown in from multiple locations. Then the owner and their guests fly in, and sometimes not, so all that effort and energy is wasted.
Final kicker is that really big boats have a second chase boat, full of even more staff and often similar size to the main boat in consumption. Bezos has two helicopter pads on his chase boat as he cannot have one on his main boat because he wanted sails on it, which don't actually work properly, they have never used more than one at once.
Just a thought experiment, how sink-proof are these things?
If someone were to build a homemade submarine with a drill, how many holes would one have to theoretically drill to make a yatch sink?
They have sonar, underwater surveillance drones and some even their own submarine. These guys spared no expense.
I work for a company in the US that supplies these kinds of ships with specific equipment. I can tell you there has been a MASSIVE decline in purchases since a particular orange "man" started running the show in the US. A lot of them are "afraid" to make purchases now.
We would generally aim for a "40 unit" build week as that is pretty much our capacity, 25ish is the general slow period we face annually. We're doing 10-13 unit build weeks now.
They get their tech somewhere else because it’s cheaper. All my company’s sales dropped internationally to a trickle, but my industry hasn’t “slowed” internationally.
I don't like to be too specific with what I do, I'll just say we're more Gucci than Garmin. Our products are "luxury" and apparently the competition isn't really competition.
But who knows, maybe there is another one out there that is gaining popularity. I don't really pay attention to that market other than what my job entails. Lord knows I can't afford even our cheapest product, not to mention I have no use for it lol
Business is booming because the rich are so rich. They don’t want to live on land-with rules.
The Deep Ones gleefully rubbing their hands
Well, I dunno if I'd agree that it's booming just yet.
You know what they say, if there's a will, there's a dynamite
Seems like they're just lowering the barrier to entry for the newer players in the piratin' game.
Step it the fuck up orcas!
Bill Hicks: I guess that could work too