We almost caught a glimpse of the world’s largest private yacht, but we were a day late.
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s 536-foot Eclipse had just been eclipsed by a new addition to the Saudi royal family’s fleet: the 590-foot Azzam launched in Germany late last week.
Even though it was now only the world’s second largest private yacht, Eclipse was an impressive sight from just outside the 100-yard security perimeter. She needed a berth usually reserved for major cruise liners. Her main antenna, specked with half a dozen satellite domes, jutted into the skyline. Her six decks looked as if they could fold down into one giant floating Matryoshka doll.
Somewhere on board this behemoth, reportedly, there’s a submarine, a disco, a movie theater, two swimming pools, two helipads, and likely more secondary vessels than former soviet leaders.
She’s even rumored to have a missile defense system – and lasers to disable cameras.
Luckily, we couldn’t confirm either of those things.
Word is that the $1.5 billion Eclipse will be in New York until mid-April, when Abramovich’s girlfriend is expected to give birth to their child. After that, she’ll likely bebattling with the $600 million Azzam over Caribbean anchorages.
