1. Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – Dubai, 525ft, was
originally commissioned by the Prince of Brunei but construction stopped
when his funds ran out. Sheikh Mohammed took over construction, and created
the largest existing yacht.
2. Roman
Abramovich – Pelorus, 377ft, Ecstasea, 282ft, Le
Grand Bleu, 370ft. Eclipse is under construction at the moment,
and at 550ft will replace the Dubai as the largest yacht in the
world.
3. Larry
Ellison – After having Rising Sun, 453ft, for only ten
days, Ellison considered selling it: “I do still think it’s excessive. It is
absolutely excessive. No question about it. But it’s amazing what you can
get used to.”
4. Paul
Allen – Octopus 417ft, Tatoosh 302ft. When
completed, the Octopus had no berth, so Allen bought another yacht, Hanse,
162ft, in order to acquire a parking spot in the much coveted Yacht Club
Marina in Antibes.
5. Tom
Perkins – Maltese Falcon, 289ft. Unlike most
superyacht owners, Perkins, former husband of author Danielle Steel, has
been sailing all his life and the Maltese Falcon was designed by him
to be the fastest sailing superyacht in the world.
6. Prince
Alwaleed Bin Talal – Kingdom 5KR, 282ft, was formerly
owned by Donald Trump and was bought by the Prince for $18 million. After a
complete refurbishment it is now rumoured to be worth $100 million.
7. Philip
Green – Lionheart 206ft. A yacht twice as big is under
construction and his friends have apparently nicknamed the giant
cruiser-to-be “Billion Dollar Baby”.
8. Bill
Joy – Ethereal, 190ft, under construction (computer
rendering left). Joy is the co-founder of Sun Microsystem, and has been
dubbed “the Edison of the internet”. The Ethereal is his
first yacht and set to be the most ecologically sound boat in history, as
designed by Ron Holland.
9. Valentino
– TM Blue One, 152ft. The initials TM stand for his
parents’ names, Theresa and Mauro.
10. Lakshmi
Mittal – Approached by Larry Ellison when the latter was considering
selling the Rising Sun, as he was one of the few people who could
afford it, but Mittal opted to build his own, which is now under
construction, shrouded in mystery and rumoured to be bigger than any of the
others on this list.
