The Aga Khan's $200 Million Superyacht Snafu

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Mar 28th 2011 at 4:01PM

Recently we reported on the impressive racehorses owned by His Highness the Aga Khan, the immensely wealthy Muslim spiritual leader. The urbane Aga Khan, a philanthropist, Harvard graduate and stepson of Hollywood bombshell Rita Hayworth, hasn't had as much good fortune when it comes to superyachts however. A considerable portion of his $800 million fortune has gone into what is supposed to be the world's fastest superyacht, but instead is a serious snafu.

The 164-ft. Alamshar (pictured above), named after a prized racehorse, is a $200 million vessel commissioned by His Highness from the UK's Devonport, which has now been in build for twelve whole years. Designed to break the transatlantic speed record, her ultra-expensive Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines underperformed and had to be replaced. It also caught on fire a bit. However, the luxurious craft was recently spotted performing sea trials and may one day soon be ready to sail.

[via JamesList]

Tags: Aga Khan, Aga Khans yacht, Alamshar yacht, billionaires, Muslim, richest Muslims, Rolls-Royce, superyacht, superyachts, wealth, yacht

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing, Wealth

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Haywood, Cleveland Ohio Mar 28th 2011 5:21PM

If your ONLY worth $800mil... you don't build a $200mil boat.
He must have inherited the $ because he would be too stupid to earn it.

Bob Brucker Mar 29th 2011 1:56PM

Over engineered isn't a bad thing but any fool can over engineer something... (like fishing with a net)...
purpose driven engineering is quite different... it implies some forethought.

Tommy Mar 29th 2011 7:13AM

Interesting that he chooses to buy toys rather than helping his own impoverished people. Must be a republican. No, wait... a spiritual leader? Oh I see, a television preacher!

sutherlandpolly Mar 29th 2011 7:27AM

When did Kerry become a Republican?

John Billingsley Mar 29th 2011 8:08AM

Some people have more money than common sense. The things top heavy and who's the Idiot that left the anchor door open.

cqdeed Mar 29th 2011 9:15AM

That "anchor door" was left open for a reason. As you can tell by the background they are near land. Not the safest place to sail at speed. The anchor is the closest thing ships have to brakes in shallow water. Ships do not have very good brakes. As with land vehicles, the faster you go the less effective the brakes are at stopping on a dime. The last ship I was on took six nautical miles to go from flank speed to dead stop. The could also have the "anchor door" open because they are approaching or just leaving their anchorage.

I won't discuss how top heavy it may be cause we can't tell from that photo how much of the ship is under water and how long the superstructure is. I will say that on most ships the heavier equipment is normally below the waterline and from the plimsoll line it is running a tad light.

Edgar Mar 29th 2011 8:17AM

This beauty gave many people a job for 12 years...and now that it under performs, they are still employed probably for a couple more.

rpaul20988 Mar 29th 2011 8:54AM

Gates and Turner each donated $5 billion to the UN, why did they not help the people here instead??? If each gave a million to each of the 63 million on welfare that would have done away with welfare cost to the tax payers.....ohhh but wait these super rich dont know the rest of us exist do they....

jolyjungle Mar 29th 2011 9:32AM

If they gave each of the 63 million a million that would add up to 63 trillion dollars.Thats trillions not billions. Don't think they have that much.

gaye Mar 29th 2011 9:37AM

I totally agree with you, SixpackDan! Also RPAUL! What in the world is wrong with these people???? They are disgusting......rubbing their wealth in our noses!

biggdoggbp Mar 29th 2011 9:44AM

Yo JOLYJUNGLE can you add you dumba-- how do you come up with 63 trillion dollars? Get off welfare go to school and get a job.

pmhrich Mar 29th 2011 10:00AM

JOLYJUNGLE is correct. 63,000,000 X $1,000,000 = $63,000,000,000,000

Now if you took the original $10,000,000,000 donated by Gates and Turner and divided by the 63,000,000 on welfare, they would each receive $158.73

Kristi Mar 29th 2011 11:26AM

Guess you should check your own figures before you go calling someone else a dumba$$, huh? Now who looks like the dumba$$??? LOL

DRILLER Mar 29th 2011 9:51AM

RPAUL20988 , ARE YOU ON WELFARE ? you must be , wanting Other folks to give up thier money to pay for , welfare. some of us work . and pay taxes , donate to the charities of our choice.
get off your ass , work , pay your taxes , and let everyone else pay thiers, donate to the charity of your choice , and let everyone else , donate to thiers .
Not on welfare? hard to believe from , a liberal democrat (yes its that obvious)

pks29733steel Mar 29th 2011 11:14AM

@DRILLER, RPAUL20988 is probably thinking on the 'Madonna' and 'Oprah' fiasco. Madonna so far has wasted 2 million (after using 8 million to build it) on a school built in Africa. Was Madonna born there? No. Is she a citizen of any African Country, No. Did she ever use any services that a African country would have such as Medical, Schools, etc., No. But so far she has wasted 10 Million in Africa on a school that might remain empty (the people there don't want to use it). Madonna could had started a scholorship, added to homeless shelters, hospitals, anything here for people that need help! Madonna adopted 2 African children, Madonna what about the thousands that are in foster care or ophanages here? Oprah has done the same, built a school in Africa which is pretty much empty because of a sexual scandal.

Angela Mar 29th 2011 10:16AM

Twelve. Years. The only snafu you'd hear would be the sound of me wringing somebody's neck.

bap9510 Mar 29th 2011 10:49AM

My heart is bleeding for him.!!!

BIG MAC Mar 29th 2011 11:16AM

Maybe Allah can straighten this out..................

Dave Mar 29th 2011 12:08PM

A Muslim spiritual leader needs a 200 million dollar yacht? I don't care if he's the son of Mahatma Ghandi, what's so spiritual about being this filthy rich? What does it bring to his spiritual family?

battaile3 Mar 30th 2011 8:40PM

Did I read "Muslim spiritual leader"? What kind of a "spiritual leader" is he who buys himself expensive yachts, houses, and racehorses?

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New International Version
16The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” 17He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

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