Napier woke to one of the world’s most spectacular superyachts yesterday morning.
The $350 million ship weighed anchor outside Napier Port’s entrance, where it was due to dock for the day.
It is owned by Russian chemical and fertiliser magnate Andrey Melnichenko, who is worth an estimated $17.2 billion.
Based in Auckland since September for maintenance, it has recently started cruising New Zealand’s scenic spots.
At 119m long it is the largest superyacht to have visited New Zealand and is 1m longer than New Zealand’s two warships, the frigates Te Kaha and Te Mana. The biggest New Zealand-owned superyacht is Graham Hart’s 77m Weta.
It was built in Germany in 2008 by the same Hamburg firm that built the World War II battleship Bismarck.
The Wall Street Journal reported that at the top of a spiral staircase lined with scalloped, silver-leaf walls is a door with a fingerprint security system.
«It opens to an all-white, 2583-square-foot master suite wrapped in bomb-proof, 44mm glass,» it reported.
It is simply called A, after Melnichenko’s wife Aleksandra – a former Serbian model and singer he married in a $36 million ceremony.
The yacht’s unique design would make it difficult for pirates to board and the stark design polarises opinions – people either love or hate it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11229561

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