TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Russian Sailing Yacht "A"

The Russian Sailing Yacht “A” appears to be anchored off the west end of Great Thatch or at least in that area. Not your usual Virgin Islands boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dKLLjh7gME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPwxHMWrUZ4

I saw her this morning from the ferry. Ugly, but quite an impressive sight...

I saw it from STT today...very ugly but as Jason says impressive

Other ugly site is sargassum which is back

from these videos, is that vessel commissioned for sailing ?

There are no visible head stays, no back stays, no shrouds, no standing rigging, and no sheets or other running rigging .

But it certainly is one huge mute .

It is in the BVI, so it had to sail there or motor , but interested in what the people who have seen the BIG A SHIP noticed
when they passed by on the ferry.

For some reason, must be the design, it does not look like a real vessel.....I know it is.....it seems like a cartoon or special effect creation .

Bet there are going to be some rip snorting, exhuberent and lusty bare body vodka parties that we are going to miss.

Oh well, we still have the Willy T,

We saw it pass by as we were anchored at Peter Island last week. It is very ugly, but huge!

40,000 ft2 sails so they are in there and she is so ugly because she is too skinny and needs to gain a few lbs

She was in St Maarten last month during Heineken Regatta. One weird looking boat!

We passed by her off Culebrita a few weeks ago. We were later ashore at Bahia Tortuga, Culebrita when 5 crewmembers came ashore in a massive black RIB to setup next to us a round walled tent with carpet (!) and cushions, umbrellas, 3 wooden slat loungers, coolers, and 7' floating jungle gym. They were a well-rehearsed team and had everything setup and the beach raked of footprints within 20 minutes. After they left, SYA 4 pulled up to the beach with Melnichenko, his wife, two young kids and some staff. SYA 4 is a silver aluminum sided 38' jetdrive catamaran launch/landing craft with an articulating forward landing door (https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/sailing-yacht-a-and-her-four-custom-tenders). The owners and staff were very polite.

Reading his wikipedia bio, Melnichenko is a brilliant entrepreneur and has also pumped a half-billion dollars into philanthropic causes. Whether you love or hate his $500 million high-tech ship, its construction created employment for thousands. There are actually numerous windows on the vessel that are noticeable up close but are almost invisible from a distance with their silver tint. There are also numerous "bump outs". Two massive doors were swung down on either side of the ship to form outdoor patios on what must be the "owners" deck - you could see right thru the ship.

One butt ugly boat that.

Well, it’s an interesting looking boat and we should all wait and see its virtues.
When classic sailboats that looked very nautical but sailed like dogs were the rage they built an ugly charter boat called the Morgan Out Island.. It was great for charter because of its beam but had to much leeway to go to weather efficiently, it was called a clorox bottle because it was basically all plastic... then came the French boat where they understood they would have to make a wide and fast boat to accommodate and satisfy sailors and they cornered the charter market the way Cats are taking over today

Actually, very cool for a large private yacht. One of the coolest things is the "Dynamic Positioning System". No anchor. The ship uses its own thrusters to maintain position. No damage to the bottom terrain.

Most mega yachts have been using the same system for staying in place for the last 15 years.
Actually mooring balls destroy the grass at the anchorage more then the anchors because they’re constantly swinging around with the winds and tides 24/7.. if you dive down you’ll see nothing but white sand around it from 8 to 15 ‘ depending on the scope, you never saw that before the mooring balls were installed.

While its true that DPS has been used since Selective Availability was lifted in 2000, it was mostly employed by offshore oil rigs and other such industrial concerns. Private yachts didn't really embrace it until last year when the L5 band was fully deployed - increasing accuracy from the previous accuracy of 16 feet to about 1 foot.

She was definitely anchored when we passed her off south shore of Culebrita. The hawsepipe on the portside sits very close to the waterline.

For whatever reason all the large yachts I see overnighting in the BVI are anchored. I suspect the power demands and noise of a positioning system running full time is not desired.
G

Wartsila started installing DP systems on super yachts in 2000 and they appear to have become common about 2005 but they are primarily used for station keeping while waiting for bridges, dock space etc. They use way to much power for overnight use as a substitute for anchoring. They are however used with an anchor in a crossing swell situation to reduce power to the stabalizer system by maintaining heading into the swell.

We saw the same black rib beach set up routine on Gibney Beach on STJ yesterday. My husband talked to the crew briefly and said they were very nice. There weren’t a lot of people on the beach but those of us who were there took the opportunity to walk by the tent before the owner arrived. Looked like a nice setup.

The yacht is currently anchored between Cruz Bay and Lovango.

I wonder at the idea of strolling ashore after the crew has set up all the accoutrements. Seems like you loose much of the sense of adventure.

Here you go up close...

While using the DP system you don’t want crew members or guest in the water because of the dangers of the thrusters.

I'm sure it is quite nice on the inside. But that is one ugly boat.

Here's a picture I took two days ago while sailing between the BVI and the USVI:

Ah, that is the first close up picture I've seen of it. I had read that there were actually windows, but I never saw them before. Thanks for that pic!

Here is another photo from their stop at Peter Island.

That one shows the windows also. Maybe I just never paid attention where to look for them before.