We couldn't help ourselves but round up the photos of the largest sail assisted motor yacht in the world lightning up Monaco, where she has been recently spotted alongside M/Y A after their first meetup at the Nobiskrug yard in Kiel, Germany, where S/Y A was under construction.
Built for Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, valued at $12.8 billion by Forbes, the 142.8-meter S/Y A left Nobiskrug on February 5th and was spotted leaving Gibraltar, heading to Monaco a week ago. A spokesman for the owner confirmed to Yacht Harbour that S/Y A has been handed over to her owner by the project team led by Dirk Kloosterman, after completing final sea trials in the Navantia shipyard in Cartagena, Southern Spain.
Boasting over 12,600 gross tons, S/Y A has an interior volume 4,6 times larger than the 106-metre Black Pearl, soon to be delivered by Oceanco to a design by Ken Freivokh with an interior volume of 2,700GT. With masts taller than Big Ben at nearly 100 meters in height, S/Y A had managed to reach a top speed of 20 knots without using her sails during her first sea trials. The yacht is projected to have a cruising speed of 16 knots powered by twin MTU engines of 4,827hp each which will give her a transatlantic range of 5,320 nautical miles.
The yacht also boasts a digital control system that has a touch sensitive sheet of black glass, allowing the crew to raise and lower sails and the anchor with a simple swipe according to the Daily Mail. Amongst the yacht's key features is also an underwater observation pod and a large swimming pool with a retractable roof located towards the bow of the yacht.
Philippe Starck, who had also worked on M/Y A, is responsible for the design, whilst the rig and keel were done by Dutch-based Dykstra Naval Architects, with the masts constructed by British firm Magma Structures and the sails by Doyle Sails in the United States. The yacht boasts eight decks and her keel incorporates one of the largest single pieces of curved glass ever made at 193 square feet and weighs a whopping 1.8 tons. S/Y A is expected to be operated by a crew of 54.
When the project for S/Y A was first announced in August 2015, she was first referred to as a sail-assisted motor yacht and can in fact reach up to 20 knots without using her sails as became known during her sea trials. Stretching across a beam of 24.8 meters at her widest point, she comes in at just 3,100GT less than Dilbar, the largest yacht in the world by interior volume.
Photos by @j_b_photography__