AWAKENING WITH THE WORLD’S LARGEST (AND UGLIEST) SAILING YACHT.

When I spend a night at anchor, early morning is usually one of my favourite moments. I like waking up slowly, making coffee and, with my piping hot cup in my hands, going out in the cockpit to enjoy the wonderful spectacle of nature.

This morning, while I was climbing on the deck to enjoy my ritual, I looked up and noticed that the horizon line enclosed in the Gulf of Santa Manza was partially covered with a huge floating object, the shapes of which – probably because I was still a little sleepy – I couldn’t distinguish.

Then, slowly, consciousness started to take over and I finally recognized the silhouette that was occupying most of the landscape. It was the “A” sailing superyacht that – I mean no offense to the Russian tycoon’s fans – was literally spoiling the landscape with her lines.

Much more like a boot than a sailing ship, this yacht is 142 metres long and is the world’s longest and most expensive (400 million euros) sailing yacht never built.

However, such an opulence is not matched by equal beauty. The world’s largest sailing yachts indeed seems to have very little relation with beauty.

I mean no offense to Philippe Starck, the designer of this yacht, but I am sincerely astonished by the elegance and beauty that other boats, like Perini or Vitters’ ones, offer.

And I’m equally impressed by designers’ ability to camouflage such large boats under streamlined graceful lines.

But the “A” yacht seems to have the opposite effect since, even from a certain distance, she immediately seems gigantic.

I say this with respect for all supporters of the famous phrase Plutarch attributes to Julius Caesar ” De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum” but, in the face of such ugliness, even the famous saying can’t prevent us from making an evaluation which is probably more objective than subjective.

Not that butter asparagus leave us indifferent but the aftertaste the view of this superyacht gives us is more like the side effect of the asparagus officinalis than its excellent taste.

I just have to document this encounter for the record but, as soon as I finish, I’ll come back to my coffee in the cockpit.

Fortunately, if I turn my back, the Gulf of Santa Manza gives me all its beauty and my day goes back to be blue-coloured..